Husband for Hire

This was the first time Edmond Anthony was stepping his foot on Kenyan soil and he was grateful to his organisation for sponsoring trips like these for its members to have the opportunity of travelling round the world while acquiring knowledge, networking, exploring new places and tasting new food. Just a few weeks back, his good friend and colleague, Alfred, was lucky enough to be among the people chosen to travel to Egypt. When he returned after the one month trip, he had bombarded Edmond with pictures he took and the various tourist sites he visited. Edmond longed for his turn to travel out of the country and here it was. Here he was in the capital city of Kenya.

He and his colleagues were given the day to lodge into their hotel rooms, rest, have dinner and get ready for training which would commence the following day. The company hosting the training was a big Kenyan company that manufactures and sells meteorological equipment and it worked together with Edmond's company to sponsor the trip and selected only the best and potential employees. The trip was all-expense paid as the companies would pay for their flight tickets, hotel accommodation, feeding and transportation. Any other thing you wanted to do, like shopping and other luxuries, would be borne by you.

When Edmond entered his hotel room, the first thing he did was to lay down on the bed and looked round, admiring the room. He had never lodged in a hotel room before and this one was quite fancy. The walls were a beige colour and the room was exquisitely but simply furnished. There was a bed, a bedside console with a fancy lamp on top of it, a sofa and armchair of the same design, a wardrobe, a chair and table, an air conditioner and of course, a television.

Edmond then walked into the bathroom and the tiles on the floor and on the wall were all white. There were three packets of the hotel's customised soap and a towel, along with a big fancy cup on the sink, probably for storing toothbrushes and other toiletries. He had heard that the hotel was a four-star hotel, but in his opinion, it surely deserved a five-star rating because everything about the hotel was exceptional.

He thought of calling his wife, Juliana, whom he had gotten married to in a lavish church wedding some three months back. He had promised to call her when he arrived his destination.

"Hello Julie."

"Hello darling. Have you arrived?" She asked, excited to hear her husband's voice after hours of waiting for his call.

"Yes, I did about half an hour ago."

"Oh, that's good. How do you feel?" Juliana asked this because he had never been to a foreign country before.

"I feel good, nothing out of the ordinary."

"How is Nairobi?"

"I haven't seen much because I just got here, but I can tell you that it's a beautiful city."

"Oh, that's wonderful. I'm glad you're enjoying your stay already."

"I wish you were here with me to explore this beautiful city," Edmond said, breaking the silence.

"Me too, it's just that I already took a leave last month so I couldn't take another leave so soon."

"I know, and that's why I'm sad. Being here without you doesn't make sense."

"We will videocall each other as often as we can so we won't miss each other so much."

"I miss you so much already, I can't believe I'm going to be without you for a whole year."

"I miss you too, my darling, but don't worry, before you know it, the year would be over and we would be together again."

"You're just saying this to make me feel better."

"Honey, I need to get back to work now, we'll talk more later. Byee."

"Bye love." Juliana blew him some kisses before ending the call.

Edmond sighed and threw his phone on the bed. He took off his clothes and went into the bathroom to take a shower so he could go down for dinner.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

After training the following day, Edmond found a man talking to a small group of people. He noticed that they paid keen attention and asked questions occasionally to which the man answered all. He must be very knowledgeable in whatever he was talking about, Edmond thought. He joined the group and found out that the man was teaching them maths and physics. He took a look at the man again and noted that he was around his age and was definitely African but had an accent he could not recognise.

When the man was done teaching, everyone dispersed but Edmond remained. 

"Do you have any more questions?" The man asked him.

"No, I just wanted to say that I really loved your teaching."

"Thank you. I used to be a teacher so I guess it's a part of me now." The man chuckled.

Edmond offered his hand. "By the way, my name's Edmond Anthony."

The man took his hand in a firm handshake. "I'm George Appiah."

"Nice to meet you, George. What country are you from?"

"Ghana. How about you?"

"South Africa."

"South Africa," George echoed. "I love that country, I was there with my family for the holidays last year."

They conversed as they walked to the bus that would transport them back to the hotel and sat together. Edmond requested that George shared more with him from his wealth of knowledge. He knew he was good at maths and physics, but after listening to George, concluded that he couldn't hold a candle to him. They parted ways at the hotel lobby and retired to their rooms.

Edmond quickly freshened up and called Juliana to let her know how his day went and the new friend he made. She was excited that he was doing well but they hadn't spoken long when she had to end the call so she could go back to work. Edmond then called his mother who was keeping Juliana company while he was away– he realised he hadn't called her since he arrived Kenya.

She jokingly expressed her disappointment at him for forgetting her. The only way she knew he had arrived safely and was doing well was through his wife. He apologised but she brushed it off, telling him it was okay. Edmond kept her up to date with his activities and she was glad he was enjoying himself. He ended the call after promising to call every now and then to let her know how he was faring, then spent the rest of his afternoon browsing tourist attractions and good restaurants in the country.

When he went down for dinner he made sure to locate George and sat with him. There were two other people at the table with him; a man and a woman. George introduced the man as Joseph Kehinde, who was a Nigerian, and the woman as Laura, an Ethiopian. They were friends he had made before he met Edmond.

They engaged in conversation while they ate and got to know each other better. They all spoke about their countries and cultures and George stated that he would love to visit Nigeria since it was close to his country and catch up with Joseph in the process.

Edmond was the only married person in their midst and they asked him questions about marriage but he didn't have much to say because he had only been married for three months. Laura, however, was engaged but wouldn't be getting married until after the training, obviously. She invited them for her wedding which would take place in Addis Ababa and encouraged them to attend before flying back to their home countries, then proceeded to proudly brandish her gorgeous engagement ring for them to see. Edmond wondered if her fiancé would be patient enough to wait for her for a whole year.

Joseph on the other hand, didn't believe in love and didn't do relationships. He had had his heart broken too many times and was too hurt to give love another chance. Therefore, he decided that he was never going to love again. The others tried to convince him otherwise but he wouldn't be convinced.

They conversed a little more after they were done with dinner, before Joseph and Laura had to leave. Edmond and George stayed back and continued talking. Edmond then suggested some places they could explore together and nice restaurants they could eat at since they didn't have any training that weekend. George loved the idea and was all in. They made a schedule of the places they would visit during their free days over the course of their stay in Kenya.

Edmond and George's friendship grew stronger over the next few days as they spent more and more time together. Edmond learnt a lot from George who also assisted him with assignments and projects.

On the Saturday they were supposed to tour the city, Edmond had already gotten prepared and knocked excitedly on George's hotel room door, prodding him to hurry up in getting ready. George opened the door after the third knock and they set out together.