AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD
Amarachi The Beautiful Poor Child - Chapter six
Theme: And Her Journey to Destiny-Discovery
By Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor
__________________________________
NOTICE:
Copyright ©:
No unauthorized reproduction, reprinting,
plagiarising, commercialization, or rewording of
this fictional work is allowed.
__________________________________
“Can you now start talking?” Ego Oyibo said and alighted from the evogue SUV, “I was at home and some people came with your truck and parked it at home. I was so afraid that something bad could have happened to my
daughter again but they told me that you were safe and the entire mysteries of
your life solved. I saw a beautiful car they came with and I entered, though
with lots of fear, but when and I came here in such a beautiful compound like
Obodo Oyibo (English country), and also saw you looking happy, my tensed
state of mine got settled. In that mood, happiness that would have eluded me
overtook me once again. So can you now start talking, Mkpulumma my
daughter?”
Amarachi was speechless but happy at the same time because her mom
looked so cute even though she still wore the same old wrapper that she
(Amarachi) calls tattered Mkpuru oka (Old grain of corn).
“Mama, can you see the beautiful dress you wore,” she said sarcastically,
“but still had to use this Mkpuru oka as if your life depends on it, to blot out
every beauty in you,”
Observing herself and trying to see any fault on the same cloth she felt
was her best, she smiled and said: “Nwam (my daughter) if what you’re saying
is for you to divert my attention from the question you should be answering,
you lie, even though I enjoyed this their...er..hm, fridge inside this heaven that
they call a car,”
“Ego Nnem, it’s called air conditioner and not fridge,” Amy corrected as
she fought back that laughter.
“Anything you call it,” Ego said admittedly and went back to the rear seat
of the car, “please, come inside and be telling me the rest of the story so that I’d
enjoy this fridge a bit longer before my time with it expires,”
They all laughed in unison as they watched the dramatic mom.
“Well, mama,” Dave said and went to Ego Oyibo, rested his hand on her
shoulder: “your time with the car won’t expire very soon because it belongs to
your daughter and ....”
“What did you just say!?” she shouted and jumped out looking
bewilderedly at Amarachi who already seemed confused and astounded with
Dave’s statement, “My daughter, didn’t I tell you that God will forgive our sins
of poverty someday...”
“Hey, mama,” Amy cut in, still looking flabbergasted, “I was the one that
said what you’re reminding me about but you’re now usurping my rights that
it was you that said so,”
Thinking through the entire scenario, Ego threw in the towel, accepting it
wasn’t her that talked about the forgiveness of sins of poverty but her
daughter. “Fine, no matter who said it, the statement is still within the family
circle nah,” she said and started dancing Urhobo dance with her handkerchief,
“Join me, Mkpulumma (seed of beauty) my daughter,”
“Mama, did you grow in Delta State?” Ujunwa asked with smiles
overtaking her cute lips, “you dance so well,”
“Story for another day...ooo,” She said and continued dancing and
laughing.
You can also read: CASSANDRA (Romance) SEASON 1
Amarachi didn’t just get it because she never discussed with Dave or any
of his family about buying a car for her. And if such should happen, Dave
should have told her first before divulging the news to her mom.
“Mama, please stop that dance, let’s go home,” Amarachi said and turned
at Ujunwa and said: “Pretty, please beg your brother to release us, or better still
return my old truck, let me drive my mom home,”
Dave and Ujunwa, though surprised, smiled at Amarachi’s stubbornness
as she rejected the gift.
“Why rejecting such an offer?” Ujunwa asked and pulled Amy closer, “can
you see how happy your mom is? Do you wish she goes back to that woman
that cries every night because of poverty?
Ego Oyibo paused the dance and went to Amarachi, held her by the
shoulder and whispered: “I have a good feeling about this one and this will
never be like what Onyedika your uncle did to you when you were fifteen,”
Reminiscence on the rape event she had many years back brought back
the entire gloom and lucidity on Amarachi’s face. With a deep sigh, she said:
“That man made me dislike the rich with passion because depending on them
always brings insults and regrets later. They give nothing free without
expecting benefits tomorrow,” turning to Dave, she said: “I’m sorry if my
behaviour is absurd, but he who’s beaten by a snake dreads the head of agama
lizard. I appreciate your gift but, no, thanks. I can’t take it. We can’t take it,”
she reaffirmed.
“You can’t take it. Not we,” Ego murmured to herself; with her words
sinking back into her heart. Being that Amy had always been a very stubborn
but judicious girl, her mom pulled her further away from others and looked
directly into her eyes that were awash, “we’ve been poverty-stricken for years,
why not accept this, let’s taste the rosy side of life and then compare?”
“But Mama...”
“Please, Mkpulumma, why not accept this gift first,” she interposed
cleverly, “if you’d accepted Osisioma’s offer to help with your education, you
wouldn’t have been doing these truck and Akara business. You’d have been in
school. Don’t you see that richness is locating you but you keep missing the
opportunities because of what happened eight years ago? Let us move on and
stop wallowing in the past,”
Amarachi saw a vital point in what her mom said and gave a short-lived
smile, “but mama, how can I be driving such classy and exotic car when I can’t
complete my university education? How can I afford the maintenance or even
feel free to be driving around the street with such luxury and end up sleeping
in a house made of woods? Think about it,”
“Nice thoughts, my daughter; therefore, I suggest we sell the car and
better our lives with the proceeds,” Ego hinted, trying to make Amy reason
about the suggestion than jettison it entirely “It’s not good to sell a gift,” Amarachi reminded her, “hence, the need to
reject outrightly,”
“What an intelligent daughter,” Ego said and laughed out loud, making
the onlookers wish to eavesdrop on their conversation but they were discreet
and indistinct enough not to let the wind blow the conversation into the ear of
a little bird. “I nurtured you into wisdom, Mkpulumma, but you now seem
wiser than the source. But my daughter, I don’t understand how the offerrejection part should be considered,”
“Mama, no one has the monopoly of wisdom,” Amy replied with humility,
“I think we need to, or rather, I need to talk to Dave to understand that our
immediate need isn’t a car but he can help us,”
Nodding in agreement, she said: “That’s good but that fridge sweet ooo,”
“Leave the AC issue for now,” Amarachi said and hissed.
The mom despite her quest for luxury, she accepted Amy’s suggestion.
You can also read: CASSANDRA (Romance) SEASON 2
“But how did you meet this handsome man?”
“Hey, this is a story for another day,” Amy said to keep the discussion as
brief as she could, “We’ve kept them waiting for long,”
Looking back as she saw Dave and Ujunwa waiting for the outcome of
the family meeting, Amarachi giggled, making Dave reply to her with a cute
smile believing that the discussion ended in acceptance of his gift.
“Can we now join the meeting?” Ujunwa vocalised, with smiles gracing
her beautiful face.
“Exactly,” Dave concurred and went to meet Amy who was already
coming back to him. When they were close to each other, he held Amarachi by
the shoulder and said: “Can you now accept the...”
“We have more important needs other than a car,” She cut in as her
attention was roused by the chattering of the birds being forced to dance by
the evening wind.
“I forgot to mention that you don’t need to go back to the cabin that
you’ve lived in for some years now,” Dave said and brought out some documents, and then handed them over to her, “For some months now, I’ve
been trying to talk with the owner of the empty land that you and your mom
occupied. He would have evicted you people to build a shopping mall he
planned for the location but I’ve finalised with him to sell the land to me and
he accepted,”
Amy was attentive and listening but yet to understand what he was trying
to say as she skimmed the papers without proper attention until she saw her
full name written on it. “What am I having with me here?” she asked and
continued looking.
“The aforementioned land is now yours,” Dave said and smiled with pride
as he expected her reaction.
Ujunwa looked at Dave and signalled to him to know if he’d told Amy
about it. Dave nodded, making her come closer to them; with smiles resting
casually on her lips.
“Ego Oyibo, come ooo!” Amy shouted and beckoned her mom forward.
She thrust the land papers into her palm. “Nne, this is a miracle!” she echoed.
Ego Oyibo, still looking confused, looked at the paper and gave it back to
Amarachi, “Please, take this back. You know your mom is illiterate. Why trying
to announce it publicly by giving this paper to me to read? O ginidi (what’s all
these)?”
“Oh, sorry, mama,” Ujunwa said and held her by the shoulder, “the paper
means that you’re now the owner of the land where you occupy,”
“Mama, yes...ooo,” Amy said as she observed her mom moping and feeling
stormed by the news that kept rumbling in her head and imagination.
“Is that true?” Ego asked looking at all of them one after the other with an
unexplainable surprise. “Can someone wake me up?” she threw in and held
Ujunwa tightly with joy and tears. Falling on her knees, she raised her eyes
unto the sky and prayed: “God, so you’re alive and real. I promised not to
worship any other God but you. After all these years you ended everything in
praise,”
You are reading Story from www.mhiztaemy.com.ng
Dave held Ego by the arm and helped her stand. “Mama, it may also
interest you to know that your daughter can now go back to school. I’ll
sponsor her education just as I’ve been doing in her absence when she
dropped out,”
Amy was so happy to the point that she didn’t know when she rushed to
Dave and kissed him with untold felicity. “I’m sorry for that unorthodox
behaviour,” she apologised for the kiss, “but joy can make us do the things we
don’t want to do,” she apologised again but Dave never wanted to end that
paradisal moment.
You can also read: ADANNA 18+ SEASON 1
“Thank you for allowing me to take part in your wonderful life,” he said
to her and took her to the car. “You can drive around if you wish, so that your
mom can enjoy the fridge,” he dimpled a smile.
Even though Amarachi was elated with ecstasy, she remained confused.
Dave noticed the oddity as Amy looked thoughtfully with questions written all
of her.
“I wish to ask what you meant by sponsoring my education even in my
absence,” Amarachi asked; trying to connect the dots consideringly.
“Oh, that?” Dave said and made her sit in the car with him, “Since you
dropped out of school, I’d been following you around like an angel you never
met,”
“Continue,” she muttered indistinctly rolling her eyes into her head as
curiosity caught up with her.
“I hired the latest best graduating student in the economics department at
the University of Nigeria Nsukka, to be writing your courses for you in your
absence. I paid for everything, so you shouldn’t panic about it. Your gradepoint average still makes you retain that first-class academic position in your
department,”
Amarachi was so surprised and happy, even though she wasn’t
comfortable with the arrangement. “But Dave,” she entered respectfully; “don’t you think that doing things this way could hamper a lot of things. It is not just
right at all,”
“Keep conscience aside, please,” he rejoined, “I know it was like untying
the Gordian’s knot, but I had to do what I had to do, believing that I did the
best,”
Amy wasn’t still convinced, so she still had her reservations about such an
unorthodox solution to her problem.
“Thanks for making me retain my academic position and education but I
need a favour from you, and you should yield to it,” she demanded resolutely.
“Anything,” Dave said and kept looking absently at Ego Oyibo who was
already pinning Ujunwa down with her unending stories because her lips
never stopped vibrating with words, and her hands busy with demonstrations.
“Use your influence to make the lecturers of the entire courses to set
another exam for me,” she said and caressed his palm with plea, “I can’t live
with my conscience to end up graduating with the feelings that I wasn’t the
one who made my grades without the help of another. I know I’m making a
tall demand but this is my conscience that we’re talking about and if I don’t
rewrite the courses by myself, I wouldn’t have that self-satisfaction with my
achievements after school,”
Dave, knowing how difficult it would be for him to oblige her, kept
nodding at intervals as he bit his lips in a way he usually does when trying to
think himself out of a difficult situation. After a while, he smiled and said:
“Done...I’ll do it, no matter what it takes,”
Amarachi pulled him closer and embraced him warmly. “You’re an angel
indeed, and there is nothing I could have done without you. Thank you,” As the
hug lasted, she didn’t know when her elbow touched the horns, making it
blare. She was startled, “sorry for that.” She apologised with sexy smiles.
“Don’t mention it,” Dave said and opened the glove compartment of the
car and handed over some papers to her, “this is the car documents, all having
your name endorsed on them,”
You are reading story from www.mhiztaemy.com.ng
Amarachi couldn’t just understand how her life that had been in fiasco
suddenly turned around to be full of positive surprises.
“I don’t know what else to do or say,” she said with tears as she perused
the papers.
“Say nothing,” Dave said and gave her a peck on her cheek, “You people
are now staying with us until the completion of the house,” he said, giving out
yet another surprise.
“House?” what are you talking about?” she queried.
“Yes, the land we bought for you wasn’t for you to retain the cabin but to
pack into the duplex on its completion,” he said and got off the car to avoid
getting himself into an arousal mood by Amarachi’s kisses and hugs. When he
alighted, he smiled and shut the door behind him, still resting his back on it
and smiling as he observed the dramatic Ego Oyibo.
It was amazing that Amy and her mom couldn’t contain the joy. They
would soon own a duplex without their inputs, finances, or efforts. Celebration
ensued immediately in the compound.
As the celebration was going on among them, Amy got a text message
from an unregistered contact. She went through it and read to herself.
You can also read: ADANNA 18+ SEASON 2
“Even though I love you a lot, I couldn’t afford to lose my fiancée because
of the drama you caused at my office. Ugwunwa, despite her love for me, had
cancelled the wedding engagement and threw the golden ring to my face. The
young gazelle you hurt is now dead, come and carry it,”
Amarachi’s entire happiness disappeared into gloom and regret. She’d
almost forgotten that she caused an affray between Chike and his fiancée in
her quest to find out the mysterious angel that turned out to be Dave
Handsome after every investigation, and not Chike, the accused.
Nightfall had already touched the earth and everywhere covered in
darkness but Amarachi’s conscience kept pricking her emotion due to the text
message from Chike. She quickly took her phone to call back the number but it
was switched off. She became nervy.
The dinner was already served and ongoing on but Amarachi’s attention
wasn’t with them.
Dave knew that Amy was troubled but didn’t know how to approach her
or ask to know what was going on. He simply had a hasty dinner and took
Amarachi to her room. He knew that in the morning she’d feel better; then he
could probe deep to ascertain what was troubling her amid the excitement
that was meant to overtake her the entire night.
**
Surprising to Dave, before he could wake up the next day, Amarachi had gone
out of the compound. Calling her phone was futile because she never took the
calls nor replied.
Amarachi knew it wouldn’t be wise to meet Chike at his house, so she
started asking questions about his fiancée’s whereabouts and finally succeeded
getting her phone line so that she’d meet her (woman-to-woman) for a talk.
There was no way she could get to meet Ugwunwa after calling her on
the phone, so Amy still had to go to Chike’s office to meet him if that’d help.
The weather was breezy and calm, the busy Onitsha roads too rowdy and
hot as usual. Being that Amarachi was yet to get used to driving an expensive
car like e-vogue, she sneaked from Dave’s house and went to her compound at
Emejulu Street and took her truck. She didn’t have to use a key for the ignition
because joining the right wires does the magic. She’d mastered it already with
expertise.
It was surprising to Amarachi that some men were already working at the
site for the building project as Dave promised. People around the street
rumoured that Amarachi and her mom had been evicted by the landlord as
usual but never knew that they were about to become the house owners.
Seeing the ongoing work, Amarachi’s face was full of smiles and
happiness but that glee was cut short by the flash of what could be going on
between Chike and his fiancée.
She ignited the engine and left immediately to meet Chike.
On reaching her destination at Chike’s office at the showroom, she was
happy that Chike’s car was still parked at his parking lot, so she drove in and
parked beside his car.
When she entered, she met the secretary as she was about to leave.
“Good evening, aunty.” The secretary greeted as she hurriedly prepared to
go for an errand that her boss sent her for.
“Good evening,” Amy replied and started going straight to Chike’s office
door to knock but the secretary stopped her.
“Oga isn’t in a good mood now,” she said and drew Amy back gently,
“That fracas you had with Oga the other day has left him feeling jinxed and...”
“Spare me the details,” Amy said and shut the gossip girl up, “can I go in
now?”
Taking a deep breath with a grimaced face filled with disappointment, the
secretary shrugged and said: “Well, I’m already leaving. So you can go in or
choose not to, but all I can say is...”
“Thank you,” Amarachi threw in cleverly and pushed the door open and
entered, getting the secretary more disappointed than she was at first.
Seeing Amarachi got Chike filled with both happiness and rage. He didn’t
know how to begin but was at least happy that Amarachi came back to meet
him in reaction to the text message he sent to her.
“Have a seat,” he said welcomely but Amarachi remained standing and
feeling guilty with saggy eyelids.
“I don’t know how to start right now,” she said apologetically and rested
her palm on the executive table that had Chike seated unsettledly at the other
side of it. “Let me start with an apology about what happened that day. There
was a mix up somewhere and you ended up carrying the can for what you
knew nothing about...”
“Take, this,” Chike said and wrote a cheque of one hundred and eighty
thousand and stretched out his hand to reach her, “You accused me of 150k
and 20k, but I had to add an extra 10k to it so that you’d help me bring back
my fiancée whom I just lost because of you,”
Amarachi pushed the cheque back to him. “Hold back the money and
listen,”
“You have two options,” Chike continued without evening heeding to her
sweet voice of plea, “either you take the money and bring her back or you
accept my proposal and marry me and we’d all be in the same page,”
“Why can’t you change for once and listen without putting words into
someone’s mouth?” she blurted, in a bid to get his audience and start
explaining why she caused a drama the other day in his office.
“I wish you accept the second option I gave you because you were the girl
I’d been longing to have as my wife many years back but you kept hating,
hurting, and rejecting me,”
Amarachi couldn’t understand why she couldn’t love Chike who had
been good to her, though she hated the way he fills himself with pride, and the
way he brags about his father’s affluence.
Notwithstanding Chike’s shortcoming, he was still good, and he loved
Amy so much.
“I don’t think I’ll accept any of the options you gave...”
“Will you marry me?” Chike interjected a proposal, brought out the
golden ring and knelt before Amarachi and waited for her reply.
It was surprising to two of them that Ugwunwa suddenly entered the
office and saw Chike kneeling and proposing to Amarachi; the same girl that
caused her pains.
NEXT CHAPTER
No comments