AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD Episode 20 By Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor

AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD Episode 20 By Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor

Ego Oyibo was the happiest knowing that her adopted daughter was a princess. It was news she couldn’t wait to take back to her people in Urhobo. Her eagerness to go back to her biological children increased because she then realised that Amarachi was safe and has a family, unlike the way she felt when she thought of leaving her without a mom or dad, except for Dave who was a guardian to her.

With Dave’s help, Amarachi reached out to Professor Nwoko who knew the location where Mkpulumma was housed, or rather imprisoned.
The professor felt bad about his previous diehard fight with Ozo Odenjinji when he realised that Ozo never mentioned his name or indicted him as one of the cartel members, because if he did, he’d be rotting in jail soon with him. Before they left for Ogbunike Cave, Uremma demanded to know why her Dad and the professor always had issues in the past, but he still didn’t indict him in his confession. It wasn’t easy wrapping her head around the entire connection.

Professor made her and Amarachi know that even though he was in the cartel, he was the one that always had a battle of words with Ozo Odenjinji about the maliciousness of his action against Mkpulumma and her hubby. He’d tried many times to rescue the woman but heavy guards at the cave wouldn’t let him.

The major reason for the clash between them was that it was Professor Nwoko’s dad that interchanged the babies at birth, being that he was an apprentice for the old incorruptible chief priest in Okija shrine and was privy to the entire discussion and event. Being that the man was late, Ozo Odenjinji transferred the accumulated aggression to his son who happens to be a member of the cartel; the youngest member among those in the SE chapter.

Ozo’s hatred for Prof Nwoko was because the professor tells him the bitter truth even when others applaud him in his mistakes and wickedness.

After his arrest, there was no other person he could trust with his children other than the professor.
Professor Nwoko also made them realise that the mark that Uremma and Akunna had on their heads were just giving to them by the fraternity, as a census to know their numbers but it was strictly done by the cartel when the girls must have been sedated, making them not know when it was done. Being they have it hidden beneath their hairs, none of them knew it existed.

Mkpulumma was eager to go home back to her king and her hubby. She was even fed with lies that her children all died.
She lived in a deep heartbreaking situation for about two decades knowing that she couldn’t see her husband or even meet her dead children. But she never lost hope, notwithstanding all odds, and that was the only thing that kept her going and alive.

Mkpulumma always had dreams about reuniting with her kids and family but she never got the chance to meet them in real life. Being that she had a gift of having a vision and revelations in a dream, she still had hope that someday, she’d reconnect with her children. The gift of revelation in dreams was a gift that Amarachi got from her mom, even Chisimdi had the gift too but the way she was pampered by her Dad believing that she was his biological daughter made her a spoilt brat who was tied to her dad’s cares and became a child with sleazy behavior.

It was still hard for Chisimdi to accept the truth that her dad wasn’t coming back so soon. She didn’t even have the time to go to school because she was busy partying and living a rough life.
Notwithstanding her sordidness, she still had a part of Mkpulumma in her; the dreaming gift and the gift of being a good adviser to people. She could advise someone else to help him or her to solve life issues but she couldn’t advise herself or live better.

The arrest of Ozo Odenjinji dawned on her that she had to buckle up and turn a new leaf in life.
Amarachi was eager to see her twin sister but feeling so sad about the things she’d heard about her through Uremma.
They knew that it wasn’t the best going to Ogbunike without Chisimdi, so they had to get her involved, but no one spilled the beans because they wanted to make it a surprise when they finally meet their mom at the cave.

Chisimdi was to join Amy in her car for the Ogbunike trip. She was well dressed in that cute bodycon, looking so cool and dressed to the nines. Her makeover was just too perfect and inviting. She made it glaring that she was a fashionista and good with the art of making up like a beauty stylist. When she saw Amy for the first time she began to feel strange, like she had a connection with her but she wasn’t sure of what she felt. She kept looking at her at intervals, even without formally greeting or exchanging pleasantries with her.

The first time that she saw Amarachi, she couldn’t understand the kind of love she developed for her
Amy didn’t want to talk to her too because she wished she cool continue to keep her uninformed until Professor Nwoko does it when they get to Ogbunike cave.
. Amarachi tried to control her emotions by avoiding looking at her but she couldn’t just succeed in that disguise because Chisimdi kept looking at her at intervals as she drove along the road to Ogbunike.

None of the twins talked to each other but lots of questions in the minds, especially Chisimdi that was almost seeing her picture in Amarachi’s eyes. It was just a moment of restiveness as she kept adjusting herself in that sitting position as if the seat was poking her ass.
When they got close, Chisimdi who didn’t even know where they were going asked: “Sorry, friend. Where is the professor taking us to?”

Amarachi didn’t just want to talk because she was busy protecting that emotional moment that was inevitable when she finally talks to her sister.
She simply shook her head, looked straight ahead and continuing driving.

When she felt that Chisimdi could be suspicious of her inability to reply she said: “He wants to show us something that your dad asked him to?”
Even though Amarachi replied, she felt like eating back her words because it could make her sister more suspicious because, the last time she checked, she never met her before or even had a clue of where she came from; therefore, talking about her dad would mean she knew something that Chisimdi didn’t.

“Hmmm, something fishy,” Chisimdi said, “but can you give me a hint?” she asked trying to push her to words.
Amarachi continued driving and didn’t want to break the silence but her twin sister was becoming more curious that Amy became tempted to tell her.

“I wish I could tell you, but suffice it to say that your mom is alive but the man you thought to be your dad kept her under captive for many years,” Amy finally divulged, leaving Chisimdi in total confusion.
“Are you my sister?” Chisimdi asked convincingly without mincing words. She just confirmed her insinuation because she was so sure she had a connection with Amarachi. Tears filled her eyes as she waited for her to reply, “Please, are you my blood?”She asked again and started dragging her cloth as she continued weeping. “You look like me but fairer,” she added observantly, “are you my elder sister, younger one or twin?”

Amarachi suddenly drove into that white mansion immediately when she got to the location, parked and opened the door quickly. She rushed towards Dave, held him and started weeping on his shoulders.
Dave held her closer; trying to guess what was actually going on.
“Baby, what’s happening and why are you crying?” Dave asked and tried to see her face but she kept it hidden and glued to his chest as she wept.

The location Professor Nwoko took them wasn’t a cave as they were meant to believe but a private residence in Ogbunike built like a castle. The house looked like a house that would be the abode of a Duke.

They just realised that it was one of Ozo Odenjinji’s secret that no one knew about except the cartel members. It was where they have their secret meetings or perform rituals if possible. That was where Mkpulumma was locked with heavy guards protecting her from leaving.
Even though most of Ozo Odenjinji’s property had been confiscated, no one ever knew that the white castle, a.k.a Ogbunike Cave, ever existed.

People who stay around the house; though many yards away, don’t ever see people go into the house or out of it except for few flashes of light from vehicles that enter at night. No one could have suspected that someone lived there.
Chisimdi was stuck in the vehicle as she continued crying, blemishing her makeup with her tears. She didn’t need anyone to tell her that she just found her sister. The connection was much and she felt it.
Many times in her dream, Chisimdi had seen herself with Amarachi, but the face wasn’t clear.

AMARACHI AMARACHI AMARACHI AMARACHI AMARACHI AMARACHI AMARACHI

Even her supposed dead mom, she used to see her too but none of the dreams made sense to her except leaving her in vagueness and doubts. The last time she stopped talking to her dad about her numerous dreams was when she confided in him but he warned her seriously not to wallow in hallucinations and unattainable dreams.
Ozo Odenjinji knew that the girl had gifts but didn’t want to give her the chance to harness it.

Some years back, the dreams became so vivid to Chisimdi to a point that she began to draw the face she used to see. Being that the portrait was drawn with inspiration from the supernatural, she ended up getting an image looking like Amarachi, though fairer.
Uremma could have seen the portrait and ask questions about the identity but the long-lasting envy she had for her thinking that her dad loved her more made her not relate to her as a sister. The sororal relationship between them was characterised by unfriendliness.

Being that Chisimdi knew Dave as her sister’s guy, she was surprised seeing how Dave held Amarachi closely as she wept while Uremma who was supposed to be in his arms wasn’t even bothered but kept looking at them too with scanty tears in her eyes.
In confusion, she alighted and came straight to Uremma who was her supposed rival in the battle of their father’s love.

Even though Uremma still felt bad and burdened by the domestic fights she had with her in the past, the emotional moment and pity she had on her sister made her pull her to a hug. She was concerned about Chisimdi who looked obviously confused and perplexed.

“Chi, please, you need to calm down first,” Uremma said and held her closely as she struggled to meet Amarachi, “I think this is a blissful moment in your life but you need to wait let’s see mom first,”
“So our mom isn’t dead after all?” she asked looking teary.
“My mom is late but yours isn’t,” she replied, accumulating Chisimdi’s state of confusion and superfluity of questions.

“I don’t understand,” Chisimdi said and dragged her to meet Amarachi, “Can someone tell me what I should understand because I’m going insane right now? Are you not my sister anymore, Ure?”

Seeing that she’d been thoroughly nudged by confusion, Dave dragged Amarachi to Chisimdi and joined their hands and left them there while they waited for Professor Nwoko to join them.
“You’re my twin sister,” Amarachi said and pulled her into a hug with tears, “Our mom is alive and we’re here to let her know that we’re alive too,”
Chisimdi couldn’t talk but held her twin sister so dearly and closely as if she’d run away if she frees her grip.
“Let’s proceed,” the young professor said and started entering into the house while others followed.

Seeing professor, no security guard could dare to ask questions because they knew him as member of the cartel and had no knowledge of the fights he had with Ozo Odenjinji in the past.
“Where is Mrs. Mkpulumma,” The Prof asked as they met the guard that guards the entrance to her room.
“She’s in the bathroom, Sir” the hefty bouncer replied, “words already filtered into our ears that she should be allowed freedom to leave the cave once you come for her,”

“Nice, we’re here to take her with us as you already know,” Nwoko replied smilingly but with business-minded kind of look. Looking back and seeing Amy and Chisimdi feeling so uncertain and uneasy to see their mom, he smiled and said to them: “The tension should abate because she doesn’t even know anything about the existence of you girls, so let’s all sit at the common room and wait for her to be through with her bath.

Mkpulumma takes her time in the bathroom because that’s the only time she has freedom in this castle; the freedom to think, to meditate and to cry in privacy to her God, for a day like this to come,”
They all went to the visitor’s lounge and sat patiently.

Chisimdi was clung to her twin sister Amarachi and couldn’t even leave her side. Even though she was yet to understand the entire story and mysteries, she was okay in her sister’s arms and wasn’t even ready to let go.
In a couple of seconds, Amarachi and every other person were surprised to see a fair woman with a mix of chocolate in complexion looking almost younger than they were. Mkpulumma was even more identical with Amarachi than Chisimdi who took after her dad in complexion.
The twins were tensed.

Mkpulumma needn’t a guess because she already knew that they were her children without a second thought. She’d wallowed in such dream believing that they were dead, so it was a moment of surprises and exhilaration.
“I know that you’re my children,” Mkpulumma said calmly and looked at the professor, “please, where did you find my happiness?” she asked looking shocked and confused, “Where have they been? Who have been grooming them into these beautiful angels? This one is Amarachi because she took after me in everything, just as if I’m seeing myself in the mirror,” she said pointing at Amy who was so benumbed as she listened to her,

“And this is Uremma,” she said and smiled at Chisimdi with tears in their eyes, “I named her Uremma because giving birth to her almost stole my life away like my sister’s but God intervened and kept me alive. So they weren’t dead after all,”
“Ma, I am Uremma,” Uremma said and stood, “Your real daughter is Chisimdi but there was an interchange at birth. Looking at me, you can see that you can’t find your image in my eyes. We’d still get you cleared of all doubts, but with time,”

“Oh, really,” Mkpulumma said looking more confused but was sure that her daughters were Chisimdi and Amarachi.
Mkpulumma watched her children crying but she wasn’t crying due to the great shock that overtook her. Even though she talked boldly, she was almost going bananas if she wasn’t cuddled at that particular time.
“You girls should know what to do,” Dave advised and gestured that they should meet their mom because she was almost mad with happiness.
Uremma pulled the twins up and led them to their mom.

“Mommy,” Amarachi called and pulled her into the circle and a warm embrace took over.
Mkpulumma couldn’t believe that her children had grown to the same height as her as if they were triplets.
“Mom, I never knew anything but I will with time,” Chisimdi said and kissed her beautiful mom on her rosy cheek, “mom, you even look prettier than us,” she jested, creating a lighter mood.
“She’d never stop being a jester,” Uremma said and held Dave, but then realised that she shouldn’t, so she shifted a bit away.

After the emotional moments, Amarachi who is the first to be delivered assumed the position of Ada (first girl child) immediately and made them all sit. She didn’t have to talk or explain anything but played the recorded confession of Ozo Odenjinji to everyone’s hearing.
No one in that room would claim to hitherto have the full knowledge of the entire revelation in the voice note; not even professor Nwoko that knew more much.

At the end of the day, after the long tape that got the entire scenario clear, leaving everyone cleared with a doubt that could lead to questions, they were all surprised, especially Chisimdi and Mkpulumma.
Mkpulumma couldn’t even withstand the voice of the felon as he confessed what he’d done to the innocent woman over the voice note. She was heartbroken, but the happiness she felt for uniting with her family and yet to unite with her hubby outweighed her regrets. She was happy for finally being liberated and freed.
At that moment, her patience with the castle for many years ended abruptly.

“Can we all go now, please?” Mkpulumma said, “I can’t wait to be united with my baby,” she added and stood, “The entire wears and expensive materials and goodies the felon bought just to entice me should stay here with the castle. I will shop for the cloth to take me back to the palace. I think my life is now complete,”
They all stood and started celebrating but Mkpulumma who was always a sensitive woman noticed that Uremma’s happiness wasn’t complete as she thought of her dad, so she went to her and held her.

Uremma hugged Mkpulumma, and at that point, her feigned happiness suddenly drained into weeping. She cried as she regretted being born by a bad man who had terrorised many families. She wished she was the younger sister to Amarachi and Chisimdi. It was even then that she realised that her dad had been lying to her concerning Chisimdi being an elder sister, without knowing that they were born the same day; therefore, age mates.

Even though Mkpulumma was so happy to meet the king, she was afraid of what she’d meet in the palace that she deserted for twenty years. She imagined another woman taking her position, with an heir born by the new queen mother since she (Mkpulumma) didn’t stay with her hubby long enough to produce a male child and heir for him.
Mkpulumma was just forty-two years, because she married at the age of nineteen. She had just three years to produce a male child if she’s lucky to conceive within the three years before the age of forty-five when menopause visits her for a permanent partnership.

The ultimate question that rumbled in her mind was: ‘What will be her fate in the palace she left for about twenty-three years back?

As they left to the car, Mkpulumma being a woman of wisdom and sensitivity noticed that Dave was Amarachi’s fiancé because she already saw the engagement ring on her finger and how the lovers related with each other.
She pulled Amarachi by the side and asked: “Is he the one?”
Amy pretended not to be aware of what her mom asked, and then smiled.
“Mom, I don’t know what you’re talking about,”

“Maybe the engagement ring is for a show,” she said, making Amy feel busted in that disguised glee.
“Fine, mom, I give up,” Amy said and smiled, “he is the son to the king of Okporo and…”
“Wow, that’s sweet,” Mkpulumma said as they entered the SUV. “Is this your car too?”

“Yes, it’s mine,” Amarachi said, “Twiney, I think you need to drive,” Amy said to Chisimdi with a wink and threw the key to her, “I’m tired of driving already,”
“My love, don’t worry, I can handle that task,” Chisimdi said with a great feeling of honour and caught the key in the air.

“Mkpulumma, Nnem,” Amarachi called out, making her mom surprised that she addressed her by her name, “even this car was bought by Dave, and the duplex he’s building for me in Onitsha would be ready very soon,”
Mkpulumma began to dance as they entered the car. She observed how beautiful the car was and imagined the last time she ever used a car in her life.

“This guy must be God’s sent,” Mkpulumma said joyously, “and he’s so beautiful too,” she added and they all laughed, “I can’t wait for the wedding. Has it been fixed?” she asked with happiness as she positioned herself at the rear seat while her twins took the front seats

.

“Mom, there is also a woman that you’d want to meet,” Amarachi said, making her mom excited, “she was the one that was mentioned in the confession concerning the woman that was your best friend where you were…” she didn’t know how to use the word ‘mad or ‘insane’, so she hung the statement there.

“I understand, my daughter,” she said and smiled, stroking her children’s long hairs, “I can’t still imagine this, that you’re all hale and hearty. God, I thank you again ooo. And as for the woman, I owe her a lot”
“She was the woman that gave me life, sheltered me, clothed me and turned me to the woman I am,” Amarachi added to her statement with chuckles, “she was my mom,”

Mkpulumma could have a vague picture of Ego Oyibo, but since she wasn’t sober then, she couldn’t vividly remember anything. Her life throughout that period of madness was like a dream.
They didn’t wait to stay longer but started going straight to Ubulu village to meet the king and break the news of having his children and loving wife back, hale and hearty.

**

Getting to the palace, everything seemed normal except for the king who was declared missing; therefore, nowhere to be found.
The cabinets and the entire people of Ubulu were shocked when they discovered that Mkpulumma the respected Queen mother was back.

When they inquired further, they were made to know that the King never remarried since Mkpulumma went missing, notwithstanding the pressures from friends, families and villagers. Even when the burial ceremony of Mkpulumma was fixed after seven years of her being missing, the king disapproved of it, believing that his wife would come back to him some day; no matter how long it takes.

The king’s prolonged gloom and constant reminder to the people that he’d meet his Queen again made some of his people to think that His Royal Highness, Eze Omekannaya 1 of Ubulu wasn’t thinking straight again. They believed that he wasn’t fit to rule anymore and should be dethroned in any way possible.

There was factions because of the politics and fights; some people were still loyal to the king while others believed that the king needs to step down, because according to the tradition of Ubulu, if a king dies without a heir, the village would go into serious famine that would last for about six years, and that would spell doom for them all. It is better, according to the tradition, to replace the king while he was still alive than for him to die leaving the throne vacant, and his people in long time suffering.

This led to a particular opposition group known as Okwatulueze (conquerors of the king) rise against Eze Omekannaya. They were a group of the elders who were desperate about the position and were ready to do anything possible to take over the kingship.
With the development, Amarachi just discovered that she just met a new fight and politics that she can’t run away from if she must ensure that the dynasty still remains with her family.

AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD
#OpraDre

THE END

Click Below To Read Part 2 of AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD
PRINCESS AMARACHI (And her journey to Destiny Discovery)

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