~𝗠𝘆 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿~

3

After a looooong flight and having to deal with Yaw and Kweku wanting to switch places so Kweku could pester her, Afya had finally landed in the UK.

The last time she had been to the UK was when she had lived here over 10 years ago. It felt almost nostalgic as the plane finally landed.

Afya turned to her side to see Kweku completely under the spell of sleep, snoring slightly.

Afya tapped him on the shoulder.
"Kweku? Kweku?? KWEKU!"

"What do you want?" he grumbled, as he finally opened his eyes. "M'ani kum. "(I'm sleepy).

"You can do plenty resting when we get to the hotel," reasoned Afya. "Now hurry up and take your seat belt off, we have to go."

Yaw was already up and walking about, and smiled when he saw the pair.

"Finally, he's awake. Come on, let's go, we have to find our hotel."

Afya dragged Kweku out of his seat, and the trio made their way out of the plane and into Gatwick Airport, where, once again, Akua was tapping her foot impatiently for them as she saw them arrive.

"Right!" she exclaimed, gathering the small group. The woman clapped her hands and resumed talking.

"Okay, so! We are going to be staying at a hotel while we are here. You guys," she said, referring to the young and old artistes, "are obviously performing at Ghana Party in the Park, which is in 2 weeks to this Sunday - during the time we have we will have various checks and rehearsals. Afya, I know you have family here, so you can go and check up on them if you like as well. Am I clear?"

"Yes ma!" came the reply.

Afya chuckled but was quiet. If truth be told, she hadn't spoken to anyone she'd left in the UK since she left - all contact was lost.

Afya smiled as she got into the taxi transporting them to the hotel, once she'd obviously collected her things and made her way out of the airport. She thought of her Aunt Nike, who was great fun and offered sound and useful advice, while encouraging the girl to pursue her love when she was only a child. She thought also of her uncle and how he advised her to believe and trust in herself.

She laughed at the memory of Yomi, their oldest son. He was the older sibling she never had, annoying, intrusive, loud. But Afya saw, even as a kid that Yomi ws looking out for her. He would always make sure that his lil sis was alright.

And then, Bukayo.

Afya sighed and stared out of the window. The friendship between the two was immense, to say the least. They would walk home together, share plates of jollof rice, play football together after school and at break and lunch.

'Fia' and 'Kayo', using the playful terms they referred to each other as, met for the very first time as newborns - Bukayo only being a month and a half older than Afya. They, surprisingly, maintained eye contact for a good 10 seconds before Afya started crying for her mother.

Slowly but surely, a friendship would bloom out of that situation, and lead them to the best of friends.

Well, formerly best of friends.

And yes, Afya did sometimes feel the odd ripples of longing in her stomach whenever she saw him play for Arsenal, and wanted more than anything to be right there supporting him, encouraging him, being with him.

"It could never happen," she firmly told herself, as she rubbed her tired eyes before continuing to stare at the busy London streets.

***

"Well, this is nice," Afya mused, as she wheeled her suitcase in. She was lucky enough to have a room to herself, which had a bed, bedside table, bathroom, closet, TV, a small chair and a window.