Awakening Love: Part One

PART ONE : BREAKFAST

KOBINA

Kobina took another long swig of the bottle of Star in front of him. It was his fifth one in less than three hours, and he knew there’d be consequences the next morning, but he honestly wasn’t bothered. He’d deal with them then.

“Bεεma, biribi bia yε okay?” asked the bartender. He didn’t particularly care, but if this customer got too drunk, he might get rowdy, which wasn’t good for business.

“Aane o. Fa bottle baako bεka ho wai.”

“Ah, bossu, you chop breakfast or what? Calm down before you make yourself sick.” This unwanted advice came from a short, bearded man sitting on the other side of the counter. Kobina ignored him and shooed the bartender away with one arm. The uninvited guest didn’t know how accurate his guess was.

Kobina and Maame had been dating for the past two years. They both served in church–her in the choir, him as an instrumentalist–and worked in similar fields; he was a software engineer, and she a product manager. They were from the same home town, their parents had been childhood friends, and their families were close. For all intents and purposes, they were a match made in heaven.

Which was why it came as a shock when she, out of nowhere, declared to him one week ago that she was breaking up with him. Technically, it was one week, two days, fourteen hours and three minutes, but who was even counting?

He still hadn’t replied to the flood of text messages from concerned friends who had heard the news, probably from the culprit herself. The only person he’d spoken to was his best friend, and even then it hadn’t been for long. He also hadn’t been able to go to church the previous week, and he was sure he’d soon be hearing from his department head about it, but he’d cross that bridge when he got there. As for work; he just thanked God he was a remote contractor.

“Chale breakfast be painful pass aswear,” mused the bartender as he cleaned the wooden counter. “Some my guy bi go through am last year. E nearly craze. Herhhhhh!” The expression on his face and pain in his voice made Kofi wonder if “some my guy” actually existed, or if he was just recounting his own experience.

“Oh chale,” said the man who sat down at the counter. “Women eh. Fear them oh! Fear woman! Person wey fit chat plus snake? Na oh!” The bartender and his newfound friend laughed at their jokes as Kobina nursed his bottle.

He did agree with one thing they had said though. Women? Kai!

| ~ | ~ | ~ |

Kobina winced when the door hinge creaked as he pushed it open. It was past midnight, and he was hoping that his mum and younger siblings were asleep so he could sneak into his room. He tiptoed into the living room and nearly felt his soul leave his body when he saw his mother sitting on the largest sofa.

“Kobina Osei Asare, where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m going to sleep ma. It’s late.”

“It’s late, and this is the time you’re coming home? And is that–” she sniffed the air, “ — alcohol? Oh, my son. Adεn nti na woyε me sei? Why are you doing this to me?”

Kobina felt his defences rise as his mother’s eyes began to water.

“Ma, it’s not like I’m drunk. I didn’t take anything strong, and I made sure that I was sober enough to drive home. I’m fine! Can I please go to sleep?”

“Kobby, you are my first son. My piesie. You are the one who will set the example for all of your younger siblings. They all look up to you. We have discussed this many times before, ehn. You promised me you had quit. We even spoke to pastor about this. Your father would not have wanted this–”

“I am not my father!” yelled Kobina, the alcohol loosening his tongue. “I am not the man you married! I am sorry you see his ghost in me, and I am sorry that you miss him. Don’t you think I miss him too? Don’t you think every day I wish he was here to guide me? Ma, I’m so tired…” Tears filled his eyes as he remembered his father.

“Maame broke up with me,” he sighed.

“Oh! Kobby, I didn’t know–” his mother started.

“How will you know, Ma? How will you know when the only thing you can do is criticise me and compare me to a man who has been gone for almost seven years now? How will you know?”

The hurt on his mother’s face was unmistakable, and snapped Kobby back to his senses with immediate effect, but by that point, he was far too worn out to right his wrong.

“Goodnight Ma. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” He turned and walked out of the room, wishing he could turn back the hands of time, and not be the reason his mother now sat in their living room, weeping.

AKOSUA

Akosua sobbed into her pillow. She had cried profusely for the past few weeks, repeatedly asking God why He’d do this to her, but she hadn’t heard anything except, No.

When she had first heard it, she had shrugged it off, saying it was just her mind. She had continued to tread her own path, even as the feeling of dread in her heart grew heavier. Eventually, the weight in her heart grew too large. She couldn’t do it. As such, after many nights of tears, she’d let the man of her dreams go.

Now her heart was breaking, and the One whose instructions she had followed seemed nowhere to be found.

“God, please why? I really liked Peter o, Lord. He’s a Christian! He’s the prayer head at church, he volunteers at an orphanage on the weekends, he runs a Christian teen club. Lord, he encouraged me to pray, it’s not like it was just for show. If You’ve asked me to break it off, at least tell me why. Please.”

Another tear rolled down her cheek–and yet there was still silence. She turned and continued crying into her pillow.

| ~ | ~ | ~ |

“Yes, εyε pure, pure water! Pure water!”

Although the toll booth at Weija had been demolished, the hawkers still stood resolutely in the hot midday sun, marketing their wares. Akosua often wondered where they found the strength to do so.

“Kosua ne mako!”

Akosua jumped in her seat as a hawker came to stand directly by her side of the car. She immediately rolled her window up further, a bit upset at the fact that there was no longer a refreshing breeze blowing into the car, but not willing to risk losing her phone to a wily roadside seller. She would not fall victim a second time.

This Sunday morning, the traffic was especially heavy since the roads were flooded again. She sometimes wondered what at all citizens paid taxes for, when nothing seemed to actually work.

“You people should pray we get good seats oh,” said her father, as he tapped impatiently on the steering wheel. “We could have avoided all this traffic if you people had woken up early.”

Akosua sighed. She knew that this barb was intended for her. She was the one who usually woke her siblings up for church in the mornings–all of them were deep sleepers, and none of them were quite as enthusiastic about Sunday mornings as she was.

Today however, she had woken up later than usual because she finally cried herself to sleep at 4:43am in the morning, and missed her alarm. There was no way she could tell her father that though. He would probe further and that would only lead to an extremely awkward and uncomfortable conversation. Neither of them were particularly good at communicating their feelings.

She plugged in her earphones and continued listening to music.

“My daddy, my daddy, Your baby is singing…”

| ~ | ~ | ~ |

“Amen!” The congregation yelled as Pastor Kunle finished up the sermon for the day. It had been a powerful one, as always. Since she had joined The Tabernacle nearly five years earlier, Akosua had never not been blessed by a word shared, whether it was by Pastor Kunle himself, or his wife and assistant pastors. The man had discipled strong men and women of God, who had gone out to either found their own thriving churches, continued to pastor in the main branch, or had built other branches of the church in different locations.

Akosua smiled as members streamed out of the door she was stationed at into the large car park. Her ushering uniform was beautiful, but considering the fact that ushers were likely to be standing for most of the service, especially when there was an overflow of attendees, it would have been nice to not have to wear heels. She’d bring it up at the next workers’ meeting.

“…Peter finally asked me out!”

Akosua’s neck whipped in the direction the voice had come from. It was Susan, a worker in the sanctuary team, and a banker at one of the leading banks in the country. She was standing with some of her closest friends, and the radiance of her smile was nearly blinding.

Akosua thought she might be sick. Nonetheless, she eavesdropped, wondering if they were talking about the man still in her heart even at that moment.

“You mean Brother Peter? The one who walks in realms and dimensions? Prayer machine?”

“Yes!” Susan squealed. “We’ve been talking for a few weeks, and I was really starting to like him, but I was afraid he might not like me, you know, he keeps his emotions so closely guarded sometimes. But yesterday, just out of the blue, he took me out, and even got me flowers. It was so romantic.” She sighed dreamily.

“Hei, prayer warrior has fallen in love! Wonders shall never cease!” laughed Abigail, one of the girls standing in the huddle.

Akosua wanted to run up to the girls and interrogate Susan. When? How? Where? She wanted to let the girl know that Peter had asked her out first, that it was she, Akos, who had taught him what it even meant to be romantic in the first place, that he loved her, and…and what? She sighed.

She had no right to be sad. It was she who had said no to Peter when he had officially asked her to be his girlfriend over a month ago, she who had left him heartbroken. She supposed she should be happy that he was moving on, that he had found someone who seemed genuinely happy to be with him.

As Akosua walked away though, all she felt was heaviness, as her heart seemingly broke all over again.

Read Part Two here

GLOSSARY

Bεεma, biribi bia yε okay? — Young man, is everything okay?

Aane o. Fa bottle baako bεka ho wai — yes o. Bring me one more bottle

chop breakfast — heartbreak

breakfast be painful pass aswear- heartbreak is very painful, I swear

Some my guy bi go through am last year . E nearly craze- It happened to one of my friends last year. He nearly went mad

Person wey fit chat plus snake — Someone who can talk to a snake?

Adεn nti na woyε me sei? Why are you doing this to me?

Piesie — Firstborn

εyε pure, pure water! Pure water! — It’s pure water! (ie, sachet water)

Kosua ne mako — egg and pepper

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Hi guys! It’s me, Princess! So Awakening Love is a short story/novelette that has been on my heart for a minute, and I’m super glad to finally be sharing it with you all! I’m looking forward to following Akosua and Kobina’s story over the next few parts (and I definitely plan to finish, so pray for more grace!). My prayer is that this story will bless you, and that in reading this story, we will all learn a few lessons about the true definition of what it means to love–both God and one another. God bless you!