It had been almost twenty-four hours since the voice of conscience swooped in and tried to trash Deladem’s confident assertions.

Now, as he sat in the office that Friday morning and kept thinking about it, it felt like those confident assertions were slowly losing their grip.

He was slowly starting to realize that maybe, just maybe… he had been lying to himself.

He had spent the whole night reflecting deeply on the whole issue, and there was one thing he could not deny: there was still so much hurt over the events of that day. The rude and unacceptable behaviour of that girl still flashed through his brain and made him angry all over again. And, it could not be denied, that anger overflowed toward the one who brought her into the house in the first place.

Sighing as the event looped in his mind, he took his phone and sent a message to Olivia.

Liv, can we meet between 2 and 4 pm? It’s a bit urgent.

***

“Ah, yes! I can see you’re almost ready to spread your wings and fly off to new horizons, abi?”

Busily packing up the last of his items, Bruce looked up from his desk and smiled at his immediate superior, Mr. Bortey, who came to stand nearby.

Finally, the last day had come, and Bruce was pretty much done with Sandfeld. All that was needed was to take out the rest of his stuff and bid his now former colleagues farewell. The latter was not going to be very easy, as he had quite a good vibe with many people, who were both sad and happy to see him go. Sad that he couldn’t stay on, but happy that he’d be free from Lorenzo’s foolish tyranny.

But, it had to be done. And of course, everyone was generally glad he’d have the ‘wizard’ off his neck for good.

Nodding, he commented, “Yeah, it’s hard to believe it’s finally my last day. It feels quite surreal, chale.”

Mr. Bortey nodded in understanding, leaning against the edge of the desk. “Believe me, I know that feeling. But yeah, I’m happy for you. Really, I am. You’ve really worked hard, and you deserve this chance to move on to bigger and better things.”

Bruce felt honoured to hear those words from him. Of course, left to him alone, Bruce’s efforts would always be highly regarded in Sandfeld. The guy worked hard and did all that was expected of him, no doubt about that.

“I’m very grateful, Mr. Bortey,’ he responded thankfully. “You’ve been a lot of help as well, and I’ll always remember you for that.”

Mr. Bortey nodded. “You’re most welcome. And of course, I’m also relieved that you won’t have to deal with… a certain aspect of this job anymore.”

Bruce smirked in amusement. Who didn’t know what certain aspect of that job was?

Mr. Bortey shook his head. “As for that man, we’ll all soon leave him. He’s slowly getting mad. Throwing stupid little tantrums here and there. Very silly man.”

Bruce also shook his head. “Hmm. Yeah, I’ve heard about it. Not making it my concern anymore, though. I can only look forward.”

“Exactly. Think about yourself, that’s what matters now… well, lemme get back into my office. Of course, I’ll see you before you go.”

“Yes, yes, definitely.”

As Mr. Bortey left him to continue his clearing out process, he placed some of his items in a particular box and sealed it. It was unlikely he’d need those items in the near future, so Nana Asor would probably place them in their storeroom.

He continued with the other items he’d be putting in his new office. Like the special shell Nana Asor had gifted him during one trip to Cape Coast, a fancy sharpener he rarely used, and a special stand for his pens.

I’ll definitely need to get one of our pictures for the desk at Ascendancy, he briefly mentioned to himself as he packed on. Should I go with one of the Cape Coast vacation pics? Anaa I should go with the one we took at +233…

Suddenly, the sound of approaching footsteps snapped Bruce out of his reverie.

He glanced up just in time to see the imposing figure of Lorenzo standing in the doorway. His expression was dark and his features were twisted into a scowl that would have sent a chill down Bruce’s spine if he was still contracted to Sandfeld.

This time, though, Bruce had the cockiest of smirks on his face. The man’s bitterness was so amusing to him now, he was like a little child who was having his favourite toy snatched from him, and was accordingly throwing a fit.

“Hello, Mr. Lorenzo,” he greeted cheerfully. “Lovely Friday, isn’t it? Definitely promises to be a great weekend.”

Lorenzo’s lips curled into a sneer as he glared at him, his tone dripping with disdain.

“So, you’re finally leaving us. Well, good riddance, anyways. It’s about time, if we’re being honest. We certainly won’t be missing your shocking incompetence around here.”

Bruce’s smirk widened into a cocky grin. This man was joking if he thought that attempt to rattle him was going to have any effect. “Hmmm, that’s funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you. Definitely won’t have to put up with your illogical, tyrannical BS anymore.”

Lorenzo’s face flushed crimson with rage at the clapback. He hadn’t expected that, and now he was short of words.

Bruce covered his mouth in mock horror. “Oh my goodness, sir, I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have been rude to you. Please forgive me. And please, please don’t sack me, I beg, I have nowhere else to go… oh, wait.”

Lorenzo’s face went red with humiliation. He was getting clowned big time by Bruce, and there was nothing he could really do about it.

Spluttering unintelligible words as he found himself unable to come up with a suitable comeback, he stormed off in a huff, his pride wounded by Bruce’s unflappable confidence.

Bruce snickered to himself. “Next time again. Sia like that!”

***

“So… I guess I’ve been lying to myself all this time. I’ve been trying so hard to convince myself that I’m not angry with Delasi still, but…”

Deladem was with Olivia at the Accra Mall. She had agreed to meet him after her lecture for the day was done, and now they were seated in the car, with Deladem unpacking everything going on in his mind for the past couple of hours.

Now the walls of resistance were suffering the same fate as the walls of Jericho; the voice of his conscience had rang loud enough to break them down. And as he sat next to Olivia, he could no longer deny how he actually felt.

He was still upset about it.

Olivia looked into her boyfriend’s eyes deeply and sighed. “Dela… trust me, it’s okay to feel the way you feel,” she gently spoke as she took his hand. “The only problem is how you’ve not dealt with it, at the expense of your sister. It’s been so obvious. You know how much I’ve tried to point this out to you; it’s not worth holding on to.

She squeezed his hand as she continued, her voice soft but firm. “Bottling up your emotions and letting them fester inside you isn’t healthy for you or anyone else around you. Nobody will deny that Delasi was at fault for this, but she’s been caught in the crossfire of your internal struggle. She’s sorry as it is, but all you’ve done is make her bear the brunt of your unresolved emotions. And sweetheart, in all honesty, she doesn’t deserve that. She’s tried to reach out properly, but you’ve shut her out. That needs to change. It’s time to have that difficult conversation with her, to lay everything out on the table and work through it together.”

Deladem nodded slowly, his gaze dropping to their intertwined hands. It was true. The time had come to stop deceiving and hurting himself and his contrite sister.

“You’re right, Olivia. I’ve been avoiding this for too long, and I can see now how stupid it was of me to hold on for so long. I mean, I look at her sef, and I get irritated. Yet, I kept telling myself it was not anger. Hmm, chale…”

“It’s alright, Dela, it’s alright,” Olivia calmed him down. “No use beating yourself up over this. What matters now is that you’ve recognized your faults, and that you’ll make it right.”

Deladem nodded. Silent for a moment, he then spoke, “And uh, I’m sorry to you too. Through it all, I realized that my behaviour’s not painted a good picture of me as a future husband. I mean, this attitude of holding my anger in, lying to myself, acting cold… that’s not how I should be known to handle things, especially if we’re planning a future together. That’ll spell disaster. So babe, I’m really sorry. I’ve shown you a bad side of me, and I’m not proud of it. I promise to talk to Delasi tonight and work through these feelings. And I promise to communicate better with you from now on. No more holding it in. I’m letting it out.”

Olivia smiled softly as she cupped his cheek. “Thank you for making that decision to change, Dela. I know it’s never that easy to confront our inner demons, but… I believe this will be the first step in dealing with that attitude. And trust me, I’ll be here every step of the way, supporting you through it all. I love you, Dela.”

“I love you too, Liv. I promise I’ll become a better man. For you, and for my sister.”

***

“Sister Akpeneeeee!”

Akpene, on her way to her husband’s office, turned around, and was startled for a moment as Irene crashed into her and hugged her tightly. Friday evening was for prayer service at Shalom Temple, and after a pretty intense intercession service, everyone was ready to go home and rest.

The first lady of the church shook her head and smiled as Irene held on to her. There was nothing this girl loved more than being doted on, and she always knew she’d get that from Mrs. Tamakloe, who absolutely adored her.

“Sister Akpene, have I ever told you how your presence always adds a touch of grace to every service of ours?” Irene slurred, staring at her with a cute glint of mischief in her eyes.

Akpene raised an eyebrow. “Ei, sister geh, please, where from this sudden compliment?”

“Oh, Sister Akpene, abi you know me. Me, I’ll always compliment you any chance I get. You know my love for you di33, it’s deep. I want to be like you when I grow up.”

“Oh really? So you also want to carry three human beings in your body at the same time like me?”

“Roff!”

Akpene laughed aloud. “Madam, it’s not easy like that ooo! You dunno warris going on!”

Irene put on an intentional pout and shrugged nonchalantly. “Still! I wanna carry triplets like you. In fact, I’m squeezing the blessing out of you.”

“Madam, please, I’m not toothpaste, wai!”

The two laughed, as Irene then let go and gave her an update on something the choir was doing. Once she was done, she gave Akpene a peck and left her to go into the bishop’s office before dashing off to the ladies’ restroom, which seemed totally empty.

As she entered the stall, her phone vibrated. She grinned as she saw Clarence’s name, and answered.

“Hi Clay!”

“Hey my cutie. What’s good? Done with the service.”

“Yep. Very intense prayer session. In fact, it was mainly intercession we did.”

“Oh, nice. Then I’m sure you prayed for me, abi?”

“Of course! By all means, I prayed for you. So I know paa that God will surprise you with some killa job offer bi in the next two weeks!”

“Oh, amen ooo, amen! I receive it kraaa!”

Irene giggled. “Good, good. So anyways, I’m still in the church. I’ll call you when I get home, okay?”

“Sure, sure, no problem.”

She hung up, then did her necessary business before exiting the stall, washing her hands and leaving the restroom.

***

Once she was out, one of the stalls nearby opened.

And out stepped Delasi.

With a huge grin on her face.

“So it’s Irene!” she exclaimed. “Wowwwww! Ei, Nii Ayi Addy! You’ve come to snatch our Jamestown cutie’s heart, eh? Woww! Hehehe, wait until I inform the rest of the squad…”

Her triumphant monologue was interrupted by a call.

She checked, and was surprised.

It was Deladem.

He barely ever called her, unless there was some information from home that he needed to relay to her directly.

She answered. “Uh, hello?”

A moment of silence.

“Yeah, Delasi. Are you home yet?”

She shook her head. “Uh,n-no. we just closed.”

“Alright, alright. Ummm… I’ll probably get home at about 10:30. Please, when I get home, can we… meet outside and talk? It’s really important…”

Great! Deladem and Delasi can hopefully settle that issue now. And my goodness, wasn’t it beautiful to see Bruce take the piss out of that idiot CEO?