“What is wrong with these girls? Huh? Don’t they have any conscience? Don’t they care that their father is sick and they have to take care of him? Ah, honestly, I’m shocked, Amankwaah, I really am. Arabella isn’t answering my calls. Owusuaa is also ignoring my calls. As for Maayaa, the kind of disrespect I’ve received from her, if I start right now…”

It was Monday morning, and Amankwaah was spending that late morning seated opposite his father in the family home, trying his very best not to break into an angry rant of his own as the old man whined and griped ad nauseam.

Goodness, dealing with this man was a hell of a hateful chore! How this man had kept up this entitled little victim front for the past few weeks was incredible. Anyone who had no idea of the true story and came to him first would assume the children were horrible, selfish beings who had abandoned a loving and caring father in his lowest moments. Such was the show he had put up, and it was nothing short of infuriating.

All Amankwaah had wanted to do that morning was get the medication to him and he’d be out of there. He really had no intentions of sitting down with the man who refused to accept how deeply he had hurt his family. But no, unfortunately, that didn’t work out. The nurse assigned to Victor had briefly stepped out, so he had to wait.

So there he was, listening to this man talk as if he was Jesus Christ Himself, and his children were the Pharisees that worked out His execution. It was sickening. Absolutely sickening.

He still did not like him. Ever since he heard those infamous words ‘I cannot be held down’ directly from him, any semblance of admiration had evaporated from his system. The fact that he stepped in to help the man was solely down to coercion from his wife and pastor, nothing more than that. Maybe now, he had hints of compassion here and there, more than his sisters, but the dominant feeling Amankwaah had for his father was still one of scorn and intense dislike.

And until he acknowledged all the pain he caused, that was unlikely to change.

“I don’t blame them, mohm! Emotional creatures! That’s what they are. Emotions nkoaa! No space for critical thinking!” Victor Owusu-Bempong barked, still looking as outraged as could be.

Amankwaah leerily eyed him. Oh, really? Critical thinking, he inwardly scoffed to himself. So your superior mind told you that the best thing to do in a hard time where your family needs you was to run? Wow! What a show of spectacular intellect!

“That’s how they all are! All of them! Every single one of them. Look at Getty as an example. As soon as this stupid sickness came back, she decided to run away and pretend we were never together. Just imagine that! Emotions! Nothing but stupid emotion-driven beings! That’s it. No logic, no use of common sense, nothing! Just how they feel is important to them!”

Amankwaah sighed and rubbed his face. At this point, he had to get out of there. For all his rants about failing to use logic, his father was now spouting trash that would make logic itself retch violently.

Such madness! You complain about being abandoned, yet you don’t want to acknowledge how your abandonment hurt us! And on top of that, you have the nerve to talk about that foolish slut you chose over us in front of me! With no shame! Like I’m supposed to think it’s normal!

He rose to his feet. “Papa, I need to get to work now,” he announced bluntly. “Please tell the nurse I had to rush. I’ll see you later.”

His father looked up at him in shock. “Herh, Amankwaah, where are you going? Have I told you that you can go?” he demanded. “Will you sit down and listen to me? Anaa you too, you’re annoyed at what I’m saying? Are you really that effeminate… Herh! Amankwaah! Amankwaah! Come back here!”

Amankwaah barely paid his father any attention as he walked out the front door and slammed it. His intelligence had been insulted enough, and he wasn’t in the mood to hear any more.

***

Seated at his desk, busily typing out his articles for the Velvet website, Deladem was in a much happier mood than twenty-four hours earlier. Humming to himself as his fingers tapped various keys on the keyboard, there was this sweet feeling of freedom. Like a heavy load had been plucked out of his chest.

What a reliever that chat had been! His decision to hold on to the anger and lie to himself and everyone else now looked so silly in hindsight. Now that he had talked to his sister and dealt with the matter adequately, everything was fine now.

“It was so necessary,” he murmured to himself as he worked. “So, so necessary. And chale, lessons have been learnt. No more holding on to offense like that. Look at the person it made me. Showing off my anger in passive aggressive ways, yet putting up delusions of okayness to everyone around. Especially Olivia… hmm, chale. I gotta do better for her. She’s the most amazing woman on earth. The last thing I’d ever want to do is hurt her like that. God abeg, help me change, wai. For all those around me, but especially for her. I want that babe to be my wife, but chale, I have to be a good husband to her…”

His monologue-cum-prayer was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone.

He checked, and it was the Henry dude again. He had mentioned to him the previous day that it was best to meet with the Rakim gentleman in person, preferably with the jobseeker. He had promised to get back to him as soon as possible.

Looked like he had kept to his word.

“Hello?”

“Chale, Didayy! What’s up?”

Yeah, Henry. I dey, chale. I’m good, I’m good.”

“Good to hear, bro, good to hear. So yeah, what we talked about yesterday concerning about meeting Rakim… I did some digging, and  There’s this cocktail somtin happening at Labadi Beach Resort on Wednesday. And our man Rakim? He’s going to be there!”

“Oh, sweet! That’s awesome news, chale! So, what’s the plan?”

“Well, I figured we can pass by, join in the party, you know? So you could bring along your paddy who’s on the job hunt. If you want too, you can invite someone else. If we’re about four, that’s fine. And it should be a boyz-boyz thing. And hopefully, there’ll pop up a chance for us to rub shoulders with Rakim and we can see if a pitch of sorts can happen, you know?”

Deladem nodded. The plan sounded perfect. “Briiliant! Oh, chale, you’re a lifesaver! Thanks so much, boss! I’ll make sure my friend is suited up for the occasion. And I’ll bring another friend along.”

“Sure thing, Didayy. All things being equal, we should be able to meet with him and find a way through to him.”

“Alright, alright, great. Chale, thanks a lot. I’ll speak to him and my other friend, and we’ll get ourselves ready for Wednesday.”

“Sure. I’ll be in touch, then.”

Deladem hung up, nodding enthusiastically. This was looking good. Now to hope that meeting Rakim would actually pan out well…

***

“I don’t know, chale. I’m not really in the mood for socializing. I just want dey my corner.”

It was evening, and Clarence was in his apartment, tweaking his CV for the two millionth time in the hopes of getting some new job applications to apply for when Deladem called.

The mission? There was a cocktail happening on Wednesday evening, and he wanted him to tag along.

For a guy who was still struggling to find a stable source of income, the last thing on his mind was stepping out to chill. His cute little outing with his new favourite girl had taken up a bit of the money on him, and he wasn’t in the mood to be spending any further.

“Oh come on, Clarence, make you no dey do that, lah! It’ll be fun, trust me. Me then Bruce talk just a few minutes ago, wey he make game kraaa. If you no join, e go be someway.”

Clarence sighed, leaning back into his couch. The three of them moving together always sounded good. But he just wasn’t up for this. “Hmmm, chale. I dunno, I… I’m really not in the mood for this. I still have some things to do and all. Outing really no dey my inside for this week…”

“Guy, this employment hunt no be just applying online ooo. The world we dey right now, issa networking ting. You go fit go some party or small gathering for restaurant, then chale, you dey grab job be that. Networking is key ooo, my guy! You never know who you might meet.”

Clarence sat up, those words hitting him like a wake-up call.

Deladem was right. In the current competitive job market, connections were everything. It was more than likely he hadn’t secured some of the jobs he had been hoping for because of connections. Why not put himself into that mix?

He sighed. “Okay, okay, you’ve made your point. Fine. I go go. Maybe somtin go pop up.”

“That’s more like it! Chale, man for use all available means to make this thing happen oo. Make we utilize am, chale. You never know.”

“Okay, alright, sure. I’m in. I’ll come.”

“Great! See you on Wednesday, then.”

As Clarence hung up, he sighed again and dropped back into the sofa. He really was not up for this; he’d rather just sit in his house and avoid interaction and small talk with strangers. But then, Deladem had a point. There was always a chance he would find someone who knew someone who had a job opening.

Going out and meeting with strangers was hard for him. But remaining unemployed was way harder. As they always said after offering two tough scenarios… choose your hard.

There was no doubt in his mind which ‘hard’ was worth choosing.

Definitely the wise thing to do, Clarence. Something good might be waiting for you…