RUN FOR YOUR LIFE…DO NOT MARRY MY SON
Immediately my fianceé stepped out of the room. His mother grabbed me. My My dear, whatever you do, please do not marry that man.
Mama, what do you mean? Do not marry my son. He is. The door opened and my fianceé walked in.
This is African folktales with Incin. And this is a story about a young woman whose dream wedding almost became her worst nightmare.
Suzanne was beautiful, glamorous, humble, and incredibly intelligent. But she was a lover girl. She was the kind of girl who would attend weddings, sit and daydream about her own.
Suzanne was the kind of lady who would want to catch the bouquet, but would be too shy to get up from her seat.
So, it was a great joy and a celebratory moment when she called to tell her close-knit group of friends that she was engaged.
Everyone wanted to know how and when she met her heartthrob. But when they heard Susan’s love story, they all had their reservations, though none of them could tell her to her face.
But if they had known what Suzanne was walking into, they would have been more honest with her about the bad feeling they all had.
Suzanne and Lawrence had met on a dating app and had spent hours talking on the phone for 3 months before they finally met.
By the time they did, Suzanne felt she had known Lawrence all her life. It helped that Lawrence was incredibly handsome.
He was ebony dark with a chiseled square jaw like the models that Grace magazine covers and runways.
But Suzanne didn’t know that beneath all the raw sex appeal Lawrence exuded, he was a very mean man.
After Lawrence came into the room, his mother stopped talking. Lawrence looked at the two women and then asked his mother if anything was wrong.
He could immediately sense that something had happened in his absence. Lawrence’s mother quickly smiled and told her son that she was admiring Suzanne’s engagement outfit.
They were all at the official engagement and their wedding was just a week away.
Suzanne became so worried after Lawrence and his mother left. She shared what happened with her best friend, Monica, who was even more worried than Susan.
All through the night, they went through Lawrence’s social media pages trying to find any red flag.
At 3:00 a.m., Monica saw just one comment on an old post of a vacation Lawrence had taken.
A woman named Louise had written, “God will judge you.” Immediately, the two friends sent the lady a friend request and a message.
Two days passed with no response. With only 5 days to the wedding, Susan had no choice but to continue planning her dream wedding.
She met with Lawrence as usual, pretending everything was normal. It was his typical cute and charming self.
On the third day, there was still no response from Louise. Susan decided to visit Lawrence at his house, hoping to see his mother.
But Lawrence told her she had slipped and fallen in the bathtub and was resting.
Susan was mortified. When Suzanne had previously asked for his mother’s number, Lawrence claimed she had lost her phone at his salon, supposedly the fifth phone she had misplaced in 6 months.
It was around this time that Susan and Monica discovered another woman who had commented on Lawrence’s old post.
It was a single comment, “You’re a devil.” The comment was from a business page.
Monica had sent messages and even called the number linked to the business page. A lady had picked and once Monica mentioned Lawrence’s name, the lady had dropped the call.
Adah had refused to respond to any more messages from Monica. Then one day, Adah finally picked up.
Her voice was firm and chilling. Susan, you have no idea what you are walking into.
Get far away from that man. Before Susan could ask anything else, the line went dead.
Moments later, their numbers were blocked. Susan and Monica were left shaken. Edah’s refusal to talk and sudden silence only made the danger feel more real.
It wasn’t just a hunch anymore. Multiple women were warning her about Lawrence, and one of them had gone completely silent after delivering a stark warning.
It was 2 days to the wedding, and Susan had given up hope of knowing the truth.
She had settled into being the expectant bride when Monica called saying she was coming over immediately.
On the wedding day, family and friends gathered. The handsome groom stood at the altar looking like a prince.
Suddenly, Susan walked in, not in a white gown, but in jeans and a t-shirt.
The crowd gasped. The friends who had once daydreamed with Susan about silk and lace stood in a suffocating silence.
They all realized something was about to go down. Behind Susan was Louise. That morning, Monica had dropped an emotional voice note telling Louise that her friend was marrying Lawrence and that Susan was the most kind person she knew and that if she knew any reason why her friend marrying Lawrence would be a disaster, she should please call her.
She dropped her phone number in the chat. Louise called Monica, but she came bearing really bad news.
She narrated how Lawrence had been warm at first to her, but immediately after they got engaged and she moved in with him, he changed.
He would literally flog her if she offended him. Lawrence would beat her and drag her around the house for talking back.
He even locked her in the house and she ended up losing her job. Most chillingly, Louise revealed that Lawrence’s mother would get beaten by him if she tried to plead on her behalf.
As Susa narrated this entire story to the wedding guest, the mask finally slipped. The Lawrence the world knew the man with a motherless jaw and charming smile began to dissolve.
His eyes narrowed into cold, dark slits. The veins in his neck paused with suppressed rage.
For the first time, the guest didn’t see a handsome groom. They saw a predator backed into a corner.
Suzanne looked at Lawrence’s mother in the front row. The old lady had a white cast on her arm.
Susan didn’t need to ask anymore. She knew it wasn’t asleep in the tub. The mother didn’t look surprised by the scandal.
She looked relieved. When their eyes met, the mother gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.
In that look, an unspoken bond was formed. Suzanne was the one who got away, and the mother was the one who had tried to help her do it.
Susan mouthed a thank you to her. That was how Susan escaped a life of pain and misery.
Truly, all that glitters is not gold. The months following the wedding that never was were a whirlwind of healing.
Suzanne stopped being the lover girl who lived in the pages of bridal magazines and started living for herself.
She realized that she had been so in love with the idea of a wedding that she had almost blinded herself to the reality of the man.
With her newfound freedom, Suzanne began to explore the beauty of her own roots and the continent beyond.
She took his solo trip to the Obudu Mountain Resort in Cross River, breathing in the cold mountain air that cleared her mind.
She visited the ancient Cano city walls and later flew to Zanziba where she spent her mornings watching the dows on the turquoise water.
She even traveled to the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe finding strength in the thundering power of the water.
She spent weeks volunteering at a women’s shelter in Lagos, sharing her story to help others recognize the same red flags she had nearly ignored.
She also stayed in close contact with Lawrence’s mother. After the wedding scandal, the older woman finally found the courage to move out, and Susan helped her settle into a peaceful apartment in a quiet part of Abuja, where she no longer lived in fear.
Susan learned to be happy in her own company. She discovered that her intelligence and her kindness were her greatest assets, not her eony dark accessories.
She was no longer the shy girl waiting to catch a bouquet. She was a woman who had built her own garden.
Two years later, while Susan was attending a business seminar in Acra, Ghana, she met David.
David didn’t look like a magazine cover model. He had a kind, rugged face and eyes that crinkled at the corners when he laughed.
There was no raw sex appeal designed to distract. Instead, there was a steady, calming presence.
They didn’t meet through an app or spend months in a digital fantasy. They met over a shared interest in Panaffrican trade and a long conversation about their values.
The difference was clear from the start. David was transparent. He didn’t hide his family or make excuses.
On their third date, he introduced Suzanne to his sisters and parents in a warm, welcoming home.
David was consistent. There was no mask. David was the same man in private as he was in public.
Gentle, respectful, and genuinely supportive of Susan’s independence. He was respectful. When they had their first disagreement, David didn’t raise his voice or flog her with words.
He sat down, listened, and said, “I value your opinion, Susan. Let’s find a way to fix this together.”
When David eventually proposed, it wasn’t a grand theatrical event designed for social media. It was a quiet moment during a sunset walk at Leki Conservation Center.
This time when Susan looked at the ring, she didn’t just see a sparkling stone.
She saw a reflection of a man whose soul was as bright as his smile.
As she walked down the aisle this time wearing a simple, elegant gown made of the finest local silk, she looked at her guests.
Monica was there cheering the loudest. Louise was there smiling with a life fully reclaimed.
And in the front row sat Lawrence’s mother, her arm healed and her spirit free.
Susan realized then that she hadn’t just found her dream wedding. She had found a partner who was truly gold all the way through.
The story of Susan reminds us that character is more important than charisma. A beautiful face can hide a hollow heart and a grand wedding is never worth a miserable marriage.
Furthermore, it serves as a powerful reminder that peace is a right, not a luxury.
No one should ever feel forced to sacrifice their safety to maintain a perfect image.
Nor should they feel obligated to remain in a home that has turned into a prison.
Whether you are at the altar or have been married for 20 years, it is never too late to choose yourself.
Walking away from abuse is not an act of failure. It is an act of incredible bravery and the first step toward reclaiming your life.
Always trust your intuition over your eyes. Pay attention to how a man treats the women who came before you.
And remember, it is better to walk away from an altar in jeans or leave a marriage with nothing but your life than to stay and be destroyed in golden chains.
