Forbidden Love

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 9

VIOLENT ENCOUNTER

{Abena’s Point Of View}

The following week, Fafa attempted to convince my father again to allow him marry me. He wanted to perform the traditional marriage rites before travelling to Britain to offer a specialist course in Medicine at the University of Exeter on a Scholarship.

As if my father was anticipating his return, My father rushed into his room, opened one of his old lockers and brought out an old pistol, and prepared the gun for firing the moment he entered the house. At that point Hell broke loose in the house. I blocked the entrance of my father’s room to prevent him from coming out of the room and making use of his gun but he pushed me away like an unwanted animal and advanced towards his target.
His intention was evil. I tried all that I could to pull him away from the entrance of the door .He got angry and gave me two quick slaps on my face. I tried again to push him off the door but I couldn’t overcome his strength even at the age of fifty-Five. My last resort was to shout to Fafa to retreat and that was exactly what I did. I shouted, “Fafa, Runnnnn!. Fafaaa! Run!!!! Run!!, Run for your life!!!!!

Fafa heard my voice in the distance. He sensed the danger and began running speedily towards the entrance of gate and then he fell down. He picked himself quickly from the ground and run towards the gate.

My father aimed the gun at him and pulled the trigger. He missed by an inch. My heart missed a little. That bullet could have killed him.

He was almost at the gate. Just a few more paces and he would be out. I prayed he would exit the gate before my father attempted another shot. To frustrate my father’s attempt, I pounced on him again and once again, he managed to throw me off. I crashed to the ground crying.

“Father, Plsssss! Don’t kill him.He’s my life….”

My father ignored me and shot again just when it was left with a few inches for him to fully leave the compound.
The bullet hit Fafa at the gate.He fell on the ground to the ground without an “Awwww.” Fafa’s blood began to drip from a spot in her back. He convulsed and twitched in agony in his painful throes as his life ebb out of him. I felt excruciating pain through out my body as if I was the one hit by the bullet.

Seeing the young man who represent the very definition of pure, unblemished love to me, a young man who stole my heart through no fault of his , lying on the ground motionless, my vision blurred. In the distance, I could hear the faint wailing of an Ambulance.
Unable to withstand the murder of my lover before my very eyes, my heart stopped functioning for a second and I collapsed on the bare ground.

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[Third Person’s Point Of View]

Abena’s Father, Joe Atoapem Yeboah’s anger was an inherited trait, from his own father. He was the second born of his Father’s First wife. His oldest brother Kwabena was adventurous but not quick- tempered.

His father, Bedíàkṍ could do anything to anyone if he was angry.

Whenever he was angry,he was seen breaking glasses and gadgets
In the absence of people to hurt. His anger would only subside after he must have destroyed something or seen blood. In his fit of anger, he could kill even a babe.
When he was alive, his daughter became pregnant under his roof.

Upon further interrogation, he learnt that his daughter was impregnated by his own friend Kobe. He invited him to his house. When his friend arrives, he asked him why he had put his daughter in the family way. His friend Kobe said his daughter Gianna, aka Gigi was the one who seduced him.
“You mean this small girl of barely 17 years old seduced a full grown man like you 47 years?

He was so angry with him that he used a hot knife to cut his friend’s male organ. His friend Kobe bled until he died.
On another occasion, he caught a man stealing his farm produce.

He arrested the man and tied him to a mango tree for 3 days without food and water. On the third day, his anger was not pacified so he set the man ablaze while he was hanging on the mango tree. He died screaming and wallowing in pain.

The third incident happened between him and his first son. He stole his money and went to play lottery with it. When he realised the theft, he asked his four children
( two boys and two girls) if they had taken the money but all of them denied it. Later, he heard his oldest son Kwabena talking to someone on phone if he had won the lottery he played. The man asked him how much he used to play the lottery and he called the amount.

Unfortunately he didn’t win. His father suddenly materialised and slapped him on face saying,”So you are the one who stole my money.”
Before he could deny it again, he beat him until he went into comma for three days.
Bedíàkṍ was that popular and very well known for his anger and wickedness but no one was bigger than death. He died one fateful morning on his bed.
As would be expected,the news of his tragic demise, was not heart

breaking, or devastating or painful to anyone, not even to his wives Yaa and Afia.
On the contrary, everyone was intrinsicly happy.
But why did Joe hate the Ewes. It wasn’t just because of mere cultural stereotype. His hatred was stemmed in a disappointed love affair and a secret issue from that love.
Joe hated the Ewes because his first girlfriend, Sitsofe, an Ewe, broke his heart after he showed her unconditional love, even sustaining serious injuries in an accident when he was paying her visit.
She never turned up when he was hospitalized. One month after his recuperation, he paid her a visit only to see her on the lap of another man with her legs spread out as he faced the man who was cuddling her.
In a fit of anger, he gave her two quick slaps in succession. Amedeka reacted by attacking him.It became a full fight in her room.

Joe’s adrenaline level had risen.He fought aggressively with his enemy. Sitsofe’s heart was thumping very fast and her knees went weak. She palpitated. The sound of her heart became louder and louder.Fear sent cold shivers down her spine as she watched the two men fought themselves in a mortal combat. The two men struggled aggres
sively with each other, smashing things here and there.

At one point, Joe will throw Amedeka to the ground and hit him with series of blows without mercy. At another point, Amedeka over
turned the situation by pulling Joe to the ground and raining blows on him too. It was a closely fought fight and Sitsofe became a spectator. Muscles crunched as the tussle became difficult to break. Then Joe gave Amedeka an uppercut , just in time to dodge a vicious blow from him. In retaliation, Amedeka connected his hardened fist to Joe’s ribs. He let out a cry of agony and aggres sively used his elbow to jab Amedeka’s chest. It was at that point that Joe realised he had bargain more than he could chew. He had surely undermined Amedeka’s strength. He realised Amedeka was stronger than he had initially thought. Then he turned on his most aggressive mood. Afterall, he was being enlisted in the armed forces and must show this guy the stuff he was made of. He pounced on Amedeka once again. Amedeka attempted to flipped him off but failed. Amedeka saw himself rather flying in the air, smashing on the edge of the couch. With one decisive uppercut, Joe caught him on the cheekbone. Blood gushed put of Amedeka’s mouth and nose. As he was about to launched another attack on Amedeka who was obviously exhausted and tired now, a group of men step in , held him and sent him out of the room. Amedeka laid by the couch, obviously beaten by Joe.
Aw! !! God, I’m sorry Amedeka,”
Sitsofe told her new lover. She, rushed to his side, lift him up onto the couch and checked his bruised face and arms.
When Joe turned and saw Sitsofe with the beaten Amedeka again, his anger boiled to 100 °C. The flame of anger in him burned. He broke from the men holding him , rushed on Amedeka.Sitsofe blocked his way. He smacked her to the ground and she collapse instantly. After beating the exhausted Amedeka to a pulp, he went home. On his way home, he remembered the poem ” THE LOVE IS BROKEN”

The love is broken
My heart is broken Into many pieces
Not easy to mend
How can I collect the broken pieces
You broke my heart
The fragments of the broken pieces will surely hurt you I hate you so much
The hatred I have for you now is immeasurable
The love is broken
My heart is broken into unmendable pieces
Pieces that cannot be glued together
My love for you now has changed into hatred
The love had flown away
Leaving me in pain, pain, pain.

Joe slept that evening an angry man, a man who felt betrayed by the very lady he valued so much in life. He kept asking himself, ” where have I gone wrong? ” It was a rhetorical question, there was no answer to that question.

Sitsofe eventually got married to the the Ewe man, Amedeka amidst
heavy security because she feared Joe will pop up during the
ceremony and make the make the place higgledy-piggledy.
The real reason Sitsofe left Joe was his uncontrolled anger and tantrums.
Since then Joe saw every Ewe man as his enemy and vowed he would have nothing to do with Ewes and he never ever let go of that stereo
typic mindset. To him anything tag “EWE” is evil .
To compound the problem Sitsofe told him something about Fafa that he didn’t believe or chose not to due to his hatred for Ewes.