Three

Mari's POV

I was already on my way back home. I have things to do which includes making raffia hand fans for auntie Denny. And I'll have to do lots of it so I can sell them and gather money. Of course that would be done undercover. She won't be so happy to see me doing things to get money on my own. According to her, I don't need money. She still sees me as fifteen years. And I'm twenty two.

Auntie Denny is my mom's elder sister with two years. My mom is a hustler. The other type of hustle. Let me just say it, she sells things illegally and she also works as a prostitute.

The last time I heard from her was when I was eighteen years. When we were still leaving fine, she used to come and see me. Buying me lots of things and promising me heaven on earth some of which she fulfilled. She promised to quit her illegal business and come back home fully after the last one she was about to go for. Unfortunately, the day she left for Dominican Republic was the last day I heard from her. I don't know what happened to her. But she never returned from that supposed two weeks journey. It's already four years

I know my mom had me out of wedlock and she probably doesn't even know my father, but I love her. She refused to abort me and when she had me, she took care of me. Everything she got was now used for me. I had the best childhood because mom was always by my side and gave me everything I needed. Love, care, assistance. She gave me everything.

Auntie Denny took care of me too, whenever my mom was away I stayed with her and she was the best. Even after mom disappeared, she was still nice to me. Well, until she began to need money for drugs. She made me give her all my money and as time passed, she sold all my mom's properties. Since my mom wasn't around to give her money and we couldn't communicate with her, she resolved to getting the money from our things.

Long story short, we're in the slums and I finished from a high school that had no windows.

I finally got to the house after passing through a pathway of itchy grasses. My legs were itching me and I couldn't stop myself from scratching them. They soon turned red

I got into my room and took some balm, rubbed it on all the red lines then went to my auntie's room. She was sleeping so I gently took the sack of raffia and left the room. I entered the living room and began to make hand fans. I was good at it so it didn't take much time before I made a basket of them. I was supposed to make five baskets in seven hours but I needed an extra basket in order for me to sell and get money for myself.

I won't be able to do that if auntie Denny is around. I closed my eyes and muttered a prayer “God please, take auntie Denny away from here. Please let her go to Monalito's house and spend the night”

I opened my eyes and beheld auntie Denny looking at me with her hands crossed

“when did you start becoming insane?” she asked gently that I wanted to chuckle cause it sounded funny

“I was just thinkin” I replied and continued to weave the fan in my hand

“thinking with your eyes closed and your mouth murmuring inaudible words? MariGold you're becoming insane” she stated and walked past me to the kitchen, probably to get a rum.

I looked at my legs that weren't itching like before, a mosquito landed on it and I gently released a hand and hit it quickly. Thank God it died, I always feel like I've lost a fight if I target a mosquito and the idiot escapes.

“Mari I'm leaving for our province this evening. I'll be staying for one week. I'll need you to make about fifteen baskets of hand fans before I come. But make sure you don't sell them. I'll come back and do that my self” she said and sat down on the only sofa in the house

Oh my goodness. Is this how God answers prayers?

“okay ma'am. My regards to grandma” I said for courtesy sake, my grandmother hates my mom and hates me.

“OH yes I'll send your regards. But not when she's in a good mood cause your regards would ruin” she said and smirked, drinking from the small bottle of rum

“auntie, you're going to travel today. Should you be drinking?” I said, not minding her next reaction towards that suggestion.

“and how is it your problem little Missy? Your mouth is becoming big these days. Maybe I should buy a padlock and make you experience what the African slaves experienced

I sighed and continued to weave.

My mind then went back to Eliza and I discussion earlier. I really hope to gain that admission. I really need to leave this hell of a house. My life would be so happy and pretty better than it is now if I don't have anything to do with this woman sitting here. Sometimes I wonder if it's actually the drugs she takes that changed her from good to evil. Or if she has always been evil but was kind to me then because she benefited from my mom.

I looked at the old ticking clock on the wall, it was still afternoon. That clock belongs to me. The only property I had then that is still with me.

“you went off to pick steel right?” she asked

“yes” I replied, not sparing her a look.

“where is the money?” she asked

“it's... I... Used it to buy some pads” I replied

“give me the pads, I might need them”

Oh shoot!

“it's just two. I'm using one now” I replied looking up at her

“how much did you even get?”

“50 peso”

“that can buy only one” she said, looking at me like I was lying. Well I was

“Luigi gave me two because I helped him find his specs” I lied. How just one lie leads to another

“go to the road and get me a motorcycle that can take me to the bus station.” she said and stood up to go to her room. I heaved a sigh of relief and left the house. As I stood by the roadside, hoping to see any man with a motorcycle that could help my auntie, I saw Eliza running towards me. Hopefully, she's with another news

“hey” I said immediately she got to me

“hey” she replied, literally out of breath

“did you run all the way here?” I asked as I laid my hand on her back, patting it to normalize her breath. She nodded and I smiled

“just relax, so you'll breathe fine” I said and she heaved a long deep sigh

“I got a job opportunity” she said immediately

“really? What type of job?” I asked

She heaved another sigh

“waiter. In a classic restaurant ”

“classic restaurant?”

“yes. It's a branch of KFC” she said

“wow, how did you get the job?” I asked

“Mr Amonga works there. He said they needed a dishwasher and janitor”

Mr Amonga is the man wooing Eliza. He's married but he wants a pretty side chick. Eliza has been duping him and taking his money saying she's still thinking. Crazy girl...

“so you chose?”

“the dishwasher and you're the janitor”

“OH my God! You got for me too?”

“of course I did. We can start work tomorrow. But it's based on shifts. You have to look good please. Your hair should be in a bun. A tight bun and be early always so you can change and clean the place you're allocated.” she said, playing with my hair

“thank you Eliza. Thank you so much”

“your pay is 500p per week, that's if you don't miss your shifts”

“OMG, that's the money for the form”

“yes, that's why I'm so happy”

I hugged her tight

“thanks dear. I'll come to your house early tomorrow morning. My auntie is traveling today” I said and just then I heard her scream my name

“oops! Bye!” Eliza waved and ran off. She's terrified of my auntie.

I quickly moved into the road and looked up and down the road like I was looking for a motorcycle. My auntie came up with two bags

“what sort of rubbish are you portraying?” she yelled at me

“I'm sorry, I haven't seen any motorcycle” I apologized and looked afar off the dusty road.

“and you just stood here? What if they're not on this road, did you bother checking the other roads”

“I'll do that now”

I ran off to look for one. Luckily I saw Gracie's brother coming with their father's old motorcycle

“hey Gareth, wait!” he looked at my face and stopped. I walked up to him

“please can you take my auntie to the bus station?” I asked, covering the top of my eyes with a flat hand because I was facing the sun and it was hurting my eyes.

“is your auntie travelling?” he asked as he started the engine again

“yes, she's just down the road” I said, pointing to the route I just came out from

“okay. I'll drop her off” he said

“thank you Gareth” I appreciated and he nodded and rode off. I followed after him running so my auntie will see me behind and know that I called him. If she doesn't see me, she'll think he was just a coincidence and she might even scold me for not looking around well.

She climbed on the motorcycle and I waved at her, of course, for courtesy sake.

I heaved a deep sigh of relief when they took the turn towards town. Thank God she's off my neck for the next seven days.

Wilbur's POV

I paced around my room waiting for the call from the recycling center. Hoping they found my phone. After hours of waiting, the call was for the negative. I sat on my bed and palmed my face. This is not good

My door opened and I looked, Winifred.

“so what's the news?” she asked, sitting on my sofa

“no good news” I replied and palmed my face again

“is there any way we can get the original from dad?” she asked and I looked up and laughed

“dad? You know what you're saying is the same thing as going to Lucifer to get back your joy he stole. You'll get burnt in hell if you do that” I replied and fell on the bed facing the ceiling

“if not for you, we'd be planning our birthday now” I added and she stood up and walked about. I'm sure Jay talked some sense into her, that's why she's worried now. She knows how much we suffered to get those shares. We have an elder step brother who is the apple of our father's eyes. He loves Lucas so much and he is his next of kin. Our mother is dead. She died at childbirth. If she was alive, maybe she'd be fighting on our behalf and force dad to at least, give us a share of his business.

But all our lives we've been struggling to please him while he has been struggling to please Lucas.

Lucas' own mother divorced our dad when Lucas was Six years old and dad married my mom when he was eight years. She gave birth to us when he was ten and she died. He didn't even marry my mom out of love, he married her out of jealousy. That's what Jay told us. And that's what her mother told her.

Anyway I'm just trying to show you how hard it was for us to get those shares and how hard it will be to get them back if I don't find my phone.

“how about we meet his secretary?” Wini suggested

“that could work. But dad doesn't need to know” I said, sitting up

“and that's risky” she said and sat beside me

“we don't even need this shares” she said and I looked at her

“we have our own money. We don't need his” she added and I chuckled

“do you know it's up to 500,000 US dollars?” I asked and her face widened

“oh my God! We can increase our net worth with that! Selena Angelo won't have a place near me. We have to find that phone or risk it and talk to the secretary”

I huffed. She only cares about her reputation among other celebs.

“why do you care only about your reputation?”

“cause I was born to be the best”

“what if you were born alone? Who would have heard your name?”

“don't try to take the glory. If you were born alone too, no one would have heard your name. Besides I'm the reason you're who you are today” she blurted out and took a napkin from my glass table. She faced the mirror and gently dabbed on her face

“if I didn't win that contest, you wouldn't have been known” she added

“remember what you did to the manager before the end of the contest. You fought with her and left finger marks on her pretty face. You were going to be eliminated. Actually you were eliminated and I came to pick you up. The chief judge was surprised that you had a twin brother who looked exactly like you and you forced me to beg him to bring you back” I said and crossed my arms. She faced me

“that's a boring story. You only did me a favor there”

“so is getting a role in a movie because I was kind to the Producer a favor also. Remember it was that movie that shot us to popularity not your stupid beauty contest”

“okay you win the argument. Whatever! I'm going to take a shower” she said and left the room

I smiled.

I remember that day when we got the role. It was because we were identical and it was quite rare to find grown up twins who are of different gender but still identical. We were eighteen years then. I didn't like coming out but Wini was the bee. Always in different places as long as its not in the house.

Then the thought of my phone came back in. I'll need another phone to make some calls. I even need to call Eduardo.

I wish I had backed up my documents to G****e, I would have been able to restore it in a new phone.

I walked down the stairs gently with my hand trailing the rail. I got downstairs and a maid ran up to me

“Sir I heard you're looking for your phone. And that it was supposed to be in a trashcan. Actually, before the garbage truck passed today, a girl was taking things out of the can right in front of the house. I saw her” she stated and my eyes widened

“are you serious?” I asked

“yes. But I don't know if she took the phone.”

“thanks I know what to do now” I said and she bowed and left. I went back upstairs and knocked on Wini's door. She opened it, she was wearing a bathrobe

“a Maid said she saw someone picking things out of the trashcan earlier, before the garbage truck passed”

“really? A girl or boy?”

“a girl”

“why don't you track down the phone and see where it could be?”

I sighed

“you know I'm not the nerd kid. I don't know how to do that”

She smacked my head

“idiot, go to a computer center or a sci-Tech avenue”

“hmm, okay. I'll just get a new phone and call Eduardo first”

“whatever! But make sure you arrest whosoever stole your phone when you track it down. I'm sure it's one of those random people who survive on trash”

Then she closed her door in my face.

Of course I won't let the thief go free. She made me suffer today

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