Bitter Honey is a Ghanaian-based series, centered around the Quartey family. Kojo Quartey; a taxi driver, his wife Aba; who runs a bank’s canteen, and their three children; Kuku, Abena and Maama live through a series of fortunate and unfortunate events. The Bitter Honey series tells the story of different bittersweet experiences that build their characters and teach them life lessons. Enjoy.
Yesterday, David didn’t have an appetite for kooko.
He knew the kooko was finished.
He knew because he had been watching the accident scene from his office window the entire time. He asked Aunty Aba anyway, because he felt it would be weird if he just walked up to her and offered a job.
Now, he was wondering if he should have bothered to offer in the first place.
Aunty Aba looked terrified; that wasn’t the reaction he was expecting.
Right now, her face was contorted between terror and uncertainty. He didn’t know her well enough to read her body and facial language, so he tried not to read between the lines.
She must’ve been interested enough to follow up. There she stood, in front of his desk, reporting for her first day of work. She didn’t have very presentable clothes.
But that didn’t matter David asked Roselyn (his assistant) to handle that.
He gave Aunty Aba a curious look. He was convinced that she deliberately tried to speak broken English, because she was speaking very good English with him now.
He wondered why. People intrigued him.
Well, all people excluding his wife. She frustrated him constantly.
He didn’t have just one reason; but she had too many personal issues that she allowed to get in the way of their marriage.
She doesn’t like her job, she is insecure about her weight, she feels guilty about the miscarriage they had, she believes she has been dealt the lower hand in everything; just to mention a few.
David felt a headache creeping into his mind just thinking about her.
She made him feel like he was failing as a husband, so he made the extra effort not to fail as a banker and a good person.
So he decided to stop using alcohol to numb his unhappiness and generate satisfaction from helping others. That is what triggered his desire to help Aunty Aba.
He stood and said, “Welcome, I hope you’re ready for training,” reaching out to shake her hand.
***To be continued***