Chapter 5

Maria's POV

Steve has always been a very difficult husband ,I try my best to make our relationship work but he seems to keep on twarting all my efforts. I work up that morning to make sure the house was in order before leaving for work.

Jessica had gone to law school and I was all alone with Steve. I knew that living with Steve without Jessica's presence would be hard. She had always been the reason we didn't have to fight. Having her in our lives was the best prayer I believe God had answered. Now she is in law school, I would have to deal with Steve's problems.

I quickly made breakfast and checked what time it was . Another person I knew who would make my day terrible was my boss Andrew. I knew how he would scold the hell out of me if I was a minute late. So I needed to hurry up.

Steve had freshen up already waiting for breakfast to be served ,he is a cab driver and he always left the house very early. Since he bought the car ,he signed an agreement with the owner to pay for it in installments . This was the reason he had to go to work very early. He had only made two payments and had about four payments left. I had promised to help him out with the payment from the little cleaning job I did at an eatery, but he never seems to appreciate all my efforts towards helping him .

When we first met ,he was heartbroken and had told me how his lover had gone away with their child. I was very sympathetic and because he had no place to go to ,I had to take him into my house. My late father kicked about having anything serious to do with Steve ,but I loved him so much and kept convincing my Papa that he was the right man for me. Dad died two years after we got married and Steve changed completely. He took turns in beating me up and I remained so helpless. I loved him so much and I knew if I should retaliate our marriage could be over.

I kept thinking of our good times , when he called out to my name. I immediately took the food to the dinning table. Looking at him ,I could see the anger in his face . I had to be cool and maintain a expressionless face. As I dropped the food on the table ,he watched me dish out the toasted coconut bread before him . I was quite scared when I discovered his look. I tried pouring in the coffee from the jar pot into his tea cup.

He took a sip and immediately spilled it out from his mouth.

" What is this ? Steve asked.

I starred at the cup of Coffee I had given to him and got a bit confused. Why would he ask me what I had served him , when he knew very well that it was his cup of coffee. I only hoped this wasn't one of his ways of beginning an argument with me , especially now we were all alone .

He smashed the cup of coffee to the ground , complaining that I didn't add enough milk to it. I got really pissed off, but just couldn't find the words to say it. He would immediately capitalize of whatever I said to further complain and probably beginning a fight .

I simply told him that I was so sorry if I had not prepared the cup of coffee to his taste. He immediately released a slap unto my face, ranging in anger at my claims that he was so hard to satisfy. I knew that saying one more word could be a death sentence. It was too early for our neighbors to hear us fight and I would be late for work if we went on with this. My boss had told me several times when I got to work with swollen faces that the next time I got to work due to my numerous fight with Steve, he was going to fire me.

I silently picked up my bag which was on the small sofa in the living room and left for work. I could hear him sparking that I was walking away from him, but I didn't care. I couldn't loose my well being because of a mere argument. Although I knew returning home that evening could be the continuation of the fight.

I got to the eatery in time, luckily my boss hadn't arrived yet. I quickly went ahead to clean up the whole place and get in ready for the day. I prayed that the eatery gets lots of customers for the day. Especially those one that would give me little tips.

This is one exciting thing about my working place , the tips I ended up getting in a week were far more bigger than what my boss would me. Soon all other workers were present at the eatery, from the cooks, to the waiters and cashiers. Soon Customers began tripping in to have their breakfast. The day seemed very promising as I kept getting tips whenever I went to get the table cleared.

So many customers dropped tips on a regular basis, they loved my approach towards work and many talked about how committed and friendly I was when walking . Some would come and ask of me ,then drop something off. That day was just like every other day.

Soon I saw some men all dressed in black suits , they had alighted from about seven black tinted SUV's. I immediately knew they were very rich men. We had never had such personalities in the eatery before and I knew we had to give them a top notch service ,so we could attract them again some other time.

I had gone to tidy up the table when I noticed they were done eating. They had been discussing something, maybe business I don't really know , but it seemed as such. I got to the table and they all stood up to leave. I had thought I would be given a tip , but that was only given to the waiter who had served them.

As soon as they left ,I noticed a black wallet which was on the ground. It immediately came to my notice , that one of them might have forgotten it. I rushed out, but they had already taken off. My boss wasn't at work yet and I needed to return the wallet.