“I think you are the prettiest thing I’ve seen.”

“Today? Or all your life?”

They kept looking at each other, eyeball-to-eyeball. He knew he had to answer but ‘was she the prettiest thing he had seen that day or all his life?’ Thinking about that made him smile and the smile on his face kept growing and growing. She looked away flattered and looked back up into his bright blue eyes.

“Can I ask you a question?” Agyei asked with confidence. “I’m all ears,” she said with her angelic voice feeling quite shy.

“Would you,” Agyei began and paused for a while before continuing, “would you marry me?”

Her eyes opened wide and her face was lit with shock. She stayed silent and her lips began to shake.

“Why?” Agyei asked concerned, “please, marry me.”

He held her warm hands and began to rub it with his. Her pink lips trembled more for having no answer for him. Suddenly, the wind howled and the trees made a gentle swoosh as the wind made its way through its leaves. The grass and flowers also began to shake. She turned around to look at the colorful flowers as they danced but, he kept looking at her face waiting for her response.

“I have to go,” she said gently and then freed her hand before standing up to leave.

He sat quietly and watched her walk away. His mouth was slightly open, his face painted with disappointment and his bright blue eyes, almost teary.

“I guess that’s another NO,” he whispered to himself.

He kept looking at the path she took even though she was out of sight. He shook his head and took in a deep breath.

“What did I do wrong? She always tells me she loves me. So, what now?”

He held his head with both hands and tried to stand. However, it seemed the shock from being rejected again had paralyzed him. When he was finally able to get himself up on his two feet, he stood akimbo and thought of his next move. “Home or work?” he asked himself moving his left hand to the right and then to the left.He place his hand in his pocket and brought out his phone. As he turned it on, he paused for a while and kept staring at the image that appeared.

“Oh, my beautiful one. Why break my heart again?” he sang. “Not at all. She did not reject me; she did not say NO. She just had to leave. I need to call her and ask if everything is fine,” he said to assure himself.

Of course, Agyei, the guy who never quit. If only he could believe that dreams do not always come true. The dream? That majestic entry. Walking side by side with the love of his life, to bless the long and forever journey ahead of them. Dancing to their favorite songs and posing to take pictures in the gown and suit, which they would then hang on the wall in the living room of the house they built together. Sure, it was just a dream. Agyei was not only tagged as the guy who never quit but also as the guy who dreamed big; too big for him. As he scrolled through his contacts for the number he had saved as ‘Pretty one’ with a red heart emoji, his phone began to ring.

“What does he want now?” he asked angrily as he answered the call.

“Are you coming home or what? Mom is worried-sick about you,” the male voice on the other end of the phone said harshly.

“Watch how you speak to me, boy,” Agyei warned.

“Oh, forgive me, mister. I need to watch how I speak to you because you can father me.”

“I’m warning you, Joe. Careful with your tone when speaking to me or else …”

“Or else what? What will you do, Agyei? Cry to mommy?” “Hey, boy! I won’t allow you to insult me,” Agyei said angrily and then ended the call.

He then began to walk away angrily from the spot where the love of his life had broken his heart, forgetting that he had intended to call her.

“Red? Or white?” he asked as he showed his sister the two different colored shirts he had in hand.

“Red,” she said bluntly without taking her eyes off her phone. Right there and then, he threw the white shirt in the sofa and wore the red one. He began to look around the room as if he was searching for something.

“Where’s the book I left here?” he said almost furious since he hated to search for things.

His sister, Georgea kept herself busy with her phone which she allowed no one to touch. Without looking, she could feel her brother’s frustration as he paced around the room searching for his notebook. “Look at the baby,” Georgea said still looking at her phone.

“What have you done?!” he said furiously and then moved towards the innocent baby.

He stretched out his hand and pulled away his book. The innocent baby, had apparently seen his book as the perfect surface to scribble and make sketches of whatever she had in mind. He became filled with rage when he flipped through the pages and realized she had used the pen in her hand to write on almost every page. He snatched the pen from her hand and threw it away.

“See what you’ve done! Your father better get me a new one,” he said raged to the baby who just stared at him.

Suddenly, the quiet baby began to cry and it was loud. Her cry made him angrier but he did not know how to shut her up.

“Her cry is like loud music yet I hate it. Shut her up already,” Georgea said finally looking away from her phone.

“I don’t know; what do I do?” he said confused and disturbed by her cry.

“Oh, my baby,” their mother said.

She came out from one of the rooms holding a box. She dropped it and rushed to carry and soothe the crying baby. “Stop crying, dear,” she said calmly and then turned to the two.

“What did you do?” she asked looking angry.

The two began to narrate what had happened but she would not listen. In fact, she began to sing to the baby who seemed calm now and turned a deaf ear to the two.

“Well, in short, I need a new book!” the boy, still angry said. He moved away and took a bag from the sofa then began to walk towards the door as his sister followed.

“And where are you going, young man?”

“Remember? I need to meet with Kwesi for our project.”

Yes, she had forgotten as always. He opened the door and as he was about to step out, he turned to Georgea and the two performed their well-practiced handshake which was very interesting to watch. They end with a hug as their mother and the baby watched.

“Be careful and be back early,” Gyaba, their mother said looking serious still holding the baby in hand.

“Don’t worry mom. I’ll be careful not to get you another grandchild. Maybe in the future but not now,” he said rebelliously and then closed the door behind him.

Gyaba’s serious face turned into a disappointed one and Georgea stood behind her smiling. Then, Georgea began to walk away.

“Where to?” Gyaba asked.

She decided not to answer her mother by pretending not to have heard her question. She kept walking towards her room but when she was almost there, she turned to her mother who stood at the same spot.

“I’m going into my room, put on my headphone and play some loud music, so that when you call me, I won’t hear you,” Georgea also said rebelliously still smiling.

True, she went into her room and shut the door behind her. She jumped onto her bed which was covered with her clothes. Generally, her entire room was a mess. At least, she did find her headphone and began to listen to loud music. For a moment, she felt happy and satisfied but the next, she felt sad. However, she did not know why. Who was she kidding? She knew; she knew why she was sad. Her family used to be happy. Happy? They were perfect and now, well, they were broken. She got up from her bed and moved to the mirror in her room. She looked at herself, her sad face. For so long, she had played as the happy satisfied girl. The strong one, the unbothered one but, all that pretense was killing her inside. She looked at her face and then she saw tears rolling own her cheeks. This shocked her as it had been a long time since she cried. She touched her tears and wiped it off immediately. Then, after composing herself, she looked at her face again in the mirror and faked a smile.

“Thank you very much for your help,” she said before ending the call.

Looking frustrated, she place her phone on a table and walked briskly to the kitchen as she began preparing something. That would be their dinner. She had contacted almost all of her friends to help her get a job but all she got was ‘sorry friend’ from everyone. Her mind was occupied with a lot of things. Her eldest son was on the verge of losing his job, they needed money for their rent, supplies and oh, the school fees. She was asked never to step a foot in the mall where she worked as a cashier after her quarrel with a customer.

“But she started it,” she heard herself explain to her manager.

Thinking about all of this made her very anxious and weak. She was deeply lost in her own thoughts.

“Ugh!” she screamed in pain as she burnt her hands.

She quickly dipped her burnt hand in some water and stared out through the open window. She kept staring as she saw some children in their school uniforms walk by.

“It’s three already?” she asked herself as schools around usually closed at three pm.

Then, she saw her own children coming from a distance. She quickly removed her hands from the water and resumed to cooking. Expectedly, she heard the front door open as the twins walk through.

“Welcome home, dearies. How was school today?” Gyaba said with a smile.

“Fine,” George said and then walked into his room.

“As always,” Georgea completed her twin brother’s sentence and also walked into her room leaving her shoes in the hall and her school bag in the couch.

As the two left, Gyaba’s smile disappeared and she focused on her cooking. Then, her phone began to ring. She answered it quickly hoping it was one of her friends to offer a job.

“Hello, mom,” she heard a familiar male voice call out.

She removed the phone from her ear and looked at its screen. It was her eldest son and she had saved the contact as ‘Agyei’. “How are you doing, son?” she asked concerned.

“Good, mother. I’m still alive,” he said laughing making his mother laugh too.

As the mother and son talked on the phone, George entered the kitchen. Knowing very well who his mother was chatting with, he gave his mother an angry-man look. The weekend was approaching and George knew that his brother would be coming home, as he did on every weekend. However, the problem was he had grown to not tolerate his big brother. In fact, just seeing him ruins his entire day.

“Hopefully, this time around he’ll take his daughter with him when leaving,” George said loud for his mother to hear but not loud enough for his brother to hear him.

“Tell him his daughter destroyed my book and I need a new one,” he added with a commanding voice to his mother.

Gyaba looked on as George took the last two slices of bread and walked out from the kitchen. George knew that if big brother was coming then he would not come empty handed.

“Clean your room, lady,” George said as he entered his sister’s room after knocking gently on the door.

He kept one slice of bread to himself and the other, he threw to his sister which she caught and took a bite. As usual, she had her headphone on and the loud music she was playing could be heard by George as he sat close to her.

“I said clean your room,” he said again as he removed the headphone from her ears.

“I will,” she said calmly as she got up to dump the bread crumbs in the bin in her room, “when I get the time,” she continued.

“He’s coming,” George said looking sad.

“Who’s coming?” she asked as she looked through her phone.

He snatched it from her and began to look through it. She tried to get it back but he raised it up high and she could not reach it.

“Well, you are the one who has issues with him. Even Baby likes him,” she said as she struggled to reach the phone.

“That’s because he’s her father.”

She pushed him hard and he landed on the bed. She jumped onto him and snatched her phone back. The two began to laugh at each other as they sat up on the bed.

“Gee, solve your issue with him and maybe he could be your best friend,” Georgea said holding her brother’s shoulder.

“Best friend? Gee and Gyei?” he said shaking his head. He continued, “Gee and Gea sounds better.”

He resumed laughing and so did Georgea. As he looked away, she picked up one of her pillows and hit him with it. As he regained his posture, he picked up the closest pillow and hit her too. The two continued to hit each playfully and giggled as they enjoyed each other’s company. The door to Georgea’s room opened slightly as Gyaba took a peek. Her face had a broad smile and she was filled with happiness as she saw her children happy and playing.

“Dada!” the little girl who could hardly speak said excitedly.

For her, she only had the weekends to see her father and play with him. Before he arrived, Baby and her aunty were making bracelets from colorful and sparkly beads. He walked to her as if he was dancing, carried her and raised her high into the air. Then, the father and daughter hugged each other tightly for a long time. He would usually hold her cheek and smile at her making the little girl laugh. “Oh, there you are,” Gyaba said as she entered the house.

She was coming from the market and hugged her son who still had Baby in hand.

“I don’t deserve your welcome, right, Georgea?”

Georgea, who had seen his brother enter but decided to focus on making stuffs out of beads got up to hug his brother too. As the two held on to each other, George appeared from nowhere. He waved at his brother casting a cold look at him. He waving was his way of saying welcome to his brother, Agyei. However, what he really wished for was his departure. “Okay, I brought something for everyone,” Agyei said to lighten up the mood.

He dropped his backpack and began to take out items from the plastic bag he had in hand.

“This is for you, mom,” he said cheerily and then handed his mother a white and yellow tunic dress.

“This is beautiful,” Gyaba said content with her gift, “how much is it? It looks expensive.”

“It’s not expensive, mother. Besides, yellow on your skin works wonders,” Agyei said avoiding the question, ‘how much is it?’

“And for my beautiful sister, surprise!”

“Is that what I think it is? A drawing book?” Georgea said excitedly.

“It comes with a set of color pencils.”

Georgea excitedly snatched the set of color pencils from her brother and ran around the room with the book in her other hand.

“A beautiful doll for my adorable Baby,” Agyei said while he handed the doll to Baby.

After checking out her new colorful dress, Gyaba entered the kitchen to make dinner. She truly understood the words, ‘a hungry man is an angry man’. In this case, her eldest son was not the man; it was George. As she washed the fish she bought from the market, Agyei entered the kitchen.

“You called me some days ago, crying. You said that you’re going to lose your job. Why not save the money?”

He simply smiled making her aware that he had heard her loud and clear.

“Gyei, this is no joke. We’re in need, son!”

He still stayed quiet and walked closer to his mother. He could feel his mother’s frustration and sadness.

“Why don’t you ask him for some money?” Agyei asked gently.

Gyaba turned to look at him in the eyes. She was almost teary and he could see it. Speaking about this ‘him’ was mostly avoided in that house. The mention of his name made Gyaba angry. She ignored Agyei’s question and focused on making dinner.

“I helped my boss’ son with something and he paid me for it. That’s how I bought all those things,” Agyei responded before leaving the kitchen.

He walked to his room passing by his siblings and daughter who overheard his conversation with Gyaba, their mother. She had taught them not to accept anything from people as a payment for a favor.

“The moment you take it, it’s no longer a favor,” she would always tell them.

One other thing they had learnt from their mother over the past few years was not to ask for more from the ‘him’ who happened to be their father.

“Thanks for this,” George said, not arrogantly as he entered his brother’s room through the open door.

Agyei simply smiled at him and turned away. He moved around his room as he unpacked his bag; he was staying for the weekend.

“Will you come with us to visit dad?” George asked suddenly.

He had been standing at the gate for several minutes watching his brother unpack. Agyei signaled his brother to come sit with him on the bed which he obeyed.

“I can’t,” he answered and stayed quiet. “Promise me something,” he said then looked at George who sat by his side, “that you’ll take care of mom and love her like he couldn’t,” he added.

“You’re talking like you’re going to die,” George said rashly offended by his brother’s words, “plus, dad loves mom,” he continued and then stood up to leave.“By the way, thanks for the shirt,” George said before leaving the room.

Like a ritual, the company laid off some employees depending on their current worth to the company. Agyei’s name was on a short list of employees who were counted as having little importance to the company. All he did was ran errands, like an errand-boy. Finding a job in the city was a headache. He already had a lot to think about; a lot of payments.

“Money! Money! Money!” Agyei yelled frustrated as he returned to unpacking.

“We need to get that scholarship back,” George said loudly as he entered the hall from his room. Georgea was seated on the longest sofa in the hall with her legs in it. She did not make a sound or move a muscle as she was focused on her phone; as always. George came closer and snatched the phone and then, sat closer to his sister. He threw the phone which landed perfectly on the sofa next to the one they were sitting on. That was the only way to get her attention.

“And how do you plan on doing that?” she asked and then, stood up to get her phone back. George pushed her back on to the sofa and firmly held her hands.

“We,” he said pointing to Georgea and then himself. “Remember ‘YEF’?”

He could tell from her facial expression that she did not remember; he went on to explain.

“‘Yen’s Education Foundation’? the people who support the schooling of many young people?”

Now, she remembered but George already knew the question she would ask next so he decided to answer it even before she asked.

“They’ll be visiting our school. I don’t know when but they will. And they’ll be offering scholarships to students who pass their tests.”

“How do you know all of this?” she asked with a curious face, “snooping around?”

“Benefits of being a teacher’s pet,” he responded with a smirk, “I know they’ll be bringing their own questions so it’ll be tough. But with this tip, we have more time to study.”

“Study for what?” Agyei asked as he also entered the hall with his bags.

He had Baby in hand. The weekend was over and Agyei had to return back to the main city for work where he would spend the entire week. As he entered, George and Georgea kept quiet and watched how the adorable little girl clung to her father. Then, Gyaba entered too. She came closer and fixed Agyei’s collar.

"Love you, son,” Gyaba said before taking Baby from his hands.

Then, she left with Baby. She knew that if the little girl saw her father leaving, she would begin to cry.

“You know what. . . thinking about it, I would like to visit dad with you guys,” Agyei said with a smile.

His words and smile place a smile on the faces of his twin siblings.

“Will you even be around for that? I mean, with your work and all,” Georgea wondered.

“Let’s hope by then, I’ll have lost my job,” he said and then laughed.

“Yeah, hopefully,” the twins chorused and also laughed.

He walked towards the door to leave but just as he stepped out, Baby came running towards him. He dropped his bag, carried and raised her high in the air.

“She doesn’t want you to leave,” Gyaba said as she ran after Baby.

“Just go with her already!” George yelled from the hall.

Gyaba went back to pull George’s ear; he screamed in pain.

“Go, get up,” Gyaba instructed, “help your brother with his bags.”

George stood up and went ahead to help his brother with his bags until he got a taxi to the bus station. As brother and brother with Baby walked further away from the house, they stayed quiet. Suddenly, Agyei stopped walking causing George to stop too. He place his left hand in his pocket and brought out some notes of cedi. “Here, take this,” he urged George.

“I’m taking it only because we need it,” George said and immediately took the money.

The two continued walking. “Mr. Nana asked me to come work at the shop during vacations.”

“Don’t stress yourself, Gee. I’ll get another job; a much better one.”

Even though Baby was crying, Agyei entered into a taxi after kissing her on the forehead. George, with Baby in his hand now, watched as the taxi disappeared.

“Stop crying. You’ll see him again very soon,” he reassured the little girl. “Now, let’s go home and we’ll play together. Ha, you like that, don’t you?”

allowed the baby to walk as he held her hand. Side by side, they slowly walked home.