AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD
Amarachi The Beautiful Poor Child - Chapter Four
Theme: And Her Journey to Destiny-Discovery
By Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor
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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.
You can also read: EVE
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.
You can also read: THE BLUE LOVE (Romance)
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
You can also read: SEDUCIVE AMINA 18+
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 klegged 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.
NEXT CHAPTER
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