CHAPTER TWELVE
It’s been days since Nana Kwame and Sanjana left for Nigeria. They only called once to ask how they would get into the house. Ever since then, there was no call from them. Pat sat outside the house lost in her thought when Harley came with her friend, Fifi who was a Ghanaian. Harley knew a lot of people whom Pat does not know. Although she grew up in that community but everything had changed. Most of the people she knew no longer live there. Many have moved to Accra. She greeted Harley and her friend. She just wanted to say hello and go back in when she got the shock of her life.
“Patricia of star radio?” Fifi called.
Pat shook her head in denial. Harley came to her aid immediately. She told her friend the truth she knew.
“She is not Patricia. She is Akwete, my husband’s sister.”
But the woman insist she recognizes her face. But luckily for Patricia, the newspaper articles Didn’t use any of her recent pictures. She is now chubby because of the pregnancy. But the woman is talkative. She talks on and on about how a woman in Lagos who killed her husband. She kept talking as though everything happened before her eyes. She said the woman is an On-Air Personality and the husband is a music star. Then one night after the husband had a Successful concert, the wife stabbed him with a knife because she was jealous of the female fans who came to congratulate her husband. Harley asked what happened to the woman.
“The woman used her influence to twist the law in her favor. I heard she got help from top politicians. She must have been having extra marital affair with those men too. But all I know is that nemesis will catch up on her. She will rot in hell.” Fifi said standing on her feet.
“What?” Harley exclaimed. “Such thing happened in Nigeria?”
“Yes, even worse. Things you probably can’t imagine. May evil eye be cast away from our own families.”
Pat’s heart sunk when she heard the woman talked and cursed the character. Chills enveloped her. She felt a strange weight in her heart. She was still in a daze when Harley turned to her.
“Akwete, are you even listening to us? What’s on your mind?”
Harley shook Pat who was lost in her own misery. Harley must have noticed she is distanced away even when she is sitting right beside the two ladies. Pat smiled broadly because she couldn’t bring herself to say a word. Pat would have loved to excuse herself from the rest of the conversation. But she does not want to be alone with Maame Serwa inside. She has been trying to avoid such ever since she got back. Whenever they are alone, Maame Serwa would start questioning her about the whereabouts of her husband. His name, his family, the work he does and every other things. Pat once mistakenly mentioned his family name during one of the intense questioning moment.
She wants Nana Kwame and Sanjana to comeback quick so she would know her fate. If she would have to tell Maame Serwa about everything or go back to Lagos. No, maybe somewhere else where no one will recognize her. Although, she and Harley had become close these days. Their strange closeness started when she noticed Harley went on a crash diet. Something she had done before when she was comparing herself to Lisa. She thought Sammy loves Lisa because of her trim tiny waist. She has figure eight. A term men use for ladies with a stature like that of Lisa. While she, on the other end, was fat and not sexy. Highly feminine curve of her hips and the surprising length of her shapely legs. And also her tummy or the surplus flesh on her thighs and ribcage? She thought Sammy would never look her way. She went on a crash diet to shed some weight.
Those days she would hit the gym morning and evening. When every calorie had been counted and exercised away, where every piece of her flesh had been critically scrutinized and loathed. Although, it was hard on her but she was determined. Until that evening when Sammy forced her to go with him to the club. He dragged her to the dance floor. As she was dancing there came these tiny little dots which comes in rainbow. She was about to fall, suddenly an arm went around her waist. It was Sammy lifting her a good two inches off the floor and half carrying her, half briskly walking to the sofa at the secluded edge.
“Are you sick?” He asked. Pat shook her head slightly. Her stomach start rumbling making a funny sound. “Don’t tell me That’s coming from you. Have you taken any food today?” He asked but before Pat could utter a word. He said, “Are you also on a diet? I saw you nibbling on some fruits when you’re supposed to be eating those delicious meal Amanda made. Why are you girls this crazy? Lisa also goes on diet all the time.”
There she realized Lisa also struggled with her weight as well. In her head she thought all she saw was natural. Like Lisa could eat whatever she likes but Won’t get fat. There are girls like that. Emma, Pat’s friend at the radio station does not have this weight struggle like some other girls do. Sammy brought her some barbeque since That’s the only thing available. He took her home and scold her not to ever go on a crash diet.
Pat told Harley about this and asked why she had to do that. Then she found out it was because of Sanjana. She even had to dye her hair to brick red so she can have a striking resemblance with Sanjana. Pat told her that her husband loves her so much. And that she should never compare herself to someone else. Everyone has struggles of their own. Ever since then they have become close and talk like they’ve known each other for years. Harley is so friendly that you would want to share your secret with her but Pat could not tell her, her darkest secret. Pat become glad when Fifi announced her departure. Pat was secretly being tortured by the woman’s words but could not voice out her distress.