Chapter Nineteen – Once a Cheater, Always a Cheater

If the government could apply the same swiftness that Kwame did to go see Nana Yaa the next day to the development of this great nation, we would be dancing circles around the likes of China and America.

In fact, if men applied the same vigor to nation building as they did to women chasing, we would be well on our way to rubbing shoulders with the big boys. There’s nothing quite like the passion of a womanizer.

He was there bright and early on a Friday morning. At 8am to be precise. This is the same fellow whose mother couldn’t pay him to be awake before 10am. The strength of a woman!

Nana Yaa was very pleased to see him and soon they were on the porch going through the awkward stage of small talk; ‘how have you been?’, ‘what’s new?’, all the irrelevant questions we don’t care about.

“I heard you’re with Lara now” she said finally. Yes, this is where I will start from. I have half a mind to end the chapter here and keep you itching to know what he says but don’t worry, there’ll be many more opportunities for me to torture you with suspense.

“Nah, we’re just friends” he said.

Nana Yaa could not hide her visible relief.

They talked for a little while longer and then the unexpected happened. They kissed. Gasp! Dear old holy Nana Yaa, kissing the sinner Kwame. She dared not do this when they were together but now here she was exchanging saliva with him.

Ladies, you see why men think we like bad boys? When he was a good and faithful boyfriend, you swore to the heavens that to kiss him was to defile yourself in the most unthinkable way. That I respect. That I agree with. Now that you know he is a cheat, suddenly you are okay with giving him what he wanted?

Oh sis, it’s giving desperate. It’s giving weak and indecisive. It’s giving you’re about to get your heart broken again. Sigh!

Lara was of course unaware of these events even as they spent the rest of the holidays hopping from one party scene to another. Oh, the sweet bliss of ignorance partnered with the cutting edge of karma.

I’m sure you’re begging to know what might have occurred between Sly and me over the vacation. I am ashamed to disappoint you. There was not much. His family had him booked almost the whole vacation and I only got to see him on occasion. We Facetimed most nights and my favorite thing was that we could have different conversations on different platforms at the same time.

We could be battling it out in iMessage games, gossiping on Snapchat, sharing memes on Instagram, chatting casually on WhatsApp and laughing our hearts out on Twitter. We must have single handedly kept all these businesses afloat. Lord knows our network providers were grateful for us.

Being with him online and not in person had me eager for the holidays to be over and for us to be in close proximity again. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it. I need several minutes.

Whew!

I’m calm now. No wait, extra minutes.

Lord have mercy! Chris Brown wrote a song titled Under the Influence where he confessed “I don’t know what you did, did to me”. Yes, Chris, I know too well what you mean. This boy has me wrapped around his finger tightly like the sticker on an Imperial leather soap.

Anyways, now that you have consumed enough Christmas tea, it’s time to get into the adventures of the second semester. Where to begin.

Let’s start from my favorites: Kwame and Lara.

Kwame had been going to see Nana Yaa consistently now and with good reason, he still liked her. I can’t say I understand Nana Yaa’s behavior. I guess it takes losing your man to want him back. Either way the two of them were carrying on like Lara wasn’t in the picture.

Anyway, Lara and Kwame were in the library doing some light reading when he told Lara that he had a headache and had to go sleep. She nodded in understanding and stayed back to finish her reading. If the previous exams had taught us anything it was that university is not the place to be misbehaving. Whatever the college movies showed you, was a lie.

After Lara was done studying, she decided to swing by Kwame’s place to check on him and maybe give him some painkillers. My friend Lara is many things and a small pharmacy happens to be one of them.

Mathew opened the door and was surprised to meet Lara asking for Kwame since he said he was on his way to see someone. He had assumed that someone was Lara.

She immediately knew that something was up. After all. She’d messed around with this same guy. She was fully aware of what he was capable of. She asked if she could wait for him and Mathew gladly obliged.

One hour.

Lara thought she might explode from the anger and anxiety welling up inside her. Thoughts of burning his clothes or breaking his laptop flushed her mind. They were quick thoughts but they still held appeal.

Two hours.

Now the thoughts were becoming more frequent, lingering for longer. Burn the clothes. Cut them up. Break his laptop. Destroy his jewelry. The only thing that held back these intrusive thoughts was Mathew.

The door opened and Kwame’s soul nearly jumped out of his body as he saw Lara sitting at the table. His voice was shaky as he rattled a hi.

“Where have you been?” Lara asked.