Ex Gratia (#1 EX TRILOGY)

Chapter 15

Akoma felt butterflies in her stomach. ‘What the – ‘. She heard a suggestion in her head to answer affirmatively, but for the first time she questioned that thought and ran her fingers over her eyes restlessly. Rich watched her in silence and nodded slowly. Akoma looked away and stared down at her hands tucked between her thighs. She was not only offended by the request at first; she was terrified by the reality in her face. A gentleman she did not really know sleeps with her twice in one encounter, and the next thing that follows hours later is a marriage proposal out of nowhere based on an inspiration from a song. ‘Amazing,’ she thought and stepped out of the car. Rich got out and leaned over the roof.

“Are you expecting an answer?” Akoma asked.

Rich shrugged and drummed her fingers on the roof. “More or less. Answer me when you have time. I will call you to find out if you have arrived yet.”

Akoma took her stuff from the boot without a word and left without saying goodbye. She turned to see Rich staring after her for a while before getting into the car to keep watching. Akoma turned away and left.

She tried hard not to think about it throughout the trip to Accra. She did not feel like taking anything she was offered. She finally touched down almost an hour later and turned on her phone. The first call she received was from the bride.

“Sister, but you why?” the bride squealed. “Do you know how many times I have been calling you? Ei! How can you stand me up this long? Where are you? Huh? Where –“

“Relax, OK? I am in Accra. I came by plane,” Akoma tried to sound calm, but the bride would not take anything she said.

“Look – let me tell you something –“

Akoma heard another call coming in from the groom and bit her lip. “Sorry. I am sorry. Your man is calling me. Can I answer the call, please?”

“What? The chick of it! How dare you! Were you born last week or what? Are you crazy?”

Akoma frowned and quickly switched calls to answer the groom.  “Your lady is furious. I understand. It was not intentional. I am in Accra now and I am coming over as soon as possible.”

“But do you know the time?” the groom snapped at her. “Is that how you work?”

Akoma scratched her forehead restlessly. “Please take it easy – hello? Hello? Hel –“. Akoma took the phone off her ear and sighed to see that he had hung up on her. She flagged down a taxi and got in quickly. Rich’s call came in and Akoma stared at the screen for some seconds. When she considered answering it, the call ended. The bride called again and she rolled her eyes. She was already agitated, and this was going to be recorded as her first frustration at a wedding outside Kumasi – as to whether her fault or Rich’s she was not prepared to consider at the moment, but she found herself beating herself up for wasting so much time sleeping with him.

*********

Two days later, Akoma was back to Kumasi again from the worst wedding job she had ever taken. When she got home that evening, she met Nii coming out of his room and averted his eyes quickly. Nii noticed her and stopped right in front of her. Akoma simply walked past him without a word and unlocked her door.

“Akoma,” Nii said in a hushed voice. Akoma did not reply. She had her back turned to him. He shut his eyes and sighed, and then he walked closer and placed his hands on her shoulders. Akoma simply stepped away from him and opened the door. Nii quickly stepped in and held her back by the hand, but Akoma broke free and walked to the sofa to sit on it and take off her shoes. “Akoma, please look at me,” Nii said slowly and crouched before her. “Please. Look at me. I need – “

“You need to leave,” Akoma said bluntly and threw her shoes into a corner. “We’re done here.”

Nii scowled. “I am not the one who manipulated you into bed. He did that.”

For ten seconds, nobody spoke. Akoma looked up slowly and blinked at Nii who also stared back. “You captured the incident, didn't you?” Akoma whispered and narrowed her eyes in shock. “How could you?”

Nii opened his mouth and closed it again. “If I am not having that chance, I would not want to miss the scene,” he said. “You left me with no choice. It should have been me. And why call it an incident? You were enjoying him really well.”

Akoma dashed forward and slapped him hard in the face. Nii turned away and rubbed the aching side of his face, and then he turned to stare at Akoma quietly. Akoma was breathing heavily.  “Get out,” she snarled. “Get out! Now! I don’t want to see you!” She rose to her feet and stomped towards the door to hold it open, but missed the chance to see Nii swooping down to pick up the digital recorder from its hiding place to slip it back into his back pocket quickly. Akoma watched him closely and folded her arms across her chest. “What did you take from there?” She pointed at the floor near the sofa. Nii turned to look there and then back to Akoma. “Don’t tell me it was nothing. Give it to me.” She opened her palm and waited.
Nii slowly reached for his back pocket and slowly pulled something from there. Akoma held her breath and watched him until he finally brought out a wallet. Akoma cocked her head.

“I dropped it here yesterday. Sorry,” he lied and walked to the door, but stopped and turned to look at her with disgust. “I don’t know why you would sleep with someone you don’t know, but I am disappointed in you, Akoma. I am. That guy? Humph! You should be ashamed of yourself.” Then he whispered into her ear, “You can call him if you want.” He walked away immediately afterwards.

“Delete that video!” Akoma shouted at him. He shook his head and descended the stairs and went out of sight. Akoma went back inside to slump into her sofa, and the smell of Rich’s perfume was the first to hit her. She sat up quickly and smacked her forehead to try and snuff out the strong desires that were beginning to rise inside her abdomen on account of the smell. She felt she wanted to see Rich again. She had not informed him about her arrival to Kumasi for fear of having to either go through the marriage talk or perhaps another night with him.  Nevertheless, there was a part of her, the stranger within her that was anxious to see him again for some reason, whether Nii captured them or not.

She could not resist the temptation, so she picked up her phone and called Rich again.

“Please come now. I miss you,” she said and shut her eyes, asking herself silently ‘Akoma, what has come over you?'