Chapter Eleven – Daddy Issues and Bottled Up Feelings

My heart was pounding the whole journey there. Carl had spoken to Boateng and he and the boys were fine. The car was a little damaged though and it wasn’t clear if it could be on the road.

The moment we arrived at the scene, I hopped out of the car screaming, “Boateng, what is wrong with you? Have you lost your mind? What the hell happened?”. He saw my reaction coming and was not in the mood for it at all.

“I didn’t ask you to bring her, Carl” he said, completely ignoring me.

I could have slapped him.

“Boy! I’m talking to you why are you looking at Carl. What is going on with you? First you get high then next you’re in an accident. What again are you planning to do?” I screamed throwing my hands in the air.

He wasn’t excited to be scolded in front of his boys. I suppose it didn’t help that I looked like a tiny midget next to him.

“It’s not like I planned the accident. Stop shouting too. My head is already aching” he said. He pinched the bridge of his nose and massaged it gently.

I wanted to smack him so badly.

I took a second to calm down as the others went to sit in the car. It was just us two standing at the crash. Boateng started to say that I shouldn’t worry because his father would sort everything out.

“I’m not worried about the stupid car. Of course, I know your father will sort it out. Boateng, I’m worried about you. Do you not see that your behavior has been off lately? I think you need to be honest with yourself now. You are clearly not fine and I think it’s because of your parents.”

Boateng started to shake his head and scratched his sneakers on the ground. I knew this was uncomfortable for him but I wasn’t going to let him joke his way out of this one.

“My father’s side chick is pregnant. He says he’s going to marry her” he said.

Boateng looked so broken that I wanted to cry. I asked him if that was why he was doing all this and he said he didn’t know. I was also left wondering why he didn't tell me.

The drive back to campus was in complete silence. Boateng didn’t want to be in the room with Micah so we agreed that it was best he come over to my place. We agreed that we didn’t have to talk about anything so instead we put on our favorite show and watched together.

Occasionally, I would look over at him and I could tell that even though he was watching the show, his mind was several miles away. He had texted his father about the accident and he had promised that it would be sorted out tomorrow. No one works harder than a guilt-stricken father.

Mr. Boateng attempted to give his son a stern warning but ultimately failed when his guilty conscience kicked in. He even attempted to threaten that the car would remain seized for the remainder of the semester. He eventually backed down with the least resistance from his son.

The soon-to-be former Mrs. Boateng was furious about the news. She was angry with Boateng for getting into the accident but was angrier with her husband for…. I was about to say what for but then it just occurred to me that I don’t know and neither did she. She was already angry with him and any minute reason to be angrier was most welcome.

“How dare your father! I told him not to buy you that car because it goes too fast but as usual, he didn’t listen. Useless man. Now, see? See what he has caused. You’re lucky nothing happened. You could have died or ended up in prison. That your father is a good-for-nothing. He’s a very terrible man. I hope you know? He isn’t satisfied to destroy my life, now he wants to destroy my son’s life too. Men of this world are very wicked. Kai. What would have been my story? All my enemies would have laughed at me. I’m a good woman to take away the car but if I do, you’ll say that I’m bad but your father is good and so I won’t talk. If it happens again, then you’ll hear from me.”

Mrs. Boateng was hurt, yes, and rightfully so, but her son hearing his father be talked about like that did not do him any favors. The poor boy was a wreck. It broke my heart to see it.

*

Meanwhile, Lara was coming to terms with the fact that she had feelings for Kwame and though she identified as a sexually liberated girl, she wanted to be cuffed. The question for her was what was she going to do with her feelings and what exactly did she want from Kwame.

She picked up her phone and sent the text before she could change her mind. She hid the phone under her pillow as if that would save her from what was to come. She heard the ping of a notification and her hand flew so fast under the pillow you might think she was fetching gold.

Kwame had texted that he would come over in response to her text that they need to talk. The two-minute wait for him to knock on the door felt like an eternity.

Lara was embarrassed by her feelings of nervousness and eagerness as she asked him to come in.

Kwame wondered what this might be about. From his knowledge about women, it couldn’t be good when one said she wanted to talk. Lara shifted to offer him a seat on the bed and he graciously took it. There were only a few times he had seen her shy and this was one of those times.

Many thoughts run through his head. She could be telling him she was pregnant. He had been having a string of bad fortune and it wouldn’t be odd for there to be yet another. He took in a deep breath before asking what’s up.

“Oh, it’s nothing serious, you can relax. I just wanted to talk to you so you can relax. You look like you are preparing for war” Lara said with a nervous chuckle.

Kwame sat waiting patiently for her to speak.

“So, I’ve been thinking recently. I’ve been thinking about us and the things that have happened and I realized something.”

The pause was long and painful.

“Kwame, I think I have feelings for you.”