Incompatible…
AARON ANSAH-AGYEMAN
INCOMPATIBLE
A ChrisEffe Thriller
CHAPTER 13
They all laughed except Jonathan Afful and Effe, who smiled rather uncertainly.
She didn’t know whether to be outraged or pleased by the exchanges that had just taken place. She admitted to herself, however, that she had just had one of the best times of her life. With Steve her life would always be filled with fun, laughter and happiness, and that was a certainty.
Her family liked him, and so would her friends, except perhaps her best friend, Atswei Mavis Solomons, who was dead set on Chris and always urged Effe to stick to him no matter what.
But Mavis didn’t know Steve, and Effe was sure that under the right circumstance, her best friend could at least tolerate her with Steve.
Chris had always been a sort of an outcast with her family because of his introvert nature. He was cool and quiet, mostly finding the company of other people boring. It had been so exciting at first being with Chris because he made her his sole focus. He always needed her, always wanted to be in her company alone.
They had had a lot of fun, but gradually his close monitoring and clingy attitude had begun to feel obsessive and stifling until, lately, she had felt out of breath and needed something different.
Yes, she had tried taking him along to some of her social events, but either he got fed up and left abruptly, or picked a fight with her somewhere along the line. He hated her being with other guys, and was always monitoring how she related to guys and reading too much meanings into them.
There had been a time she invited him to a party held at the university campus, and that had been the last time she had taken him out on a date where others would be present.
Effe had come out of the pool, and one of her friends had simply jumped form the pool, put his arms around her, and jumped with her back into the pool.
Chris had flipped instantly. He had refused to swim, preferring to lounge around morosely in his jeans, snickers and T-shirt. The moment the boy drew Effe into the water Chris had jumped in, full attired and punched the boy in the face, making him unconscious immediately and almost drowning him.
Effe had vowed then not to let him come along with her anywhere again, and just decided to spend more time with him alone, when she was free, just as he wanted it.
If only he could understand her wish to hang out with friends and have fun without him, things would have been so wonderful.
The most important aspect, however, was her parents’ acute dislike of him, especially since the land dispute began. Effe understood perfectly that her parents indeed, did not own the land. However, she could not hate them, especially when they agreed to pay double the price of the land to Brand Bawa.
She had seen it as the best gesture her parents could ever make, and had expected Chris and his father to accept it so that a modicum of peace could reign and allow them to enjoy their relationship.
Of course, Chris’ father had tried to agree to the deal.
The problem had been with Chris’ stubborn resolve to cling on to the land simply because he felt his father was being cheated. He felt peeved that Effe’s parents didn’t want him owning a land next to theirs because, apparently, Chris and his father were not in a good enough financial position to put up any building befitting the luxurious houses in the neighbourhood.
Effe felt it was a small sacrifice for Chris to make to ensure the sustainability of their relationship. That was why Chris’ stubborn resolve to fight for the land at all costs made her a little bit resentful of him, thinking he might not love her as much as he claimed.
Her thoughts were interrupted when the van came to a halt, and she realized they had arrived home. Steve went around the van and opened the door for her, and then helped her get down, holding her and smiling into her face in the darkness.
Effe smiled back.
“Thank you for a most beautiful time, Steve,” she said softly. “I enjoyed every second of it.”
The others had come out of the van, and were saying goodnight to each other with hugs and kisses.
The foliage of leaves had obscured most of the moonlight, and some bulbs of the street lights were out, but there was enough moonlight filtering through, and enough rays from the working street lights to light up Effe’s face, and cause the diamond necklace around her neck to glitter.
And, at that particular moment, her beauty was so amplified and so spectacular that it took Steve’s breath away as he took a step forward and took her in his arms.
“You’re breathtakingly beautiful, Effe Kedem,” he whispered as he lowered his head above hers, evidently meaning to kiss her.
Effe was taken aback by his gesture even though his compliment thrilled her. She put a hand on his lips and shook her head gently.
“No, Steve, please,” she said softly. “I told you about that. Don’t rush me, please.”
Steve smiled, and started to speak but he was suddenly pulled rather viciously from her arms, and flung unceremoniously hard against the side of the van with brute force!
Effe looked up, startled, and her heart suddenly thudded with a mixture of fury and unease when she found herself looking into the tortured face of Chris.
He looked so dishevelled!
His shirt was not tucked in, and the buttons halfway done. His tie was undone, and his eyes were wild with fury and bitterness.
“Now you kiss other men, Effe?” he asked painfully.
Steve had come off the van, his face filled with rage, and before Effe could reply he rushed forward and slammed a furious fist into Chris’ jaw. The blow drove Chris’ head back a fraction, but that was all.
With a grunt of sheer fury and pain Chris Bawa sank a hard fist into Steve’s gut.
Steve Hollison grunted with pain as he clutched his stomach and crashed to the hard ground. A geyser of vomit spewed out of his mouth in a wide arc as he gagged.
“Chris, you damn beast!” Baaba screamed with horror as she bent over the gasping Steve.
Effe, suddenly furious, stepped forward and pushed Chris hard in the chest.
“What’s the matter with you?” she shouted and pushed him over and over again. “Are you going to hit me too, Chris? Go ahead, Chris, damn you!”
Chris looked darkly at her.
“You didn’t see him hitting me first, did you?” he asked savagely. “Of course, you wouldn’t, would you? Because he’s the one you’re kissing now!”
Effe gasped, stung by that one, and dropped her hands helplessly.
“I didn’t kiss him, Chris!” she said through clenched teeth. “I stopped it. I pushed him away!”
“Damn it, Effe!” he grated savagely. “Why would he even try to kiss you if you had not given him the damn chance? If you had not made yourself available would he have dared to kiss you?”
She saw the pain on his face, the abject dejection that reduced that incredibly handsome face to a shell of pain, and suddenly Effe sighed helplessly.
Of course, she could understand him. In his jealous rage he would have seen it all from a different perspective, especially since he had been approaching from Steve’s back.
She knew it could escalate into something unpleasant if she didn’t handle it well because in that mood, Chris Bawa was capable of anything.
“You’re insulting me, Chris, but that’s okay. I didn’t allow him to kiss me, and that should be enough for you. Go home, Chris,” she said softly. “I can’t believe you will do this! You chased the van, and waited here all these hours for me to come back? This is definitely getting weirder, Chris, and getting quite frightening. You’re pushing me away; I keep telling you!”
Chris took a step closer to her and looked down at her with pained eyes.
“I didn’t wait here,” he said tightly. “In actual fact, I came here in the afternoon because I was doing my contract bidding at the Eden Hotel today, and you promised to go with me. Evidently, you no longer wanted to go. The decent thing was to have informed me your plans changed, and spared me the agony of coming here and seeing you going out with another man!”
It hit Effe with a mule’s kick!
“Oh, Chris!” she whispered, aghast.
She remembered now!
The new Eden Hotel had asked for bids from capable companies and individuals who were security camera and cyber security experts to submit bids to get the contract to fit the hotel with the requisite electronic security systems.
Chris had made a bid, and been short-listed. She knew how important the contract was for him, and she had promised to go with him. She had known one of the men on the Board, and had told him about Chris. The man, a good friend, had asked them to submit a twenty-minute bidding video.
“I’m so sorry, Chris, I forgot!” she said helplessly.
“Yeah, I know you did,” Chris said bitterly. “I called and left millions of messages yesterday to remind you the bidding was today, but you had switched your phone off! So, I came here this afternoon to ask if you still wanted to go with me, but of course, you had other plans!”
“Did you go, Chris?” she asked, her voice humbled, her heart filled with trepidation.
“Yeah, I went,” he replied quietly, and something in his voice made Effe suddenly afraid.
They were all quiet and looking at Chris Bawa now.
Baaba had managed to help Steve to his feet, but he was still dizzy and filled with pain as he leaned weakly against the side of his van.
“How did it go, Chris?” Effe asked softly.
“They told me I was supposed to submit my twenty-minute video three days ago,” he said quietly. “Do you know something funny, Effe? You promised to submit the video for me! I wanted to submit it online, but you claimed this guy you knew said you should forward it personally to him. But you didn’t, Effe, you didn’t! And because you didn’t submit my video, I was disqualified today. I had the video on my pen drive today, but they wouldn’t look at it because I didn’t follow laid-down procedure! Thank you, Effe. Thank you very much.”
And then Chris Bawa turned away from them and began to walk away.
Effe couldn’t move, and she couldn’t speak.
Now she knew why he had been chasing the van, and why he had sent her so many messages!
She had forgotten about accompanying him to the bidding and, worst, she had forgotten to submit his video!
She could feel his pain, and she knew how disappointed he was because he had banked so much on getting that contract.
“Chris, please wait,” she called out after him, but he didn’t pause, and he didn’t turn around again.
“Goodnight, ladies, gentlemen,” Jonathan said, subdued. “I’ll go to him now, Effe. I also promised to go with him to do his bidding today, but I had to lie to him that I’ll be going on a field trip. And he just found out that not only did his girl abandon him today, but his best friend did too, thanks to you, Babs!”
“Jon, come on!” Baaba said heatedly. “You see what has just happened? The happiness we all had has just been dampened by that bastard because of some stupid bidding he wouldn’t even have won!”
“Babs!” Effe said fiercely, her eyes digging into Baaba with fury.
“Shut the fuck up, Babs!” Jonathan said angrily. “Sometimes you make me sick!”
He turned from them and began to jog after Chris Bawa.
Effe turned and put a hand on Steve’s shoulder.
“Are you okay?” she asked in an unsteady voice. “Sorry for what Chris did, okay?”
Steve smiled painfully.
“It’s okay, I asked for it,” he groaned. “Didn’t know the guy is a damn Bruce Lee.”
Effe tried to smile, but tears shimmered in her eyes.
“Would you like to come in a bit and lie down till the pain subsides?”
“I’m fine, Effe dear,” Steve said. “But you go on. We’ll speak tomorrow. Seems to me you’re badly hurt. Take it easy, Effe. It happens sometimes.”
Effe nodded, and then she bowed her head suddenly as tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Goodnight, Steve,” she whispered. “Once again thanks for a wonderful time.”
She walked quickly inside and straight to her room. She sat down on the bed and took out her phone, and with trembling fingers she turned off the flight mode and called Chris.
His phone kept on ringing, but he paid no heed to her.
She called Jonathan.
“Effe?” he answered, and his voice was very down and sad.
“Are you with him?” she asked in a rush. “Can I speak to him?”
Jonathan sighed painfully.
“Told me to keep away from him, Effe,” Jonathan said sadly. “If you’ve made me lose a friend, Effe, I won’t ever forgive you for that! Next time, don’t tell me to lie to him!”
“I’m very sorry, Jon,” she whispered painfully. “Did he go home?”
“Yes, he did,” Jonathan said. “I followed him home. Look, I think he needs some time alone, okay? Let him be till tomorrow.”
Effe sighed, ended the call, and slowly stretched out on the bed.
For a moment she thought of calling Chris’ father and asking to speak to Chris, but she didn’t.
Instead, she went on WhatsApp, and saw seventy-two message threads from him, beginning from the previous day, and mostly asking if she had been able to email his video to her friend, and if she would be able to go with him for the biding.
Effe’s lips trembled as she began to weep silently.
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