Let’s keep going, shall we?

Allison sat in the living room of the house of her older sister, Mensima, as she waited for her to finish her long conversation with her husband.

The decision to confide in Mensima about the whole Marcus debacle and seek advice from her had been one she had struggled with the previous week, before choosing to do so during her lunch break at work. The truth was, Mensima had never been amused by her attitude towards men. She found it unreasonable and over the top, often berating her for the harsh manner in which she would reject a guy or even disallow him from holding her hand. She had given Allison two nicknames as a result: Aunty Thatcher, and Mandy, the latter in reference to the cartoon character in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy who never smiled and thought ‘love is for the weak-minded’.

Lord knows how Allison hated that nickname.

Mensima’s love life, as one would expect, wasn’t as ironcast as that of her younger sister. She had been in a relationship with one Roger guy since her university days, and after 5 years, they had exchanged vows about six months ago. Now as she walked around the house, rattling off in immaculate Fante, the first fruit of their union was six weeks old in her belly. She seemed pretty satisfied with life as it was.

She came to sit down on the sofa next to Allison, signaling to her that she was about to hang up.

“Some of these people who have house helps don’t know how to treat them well at all. Oh!…. Waaaa look at that…. Hmmm, it’s a problem ooo… Well, anyway, my sister is around, so let me attend to her, OK. In the meantime, hurry up and get back home. I need you here. Badly…. You know what I mean, you silly boy. Bye, boo!” she ended with a schoolgirlish giggle and two blown kisses. As she put her phone down, she turned to Allison.

“Azayy, Madam Thatcher! What’s going on?”

Allison shook her head. If she could give Mensima a cedi for every time she said ‘Azayy’, she’d be living a more luxurious life than the Royal family.

“Umm, Mensima, there’s something important I want to talk to you about. I find myself in a certain situation, and I need your help. Your advice.”

Her older sister’s face softened upon hearing that. She placed a hand upon Allison’s lap. “I see. Talk to me.”

She knew that sudden gentle demeanour wouldn’t last long, but at least, it was good to have that reaction. She took a deep breath, then started.

She told Mensima about Marcus. How they had gotten quite close in church a couple of years back. She told her about the hints of interest Marcus had shown back then that she had turned a blind eye to, thanks to her strong stand against romantic relationships. How she had constantly made that stance known to him. How she had, without warning, decided to give him the cold shoulder and talk to him less, and his subsequent drift from her. She told her that after much introspection and thought, she was not happy with her choices. Finally, she mentioned the brief talk on Sunday and the ‘Temwani’ factor.

Mensima listened quietly and carefully throughout, a solemn look on her face. When Allison was done, though, her facial expression changed. With a smirk on her face, she clapped and said loudly, “Ei, there is God ooo! Mandy has finally repented!”

Allison inwardly sighed. I knew she would do that.

“So now you don’t mind being in a relationship, eh? Hmmm. I see. I don’t know what has made you suddenly change your mind like that; it’s not a bad thing to remain single your whole life. But anyways… after flexing and ghosting the boy, you now want a second chance? Well, let me see…”

Mensima put on a serious look, as if she was thinking long and hard about something. Then she snapped her fingers. “Yes! I have a perfect idea.”

Allison inwardly groaned. She knew it was nothing serious; her sister was just going to troll her.

“Invite them to this place. Marcus and Temani or Tiwana or whatever her name is. Invite them to this house. Call Marcus upstairs, get him into our room, lock him in, and force him to say ‘I love you’ to you 3 times. I hear it works wonders. Meanwhile, I’ll get those iron bars at the back of the house and beat the Zambia girl with it…” Mensima trailed off in a fit of laughter, obviously finding her own ‘joke’ very funny.

Allison simply kept silent, deciding not to throw a fit of rage or openly grumble at her sister’s jokes.

After a minute of giggling, Mensima sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Ohh, my dear, forgive me, that was just so funny.” She took a deep breath, probably to expel the humour from her system, then turned to Allison, the seriousness back. “OK, let’s get serious. So, this Marcus guy, you actually like him now?”

Allison nodded.

“And at this point in time, do you still wish to be with him?”

“He has a girlfriend now- ”

“Azayy! Do you still wish to be with him, yes or no?”

Allison remained silent for a moment, then quietly said, “Yes.”

Mensima leaned back on the sofa. “Hmmmm. Well, this is quite a situation you find yourself in. I can’t be too sure if it’s for real or not. As to why you always took that hard stance with guys, I’ve never known, and honestly, I don’t want to at this stage. But that would definitely have left a bad mark on him. Naturally, I’d expect him to still tell you he liked you, but with your style of rejection, I’m not too surprised he didn’t. A lot of guys have a fear of rejection, you know.”

“Umm… for real or not? I don’t get that part,” Allison stated.

Mensima sighed. “The whole new girlfriend issue, I mean. He didn’t show you any picture of her, did he? I might be wrong, but for all you know, there is no lady in his life. He might just be flexing you, trying to get some payback of some sort, and in my opinion, I don’t blame him. You deserve it paaa.”

Allison stayed silent. She knew she was going to get these statements the moment she decided to come for advice, so losing her temper would be unnecessary.

“And Ally, if I should be honest, I think it was a bad idea to approach him and tell him straight up that you want a second chance. Do you know how that will make you look? Like some desperate chic bi who needs to get married urgently. And we all know you’re not one. So I think that was a bad move. But… I don’t believe it’s too late.”

Allison sat up, looking rather buoyed by that last statement. “Good. So what should I do now?”

“Simple. Don’t push it. Next time you meet him, just be friendly. Get into conversations with him. Just let him be happy around you. No flirting or anything. That will spoil the whole issue. As it is, you should be praying he’s not slapped the ‘desperate’ tag on you, coz that’s bad news. Especially if he lets his friends know about it. When boys-boys gather to gossip like that, it’s deadly.”

“I don’t think so. Marcus is a good guy. I know he respects women a lot. And his friends aren’t exactly that type, so…”

Mensima gave her that up-and-down look, then chuckled to herself. “Ahh well, I’ve said enough. You know him better than me, so if you insist. So just rebuild that bridge. Abi he didn’t say you must never talk to him. Do that. Those feelings might just still be lingering in there. He may have suppressed it, and it’s easier to do that when the object of your affection is far away. If you come around, he might realize he has a decision to make, and he’ll open up properly sooner or later. Trust me, I’ve seen it before.”

Allison smiled. “Thank you, Mensima!! Thank you so much. I guess I have to make use of next Saturday. Jerry’s gonna have a housewarming party, and we’ve all been invited! Hopefully, I can make use of it and get closer to him.”

“Azayy, remember that there’s a big ‘if’ in this equation ooo!” Mensima warned. “I’m not saying that he’ll definitely decide to come back to you. If he does, then good for you. You have yourself a good man. If not, and he still isn’t interested or he wants the Zambia girl if she really is there, abi you naaa you do yourself. Nobody asked you to do those Lady Thatcher things, anyway.”

*****

“Yo, bro! You make serious?” Marcus asked, his mouth agape as he walked from the kitchen to the living room. It was a Friday evening, and having just arrived home, he was in the kitchen heating some food when Basit called with an announcement. One that had him stunned.

But in a positive way.

“Very serious, chale. I no dey see why I for wedge any longer. If you know, you know. So yeah, the plan is to put a ring on it within the next year.”

“Awesome!” Marcus gushed, excitement running through his brain. “Oh chale, I’m happy for you, my guy. This is a big step, chale. I’m glad you’re making it official. And true, the thing di33, once you know, you no for waste plenty time. She naa, nobody go fit handle am aside you.”

Basit laughed over the line. “I swear down, chale! That never be lie! Crazy ass chic paa! But yeah, she means everything to me, and I’m excited about the future with her. So chale, I go fill you in on more details as we dey move on. For now, ibi top secret, so I beg, make e no come out yet.”

“Sure, sure, make I know if anything pop up,” Marcus agreed before the two said their goodbyes and hung up.

Nodding and grinning from ear to ear, he was as delighted as could be. “Oh chale, great news!” he gushed to himself before noticing a message had come through while the call was on.

He checked.

It was a text from Allison.

Hi Marcus. Hope you’re good. Will you be around for Jerry’s housewarming tomorrow?

I wonder what she’s sending me this text for, Marcus wondered as he sank into his sofa, delving into the relief that came from knowing another working week was over. He pondered over it for a moment, then shrugged. Ahh, well, cutting her off totally is someway. Lemme just respond for courtesy’s sake. I did say we could talk a little more than we used to, anyways…

He typed a response and pressed the send button.

Yeah, I will.

He nodded, then sighed to himself.

The plan had been to go with Temwani, so they could officially meet her for the first time. Unfortunately, she had a family reunion to attend around the same time. It would have been great to finally let the squad meet the beautiful woman in his life. Alas, it would have to wait.

Too bad Temwani can’t be around for the party tomorrow. I’d have loved to show my queen to the others. Oh well, hopefully, we can make it another time…

So now that Allison has been given this advice, what’s gonna happen? Is she gonna work herself into his brain again? Will it even work? One way to find out…