Hey guys. I hope your week has been good. This week’s episode is dedicated to my beautiful mother, you are amazing and I love you very much. Nana Yaa Episode 19..enjoy
Clarity
Leila’s school mates were at the house when Anthony arrived, he didn’t know she was loved that much at school. Leila got a little uncomfortable when she saw Anthony in her room.
“I wanted to check up on you. How are you feeling?”
“I am fine. These are some of my friends at school, they heard about what happened and came to visit. I hope you don’t mind”
“I don’t mind Leila. Do you need anything?”
Leila shook her head.
“Okay I would be in my room if you need me”
Leila nodded.
He said hello to her friends and left the room.
Leila wasn’t surprised when Jessica made a comment immediately he left the room.
” wow! Leila your husband is fine! I don’t understand why you two can’t get along”
“Lower your voice Jessica! He might hear you.” Betty warned
“Aren’t you guys hungry? I can fix something for us to eat” Leila suggested
“I am very hungry. You read my mind Leila ” Hakeem said
” why don’t we wait for Farouk. He just texted me” Samira said
“Did he say he has seen Leila’s car?” Jessica asked
Samira nodded.
“it is really nice of him to offer to fix your car Leila. Farouk is really nice. He was so worried when I told him about your attac-“
“-Leila, where is your laptop? You owe me some movies remember?” Betty interrupted
Betty deliberately interrupted Jessica, she didn’t want her saying more than she was supposed to. Farouk’s girlfriend Samira, was right there and Jessica didn’t know when and when not to talk. Leila got up from her bed and picked her laptop off her study table.
“I have this movie, Queen of Katwe, that movie made me cry and I hear it’s a true story. It’s your kind of movie Betty. You would love it” Leila said excitedly.
“Really? Let me get my pen drive then” Betty said
Samira was very quiet the whole time, she was busy browsing on her phone, she didn’t want to be there. She came along because Farouk insisted. She had a fight with Leila in their first year of medical school, it was over a rumor Leila thought Samira was spreading. Leila confronted Samira and it led into a fight, they both didn’t know any better then. They haven’t been much of friends since the fight.
Before Leila got married, she was very close to Farouk. They weren’t dating but everybody on campus thought they were. Farouk confessed his love for Leila on her twentieth birthday but Leila turned him down because she knew she was betrothed to marry Anthony. She mustered courage to tell him about her marriage on the eve of the wedding, it broke Farouk’s heart but he managed to remain friends with her even though he always wished there was more.
Samira and Farouk are family friends, they grew up together. They were both excited when they got the opportunity to study medicine together. Samira has always had a crush on Farouk and wanted to date him, she knew for sure she would get a chance to date him at the University. When they got there, she wasn’t expecting Farouk to fall for Leila the way that he did, he began doing almost everything with Leila, even things Samira thought she did only with him. She was very happy when Farouk told her about Leila’s marriage, Farouk was broken but she helped him pick up the pieces. After months of waiting and hoping Leila would change her mind, Farouk asked Samira out. He needed the distraction because he kept thinking about Leila a lot.
“Why don’t we start cooking, I am sure Farouk would be here when it’s almost ready. I am dying of hunger” Hakeem suggested.
“Well that’s true. Okay how do you guys feel about Jollof rice and beef sauce?” Leila said
“I love it!” Hakeem excitedly
Leila chuckled and left with the girls to the kitchen.
Jeffrey decided to surprise his girlfriend in Ghana before he left for Dubai, since George and Nicole were leaving for Dubai that weekend he decided to join them. He had missed her so much.
Nana Yaa was finishing up some work in her room when she heard her doorbell ring, she wasn’t expecting anyone that late. She went down her stairs and found her mother, she asked her if she was expecting someone.
“No I am not expecting anybody. It’s late. You see why I keep telling you to get a security man? This electronic gate system is not always effective”
“Calm down Mummy. I would check the camera, I can see whoever is at the gate”
Her doorbell rang again.
She saw what looked a lot like Nicole’s car but she spoke to her that afternoon and she didn’t mention anything about visiting
“It’s Nicole. I hope everything is alright” Nana Yaa said and opened the gate.
She rushed out with her mother to meet Nicole only to find Jeffrey stepping out of the car.
“No way! Jeffrey?!! oh my God!!”
“Hello baby. I got you real good didn’t I?” Jeffrey said and hugged her
“Yes you did” she said and hugged him back
Doreen smiled.
“Jeffrey, meet my mom”
“Hi mom. You are very beautiful. I’m Jeffrey Clarke. A pleasure to meet you”
“Doreen. The pleasure is all mine”
“Okay, come inside. You must be very tired” Nana Yaa said
“I sure am. I arrived in Ghana around 9pm. I didn’t want to use my car because I wanted to surprise you. George’s car was at the workshop when I got to their house and I thought probably using Nicole’s car is a perfect disguise and it worked!”
Doreen looked at him as he spoke, it was exactly like Ebo, her daughter was right. It was as if she was looking at Ebo.
“So I have finally seen you up-close. Wow, you look like Ebo, I can’t believe my eyes”
“And you know Mum, he is also allergic to chocolate”
“Really? I remember when I baked the chocolate cake for Ebo for his graduation party. He didn’t know how to tell me that he couldn’t eat it because he thought I would be disappointed”
Nana Yaa laughed hysterically. “Yes I remember! I had to pull you to a corner to tell you and I noticed how sad you were. You quickly asked me to take it off the table. It was a really nice cake though I enjoyed eating it the next day when we had our little cake party at home”
“Do you have a photo of Ebo? I just realized I have never seen how he looks like. I hear people say we look alike but I would love to see for myself”
“Yeah let me get my photo album, we took a lot of photos when we were in school” Nana Yaa said and went up to her room.
Farouk got to Leila’s house when everyone was eating, he looked very tired. He gave Leila her car keys and told her everything is fixed. Leila smiled and hugged him.
“What is cooking?” he asked
“Jollof rice. It is so tasty. Leila is a good cook” Jessica quickly answered.
“Wow. Can I get a plate?”
“Sure. You can help yourself” Leila said pointing to the kitchen.
Farouk walked into the kitchen to find Anthony dishing out some food, he recognized him from the wedding.
“Hello” he greeted as he washed his hands by the sink
Anthony turned and looked at him, he responded and turned to continue dishing out his food.
“I am Farouk, a friend of Leila. I don’t think we have met”
“I am Anthony, her husband”
“I know. I was at your wedding”
There was an awkward silence. Anthony stood against the counter with his plate in hand and ate while Farouk dished out his food.
“So, Leila’s car is fine. I fixed it. It was just the windows that got broken but everything else is fine, and I also filled her tank” Farouk said breaking the silence.
Anthony almost choked on his food, he dropped his plate and picked a bottle of water from a box close to the refrigerator. He drank some water and looked at Farouk.
“So you are the guy who insisted to fix my wife’s car? Why would you do that? I am her husband. I wasn’t very pleased when I found out “
“I am sorry, I just wanted to do something nice for her after all she had been through”
“That isn’t your place young man. I am responsible for Leila. Moving forward, I hope you mind your business”
“what is going on here?” Leila asked
They were both startled to see Leila, Farouk didn’t say a word he just took his plate into the dining hall and sat with his friends. He couldn’t eat his food.
Leila asked Anthony why he spoke to Farouk the way that he just did but he wasn’t ready to argue. He tried to walk out on her but Leila held him by the arm.
“I am talking to you Anthony. Why did you say that to Farouk? I don’t need you causing anymore troubles for me”
“Trouble? what trouble are you talking about?”
“Just back off my friends. I need them. I won’t have you mistreating them”
“What is the deal with you and Farouk? Why are you defending him like he is some helpless little boy?”
“Farouk is not a little boy. He is actually twice the man you will ever be Anthony. He would never put me in the position you put me in last night” Leila said and walked out of the kitchen
Anthony looked at her leave, he called her but Leila left to sit with her friends. She made eye contact with Farouk and whispered “I am sorry ” to him, he read her lips and he nodded. She heard Anthony climb up the stairs to his bedroom. Her friends stayed around to help tidy up the kitchen, it was getting late so Leila offered to drop them but they declined and ordered an Uber instead. When Leila returned from seeing her friends off at the gate, she found Anthony sitting on the couch.
“Can we talk?” he asked
“I don’t want to talk Anthony” Leila said and went upstairs to her bedroom. Anthony followed her.
“Leila. Please I am trying here. I am sorry for everything”
Anthony said and held her door, preventing her from closing it. Leila turned and looked at him, she closed the door and leaned against it.
“Okay Anthony I am listening. You said you are sorry? What exactly are you sorry for?”
“ For everything. Putting you through what you went through last night. I was angry and I should have handled myself better”
”Is she your girlfriend? The lady from last night”
Anthony shook his head. “She is in my office. She is no one.”
”do you have a woman on the side? Have you been cheating on me? You know what? Don’t answer. We should actually have some sort of relationship for me to call whatever you do with other women, cheating”
” I have never cheated on you Leila”
Leila laughed.
”You don’t need to lie to impress me. I am not going to tell my family or anything. You are a man and you have your needs. Now I know better than to follow you out of the house when are going to meet up with them. Just be careful you don’t catch something. HIV is real Anthony”
“I am not lying. I know we don’t have the best kind of marriage but I have never dishonored it. It was very silly what I did last night and I need you to forgive me”
Leila stood quietly staring at him.
”You have never cheated? Why not? You have every chance in the world to cheat. We aren’t having sex so you should definitely be getting it from somewhere ” she said
“So all this while you thought I have been cheating?”
Leila nodded. “ I didn’t want to follow you last night but I felt for you to go out at such a time, it is definitely because of a woman and a part of me wanted to see her,to see your type. So I foolishly followed you. It was the first time I had seen you leave the house that late. Everything that happened is my fault I shouldn’t have been stupid to follow you out that late” Leila said with tears filling her eyes
”Stop blaming yourself. It’s all my fault. I am just grateful nothing bad happened. I wouldn’t have forgiven myself if he had succeeded in raping you”
”I would have been more disgusting to you” Leila said, this time breaking down to tears.
She didn’t want Anthony seeing her cry so she quickly opened her door and entered the room shutting it infront of him. He knocked on the door severally begging Leila to open it but she didn’t. He went to his room and sent a heartfelt apology to her phone. She read it and noticed how sincere the apology was. Anthony was getting ready for bed when he heard Leila knock on his door. He rushed to open it, Leila had a smile on her face.
“I read your message and I wanted to tell you in person that I accept your apology. I am also sorry for ever disrespecting you. I am working on myself, I am sure with Allah’s help I will be a wife that you deserve someday. I can’t believe we having a conversation, you and I. I was beginning to forget how your voice sounded like”
Anthony looked at her as she spoke. He never noticed her lovely set of teeth and her beautiful smile, the smile dimpled her cheeks. Her eyes were very beautiful and they shone when she smiled.
”You have beautiful eyes” Anthony blurted out.
”Thank you” Leila quickly said
It was a little awkward, Leila suddenly got shy. Anthony had never seen that shy and innocent side of her.
“ it’s getting late. We have to get some sleep. Goodnight Anthony” Leila said
As she turned to leave, Anthony held her by hand and pulled her closer. Leila was startled, she looked at him in astonishment. Anthony held up her chin and kissed her. Leila closed her eyes and kissed him back. She placed her hand behind his neck and kissed him more passionately. He paused and looked at her.
“Whoa! Leila! Who taught you to kiss like that?
Leila chuckled. “You are not so bad yourself”
“I can’t believe we waited five years to do this” Anthony said
“So what does this mean for us? Are we going to try this marriage thing and see what happens?” Leila asked
“Only if you would have me Leila”
“Sure. I am curious to get to know this new Anthony” Leila said.
“Okay then. I suggest we kiss on it?” Anthony said.
Leila laughed and nodded shyly. They kissed again. Anthony couldn’t believe he was falling in love with his wife.
See you again next weekend. Have a beautiful week