AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD Episode 3 – 4 By Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor

AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD (And Her Journey to Destiny-Discovery) By Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor

Episode 3

Amarachi’s arrest seemed like a movie, with no one knowing her whereabouts and what led to her arrest.
Ego Oyibo tried calling her daughter on the phone severally but was more disturbed because she’d not heard from her for a while and her daughter never returned home the day she was meant to, and a few days later. There was no way she could connect to Osisioma even though she’d never met her in person except for hearing good things about her from her daughter concerning how helpful she’d been to her.

It was obvious to Ego Oyibo that her daughter had gone missing, taking her happiness to disappear with her. Ego’s entire world suddenly crashed in a wink, making her emaciated and stressed. Life abruptly lost its sweetness, welcoming an untold melancholy and trauma into her lowly life.

From a little bird (Chibunna) Osisioma got the information of Amarachi’s arrest but couldn’t get any clue of how to get her located. It wasn’t just easy for the entire student’s in the Economics department when the news finally broke out that the guru that just gave the best pre-examination preparatory lecture just varnished like a mirage.
Uremma was nowhere to be found within the period of Amarachi’s search because people had a clue that she was the one that came with the policemen for the arrest.

Uremma’s life was that of a classy babe that no one could come close to except well scrutinized and considered. Even lecturers dare not make any attempt to give her a rescript (carry-over) in any of her academic courses. The fear of the political idol being her dad is the beginning of wisdom. No man dares to talk to Uremma the beautiful princess anyhow because she’s the one that chooses a man and not the other way round. The only man that she allowed into her life was Dave Akajiaku, the son of King Akajiaku 1 of Okporo.

Dave popularly known as Dave Handsome because of his cuteness was also someone who could get away with anything in the school due to his influence. Dave was a man of an exploit, aside from the fact that his dad’s influence got his back. He comes to school in any kind of car he wishes and could attend classes whenever he wants.
Dave and Uremma always travel abroad whenever they wish, just for the weekend or holiday. In school, they have friends that help them write their courses and class quizzes and get paid for their services.

Most girls in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, could give up everything just to have one minute with Dave handsome but he was too choosy and picky. That womanizing part of his life was what Uremma couldn’t stop because she knew that Dave could be deadly and rascal, so she had to be meticulous while dealing with him.
Dave was the head and Capone of Ndi Obodo fraternity. His involvement with this group made the fraternity more popular than any other group or brotherhood in the school.
The anti-cult group of the school had done much to end such nefarious activities in the school but the influence of Dave Handsome as the leader kept proving their efforts abortive.

**

Ozo Odenjinji (Uremma’s dad) was someone both respected and feared, that was why no one could confront or contend with him except people of the same political class with him.
One week after Amarachi’s arrest without any positive result in finding her, Osisioma and Akunna took off straight to Uremma’s house at Government House, Awka, after getting the information that government official van accompanied the police for Amarachi’s arrest. One of the officers that came for the arrest was Uremma’s bodyguard.

Before her decision to visit Uremma, Osisioma had gone around the entire police station far and near but couldn’t get a clue of the arrest on the police’s official record.
Naturally, Osisioma and Uremma being in the same rich circle were never in good terms. Uremma sees Osisioma as a competitor and not a friend.
People love Osisioma more because of her humility. This makes Uremma so envious and sad; hence, the diehard competition between them. The two girls change cars, wears, and jewellery as they wish. This was even a major part of the competition between them.

It’d been so difficult for Osisioma to make up her mind to confront Uremma since they were rivals. But being that everything at the moment was about getting to know where Amarachi was taken to, she had no choice than to meet her arch enemy.
“How will you deal with this epitome of arrogance?” Akunna asked Osisioma as they drove to the government house, “I’m beginning to entertain fears, and you should too,”

With that disdainful smile accompanied by a snort, Osisioma shook her head and continued driving without uttering a word. She didn’t just want to get angry at Akunna for that suggestion to retreat.

“I didn’t say we shouldn’t go but we need to be careful and diplomatic about it,” Akunna added, feeling uncertain and deterred, “you could have involved your dad whose influence could help a lot,”
Muteness thrived at that particular time, ominous humming from Osisioma and a transfer of aggression to her driving ensued. Akunna would have asked her to take the driving easy but being a woman of easy fright, she couldn’t speak further but remained calm.
After passing the well known Aroma-flyover, Osisioma pulled over and opened the door for Akunna, “can you now go down, let me continue alone?”

Akunna being fidgety and fretful remained glued to the seat as her eyes dropped submissively. “I was just trying to make us be careful, that’s all,”
Osisioma closed the door and drove off to Uremma’s house.

Getting there, Oma saw many security guards but couldn’t enter the estate because of how strict they were. They vehemently didn’t allow them pass, as if they’d been instructed to do so. The only way that Osisioma could be allowed into the estate was to be forceful about it. She started causing trouble as she raised her voice hard; raining down abuses on them and reminding them of who her father was.

She began to make noise with her car; honking the horns, and threatening to gain entrance to see Uremma, no matter what it takes.
Her stubbornness paid off, getting her a pass, and then she drove into the estate.
Getting into the government estate, there were many houses, making it hard for Osisioma to know where Uremma lives.

One of the security guards helped her out to Uremma’s gate and left immediately to avoid being seen.
Osisioma remained there and waited after using the horn severally but Uremma’s gate never moved let alone opening.

After a while, she alighted from the car, still looking gorgeous on her Gucci evening gown, accentuated with golden high-heeled sandals.
Looking up straight at the CCTV by the gate, she yelled: “Uremma, I know you can hear me and see me too. I’m not here to fight with you, and I’m not here to compete with you, but I came to tell you that wickedness will get you nowhere. You’ve hated Amarachi enough. She isn’t part of our personality fight or even in our social class. Her only crime against you is to be involved with me and be helping me out in academics. Other intelligent students could have been of help to you if you needed any.

Why is Amarachi so special? She’s even not in the same department as you. If you want to fight me, you can do better than arresting an innocent girl whose mom is possibly in anguish for not seeing her daughter for about one week now. If you have a conscience…”
The smaller gate suddenly opened, making her to pause as she stared with curiosity and uncertainty.
Uremma was seen coming out and looking as beautiful as she’d always been.
“The talk of the devil,” Akunna muttered in the car and shut the door harder to avoid being involved with the two elephants.

Coming closer to Osisioma who was looking elegant and cute, Uremma sighed and moved around her to observe her competitor contemptuously.

“You may be surprised to know that the arrest has nothing to do with my personality issues with you, woman,” Uremma hollered and came straight at Osisioma looking into her eyes; eyeball-to-eyeball.
The two beautiful queens were of the same height as they remained there; exchanging battle of looks.
“What have you done to Amarachi and where is she now?” Osisioma asked meekly and courteously, “I can’t even locate her and I have nothing left other than beg you to release her for me, please. Let’s keep this fight aside for now,”
Uremma kept looking intently at Osisioma but never said anything other than the scornful gaze she welcomed her with.

Akunna summoned the courage and came down from the SUV but didn’t go closer. From her position, she took a deep breath and said: “Please, Miss Uremma, give us a clue because our friend needs us now, and her mom needs her most right…”

“She has the mark,” Uremma retorted angrily.
“Mark?” Osisioma and Akunna chorused bewilderedly.
“What mark are you talking about?” Osisioma queried as she sauntered thoughtfully around the gate.
“Amarachi has the tattoo indicating that she’s the leader of the Slay Queen; hence the arrest,” Uremma said and turned to leave.
“Please, wait,” Osisioma called out and tried to hold her back but remembering they were like cat and rat, she retracted her moves. “Can we please see her or you tell us where she is?”
“Yes, please,” Akunna supported, “just a location is okay for us,” she pleaded.

The gate chattered as if someone was about to join them from the compound; the dogs in the compound barking, while the rich girls kept gazing at each other.
“I’m here,” Amarachi said and came out from the gate, “can I go home now, Uremma?”
Osisioma and Akunna so surprised seeing Amy looking haggard, so they rushed at her and hugged her, lest she’d fall.
Amarachi looked worn and sad, appearing more confused and unsettled.

“What happened to you, Amy?” Osisioma asked as she observed her all over; from sole to crown, “what mark was Uremma talking about?” she queried with utmost confusion.
“Can we go now, please?” Amarachi reiterated angrily and started going into the car, still wearing the same dress she wore when she was arrested.

“I’ll see to the end of this, and must find out what went wrong, I promise,” Osisioma blustered and made sure that Amarachi was well seated in the car, and then jammed the door. “I don’t know what you guys did to my friend but I must find out soon, I promise you that,”
Uremma simply hissed disgustedly and went back into her compound, and then jammed the door behind her with a transfer of aggression to it.

Osisioma continued driving with both joy and curiosity until she got to Unizik junction where Amarachi demanded to be allowed to go quickly to meet her mom.
The entire questions from Osisioma got no reply from Amy. She simply allowed Amarachi to go as she requested because the last time she checked, Amarachi says the things she wants to and keeps secret the things she wants to. Forcing her is like splitting hairs or shooting an arrow in the wind. She had to concur and allow her to go.

**

Getting to Onitsha, Amarachi went straight home and found her mom weeping profusely and acting strangely and traumatised while some neighbours held her closely so that she wouldn’t commit suicide as she already threatened.
Seeing her mom, Amarachi rushed towards her and embraced her with tears in her eyes. “Ego Oyibo, I’ve missed you. I’m sorry for putting you through all these,”
It was surprising to the people that Amarachi returned unhurt. The rumour around the neighbourhood was that she’d been used for money ritual.

“Mkpulumma,” Ego Oyibo called and observed her daughter’s body to ensure she was safe, “What have you done to me?”
Amarachi knew that whenever her mom calls her Mkpulumma, she’s so happy at the moment and that showed she wasn’t insane as people around believed. She took her mom into the house, forced the door to close but the door was really bad and couldn’t close well as she wanted; therefore allowing some lights to find their ways into the dilapidated house. She went straight and got a lamp, lit it to disperse the darkness of the room and undressed before her mom.

Ego Oyibo was appalled seeing her daughter looking the way she did but more disconcerted seeing Amara who always likes to hide her nakedness undress before her.

“What did they do to my daughter bikonu (please)?” Ego Oyibo asked rhetorically.
“Mom, sit down first,” Amy said in a coarse voice and flashed the lamp on her hips region, “Mom, I have a tattoo that indicated I’m the leader of the fraternity of the slay Queens; that was the reason why I was arrested but believe me, I know nothing about it. When I left Onitsha to Awka, I had nothing like this on me. I have no explanation of what happened and how I got the mark,”

Amarachi, at that point, began to doubt herself, believing that some parts of her life could have been deleted or nipped in obscurity for her not to remember when she joined the Slay Queens, let alone being their leader. This was a mystery.

Ego Oyibo observed her daughter closely and was surprised seeing the tattoo of a naked mermaid drawn on her daughter’s back by the hips region. “Is there something you’re not telling me?” she asked with tears in her eyes while trying to wipe away the tattoo with her thumb, ”You always hide your body, so how am I sure that this hadn’t been there before?”
“Mom, you can’t clean it,” she said assuredly, “I’ve tried several times to do that while in custody, including the use of sharp objects that ended up making the surface of the tattoo as rough as it is, as you can see,”

The mom kept forcing the tattoo out with her wrapper soaked in soapy water but that wasn’t working, so she broke down in tears.

“Ego Oyibo, Nnem” Amarachi muttered and pulled her into a hug, “I’m so confused right now. I simply went to Awka to help my friends with their exam preparation but ended up getting a tattoo on myself even without remembering how it came to be. Is this spiritual or what?”

Ego Oyibo shrugged with dismay. “I think I’ve warned you severally to cut off from the memory you have about your school because it’d keep hunting your emotions but you never listened. Now see,”
The mom remained confused but had to summon the courage to get her daughter’s mind settled, and a way of helping herself too; at least to play the role of a mom to her.

“Did anyone rob you before your arrest? How come you got a huge sum of money with you? Is there something you’re not telling me, Mkpulumma?”
“Yes, yes…!” Amy exclaimed looking perplexed. With a wince, she looked intently at her mom, “Ego, how did you know about the money, please?” she asked curiously.

“Wait,” Ego Oyibo said and went to a native clay pot she kept under the bed, brought out some stuff in black leather. Slowly, she unwrapped the bag and handed over some money to her, “this is a hundred and fifty thousand that was left by the door of the house three days back. I came back one night and saw it well-positioned but I couldn’t say how it came to be, except a note that accompanied it,” she handed over the note to Amarachi.
Hastily, Amy grabbed it and perused the note. She got more confused and mystified.

“An angel is watching over you, Amarachi, the beautiful poor child. Your money from the Slay Queens,” Amy read out to the mom’s hearing and put back the money and the note into the clay pot.
“Mom, I really don’t know what’s happening around me,” she voiced and held her mom closely, let out a faint smile of anguish, “This too shall come to pass just as we’ve been undergoing a lot and surviving,”
Ego Oyibo wasn’t convinced with the exhortation but just had to accept the situation the way it was.

“Just be careful, my daughter,” She said and kissed her forehead, “we shall get over these too.

If not that you’re my daughter that I know so well, I wouldn’t have believed that you have nothing to do with the case you were arrested for,”
“I know that your next question would be how I got the money,” Amy said and took a deep sigh as her heart throbbed.

“Keep talking,” Ego said as she remained attentive, ”I’m listening,”
“The students I taught for their exams raised cash of hundred thousand Naira for me,” she said with gladness amid her confused state of mind, “Then Osisioma added a fifty thousand to it,”
“Osisioma again!” Ego exclaimed as she shook her head in surprise, “this girlfriend of yours has always been God’s sent. I’d like to meet her someday if you would let me,”

With smiles on her face she poked her mom’s cheek gently and started locating her towel for a proper warm bath; to wash away her troubles of one week in the past.
“Of course you will see Osisioma in an opportune time, I promise,” Amarachi assured her.
Amarachi remained so befuddled and numb thinking about the strange tattoo and how the lost money returned to her family house; the same location where no single student knew she lived.

Her life was suddenly characterised by mystery and puzzle that she couldn’t even demystify.

Episode 4

Business as usual, as Amarachi resumed her Akara-di-ka-akwa business one week after taking her time to recuperate from the shock of the life puzzle she suddenly found herself wallowing in.
In the Akara business, Amy doesn’t scout for customers but naturally they all surround her and keep buying the Akara at her street (12 Emejulu, Onitsha) where she was popular; not in person but with the Akara business.
It seemed like she was gradually forgetting about school after the ordeal she passed through that taught her a bitter lesson.

**

That cloudy morning as if it was about to rain, Amarachi, with her cooking apron girded tight on her was busy turning her beans-paste for the Akara as well as frying the Akara; for there was no one to help her out. She simply had to multi-task herself.
As she was busy at the Akara junction attending to her numerous customers she became confused on handling money but still had to put it in control especially when she couldn’t get Oji isi ebu mgbo or Obinna her friends on the phone to come and help out and get rewarded with two balls each.

After the day’s sales, Amy was ready to pack up and wash the dishes. Raising the receptacle (tray) where she keeps money, she found some money wrapped in a small bundle. She wasn’t sure that she was the one that kept it, so she became confused. She couldn’t believe how someone could forget his or her money of such magnitude under the tray; especially leaving it at a spot where she was the only one that has an access to.

She took the money and started counting it but before getting to the middle as she counted, she saw a paper hidden in the heart of the clustered cash with a note: “Be careful of whom you call your friends.

But an angel is watching over you still and we’d meet today. You’d either find me or I will,”
Seeing that note invited back the memories of the money that was stolen from her but returned to her abode. She couldn’t understand how an unknown person would suddenly drop a twenty thousand naira and disappear. This was rather scary and mysterious.

Thinking back to remember the faces of her customers in a bid to retrace who could have dropped the money, Amarachi realised that most of the people that bought from her that day were her usual loyal customers without any unfamiliar face.

As she was about to go, she remembered that there was a black Lexus L 470 SUV that stopped by to buy Akara. It was Chike the son of Obi Ajali of Onitsha that came with his men to buy. It was then she nodded, knowing that the puzzle was close to being solved.
“Do you still have Akara?” One of the passersby asked and waited.
Lost in thoughts, Amarachi simply shook her head inattentively but didn’t say anything to him. The customer already knew that she wasn’t in the mood to talk, so he left forthwith.

‘A girl doesn’t need to fall for the rich’ she thought aloud, ‘all girls aren’t the same, and if Chike had tried and didn’t succeed, must he adopt a stalking strategy just to have my attention?’
With such untold resolution, she murmured: “I will have to confront Chike this time, to put an end to this charade, but how did he get back the stolen money snatched from me at Unizik junction? Probably, it could be that he just heard about the money and returned the exact amount to me just to impress me, but that may not be the same money that was taken from me.

Chike knows my house and he could have done that. But he’s graduated, gallivanting with extravagance with his dad’s money. Besides, he didn’t even graduate from Unizik but Federal Polytechnic, Oko. How then did he get the information about the One hundred and fifty thousand Naira snatched from me? Who knows how long this guy had been following me and trying to…”

“Sweet pawpaw, can I have your number?” a guy in keke napep called as he passed her, distracting her thoughts.
Amarachi knew that the longer she stayed at the Akara junction, the more disturbances from men she’d have to entertain, so she packed her stuff immediately and headed home.

Getting home, just ten minutes walk from her Akara shop, she discovered that her mom had gone out to sell her fruits at Ose okwo odu market, so she entered into her house, quickly took her bath at the local bathroom she and her mom created with just pieces of woods and PVC beside the cabin, at the empty land.
Making sure she dressed to the nines in that cute figure-hugging top, and leggings of cute match to her wig, Amarachi got herself mentally well equipped with eloquence and audacity as she hired a keke that took her to Chike’s house at GRA Onitsha.

When she got there, she saw Chike and his fiancée as they were about to leave the compound. She quickly alighted and waved at him to stop.
Being that Chike had an interest in Amy but still wouldn’t want to lose the current girl in his car; he simply zoomed past her and pretended as if she didn’t see her.

“Honey, I think that girl needs your attention,” Ugwunwa, his fiancée called his attention but Chike pretended as if he didn’t hear. He kept on driving but his eyes remained fixed at the driver’s mirror; viewing Amy as he sped along the road, “hmmm, this is strange,” Ugwunwa grumbled and shrugged.

“I don’t know who she is, but I’m sure she should be one the girls that always ask me for money,” he said and continued driving, looking straight and attentive to the roads.
Chike’s heart pounded heavily with regrets that he missed the opportunity to meet his dream girl. He suddenly became restive, replying at Ugwunwa’s conversations with aggressiveness.

Ugwunwa noticed that something was wrong but couldn’t challenge him because all she wanted was to avoid anything that’d make the engagement ring on her finger to last longer than she expected or even make her not marry the man of her dream. Muteness was her best friend at that particular time. She kept thinking and didn’t know when she thought out aloud, making her lips move to a word of dismay, “men…men,”
“Hey, what did you say?” Chike queried with a touch of fury embedded in him.

“Nothing of importance, dear.” She replied and knitted her brow.

Chike was unhappy at the moment but the only luxury he could afford was silence.
Amarachi knew so well that Chike was heading to his office, so she instructed the keke driver to continue to Awka-Road where the guy manages his dad’s furniture showroom.
Getting to the office, she made up her mind to walk straight to Chike’s office without minding if she’d cause a problem between Chike and the girl she saw him with.

She almost forgot to pay the keke driver and wanted to rush straight to Chike’s office until she heard him say: “Pretty Aunty, you haven’t paid yet,”
“Oh sorry,” Amy apologised quickly, “Take, and keep the change,” she said and handed some money to the keke driver and walked into the showroom in a well-calculated sedate but hasty steps.

She looked searchingly but didn’t see Chike’s car, meaning he wasn’t in the office yet, so she waited by the common room adjacent to Chike’s office for him to return with his girl and face the real embarrassment that she’d cause them.

“Good morning. Can I help you ma’am,” The secretary greeted her.
Immediately Amarachi was about to reply the morning greeting, Chike entered. He was lucky that his fiancée wasn’t with him. He faked a smile and rushed towards Amy for a hug but Amarachi pushed him away.
“Can you start talking about why you’ve been tormenting my life with mystery,” she growled.
Chike’s look was rather lewd than serious but Amy never cared to notice such amorous looks that she sees most times from men that come around her.

Chike chuckled and pointed towards the couch. “Can you please sit down? So that I could understand what you were talking about,”
“I am not here for pleasantries but seeking answers to the questions I came for,” Amy interjected cleverly, “Since I refused to have a date with you, why have you been pestering my life?” she asked feeling enraged as her heart pounded with questions, curiosity, and wrath.

“I can explain please,” Chike said and held her by the shoulders but she pushed his hands away.
“Why did you drop the 150k at the threshold of my house?” She snarled, getting the attention of the secretary aroused, “secondly, why did you drop the twenty thousand Naira under the tray of my table at the shop this morning?”

The door creaked behind them from the entrance when Chike wanted to answer her questions; making them pause to know the audience they were about to have.
Looking back, it was Ugwunwa who came to Chike’s office, with a suspicion that Chike had a skeleton in his cupboard. “What money is she talking about?” she asked advancing with oddity. “Chike, you may wish to answer her question,” she said and pointed accusingly at him.

“What question are you talking about?” Chike asked trying to feign ignorance of what Ugwunwa demanded to know.

“Or is she among the numerous girls asking you for money as you told me when you saw her first at the exit gate of your compound?” Ugwunwa asked and came closer to Amarachi, even though she felt a bit intimidated by the poor girl’s beauty and voluptuousness.
“Deal with it Chike!” Amy hollered and left two of them.
Getting to the door, she held the knob, looked back at the two confused lovers, shook her head and said: “Bro, you can’t run away from this until you fix what you started. Deal with your girl first. I’ll come back for mine,”

**

As Amarachi was about to board a keke, a call came in, so she paused and took the call.
“Amy, it’s Obinna,” she heard on the phone. “I collected this phone from that GRA Oga that drives white SUV,”
“Give me the phone biko!” Amy heard Oji isi’s voice in the background, “Aunty utu ocha chocolate,” he called laughingly, “The Oga’s name is Broda…Oko…Ok…Okoyeocha,” he faltered stupidly, “he said that no one should carry his loads if not you,”
Amy smiled faintly, even though she was really angry and worked up, but Oji Isi and Obinna always have a way of making her feel happy with their clownish attitudes.

“Fine, I’ll be there soon,” Amarachi promised and hung up.
‘This same Oga again?’ she thought as she entered the keke and continued her movement to Ose market, ‘he wants these girls from rich home to laugh at me again? But wait! Maybe I should remain dressed like this and go, so that the girls would know that I’m not the local truck driver. But this Christmas cloth would be odd to be used to drive this old truck of mine’

Amarachi’s mind was rattled with thoughts of her encounter with Chike, though she felt pity about the fight that could be ongoing between the guy and his fiancée at the moment. But if that’d help her get to the root of the puzzle of her life, let the fight perpetuate. Conflicting thoughts clustered in her mind concerning Chike’s issue and the GRA Oga; each trying to be more pronounced and attended to.

**

The Oga was waiting patiently when Amy entered Ose Market Park.
The entire people at the motor park cheered with applause and amazement when they saw the truck girl looking like an angel in that very inviting wear. Even though her doggedness and work mood in the past couldn’t completely conceal Amy’s beauty, her appearance that very day got every onlooker, customers and the entire people wowed at seeing her as she alighted from the keke.

Oji isi and Obinna suddenly rushed towards her, removed their shirts and started sweeping the roads with their cloths; for her to be walking down like a princess she’s meant to be.
“Ha-ha, clowns,” Amy laughed as she walked to her truck. “What kind of embarrassment is this, please?” she asked rhetorically veiling her face with her palm with shame and blush. “Please, you guys should stop,” she kept saying smilingly until she got to her truck.

Oga Okeoyeocha (the driver) couldn’t even believe his eyes when he saw how curvaceous Amy was. “Seriously, you don’t need to be in this park anymore,” he exclaimed with his mouth agape, “I must talk to my boss to find a job for you in his company,”
“Thanks, sir,” Amy said with a curtsy and entered quickly into her Datsun truck so that the superfluity of looks coming to her direction would give her a break to avoid falling with bashfulness.

Obinna and Oji Isi couldn’t stop playing around until Amarachi reprimanded them playfully before they could get serious, and then helped Mr. Okoyeocha to load his loads to the Datsun truck.

After loading the truck, Amarachi silently begged her truck’s engine to show some respect to her dress code and start at once. It was like magic that the truck didn’t misbehave that moment but responded at the first ignition.
Oga Okoyeocha drove ahead while Amarachi followed with her old k-legged truck. The noise at this point was almost unbearable to Amy. Not that the sound was unusual but since she was well-dressed, she expected more respect from the old legacy.

Getting to the gate at their destination at GRA, Amy was even hopeful that she’d meet the rich girls again; for them to know that she wasn’t one dirty classless babe like the other day.

When the gatekeeper opened the gate, she was so baffled to see Dave Handsome the son of King Akajiaku 1 of Okporo as he waited beside his Ghost Series 2 Roll Royce phantom.
“I hope this miscreant doesn’t recognise me,” she mumbled as she reversed to the store side to offload the loads. “So this is where he stays. If I had known…,”

Amy remained owlish and serious-minded when she unlocked the trunk of her truck for the menservants in the compound to help in offloading to the store. She removed her high-heeled shoes to help out but Dave handsome suddenly rushed towards her and called her attention.
“I crave your indulgence, ma’am,” He said courteously and held her by the hand but she retracted her hand from his grip, “This isn’t a woman’s job. We have lots of men to handle this, please,” he gestured.

Amy shuddered to see the insolent guy that insults girls anyhow in school due to his social status and position being humble and chivalrous. That was surprising to her but she didn’t show it but remained astute and unconcerned.
Dave handsome stood beside Amy; fully spellbound and watching her as she got her eyes affixed to the offloading work going on.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Dave said meekly trying to exchange looks with her but she avoided him because she was always afraid of the rich let alone the dreaded Capone of Ndi Obodo fraternity in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.

“Sorry…sir…but …but…I’m on duty,” she said haltingly and went to Mr. Okoyeocha to demand her payment, “Oga, can you pay me? I want to go now,”
“It was my boss that arranged your coming that would pay you,” Okoyeocha said and redirected her back to the same guy she was running away from.
Feeling beaten as if some vague arrangements had been prearranged before her arrival to the compound, she just had to play along, at the same time had to be careful and clever.

“You shouldn’t be afraid, Amarachi,” Dave said and beckoned her forward, “I was the one that arranged for my driver to seek your sole service for today just to bring you to my house. I’m sorry for that too,” he said and dimpled a smile.
Amy being a paradigm of ingenuity heaved a sigh of faked relief and started wiggling her truck keys on her finger as a way of driving away the fright and confusion roaming in her mind.

Dave could be termed a beautiful man because of how cool and handsome he looked, even more beautiful than some ladies with a full makeover.
Summoning courage, Amarachi went closer to him as he requested. “How may I help you, please?” she asked looking directly into his eyes to fight that inferiority complex being evident on her, “Can I get paid now for my services, and how did you know my name or anything about my truck business?”

Dave was impressed. So he smiled and nodded in a complimentary mood.

“Well, I think we need to go inside the house for a talk,” he said and held her by the hand firmly.
Amy knew she couldn’t be freed from such a manly grip this time, so she became so afraid and shivery. “Please, don’t hurt me, sir,” she pleaded with faint sobs.
“I will never hurt you but there is someone I’ll like you to meet,” he said; in a bid to create some suspense and curiosity in her mind.

Taking a deep sigh of both relief and uncertainty, she agreed with an affirmative nod. “Free my hand first if you want me to follow you to the house,”
“Good girl,” Dave said and remained still.
“After you, sir,” She said and began to put on her shoes.
Dave tried to help her buckle her shoes but she gently pushed his hand away. “You’re really defensive,” he said and chuckled.

“I got this, sir,” she said and forced her feet hurriedly into the shoes to avoid using his help, “Thanks for your concerns, though”

Getting into the lounge, Amarachi was surprised to see Akunna her close friend sitting on the couch and shivering.
She tried to rush towards her but Dave dragged her back.

“What have you done to my friend?” Amy queried angrily with confusion, “babe, I hope this rascal didn’t hurt you?” she asked trying to be sure that Akunna was safe and unhurt.
“It may interest you to know,” Dave said and pulled Amy towards Akunna’s position where she was quivering with fright, “That Akunna who’s meant to be your bosom friend is the real leader of the Slay Queens fraternity, with the real tattoo of the mermaid and not the faked one that she imprinted on you,”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Amarachi said, still struggling to be freed to help her friend out.
Dave went straight to Akunna, still having a firm grip of Amy’s hand, and then raised Akunna’s cloth, “Can you now see the real tattoo?” he said and freed his grip on her, “Akunna framed you up and conspired with Uremma my girlfriend to get you arrested using fake policemen. The reason was simply to get back at Osisioma your best friend,”

Out of disbelief, Amy fell on the couch and passed out.

AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD
#OpraDre

TO BE CONTINUED

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