I was rejected.

I met Aisha when I went home for a break during my university undergraduate days. A group of youth came together to form a tutorial group. The aim was to prepare the students that registered for universal tertiary matriculation examinations. The group reached out to me to join them in rendering the free service to the applicants. Aisha was equally engaged to teach the students. We were both in our final year in the university.

Since the first day that I set my eyes on Aisha, I felt some kind of affection for her. We started communicating. We shared similar aspirations.

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There was a day that we decided to stay back and chat in detail. We wanted to know more about each other. We discussed a lot. I told her about my family origin, both paternal and maternal. I realized that her countenance changed when I mentioned my lineage.

"I hope that my parents will not object to this relationship," she lamented.

Upon further enquiry, she told me that her family doesn't give out their daughters' hands in marriage to any man from my clan. I was shocked and at the same time speechless.

"What have I done to your family?" I asked her.

"You did nothing. Have my family even known you?" She asked with contagious smiles. "It is about your clan and not just about you," she concluded.

I was cold. I heard a lot about how many families resent another family due to some age long misunderstandings. They become a sworn enemy. They will make sure that the coming generations inherit such divisions.

When she noticed that I was giving up on the whole thing, she rekindled my hope. She told me that she would talk to her mother to see if she can help to talk to other family members so that I could be accepted. She explained everything to her mother. It happened that her mother was my teacher when I was in secondary school. The kind of student that I was to her in secondary gave me a soft spot in her heart. She testified how respectful and easy going I was in secondary school.

With her backing, I visited the house for the first time. I was strategic about my visit. Aisha's father wasn't around then. I wanted to discuss with the mum alone first. I needed assurance that the woman would welcome me to marry her daughter.

Our discussion was fruitful. Though she explained to me how the decades-long problem had affected many relationships, she promised to talk to other people within the family to accept me.

I answered reluctantly. I was already getting tired of continuing to suffer for the misunderstandings that happened many years before my parents were born. I wanted to opt out but Aisha wouldn't let me. She was madly in love.

A few months later, she decided to introduce me to her father. I had been on her neck to do that so that I could be sure of my fate. She took me to meet her father. The man had heard a lot about me. He welcomed me with both arms.

After a few minutes, he started to ask me some questions in order to get to know me better. Immediately I told him of the clan that I belong to, he stood up from his seat and descended on Aisha and her mother. He went hard on them for daring him by bringing me in to meet him. The atmosphere became tense. I apologized and made up for my leave from the house. He told me to keep my apology to myself.

The man began to vituperate about the resentment that my forefathers had for his forefathers. He declared that his daughter would never get married to someone like me because of the clan that I originate from. I left the house disappointed.

I felt that the man wasn't fair to me. He quenched the fire of our love because of misunderstandings that I knew nothing about.

Aisha tried to make things work out but I saw no future in the relationship. I pleaded with her to allow me to move on with my life while she does the same. That was how we parted ways.

I am happily married today and Aisha is also married to her lovely husband.

I believe that the marriage between both of us was never destined to happen.