Chapter Sixty-Two – Do or Die

Lara was working hard to get over the information about her father being in town. It didn’t affect her in any way. At least that’s what she kept telling herself over and over again. He had insisted on keeping no contact, not that he ever did even before the decision but he was standing firm in his resolve to cut Lara off financially. Although, he had silently acquiesced to his daughter’s taking care of their sister.

As far as Lara was concerned, her parents were only ever good for their money. She didn’t see them often or speak to them often. They were never the affectionate kind. They didn’t know her likes or dislikes. They weren’t known to offer sound advice to navigate the challenges she was going through. Heck, they didn’t even know the challenges.

In summary, having been cut off financially, she had no parents now and their presence in Accra or otherwise was of no consequence to her. But she failed to consider one important fact – Accra is too small.

Mara applied a generous amount of shea butter to her skin that you could fry an egg on her forehead alone. With her clothes on and her mind psyched, she walked over to her locker, opened up her panties bag and fished for her business capital.

The polythene bag came out feeling a bit thinner than she remembered so she decided to count the money to make sure it was all there. Why wouldn’t it be? Her roommates had all been engaged in their own endeavors when she entered the room with the envelope. There had been no strangers around.

She had carefully and meticulously inserted the envelope into a random black polythene bag lying amongst the pile of suitcases under her bed. Then she proceeded to stash it into the panties bag before locking the locker.

There was no way anyone saw that she had come in with such a hefty sum and what a process they must have gone through to steal the money. Nevertheless, it didn’t hurt to check and make sure that all crisp fifty cedis notes were present.

She started the counting process which ended abruptly at six hundred Ghana cedis. Her heart faltered. She searched through the polythene bag incredulously, as if by some magic means an extra compartment would reveal itself. When that proved impossible, she poured out the content of her panties bag onto her bed.

Still, no money appeared.

She dashed to her locker and turned it upside down, searching desperately for the eight missing fifty cedis notes. That also proved futile. She could have pulled her hair out in desperation then. How could this be?

“Guys, I had a thousand Ghana cedis in my locker but I can’t find 400. Has anyone seen it please?” she asked her roommates, trying to stay calm. What she really wanted to do was to subject them to violent interrogation until the thieving slut confessed and returned to her, her precious capital.

There was a half-hearted chorus in response. All denied having seen the money or even having known of the existence of the money. Mara just sat on her bed and wept. What was she to do now?

Carl would be expecting the full repayment of the loan. With a reduced capital, she couldn’t buy much to sell that would give her enough to get new stock, repay Carl and step into a profit. Who said business was easy? Oh, yes, that’s right. Mara did. Guess she’s now discovering that it isn’t so.

***

Kwame was beyond excited to tell Pastor Dave that after spending some time praying and thinking, he was ready to start the fellowship. Pastor Dave was not surprised by the news but he still reacted with elation.

“You will learn so much. You are going to grow in your own faith and help people. Don’t worry, I will be here to guide you at every step of the way. Are you ready to throw yourself out there?” Pastor Dave had responded.

Kwame had thought of that. In fact, it was the reason he had kept so long in making a decision even though he knew it was the right one. Sure, Pastor Dave and some of the church members had accepted him as a new creation, refusing to judge him for his questionable past but the rest of the world wouldn’t be as kind. In truth, some of the church members hadn’t been as kind.

There were whispers here and there. There were those who boldly told Kwame to his face that they knew he was only there to pick up girls. The dirty boys with motives of bagging ‘a church baddie’ had even approached him. After all, there’s strength in numbers and they could exchange tricks to score as many girls as possible. They could even pass around the girls they conquered like how weed boys pass around the blunt.

This was going to be an uphill task but it was one he was ready for.

***

Boateng readied himself. Aseda was coming over for some lessons in anticipation of her final interim assessment for the semester. The girl was very sharp so she didn’t actually need the help. Boateng knew that it was most likely because she enjoyed spending time with him. He didn’t mind it. She was a beautiful girl and an excellent conversationalist. In his past life they would have been going out for almost six weeks by now.

She always smelled like Lavender. Boateng didn’t understand how someone could commit to one scent so faithfully but she did. Even her room smelled like lavender. She also exuded wealth which was a very attractive quality.

On three occasions, Aseda had bought Boateng lunch and then a Lakers jersey. For a Ghanaian woman to do any of these two things, she either really liked you or she was just very rich. Boateng wanted to believe it was the latter. Aseda had never shown any of the tell-tale signs of wanting anything more than a platonic relationship.

The familiar knock at the door came and soon the two were deep in the world of economics. They weren’t done going through the topics but both parties were tired and hungry so they had ordered food and thought they’d take a break from the books as they waited for the food to arrive.

“Your friend, Anin asked me out o” Aseda announced.

Boateng was amused. Anin had been trying to get at Aseda for weeks so he wasn’t surprised.

“That’s nice. What did you say?”

“I said no.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not really interested in him. I’ve been waiting for you to ask me out. Why haven’t you?”

Boateng laughed nervously. That was very bold and straightforward and to think that just an hour ago he had doubted that her intentions were romantic-leaning.

“I still have feelings for someone else and so I wouldn’t want to lead you on.”

Aseda appreciated the honesty. Although she didn’t need it. Anyone with eyes could see that Boateng liked Araba but anyone with eyes could also see that Araba was too childish and naïve to realize it, let alone do anything about it.

“I figured but does this person like you too?”

Boateng hesitated.

“We are working on it” he said.

Working on it. Aseda could work with that. She could write a whole thesis with that. She could earn a year’s wages with that. She had never seen a man she wanted that she didn’t have and Boateng was not about to be the first.

Not that she was some manipulative girl that just took whatever man she wanted. Never that. She was just pretty, smart and rich. It’s pretty hard to compete with that.

“But I mean, we can also hang out and see where we go. It’s only fair right?” Aseda continued.

Never mind that Boateng’s attention was elsewhere. He was a man. A man could multitask. Besides, she didn’t want him and only him so if they tried it and didn’t like where it was going, they could always part ways.

“That sounds like a fair idea. I do like your vibe. But also, how good an idea is it for me to be going out with my mentee?”

Aseda giggled. “You seem like the kind of guy that can multitask.”

So, it was decided. The first shot had been fired. It had missed its intended mark but at least it had grazed it and blood had been drawn.