Day 21 of 45 Days
45 Days
© Aaron Ansah-Agyeman
Chris wakes up and lies on his back. He is quite spent, and he is luxuriously tired.
His heart is joyfully happy.
He remembers them having the sweetest breakfast he has ever tasted, courtesy of Mr. Katoto. He remembers them starting kissing in the living area, getting naked in the doorway of the bedroom, and ending up making love, yet again, on the bed.
He rolls to his side and reaches for her, but her side of the bed is empty.
Suddenly Chris is alarmed. His eyes fly open and he bolts up in bed, but then he sees her.
She is fully dressed, and she is standing by the huge glass wall that gives a perfect view of the lake. She is leaning her left shoulder against the glass, her arms crossed under her breasts, but she is not watching the view.
She is watching him, and her face is so serious and thoughtful that for a moment he feels a pang of fear.
“Precious?”
She smiles, a very sad smile that fails to light up her beautiful face as usual.
“Can we leave now, please?”
Something in her voice scares him. He looks at her critically, trying to remember if he had done something wrong to make her angry.
“What’s wrong, Princess? Have I angered you?” he asks, concerned.
“Can we go, Chris, please?” she says, her voice unsteady and almost tearful.
He is confused, obviously beginning to panic. He pushes the luxurious bedspreads away and stands up. He begins to walk toward her.
“Effe…”
“Put on your clothes, Chris.”
“Hey, Precious, what’s…”
“Just put on your clothes, Chris! Pleeease!” she cries desperately.
He stops, and he is now very panicked indeed. He holds up his hands and walks around the room, picking up his clothes. He enters the bathroom, closes the door, and drops his clothes on the floor. He stares at the door with absolute confusion.
He turns on the shower and takes a cold bath. He dresses slowly, and then he goes back to the bedroom.
She is not there.
He rushes to the living area and finds her standing beside the door.
They look at each other. She looks absolutely miserable, and it cuts deeply into his heart.
“Can you call Mr. Katoto? I want to leave now, please.”
Chris walks forward and stands a few paces from her.
“You’re not being fair to me, Effe. We came here last night, I discovered love, real love, and what you’re doing now is killing me, breaking my heart. I can’t hold you if you want to leave, but you should let me know why you’re like this? After what we have shared, why this? Why’re you killing me? Did I do something to hurt you?”
She looks at him with strange eyes that are filled with unshed tears. She raises a trembling hand to her trembling lips.
“You haven’t done anything wrong, Chris. It’s me. I hate the woman I have become, I met you just three weeks ago, and in that time, I’ve lost my husband to my cousin. I’m supposed to be hurting, to be getting over him! And yet what happens? I make love to you all through the night! I dated my husband for many years! I went to his bed a virgin! And now just twenty-one days after meeting you, all my principles are gone; all my discipline is gone! I made love to you over and over again! It’s not right, Chris! It’s not right!”
He shakes his head with absolute incredulity.
“Effe, Precious! Lord, my love for you doesn’t know time, or principles, or discipline! It doesn’t feel like I’ve known you for just three weeks! It feels like I’ve known you forever! I’ve changed my life, my ways, and everything for you! I don’t know what happened, or how it happened, but I’m living loving you! I can’t even bear the thought of being without you, Effe!”
She looks him straight in the eye, still unfriendly, still worried.
“That’s the point, Chris! I really don’t know you! All I know is that you grew up in an orphanage. I don’t know anything more! I don’t know your friends, your family, your life…”
“I don’t have friends! I don’t have a family!” he shouts. “I didn’t have a life until you came into my life! I’ve been alone all my life, Effe!”
“If you disappear right now, Chris, how would I find you? Things don’t add up, Chris! Who really are you? A taxi driver? Some poor orphan who can get my father his capital loan with just a phone call because he knows someone? A taxi driver who can get access to the most expensive private suites and even holds a magical golden card that gets him this… this beautiful place?”
“Yes, Effe, yes! I know people, who like me, what’s so bad about that? Where’s this going? Have you regretted making love to me, a mere taxi driver, is that it?”
“Oh please, stop that, Chris! Don’t you dare go there!” she screams. “You know me better than that! You know that has nothing to do with it! I loved the way you made love to me! I couldn’t get enough of it! I see you and all I want is to get you naked and make love to you! You did things to my body, touched and loved me in ways I’ve never experienced before! You gave me more orgasms in one night than I’ve had my entire married life! Who the hell are you, Chris? No ordinary man can make love like that! You’ve had a lot of experience, haven’t you?”
“You’re angry because you enjoyed the way I made love to you? Is that it? My God! That’s a first! You’re the only woman who hates the guy that gives her the greatest lovemaking!”
“Because you know just what to touch, what to do to make me crazy in bed!” she says coldly. “Because you have been with a lot of women!”
“Effe, why are you doing this to me? I told you I had to satisfy a lot of women when that damn woman Sweet Ama Baby turned me into a damn male prostitute. I had to do it to survive. If I didn’t do it the orphans were punished, Janet was also punished!”
“Oh, yes, your sweet love Janet, of course!” she retorts, almost scornfully.
“I was seduced, Effe. I never enjoyed making love to those women. I hated it. No boy is supposed to go through all that. When I fled from Sweet Ama Baby’s room I swore never to make love to another woman again. Love-making sickened me because it reminded me of that awful period of my life. Yes, there have been some other women since, but I never really enjoyed my time with them. I felt dirty, used, and unworthy of love. I never enjoyed love-making until last night and the first part of this morning. Yes, I wanted to please you, to make you happy in bed. It’s the first time I’ve been totally unselfish in love-making! And it is all because I love you so very much, Effe! Please don’t push me away!”
Tears fall down Effe’s cheeks unheeded. She looks at him and shakes her head slowly.
“I did things with you I’ve never done with any man, Chris. Even now, looking at you, all my body wants is to be naked in your arms. But I need time. I’m sorry, I need to know you, know all about you. I need to get to know you better, to love you better, if this is true love. I don’t want to be with you on a rebound. My heart is craving for you, but I have to know Chris Bawa, inside out. Being with you, I am convinced of one thing … if I should lose you, I’ll never be able to get over you. I need a little bit more time, Chris. I want to know that I’m not making a mistake again.”
Chris holds out his arms.
“Oh Effe, my Precious Angel! Don’t do this! I have been so happy, the happiest in my life! You’re the love I’ve missed all my life! You’re the one! I just want to spend the rest of my life making you happy! Lord, I thought after we leave here, I’m going to get the prettiest ring I can buy and propose to you, to make you my wife, to hold and cherish you forever! Don’t push me away, please. Let me love you, Precious.”
“I’m really sorry, Chris. I really am! But this … this is a bit too much for me, too hurried! I need to know you!”
“There’s nothing to know, not more than what I told you! You want to visit the Orphanage I grew up in? I’ll take you there! You want to meet the women who seduced me? I can give you a list, but I never knew their real names or real identities! I don’t have a father, a mother, an uncle, or a family! I have only you! You may be just another brilliant doctor in the world, but to me, you’re the world! My world, Effe! I just wanna love you! Is that too much to ask?”
“I’m sorry, Chris. I’m really sorry,” she says, and she is crying now. “Please, give me time. More time. Let me get my emotions on the right path. Let me know I’m doing this because I love you.”
He tries to hold her; she moves back with a little sob. She opens the door and goes outside. Chris opens the door and follows her.
When Mr. Katoto accompanies them to the taxi, she barely speaks, but shakes his hand and then she enters the taxi. She does not sit in front … she sits in the back.
He drives, his brain and heart in turmoil.
Much later when they get to the Kedem Residence and he stops the car, she opens the door and runs inside without a word to him.
He stares after her, wounded, even after she disappears through the gates.
He leans back in the seat, his heart pounding unbearably, solid pain suffusing his whole body. He can’t drive away. He sits there, expecting her to come out again and reassure him that everything is okay.
The gates open, and Mrs. Ivy Kedem steps out.
When he sees her, he makes a U-turn and drives past her.
She stares after him with murderous eyes filled with sheer hatred.
He is very disturbed. His face is very pained, his heart beating with unbridled pain.
And he is not surprised when he feels wetness on his cheeks… and realized that he is crying.
His heart, indeed, is breaking.
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