“So how was Donkorkrom?”

“Oh, it was such an eye-opener, Vi. A real eye-opener. When they say Ghana is bigger than just Accra, it’s no joke oo. There’s really life beyond this city.”

“Mmmm, interesting. Simple way of life there, I’m sure.”

“Oh yeah. Very simple. That one di33, no doubt about it.”

“Eiii, then I’m sure you went to get yourself some simple girlfriend over there.”

“Ah, but Vivi paaa, why would I do that when you’re there?”

“Are you sure?”

“Vivica, you know I’ve got eyes for you and you alone.”

“Eiiiii, vibeeesssssss!”

Damien grinned and shook his head as the pretty girl sitting beside him at the dining table laughed out loud. It might have been an incredibly nerdy laugh Vivica possessed, but it was still music to his ears.

A few days had passed since he had returned to Accra, and he was currently in the house of his girlfriend to see her after almost a year. She had been pretty delighted to see him, and was eager to find out how his time in the small town he was stationed to went. As well as inform him about her new thrift business and how he could help her get word out.

“So anyways, yeah, it was a pretty interesting stay there. I made some friends here and there, but chale, as the time to return came, I had to bounce. I said goodbye to all my people there, told them I’ll hopefully try and visit them one day… yeah, that was pretty much it.”

“Mmmm, I see,” Vivica nodded. “I’m guessing it was kinda sad, with the way they accepted you and got used to you and all that.”

“Yeah, yeah, it was. But chale, how we go do am? Some things just can’t last. There’s a lot I need to deal with over here, you know. Get a new job, start my working life… make things official with you.”

Vivica laughed again, a bit softer this time as she shyly reached out her hand. “I know, Damien. And I was waiting for you, too. I’m glad you’re back, so we can start this journey. I can’t wait.”

Damien nodded as he took her hand in his. “Yeah. Me too. So it’s official, then.”

“Of course it’s official, silly!”

As he smiled at his giggling girlfriend, he inwardly applauded himself as he took in all of her beauty. Her huge smile, her laughing eyes, her cute dimples…

Yep, Vivica was a hell of a dime. And she was his now.

“Okay, now come and look at some of the clothes I have,” Vivica then ordered as she rose from her seat and moved to one of the boxes stacked in the dining room, filled with the clothes she was selling.

Damien’s eyes lit up as he observed her from head to toe. He loved what he saw.

Chale, I’m so glad I came back to this babe. Chale, see fine face! See sweet dimples! See breast! Magnificent breast! The laugh be slightly annoying, wey she no sheda get ass biaa, but chale, that be small matter. This be real babe! Wey she dey speak better English. These are the kind of girls we go long term with ooo. Not that village girl for the top there wey I for dey speak 80% Twi and 20% English plus am. She di33, she be ‘take this one hold body’ material! Chale, I made a wise choice. No two ways about that!

***

A few hours later, and Damien was walking towards the trotro station near the Accra Mall, with a stack of flyers in his hand. Now that he was officially Vivica’s boyfriend, he had been given his first assignment: share some flyers of her thrift business.

He snickered to himself as he passed the parking space near the Mall, thinking about the way she had ordered him to ensure he shared every single flyer.

Yep, she was stamping her ‘girlfriend authority’ very quickly. But he didn’t mind at all.

“Hehe, no be small ordering the girl order me!” he laughed to himself. “But no yawa, I go do. After all, it’ll be worth the trouble when I get that girl in bed. But chale, the jumpsuit she wore eh, the way e dey make the boobs look serious! Herh, chale. Me naaa, that be what I dey like, so-“

The sound of a motorcycle had grown louder and louder in his ears, but it was the action of the rider kicking the hand that held the flyers that rudely interrupted his train of thought.

“Ahhh!” he cried out as the flyers flew around while the rider, whose face was concealed by the helmet, sped off.

Before he could properly react, another motorcycle followed. With another rider in a helmet.

“Herh, wo y3 aboa, wati!” he yelled at Damien as he sped off.

Pedestrians, vendors of various wares and other motorists could only look on in confusion at Damien, wondering what would have caused these riders to do that to this young man.

As for Damien, his face burned with supreme humiliation, and his heart with supreme indignation and astonishment. As he knelt down to pick up the few flyers near him, he was absolutely flabbergasted. It happened so quickly, yet it still stung, both the insult and his kicked hand.

But who the hell were they? And what was their problem with him? He may not have seen their faces, but he was more than sure that he didn’t know them from Adam.

“But me, what I do wey them do that?” he wondered aloud, as he shook his head and continued to pick up the flyers.

***

Lamidi and his second in command, Mazda, stood in front of the building that served as their hideout in one of the hoods in the capital city, waiting for the sound of two motorcycles.

They nodded in satisfaction as their ears picked up those sounds, and within a couple of seconds, the motorcycles appeared, parking in front of them as the riders took off their helmets.

“The operation dey ground?” Lamidi asked.

The guy on the first motorcycle nodded. “The operation dey ground.”

“Nice.” Lamidi then took out his phone and dialled Nico’s number.

Nico answered. “Yo, Lamidi. Good news?”

“Yeah, Nico. Chale, we find am. E no ky33 kraaa. My boys spot am fast fast, wey them dey observe ein every move. So chale, we start the operation kraa. E dey ground.”

“Excellent. Just as we talk am, make e dey so naaa. By the time we finish plus am, that boy go wish sey ein d**k never job sef.”

Heckling and harassment? Well, that’s a pretty interesting tactic Nico Blaze is adopting. Let’s see what it brings…