The Marriage Transaction

Meet Cute

The Asare residence had hardly changed in the year since Kwabena had last visited. As he lifted his hand to knock on the door, he realized that he was hoping Joyce came to the door. He had not been able to forget her over the last year. He had failed to get her number in their last meeting. And with his mom looking to match him up with eligible Ghanaian spinsters, asking her for the number would have been suicide. So when his parents had asked him to deliver some items to the Asares on his self-funded trip to Ghana the following year, he had pretended to grumble, but was overjoyed by the possibility of seeing Joyce again.

The door opened to reveal Joyce in an over-sized t-shirt, knee-length shorts, and charle wotes(house slippers). Her hands flew to her hair when she saw him at the door. 

"Burger Kwabena Odro-Mensah, don't you call ahead?", she groaned. Kwabena was taken aback, firstly because she remembered him, then because she had chided him. Well, two could play that game.

"Madam Joyce Asare, I would have called you if I had your number. I did however, call your mom, and she had mentioned that this would be a good time to stop by. Did she not tell you? Your hair looks very chic, by the way. What is this style called? Ghanaian Goddess?", he asked with a solemn expression. She stared, taken aback, then noted the glint in his eye, and the smile creeping up on his face.

"It is called 'Cooking Ghanaian Woman Interrupted by Insolent Burger'", she retorted. "Come on in", she offered, stepping to side. Kwabena laughed out, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Nice comeback", he praised, walking through the door.

"My parents are not here", she said as she walked him to the kitchen. The aroma of light soup, the spicy kind with lots of fish permeated the kitchen. "I don't know why they asked you to come at a time they are usually not home", Joyce mused, giving the soup a quick stir.

 "Thats ok, I am just a delivery boy. My parents went shopping for their bffs, and I am here to deliver. I also got you a couple of things.", Kwabena said, noticing her perk up in surprise. She whirled around to face him. 

"You show up after a year bearing gifts?", she asked, a bemused expression on her face. Kwabena pulled two books out of his backpack. At the sight of the first book by Danielle Steele, her expression darkened noticeably. 

"Look Kwabena, you made your point the first time. I like romance novels. I am a romantic at heart. I understand you may think this is uncool or unrealistic, but that just me. You don't have to like it, and you most certainly don't need to rub my face in it." Kwabena put his hands up in surrender, and deliberately lowered his voice.

"I think you misunderstand me here a bit, Joyce. I messed up last time, and I didn't get a chance to apologize. So I read some of the books you had on your shelf, initially as penance, but sucked me into the romance genre. I don't care much for Danielle Steele, but I found some other authors that I really like. I got you the last Danielle Steele because I know you like her, and no other reason". Joyce buried her face in her hands and took a deep breath. She picked up the Danielle Steele book, and quickly read the blurb, and smiled.

"Which authors did you like then?", she asked. "Penny Reid, Ella Mais, Mariana Zapata and a few others. My favorite by far, is Penny Reid", Kwabena confessed.

"She doesn't sound familiar", Joyce said, her forehead wrinkling as she tried to recall the name.

"Oh good. I got you one of hers", he said gesturing to the second book. "I can almost guarantee that you would love it." Joyce's eyes sparkled at this and for the first time since he met her, she seemed at a loss for words. She took a deep breath.

"I am sorry for my tirade earlier. I think the comments last year bothered me a lot more than I realized" she confessed finally, looking straight at him. "Thank you. This is wonderful."