“Your destination is on the left,” the Google Map voice told her fifteen minutes later. As she stopped the car at the black gate in front of the lovely one-storey house, her hands began to shake again, but she took several deep breaths to calm herself. What would it be like to see him again after all these years? Would she still feel the same? Would he? What would she do if things were different now? 

“Stop working yourself up, Obenewaa,” she told herself when the gate to the building began to open. After driving through the gate, she parked her car next to the Honda Accord that stood in front of the house. Taking a few more calming breaths, she got out of the car and walked towards him.

The years faded away as she approached him, transporting him back to that fateful day six years ago.

Six Years Ago 

She had sounded frantic when she had called him, telling him that she was coming over. That had not been their original plan. He had the small apartment to himself because his older brother had travelled to Kumasi that whole week, which made it easier for them to meet there. They had planned to spend the whole of Valentine’s Day together, starting with breakfast at his house. But it was 4pm in the afternoon on the 13th, and she was coming over to see him. He was worried because of how she had sounded, but he hoped it wouldn’t be so bad. 

When he opened the door for her, she fell into his arms, crying. 

More concerned than ever, he tried to soothe her until she could speak. 

“What’s wrong, Obenewaa?” He asked gently when she couldn’t stop crying. Then he remembered something. Her sister had been sick for sometime. 

“Is Naya okay?”

“Naya is dead,” she sobbed. “Naya is gone.”

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” he said, not knowing what to say. Naya was everything to Obenewaa. She had been her mother when they had lost theirs at a young age. She had sacrificed everything to help their dad raise Obenewaa. 

He sat silently, comforting her while she told him everything that had happened with her sister. About the promise she had given to her dying sister. The promise that was going to destroy their relationship. He had not expected to lose her when he had woken up that morning, working on their Valentine Day plans for the next day. He hated seeing her so distraught and hated the fear that was showing on her face at the thought of marrying her brother-in-law.

“Maybe you would like it,” he offered, even though even thinking it left a bad taste in his mouth. “Maybe it might not be so bad.”

She looked at him like he was crazy. “How the hell could you say that? Why are you acting like you don’t care? Don’t you care? Don’t you care at all that I am going to marry somebody else?”

For the first time, she hated his non-confrontational behaviour. She wished he would express some kind of anger and devastation. Some bravery and promises to fight for her even if it would amount to nothing. She wanted to know that he was feeling the same kind of anguish and turmoil she was feeling. They had had big dreams with each other, so many plans to start their lives together and work their way to wealth and prosperity as a couple. Wasn’t he angry that that was going to be snatched away from them?

He was shattered inside and barely holding it together, but he was doing it for her. What was the point of becoming angry? It wouldn’t make her feel any better or change their situation. What right did he even have to be angry? Whatever he was feeling, she must be feeling even worse. She was the one who just lost her beloved sister, and even through her grief, she is the one who is going to make another sacrifice. She was the one who was being forced to marry a man she didn’t love—her sister’s husband—not him. His life had been vigorously shaken at the root, but she had just had hers turned upside down. She was going to be a stepmom and auntie to a ten-year-old who just lost her mother. She just lost her sister, and she is now about to lose her life as she had known it. How could he display his turmoil in front of her?

“My heart is broken,” he told her softly, taking her hands and looking into her eyes so that she could see the sincerity in them. “But I know that you’re going through worse inside, and I don’t want to worsen it for you. I don’t want you to absorb my emotions in addition to yours. I’m not reacting the way I’m feeling inside because it will not serve to make it better. I feel powerless because you’re going through so much and I can’t do anything to help you. Do I want you to be miserable and hate the marriage you are going into without me? Yes. Of course, yes. But that would mean you would be miserable every day, and I don’t want that for you. You made a vow to your sister that you cannot break, and at this point, I can’t dwell on how that affects me when it can’t compare to how it will affect you. My heart is broken, Obenewaa, but my default mode is always to care for your wounds first, not bruise it worse because I got nicked too.”

She had been listening quietly to him, surprised that she was once again taken in by his calmness and consideration. He was such an amazing boyfriend, and she was going to lose him. 

“Please, hug me,” she whispered, needing to feel the comfort of his arms around her.

He pulled her into his arms, holding her there, wondering if he would get to do this again.

When he pulled back, she was staring at him with eyes that made his pulse quicken.

“I need a favour,” she told him, moving even closer so that her body was flush against his.

“Anything,” he said, willing his body not to react to her closeness.”

“I want you to make love to me.”

He had not been expecting that. “You – now?”

“Yes, now. Please. I want this last memory to keep with me.”

He pulled away a little so that he could think more clearly. He wanted to. Of course he wanted to. But he wasn’t sure if they should. They had been waiting because she hadn’t been ready, and even though she was proposing it, he still wasn’t convinced that she was.

“You know I want to,” he started, “but are you sure? I know that you weren’t ready–”

“I am now,” she interrupted, moving closer again. “And also, I want my first time to be with you. I—” she paused, not knowing how to put it. “I don’t know what kind of marriage I’m going to have with Frimpong and what kind of choices I would have, but I want my first time to be with you. I want it to be someone I love who I know loves me too. I want it to be with someone I trust with my heart and my body. Please.”

He didn’t want to think about her marriage and everything it would mean. Right now, she was here, and she wanted him, maybe almost as much as he wanted her. He brought his hands gently to the back of her head to bring their heads closer, kissing her.

***

The next morning, he walked her to the front of the small two-bedroom apartment to meet her Uber Ride, which was just six minutes away.

They were both quiet, neither of them knowing what to say. This was not the Valentine’s he had envisioned with her. He had thought that they would get to spend the day together and make plans for the future. Now, this looked like it would be the end of their love story. They had spoken through the night, and when she had confessed that she would have to block him everywhere so that she wouldn’t see him online or be tempted to contact him, he had accepted. Keeping in touch in any way would not be healthy for either of them.

Wordlessly, he pulled her into his arms for a long hug.

“Is this really the end of us? Is this how our story ended? On Valentine’s day?” she whispered brokenly against his chest.

He didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t see a way out. Then something she said clicked in his mind like a bulb turning on. It started a little illumination against the darkness of his current thoughts and feelings and then began to spread rapidly.

When he pulled back, his look was intense. “No, this will not be the end of our story. I will wait for you.”

She looked up at him with wide eyes. “Wait?”

He nodded earnestly. “You promised your sister five years, right? Five years may seem long now, but it will pass by so quickly, and if—if you still want me by then, I will be there, waiting to be with you again.”

She couldn’t imagine a reality where she didn’t want him. “I will always want you, D. I know that we’re still young, but I think you’re it for me.”

Despite the situation, he couldn’t help the little smile that formed on his face. “You’re it for me too. So, five years from today, we will have a different kind of valentine. You will have to unblock me the night before, and I will call you at –” He checked the time on his phone— “I will call you at 6:32 in the morning and tell you, ‘Happy Valentine’s. If you are happy with your situation and no longer wish to be with me, you can hang up without saying anything back. I will understand, and I won’t bother you again. But if you pick up my call and respond, ‘Happy Valentine’s’, it will mean that you still want to be with me. You will hang up, and I’ll send you my address and wait for you to come.”

Getting excited despite herself, she asked, “Can I bring my things with me when I come? Will you house me?”

Smiling at her, he said, “Of course, you can, baby. I will send you my address, and you will bring all your things with you, because it would be the beginning of forever for us. I would have prepared a place for us to live, and I would have set up a table with all your favourite breakfast dishes. We will spend the whole day together doing whatever you want to do. And by the end of the day, our love would have renewed and blossomed. And I will tell you how much I love you – “

“And I will tell you I love you too!” she interrupted, getting even more excited.

“Right! And we would have a different kind of valentine. One that will make up for all the valentines we’ve missed.”

They had hugged each other again, feeling better now that things were not so hopeless. When they said their final goodbyes, they promised each other again. They would meet in six years when he was twenty-eight and she was twenty-seven.

During the ride back home to her new life, as she blocked his number and social accounts from everywhere, silent tears streamed down her face. What if he forgot about her? What if he met someone else he loved more while they were apart? What if they never got this chance again? Thankfully, even if the driver noticed something amiss, he didn’t speak, and she was grateful.

After she left, he went to his room, sat on his bed—the bed they had cuddled on throughout the night—removed the lid from his emotions and wept. His greatest fear was that she would fall in love with her new life and move on from him. He doubted that he would ever be able to move on from her. The only thing he could hold on to was hope. He had a solid plan to keep him on track. Wiping at his teary face, he pulled out his phone and opened his calendar. Then he scrolled until he got to February 2026 and put in an all-day event titled ‘A Different Kind of Valentine With Obenewaa.’ Then he went back to February 14th of the previous years to put in countdowns: 

1. February 14, 2025: One Year to A Different Kind of Valentine With Obenewaa
2. February 14, 2024: Two Years to A Different Kind of Valentine With Obenewaa
3. February 14, 2023: Three Years to A Different Kind of Valentine With Obenewaa
4. February 14, 2022: Four Years to A Different Kind of Valentine With Obenewaa

When he was done, he opened his Notes App and wrote down a checklist titled ‘Preparing for Obenewaa to Come Home’.

1. Get a good job
2. Start saving for our future together
3. Rent a house Obenewaa will love

Satisfied with the list for now, he closed the app, feeling much better and more centred now that he had a plan in place.

Present

Now, as they walked towards each other on the compound of the house he had rented with her in mind, he felt a deep rush of love, like it was just yesterday when she had come to see him the day before Valentine’s, wearing the same white dress with the red hearts as she was wearing now, with her hair in box braids. She was older now, as was he, and she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever met. His heart was overflowing with joy, and he was overwhelmed with emotion. It looked like a dream, but she was here. Obenewaa was home.

At some point, they started to run towards each other. The hug was fierce, long,  and soothing, and it felt like peace and everything good in the world.

“I love you so much.”

The words slipped out of his lips unchecked, but he didn’t mind. He wasn’t ashamed of how ridiculously in love he has been with this woman since they first met. 

“I love you too,” she responded, feeling that intense rush of love that she always felt in his presence. Now she felt stupid for all the times that she had doubted if they would be okay, if he would still love her after everything. They were it for each other. Since the very first day.

Remembering something, she laughed. “We’re doing this out of order. The ‘I love yous’ were supposed to come at the end of the day.”

He laughed. “Oh yes, you’re right. But since everything is already out of order, can I please–”

She kissed him before he could finish the request, just as eager to feel his lips against hers. When they broke it off, they stared at each other with unbridled affection.

“We’re going to have a different kind of valentine, aren’t we?” he asked.

“The first of such kind,” she answered.

They had many things to discuss and catching up to do, but they were going to be alright. Everything was right in the world again.