7: SCAMMED

ADRIANNA

A knock on the door woke the tired me. I stretched my hand towards the nightstand stool, to take my phone and check the time. It was past seven in the morning. I yawned as i stood up from the bed, walking groggily to the door. It was so early in the morning, i wasn't expecting anybody, because i was sure nobody knew where i lived as i had just bought this place yesterday.

I checked the peephole and i saw two people standing outside the door. A woman and a young man. I opened the door immediately and the question that was asked threw me off.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" The woman before me asked.

My eyes widened at that question. What did she mean by who was i? She came to my house, so why was she asking me who i was? Wasn't she supposed to know?

"What?" I replied her, the sleep soon leaving my eye as things were about to get serious.

The woman looked at the man in shock and she looked back at me.

"What are you doing here?" She asked again, this time letting herself into my house.

I immediately followed behind her, completely ignoring the man that still stood outside.

"Ehm, i live here?" I replied to her.

She stopped abruptly before she could get to the living room. She immediately turned to me, her eyes widened in shock.

The young man that was initially standing outside instantly walked into the apartment and towards the woman.

"What does she mean by she lives here? I thought you were going to sell this apartment to me? Or are you trying to scam me?" The man asked her, his tone changing from confusion to pure anger.

The words the young man said began to ring in my ears. Sell the apartment to him? What does he mean by that? I bought the apartment yesterday, so what was happening now?

I looked at the woman, confused and shocked at the same time.

"What does he mean by you'll sell the apartment to him? I bought this apartment yesterday" i asked the woman, my voice laced with fear and confusion.

"This apartment was to be bought by this young man today, so we came here to check it out and also for him to sign the lease agreement" she replied to me.

My eyes widened in shock.

"What do you mean ma'am, i bought this apartment yesterday, i can even show you my transaction history" i said to her as i walked to the living room ."i made the payment right here", i pointed to the particular spot i was standing in yesterday, when i made the payment to the woman.

I looked at the woman, trying to understand her facial expression. I couldn't even understand what exactly was going on. I finally had a nice place to stay and here i was explaining on how i got the apartment.

The woman walked up to me and asked a question. "Okay where is your lease agreement? If truly you bought the apartment yesterday like you said".

I instantly remembered what the woman that i bought the apartment yesterday from said and i immediately relayed it to her. "Ma'am the woman that i paid the money to yesterday, said i would get the lease agreement today".

The woman and the young man looked at me in shock

I looked at both of them, wondering what was wrong or if i did something wrong.

"Is anything the problem?" I asked, my hands now starting to become sweaty.

The words the woman said next, made my legs weak and my heart skip a beat.

"I think you have been scammed" she said.

The word scammed echoed countless times in my ear, i felt my world collapse. I was deeply hoping it wasn't true. Where was i going to start from? What was i going to do? I literally spent all my life savings on this house. How did all these happen? Why can't i have a normal life?

"Scammed?" I managed to ask, after standing there for few minutes lost in my thoughts.

"How's that possible? What do you mean scammed? That's not possible. I paid for this apartment in full, the woman who brought me here said she was an agent!" I screamed as the realization slowly began to kick in

Was this the reason why she said i would get the lease agreement the next day? Was that all a ploy to scam me? Because i was in desperate need of an apartment?. Now that i come to think of it, the amount for the apartment was very cheap compared to the interior and exterior designs of the apartment. I instantly turned to the woman and asked her a question.

"Please how much for this apartment per year?" I asked, awaiting her answer.

"Twenty thousand dollars per year" she said to me.

I stood there, my eyes widened in shock. I had been scammed. Tears began to flow freely from my eyes. I looked over at the woman and i could see her sad expression, laced with pity. I walked over to the couch and i sat down, my legs shaking, attempting to let go at anytime.

How did i get into this situation? Where did it all go wrong? Why was it only me? These were the particular questions that kept going on in my mind. Where was i to go from here? I had spent all my savings on this apartment, with little to no money left, now i don't even have a place to stay.

The woman and the young man walked towards me, as the woman attempted to console me.

"I'm so sorry, do you know the woman's name or anything about her?" She asked me.

I looked up at her with tears in my eye. I didn't know anything about the woman, i was too excited yesterday that i totally forgot to ask anything about her. I didn't know her name or where she lived. I only knew how she looked like.

I stood up from the couch and walked to the room. I packed up my bags and took a last look at the apartment. I couldn't stay here, but i didn't know where to go. I apologized to the young man, for any inconvenience i had caused and i slowly dragged my suitcase out of the apartment building.