We had known each other for four months. Those four months had been magical and I had fallen deeply in love with my prince charming. He was so charming and sweet spoiling me silly and we had become lovers after 2 months. He was already talking about how I was the woman of his dreams and he had found his future wife. My friends told me that our relationship was moving too fast. But it’s very difficult to speak sense to a woman in love. So I ignored them and focused on the love that was blossoming between me and Miles. I was finally happy. Happily in love.

I spent a lot of time on my phone talking and chatting with him. The emojis in our messages could tell it all. If it wasn’t the kisses emoji, it would be a heart one and if not, well you can guess the other ones.

“Hi love,” he texted me one evening as I was chilling at my place after coming home from work.

“Hi, love. How was your day?” We hadn’t caught up the whole day so I was curious about his day.

He told me that he had a busy but hectic day. Then he invited me for a meal with the words that he knew I’d love to hear.

“I want to cook for your dinner tonight. What do you say?” He asked.

“Of course, it’s a yes.”

This wasn’t the first time he had cooked for me. He made delicious meals and I knew I was in for a treat.

Every day, Miles would do something to make me smile. He knew all the little things that would me happy. He was also very open with me about what was on his mind.

I freshened up and headed to his place. I knew the evening would be a good one. One with interesting stories and fun. Did I tell you that he was a good conversationalist and he had a wicked sense of humour?

To be a good guest, or at least add flavour to the night that he wanted to make special, I passed by the mall and bought some wine. Just in case a need arose. I also bought snacks so that if we decided to watch a romantic movie like it was the norm, we would be sorted.

As I was finishing up with the payment at the cashier, I saw a message pop up on the notification bar. It was him. I wondered what he had texted. I dragged the message down to read it.

“Do you remember the request I made earlier this week?” The text read.

Of course, I did remember. How could I forget any conversation with the man who turned my world around? I just could not.

He had asked me for a financial favour. Something that really touched my heart and I just needed to know when he wanted the money so that I could borrow a loan for him. He told me that he was willing for us to start a life together but being that he wasn’t financially stable, he needed to work on that first and then our relationship could move to the next level.

So I asked him, “What’s your plan then?”

To which he gave very reasonable options he had considered. “I have two plans. One is to get the better job I am eyeing, and the second is for me to start a business. The first one isn’t guaranteed. But the second one could just take us to the goal faster.” He said.

Later on, I sat and thought about the whole thing and realized that this guy had a great plan. It would allow us to have a better life together, if everything went according to plan. I didn’t doubt it because he had a business plan laid out. He had even made a consultation with business experts and got some really good feedback. He was requesting me to partner with him or rather lend him some of the money so that he could get things off the ground. He would pay me back with interest.

“How much would be enough for the business?” I inquired after a few days of thinking things through.

“1 million would be enough.” He responded.

I was shocked. “Whoa! That’s a lot of money.” I did not expect it to be that much.

“Yeah, it’s a lot but I would be able to expand really fast.”

“And how much will you raise so that I see how much I will be required to bring?” I asked curiously.

“It’s actually 2 million, I already have the other half. I am short by three hundred thousand but I will get that from a loan I have applied for. It is just taking some time.” He said.

“Wow. Nice. I can see that you have planned yourself well.”

As I entered the car heading there, I knew that though we had so many special nights in the past, this one would be special in a unique way because we’d be making our financial plans. I got excited even more.

On arrival, he opened the door, took the shopping and gave me a warm hug. As we exchanged pleasantries while walking over to the living room, the aroma of beef stew hit me. It smelled nice and I actually could not wait to sit down and eat.

“This food must have been ready when you invited me,” I said teasingly.

“Nope. You know how fast I can be when cooking.” He defended himself.

“How fast was that? Like I did not even take 40 minutes to reach here.”

“Yeah, you are right. Forty minutes is enough to prepare dinner. I got you.” He said.

After a few minutes of stories and cuddles, we had dinner. Rice and beef stew. Plain simple but made with love. Then came wine and the main conversation of the night. We figured out that the faster, the better. The earlier he started the business the better.

He had already acquired the loan he said he would get. At hand, he had 1 million Kenyan shillings. He showed me his bank statement. Something that convinced me that my delay would be a hindrance to the good life that we could be living right now.

I did not have that money right now. But I could get him a loan. Seeing all the plans he had to ensure that we had a better life was enough motivation to make me take such a step. The next day, I applied for a loan from my Sacco. It only took a week to get the loan.

What followed was a transfer of the money to his bank account. I transferred the 1 million to his account knowing that the plan would roll out immediately. In a week, things would be up and running.

A week went by and I had not seen him making any concrete moves. The second week I had to ask what was up.

“Hey, when was the business to start? I thought everything was ready for the start immediately the funds arrived.”

“Next week. Things would start rolling next week.” He said.

“What kept you from starting this week?” I asked him.

This was money that I’d be paying out for a very long time. If there was anything that was delaying the process of starting that business, I needed to know.

“Nothing, there was a supplier that I needed to make the supplies. He’s trusted in the business.” He assured me that things would be up and running once the supplier delivered.

“Okay.”

I was not sure how to feel about the whole thing but I trusted him. After a month and nothing had happened I started to feel uneasy. I remembered how the plan was laid out and how everything was just waiting for the funds I’d bring to the table.

I was starting to be suspicious but my heart could not accommodate the thought of the worst happening. I kept believing that he was indeed waiting for a trusted supplier and that once he found him, he’d start the operations immediately.

But much as I wanted to be optimistic, other details were bothering me two months down the line. Why was it that there weren’t any premises for the business? Why were there no workers? It finally hit me after some investigation that Miles had no intention of actually opening this business. A reality that was too harsh for me to face. When I called him exactly a month from the day I had given him the loan, his phone was off. I called him for two days and his phone was still off. I panicked because I thought maybe something had happened to him.

When I told my friends about my fears, they reminded me of how they had warned me.

“There’s no way a prince charming would appear from nowhere. Even if he does, a genuine one would at least take time before asking such huge favours.”

I didn’t know what to do. “So what do you guys think?” I asked.

Hoping that they won’t tell me I had been conned and that he was a fake. But that’s exactly what they told me.

“Chances are high that the relationship was fake. He was looking for that 1 million from you. He has disappeared because he got what he wanted from you ” Meg said sympathetically.

“But he had the other 1 million, I even saw it with my own eyes.” I tried to explain.

“You’ve never heard of these cons? They work as a gang. They heap money in one account to fool you. That money wasn’t his.” Meg told me.

This realization left me shaking. The worst had come to pass. I had been conned a huge amount of money that I would have to pay for a long time.

When I tried to think about Miles and how well I knew him, I realized that I did not know him very well. I only knew his official name and I wasn’t even sure about where he was working. He said that he worked with an international NGO on a contract basis. I did not know his family. I had met some of his friends when clubbing but that was it.

I refused to accept defeat just yet. I went to his place to try to have a conversation with him. Maybe I was imagining my own things.

When I arrived and knocked on the door, a stranger opened the door.  I inquired about Miles and I was told that there wasn’t a Miles there. The stranger had just checked into the AirBnB. All the while, the place had been an Airbnb.

I found the owner of the place, who told me that Miles only booked the place occasionally. He had not stayed there the whole time. Turned out he only booked it when he invited me over and also a couple of other times.

How had I been blinded not to see Miles for who he was, a smooth, sweet-talking conman? I went and reported the case to the police, but there was little that could be done. The guy could not be traced. It would take a while before he was arrested. If they found him at all because now I wasn’t even sure he was who he told me he was. I accepted that I would repay the loan and move on however painful it felt. I had been betrayed. My friends had told me to be careful and I didn’t listen. I could avoid all of this if I had just listened to them. I was heartbroken and I had lost a million bob.