The following evening, Kuukuwaa cleaned the wounded man and the room with a very worried face. She was very worried about the patient, knowing he had to wake up and start eating and taking in fluids or he might die.

She also knew, from what happened with the prince that very soon her father will tell her it was time to transfer him to the Government Hospital at Bomso Town, and for some very strange reason Kuukuwaa did not want that to happen.

She took a long shower after cleaning the room, put on a pretty dress and sat outside around the fire chatting to her father, stepmother and Kobby.

Afterwards, when the elders retired to bed and Kobby stepped outside to roam the village, Kuukuwaa entered the room where the wounded man was being kept. She doused two lanterns and left only one burning. Then, she sat on the edge of his bed and read her Bible. She had gone to the church on some nights just to pray for him to get well.

Her dress was a little short, and when she sat on the bed, most of her lovely thighs were exposed, but she did not mind much because she never took that dress outside their yard, and whenever a visitor came in when she was wearing that dress she quickly used a cover cloth.

She finished reading the Bible verses, and then she put her hand on his chest, closed her eyes, and began to pray for him. When she finished praying, she opened her eyes and saw him looking at her intensely with a curious smile around his lips.

Startled, Kuukuwaa gasped but she did not drop her eyes.

They stared at each other for a long time.

She half-expected him to shut his eyes again, as usual, and drift off into that coma-like sleep condition of his but this time, however, his eyes remained open, and then for the very first time, he spoke coherently in a  deep, pleasant and strangely calming voice.

“I see you.”

Kuukuwaa smiled gently back at him, “And I see you.”

“So…”

“So?” she asked with slightly raised eyebrows.

“You’re human after all. Been thinking maybe you’re an angel.”

If the same words had come from any of the young men in the village, she would’ve been inwardly angry because she would have known it was all a means of trying to put ‘that their thing’ into her.

Even if the Prince had said that it would’ve sounded unpleasant to her but coming from him, this patient, it sounded rather beautiful, and for the first time in a long time, Kuukuwaa suddenly felt a blast of shyness, and although she glowed inwardly, she did not look away from him.

“Yes, I’m human. You’ve been very sick.”

“I gathered as much. What’s your name?”

“Kuukuwaa Amoah.”

“Hm. Kuks,” he said gently.

She giggled and rolled her eyes at him. “What? What did you call me?”

“Kuks. Short for Kuukuwaa.”

With a smile around her lips, she put her head to one side and regarded him carefully.

“And how did you know that?”

He shrugged gently. “I just know.”

“And what’s your name too?”

His brow wrinkled with the effort of thought, and then he sighed softly. “Zack, I guess.”

“Yes, you told my father that. But Zack what? What other names are you known by?”

 

His brow wrinkled again, longer this time, and slowly the smile left his face, suddenly making him look worried as he racked his mind. “I don’t recall it! Oh, my dear God! What’s happening to me?”

 

Quickly she leaned forward and put a gentle hand on his chest. “Oh, please, it’s okay! You had a nasty injury to your head, and maybe that is what caused this. I’m sure that as you get stronger your memories will come back.”

He looked at her desperately, his face fevered, scared, seeking assurance. “Are you sure? Are you really sure?”

“I’m very sure of that, Zack. It’ll all come back to you,” she said, smiling reassuringly at him.

“Thanks, Kuks.”

She felt a kind of tingle passing through her when he said that.  Kuks. No one had ever called her that before and it sounded really nice coming from him, like a secret thing between them. She stared into his handsome face, now covered with an almost full-grown beard, and wondered how he will look like with a haircut and a shave.

The princess was right, of course. Even with a bandage around his head, he looked really handsome.

Suddenly, without warning, he raised his left hand, and it fell gently on her creamy right thigh.

She gasped, and immediately touched his hand intending to brush it off her thighs for no man had ever been allowed to see her thighs, let alone touch them, but when her hand touched his, she realized that, quite suddenly, she did not want to brush his hand aside.

Kukuuwa was aware that suddenly all the play was gone, and by that single act, they had been ushered into another level of awareness that she knew she must dissuade.

“You’re touching my thighs!” she spoke in an unsteady little voice.

“You touched my something,” he replied with s smile.

Then, as they both laughed, he took his hand from her thighs and folded them on his chest.

She was aware that her face was flushing with both shyness and shame. She had not had the slightest inkling that he was aware of her touching him intimately.

 

“I just wanted you to get well. It didn’t mean anything,” Kukuuwa said as she looked at him shyly.

He smiled gently at her and reached out to touch her hand. His voice was tender.

“I know, Kuks. I’m really glad you’re here with me. I’m really glad to have you taking care of me.”

“And you don’t remember anything at all, Zack? A family, a friend, a mother, sister, brother? Maybe a wife, a child?” she asked as she turned his hand over and covered it with her other hand.

“No, no, Kuks. My mind is a total blank. I’m so scared,” he replied as he looked steadily at her for a long time with sadness.

 

“You’ll be fine, Zack. It will all come back, trust me,” she said, smiling reassuringly at him.

He nodded and gave her soft, wonderful hand a gentle squeeze. She squeezed back, and once again she was aware that her heart was racing quickly, and that she was getting breathless again.

When their eyes met, both of them looked startled, and then the door opened behind them and Opanyin Amoah entered the room.

“Okay, young lady, go to bed. Let me take it from here. I’m glad you’ve joined us in the land of the living, young man. The gods have been kind to you.”

Kuukuwaa jumped to her feet, reluctantly letting go of his hand and avoiding her father’s eyes as she quickly left the room.

“Thank you, sir. You saved my life.”

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