AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD Episode 7 By Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor

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

Episode 7

Chike’s knee was stuck to the ground when Ugwunwa entered. It was a moment of confusion for three of them.
Amy didn’t even know what to do, and her hand wasn’t covering the cheque she was meant to conceal. As she tried to hide it with her handbag, Ugwunwa held the strap of the bag and pulled her back. Amy stumbled but got hold of her balance in those flat shoes. Had it been she was on high-heeled shoes, she would have had a dangerous chitchat with the floor.

“Do you think I’m naive?” she said and took the cheque from the table, “Oh, Chike said you came to beg for money and it is true indeed. Miss Gold digger,”
Chike wanted to stand but Ugwunwa went to him and pinned him to the ground.
“I wish to be excused,” Amy said shiveringly and tried to leave but Ugwunwa pulled her back, and locked the door.
“Come back and accept the proposal waiting for you,” Ugwunwa said tearfully and brought out a jackknife. “I came prepared, bearing in mind that you’d be here, slut,”

Seeing the knife Ugwunwa brandished furiously in the air made both Chike and Amy so frightened with the belief that the vengeful girl could hurt any of them even without giving them the chance to explain.

“I wish to…” Amy tried talking but what shut up by a scare with the knife.
“Give him your finger let the ring enter,” Ugwunwa ordered Amy and waved the knife before her. “Go quickly and complete the proposal. I’ll be the witness,”
Amarachi had no choice this time other than giving out her finger to Chike.
“But baby, you don’t have to …”

“Who is your baby?” Ugwunwa yelled with anger at Chike, “the reason I came back here was to forgive you unconditionally and take back the engagement ring due to my love for you. But shamefully for you and a big disappointment for me, you went as far as bribing the same girl that caused me pain just to convince her to marry you,”
The situation was so dicey and difficult because there was no evidence that what was going on between Amarachi and Chike wasn’t exactly as Ugwunwa saw it.

Assuming that she was allowed to speak, Amy could have found a way to wiggle her way out of the situation but she was just trapped in the closet of unhealthy circumstance.

Uneasiness and uncertainty was inevitable at this point.
“This is not what you think,” Amy voiced and burst into tears, “we were just…”
“Shut up and listen!” Ugwunwa snarled, “Chike wants to propose to you, so listen and accept without much ado,”
Silence flared as tears took possession of the moment; with three of them having different kinds of reason to cry:

Amarachi was out of guilt for causing pains for the would-be couple; Chike was out of shame and regrets for making a mistake he couldn’t unhook himself from, while Ugwunwa was crying out of heartbreak and disappointment that her fiancé forced her into.

“What should I…I…do, please?” Chike asked quiveringly
“Oh, you finally lost the words that you were playing with when I entered?” Ugwunwa said and sat down on the table. “Oya, Chike start talking before I start by cutting some fingers here. I will start with this hooker’s finger because the last time I checked, she was the odd and unwanted person here,”
Summoning the courage to avoid seeing Amy hurt by his fiancée, Chike said with fear: “Amarachi, will …will you…you marry me?”

The situation wasn’t just right, especially having such a proposal under duress. Amy couldn’t utter a word, except for the inextinguishable tears all over her even to the point of getting her dress bedraggled.
“Your turn!” Ugwunwa barked making Amarachi jittery and shivery, “Your finger, please. And you can only offer it once,”
Amarachi presented her marriage-engagement finger and Chike raised it, looked at her fiancée and said: “I love you, baby, but since you’ve forced me to do this…”

“Please, stop!” Ugwunwa shouted with both fear and heartbreak, “I’m not calling off the engagement, though, but I can’t withstand seeing it happen before me,” Out of anguish and excruciation, she forced the door open and left, and then jammed the door forcefully on her way out.
Amarachi quickly rushed to the door to follow her and explain the situation, even if it meant lying cleverly to outwit her but discovered the door was locked.
“How did she…?” she said with her tongue clung to the roof of her mouth out of distress and befuddlement.

“She has the spare keys,” Chike said and stood from his kneeling position, staggered a bit out of drowsiness and collapsed in his seat with deep thoughts; thinking about what just happened and the deep shit he got himself into. He was just watching wearily. He was bereft of words and actions,”

“Can I have the keys quickly?” Amarachi asked and rushed towards the table and took the bunch of keys there.
Getting to the door, she kept checking and guessing for the right keys as her hands quivered with fear and confusion. The absurdity of the entire situation clouded her mind and paved way to the heavy pulsation of her heart.

“The one written ‘The Princess’ is the key,” Chike hinted, “but I think you should give Ugwunwa a break because you may get yourself hurt if you try to stop her…”

Amy quickly rushed out immediately the door unlocked. She then realised that it was already dark. Her phone kept buzzing in her purse but she hadn’t the time to attend to it but focussed her mind on getting the would-be couple fixed back to their wedding plans.
It was more difficult for Amy to go with her truck in that nocturnal darkness because the lamps of the old truck were bad; hence, the reason why she doesn’t drive it at nightfall with it.
Amarachi tried dialling Ugwunwa’s number but to no fruition because she’d switched off her phone. Amy just had to go home.

Chike footslogged out of his office groggily and went to his car to drive home. Being that it was ungodly time and the streets could be very unsafe, Amarachi rushed towards Chike’s car and knocked at his glass to ask him for help to take her home.
Chike waited for about a minute to be sure that Ugwunwa wouldn’t show up abruptly again before he opened the door for her.

Amy entered but never said any other thing other than: “Take me home, my truck doesn’t move at night,”
Chike gestured in agreement with his head and drove off, heading towards Emejulu Street.

“GRA, please,” Amarachi mumbled and redirected him.
Chike who was always the guy with many questions at a time couldn’t even dispute, argue or query why Amarachi wasn’t heading to her Akara street but to the area of the rich by that time of the night.
With Amarachi’s help with the direction, Chike navigated along the roads until he got to Dave’s house.

As she alighted, Chike was surprised seeing her walk into the house. Being that Chike had been a friend to Dave; a relationship they established through their fathers who were close friends and business partners, he shook his head with surprise and said: “Could it be that Dave is now the lucky man?”
He drove off angrily with a loud screech after the rhetoric question.

Amy was startled by that loud noise Chike’s car made, then looked back to ensure that all was okay, but the speeding car had already vanished like a mirage before her.
As Amy walked into the compound, she started checking through her phone and saw lots of calls she missed, as well as text messages. She felt really bad for not being as close as she should be to Osisioma who had always been there for her in school.

Many calls and messages came from Osisioma and Dave.
With her phone, she dialled Osisioma’s number and waited for her to pick. As she continued walking down, Harry (Oji isi ebu mgbo) came and collected her handbag as he welcomed her.

“Aunty, where have you been?” he asked worriedly, “we’ve all been calling and missing you,”
As Amy was about to reply to him after jabbing his head as usual just as they used to do when at the motor park, Osisioma took the call.

“Hello, dear,” Amy said as she heard the sweet voice of her friend from the other side of the telephone. She signalled Oji Isi to give her a few minutes to conclude with her call as they continued heading to the sitting room.
“You’ve really deleted my memory,” Osisioma complained but still gleeful and happy for hearing from her bosom friend, “even to take my calls had been so difficult for you,”

“I apologise fervently for this ill behaviour,” She excused, “But babe, a lot has happened ooo, and you can’t imagine,” she added as she sat on the sofa in the sitting room and started removing her shoes but Oji isi came and stooped and began to untie the buckles for her. Amy gave Oji Isi a thumbs-up as an appreciation as she held the phone to her ear with her shoulder and continued undoing her wristwatch to feel freer from her wears. “I really don’t know where to start but when we see in school we can have a long gossip,”

Osisioma was so felicitous hearing that Amy would visit again even after all that happened. Osisioma always blamed herself for being the cause of Amy’s encounter in school; first was for being the reason she came to the school at first. Secondly, for being the reason for her kidnap and torture.

“Please give me a hint nah,” Osisioma solicited joyously with great expectation of better news. “Just a little ‘gist’ (details), but wait,” she said with hope, “When are you coming to school? We’re on vacation now but I’m still around in school, though my mom had been calling for my attention to come home at Onitsha. But that city is too hot for me to enter,”

Amy laughed hard at hearing that part, making Dave who was impatiently waiting for her to be a bit sad because the person he’d called many times on the phone without getting a call-back just returned home and didn’t even come first to see him but got busy with who-knows-who on the phone. He was both sad and jealous.
“Well, I’ve recovered the money that the Slay Queens took from me,” Amarachi said and smiled.
“Jeez! Is that for real,” Osisioma exclaimed and covered her mouth with a feeling of awe, “I think I’ve missed a lot babe. Please, how did this happen?”

“Hmm, you have missed a lot indeed,” she assured her and cleared her throat, “That’s not the main part,”
“Then what’s the main part, biko (please),” Osisioma asked sounded so interested and eager for more surprises.
“The tattoo on my hips has been cleaned off with a methylated spirit, showing that it’s fake, and the real Queen mother of the Slay Queens known,”

Out of happiness, Osisioma didn’t know when she threw away her phone, and then picked immediately and placed the earpiece clamped to her ear to ensure she got the entire details without missing any. “Please, who’s the leader of the slay queens, let me take it up from there immediately. I’m sure it’s Uremma, the onye-mmacha (the bragger)”

“Hmmm, no…oo but…” when she was about to mention that it was Akunna, she remembered that she vowed not to let Osisioma know that her closest friend was the treacherous one. She simply swallowed spit in a bid to take back her words. “Well, I really don’t know her but the information I got was that Uremma wasn’t the leader but the second in command,”
“Jesus! This is so pleasant to my ears…please go on,” she said gleefully and curiously as she heard the endearing story.

“Dear, we have a lot to talk about but just bear it in mind that I’m coming back to school this time…”
“Yes oooo…”
“Just wait, jor (please),” Amy carried on with an echoed laughter, “It would interest you to know that I missed nothing in class. My admission wasn’t deferred because someone had been an angel writing my entire courses, though I’ll rewrite all when I resume,”

Osisioma began to dance around her room to the extent that her dog -Maxi (a Rottweiler) bolted into the living room thinking that his owner was being attacked. She cuddled the dog, getting the tail wagging with excitement as the discussion continued.
“Please, I think I’ll fall for my mom’s plea and come to Onitsha so that I can visit this house of yours that you don’t want me to know the location,” she said and continued dancing around in her pink lingerie.
“Just be meditating on just this until we see,” Amy said and hung up.

Turning to check on Oji isi who had been sitting beside her, she saw Dave standing by the door leading to the hallway. She took a deep breath feeling like she was caught in the act, and then braced herself for the next question that was about to come from the Capone.
“Why did you do that?” Dave asked and still remained standing by the door.
“I’m sorry but…”

“You’re used to not taking your calls or returning it,” Dave cut in, not allowing her to reply. “Since morning that I woke up, you disappeared and no one could give an account of your whereabouts. Don’t you have a conscience to know that we love and care about you or to…”

“I’m sorry, please,” Amy entered with a plea and went to him. She was almost of the same height with him, though Dave was a bit taller, “I heard you say ‘we’. Why not say you love me and stop generalizing that abstract noun,”

“Your food is ready,” Dave said defensively and turned to leave but she pulled him back.
“I had a long day,” She said with tears in her eyes; craving Dave’s attention and unalloyed concern; “My day ended sadly and unexpectedly because of my curiosity and stupidity,”
No matter Dave’s manly and unconcerned nature crowned with doggedness and pride, he was always moved when he sees tears in Amarachi’s eyes.

“Please, don’t cry,” he said caringly and cuddled her, making her rest her head on his chest while he stroked her hair gently with care, “you can talk to me now that I’m here,”
“I…I…I think I’m a bad person,” Amy said falteringly with great conviction that she was actually not a good girl.
“You may wish to sit and rest,” he urged and took her to her room.

AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE AMARACHI THE

It was surprising to Amy that her room was well-kempt. She knew that Dave must have done that. The entire was overhauled as if it wasn’t the unkempt room she left ruined while leaving in a hurry. Everywhere was pinkish and colourful, with the large wall mirror reflecting and radiating with an aura of romance.

“I love this place,” she said with admiration and felt the softness of the bed that was already chilled by the wintry air conditioner. “I know you must have done this,”
“Not me,” he defended as his looks on her became lewd but he controlled the feeling forthwith, “Can you sit and tell me the rest of the story of how your day went?”

Taking a deep breath, she sat on the bed and tapped the bed twice signalling that Dave should sit too.
Dave sat and waited with the inquisitiveness of his disturbed mind.
“Who arranged this room and even repainted it?” she maintained pigheadedly; to get answers.

“Fine, I did it,” Dave accepted and kept waiting to be freed from the suspense he was already plunged into. “Can you now tell me why you’re melancholic?”

“Well, let me go straight to the point,” Amy said, already feeling better because Dave was around her (a comfort she couldn’t explain though). “In search of the person that dropped the money at my house and at my Akara shop, I mistook one of my childhood friends to be the person. I went to him with confrontation thinking he was the ghost I suspected but I ended up causing a breakup between him and his fiancée,”

Thinking through the details, Dave felt how disastrous the situation could be, but nothing that couldn’t be handled.

“Meanwhile,” he said in deviation, “I wish you’d start making this sweet Akara di ka akwa for us in this house because I’ve missed it a lot,”
“What!” Amy exclaimed with joy, “So you’ve been eating my Akara all these while?”
“I never missed,” he said admittedly, “I never came to your shop in person but I always send my servants to buy,”
Amy was so jubilant with that news, “I’m so happy. But seriously, I wish to go back to frying Akara because many of my customers had been calling to ask why Akara hadn’t been ready.

What do you think?”
Dave thought it worth-testing out but still felt that Akara business should be for the peasants and not the girl he’d chosen to be his girl, even though he didn’t know how to tell her about it yet.

“Well, we can spice it up a bit by making it more commercial than just in the local way it used to be,” he suggested.
“No…It should remain local if people must love it,” Amy corrected to his opinionated mind, “when you make the Akara-business more refined, people won’t love it anymore. They may even think that some chemicals have been added as preservatives. Let Akara remain Akara,” she maintained, “If you change it, then it’s no more Akara but bean cake,”
They both laughed about the way she said it.

“Is bean cake not the same as Akara?” Dave asked, still in a dimply laugh.

“You may be right but I prefer to call it Akara when it’s local the way it is,” she said laughingly, “and don’t expect me to change to classy wear when frying it just because you’ve picked me up and made my life more beautiful,”
“So you’d put on those rags again,” he asked.
“Rags? No,” she defended, “I’d never used a rag and you know it,”

Dave knew she was right because most people buy Akara from Amy not just because of the sweetness but because of the neatness of the seller.
“Just poking fun, dear,” he said trying to take back his words cunningly.

“Then what about my old truck?” she asked knowing full well that he wouldn’t allow her to go back to the motor park business.

“You already know my reply,” he said. “I’m even planning on disposing of that thing without a second…”
“You dare not, please,” Amy said, sounding more seriously, “I have a sentimental attachment to ‘that thing’,” she phrased, “I never knew who my dad was but mom said he died when I was still a baby. That truck is like a dad to me and I love it so much, even more than you think I do. So, please, once the duplex is completed, please, make a special garage for it,”

“Hey, for it?” Dave hollered imagining how odd the old blue dilapidated truck would look when parked in the garage of such a wonderful duplex that he planned building with a high taste.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said and chuckled, “The garage of the truck would be separate and would be locked so that people won’t see it at first entrance. So don’t panic about how odd it would be. Thank you,”
Dave accepted. He already knew that Amarachi could be so stubborn and steadfast in anything she clings to her mind.

“Back to the discussion,” Dave said and called back her attention to the apple of discord, “It seems you don’t want to give the details of how you caused this trouble. Or did you date the guy or have any affection for…”
“Noooo,” she stressed and snorted, “I can never have anything to do with such a guy. He is bossy and feels he is lofty but I see him as being insignificant,”

Dave was surprised at such insolence in describing the man that was the subject of discussion, even though he was unwittingly happy for knowing that Amarachi wasn’t in love with the guy.
“So what happened?” he asked with raptness, “how did the story end?”

“End?” she repeated thoughtfully, “I think it had just begun,” she said assuredly, “the same man that his fiancée broke up with acted foolishly. When the fiancée met me with him in his office as I was trying to apologise for what I caused his relationship, she saw him kneeling and proposing marriage to me,”

Dave at this time couldn’t hold back the laugh. He kept laughing until tears began to wet his eyes.
Amy didn’t find it so funny; even though the contagious laughter moved her lips to a short-lived smile.

“But how can he propose to you while he already knows that you knew of his fiancée?” he asked still stifling the laughter, “It doesn’t add up, really,” he said as his smiles died down.

“I went to apologise for the breakup,” Amy continued, “and that was what took me to his office, but when I got there, he gave me two options; to choose between being his wife so that he’d forget about the one that broke up with him, and taking a cheque of 180k to help him get back his wife-to-be,”
“I’d have collected the money if I were you” Dave said and waited for Amy’s version of the story.
“I rejected both…”
“Why did you?” He retorted.

“Because it wasn’t right but that wasn’t the bone of contention,” she continued, “this guy didn’t even wait for me to choose from the options he gave but went ahead to kneel and propose,”
“Ewoooo,” Dave shouted with his hands on his head, “I just heard about another insanely moronic man,”
“Hey, don’t insult him,” Amy defended, making Dave suspicious.

“Do you love him then?” he asked looking a bit worried.
“I never said I do,” she objected, “Maybe I should end it here,”
“No…Not yet,” Dave pleaded, “Go on, please,”

Amarachi hissed and shook her head in dismay. “The height of it is that the girl who got him busted in his office actually came back to accept him back. But it was disheartening that she met the same man she came to forgive proposing to the same girl that caused the breakup,”

“Gangan! This is Last fight!” he exclaimed with his hands still on his head, “What then happened later, please?”
Amy went mute with thoughts for a while, then took a deep breath and continued: “She threatened us with a knife but ended up dashing out with tears and didn’t even wait for the proposal she forced us into get completed,”
With his hand stroking his goatee, Dave shook his head as he went down the road of imagination. “This is now a bit scary,”

“I couldn’t even see her when I went after her, to explain myself or even lie just to get two of them back to each other,”
The entire room was overtaken by silence; Amy thinking of how to make up for the situation she got herself into while Dave thought of how ugly the scene must have been when it happened.

“I think you should now be more careful,” he advised soberly, “if she could use a knife on you, she could equally use a gun or try other more drastic measures.

I suggest you remain mellow for now to avoid allowing that tinge of guilt push you further into an unhealthy situation. Be warned, please,” he advised and got up from the bed. “Allow the love birds to sort themselves out,” he admonished, “if you hadn’t gone to make peace at first, she’d have gone back to him naturally but you still went back and caused more harm. I think you should make use of some wisdom at this time and remain calm and wait,”

That piece of advice sounded good but Amarachi’s kind of personality still kept hunting her down and clouding her sense of reasoning and judgement. But in a bid to make Dave believe that she’d heeded to his advice, she nodded and said: “You have a point and I’d be patient to see how the story dies naturally,”
Dave was happy for making her change her mind for the first time, and not having any argument as she always does in situations like this.

“Can you now eat?” he said and opened the fridge filled with edibles that got Amy ravenous, “you either eat from the fridge or you go to the dining table and have your dinner. Dinner is served. Meanwhile, your mom had been worried about you but there is no need waking her up because she must have gone to bed by now,”
“No, she’d be awake and worried if I still know her well,” Amy said with assurance and started undressing for a shower while Dave left.

After having a shower, Amarachi went to meet her mom and equally explained how her day went, though she didn’t mention anything about her ordeal with Chike so that she wouldn’t be worked up at the end. Her mother’s nature made Amy lie a lot around her especially in a situation that would mean making her to get emotional with the truth that could lead to affecting her Blood Pressure ailment.

**

Days passed and Amy continued selling her Akara, even though her mind was still filled with suspense and desire to see how the story between Chike and his fiancée would end but no news yet, instead she kept getting messages from Chike that nothing had been done and no luck yet with the girl.

Amarachi decided to take action to remedy the situation. She knew that the only reason for Ugwunwa to believe that her engagement with Chike was safe was to meet her and let her know that she didn’t mean to take her man away from her, even if she did, she had decided to throw in the towel; in fact, anything that could work at all, she was willing to do it to help.

It was a sunny day when Amarachi got a call that some groups of men came to the site of the new building and burnt her truck beyond recognition. That call broke Amarachi’s heart because the same truck she was too fond of just disappeared.

It was obvious to her that Ugwunwa had gone gaga just exactly as Dave hinted but that never made her let Dave know about it to avoid bloodshed. She knew that Dave wouldn’t take it lightly with Ugwunwa or any other person. Even Chike wouldn’t be spared, so she begged the workers at the site to conceal the secret from Dave in case he comes to inspect the ongoing work.

Even Ego Oyibo didn’t hear about that inferno because she’d want to know what actually led to the incidence, and that could affect her BP too.
Amarachi simply hired a tow Van that evacuated the burnt truck and cleaned up the entire area to leave no trace at all.
When she came back that evening looking so worried, even though she feigned being happy so that no one could understand what went wrong, she went straight to her room and locked the door.

In the secret chamber of her mood, Amarachi wept bitterly for so many reasons ranging from what she brought upon herself with curiosity and stubbornness, to the destruction of her dear legacy, and many others.
As she opened her bag to bring out her purse, she saw a brown big envelope. She was curious because she didn’t put it there. She opened it hastily and saw many pictures in it. Going through them one after the other, she saw that it was the picture of her truck when it was in flames.

Even her personal pictures were there too, indicating that someone had been following her around and taking some shots. Even some pictures of her when she was frying Akara in the morning of that very day were there too.
Out of fear, she dropped the envelope like it was hot.

Surprising for her, a metal object fell off from the envelope and rolled towards the underneath of her wardrobe. She took a torch and flashed as she bent to peer. It was mind-troubling for her to see that it was a live bullet of a gun that was sent to her from the anonymous sender.
“War!” she shouted and collapsed on the bed out of grave fear.

AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD
#OpraDre

TO BE CONTINUED…