Our conversation got deeper and deeper until it eventually turned intimate and she started recounting to me her previous relationships. The sweeter the conversation got, the darker the day got. It was getting late and the “independent” lady was panicking, trying to cook up an explanation for her mom so that she wouldn’t lock the gate. Worst of all, we were in somebody’s office whose closing time had passed.

I couldn’t afford to miss the most interesting part of the conversation. Missing it would have been like enjoying all the foreplay and at the point of penetration somebody bumps on you or working your way all through only to be distracted at the point of orgasm. I wasn’t just prepared for such a feeling at all, so the religious guy in me started to pray silently while the naughty part of me had my eyes fixed deep into hers. I could literary see my whole face in her pupils–the level of concentration was exponentially high.

Just before I could say “amen” to end my silent prayer, the owner of the printing press yanked open the door and called out my name simultaneously.

“Damn it!!! It is finished,” I bemoaned in my head while forcing a smile to accompany the response. The result was a funny look on my face like the confused emoticon on WhatsApp and a very scratchy response.

“I dey go meet my paddy come so make you guys watch de place give me…….I dey go come …..”, he added.

As impatient as I was, I wouldn’t even let him finish before I already burst out a consenting response, “no p…we dey…we go dey…no worries”.

By this time I had heaved a sigh of relief, which got me repeating my response unnecessarily. She gave me a fairly gentle push on my forehead as a form of resentment and started complaining about the tendency of being locked outside.

How I managed to get her to stay and continue the conversation is however history.

Fast forward, we were back to our hearty chitchat and she was obliged to continue from where she left off. She is one person who wouldn’t entertain any form of distraction when talking. She would suggestively demand an undivided attention. Her latest relationship was the one with Kobby (real name withheld). Kobby, she said was a gentle sweet soul, a darling and a very good guy (as they put it in typical Ghanaian parlance). She had met Kobby way back and they have since been hanging out as friends for quite a long time but nothing official seemed to have happened (at least that was what she said, you and I were not there). Anytime they went out for a public gathering and her chatty personality got her interacting with the opposite sex Kobby always demonstrated traits of jealousy. She said Kobby always introduced her as his girlfriend to his friends, workmates and family. She explained how romantic their playfulness will turn anytime she visited Kobby at home and how happy she always was in the company of Kobby.

Apparently, she was the only girl who could get close to Kobby because he was a very reserved person who hardly associated with peers, not even his own squad mates (clique). She confessed Kobby had everything that she ever desired in a man. He was the exact definition of her ideal man but she seemed to have a problem with Kobby.

At this point I was stunned. I could neither breathe in nor breath out. My blood circulation too came to a standstill. I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. They were numb.

I started blinking my eyes at a pacey and irregular interval to help gain consciousness. All this while she had paused and was trying to send her mum a text.

Everything in the atmosphere sublimed into suspense.

The only noise that could be heard was the oscillating ceiling fan, the tick-tock of the wall clock, and our own breath. She eventually took a deep breath, cleared her throat, stole a flirty glance at me and tore the silence in the atmosphere:

“Denis,………….. I felt Kobby was merely wasting my time and warding off my suitors. All that while Kobby had not been “man enough” to propose love to me, even though from his actions I knew he loved me”. “How could a guy be so mean”?,she emotionally quizzed.

“Mean,you say?, I interjected sharply with an interrogative exclamation. She held her breath,at the same time thinking of an explanation. When she burst  out her response, she missed her first word,the second and the third.No identifiable word was uttered.All that was heard was errrm…..errrm….errm…She realized she didn’t make sense and had to explain better so she  handcuffed me,pulled me closer to her and looked deep into my eyes hoping that I could see her pain.For a moment she agreed actions speak louder than words so she would rather explain in actions than in words. Unfortunately, I was too occupied with her presence than to see or feel her pain. I could only see a  teasingly tempting gorgeous figure who was rather too idealistic for this century and that in itself was pain enough. In that compromising position, only one thing was most likely and man had to be strong so I ………………to be continued.