“Sister Natalie, everything good?”

Natalie, who was returning from one of the food vendors stationed outside the courthouse, stopped and smiled at Nana Adjei, who stood at the entrance, his earphones firmly plugged in. It was a few minutes past midday that Monday, and a couple of the court workers were going for lunch. A trial had been scheduled for two o’clock, so everyone wanted to ensure they were full and rested before Justice Paul returned.

“Officer, we dey inside ooo,” she responded playfully, slapping him on the shoulder. “You know your music is really loud, though? I know you love your Black Sheriff paaa, but I beg, lower it small. Coz Blacko himself won’t be happy that one of his biggest fans has spoilt his ears.”

Nana Adjei laughed and duly decreased the volume on his phone. “Yes, please, Madam. I’ve heard you, wai. I’ll keep it low from now on.”

“Good. So yeah, Auntie Ann’s yam and palaver sauce it is for this afternoon.”

“Chale, it’s very necessary. Extremely necessary. I’ll go and get some food later myself around one o’clock, so chale, bon appetit… oh, and by the way, I hope the wedding preparations are moving along nicely.”

Natalie quickly felt her mood drop at the sound of that comment.

Wedding preparations. At the moment, the thought of it only triggered memories of all the vehement and impassioned clashes she and Naphtali were having, so she was not in the mood to deal with questions about it. She was still pretty annoyed at the events of the weekend, namely that botched attempt at reconciliation with the counsellor. As far as she was concerned, the older man was just siding with Naphtali, and she was not pleased in the least. She would rather not talk about the wedding at that moment.

Aside that, the temptation to break into complaints and whines about Naphtali’s annoying behaviour was too strong, and obviously, nobody needed to hear any of those.

She nodded and forced a smile. “Yeah… yeah. Everything is going well… uh, just… you know… pressure and all…”

“Oh, that one diɛɛ, normal. But it’ll all be worth it at the end of the day. So just take it easy, wai.”

“Sure, sure,” she agreed hurriedly. “All right, I’m going to eat now.”

As she walked away from him and headed to the spot where all the court workers usually had their lunch, that last statement from Nana Adjei kept flashing in her mind.

But it’ll all be worth it at the end of the day… But it’ll all be worth it at the end of the day… But it’ll all be worth it at the end of the day…

It made so much sense. What really mattered was to have a wonderful, amazing day. It would be worth it once the day was done and incredible memories had been made. So what was all the fuss with this budget nonsense? Why couldn’t he just let it go and let them have the major event she wanted? It would be worth it at the end of the day, and they’d still be able to manage life.

***

“Hmmm, I dunno if it’s what we may be suspecting. But I could see it in her mannerisms and all, something’s wrong,” Nana Adjei mentioned to Divine a couple of minutes later. “And it’s not the kind of ‘I’m stressed out’ kind of wrong I’m seeing. It looks more like something is, like, fundamentally wrong.”

Divine sighed. He had been hoping for the best, but this did not fill him with much hope that it wasn’t what he suspected. “Chale. This is not comforting to hear kraaa. Hmmm. Nana, we can only pray things get better, coz honestly, I’ve been watching her every now and then, and she doesn’t look happy at all. I think everyone is just attributing her mood to stress from preparations…”

Nana Adjei nodded. “Yeah, it’s easy to assume that. But chale, I’m seeing there’s something more to it, and with what you said you heard, it seems the dots connect.”

Divine sighed again. “Hmmmm. Chaleeee… it really worries me. Because upon lie biaa, I was really happy for Natalie when she broke the news. Like, she deserves this happiness. Such a pleasant, hardworking young lady. It’ll be horrible if their matter isn’t resolved and either the marriage starts on a bad note.”

“True, true. If it isn’t resolved, bitterness can make its way into the home, and that’s the worst feeling to start marriage with. Divine, when it comes to marriage and bitterness, those two are like oil and water; they do not mix at all. You either destroy that root of bitterness and keep your marriage intact, or hold on to it and say goodbye to your marriage. And yeah, you’re right, a girl like Natalie doesn’t deserve that at all. Great young lady.”

“Yep. Lovely personality. Very cute… ei, do you remember the time Lawyer Amegbo jokingly said if it wasn’t for something, like he’ll move to Natalie?”

Nana Adjei shook his head. “Oh, Lawyer Marty diɛɛ, leave him. He’s not serious. Anka the wahala that his wife will rain on them, eh. That woman doesn’t take nonsense.”

“Oh, it was just a joke from him. That man, I don’t think he’ll ever misbehave like that. But yeah, let’s just pray for the best. I hope they manage to settle this matter soon. Because the wedding diɛɛ, we for jam!”

“Of course! Very necessary!”

“Jam without any Black Sheriff tracks, though.”

“Gentleman, don’t make me discipline you.”

Divine laughed.

***

“You’re telling me you dunno how these d**k pics were sent to this tramp through your own WhatsApp? Do you think I’m stupid or something?”

“Yaa, I’m telling you the truth, for Christ’s sake! I said I don’t know how they got on my phone. I’m dead serious!”

“Haha! You really think I’m stupid, don’t you? So those pictures magically appeared on your phone, eh? Or some witch blew on your phone and they suddenly appeared, eh?”

“I don’t know, woman! I said I don’t know! I don’t know how those pictures got on my phone!”

“You don’t know, eh? So they have their own mind to send themselves to that girl on top of just appearing on your phone, eh?”

“I DON’T KNOW, FOR F**K’S SAKE! I DON’T F**KING KNOW!”

Elias snorted as he heard the argument above his head. Another day, another fierce argument between this toxic couple. What was their problem this time?

Well, Yaa was accusing Felix of sending pictures of his private parts to another girl. And with the excuses he was coming up with, Elias could tell his co-tenant was as guilty as could be, and found his attempts to worm out of the hole utterly laughable.

“This guy no be serious kraaa,” Elias murmured as he walked over to the kitchen to serve himself with the yam he had just prepared. “You’ve sent profane pics to another girl and you want her to believe that it wasn’t you? This one, if my Lord was hearing it, the way he’ll do his face kraaa, Opana go know sey he hit brick wall.”

He snickered to himself as Justice Takyi’s words about people lying under oath came to mind while he dished out his food. “This guy, he’ll come to court and tell the craziest lies. Anka my Lord will even get angry and ask Nana Adjei to arrest him for perjury!”

Returning to the living room, he could still hear the two arguing loudly. He picked up the TV remote and switched the television on. “This guy paa,” he said to himself as he took a seat. “Ah well, whatever. I already know these two. Before we know it, they’ll be busily making-“

The sound of a cry of pain cut him short. He sat up, looking at the ceiling.

Ei, are they… getting physical?

“I’ll teach you to mess with my heart, you f**king scumbag!”

Another loud moan of agony followed.

Elias grew increasingly alarmed. This sounded like it was moving to another level, and a very unpleasant one at that. These fights between Felix and Yaa were usually just verbal in nature. They had never gotten physical.

“Stupid boy! Ibi me you dey mess with? Aboa! I go f**k you up!”

The sound of crashing glass followed, accompanied by a scream of fright.

That did it for Elias. He could not sit there and ignore them any longer. Someone was most definitely going to get hurt if he didn’t intervene, with the kind of sounds he could hear.

He jumped out of the sofa and rushed to the front door. Opening it, he met Madam Loverance and Akyaa coming up from the stairs.

He looked at them in surprise. “You can hear them?”

“Yes!” Akyaa confirmed, the worry apparent in her eyes. “It sounds serious.”

“It is, from what I’ve heard. Let’s go!”

The three rushed up the next flight of stairs and quickly barged into the apartment. As to whether they had forgotten to lock the door or were just plain careless, they didn’t know, and at that point, they didn’t really care.

They stepped in to find Felix on all fours, groaning in pain. Standing over him was the short, dark skinned slender lady dishing out all that punishment on him.

Strangely enough, this was the first time Elias had seen her. She didn’t exactly look like the hood girl he had always imagined her to be. She looked… like a normal girl.

Anyways, that barely mattered at the moment. She looked ready to deliver a kick to the side of Felix, and particles of glass lay scattered at his side. That kick would send him into more pain than he’d imagine if nothing was done.

Yaa looked at them fiercely. “What the f**k are you doing here?” she bellowed. “Get outta here!”

Elias, barely moved by her outburst, rushed to her and lifted her off her feet from behind. She was surprisingly light, and very easy to hoist off her feet.

Kicking and screaming, she demanded, “Put me down, you bastard!”

“Akyaa, help me get her out!” Elias quickly ordered. “Maame, please, help Felix!”

Madam Loverance quickly obeyed, moving to Felix’s side and helping him up, as Elias and Akyaa carried a furious Yaa out of the apartment.

It was not easy getting her down the stairs. Inasmuch as Elias had no problem carrying her, she was not letting him or Akyaa take her down that easily. “Let me go, you f**king idiots! Let me go! That fool thinks I’m stupid! I’ll teach him the meaning of stupid! Aboa like that! Let me f**king go!”

They struggled, but eventually they found themselves at the ground floor. “Please, just get out,” Elias ordered, dragging her along with Akyaa.

“F**k you, man, f**k you!” she barked at him and Akyaa, who let her go to quickly open the gate. Before Yaa could free herself to try and fight back, Elias had her off her feet…

… and successfully pushed her through the open gate.

They quickly locked it, and walked away as she returned to bang at the gate, cussing and swearing her head.

“Good God, that was crazy,” Akyaa sighed breathlessly.

“I know, right. She’s gonna be making noise for quite a while, but forget her. Let’s get back to the top and help your mother with him.”

***

“Kwasia boy! Useless buffoon!”

Nii Sodjah ran out of the kitchen just in time to avoid the flying aluminum pot aimed at his head. Finding himself in the dining hall unscathed, he shook his head in amazement.

It was one of those moments yet again. A simple desire to quench his thirst led him to the kitchen to get a sachet of water from the fridge. His mother was busy in there when he walked in, and yet again, the mere sight of him triggered her and sent her into a rage.

“Fool! You want to drink my water? The water I bought with my own money? You are very stupid! Go and drink water from that foolish father’s house of yours! Aboa!”

Nii Sodjah bowed his head and sniffed. This was just becoming too much. Now simply drinking water was an offence that ticked her off.

“I can’t continue living like this. I can’t,” he whined to himself as he quickly walked to the front door and stepped outside. He could hear his mother shouting abuse as usual.

This had to be it. He couldn’t continue like this.

The woman had made up her mind that he was the one she could unleash all her fury upon, in spite of the fact that he had been neglected and ignored by the man she was angry with. No amount of reasoning or pleading could change that, and she was nowhere near ready to work on properly dealing with the matter.

He shook his head. “This is it. I’m leaving this house. I’m not staying here anymore. This woman will kill me one of these days before I know it. I need to leave this place now.”

***

“I mean, I don’t know how those pictures got on my phone. I don’t,” Felix insisted, his hands between his legs as Elias, Madam Loverance and Akyaa sat across the room from him. “I just can’t understand why she refused to believe me. I tried to reason with her, and chale, she just went gorilla mode on me. It’s crazy, chale, it’s crazy. But I’m so grateful you came to my aid. I mean, you didn’t have to, but you did, and I really am grateful.”

The three nodded and murmured ‘you’re welcomes’ as they tried their possible best to hide the skeptical looks on their faces. None of them were fooled; the guy most certainly was guilty of what he was denying.

“Well, it’s the least we could do,” Madam Loverance claimed. “With what we were hearing, the girl probably would have killed you if she had the chance. And we’re not ready for any murder case here. We’re just minding our business.”

Felix nodded. “I’m grateful, Madam. Thank you for your help.”

“You’re welcome. Well, since we helped you clean up the mess she made, we’ll be leaving now.”

“Very well, very well.”

The three of them rose to their feet and silently made their way out. As Felix closed the door behind them, the ladies shook their head.

“This boy must think we were born yesterday,” Madam Loverance muttered aloud as they went down the stairs. “You’ve been misbehaving and you think denying like that will work. I’ve never seen a young man without sense like that before!”

“Hoh, Maame, you are minding him? Leave him! He’s the only one who believes his lies,” Akyaa responded.

Elias simply hummed in agreement. There was nothing else to add. It was evident the guy was guilty of what she was accusing him of.

Not that they cared, though. They just didn’t need to deal with the aftermath of that fight.

As they arrived at Elias’ floor, he raised his hand in acknowledgment and proceeded to open his door.

“Oh, uh, by the way, good work, young man,” Madam Loverance muttered. “It’s good you got the girl out of the house.”

Elias had not expected anything that pleasant from the old lady’s lips, so that took him by surprise. He nodded, however, and forced a small smile. “Uh, thank you, Madam. I just needed to do what I had to do.”

Madam Loverance grunted, nodded back and moved down the stairs. Akyaa, moving behind her, winked at him.

He grinned and winked back.

“I guess she was right after all,” he said to himself while he entered the room. “She is working it out for me. Wonderful! I guess I do have a friend in her after all…”

Well, Elias’ neighbour is definitely lying, isn’t he? He’s lucky they came to rescue him. And what’s gonna happen with Natalie and Naphtali at this stage?