Bands of the Unpaid Dowry

Chapter 20

"Didn't anyone tell madam 'moke' that we are climbing a walkway that is forty meters high?" Shirley's amused voice commented from where the five of them walked behind Gwen who surprisingly wore cargo pants with her ankle length boots. The sun's rays were obscured by the thicket of canopy formed by the trees and as a result there was a refreshing coolness that surrounded them as they walked through the greenery of the Kakum National Park led by their tour guide. Manuela had also invited her aunt's driver who tagged behind them in his usual black articles.

"I did inform her royal highness but as the queen of fashion she chose to ignore it." Manuela looked at the woman who walked with her head held high away from them. Gwen seemed genuinely intrigued by the information the tour guide was relaying but she disregarded her company and left them to their plans which immensely gratified even the ones who had just come to meet her. Millicent felt her chest burn whenever she saw the woman because she always remembered her parting words from the Elrod's mansion. Yet, she felt compelled to let the woman know about the plight that she was going to face in a few moments. Even the young man in the green assigned clothes for the guides was apprehensive as Gwen trudged through the roots that formed the soil beneath them in her heels.

"I think I should let her know." All the girls turned to Millicent with a demanding gaze. The three- Mawusi, Shirley and Asantewaa- who did not know the relationship she had with Jace were still concerned as they felt the underlying antipathy with which Gwen avoided her. Manuela had the most dubious looks among them but Millicent only smiled at them. They all had their hairs up in a bun and paired their jeans with white sneakers. None could utter another word as their friend stalked toward the red-haired woman.

"Gwen." Millicent called after the guide was done speaking. She looked up and was met with the icy eyes of Gwen.

"What? Did you finally realize that you are not good for him?" Her thin, high-pitched voice sneered, and she crossed her arms in front of her chest. Millicent only calmly raised her lined eyebrow, unsurprised at the entitled heiress' outburst. Behind them, her friends were questioning Manuela on how her cousin seemed to have selected one of the worst people to call a friend.

"With your social class, you're not worth a quarter of his riches. So, leave him to the status he belongs." Her arched brow on her powdered pale face challenged Millicent. If there was one thing that Millicent despised, it was prejudice and judging someone by a bank statement.

She stood upright, a stance that all who were close to her knew of, and so her friends' gait slowed as they anxiously held themselves back from interfering in whatever was going on. Gwen, oblivious to her behavior, turned her designer bag to emphasize her statement and dusted it slightly with her pink neatly manicured nails. Millicent stepped closer to her and even though Gwen stood taller than her by a few inches, her straightened figure startled the latter and almost caused her to stumble on a root. The forest was now silent as everyone, including their driver and the guide, stood warily away from the two women.

"A tiger and a lioness. I wonder who wins." Yaya, the driver, slipped up causing the girls in front of him to snicker. The statement was even more hilariously funny with the way he spoke in their home language.

"I wonder which who is." Asantewaa quipped in humor.

"Now you listen here Gwen. My worth is not measurable by riches, a bank statement or a man. I work to get my own money and I squander none from my family. If you ever felt that gratification of being remunerated, you'd know that one's value is not determined by money. Whether I'm enough for him, is Jace's own decision. Who are you to speak, when my husband hasn't?" No one heard what ensued but they judged from the hardened face of Millicent that it was a deep matter Gwen flushed as she looked at her rival, a little in mortification and indignation. Millicent, satisfied with the muted woman, calmly apologized to the guide and walked back to her friends.