LOVES NOT IN HER DICTIONARY

CAUGHT OFF GUARD.

"Adjei! Adjei! Adjei!" he cried out, caught of guard; from the impact of the sting the hit produced. Waking from his comatose state finally aware of his surroundings plus the presence of his mother.

"Ma!" he shouted stepping back from the angry woman.

"Heerh! Akwesi! You are a very foolish boy." She bellowed. She only called him that (a name naturally gained by being born on a Sunday in the Ghanaian society; this was the Akan tribe. Other tribes also did have their corresponding names to the days of the week ) when she was really pissed off With him which rarely happened giving him the hint she was boiling.

"Ooh! Ma!" was the meow that escaped his lips. He knew best than to do more than that, yet could not refrain from asking the worst interrogation.

"How did you get here?" this ticked his mother off more making her advance aggressively and him retreat instinctively agilely.

"Me tu ba ye!" ↔️ "I flew here!" she answered sarcastically. "Denkyem!" ↔️ "Crocodile! Did just ask me that silly questions?" she shouted.

"Ma! kafra!"↔️"Ma! Sorry!" he apologized fearfully.

"Sorry for your pathetic self! " she roared ensued by a rain of questions in incredulity. "How can you be so lost in your head to a deadly extent like this? Have you forgotten we are at the farm? what is wrong with you? How stupid can you be? To think that, I left my lunch which is by the way your favourite, also run a marathon here only to meet you pining over what?" she rattled away unbelievably in exhaustion.

"Ma! Ampa?"↔️"Ma! Really?" he asked with excitement in his sparkly eyes forgetting the dangerous situation he was in for a moment there.

"Oooh! Fa Fri me su! Anti na okom di Wu?" ↔️" Ooh! Get the hell off my face! So were you hungry?" His mother thundered sardonically making him shake with a further step back from her.

"Maaaa! Aaah! Nanka." ↔️ "Maaaa! Aaaah! Of course!" he protested snottily.

"Shouldn't you be ashamed of yourself? Knowing I run over here in panic thinking the worst had happened to you! Only to find you in good shape." She spat with her banshee.. ish! soprano as if she was not glad he was unscathed. " What in the name of holy Mary is wrong with you? Do want to give me high blood pressure or heart attack at this age?"

"Oooh no! Holy Mary did nothing. But yeah! the devil did numbers on me yesterday yet you wouldn't believe me even if I told you." He contrived within bitterly with only a solemn feature to show. "If only i could tell you." he grieved sadly.

"If your plan is to send me to an early grave before you give me my grandchildren? Then you have failed! 'Tie me yie! Wa tu atra! ↔️ Hear me well! you have missed your goal!" his mother raged on.

He looked at his mother unbelievably dumbfounded with wide eyes. He began contemplating if he was hallucinating due to his ordeal the night before. It felt as if he was hearing a foreign language and seeing an alien. Moreso, he ponders the possibility of his mother being part of the ploy in consideration of what he just heard but he debunked the idea. knowing his mother perfectly well, she'd have went ahead to marry Tekyiwaa for you for him rather than this inhumane method.

"Wait!" she said with a pause. "Akwesi! were you crying earlier?" She asked standing sternly akimbo.

He draws in a sobbish heave then sighs dejectedly "Hhmmmmm!"

"Your sisters told me you had too much to drink at the durbar yesterday. Since they could not carry you home and Tekyiwaa lived close to the grounds, also considering she is almost like a daughter to us plus a sister to your siblings as much as to you too. They thought it wise to take you there, to her house to rest rest up and possibly sober up. Now hurry tell! Did you get drunk because of a girl? Were you also crying just a while ago because of the same thing?

"Hallelujah! my suspicion had been confirmed. They were working together. what grievous sin did I comment in my past life to face this kind of retribution? And yes mother!" he groaned painfully audibly "I was in tears because of a girl better yet girls! Now that my assumption was correct, but for all the wrong reasons. Takyewaa, sister? my foot!" he banished disdainfully inside "A sister that took damaging carnal advantage of me ruthlessly! in my helpless state!" he wanted to scream "The other two witches couldn't be anything close to being my siblings! vindictive refugees!" he barked within boiling with rage. "What did I ever do to them to deserve this disrespectful treatment? He didn't even want to recognize or acknowledge them anymore. If ever there was any ties he believed, he had with them? It had ended. Devious harlots! They even cooked up a clean story to backup their sin of the soul. I must give it to them tho!" he thought cynically "They are really good; I underestimated them. That duo, sisters in succession needed serious deliverance." Inwardly he spoke bitterly grinding his teeth to a chattering sound.

His internal monologue was causing more harm than he could notice. Buried in thought in-depth making it seem as if he was ignoring his mother purposely. His mother was getting more and more impatient with his sealed lip but agonizing contemplative changing display board.

"Will you spill it or do you want me to squeeze it out of you?" She asked probing him.

"Yes Ma! No Ma! Sorry Ma!" he responded to the two questions in a confused manner with unstable tone to the misunderstanding and extreme aggravation of his mother. Before he could say what his mother would have wanted to hear or something close, a hand was already flying past his cheek. Pa! he took a slap followed with a dangerous question.

"Akwesi! Me na wu de me di agoro nu?" ↔️"Akwesi! Is it me you toying with?" his mother asked enraged.

There was nothing more distorting than being misunderstood in a confused state with relatability being the fuel. His answer made his mother's mind replayed a game the primary school kids played in the village square which had a rhyming successcive response."Yes! No! it maybe so!" simply put she believed he was messing with her when he was in truth meserable.

"Ooh Ma! No!" he shouted in protest against the action, wobbling his body like an earthworm surrounded by red ants fussing. Nonetheless, he knew better than to keep that act on for too long. It would be best to swallow the pain and straighten his thoughts for she just gave him a headstart. The woman in his presence could be sweet as she can be also expertly scary if one pushed the wrong button too firmly.

"Finwuuu! Ma!" she retorted. " Are you keeping things from me now? Heeeerh! Akwesi?" she pushed further. " Yiee! Maa bo ka hunu!" ↔️ "Yiee! I have lost miserably!" she lamented.

"A big smiley Yes! Was the correct response yet he dared not say it. After that what next? How would he explain his dehumanizing ordeal? Would she even trust his words? She'd perceive him with screws missing. When she had already bestowed a prestigious tittle on her 'DAUGHTER'. Takyewaa?" He snorted in disgust. "A taboo! is what that possessed girl is." These were his train of thoughts whiles the silent persisted.

"Paa Akwesi!" she entrenched deafeningly. " Are you suffering from a broken heart that you cannot tell your mother? Should you be presented with my lifeless body before you speak?" Now deploying her emotional blackmail mechanisms.

Scoff! weakly saying "Daabi Ma!" ↔️ "No Mother! if should take a liking to someone, you would be the first to know. I would not wait till I got disappointed to inform you. It is nothing of that nature at all Ma."

"Then tell me, what had you so out of place and in tears? If I were to be a predator, I would have killed you easily you know? Don't you try to refute it, You'd lose the argument." His mother concluded. Bob had already put together what to tell his mother. He only prayed she would take his word for it leaving him be. Seeing as he was awful at lies. He was already caught in the spider's web, the more he tried to free himself by moving the more entangled he would be.

"Mother! Take a good look around. Because, I had too much sweet palm wine to drink last night; I was unable to do my portion today!" he said faking agitation non- conformingly. " Not just that, I feel Soo ashamed to have exposed myself, I mean that part of me" he fumbled "in such a state to Takyewaa yesterday." knowing exactly which parts he meant unfortunately, whiles at the same time thankful his mother didn't. worst of all, he couldn't simply tell her to liberate himself from the torture. Most of all, that daughter of Eve should be the mortified one! not him? However, he couldn't help it. That little w***e needs to go for confession alongside exorcism." He dropped these venom spiked inner thoughts to himself sourly whiles maintaining a make believe worried embarrassed look for his mother bowing shyly as he continued. "Mother, everybody in this community knows me to be a decent boy with clean sheets. What would they think of me now?" Ver much conscious of what he meant to the oblivion of his mother favourably.

His mother looked at her ward in bewilderment. Her son could easily pass for a Roman father without question. of course! she was proud of him; for whom he had grown to be, for thinking responsibly. More so, for feeling ashamed for his misbehavior. That not withstanding, he was older than most of the males in the village and did drink once in a while on a controlled scale with the supervision of his father. However, this revelation of his, made her feel something was amiss or he was lacking in a sense.

"For crying out loud! it was a first-time flaw! 'she agreed and went on to convince herself she by passed a vital detail' it was not a new mistake he was the first to perpetuate? it did happen to normal people! As a matter of facts, it could happen to anyone." She endorsed. "Now the question stands .... So why is he taking it hard and punishing himself to the extent of crying?" she wondered. A look at the tall well-formed partially muscled figure before her, she called her son! a male child for that matter." she buttressed "with all these scrutiny waving in her coconut made her worry. It made question herself, If her over protection would make her son into an overly emotional man?

"That wouldn't be good!" she contemplated nervously. "A man who could be taken advantage of by females? she queried wearily "God forbid!" she thought exasperated as shook her head to denounce the idea. "The devil is a liar!" rolled by her screens in capital letters. S he rebuked the possibility.

"My only son can not become a woman wrapper! as in a woman's footstool, no way!" she progressed in her disturbing thoughts. In that instant a name came to her mind ... TAKYEWAA! Ding! like the Pop up of a brilliant idea! In this case the least pleasing in consideration of the lead role player. she was definitely sure she had something about the girl.

"Did she really hear concern for Takyewaa in her son's speech?" she wondered. she wanted to get to the bottom of it all.

"Takyewaa is a good cultured girl, if Bobbie is interested in her? she would not object." she affirmed. "It was high time he had a girlfriend; morso, she could start preparations towards his marriage. My dream of being a grandma before my time here elapsed might not be that far fetched as i had believed." she contrived excitedly. She inquired calmly now than initially ....