When Money Takes Precedence over Love

“❤ Love is a beautiful thing”

_{Well, so they say! (sighs)}

I have a friend who held this expression as sacrosanct even when it was glaring that his relationship was in crisis. His name is Femi and he was my very close friend during my second-degree days in the University.

Wait a second, how do you all cope in a Toxic relationship?

I mean, you know the relationship is toxic and harmful to your mental health, physical health, emotional health and spiritual health, yet you stay there. I wonder how such kind of love-life or relationships translate to being beautiful.

Well, this is just a genuine question and not about Femi.

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Back to our friend Femi.

Femi, a Yoruba guy, was in a “serious” relationship with Janet _{(a Lady from Akwa Ibom, Nigeria)}. The relationship began like the famous Cinderella Story and her Prince Charming, and then it graduated to the Romeo and Juliet kind of love such that both were ready to lay down their lives for the other, if it comes to that _{(well, this was in theory).}

We all thought it'd be a "Happily ever after" kind of love, as though we were watching a Disney Animated Movie.

But, Snap! Back to reality!

After a while, this ever-fresh relationship that was the envy of the whole department _{(including those who had sworn that they won't think about entering into a relationship)} began to go "south."

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MONEY: A NECESSITY FOR COMFORT IN A RELATIONSHIP

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The two love birds held on to the idea of equality in relationship, such that while they both expressed love, attention, care, trust, understanding and other ingredients that make up love to each other, they also shared the responsibility of handling their finances (they took up side jobs while in school).

This went well with both of them until Jane was held up in a worrisome situation.

Her Father was involved in a fatal accident which claimed the lives of two of the three passengers in his Tricycle. His survival was least expected, but he sustained major injuries that needed urgent attention and surgical treatment if not could lead to his death.

At the same time it was a new Month, June. You know what that means, right? Her landlord was already out to remind her of the rent that was due the previous month. O damn, and she also has school bills to settle.

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With all these going on concurrently, Jane had to face this dilemma alone as the first child.

This affected her entire disposition, her reactions to things and her thought pattern.

Indeed, she needed something more than a shoulder to lay on, she needed MONEY. She needed Money to save her Father's life; she needed money so that she does not become homeless in school, and she needed money to offset her school bills to continue her smooth education.

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WHEN MONEY TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER LOVE

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Total bill to be cleared = N975,000 (±$1,500)

What will she do?

What choices does she have left?

She barely earns N30,000 (±$50) a month from the side job (hustle) she does as a student, while her Father takes care of the family with the little proceeds from his Transport (Tricycle) business _{(by the way, her mother died 10 years ago, immediately she gave birth to her younger brother)}.

What's her fate?

Femi doesn't earn much also and he isn't from a well-to-do family. So when she asked Femi for help, he was also helpless.

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Right now, the relationship is sinking. She is going through a lot, and she needs something much more than Love to think straight. She needs a credit alert much more than the genuine words of "I Love You."

Infact, she doesn't bother to pick Femi calls of late and who knows the fate of the once-cherished love?

Has money taken precedence over Love in this relationship?

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I hope she finds the help she is in need of, and maybe give way for Love also.

Truly, we may think money doesn't matter in relationships, but indeed it matters a lot. In fact, True Love WILL NOT LAST LONG without MONEY for sustenance and comfortable lifestyle.