Illusions Of Love

Chapter 3

It was a bright Saturday morning. Adobea woke up feeling dull and numb in her joints.

“What’s happening to me?” she said. “Is it because I have stopped exercising? I miss hiking.”

“Perhaps you have missed Aboagye,” said Baafour, her younger brother.

“Please don’t remind me of my woes, Baafour. I was just recovering from the shock.”

“I know, sis. Take it easy. Gaither will be back soon. Did he not promise he will?”

“I hope he will. Yes, he did promise,” she said, sighing. “But seriously, Baafour, the pain in my joints is mind-boggling.”

“Did you go to the beach yesterday?”

“What are you trying to insinuate, my brother? Careful! Yes, I did.”

“You might have strained yourself too much.”

“That’s a much better explanation, my dear brother than reopening my wounds. I didn’t go with Gaither. If that is what you’re insinuating.” Baafour was just about to respond when they heard a knock on the door.

“Are you expecting someone?” asked Baafour.

“Not at all.”

“Let’s see who’s at the door,” said Baafour. Baafour opened the door circumspectly, filled with mixed emotions of both relief and uncertainty. There stood before him someone he least expected, relieved that this person had somehow appeared at the right time when his sister needed company badly. It could send wrong signals to Reverend Brown anyway.

“Oh! It’s you!” he said, dully.” “Welcome.” His words seemed to be in direct contrast with his feelings.

“Thank you,” replied Aboagye, letting himself in. This is a very wrong moment to appear, my brother. He thought. Aboagye also thought his welcome was a very cold one but couldn’t be bothered.

Welcome? Is that all Baafour could say? Thought Adobea. Could he not give him an excuse or two to send him fleeing for his life? Who led him here anyway? All these thoughts were running through Adobea’s mind as she tried to process everything that was happening at once.

“Won’t you even ask me to come in?” Aboagye said, smiling. Do you even have the nerves to be calm about this? What if my father finds you? What are you going to do? You have disobeyed his orders and broken bounds. As Adobea thought about these, she realised he had already let himself in. Love had a way of breaking bounds. The hostility in her heart that she had developed due to her indebtedness to her father suddenly gave way to the love she had been secretly harbouring and then she realised she had missed him so much. 

“A hug will do,” he said, drawing close. Adobea stepped back a few inches and heaved a sigh of relief for her foresight as her father entered. As soon as he saw Aboagye, he was furious. What was this guy doing here after those stern warnings of his? Was he so adamant? 

Aboagye stepped backwards, wishing he had never made such a move. Was it prudent to cower in the face of challenges like these? Was it not time to prove himself to Adobea’s father that he was not the man he thought he was? Too much bad blood had gone on between them. The two eyes met with horror. Memories of the past came rushing through their minds.

“Young man,” said Adobea’s father, choosing his words carefully. “I thought I asked you to stay away from my daughter?”

“Yes, you rightly did so,” he replied. “I did so until she needed me.” Adobea’s father’s eyes run wild. He almost moved forward to do something against his will yet, stopped in his tracks.

“Young man. She has a family who loves her and can take care of her,” he said, restraining himself.

“I understand and respect that, but, with all due respect, you would think otherwise if you received such a message,” replied Aboagye, holding out his phone and showing Adobea’s father the SOS message someone had sent him.

“Hm!” he sighed. “And who, if I may ask, sent you this?” he asked suspiciously. Aboagye’s eyes turned towards Baafour.

“Don’t tell me it was you! I expected something much better from you, my son.”

“I know nothing about this, Dad,” he said, lying through his teeth.

“I know it when you’re telling lies, Baafour. Change your ways. It won’t help you!” Aboagye could hardly restrain himself from laughing. Why would Baafour deny it? “Adobea!” he yelled. “Look at me straight in the eye and tell me you know nothing about this.”

“Much as I would like to, I’m as confused as you are, Dad,” she replied.

“Then I’m going to send this young man out of my house with immediate effect.” Baafour, Adobea, and Aboagye gawked at each other. All of them would lose if Aboagye was sent away.

“Dad, please be patient,” said Adobea, trying to convince her father.

“Have you told him you are betrothed to a man? Adobea?” Aboagye was dumbfounded.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to do so, Dad,” she replied.

“You had better tell him so he doesn’t get wrong ideas.” Turning to Aboagye, he said: “Young man, this woman you are seeing here is married! You had better keep your hands off her!”

Mr Adjei’s words cut right through Adobea’s heart.

‘Dad, why are you doing this?”

“It is either Gaither or you get out of my house!”

“Please, Dad. You can't do that to me.”

“I just did.” Adobea leered at Baafour. He leered back. Aboagye stood motionless and in a dilemma. Did he have to leave the scene or stay?

That night, Adobea knew she had to choose between Gaither and Aboagye, one leading to getting in her father’s good books and the other a painful choice of exiting her father’s house without turning back. That night, she and Baafour brainstormed the options before them. It was either she found a place to stay or played along with her father’s schemes.

“Come stay with me,” said Baafi. “But Dad must not know your whereabouts. And if he sees you, you must respect him. I’m sure he will come to his senses soon.”

“I didn’t know my father was capable of disowning me,” she said, sobbing.

“I would have done that too if my daughter disobeyed me. Would you really choose Baafour over Gaither?” Adobea was silent.

“Does your silence mean a yes?”

“What if it is, Baafi? I met Baafour before Gaither. It’s not fair that I have to choose between the two.”

“Take it easy, Adobea. I am not the one you are in contention with.” Adobea hit his chest and almost let out the greatest moan.

When Baafi drew near to his room, his hallmates saw Adobea and started giving catcalls.

“Hei Fine Chic! Are you coming to snatch him away from his girlfriend? You sure are pretty!”

“Baafi! Fine chic you have there!”

“Eii! You couldn’t wait for her to go away. You have brought another one here. We will tell her.” Adobea kept peering at them

“Why chic? You no get mouth?”

“You won’t even say hi after all the fans we have given you?”

“What do I do? Baafi? she asked, holding on to him tightly.

“Just acknowledge them.” 

“How?” 

“Just wave.” 

“Okay.” Adobea gave a slight shy wave. The men went crazy. Some blew her kisses whilst others run down bare-chested to see her for real.

“This be your new girlfriend?”

“No. She be my sister.”

“Your sister fine pass your girlfriend. I wan take am.”

“She’s already taken.”

“Oh no! Why have all the fine chics been taken?”

Adobea slipped into Baafi’s room, away from all the chatter and hullabaloo. So Adobea and Aboagye kept going out under the watchful eye of her brother.

Mr Agyei waited and waited for his daughter to come back pleading with him, that she loved Gaither more than Baafour. She never did. He missed her so much and his promise to Mr Brown was on the line.

“We have lost our daughter,” said Mrs Adjei. “See what your wrath towards her has caused?” ogling at her husband. “And you’ve lost the contract too.

“What contract?”

“The contractual agreement between you and father Brown.”

“It was hasty and uncalled for.”

“Why don’t you retract it?”

“How can I?”

“The same way you signed for it. Tell him you have changed your mind.”

“Do you know what we stand to lose if I do so?”

“It’s not worth your daughter’s happiness.”

Mr Adjei sat trembling before father Brown. As a man of God, he knew something was up.

“Is it about your daughter?”

“Yes,” bowing his head in shame.

“I heard about it,”

“You did? Oh my goodness!”

 “I shouldn’t have agreed to this in the first place. They must be allowed to love whomever they wish.”

“I just want her to find the right man”

“Be patient and show her that you trust her.”

“So what about this contract?”

“It still holds provided they love each other. Let’s give them a chance. “