Hello lovely readers? I believe you are all doing fine? I appreciate how patient some of you have been for the next episode. Thank you ❤️ I promise not to keep you waiting for so long. Incomparable episode five…enjoy?

 

Bad Memory Lane

The next morning I left early for school, by afternoon I have spoken to my teammates and we had so much to do so traveling with Kwaku was completely out of the question. I called and told him about it but he understood and decided to go alone.

The following week I woke up and saw that he has sent me details of his trip.

“ I would send the location when I get there” he had texted.

I called him.

“ Hey Babe,” he said

“ Hey.. how are you?”

“ I’m alright. How are you?”

“ I am fine.. so I just saw that you sent me a photo of your train ticket?”

“ Yep! In case you change your mind and want to join me you would know which one to get on”

I smiled

“ Stop tempting me with your trip babe, I am not going to change my mind. I am too busy”

“Just Incase babe. No pressure..” he said and chuckled

“ So are you already at the train station?”

“ Yes.. would get on the train soon”

“ Have a safe trip babe. Be careful out there” I said

I went about my day, we were shooting a film my team and I had written. I met them at the location we had to shoot. That particular scene needed to be done outdoors but it seemed that day wasn’t the best day to shoot. The clouds started to gather it looked like it was about to rain. Our lead actress Amina was running late. We waited a while for her but at the first drop of rain we packed up our pieces of equipment. They were too expensive to risk it getting wet.

We decided to shoot other scenes that were indoor but we still couldn’t get in touch with our actress. She later called one of my teammates Simon and told him she couldn’t make it. She was a bit under the weather. I couldn’t believe it, I was very sure we could have made some progress that day. We had a short meeting to decide what to do next but it looked like we had to hold on and wait till Amina, our lead actress got better.

“ Simon please keep me updated on her,” I said

Simon nodded.

We parked our stuff into our van and Simon dropped me off at my apartment.

“ Thanks,” I said.

Before I got off the van, my other teammate Paige told me she had to go spend some time with her teenage daughter who just had a baby.

“ I have been holding off on it for a while but I was thinking since we have a little time on our hands now, I want to go check on her. I would be back to Bristol before you know it” she said

Her timing was bad because what if Amina feels better the next day and Paige wasn’t back then we would have to wait on her and that delays our filming time. It wasn’t my call to say no to her, Paige was the oldest one on our team and she covered up for me more when I had to go home to deal with my issue with Kwaku.

She going to see her teenage daughter who is now a mother was a big deal, bigger than mine. I looked at my other teammates’ faces but I couldn’t read them. I wasn’t sure what was going on and I wasn’t going to keep a mother away from her daughter because of some film we needed to shoot for school.

“Congratulations Paige!” I said and smiled

“ Umm…This is great news! I think it’s alright. I am sure we can manage without you” I lied.

Simon raised an eyebrow when I said that. Maggie, the last teammate just stared at me, she had decided not to utter a word.

Paige was elated but I felt I had let my other teammates down.

“ Thanks a lot, Nana Afia,” Paige said

I got off the van when the rain got serious again.

“ See you guys later!” I said

I covered my hair with my bag and ran to my apartment. I got to my room and sat on my bed. I couldn’t believe the day I had just had. I looked around my room, I wasn’t expecting to be idle that morning.

“ What now Nana?” I thought.

I got off my bed to change; my clothes were damp from the rain.

When I got into bed to rest my phone chimed. It was a message from Kwaku.

“ Guess who is listening to Taylor Swift and missing you?” it read

I laughed and replied.

“ Which one of her songs are you listening to?” I texted

“ Cardigan” he texted

“ Oh? Cardigan. That’s one of my favorites” I texted

“ I know….” he replied

“ Also, I just finished reading a couple of your stories on your website. You are such a hopeless romantic! Doctor Love..! ” he teased

I laughed

“ Get off my website babe!” I joked

He replied with a laughing emoji and then called me on FaceTime, I wasn’t looking my best to see his face but I answered anyway. He wasn’t expecting me to be in bed.

“ Are you okay?” he asked worriedly

I nodded and told him about my weird morning.

“ Oh? I see. So it means you have some free time?”

“ I guess. I am starting to get very bored” I said

I saw that he had a wide smile on his face

“ You can come here babe,” he said and we both laughed

“ No! Babe..!” I said

“ Come on. I miss you”

“ Babe, it’s raining. I want to just cuddle up in bed and take a long nap”

“ You could cuddle up with me?” he said

“ Stop babe. As much as it’s tempting to come to see you I think it’s best I give you some time to be alone to rest”

Kwaku reluctantly agreed even though he looked a little sad.

“ So how’s the place? Are you in the same cottage we stayed in last Christmas?” I asked

“ No. I am in a relatively smaller one. You want a tour?”

I nodded excitedly and he got off the couch. He showed me around his cottage, it was very nice.

We spoke some more and he left me to nap but I couldn’t nap. Seeing him made me miss him very much.

“ Stop overthinking this. You like this guy Nana. Try and be happy” I thought

I decided to call Stacy, I hadn’t heard from her in a little over a week.

I sent a text but there was no reply.

I looked outside and the rain had stopped. I haven’t been a really spontaneous person but at the moment I decided to stop overthinking and go and see Kwaku.

“ I would be back first thing tomorrow,” I said to myself while I packed a bag.

“ I have decided to surprise Kwaku at Lake District” I texted Stacy.

Again, there wasn’t a reply. Kwaku had left his location like he said he would. I wanted to surprise him but I didn’t know how to find my way there without his help so I called him. He was so excited over the phone. When I got to the train station it started to rain again. I was in such a hurry I forgot to pick an umbrella because it wasn’t raining when I left my apartment.

Kwaku called to check if I was okay, I was almost boarding the train.

“ Yes, I am okay. I would see you soon” I said

On the train, I thought about Stacy. She hasn’t gone quite like this on me before. I called but she wasn’t answering. I texted but still no reply. I called her mother because I was getting very worried. She answered and told me she is in a meeting and would return my call when she is free.

I read a novel on the train and waited for Stacey’s mother to return my call but she didn’t.

When we arrived, Kwaku was the first person I saw. His burgundy umbrella gave him away easily. He had a cheerful grin on his face as he walked toward me.

“ I cannot believe you are here. I knew you would change your mind” he said

I laughed and hugged him.

We shared his umbrella and we walked to get a taxi that took us to his cottage. I sat on the couch and looked around.

“ This place is actually nicer than the other place we were at last Christmas,” I said.

“ Yes it is and relatively cheaper. I wanted to go to the other place again but it was booked so I kept searching and found this place. The owners are very nice people and there is a lot more recreational stuff here”

“ Yeah I couldn’t help but notice the horse ranch when we were coming,” I said

“ Yes. The horses. Would you like to go horseback riding tomorrow?!”

“ Me, Nana Afia?! No way!” I said

Kwaku looked at me surprisingly.

“ why not?!”

“ Daabi, Daabi..!” I said and removed my coat.

“ Daabi sen?! We are definitely trying it!” he said

The way he speaks Twi cracks me up all the time so I make sure to get him to speak a phrase or two just to laugh at him.

“ Wo h’adwene. Mesee Daabi” I said

“ Wo-na -wo-hadwene. You need to get out of your comfort zone babe. I would teach you. 3y3 very simple. M3- kyere – wo” he said

I looked at him and laughed hysterically on the couch, he caught on that I was only speaking Twi to get him to speak too so that I could have a good laugh.

He started to laugh too and then took my coat off the couch. He shook his head while he walked to the coat hanger stand that was next to the door.

“ You are crazy Nana. I am never speaking Twi with you again. Never!” he said

I just continued to laugh because I knew he was going to speak it again.

He showed me to the bedroom and I took a warm shower. I was very tired.

I went back to the living room and I noticed he had lighted a couple of scented candles and was cooking in the kitchen. I went inside the kitchen and hugged him from behind.

“ What are you cooking?” I asked

“ Brown beef stew,” he said and turned to look at me.

He smiled and kissed me.

“ I am so glad you are here,” he said

“ I am so glad I came,” I said

We hugged again a while longer and then I helped him finish cooking.

We had the brown beef stew with some Ciabatta bread Kwaku bought on our way back from the train station. I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy it but it tasted incredible.

After we tidied up the kitchen we decided to see a movie. Kwaku brought out my favorite ice cream from the freezer and I was surprised because I don’t remember telling him which ice cream flavor I liked.

I looked at him suspiciously and asked him how he knew I liked that particular flavor.

He laughed and picked the spoons.

“Let’s just assume I read the list of One hundred things that make you happy on your website,” he said and we both laughed

“ oh no! I totally forgot about that. I need to take it down” I said

“ Is that also the reason for the scented candles?” I added

He smiled and nodded. I smiled too

“There are more other things that make me happy by the way. You would eventually get to know” I said

“ I sure will until then I’d make do with the one hundred things on your website,” he said and we started the movie

When I was relaxed and cuddled up with Kwaku on the couch, thoughts about Stacy flooded my mind. I was really worried about her, I hated her silence. I missed her, I wasn’t used to not speaking to her every day.

After the movie, Kwaku turned off the television and sat up. I looked at him and sat up too. I yawned and smiled at him, he yawned too when he saw me yawning. We both laughed after yawning and sat in silence for a bit.

“I want us to talk,” Kwaku said to break the silence

“Okay, what about?” I asked

“About us. About you mostly?”

“Me? Have I done something wrong?”

He chuckled and shook his head

“No Babe. I just want to know all the nitty-gritty about you. What makes you, you. It’s one of the reasons I wanted you to come here so that we could quiet all the noise and talk”

I smiled

“what would you like to know?”

He sighed

“First of all I know we decided to never talk about our past relationships but I think as much as we don’t want our past to sometimes define our present and our future it does and it sucks”

I smiled and nodded

“We both have our baggage and things we do not want to talk about. You know about Kimberly and how her actions broke me. I am fine now but my healing journey wasn’t easy Nana that is why I was upset when I found out you kept Juila’s break up from me” he added

He held my hand and looked at me

“I know everyone’s journey to healing is different, I know for sure that I am way, way better than who I used to be when Kimberly died. I wanted to give you time to heal too, rediscover yourself before I asked you to my girl. Trust me, I wanted to but have you seen yourself? You are so beautiful Nana and I didn’t want another guy to get to you first. I am sorry I know that was selfish of me, forgive me. we are together now but if there is a part of you that still isn’t ready to be in a romantic relationship, we can end it now and be friends until you are ready ”

I stared at him as he spoke and I smiled

“If only you knew how so in love I am with you,” I thought

“So what do you think and please be honest,” he said

I sighed and looked at him

“I knew about our baggage when I asked to be your girl but who on this God-given earth doesn’t have baggage? It depends on how we choose to handle it. If someone told me that I would be here with you a year ago I would have laughed in the person’s face. I am not entirely sure I am fully healed to be in a relationship with you but I know I am happiest when I am with you and you have helped me forget about my ex. I don’t like talking about my ex because it makes me remember who I was when I was with him” I said

My eyes started to fill with tears, he noticed and held my hand tightly.

“It”s okay. You don’t have to talk about him if you are not ready” he whispered.

I wiped a tear off my cheek and smiled at him through my tears and started to talk.

“You know how it feels to be with someone that doesn’t see you? You basically beg for the barest minimum like a phone call or a text because he placed everything and everyone above you? And you tend to accept that you deserve that because he is busy and you make excuses for him at the expense of your happiness? You feel alone when you are with him because he wants you to be someone you are not?”

I laughed and started to cry again Kwaku took me into his arms and he just let me cry. I was a bit surprised it still hurt talking about David, I thought I was over the pain.

I let go of Kwaku and continued, I wanted to let everything out. I have been so busy with my life and distracting myself that I haven’t fully sat with my emotions about the breakup.

“It’s true when people say you never know how much you have been hurt until you try to explain it to someone. I felt it, I saw it. I knew he never really loved me as a matter of fact he hated me because he thought I set my standards too high and he couldn’t keep up but I thought he would change. I always got a weird vibe from his mother anytime I was around her so I asked him if he was sure his mother liked me. He said he was sure and I shouldn’t worry about it so at that moment, I went ahead and asked him this “ why then doesn’t she ever speak to me when I visit you at home?” he said and I quote “Because she doesn’t take our relationship seriously and she knows that we would break up”

Kwaku’s eyes widened

“Oh my Goodness! What a thing to say” Kwaku said

I nodded

“What?! Are you serious?”

I nodded again

“I remember it all too well,” I said

“You know what, just stop Nana. I am starting to get upset” he said

“I want to get everything out, I have been holding on to it for so long. I need to talk about it”

“Are you sure?”

“ I am sure Kwaku”

He sighed and nodded

“Okay. But the response he gave you clearly shows his mother didn’t like you, why did you stay?” he asked

I laughed

“Love makes you do things, silly things. And at that time I thought his type of love was the love I deserved. So I ate it all up as meager as it was. I watched him take me for granted because he knew I would never leave and yes I didn’t. “No one would ever do something nice from their hearts for you because you are an ungrateful person,” he told me one time over the phone because I asked him to be thoughtful with his gifts to me. I thought he didn’t mean it the first time he said it but I knew he was serious when he told me the same thing to my face a month later. He thought I demanded so much from him because I begged him to be a better man for me but the thing is you never ask a man to be a better man for you, he would be a better man because he wants to be that for you all by himself. I learned this lesson the hard way. So he told me he can’t deal with all my demands and he was tired so instead of talking to me he would rather do anything else” I said

“I thought it was the distance that made you two break up I didn’t know you were dealing with all this. Why then did you still want to marry him when you knew how much you were suffering emotionally Nana?”

“I had no idea I was in an emotionally abusive relationship with him, I found out when the relationship ended. I blamed myself all the time, I thought I was the one provoking him and making him say the things he was saying to me. I thought It was never him and that I was the problem so I kept telling myself I need to do better so I stop making him upset. I thought getting married to him was the right thing to do because we had come so far and it was expected so I kept pushing. I can only imagine how many times he laughed at me in secret when he knew he was so done with me but I kept asking for us to fix the relationship. For him to easily tell me fighting for our relationship is a waste of his time meant he was really done. His words hurt and it almost made me feel undeserving of good things. I was a weak person and foolish too and just in love with the wrong guy. I endured pain, a lot of it. Recently about a month ago, Stacy told me that the girl he married is a girl we went to high school with. She was in Stacy’s class so she knows her very well. She did look familiar when I saw the photos but I was too confused to even remember”

Kwaku looked at me, I could tell he felt so sorry for me, I smiled

“A girl you went to high school with, so you know her?” he asked

I laughed and nodded

“Yep! I used to see her around campus. I know her. Stacy kept asking me if I knew how they met but honestly it’s none of my business how they met. Love is love, but what I know is that I had to go through that sort of relationship with someone like him to appreciate someone like you. Sometimes we give meaning to things to make them feel important but I am done giving meaning to him and the absolute worse relationship with had. I was giving him the power to constantly hurt me because I didn’t know myself or what I wanted. The breakup gave me the opportunity to pray for a man I want and I had forgotten about how God shows off sometimes. He gives us exceedingly above all that we can ever ask or think ” 

Kwaku blushed

“Are you talking about me?” he joked

I nodded shyly

“Yes. You babe” I said

Kwaku pulled me into his arms, I needed the hug I just went down a bad memory lane.

“You have been through so much babe. Thanks for opening up about this. We don’t have to talk about him ever again. You are with me now, you are safe. I promise you are safe. You can breathe now baby. Just breathe” he said while I was in his arms.

I cried again in his arms, I couldn’t believe I was with a guy like him. Someone that saw me and was intentional with his love for me. Someone I could be vulnerable with.

When I stopped crying he looked at me and wiped my tears

“You are okay. Trust me, you are okay. There are a lot of great things ahead of you. That was an insignificant fragment of the amazing life God has for you” he said and kissed my forehead

“Let’s go for a walk babe and enjoy our time together,” he said

It was a great idea so I nodded. He went to get my coat but as I watched him grab it I remembered that I had packed his jacket, the one he gave me at the mall the first time we met.

I smiled and quickly rushed to the bedroom to take it from my bag.

He followed me to the bedroom with a confused look but he laughed when he saw me wearing his jacket.

“I love this one better. Let’s go” I said and we both laughed.

He shook his head and we headed out.

He took a lot of unaware photos of me. He managed to get a good photo of the sun setting. I liked being around him, he was just too amazing.

I was admiring him when my phone rang it was Stacy’s mother. I quickly answered it’s been a long time coming.

“ Hello Auntie Linda,” I said

“Nana Afia how are you?”

“I am fine how about you?”

“I…I am managing”

“I have been worried about Stacy, Auntie. I wanted to know if you have heard from her”

She was trying to find her words and that got me worried

“Auntie is something wrong?”

“Nana Afia, are you at school?”

“No, please. I am not at school at the moment. Is something wrong please?”

She was quiet for a short while

“Nana Afia. Stacy died last night”

Her words felt like I have been punched in my tummy

“What?!”

“She’s had a pretty bad crisis for a couple of weeks. She asked us not to tell you because you would be worried and wouldn’t concentrate at school. The medications weren’t working anymore and that made the doctors very frustrated. She went into a coma and never came out of it”

I started crying inconsolably on the phone and I could hear Stacy’s mother crying too.

“Stacy why?! Stacy Noo!” I said through my tears.

Stacy’s mother eventually ended the call. Kwaku was confused he kept asking what was wrong but I only cried. He held me and we walked back into the cottage.

“No! No! it’s not true!” I said and called Stacy’s phone

It kept ringing.

“ No! Pick up! Stacy! Pick up!” I said

I screamed out of pain, I wanted the pain in my chest to stop. At this point, I knew I was starting to scare Kwaku.

“What is wrong baby? Is there something you need to tell Stacy?” he asked

I sat on the couch and stared in silence at the fireplace. Tears rolled down my face, Kwaku sat with me and he reached out for my hand.

“Who called you honey? And what did you two talk about?” he asked worriedly

“ It was Stacy’s mother. Stacy passed away last night. She had a crisis and couldn’t make it” I said

“Crisis? She had sickle cell disease?”

I nodded and cried some more and Kwaku hugged

“I am so sorry babe,” he said

“I can’t believe she is gone. How? Why? This hurts so much” I said in his arms

“We would have to leave tomorrow then,” Kwaku said

I let go and looked at him

“I don’t want to mess up your vacation. I would leave alone”

“No babe. We would leave together. You need me. It is not easy losing someone so close”

I couldn’t believe how much I had cried that day, I was so excited that morning because I was going to be with Kwaku but it turned out to be the saddest day of my life.

Kwaku cuddled me to sleep, he offered to cook something for dinner but I couldn’t eat anything.

 

See you all soon.? Thanks for reading everyone? Goodnight xx