Just like Adel 2

"Henry?" I asked. He looked up at me, clearly surprised. "Hi, what are you doing here?" He asked, taking off his glasses. He signalled for me to have a seat and I told him my mission. I realised now why Dean conveniently wanted me to come instead of him. He must have known. Henry answered all my questions sharply. It almost felt like he was in a hurry for me to leave. I told myself he was doing that because I told him my time was limited. I left immediately I got what I needed ignoring the temptation to take his number, for work purposes of cause.

After we presented our documented ideas to the boss Dean and I came back to our desks. We were so late we hadn't talked about Henry yet. Dean brought him up the minute I sat down. I told him in all honesty that if there was any proof that he wasn't interested in me it was our meeting. Dean shrugged and ended his probing by saying I was exaggerating. When he grabbed his phone I knew he was going to give his girlfriend the report. I couldn't wait till the next day when she finally arrived so I could tell her how annoying her boyfriend was.

I noticed as my taxi pulled over in front of a really big restaurant that I was probably under dressed. Looking at the type of cars around my black trousers and blue sleeveless top may not have been very appropriate. I remembered I had a necklace in my bag and put it on to add some style to my plain look. I got out carefully in order not to damage the cake I was holding. Dean tasked me with delivering the cake he had ordered for Adel at her welcome dinner. She had finally come back!

I rushed into the restaurant after paying the taxi driver. Dean had called me a thousand times because I was late. He said Adel was a bit jet lagged so he didn't want her staying up so late. I smiled when I saw Dean waving at me. He and about 5 other people where sitting at one table. I walked to them and put the cake on the table with a smile. "Everybody this is Doris, my coworker who loves being late." Dean teased and I heard some giggles. "Finally I get to meet Doris." I heard a familiar female voice say. I knew it was Adel. I turned to look at her and froze. I thought I was looking in a mirror. She looked just like me!


To be continued... 

Just like Adel

Dean walked to my desk and when I saw the look on his face I knew he wanted me to do something. "What do you want this time?" I asked turning away from my table. He led me to his desk and asked me to fix an issue on his computer. Dean was so bad with computers it wasn't funny. "So did Henry call you?" He asked. I shook my head. "Chale I don't think he's interested oh." I replied getting up from his desk. Dean frowned. He was just about to talk when our boss walked into the office. I turned around immediately and went back to my desk.

Henry was the older brother of Dean's girlfriend. I thought he was cute the day I met him and Dean gave him my number. That was a month ago. I hoped he would call judging by his wide smile when we met but after a week I just gave up. "Doris I have a new job for you."  my boss said and signalled for me to come to his office. I walked briskly behind him. He handed me a file and said it was a pharmacy advert I was to work on it with Dean. He made it clear that they were a big shot client and so I had to bring my sharpest ideas. I smiled and rushed to Dean's desk. I'm a copywriter who loves her job and challenges excite me. My thoughts of Henry disappeared just like that.

Even though we were nowhere on our project Dean suggested we go to a coworkers wedding. I tried to play the workaholic card but he would have none of it. I finally agreed and we went. It was a beautiful wedding I must say and it really refreshed me. We sat on the same table with Sedem another lady from work. Half the time Dean was on his phone most likely chatting with his long distance girlfriend Adel. He always kept in touch with her and talked about her all the time. My buddy was smitten. It made hanging out with him so much easier because I knew there were definitely no strings attached. "Guess what?" Dean asked as I stuffed my face with a huge slice of wedding cake. "Henry said he lost your number. Adel just told me." He added. I wiped my lips with a tissue. "That again? I thought I told you I was over him. Crushes don't last remember?" I said. Dean just ignored me and kept on typing. Sedem was interested in the topic all of a sudden. Dean told her a very badly fabricated story of the day Henry and I met. I rolled my eyes and looked out for another person serving cake.

Just then a guy came out of no where and shook Dean's hand. They laughed and joked for a while and he turned to me and shook mine too smiling so widely. "I didn't know you were around." He said to me. I stared at him not sure what to say. Then he continued. "You two are not matching colours this time?"  then it hit me. He thought I was Adel. This wasn't the first time. Before I could correct him Dean jumped in and did me the honours. The guy stared at me again and apologised. "Wow, this is.." He started but the phone in my pocket vibrated and I jumped to answer the call.

After talking to my boss over the phone I realised we had less time than we thought to finish the project. We had until Monday afternoon to come up with 10 scripts and Dean hadn't even taken a look at the file. Even though I insisted we leave to do our work Dean still managed to let me stay. "We haven't met with a representative from the company yet even." I nagged. "Don't worry. I'll do that on Monday morning. Have I ever failed you before?" He asked. I shook my head. He was right. I looked around and took in the beautiful environment with my glass of champagne.

Monday morning Dean and I got to work very early. I gave him the file to read while I finished up on a script I had written the night before. "Heh for real?!" He shouted. I turned and looked at him confused. I rushed to him and asked if there was a problem. He shook his head. "You know what? Let me stay and finish up the scripts while you go speak with them." He said and quickly turned over to his computer without even bothering to listen to what I had to say. I complained a little and just left when he didn't badge.

When I got to the client's office I was asked to wait. It was one of the biggest pharmacies in Ghana. "Hello, Mr. Brock will see you now." The Secretary said. I smiled and walked into his office. It was a very big office with very beautiful decor. I wondered if I was going to meet Lestor Brock himself, the CEO. I noticed the man sitting at the desk didn't have grey hair. As I got closer I noticed he looked familiar. "Henry?" I asked. He looked up at me, clearly surprised. "Hi, what are you doing here?" He asked, taking off his glasses.


To be continued... 

These are my confessions

My blog has been so dry for so long. It's not easy oh. I will be honest I haven't put anything up in a while because I haven't been able to finish a single story. I start and I just can't or would I say don't finish. To tell you the truth I don't know why but it's probably because work has been a bit overwhelming for me.

I'm glad to say things are changing. How am I getting out of my writers block? Simple, I'm not giving up. I'm just going to keep writing till I'm back to my normal self. I have grown to realise that repetition is very effective. If at first you don't succeed....  Yea, try, try, try again :)

My writing resolution for 2015 is to have at least one book available on Kindle so I need to make it count!

Oh and merry Christmas

Being Francis

Francis saw his older brother packing his bags. "Hey Dan, where are you off to?" He asked curiously. Dan looked at him and continued packing. "I don't know how you manage to be happy here." Dan finally replied. He picked up a T-shirt and threw it into his small suitcase. Francis did not see that answer coming. He enquired further and Dan made it clear he was leaving their new home. His brother was even more surprised.

 Just then their sister walked into the room. "What's going on here?" She asked. Francis turned to her and explained Dan's intentions. She shook her head and turned to walk out like nothing was happening. "Pat, won't you tell him to stop this and stay?" Francis called out. Without turning Pat said, "He's not a child. He can do as he pleases." Then she left.

Francis asked his brother why he wanted to leave one more time. "Why should I stay? Father doesn't love me, he expects me to follow so many rules and what do I get in return? Constant disappointment. He says “ask me for anything and you'll have it” but he doesn't honour his words. My friends in the South are living very happy lives free from strict parents. That's where I'm headed." Dan let out. It looked like he had given this a lot of thought.

"Daddy loves us so much. Don't you see that? He gives us a lot of food and everything we need and his rules are just meant to protect us." Francis said. "I'm 25 years old, I need more than food. I have asked him for so many things and he just did nothing." Dan said, beginning to get angry. His little brother tried to calm him down but it was useless. He picked his suitcase and walked out with Francis running behind him. "I have one last thing to say. Count all the things Dad has gotten for you and see if they are worth more than the things you are asking for. I will tell Dad you'll be coming back because I know you will." Francis said almost in tears. "Good luck with that." He said and left the house.

If Pat, Dan and Francis’ father was God and they were normal Christians like you and me, can you relate to their actions? Pat is the Christian who believes but does not spread the word nor help others out. She prefers to be a Christian on an island. Dan is the Christian who loses his faith because he thinks God is asleep or maybe just picky because his prayers are not being answered. He feels all he is doing for God is in vain.

 Francis is the Christian we all want to be. The one who believes in God with all his heart and wants everyone to do same so he calls people to God and encourages them. We have probably been all these people at one point or the other in our journey with Christ. It's time to be Francis in our own little way. If you are not sure how, just pray and an idea will pop into your head, completely unique to you. God bless you :-)

The good life

Pic from blakevond.com

I signalled the waiter to bring me another glass of whiskey. The football match I was watching wasn't as exciting as I had hoped. The teams that were playing were not exactly the strongest but it was either that or staying at home to listen to my wife nag about this or that. That was when I saw her. Samira, the girl I had the longest crush on. She was just as pretty as I last saw her in university. Her long hair was flowing on her back as usual. When I saw Samira's mother I knew where she got all her looks from. She was with two other ladies, coming from the VIP part of the pub. I waved at her and she smiled when she saw me. She whispered something to her friends and walked to me.

"Peter, I haven't seen you in forever." Samira said joining me at my table. I nodded and asked how she was doing. She was still witty. I really liked that about her. After some small talk she informed me that it was one of her friends’ birthday and they came to chill out a bit. She made me think about my own social life. Well,if watching football matches in pubs counted then at least I had one but unfortunately I had a curfew. 10pm and Afua would call me. Samira made me envy her more when she told me about their plans for later that evening. She was clearly living a fun life. She froze all of a sudden and looked at my wedding band. She congratulated me and I managed to smile. There was a time I would smile much broader when someone congratulated me but now with the baby, things were very different. Afua barely noticed me. All her attention was on our baby but who was I to complain? After all, she was the one taking care of the baby most of the time so I had no opinion even in my own house.

Samira invited me to join her on their chilling spree. I was extremely surprised she asked. To be honest it seemed like she was flirting with me. I was unsure because all the years I had known her she never showed much interest in me. Hey who knows maybe she preferred married men. Her interest made me very excited. There was no way I was going to refuse. She made all 4 of us leave in her car. She insisted on me leaving mine behind. "It'll be more fun if we are all together." She said and winked at me. I almost believed the whisky was making this all up. When I saw Samira's Land Cruiser I realized life was good for her. She drove just as crazy as her personality. My wife was a fast driver but Samira was on a different level. Her friends seemed just as wild because I was the only one clinging to my seat belt. We arrived at a huge mansion. Was this her house? I remember her parents’ house from back in the day. It wasn't half as big as this. She seemed to read my mind when she said, "This is a friend of mine's place. He's out of town for a while so he said we could use it." I nodded.

The interior of the house was like one of those fancy homes you see in decor magazines. Samira turned on some music and they did some dancing. The birthday girl called a couple of friends and asked them to come over. In less than 30 minutes there were about 9 more people in the house. There was music and drinks all around and a tennis Wii game going on. In the midst of all the fun I noticed my curfew was drawing near. Why couldn't Afua organize little parties like this once in a while? Just when I spotted Samira and was going to tell her my plans to leave she grabbed my hand and said she wanted to show me something. I walked with her to the back of the house. There was a beautiful pool there. "How about a swim?' She offered. "What, like now?" I asked. She laughed and nodded. Before I could say anything she took off her dress. The Lord knows all sorts of things rushed through my head. She got into the water and asked me to join her. I fought hard to refuse. Half of my mind was focused on Samira in her underwear floating in the water and the other half was on my wife and our daughter. "I have to leave." I managed to say. Samira's face dropped. "Is it because you are married? Why shouldn't married people have fun huh?" She asked. I wasn't sure what to say.

I sat down by the pool with my trousers folded up and my legs in the water. I just watched Samira swim, extremely considering joining her. I knew I couldn't resist her for too long. "You know that ring you are wearing is like a prison." Samira said. I shrugged. "That's why I'm free." She said giving a backstroke. "When you find the right guy you'll think differently." I said. She stopped and turned to look at me. "I don't think so. I don't see what marriage or love can give me that I can't have." She added. I thought about Afua immediately she said that. I tried to list the things she added to my life. The list was so long I smiled. Afua was the right person for me. I mean I was here in a place I would have died to be in some years ago, thinking about my wife. Samira asked why I was smiling. I told her and she got a bit upset.

Samira got out of the pool and grabbed a towel. She wore some clothes and without saying anything grabbed her car keys to drop me off. On my way back still in silence, Afua called. I expected to hear 'where are you' but instead she said our daughter said daddy. I laughed as we made fun of our little girl over the phone. When I remembered where I was quickly wrapped up the call. "It's worth it huh?" Samira asked. She was driving much slower. I nodded. I really didn't want to go talk much about how much I loved my family. "But you looked so miserable at the bar. Married people look all sad but they always go back to their wives." She said. Her tone had changed. "Loving someone doesn't mean you won't have problems with them. It just means you'll always be there for each other. I guess that's one beautiful thing about it." I said. She turned to me and smiled. When we got to my car she dropped me off and waved as she left without saying another word.

When I got home the first thing I did was look for Afua and gave her a deep kiss. She smiled and asked what we were celebrating. "My baby called me daddy. It's official, I'm her daddy." I said. She laughed and held her mouth to muffle the sound in order not to wake the baby up. 

Blind date

I looked around for a black t shirt. I was about to text Aziz to ask where he was when I spotted a fine guy in a black Tshirt. I smiled and put my phone back into my bag. I walked up to him. He looked really cute. Paulina told me he was cool. She was probably being her usual modest self. Then it hit me. Would he think I was cute too. I paused and turned to look at my reflection in one of the glass windows of the bar. I tossed up my hair a little and continued walking. My heart started racing when I got to his table. I smiled. He smiled back too but not as broad as mine. "Aziz right? It's good to finally meet in person." I said.

 "How are you doing?" He asked to break the awkward silence after I sat down. I said I was fine. A waiter came up to me and I ordered a drink. Immediately my drink came a guy walked up to us and spoke to my date. "Hey we are going to play pool do you want to join us? I didn't catch your name. I'm Kofi." he offered. I shook my head. "Not really, I don't know how to play. I'll just make him lose. I'm Selina." I said smiling. They didn't seem to take no for an answer so I gave in.

Aziz gave me a cue and a quick tutorial. "It's really not that hard. Besides no one on earth is as bad as Kofi's girlfriend in pool." he teased. I giggled. "Easy like you driving your Range Rover eh?" I asked. "Err more like me brushing my teeth, super easy." he said and gave a goofy smile. I laughed again. We were beginning to get along well. He was much more interesting in person. Kofi played first, then Aziz. When Dora, Kofi's girlfriend played I realized what Aziz was trying to say all along. He winked at me and I giggled. It was finally my turn and my coach walked up behind me and showed me how to position my cue. He was rather close but I wasn't complaining. Surprisingly, I didn't do badly at all. As the game went on, Kofi kept asking me if I had really never played before. When I potted my first ball I couldn't help jumping up and down. Aziz run to me, raised me up, spinning me in the air and said I was the best student ever. I laughed my head off when we turned back to look at Kofi and Dora's faces. Their expressions were priceless.

Right after the game, which of course Aziz and I won, we went to sit at the lounge area. The chemistry between Aziz and I was just perfect. The kind where we felt perfectly comfortable around each other. We spoke about the new movies we had all seen and Aziz and I were glad we had the same taste in movies. We even planned to see a new movie sometime. I took out my phone to send a thank you message to my match maker when I noticed 15 missed calls from Paulina and Aziz. I ignored his guessing they were from earlier and rushed to the bathroom to call Paulina back.

"Hey where are you?!" She asked immediately she picked up the phone. I giggled. "Oh say a blind date maybe?" I teased. Paulina wasn't moved. "Ah have you met Aziz yet? He said he couldn't find you. Where have you been?" She asked. I rolled my eyes. "Calm down I'm in the washroom. I was just a little bit late but I've seen him now." I replied. "This your lateness dierr." Paulina said finally calm. She said she had to go and hung up. I looked in the washroom mirror, straightened my dress and walked out. Just before I got to my seat a tall dark guy in a black t-shirt walked up to me. "Hi, Selina right?" He asked. I nodded wondering how he knew my name. He noticed I was a bit puzzled and said. "I'm Aziz, I've been waiting for you for so long. I would have left if it wasn't for Paulina. We said we'd be meeting outside." He explained and I froze. I didn't know what to say. I turned to look at the table I was sitting and saw Kofi and Dora laughing hard. The fake Aziz was staring straight at me. It was like he knew. I turned to Aziz and smiled. "I'm sorry about that." I managed to say. My date said he didn't like the food at the pub so he suggested we go to a Chinese restaurant. I nodded. I turned back to look at the table. "Are you coming?" Aziz asked. I smiled and walked out with him.

Aziz opened the door to his Range Rover when we got to the parking lot. I sat down quietly. "You like Chinese food don't you? Even if you don't, you'll like this particular one. They are the best." He said as he sparked the car. I was barely paying attention. Too many things were running through my head. Then I saw him. He was walking alone.   I turned to Aziz. "I'm really sorry I wasted your time but I'll be wasting more of your time if I go with you. I have to go." I said, opening the door and getting out. "What? What are you talking about?!" He asked furiously. "I don't think this date is working so I'm ending it before it gets worse." I added and ran off. I heard him swear and drive off fast.

I broke into a run in the direction I saw my fake Aziz go. When I saw him standing beside his old car I yelled, "hey!". He stopped and turned around. "Why, why did you lie about being Aziz?" I asked when I caught up with him. "I didn't lie. I just didn't say I wasn't him." He said. "Yeah? Well on this planet it's still lying." I replied. "Oh, is it that obvious I'm not an earthling?" he joked but my expression didn't change. "I'm sorry, what I did wasn't right. I just really wanted to get to know you. I couldn't get myself to tell you the truth. I'm sorry I ruined your date. I won't be causing any more trouble, I'm leaving." He said. He sounded so genuine. If he wasn't, he was the best actor in the world. There was something about him, something very nice. "You didn't ruin my date. Well, technically you did but I still had fun." I said. A smile slowly formed on his face. "We can play another game of pool if you like. I won't mind a few tips." I said stretching out my hand. He took it. "Yes, yes let's play." He said and we walked back. "So what's your real name Fake Aziz?" I teased. "I'm Paul Mensah. Yup, sorry to disappoint you. I have a nice and boring name." Paul said. I laughed again. Paulina wasn't gonna like this at all.

 The end

Monday morning surprise

As Samira walked to work she remembered the sermon that was preached at church the day before. The topic was about loving your neighbour. Even those that didn't love you. She knew one person like that at work. Sarah Brown. Sarah just didn't like her and the feeling was very mutual. From her first day at work Samira never got along with her. Maybe Sarah felt insecure around her because she was younger, she just couldn't tell. "I'll love my neighbour." Samira said with a long sigh. Just before she entered her office building she saw something interesting. There was a car having boot sales not very far away. She looked at her watch. She had enough time to do some window shopping. She saw a nice necklace. It looked like something Sarah would love. She thought for minute and bought it for her at a very good price.

When Samira got to work Sarah was not at her desk but she saw her favourite red bag and knew she was around. She picked up a sticky note from her desk and wrote a little note. She stuck the note to the present she had just bought, put it on Sarah's desk and walked away. When she got to hers Elikem walked by with a smile. "Is that a bomb you put on Miss Horror's desk?" She asked. Samira giggled and shook her head. Elikem always had names for everyone. Then it hit her that she wasn't the only one who didn't like Sarah. "Love your neighbour." She whispered to herself as she turned on her computer.

After a few hours there was a general meeting for everyone. Samira took a seat at the back of the board room next to Elikem. "Pay raise time, woop woop." Elikem whispered and did a little dance in her chair. Samira laughed. "You are such a child." She said to her. The CEO of the company walked in with some sheets of paper. He said he had bad news. The company was not doing as good as it used to and they had decided to do a downsizing exercise. Samira's heart missed a beat as he mentioned the names of the people who were being laid off. Her heart sunk when she heard Elikem's name. Fortunately for her that was the last name. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned to comfort her friend.

When she got back to her desk she saw a red sticky note and instantly knew who it was from. It said, 'thanks for the necklace. It's so lovely. Yes you are right we started off on a bad note. So your apologies have been accepted.' Samira smiled. She turned around and spotted Sarah at the entrance of the board room. She walked to her but the CEO was quicker. Samira just stood aside and waited for him to finish talking to her. "Sarah I thought we decided on 12 people? This list is short of one." He said. "Sir that's true but I found out recently that she has potential as compared to the others." Sarah replied and smiled at Samira. "Alright, I trust your judgement, have a nice day." The CEO said and walked away...... 

Love your neighbour!

After 10 short film

After all the hard work the short silent film is ready to be viewed. I decided to tell my After 10 story in a different way so we made a video! Thanks to an amazing videographer, extremely dedicated actors and a brilliant team I present to you, After 10.

Watch it here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO8_lXJDULg&feature=youtube_gdata_player