Veronica was standing outside her house and looking towards the road that leads to her father's compound. She could see the one standing there and she was certain that it was Edu. She did not want this and she sought for a way to make sure he did not enter her father's compound but then it was almost impossible. She did not say a word until Edu was right into the compound. She stood by the door and continued to stare at him while he stood before her with both hands together, appearing remorsefully before her. That was not her concern according to her for she felt it would have been better if he did not come to show his fake remorse to her.
"Baby" he said it just like the city boys used to calling their girlfriends. At first he was even surprised at himself for using that word baby on her but he felt if he was going to ask her for her forgiveness then he needed to step up his game. "I am so sorry"
"Sorry about what exactly?" asked Veronica.
"I am so sorry the way that I treated you, the way I went about trying to tarnish your image. I know that if it had been what it should be you wouldn't be needing me standing here in your father's compound, you would have instead asked me to leave but because there is still a place in your heart that finds me still human enough to be allowed to appear before you I am here now before you, pleading with all my heart that you may forgive me of my crimes and allow me explain in details what actually happened when I came to the city to look for you"
"You are apologizing because you just can't hold it back, you can't hold back the fact that you are greedy and you know hiding what you did was not going to help at all. I know what you did and believe me I was made to believe you never loved me. At first I doubted but not until it stared right in my face and believe me it was convincing enough. Now here Is the thing; I want you to turn around and get out of this place and do that quickly" At this point she walked back into the house and then refused to come out. Edu on the other hand refused to move away from the compound.
******
in the village where Shanty was with Jude who was unconscious inside the hut that she had had to drag him into, she was restless until she saw one of the Chief's wives walking towards her and she stood up. It was the same wife of the Chief that was staring and lusting over Jude while the Chief was speaking to them. She wanted to know why she had come to her.
"I can help him" she said and Shanty nodded. The woman went to work with some herbs which she instructed her maid to get. Shanty watched her as she performed the task on Jude and when she was done she rose from where she was kneeling beside Jude who was laying on the floor and said to Shanty, "Use a soft object to support the back of his head and then let him lay still until evening time. I want you to feel okay and don't be shaken okay?" She then left. Immediately she left Shanty sat beside Jude and remained there.
Somewhere in the same village, Charles was seated inside a bar and he had a native cup in his hand while the bar man filled his cup with wine. While he drank he continued to ensure that things worked the way they were supposed to work and there was nothing else he could do about the situation. The bar man was pouring the wine and talking loudly with his friends who had come to the bar to Make Some Noise as they normally called it.
"I have regard for women, I love my wife so much" said the bar man and one of his friends laughed and the other one joked, "Your wife is managing you yet" he laughed again but the bar man didn't find it funny so he hissed long. One of the friends turned to the rest of the bar man's friends and spoke to them, "I bet if he says he has high regard for his wife there re other men who do same for his wife" Just then the bar man hit the bottom of the large jug he was holding from which he had poured some drink inside Charles's cup and the sound of it quitened the room and the weight of it shook the table. At that moment Charles watched the man's frustration and waited to see what he was up to. The man then pointing towards his friends warned that they desist from insulting his family. There was tears in his eyes as he said the many words he said. He was in pain and Charles could see that. When the man had gone back to his position he bent over the counter and started to weep. Charles took a sip of his drink and walked up to him.
"Hello Sir, I still need more wine" Charles said.
"Let me be please and go to another bar if you are needing more wine" said the man who continued to hide his teary face. Charles could sense his heartbreak but he was ready to make him do his best. He did not think it was something else or that there was a way out for this man if he didn't find a way to live with the pains of this world. He held his hand which he had stretched from his face and resting on the wooden chair.
"You need to hold yourself up man. You are a man and not a woman. I am here to help you" when he had said this the man raised his face to look at him and he felt Charles was another uninformed guy who shouldn't be saying things he knew nothing about.
"You say it easily as if that is how it is easy to solve but my wife has put so much shame upon me that I can't even think properly" the man continued to weep and at this point Charles spoke and said, "You should not allow someone to be a reason why you cry. If you cry because of someone then you are weak. The only tears you should shed for someone should be tears of agony to either mourn them or tears of joy to celebrate with them and not tears of despair, tears of being rejected. So I think your friends have this power over you and they have continued to have this power over your feelings because they know what to say to you to make you sad. If I were you I would not let them do that or continue to do that to me; how, by fighting back with words or fist? no, but by being calm when they say those words to you, making them see that such words no longer hurt you. I bet you some of those friends of yours have already slept with your wife and they having seen her in her nakedness are mockingly coming to drink in your bar; to continue to stare at the man whose wife they have slept with, whose wife they have seen her nakedness. That is mockery and wickedness. I pray you find a means to be happy and not continue to sulk over this. I am a traveler, being a traveler I have nothing to say again and I won't be here to comfort you next time" He then made to leave and the man who already had lifted his head off from were he had hid it to see the face of the man that had been talking wisdom into his ears called him back and asked, "Please what is your name?"
"My name is Charles" answered Charles before he then went off. After he had gone the man kept nodding in understanding.
******
Veronica on coming outside met Edu still seated on the ground and this time she felt she had to make it clear to him of how much she detested him and she was not going to continue to do that by words but by action. She then entered inside and to the shock of Edu she came out carrying a gun and she pointed it towards him and said, "Get up" Edu got up from the log of wood where he was seated, to prove to her that he still loved her and he was shocked to see that she was carrying a gun and the manner and the posture she was carrying it showed she had been familiar with guns.
"I said leave right now" she said, almost calmly but Edu knew she meant her words. He raised both hands up and began to back out of the compound.
"Easy now Veronica and please lower the gun" he begged while still taking steps backwards.
"I won't say it the second time. I repeat, be out of here right away!" this time she had shouted and Edu knew if he wasted time any longer she would fire at him and he having not been told of what happened to the person that suddenly went missing in her compound the other time he did not want to be a victim. He left the compound and Veronica lowered the gun and shed tears.
******
Two days in the village and Charles was already aware that Jude and Shanty were there. He hid himself in a valley where there was a hut and remained there unnoticed by anyone.
Jude had women up and he was wondering where he was.
"You need to lay back still and don't try to shake yourself so hard. I know quite alright that you are hurt" Shanty said to him.
"Where are we?" asked Jude.
"We are inside one of the huts in the compound of the Chief of this village" said Shanty. At that moment Jude wanted to sprang up but then the pain was too much and he groaned. "Just lay still and don't try to move yourself else you hurt yourself" she added.
"Hurt myself? If we stay here we will be dead" said Jude while still trying to get up. She pinned him back to the ground and tried to talk him out of what he was trying to do.
"There is nothing as such. It was one of the wives of the Chief that saved your life. You won the combat but you were unconscious and you needed some treatment to keep you standing. I was amazed to see her do what she did to reinstate you. Now that you are fine you should relax while I find her to know what else she has to do for us"
"We are not going to become a liability to anyone. Please listen to me, let us forget what is happening and focus our minds on what is to come. We need to leave here, atleast out of this palace" said Jude but Shanty tried to make him understand that there was nothing to be scared of. They were still arguing when a guard walked in unannounced and asked that the two of them follow him at once.
"Follow you to where?" Shanty was asking.
"Is it not better if you don't ask any questions but follow me as I have instructed you?" asked the guard as he turned and left. Jude had already managed to stand and he looked at Shanty, wondering what she might be thinking.
"What do you think?" asked Shanty.
"I was about to ask you" said Jude and the both of them sighed and decided to follow the guard.