Sequence 1
It was a scandal. A very big scandal.
It went viral in one day when the video was posted first on Social Media. It garnered close to five million views within the first week. Indeed, it stunned the country, mainly because of Tony Siaw’s behaviour, and secondly because Liz Baidoo was simply the most beautiful actress Ghana had ever produced, and she was loved by many.
So, when her husband of ten years was caught on their wedding anniversary on their matrimonial bed with a prostitute, well that was news – big news!
Liz’s father was a famous industrialist, one of the richest in the country, and her mother was a very respected surgeon. She came from a home of class, and she had grown up with that pedigree.
She was simply stunning!
Her figure had made her a screen goddess. She was exquisitely curvy, her parts amazingly symmetrical and proportional, a dark beauty with the grace of an angel. Women envied her, and men simply adored her!
Normally, she would have been married to a man from equal status, a man from a family with influence, a rich man, a golden boy that would have set them on a high pedestal.
But it did not pan out that way.
Well, there was such a boy called Frank Nsiah who grew up with her. Frank’s parents were rich and influential, and friends with the Baidoos. Three years older, it had been understood that they would eventually settle down and become a couple. Lithe and charismatic, Frank was the ideal bachelor many women sought for.
They went through basic school and then to the university where Liz met a soft-spoken, gentle and shy young man called Tony Siaw. He was a literature student who loved to read a lot. That was what had drawn Liz to the young man; his joy when he was reading a book.
The first time she saw him, they had been on a bus as part of the SRC Week celebrations, and they had been headed to the Kakum National Park. Liz’s appearance in the bus with Frank had caused a stir, as usual, because even then she had started acting, and had won two awards as the best actress and best female actress in a leading role.
People stopped to stare at her wherever she put in an appearance, and it was evident that she was the most attractive and popular girl in school. Boys looked at her with blatant hunger even when they were with their girls; she was that beautiful and that desirable.
And so, with Frank behind her, she had made her way into the bus, pausing briefly to interchange words with friends, and then finally looked up and saw him.
He was sitting at the end of the bus, near the right window, with an opened book in his hands and his eyes fixed on the book, smiling slightly as he read, obviously so engrossed that he did notice – or wanted to notice – what was going on around him.
Liz made her way to the back and sat next to him while Frank sat on her other side. She noticed that the guy who was reading was of medium-built, clean-shaven and with a short haircut, and pleasant-faced though not overly handsome.
He did not look at her when she sat down, and for most of the trip he just kept on reading which she noticed was the current book by bestselling American author Jack Mood. Liz and her family were all fans of T. Orphan, whose books had been made into many great movies, and so she knew the story he was reading.
“One of his best,” she said conversationally after they had travelled for about forty-five minutes. “Amazing plotting.”
“Okay,” he said without looking at her, and Liz scowled.
“You a fan of Jack Mood?” she asked.
He shrugged.
“He’s okay,” he said.
And that was when she thought he was an unpleasant, snobbish guy because he had not once looked at her, or even smiled.
She did not know him then, and she would later come to know that Tony Siaw was a guy of very few words, and rarely smiled, especially at strangers.
When he got tired with that, he simply folded the upper part of the page diagonally to bookmark it, closed the book, and put it across his laps.
Cushioning his head against the side of the window, he closed his eyes, and apparently fell asleep shortly after that.
Liz did not know why she kept stealing glances at him as he slept. Maybe it was due to the fact that he was the first guy she had sat down next to who had not tried to get her attention. Usually, guys started off by complimenting her on her beauty, or her acting prowess, or to get an autograph or offer a helping hand of sorts, or wished just to be acquainted.
As the vice president of the SRC and budding actress who had already appeared in some blockbuster local movies then, she was quite popular, loved, and even worshipped.
And this reader had not even bothered to glance at her once.
When they arrived at the parking lot of the Kakum National Park, Liz wondered why she was secretly peeved at him, and so she delayed with getting up. She was painstakingly slow in putting her phones, magazine, purse and a few items into her bag. She then brought out a small mirror and painstakingly freshened her lipstick and make-up.
Liz was blocking him and had to get up before he could disembark from the bus. Frank stood by with a wry patient smile on his face as he watched her. Everybody else had gotten off the bus, and Liz waited for the guy to get impatient and tell her to let him pass.
But, infuriatingly, he said nothing.
He simply leaned his forehead against the headrest of the seat in front of him and waited.
Frank made a funny face at Liz and pointed to the guy, and both of them giggled.
Finally convinced this boy would simply not be pushed to anger or impatience, Liz finally stood up and walked behind Frank.
“There’s something wrong with that guy,” Frank had said, and Liz had giggled
“He could be a zombie,” Liz replied, and they both burst into laughter.
“You’re not a nice person,” the calm voice said from behind her.
Liz gasped and spun around; she had thought he was still sitting down because she had not heard him behind her, and there he was, looking at her coldly with the most furious eyes she had ever seen.
She had been flustered and embarrassed immediately.
“Oh, sorry,” she said in a rush. “Didn’t mean that, please. Just a joke.”
He had not smiled, just stared woodenly at her.
Liz had felt bad about the incident, really, and had brooded over it uncharacteristically as the day wore on. She had tried to locate the strange boy but she had not seen him on the walkway or in the restaurant.
Later in the afternoon, she bought some bars of chocolate she had been craving for and which Frank did not want to pay for because he always said chocolates were bad for her. Liz reached into her bag for her purse and realized she could not find it.
Frank smiled patiently and paid for the chocolates as she put her bag on a table and searched frantically, but the purse was not inside. Thinking it might have dropped in the bus whilst she was packing her items, she and Frank went back to the bus to see the driver sleeping behind the wheel with the doors open.
They informed him and searched the car, but the purse – which contained a substantial sum of money – was not on the bus.
“That creep has stolen it,” Frank said with sudden insight. “We were only three in the bus when you were packing it. It might have fallen, and he was the last off the bus.”
“I don’t know, Frank,” Liz had said uncomfortably. “He didn’t seem like a thief to me.”
“And Lucifer was the most handsome angel,” Frank said bleakly. “Let’s find him. He has it.”
“Well, let’s ask him nicely,” Liz said anxiously, well aware of how short-tempered and violent Frank could be. “Maybe he saw it fall, and would give it to me.”
“He was right behind us,” Frank said. “Even if he intended to give it you, he might have changed his mind when you called him a zombie.”
They asked around and eventually found the guy in the garden. He was sitting on a bench and reading his Jack Mood novel.
Frank, quite incensed now, snatched the book from the boy’s hands and glared down at him.
“Where’s the purse?” he demanded angrily.
The young man looked at him with his dark, brooding eyes, and then he held out his hand.
“My book,” he said calmly.
“Don’t let me slap you, bastard!” Frank yelled. “The purse you stole, where the hell is it? Give it back.”
“I’ve stolen no purse,” the man said. “The book, please.”
By now many people were beginning to gather around, and there were collective gasps when Frank suddenly slapped the guy hard across the face.
“Frank!” Liz cried with horror as she moved in front of him and pushed him back. “What’s wrong with you?”
Frank was struggling to push her aside.
The young man had barely flinched after Frank’s slap, and he still continued to sit and look up at them with dark eyes.
“Madam, madam, madam!” a man was shouting as he came running down the garden towards them, and Liz noticed it was the driver of the bus.
When he reached them, he had Liz’s purse in his hand.
“Sorry, madam,” he said, panting and with a sheepish smile. “My mate said he was sweeping the bus when you people left, and he saw the purse. He was keeping it safe, but when you came asking for it, I had sent him to go and buy food. He didn’t tell me he had it, you see. It was after you left that I asked him. Here it is, madam. Please check if everything is intact.”
Liz stared at the driver, and for several moments she could not move, her expression shattered as she heard the angry murmurs from the watching crowd.
“Oh, shit!” Frank murmured with a deep shuddering sigh.
And that was when the dark man got to his feet. He took a step forward, and slapped Frank so hard and so soundly that he crashed to the ground in a daze!
Liz screamed and looked at the boy, afraid that he would also hit her.
However, he simply reached down and plucked his book from Frank’s nerveless hand. He then walked away as the crowd parted for him and chatted excitedly.
Later in the evening, when the excitement and furore had died down, and they all returned to the bus for the return journey, she noticed that the dark guy was not on the bus.
Concerned, she told the driver that they were not set so he should wait, much to Frank’s disapproval; he was still in a bad mood after the guy’s slap which he felt had humiliated him.
The driver informed them that the young man told him he would find his own way back to campus. Evidently, he did not relish the ride back with them.
With her!
And that was the first time Liz Baidoo met Tony Siaw
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