Love Under the Baobab Tree

Chapter 2: One leg, some other guy

They rushed him to the hospital. Thanks to God he survived. He couldn't believe his eyes when he woke up only to find out he has lost his right leg. He started to weep. His sister who had been sitting in the chair beside the bed tried to calm him down but he wouldn't. Memories started running through his head. Those times when he would run after Jasmine till he would catch her and she would give him a deep kiss as a reward. That even made him weep harder. It seemed like it was the end of eternity.

He was discharged 3 days after gaining consciousness. Everybody was sorry for him, especially his sister, Regina. He asked Regina whether they found his phone. She said yes but it had totally broken. They sent it to a repairer but there was nothing he could do about it, the only thing that remained for him was the SIM card. He sobbed. The number is gone; his right leg....how is he going to tell Jasmine? His mother bought him a small phone to use for the time been. The phone didn't support Whatsapp and Facebook. Days passed, Months came by, but there was no sign of Jasmine.

His heart skipped every beat whenever his phone rang thinking that it might be Jasmine. His life was lonely. Derrick was around, his sister was there for him, His parents too were always by him, but somebody special was missing; Jasmine was not there to talk to him and hug him. It wasn't his leg he had missed, he wasn't tired of pushing his wheelchair it was Jasmine he cried for every single day.

His sister wept for him when he told her everything. From the time Jasmine left till when and how he had the accident. He told her not to tell their parents. A year came, the second followed and the third too passed but still there was no Jasmine.

One day, Regina came to him and told him to take heart of what she was about to show him. He told her not to worry. She took her phone from her pocket and made him promise he is not going to do anything crazy afterwards.

Then she showed him pictures of Jasmine and another guy. She looked very happy in the pictures. He asked her where she got it from; she said she got it from Facebook. He stared at the pictures smiling....Regina knew he wasn't alright. Owusu, are you sure you are going to be alright? Don't worry Regina, I will be fine. Thanks anyway for showing me the pictures.

The next morning Regina woke up very early to do her house chores. She swept the whole compound and washed the dishes. She sat outside browsing and chatting with her phone. She looked at the clock and it was already 9:00am but Owusu was not out yet. She was surprised and kept wondering why he is still inside. Then she remembered what happened last night. She quickly went to her brother's door and started knocking. Regina knocked her brother's door several times but there was no response. She kept on knocking but there was still not reply. Then she started to bang the door very hard. She was so scared that her brother might have done something to himself because of the pictures she showed him.