Chapter Sixty-Four – It's Getting Real

Two things can be true at once and that’s what makes life often unbearable. For instance, you can be happy to be home and still badly miss school. You can miss your ex and still wish that he would fall violently down one of the slopes in Shai Hills, breaking both his beautiful legs and having to stay home several months to recover and then realizing that this wicked turn of events was because of what he did to you. Yes, this is very normal and nothing at all to do with how I feel. These are the general facts of life I’m stating. Once again, I must reiterate that this has nothing to do with me and Sly.

I digress.

Anyway, these two conflicting feelings were felt by Lara before and after she left the home of her parents. She can’t really call it her home seeing as they cut her off. She was happy her parents wanted to see her and yet still angry that they would even summon her like some maidservant in their court.

Pulling up to the driveway in her Uber, her heart was beating really loudly. When she got in, the reception was not loving but it wasn’t nearly as cold as the one before. She was even asked if she would like to drink something.

In the deep recesses of Lara’s complicated emotions, she hoped her parents were going to apologize to her; say how they realized they didn’t treat her right. They would offer to ask how she was feeling and maybe for the first time she’d know what it’s like to cry in your parents’ arms. It was a faint hope.

Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Johnson sat next to each other looking dignified and posh. It is a wonder whether they ever talked about sweet nothings. They seemed so stiff and rigid. They probably greeted each other with news of the weather and stocks or something.

“Thank you for coming. We are glad you are here” Mrs. Johnson said like she was speaking to a business partner and not her 20-year-old daughter.

“You’re welcome” Lara said feebly, fiddling with her hands.

“So, your father and I wanted to talk to you because we believe it is important” Mrs. Johnson continued.

Lara found it strange that Mr. Johnson was so quiet seeing as he was not the type of man to let his wife speak for him.

“Your father, by God’s grace has been given a government appointment and he’s hoping to run for MP God willing in the next election. So, we are relocating to Ghana.”

The first part of the information meant nothing to Lara. She could care less if her father was appointed by the President of America. His business was just that – his business. The second part however, now that was news. Damn it! She was hoping their presence was a very very and I mean very short visit. This was way worse.

“Congratulations” Lara said without meaning it and without making eye contact with either of them.

Mrs. Johnson continued, “that being said, it is very important that we provide a unified front to help your father properly position himself for his political career. We say all that to say, we have forgiven you and are excited to receive you back into the family fully.” Mrs. Johnson ended so triumphantly that you’d have thought she was expecting a loud shout of joy from Lara. This reaction was not provided and Mrs. Johnson was visibly disappointed.

Lara was short of words. She felt many emotions but elation was not one of them. The only reason her parents wanted anything to do with her was to show her like some kind of prop in the family – as it had always been.

“Are you not going to say thank you?” Mr. Johnson asked, incredulous.

Well, what does one really say in such circumstance? ‘Thank you, Daddy for only taking me back financially after cutting me off to the point that I entered a toxic relationship and then developed panic attacks, because you want to pursue a political career’.

Mr. Johnson, business mogul, husband, wicked father and now politician, deposited an obscene amount of money in Lara’s account which she was notified of once her Uber pulled up to the front of the hostel.

Seeing that money didn’t give Lara any joy. She was unmoved by it. In fact, it annoyed and irritated her. She wished she could throw it away but let’s not get carried away. This is Ghana not some posh American teen drama where the main character doesn’t know what it’s like to be hungry. For now, she’d not touch the money. It was some sort of act of defiance. She wouldn’t give Mr. Johnson the satisfaction.

While Lara resolved not to spend the money, I was with Boateng having lunch and watching a show together. My phone pinged to a text from Alex. We’d been talking a lot more now. He was hilarious. I do have a soft spot for funny men. I can’t say that Sly was funny, that dry boned bastard. I had resolved not to tell Boateng about our conversation. I only mentioned to him that Sly had come to see me to ask to be friends.

I responded to Alex’s message and giggled a little. Boateng was just about to ask me what was so funny when a knock came at the door. It was Aseda. Eii, this girl! If I thought I hated Trudy then words cannot capture what I felt towards Aseda. She was always appearing at the most inconvenient of times.

I gave a half-hearted hello and pretended to be captivated by my spoon of Boateng’s unsalted rice. I was doing such a good job pretending that Boateng startled me when he called out my name. Apparently, he’d promised Aseda they’d hang out in her room after her class.

In other words, he was leaving me. In other words, he was leaving me! He was leaving me?!? For her?! Reader, this is inconceivable. He had not left me for another girl in so long. There was an unfamiliar pain in my chest. There was evoked out of me a sensation beyond imagination. I was not even angry with Aseda. Okay, let’s not lie, I was but that was the least of the emotions I was feeling at that moment.

Reader, I don’t understand it. Could this be love? It couldn’t. Could it? But what if it was? Yes, it was.