Love Note 10: MY SWEET VALENTINE (poem)…
As I walked into the room I saw her,
She was standing by the window looking over the yonder,
As I watched her I couldn’t help but ponder,
Ponder what my life could have been without her,
She looked so beautiful like the first day I met her,
That smile on her face made her look a lot of years younger,
Prettier and ever so elegant, definitely what the Creator had in mind when he made her
I took a step closer, closer towards her as she stood by the aisle,
She must have heard the sound of my steps because she turned just before I could reach her side,
She took a glimpse of me and her lips stretched with that glorious smile,
That smile which got me hooked that fateful day on that jolly ride,
I took her hands as my mind rolled back to picture that time,
To that worship service where my heart started beating to this particular rhyme,
Many years have passed since then but still I never can forget that night
The songs played from the altar,
As men and women raised their hands to praise the maker,
I was there with a heart full of stupor,
Desperate for a second chance and the Almighty God’s favour,
But I got more than I sought for that night,
A saved spirit, a renewed mind and an over-beating heart,
I determined never to return to my former ways,
But pursued God with a vengeance and that beauty with a confident sway
I’ve been told many times that God is love,
That this love He is, is shed abroad in every believer’s heart,
But I had always had my doubts till I gave entrance to my beloved’s love,
Now I can testify like Paul did, that indeed, His love lightens every path,
I have seen forgiveness and kindness as described in His Word of truth,
Experienced grace and meekness as from the LORD’s own breath,
Testified to joy and submissiveness the Holy Ghost would most certainly approve,
All because God gave me someone like you
I will spend my days glorifying the LORD for this precious gift,
My actions to you will always be my expression of gratitude for his incredible gesture,
I will strive to make your days so pleasant that Solomon’s bride will redden with envy,
I will honour and protect you like Christ does His bride, the church,
The road ahead may be longer, the journey to make might be tougher,
But with Jesus in the boat, why won’t we make it across the border?
As His Word continues to make us firmer in faith and stronger,
So do I believe, that His love in us will carry us further
Kodi kodi sio!
Love Note 9: THE SAD ENDING…
It was around 2 pm as I made my way round the busy streets of Accra to get to my meeting. There was tinge of excitement in my heart but that was equally mixed up and stirred together with anxiety and caution. It was my first meeting with Akorfa. We had connected through a mutual friend and had been phone buddies for quite some time. Lately, conversations had gotten more intimate and emotional. However, this was going to be our first physical meeting and the curiosity had gotten to optimal levels.
Ewe girls had a reputation for being very fine specimen mostly and her pictures, so far, did her justice but I had been deceived before so my trust in pictures was non-existent. That day was a horrible one; the day I travelled to Kumasi to meet Crystal. We had also been phone buddies for months after yet another friendly introduction. I had categorically asked Akrofi my friend about her looks and he had waxed lyrical. He also showed me a picture of hers as proof and, indeed, the picture spoke volumes.
I was encouraged in my spirit to continue with our interactions as a result so you can imagine my dismay when I made the trip to Kumasi just to see this fair maiden only to be met by the unedited version of her. My heart literally broke into pieces. Lol. I felt rivers of tears behind my eyes. I heard my mind insult my friend for this grand deception. I felt my hopes and trust in pictures severely dwindle. Who knew about photo editing back then? Apparently Crystal. And I was a victim.
This time around, armed with this reality, I prevented myself from getting overly excited. Akorfa also looked stunning in her pictures but now I understood that just as musicians had normalised autotunes, photographers had also normalised photoshop. No way was I getting bitten twice.
Back to the present, after an arduous bus ride, I was at our meeting point. To get here had taken me hours since my house was quite far from the agreed point. Soon enough though, Akorfa appeared and, for the first time all day, I breathed easy. Her pictures were real. She was a thing of beauty. Also, she clearly looked like someone who had just returned from a trip to the US: you could sense the temperate weather off of her. We hugged upon her finally getting to me and she whispered my name in the most loving of ways. I almost melted right there in her arms.
Eyes were starting to stare in our direction but she didn’t seem to mind. I did. I had lived all my life here and well enough to know 2 people hugging in town was truly an oddity. She was still stuck to me however so I gently and subtly shoved her back and held her hands.
“You made it!”, I said to her, “you didn’t get lost afterall.” She chuckled and replied, “the taxi driver helped.” “I’m glad” was my retort.
“So what now?”, I inquired hoping we could finally get moving and go sit at the restaurant we’d planned to go to. I had picked the place knowing its ambience and serene environment would be a plus for my plans but fate had something else in mind.
“Ermm, unfortunately…”, she began and, immediately, my heart started to sink, “…on my way here, I got a call from my mum and I’m wanted at home urgently for an impromptu meeting. I’m so sorry but it seems I’m gonna have to go back. I didn’t want to leave you hanging that’s why I chose to show and explain things in person. I felt that would be better.”
My face betrayed my emotions. I was distraught. I had literally travelled here as my house was many miles away and today was the only available day for us before I left town. My departure was scheduled for the very next day and for a long time. I had been hoping to seal the deal before I left but here was I about to be ditched even before the date began. All I could manage to say in response was, “oh!”
Akorfa, seeing my reaction, apologized again. Then, as if something finally clicked in her brain she went like, “ahaa, I even brought you a gift from the US. Unfortunately, in the rush of returning, I couldn’t go to the mall to get you a more thoughtful gift so I bought this at the airport.” With that said, she took out a cap from her bag with the inscription NYC in front of it. I was flabbergasted. I prayed for the earth to open up and swallow me there and then.
However, to be polite, I muttered thank you, faked an appreciative smile and reluctantly put on the cap just so I could ask, “does it fit me?” She, clearly delighted with herself, replied, “yes and I’m not surprised. You look good in everything!” I was touched by the compliment but it did nothing to appease my annoyed heart. All the transportation money and tiredness from my trip from the house suddenly seemed like a waste. And to think I missed the Real Madrid match for this. I was irked.
I was in better control of my facial expressions now though so I acted fine, walked her to the place to pick the cab and after a brief hug, I bade her goodbye.
As the taxi she was in drove away, I took another look at the cap in my hand knowing full well it was the last time I was gonna see both it and her and that my chance at finding love after a long search had come to an unceremonious end. I was pissed. All I could do was to mutter to myself, “Awurade, fakyɛ me na medi nkwasiasɛm!“
Kodi kodi sio!
Love Note 8: THE BREAKUP PLAN…
Kwame rushed to his room from the hall as soon as he heard his phone ringing. He was hoping Toby was finally calling to give him an update on their discussion earlier in the day. However, one look at the Caller ID dampened his excitement. This was exactly the call he had been dreading. It was Marian.
For weeks now till some days ago, he had been doing everything possible to avoid her and her incessant calls and texts as he tried to figure things out in his head. After the last incident, his heart had been troubled and he blamed her. He had decided to end things but had not gotten around to tell her yet. After everything that had happened, it seemed cruel to call it quits with her so soon so he decided to find another way out.
The genius thought he’d conjured, as a result, was to act the exact opposite of all the ways which had endeared him to her; to be at his worst, without actually doing anything truly bad, and to go to such an extent that she will grow fed up and be the one to rather call it quits. This plan had to be executed in phases and with such dexterity so as not to attract suspicion nor backfire with regards to the result wanted.
So far, in his view, the plan had worked to perfection; it had begun with the sudden stoppage of the sweet morning messages. That was noticed immediately and a subtle query followed. He didn’t respond. Instead, he immediately put into action phase 2; by refusing to pick all her calls or replying her texts. For 2 weeks, this went on unabated. He hadn’t envisaged her persistence but he still stood his ground.
Indeed, at some point, guilt almost made him abandon the plan totally as her emotionally gripping messages were hitting him hard. She wasn’t texting angry. No. That would have made things easier for him. Rather, being the smart girl she was, she had cleverly chosen to appeal emotionally to him: her messages were full of sweet words that could make concrete hearts melt, they were full of key things she knew would trigger responses in him and it almost worked.
After 2 weeks though, it seemed she had finally gotten the message or rather given up the fight. She was tired apparently. So the calls and messages stopped coming. All week this week, he had not received a single beep from her. She had been online as usual when he was online but she didn’t bother sending another message she knew would not get a reply. Kwame had figured he was finally in the clear until now.
As he stood watching the phone ring, his mind went back to the moment everything fell apart for him. It was a month ago. The two of them had just become a couple. They had shared their first kiss and, from all indications, things were looking bright. He had even gone ahead to introduce her to his closest friends, something he had never done before and their excitement was a tale for the ages. From there, things swiftly escalated, he spoke to her sister, she spoke to his siblings. Familiarity was established. Their Facebook relationship statuses were also updated.
However, soon, the first crack, in this case, the ultimate crack appeared out of nowhere. Kwame, until now, had been and was still a virgin and, in his mind, whomever he ended up with had to also have chosen to preserve their bodies just as he had. From the time, he was introduced to Marian, she had seemed so naive and innocent he hadn’t bothered to inquire about her past life.
From the moment of introduction through to the whirlwind ride into becoming a couple in the shortest possible of time, this issue, for some weird reason, had failed to ever come up until a dude he didn’t know commented on their relationship status update on Facebook.
The comment went like,
“Congrats Marian, didn’t know you and Gerald had gone your separate ways. Good for you! Wish you all the best in your new found love.”
This hit him like thunderbolt. Marian had an ex? How did he never know? How did it never come up in conversations until now? He remembered telling her about all his crushes but, for the life of him, now scrutinising his memories, he realised she had never reciprocated and he had never noticed. Not until now.
His mind started running at epic speeds; trying to figure out how to handle this news. He decided to grab the bull by the horn and finally have this dreaded chat. He did exactly that but that was when his world came crushing down. That evening, upon asking his now girlfriend, she confessed having dated twice before him. He was bemused but, of course, she was a beautiful woman so that was to be expected.
What he hadn’t expected was the extra information attached. It had begun like “so Jerome was my first boyfriend and also the one who took my virginity. He was my first in almost everything including kissing.” Initially, he thought he had misheard her but then she continued, “…then a year later I met Gerald, we dated for 9 months but soon I discovered he only really wanted me for my body. When I decided to withhold sex for a while, he broke up with me and left.”
He felt dazed. His innocent looking and naive girlfriend suddenly looked different in his eyes. How had he missed all this in the build up to the relationship? How blindly in love had he been to have skipped this important conversation? Just barely a week prior, he had literally gotten her to accept his proposal to date him and now, he was wondering why he had done that at all.
Thus began the breakup plan. The vibrating phone brought him back from his thoughts. He decided to finally pick the call. He had to come clean, he thought, so he finally answered.
“Hello Kwame”, her sweet voice said, however without the usual excitement he’d come to know. “Hi”, he replied.
“I don’t think there’s any reason for me to ask why you’ve treated me this way the past few weeks. No matter what I did, I believe there was a better way to handle it than the path you chose but I won’t begrudge you. A girl can only try so much. I like you. You’re a very good guy and very different from all the guys who have come into my life. You’ve shown genuine love and care and I appreciate that. However, there’s only so much a girl can take and I guess the past few weeks have helped me put things into perspective. I think we got along better when we were just friends. You were lovely and we connected very well. I dunno if that’s possible to achieve again but I’m not sure this relationship is meant to be. I don’t want to lose you so my decision is if it’s not too late, let’s write off this dating and return to when we were just friends. I think we did that better and I liked you better then. I’m tired of experiencing heartache and I feel this is the way to go, this is the best thing for me.” She sounded so hurt and emotional. He felt so much guilt for how he’d handled everything but, tried as he did, even in this moment, he couldn’t get past the revelations she’d made about her sex life. He just couldn’t get past it. He knew what to do next thus.
He inquired, “Marian, sorry about everything. I know I hurt you and nothing can make up for the past few weeks but are you sure this is what you want?” He was being sincere and genuine but he also kept his fingers crossed and closed his eyes in anticipation of a welcome answer.
“Yes, I’m sure.”, she replied confidently.
“If that’s the case, then I agree; let’s end the relationship and focus of being just friends”, he said calmly into the phone whilst jubilating his freedom in his room.
She seemed taken aback by his quick acceptance so she probed, “so you’re not even gonna try fighting for us?” He retorted, “that’s why I asked if you’re sure. You said yes. Why would I fight to save something you’re sure you don’t want anymore? I’m just agreeing to your proposal and doing my best to give you exactly what you want.”
A few minutes passed without any sound. No one said a word.
Then just before the call dropped, a clearly teary voice remarked, “what exactly I wanted was you.”
Kodi kodi sio!
Love Note 7: THE UNTIMED CONFESSION…
There was a persistent knock on the door. I was still reluctant to wake up to go open it. Fortunately, my roommates were not around so they weren’t the ones facing this intruding disturbance. “Kwaku!”, I heard her finally call out to me, “I know you’re in there! Will you please come and open this door so we talk?” I pretended to be sleeping. She persisted with the knocking. Obviously, she wasn’t leaving without us having the conversation she came for.
Ordinarily, I could have continued my charade but then it dawned on me that her persistence will draw unwanted attention from inquisitive neighbours so I, with much effort, finally got to my feet and proceeded to open the door. She barged in immediately she heard the door unlock. “So you decided to punish me this way, erh? Making me knock and knock like some desperate person”, she ranted.
I didn’t bother to respond. I was guilty and no excuse from my lips would have sufficed. She looked at me with angry eyes but soon they faded. She saw how guilty I looked and somehow, that calmed her down a bit.
“So why have you been avoiding me suddenly?”, she inquired with such seriousness, “you’ve neither been picking my calls nor returning my texts all of a sudden…what have I done? And why are you choosing to punish me this way? How can you just suddenly decide, without any notice, to abandon me just like that? What have I done to you? Why?” She was teary now as she poured out those questions clearly disoriented by my actions.
I felt more guilt for a short bit but I had a good reason so I calmly took a seat, looked her straight in the eye and asked, “why didn’t you tell me about you and Caleb?” Her face was one of shock. I continued nonetheless, “why did you never tell me you 2 were an item? Why did you hide that from me?”
Her face hadn’t yet recovered from the shocked look and it looked as if she was struggling to find words. It was almost as if the words were literally choking her. “What do you mean?” was the only response she managed to give clearly still struggling with putting words together.
I retorted, “I had my life threatened 3 nights ago. I was warned to stay away from you or risk severe consequences. You never told me you were attached to someone so imagine my shock when I was confronted by his goons. I was only saved because one of them happens to know me and resorted to just giving me a warning. That’s the only reason I don’t have any broken bones right now. So tell me, why did you hide this very important piece of information from me? Why!?” I realised my voice was rising at this point so I took a breather expecting a response.
There was none. She just stood there still with a shocked face. Still seemingly choking on words.
I continued, “see, I’m just a first year student. We’re very good friends. I might even like you, I guess but not at the expense of my life or safety. I came here to acquire knowledge not to get involved in any dangerous drama. That experience 3 days ago was scary and probably a wake up call. I came in peace and would like to exit this campus in peace. I don’t want anyone’s trouble especially someone like Caleb.”
She was shaking now and looked like she could faint right there and then. She stumbled. I quickly rushed to her and caught her. She was in my arms now. She lifted her tear soaked face to look at me briefly then buried her face in my chest and started wailing. Now I was confused.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”, my anger and desire for safety had suddenly disappeared and been replaced with genuine concern and care. “What’s wrong?”, I asked again and pulled her back a bit from me in order to see her face. I still held her by the shoulder. She was still trembling.
“I think I’m in trouble!”, she said. There was genuine fear in her voice now. I was a bit startled. “What…what do you mean?”, I quizzed.
“Caleb, he’s not my boyfriend or anything. We’re just family friends. He’s always been a little overly protective and I thought he was just being brotherly but if he’s gone this far, to the extent of threatening your life, then I might be in real trouble. I might not be safe too afterall”, she confessed.
“Wait, wait…wait a minute!” I was genuinely perplexed now. “You mean the 2 of you are not an item? Yet he got jealous enough about how close the 2 of us have gotten to send his goons to threaten my life and safety? What the heck?!!”
I was getting angry again but this time not at the damsel in front of me. She seemed distraught. If anything, I realised how protective I was of her too. Anyone who threatened her peace and happiness was definitely calling for my trouble. I was ready for a fight.
“I don’t think this is his first time”, she said. “He scares me a lot but until now I thought I was managing him but now I’m very scared for myself…Kwaku, what do I do?”, she asked with a quivering voice.
“I’m at his mercy once I’m here. My parents left me in his care. How do I deal with him without risking mine or your safety? I’m scared of what he might do to you. It’s making my knees weak just to think of it. More than that, I’m scared of losing you because of this. The past 3 days have been hell! I haven’t concentrated one bit in class. I’m unable to eat. I’ve been worried sick but your words tonight have me shaken to my core. What do I do, Kwaku? I don’t want to lose you. I’m really scared” She wasn’t done talking but I had heard enough.
I hugged her tight. My safety concerns were out of the window. There was no way I was leaving her now. She wasn’t going to deal with that monster alone. Not whilst I was around. My hug interrupted her speech. She kept quiet and held me tight, so tight that my ribs hurt but I didn’t react. I held on to her too.
No words were said for a while as we stood in that embrace. It felt like an eternity. A pleasant and calming eternity. This was something worth fighting for, I thought but I also knew I needed a plan and fast if what we had was gonna survive. In that moment though, nothing else mattered.
Nothing at all!
Only the hug did…
Kodi kodi sio!
Love Note 6: THE VIRTUAL FRIENDSHIP…
Everything began with an innocent phone call. It was a lovely Friday night and I had barely entered into my room when my phone rang. I was tired but I tried my best to be polite and not to carry out my frustrations on an innocent person. I looked at the caller ID, an unknown number. That drastically reduced my interest in picking the phone but I was a nice guy. So I did.
“Hello, is this Kojo?”, the most angelic of voices I’d ever heard sang out. Suddenly, I wasn’t tired anymore and I was alert. “This is he”, I replied giving no indication of how mesmerized I was by the sound of her voice.
“Sorry, I hope I’m not calling at a bad time. My name is Jasmine and I got your number from Kyeiwaa”, she sang beautifully. I was hooked. “Oh okay, nice…and how can I be of help?”, I asked.
“Oh nothing…and sorry, this might sound weird but I heard her talking about you and I guess I just wanted to get to know the person she was waxing lyrical about for myself so that’s why I’m calling. I’m very sorry if this is a bit too forward and creepy but I didn’t know any other way to go about it and I didn’t want her to do introductions. I wanted to introduce myself. Hope I’m not scaring you”, she poured out.
As a matter of fact, I was hypnotised by her voice so much that I almost missed much of what of she said but, thankfully, I heard enough. “Interesting…”, I remarked, “…personally, I don’t think that’s creepy at all. I think it’s bold and admirable and, of course, I’ll be interested to get to know you too.”
“I’m glad. I was kinda freaking out here not knowing how you’ll respond.”
“Hahaha…oh no, don’t worry…I’m totally cool and glad you got in touch.”
“Hahaha, thanks for the gentlemanly welcome…you’re a sweetheart!”
This was the beginning of a wonderful virtual friendship. We started with introductions, I found out what she already knew and filled in the blanks and she poured out everything about her she felt I should know. For that first night, forgetting all the tiredness I was complaining about just moments earlier, we went about talking for 6 straight hours. SIX WHOLE HOURS.
Back then, there was no Facebook nor WhatsApp nor smart phones. Samsung was reigning and BlackBerry’s messaging app, BBM, was the closest to modernity one could go. Neither of us had that so we settled with our phone conversations.
For months, we engaged each other with long phone conversations and got to know each other pretty well. I spoke to her siblings and friends and she spoke to mine. We became confidantes and knew intimate details about each other. We were virtually best friends barring one challenge, we had still never met. I had asked about her from Kyeiwaa and gotten a very good report so that gave me some confidence about her but soon enough, that voice of hers was making my head spin.
I was developing feelings for someone I had never met nor even seen a picture of before. This didn’t sit well with me. I was no longer satisfied with just phone calls. We had to meet. I had to, at least, see the face of the one I was falling for. There was only one problem, we were regions apart.
As fate would have it, soon after, my family migrated to Greater Accra, her region, but we were still cities apart. At this point, my urge to see her was growing exponentially and I couldn’t take it anymore.
During one of our chats, I voiced out my thoughts and realised we were both on the same page. We agreed to meet and we set a date for it. I wasn’t very familiar with my new environment so we settled on meeting at a vantage point where I was a bit familiar and scheduled the meetup for the weekend.
I started counting the days. As the time drew closer, the more and more excited I got. I was finally gonna put a face to the voice which had mesmerized me for months and I couldn’t hide my excitement. Our conversations even grew more exciting as we both counted down the days. Finally the D-Day came.
We were meeting around 4 pm but all day I couldn’t do much. I had been distracted by thoughts about how the meet would go all day. How would we act around each other? I wondered. Would we bond physically as we had virtually? These thoughts flooded my mind all day and I couldn’t shake then off.
I arrived at our meetup spot at exactly 3:50 pm and went to stand at a good spot as I waited. I watched every bus which stopped carefully for any signs of her as if I knew her and how she looked like. All my guesses were wrong.
4 pm passed and there was no sign of her yet. I grew impatient. I was about calling her phone when I saw a young lady in a crowd all coming towards me. For some reason, this young lady stood out to me – it could be her, I thought to myself and desisted from calling and ruining a potential surprise. I watched her as the throng of commuters drew closer, she was decently dressed and petite but something else caught my attention. Her looks.
You see, in my mind, I had painted a picture of how Jasmine would look and it was mostly based on how she sounded. Her angelic, soothing voice. In my mind, she had a perfect face and the person I saw coming towards me didn’t fit the image in my head!. Quietly, as I stood there watching them get closer, I started praying, “God, don’t let that be her…oh God, don’t let that be her!”
I saw another girl a few metres away from her. She looked a bit more like the person I’d imagined and my heart relaxed for a brief second. Perhaps that’s her rather, I assured my soul.
As they drew nearer and nearer, my prayer grew in intensity but the more I prayed the closer she came. Oh boy! Soon enough, she was right in front of me whilst the other girl had casually walked by. She looked at me with a smile and sheepishly inquired, “Kojo?”
Oh boy, it was that voice. It was her. At that realisation, my heart sunk. Why did it have to be her? I questioned the air, in my head, whilst feigning a smile back and saying, “finally, we meet!”
For the rest of our interaction, I couldn’t concentrate. I felt deceived. Deceived by a voice so sweet. Deceived by my brain’s wild imagination. It was no fault of hers. None at all. But I was annoyed and she was the reason why. I couldn’t give her any indication though so I braved through the entire meetup.
On my way back home, I knew that, sadly, one thing was certain, this friendship was never gonna be the same again…
Kodi kodi sio!
Love Note 5: A Message To Her (poem)…
I think about you a lot,
You have no clue how much,
I’ve thought about you a lot,
Over the years, I’ve lost count of how much,
I’ve tried distracting myself with countless others,
Done my best to keep you clueless,
Gone out of my way to make things less obvious
Now I think I won
I think about you a lot,
But you have no idea,
I stick around and observe,
And try my best not to be bare,
Cos I’ve always been scared
Scared I may fail if you said yes,
Scared I may be frail if it is no,
Scared a friendship I’m fighting to grow to might be strained if not properly addressed,
Scared opening up more might push you away to Togo
I think about you a lot,
I try to stay away but can’t,
You might think others mean more to me but, surely, you are wrong,
You’ve only thought so cos I wanted you to,
I guess I haven’t been man enough to show how I truly feel to you,
I tried to wean myself off you so, for a while, through these years, I stayed away,
When everyone else thought my heart belonged to another,
When even I tried to force my heart to surrender to some other,
My mind wouldn’t take my thoughts off you
Yet you still don’t know
You inspire me a lot even though I watch from afar;
Your progress in building yourself up excites and encourages me a lot,
The strength and depth of character you possess pushes me not to give up on myself,
The humility you display despite all these qualities renders me speechless
Yet you have no clue
Not even those “few” times I bothered you
You have no idea how excited I get to hear from you,
You have no idea how much joy I get when I receive a message from you,
You have no idea the energy and strength it takes to keep my distance when I do
Maybe it’s a blessing you are far away,
That I don’t get to see you each day,
That we don’t get to interact always,
That your dreams and drive keep you busy,
That you have no clue about this really,
I get to maintain an air of sanity still, I guess
Don’t be surprised if you get to read this and still have no idea it’s you I’m talking about
Maybe things are better off this way
Unless you do feel the same way
And think as much about this clueless dude as he does you.
Do you?
Kodi kodi sio!
Love Note 4: THE APPOINTMENT…
I woke up with a headache. A pleasant headache. My eyes were groggy. I had barely slept. However, despite all this my heart was glad. Progress had been made. It didn’t matter that I had an external exam to write in a few hours. An important exam for that matter. No. My heart was glad and nothing could ~ was allowed ~ to change that state. I had finally spoken to Asiedua and boy had it gone well! The future looked bright. I suddenly was looking forward to Val’s day.
I woke up with a headache and it was my network’s fault. They brought free night calls after all. Why couldn’t they predict that it was gonna affect some of us if we truly wanted to get ahead of issues? I had been on phone since 10 pm last night. This was a phone call I had been working at for almost a year. Did they think I’ll let it slip just because I had to sit for an Economics paper that morning?
Hwɛ! Thankfully, Economics was something I never struggled with. I had always had an A in any Economics paper I wrote and this exam, whether external or not, wasn’t going to be an exception despite the lack of preparation due to those ‘awam‘ preparation given to us by the tutor. That’s another story for another day though.
Anyway, so Asiedua used to be a classmate of mine till we entered SHS. I attended a top boy’s school whereas she was at a top girl’s school in another region. Due to my academic prowess, I had also managed to go a year ahead of her in this period so now she was my junior…of sorts.
We had never really been close back in JHS; we were quite cordial and friendly to each other, we had a lot of mutual friends and, once in a while, you would find us sitting and having a fun, lovely chat but it never went beyond that. I had always admired her from afar; her beauty and class, her intelligence, and her decent style of living. However, she was a typical dada-bee, with rich parents and all the life that came with it whereas I was a by force dada-bee with hard labour.
Hers was the real deal whilst mine was to help me fit in. My parents were well to do but no one had time to pamper me so I chose to do that myself. This though still didn’t help me fit in her world. Her calibre of friends including some of our mutual ones were all high class and sometimes, being in their midst, made a local boy like me feel uncomfortable. I was only worth their time, in my view, due to the high pedestal my intelligence afforded me in school. I was a shark and they respected me for it.
I always felt lost when conversations switched from academics to life. It was almost like we lived in different universes. What I considered blessings in my world were usually described as nuisances in theirs. The meals I could kill for were poor people’s food for them. I usually kept quiet in these moments asking myself a lot of questions. They didn’t care enough to notice, or so I thought. To them, I was seemingly another rich kid but, to me, I felt like a pauper in their midst. These kids talked about traveling to UK and US as if they were talking about boarding STC to Cape-Coast…I mean how? How could I ever fit in?
So, despite liking her so much, I convinced myself it was a bad idea and desisted from ever making my intentions known. With the image I had created for myself, I didn’t need anyone to delve deeper to realise most of it was a sham. In my house, bread was a treasured commodity and so was gari. We treated both with respect. In their world, both were perishable goods; useful but not important.
Hwɛ!!!
Years passed, all of us moved into Senior High, most of them travelled outside to further their schooling but Asiedua chose to stay in Ghana. Over the years, we barely kept in touch but my affection for her and attraction to her never dwindled. Also, that phenomenon of girls suddenly transforming into prettier women while in SHS had happened to her from the pictures I saw and that made getting over her harder.
I tried to get in touch with her during vacations but she mostly went outside the country for holidays so it looked like this dream of mine was never gonna become reality. Of course, it didn’t help that I still saw her as someone from a different world to mine.
However, my final semester in the University, something strange happened. During the vacation, I was busily prepping for an international exam (for a scholarship) I had qualified for due to my incredible GPA when I got word that Asiedua was in town. Tried as I did, I couldn’t get her number or a way to get in touch so I gave up. Years had already gone by with no contact so there was little to no hope. Then, one hot afternoon, I got a call. It was her!
To describe my excitement in that moment will require another story but, of course, I kept my cool. As usual, as we always somehow did, we had a nice chat; catching up on the years we’d been out of touch, drumming up old memories and many more. It was a lovely convo but things got interesting towards the end of the call and that’s why the free night call I had just had with her was so important.
Just after exchanging our goodbyes, just when I was about to drop the call to go daydream about her, she muttered, “you know it’s strange, but you’re always on my mind and until we spoke today, I didn’t realise how much I’d missed you!”
She sounded very sincere and very vulnerable in that moment but, for me, it was like I had been hit with a thunderbolt. Words failed me in that moment.
“Are you there?”, she asked. “Yes…I am. Just a little surprised at what you’re saying, that’s all”, I replied sweetly and sincerely.
“I know. I think I’ll love to talk to you more, to figure out why I feel this way about you and to see if it’s possibly mutual but, I’ll be away for a while and it’ll be impossible to get in touch so we’ll have to do so when I return…what do you say?”, she said.
I had been quiet and in shock at this revelation all this while but I had to respond so I asked, “when are you returning?”
“A week or so before Val’s day…on the 5th of February, I think, so we can talk on the evening of the 6th, if that’s okay…”
I remembered that was the evening before my Economics paper for the international scholarship but no way was I gonna risk a further postponement. “Okay, agreed”, I said and added knowing full well the repercussions, “we can even do a free night call so we’ll have more hours to talk.”
“Yeah, I’ll love that!”, she said with a tinge of excitement in her voice.
With that, we ended the call and I started counting the days; not in anticipation of the impending paper this morning but of how I was going to stay up all night just to talk to a girl.
Now my head aches…
Kodi kodi sio!
LoveNote 3: THE SUPRISE GIFT…
It was supposed to be a normal, boring Monday. An uneventful school day but if the happenings of the weekend indicated anything, this was not a normal day. School wise, nothing was necessarily different. As usual, our morning class had not come on as the teacher was stuck prepping the final years for their BECE…
We spent the whole period as a class chatting; not as one big group but, of course, people had interesting tales to catch up on. As for me, I was busily signalling Kelvin to swap seats with me so I could sit together and talk with Gloria. This was an arrangement we often engaged in whenever Gloria and I had something to discuss or, just plainly wanted to spend time together.
We had been in the same class since kindergarten but had only really become close in Junior High. Before then, we were cool and cordial but we never really got personal. Now, we were the tightest of friends ~ confidantes ~ and people were starting to notice. Most of them were curious and baffled at the same time because we were the 2 people most unlikely, in their predictions, to pair up; both of us were introverted and kept to ourselves, friendly to everyone but, alas, friend to none. So yeah, our bond was a source of interesting glances…
How we had suddenly become good friends was a story deserving of an Oscar but how quickly we had grown close and inseparable was more legendary and that bemused our classmates more.
Today, I was trying to get to sit with her because, over the weekend, using her home landline, she had called to inform me that she had a surprise to share with me. This had been our thing, surprising each other with gifts every now and then; first, it was a box of chocolates the day before my birthday, then a novel for her when she least expected. This had pleasantly begun a trend of surprising each other in turns when the other least expected so obviously I was expectant and excited.
Also, it had occurred to me that Val’s day was a few days away so chances were, whatever the surprise, it was going be lovely and I was gonna like it.
After a few folded paper throws (at Kelvin), I finally got his attention and signalled him to do justice to our arrangement. This deal had cost me one lunch meal but, in comparison to my benefits, it was a splendid deal. Kelvin smirked, then smiled, then started packing the books he’ll need for the day from his desk, as I did same on my end, we proceeded to swap seats. Of course, my original sitting partner, Ruth, was also delighted about this arrangement as she got to goof off as usual with her pal, Kelvin. Our goodbyes were quick…lol
After quickly taking my seat, before wandering eyes noticed and signalled everyone else, I shoulder-bumped Gloria, who seemed lost in a book she was reading, to get her attention. She looked up and, upon seeing me, gave that smile I had come to cherish. “What took you so long?”, she asked feigning annoyance. “Kelvin’s nerves don’t send signals the same way those of ordinary humans do…I had to basically paper bomb him severally just to get his attention”, I replied.
She chuckled and grasped my hand affectionately, “you’re here now though, right? And that’s all that matters.” My head had gained a pound in weight at that moment but my curiosity was not yet satisfied.
“So what’s the surprise? What do you have for me that you couldn’t tell me on phone?”, I asked impatiently. “Abrantie, abotrɛ!”, she replied teasingly, “you just sat down, take a breath.” I gave her an annoyed stare. She giggled.
“Ok…ok…so this surprise isn’t necessarily for you even though it’s for you and inspired by you”, she started. I was confused. “What does that mean?”, I quizzed.
“Well, it means even though I got this because of you, you wouldn’t necessarily be the one using it or enjoying it…it will stay with me.”
I was intrigued. What gift could this possibly be, I wondered. I said nothing though and only kept staring at her expectantly.
Giggling at the serious look on my face, she opened up the lid of her desk and took out a phone. A mobile phone. Suddenly, everything made sense!
Thing is, I had been using a mobile phone since the beginning of Junior High and was the only one among my mates to have one. We had been talking a lot all this while but she was always either using her mum’s phone or the house landline and that made talking for long sometimes a challenge.
My face was a mixture of excitement and surprise and she saw it which made her giggle more. She literally actually had to cover her mouth to prevent laughing out loud at my reaction. “How did you get it?”, I queried.
“So, for my last birthday, you remember I had no party.”
“Yes, I remember cos I had to organise a small one here…of course, I remember”
Holding the phone, she said, “this is why.” I still didn’t get it though so I probed further.
“What do you mean?”
“So I asked my parents for a phone and was asked to choose between a party and it, and I chose the phone so we could talk more going forward…and text too.”
My heart almost burst out of my chest. I was stunned. Happy yet stunned nonetheless. Not because of the phone nor even the story but because of her reason behind it.
She chose to let go of a party, something I knew she so much wanted, all so she could get a phone to talk to me? Wow. In that moment, my mind had blanked out a bit processing all this new information.
“Wow, that’s a good surprise!” was all I could say whilst resisting the urge to hug her in the midst of all the inquisitive ones around.
Kodi kodi sio!
LoveNote 2: THE PROMISE…
My feet were dangling off the wall as I reclined putting my sore back back on the bed. I had been in a rigid posture for a couple of hours now and my spine had started distributing alarm signals. With my back on the bed now and my feet hanging up to rest on the newly painted wall, might I add, I was in a better position to continue to enjoy this scintillating conversation with her.
The friendship was pretty much still in the honeymoon phase though months had already passed. We seemed never to run out of topics during phone conversations and, being a usually awkward dude, this was a welcome change.
“Hey, are you there?”, I heard her ask. “Oh yeah, sorry…just trying to lay down a bit and rest my back”, I replied.
“Oh okay, sorry, hehe, I got your back hurting, huh?”
“Hahaha. Of course, it’s your fault!”
“Hahaha”
For two people who had already been talking for hours you would have thought this would indicate the dwindling down and eventual end of the call but no. We were just getting started.
“So how many kids again did you say you want to have?”, she asked. I giggled.
“Seven”
“Same woman?”
“Hopefully, yeah…too much?”
She was trying so hard to hold herself from the laughter pushing its way out but the latter’s urge was too strong. She broke out in a wild laughter. Lol. “Are you crazy? You want to kill someone’s daughter? Who will agree to this?”, she asked still laughing
“Oh, some can be twins or triplets ooo”, the idiotic me retorted.
“Those ones don’t require pushing eh?”, she quickly remarked.
“Oh bɛ you!?” was all I could mutter embarrassed at my obvious blunder.
She was still laughing hard though. More loudly by the minute. My embarrassment was growing by the minute too but she wouldn’t stop…
In a bid to stop her, I attempted to change topics but that too was not working. In the midst of my frustrations, I asked, “so you, how many kids do you want to have?”
This brought her back to the conversation, “oh me? Just 3; 2 boys and a girl.” “Why 2 boys?”, I inquired, genuinely curious. “Well, because I’ve always liked boys and you made my love for baby boys increase so yeah, boys”, she replied.
“Me!?”, genuinely shocked.
“Oh yeah, and I plan to name at least one of my boys after you…”
“Me!?”, now more puzzled than shocked, “why?”
“You’ve made me very happy the past few months and I cherish that. Even if we don’t end up together, I’ll find a way to keep you close and the next best thing is giving your name to a child of mine. You can even consider it my Val’s day present to you”, she said in a matter of fact-ly tone.
Stunned silence.
“You there?”
“Yeah, sorry, and…and what about your husband?”
“What about him? he’ll understand, don’t fret all. I’m told, most times, women are influential with the names of their kids anyway so I’ll just utilise mine”, she explained, again with much certainty.
I was quiet. At that point, no words came to mind. I’m not sure they would have mattered much anyway. My mind was processing the alarming information with more speed than a supercomputer.
If only she could see my face…I honestly don’t know what her reaction then would have been…
Kodi kodi sio!
LoveNote 1: THE SECRET ADMIRER…
It was my first Val’s day on campus; a lovely Tuesday with perfect cloudy weather. The year was 2006. Throughout the weekend, campus had been raving as boys had already started receiving their gifts and letters from their conquests in the various female schools both in the region and beyond.
If you grew up in Ghana and experienced our High School boarding house system, you definitely have an idea of what I’m talking about😁
So yeah, the weekend had been exciting and hilarious as entertainment time was used to read out messages received by boys from their girls (yeah, some had multiple) to our hearing amidst the many other activities. Some messages were lovely, others were quite literally hilarious but some also sent the whole hall of boys screaming in ecstasy and disbelief. Some messages erh…hmm…lol
I had received none thankfully. As a first year boy, it was quite literally considered suicidal to receive a note from a crush especially when some seniors were ‘gnashing‘. Some did though, and their fates got sealed simply by receiving notes…
I had crushes and, perhaps, love interests but no girlfriend. I was expecting nothing either that weekend or on the actual Val’s day so when Sefah walked into our class with letters, I paid no mind to him at all and rather focused on my notebook…
“Guys, wanna letters drop ooo”, he said gleefully to an excited and expectant group of boys. Most knew they were getting some so they waited anxiously. I didn’t so it came as a total shock when, suddenly, an envelope was dropped on my table. Everyone was bemused.
“Eii! so the chrife guys too dey chop valentine?”, someone quickly asked. Loudly. The entire class laughed. It was Sylvester. I turned to him swiftly and retorted mockingly, “abe we we no be human beings!” More laughter. My close pals in the class were curious too though especially my sitting partner, Andrews.
Now that things had quietened, my curiosity was peaked. Who was this? Who had sent me a letter on this day of all days? I could see my name on the envelope and the kind of envelope used didn’t leave much to figure out except from whom.
My thoughts were disturbed by a querying voice. It was Andrews. “So are you going to keep staring at it or open it?” I looked at him and retorted, “kokonsa!”
To be honest, in that moment, I was a little scared to open the envelope but I knew I will be disturbed until I did so I got on with it cautiously.
Opening such envelopes was always a work of art as, in those days, the artistic qualities of people were on full display. Everything about letters in those days was artistic. From the designs on the envelopes to the drawn watermark features on the letters themselves. Everything was worth preserving and to destroy one was deemed a taboo.
After carefully opening it to preserve its artistic integrity, I took out the letter. The designs on it alone brought reactions from many peeping eyes, “Eii, no be now ooo” they all uttered in unison as if rehearsed. “Charley, the girl dey form”, said Sylvester who had come closer after the initial reaction. “The design kɛkɛ sef this, then the content dier”, he added. Laughter rang across. Impressed laughter this time.
In the midst of all this, I was quiet and quite plainly stunned. I was stiff and my eyes couldn’t shift from the sheet of paper I was holding. My eyes were wide open and unmoving as I gazed upon the colourful paper in my hands. I was shocked. Not by the design. Not by the comments. Not even by the letter itself. BUT THE NAME – THE NAME OF THE SENDER!!!
Kodi kodi sio!
THE END.
Agostino.
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