Incompatible…
AARON ANSAH-AGYEMAN
INCOMPATIBLE
A ChrisEffe Thriller
CHAPTER 15
“His name is Ahmed,” Mavis said softly. “My first love, yes. His father was an elder of the church, and my father was the pastor. That boy is the only guy that really loved me with every little bit of his heart and soul. He brought me such happiness, and he was always there, constant and dependable, like a rock.”
Effe nodded numbly, her throat dry.
“Your mother didn’t want you to marry him?” she asked softly.
Mavis chuckled and shook her head.
“Wow, no, no,” she said quaveringly. “My mother adored him. He was such a gem, you know, a true Christian who wouldn’t take my virginity as hard as I tried to make him do it. It was my father, that supposed man of God, who didn’t want me to marry a Northerner, of all the silly reasons, coming from no less than a pastor!
I adored my father, you know, very much. After school, I was so confused, you know, when Ahmed asked me to marry him. Yes, I was confused because I met a guy in school, a young teacher called Mike. He was brash, confident and from a wealthy, respectable home. My father was impressed with him and favoured him. Mike fitted so well into my life, you know, full of fun and everything good.”
“Ahmed didn’t give you fun?” Effe asked softly.
Mavis looked at Effe and smiled sadly.
“Ahmed was perfect, Ef,” she said gently. “The only thing wrong with him was that he was so jealous and possessive, obsessively so, and couldn’t stand seeing me with any other guy! I felt so claustrophobic and so caged in…and so, eventually, I allowed Mike to have me. Guess I was too fed up with what I thought then were Ahmed’s childish tantrums!”
Effe inhaled sharply, but she could not utter a word as she looked at her friend frantically.
“I was the outgoing type, Ef,” Mavis said softly. “I loved to go to clubs, to drink, to have fun! Ahmed hated alcohol, and his idea of fun was being with me and holding my hands. So, not surprisingly, I took him for granted and felt I could play with his heart and he would still be there no matter how I treated him. The day Mike took my virginity, it was bad for me. It opened my eyes, I guess, and suddenly I knew that I had done Ahmed a great wrong. I could’ve understood him, and tried harder to make him trust me more. Broken and ashamed, I told him about it, you know.”
“You told Ahmed that you slept with Mike?” Effe asked softly, and Mavis nodded, causing more tears to fall down her cheeks.
“Yes, Ef, yes,” Mavis said, her voice shattered. “And I’ll never forget the look that came across his face. It was like I killed something right inside his soul, and I fell from this pedestal he had placed me. He walked away with tears in his eyes, and that day has haunted me ever since.”
“He didn’t forgive you?” Effe asked, alarmed.
Mavis turned to face her friend, and she brushed tears from her eyes with both hands, and then she sniffed, sighed and threw her head back to stem the flow of her tears.
“He loved me too much not to forgive me, Ef,” Mave said gently with a sad smile. “I promised to marry him. I knew how much I hurt that gentle soul, and I was ready to make a clean start, even though Mike was livid. Yes, I pushed Mike out of my life and concentrated on Ahmed, you know, determined to make it work this time. However, a month later, my world came crumbling down around me. You see, I found out I was pregnant with Mike’s child.”
“Good gracious,” Effe whispered, so greatly affected that she began to tremble.
“Yes, Ef,” Mave said softly. “Ahmed was okay with it, you know. He took it as a mistake I made and was ready to forgive me and wait for me to give birth, and then marry me, but my father wouldn’t have it. Mike also confused me so much, you know, telling me about how his rich parents were enthused about the baby and wanted to raise their grandchild and give the child the best in life. Ahmed was poor then, you know. And so, in all the confusion, I broke Ahmed’s heart a second time. I decided to stay with Mike.”
“Mave!” Effe cried, appalled and heart-broken.
Mavis’ lips were tight as she nodded and her tears fell.
“I took his love for granted, Ef,” she whispered quaveringly. “And I watched him walk away from me. He didn’t tell me that he had just received a scholarship to further his engineering course in Germany, and so he left. And that was when I began to feel real pain, Ef! Do you know why? It was that cliché about not knowing the value of something until you lose it!
At first, I was glad to be free of his jealousies and crippling possessiveness, but I realized that I loved him with a love so great that I couldn’t live without him! I was forced to quickly marry Mike to hide the pregnancy, you know, to say later that I gave birth prematurely, but four months down the line I lost the baby…painful miscarriage. I was too stressed up about losing Ahmed.”
“Goodness me!” Effe whispered as tears came to her eyes. “Oh, Mave, I’m so sorry!”
“Effe, I was so distressed because I couldn’t find Ahmed!” Mave continued, her voice was broken. “Suddenly, he was gone from my life! I couldn’t see him! His jealous fits were gone, his possessive antics missing, and I was in deep pain! I had regretted everything! But he was gone! The love of my life was gone, and I had hurt him so much that he simply didn’t want to see me! His parents didn’t want me anywhere near him, and I couldn’t blame them for it. So, they never told him that I lost the baby and divorced Mike just two years after the marriage. And do you know why?”
Effe shook her head numbly.
Mavis placed her hands on Effe’s shoulder.
“I realized that I was a fool, Ef,” she whispered deeply, her soul tormented. “I realized that I didn’t love Mike and that I would never find true love again! So, I divorced him, and although I was free Ahmed’s folks just wouldn’t let me near him again, and so he got married in Germany to a Senegalese woman. Seven years later, I finally contacted him and told him how much I was hurting.
He still loved me, Ef, but you know Ahmed, he’s such an upright man that he just couldn’t break his wife’s heart. To protect his marriage, he cut off ties with me completely. Oh, he sends the occasional card, you know, and always sends me money. But he tells me he simply can’t see me again, ever, because his love for me might force him to be unfaithful, and that is the one thing he can’t do.
He can’t sin against his God and his wife. And here I am, Ef, having to do with bastards like Jude Prempeh whilst my true love is out there somewhere with a strange woman…and I have the luxury of my bitter nights to regret my mistakes!”
Mavis took the album from Effe’s nerveless hands and walked to her desk. She sat down on the stuffed chair and gently put the album back inside the drawer and locked it away.
Mavis then took her phone and flipped through her contacts. She selected Chris’ name and dialled, and as it began to ring she activated the loudspeaker.
“Aunt Atswei,” came Chris’ deep, sexy voice, and Mavis laughed gently.
“Chrissy told you to stop calling me Aunt Atswei!” Mavis said gently. “I need you this evening at my place, Chris-Boy. Dinner. I’ll cook your favourite jollof.”
“Don’t think I can make it, Ats,” Chris said immediately, and Effe winced because she could feel the pain in his voice. “I don’t feel too good.”
“You never say no to me, Chris-Boy, you hear?” Mavis said with mock severity. “My place, seven o’clock tonight. You be there.”
There was a pause, and then his voice came, calm and subdued.
“Alright, Ats, I’ll be there,” he said slowly.
“Ah, aren’t you a darling?” Mavis said with a giggle. “That’s why I love you! Don’t worry, my boy! I’m solidly behind you, and no one can ever dislodge you from Effe’s heart.”
Chris laughed in his deep voice, sounding as wonderful as ever.
“I hurt, Ats,” he said softly. “Effe with you?”
“No,” Mavis said and winked conspiratorially at Effe. “But I heard you two had a spell of trouble. We’ll talk about it when I see you.”
“She let some guy kiss her, Ats,” Chris said, his voice now spilling over with pain as Mavis looked at Effe, horrified, and found Effe shaking her head vehemently. “It hurts so bad, Ats.”
“Whatever it is, Chris-Boy, come around tonight and let’s discuss it,” Mavis said kindly.
“Sure, alright, Ats,” Chris said with a sigh. “See you then.”
Mavis cut the call and stared at Effe with horror.
“You let that Hollisump or whatever his damn name is, kiss you, girlfriend?”
“Hollison, Mave!” Effe said, and then shook her head numbly. “I didn’t allow it, Mave, although he came really close…but I stopped him. I wasn’t even expecting him to do that, you know, considering we just met and Chris flipped out because he saw it his way, as usual!”
Mavis leaned forward, and she was no longer smiling as she looked bleakly at Effe.
“I see Ahmed in Chris, Ef,” she said in a serious voice. “They’re keepers, and they’re dedicated! The same way he’s fighting your parents, that’s the same way he’ll fight for you and any children you two would be blessed with! Men like Chris who are absolutely dedicated to one woman are hard to find, Ef. I know the jealousies and possessiveness are too much, but believe me, you need to let him start trusting you! Take him to your damn outings if you must, and let that trust grow. Don’t make the same mistakes I made! That’s why I told you my story…learn something from it!”
Effe looked at Mavis with haunted eyes.
“Mave, I don’t aim to insult you or be disrespectful of your choices, but believe me, I intend to keep my virginity till I marry, so no man is going to take that,” she said levelly.
Mavis looked at Effe with stunned incredulity.
“Do you think my biggest mistake was to be unfaithful to Ahmed?” she asked fiercely.
Effe scowled.
“That started all the troubles, didn’t it?” she asked softly. “So if that wasn’t your mistake, what was?”
“My mistake was not the loss of my virginity, Effe Kedem! My mistake was letting Ahmed walk out of my life!” Mavis said with an almost fierce voice. “That was my most unforgivable mistake! I took him for granted, and so I thought I could survive without him. You must be feeling all oppressed now, Effe, and thinking you can survive without Chris.
Believe me, the day you lose Chris, is the day you will know the meaning of pain. Knowing the two of you, I know he will always be in your heart and soul. He will be the yardstick you will measure every man that comes after him. You’ll always be looking over your shoulders to see if he is near and you will be missing him, needing him and wishing he was right by your side for as long as you draw breath.”
Effe nodded numbly.
“Alright, Mave, I hear you,” she whispered quaveringly. “Thanks.”
“Ef, nobody knows about Ahmed and me, dear,” Mavis said earnestly. “I couldn’t tell you about him because it is my most shameful secret, and it still hurts me, and I still love him…will probably love him till I die. But I told you about Ahmed for a reason, because I believe Chris is your Ahmed. You might not see it that way until maybe, the unexpected happens. .
So, I beg of you, whatever you do, don’t let that man walk away. Men like him don’t normally come back when they walk away, and it is not because they don’t want to come back. It is because other women are waiting out there for them to give them a comfortable place to stay. Don’t repeat the same mistakes I made, Ef, please.”
Effe sighed, exasperated, and got to her feet.
“Thanks, Mave, I appreciate your trust very much,” she said, and then she smiled broadly. “I’ll be there at seven tonight. I’ve really missed that boy.”
“I know you have,” Mavis said with two thumbs up. “Oh, hey, I almost forgot! I finally got a copy of the latest album by Shael!”
Effe’s beautiful face lit up with great delight and indescribable joy because Shael, the African-American songstress, fashion designer, and actress was Effe’s heroine. She loved and hero-worshipped Shael, and had all the albums of the singer except the latest.
“Yipeeeee!!” Effe cried, elated. “Oh, thank you, thank you so much! You don’t know how much I’ve waited for that album!”
Mavis, smiling, removed the gold CD case from her bag and handed it to Effe. Effe took it and, still exhilarated, went around the desk and hugged Mavis.
“I’ve to listen to this, Mave!” Effe cried and hurried out of the office, leaving a sad and bemused Mavis behind.
Mavis took a deep breath, and then she slowly unlocked the drawer, lifted the album out, sighed, leaned back and began to flip through the pages of the album slowly.
***
Effe chose a beautiful dark dress that stopped just short of her knees for the dinner at Mavis’ place.
With slight make-up and her hair piled on top of her head, she looked really breath-taking as she surveyed herself in the mirror in her bedroom.
Love Bites Sweetly, the number four track on Shael’s latest album, Hovering, was blasting away on her sounds system, and she shut her eyes and did a beautiful gig as the words sailed through her.
It had become her favourite track on the album, and she just couldn’t get enough of it. She glanced anxiously at the clock just as the door opened, and her siblings came in.
“Somebody is in a sweet mood tonight,” Eyram giggled as she fell on Effe’s bed and grabbed a teddy bear. “Steve slowly stealing your heart, isn’t he?”
“Steve?” Effe echoed, for a moment seeming lost.
“We know the two of you have a date tonight!” Baaba said as she stood behind Effe. “He informed us. I’m happy for you, Effe. If you can love Steve, and accept him, it will really solve a mountain-high of problems in this house.”
Effe stopped dancing suddenly and turned toward them, her expression dazed.
Of course!
She had agreed to have dinner with Steve on their way home from the cruise ship!
Why had she forgotten everything about it?
Her little quarrel with Chris had stressed her out, of course, and as usual, it had pushed everything to the back, making her forget completely that she had a date with Steve Hollison.
“Oh, dearest me!” she whispered as she sat down slowly on the little chair in front of the dressing-mirror.
Eyram sat up suddenly with a troubled look on her face.
“Wow,” she said softly. “You forgot, didn’t you?”
“She did, of course,” Baaba said, shaking her head with disapproval. “Her pretty head was filled with thoughts of her Chris-Love, no doubt.”
Effe paid no heed to them as she reached for her phone and dialled Steve’s number. He picked up even before the first ring ended as if he had been holding the phone and waiting for her call.
“Hello, Effe, the most beautiful woman alive!” he crooned sweetly into her ear, and Effe smiled sadly for a moment.
“Steve, you’re going to be very angry with me,” she said, her voice filled with remorse. “I’m so ashamed of myself.”
There was the briefest of pauses, and then his voice came back strong and understanding.
“Something came up, and you can’t make it tonight,” he said levelly. “Oh, what a shame, I was looking forward to having your wonderful company tonight, Effe.”
Effe sighed deeply.
“I’m so sorry, Steve,” she whispered. “Rain cheque? I promise I’ll make it up to you soon.”
“I understand, my flower,” he replied with a chuckle. “Don’t sweat it. I was about to leave the house, though, but I’ll get a little drink and watch a movie. Will hold you to that promise later in the week, though.”
Effe was stumped for a bit longer.
“Thank you, Steve,” she said with mild surprise. “Are you not going to ask me why I’m standing you up?”
He laughed gently.
“I trust you, Effe, and I know whatever your reason is, it is something important,” he said gently. “I understand.”
“Oh, Steve,” she whispered softly. “Thank you so much. Will call you before I sleep.”
“Do that, Angel,” he said gently. “Take care, and bye for now.”
Effe cut the call and sat for a long time regarding her reflection unseeingly in the mirror.
He had accepted it, as simple as that.
That was something new, something she was not used to, no…
She couldn’t stop herself comparing him with Chris!
All hell would have broken loose if it had been Chris she had called begging to be excused for a date they had already fixed!
It would have been the most torrid time of her life answering grilling questions and taking horrible accusations from him, ranging from the mild to the heavily horrendous.
But with Steve – no questions, no hassle, no bitterness!
Just the calm understanding and heavy trust.
Her word had been enough, and her wishes had been held supreme by this man who seemed so charming and so mature. She knew for a fact that with a man like Steve beside her, she would never have to worry about jealous bouts and possessive vices ever!
They were always on the same wavelength, so in tune to each other…so compatible!
Compatibility was one issue of discord with her and Chris and had always been a heavy problem from the very onset of the relationship. She had to face it, and accept it; she and Chris Bawa were absolutely incompatible!
They were in love, yes, madly…but that was the irony of it. Their love was all that they had, and basically nothing else. Could such a thing be possible? Could it even last?
But then, she had to take a cognitive view of what Mavis had gone through when she thought the same about Ahmed and ended up regretting for the rest of her life span.
It was all so confusing!
How could she love Chris so much, and yet be faced with so many issues of compatibility…
And how come she didn’t love Steve, and yet they seemed to have the same mindset and were so compatible?
Effe sighed heavily.
She was a very disturbed young lady.
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