Me and this lady were vibing online for like a year now. She stays in Tamale and I’m in Accra. The distance was preventing us from meeting. We met on a telegram group. It was a football group where we discuss and argue over the game. I’m a die-hard Chelsea fan and unfortunately, she chose to follow a whack team like Man U. She was also active on the page and I was fascinated by how she loved the game. At first I thought it was even a guy because the name she was using was not an obvious feminine name so I wasn’t sure and I just assumed it was a guy.
One time, we argued so much on the page that we had to continue in our dm. Through that, we started exchanging voice notes and I realized it was a lady. She had a really nice voice too and she made me curious to know more about her. We started chatting everyday and then we moved to whatsapp. We started doing video calls and everything and I really fell in love with her. She was my type and since most girls also didn’t like football and video games, I thought I had hit a jackpot by finding her because she was into video games too and she used to challenge me that on the day we meet, she will beat me at FIFA. We both couldn’t wait to see each other face to face. I wanted to propose my love for her through the phone, but I’m the type of guy who likes to do it in person.
So during one of the holidays, I invited her over. I sent her money to come to Accra, and we met. The moment I saw her in person, I was sure I wanted to date her. We went over to my place and watched some movies and we ended up getting intimate. I should have bought protection but I forgot, so I just bought the after pill for her later. We started dating from that time. Both of us were really into each other and we were going out a lot and having fun. She came to stay with me for a whole month. She is a UDS graduate who doesn’t have a job yet, so she wasn’t really doing anything at Tamale. But the real problem begun when she told me about her family and she mentioned her family name. It is quite a common Muslim name so I was hoping it was nothing. But I wasn’t feeling comfortable.
I reached out to my mum to ask her more about my dad. I know my parents had to separate because my dad is a Muslim and my mum is Christian. They were both very young. When they separated, my mum left Tamale and came back to stay in Accra. She knows my dad married a Muslim lady later and had kids. According to my mum, her father prevented my father from having anything to do with me so he gave me his (my maternal grandfather) name. I told my mum about my girlfriend and the fear I was having because the area in Tamale she mentioned is the area my dad is staying. I hear from him once in a while now. My mother was patient through everything and he had a talk with my girl. I found it strange that my girlfriend didn’t have pictures of her own father on her phone. But she was able to call her younger brother at home to send him some of their father’s pictures.
For a moment I thought I had f*cked my own sister, but that wasn’t the case. My mother said that wasn’t my father. Then, she paused. The man wasn’t my father, but he looked like my dad. She remembered that my girlfriend’s father was my uncle. My dad’s brother. It took my mum some time to remember because she said the man has grown so old as compared to the last time she saw him. My girlfriend is actually my cousin and now the family is saying we should come and perform some purification rites in Tamale. They also said we will be punished for our actions. I am distraught. Both of us haven’t recovered because we are still in love with each other. I have spoken to my dad on phone and he wants me to come to him in Tamale as his first son to convert to Islam and do all the purification required because of the abominable act we have committed. I’m a 26-year-old man and around the age of 19 I decided that religion separates people, so I am the type who believes in God, but I don’t belong to any religion. I feel like I am being forced to do something I don’t want to do.