Chapter 4

One month later, all SS3 student wrote their waec, a few weeks later the results were out, Ebuka passed excellently, his parent was so proud of him and promised to sponsor him to the best

university if he did well in his jamb.

Rose came back from checking her result in the evening, she was excited and she met her parent in the parlor

discussing as she entered.

"So how was the result" Mrs. Chinonso

asked breaking from the conversation.

"I made it mum, I had the distinction in all the subjects" Rose announced happily as she handed over her result to her Dad.

they were so happy about their daughter's performance.

"I know you will make me proud, I will make sure you are educated no matter what it cost, am so proud of you," Mr. Chinonso said as she hugged his daughter.

"This calls for celebration, we’ll

make something special for dinner", Mrs. Chinonso announced.

Rose and her daughter prepared a sumptuous meal, which

they served on a wooden table which served as their dining table.

After some time, Mr. Chinonso cleared his throat and began.

"Rose, we all know that you have a very bright future and we are proud of

your academic performance, but, unfortunately, we do not have the means to sponsor you to a higher academic level, as a result, I and my mo, they have decided that you go and live with me. younger brother, Richard, in the city of Port Harcourt, you can get a  good job there with your waec certificate and sponsor yourself to school", Mr. Chinonso said.

For the first time, Rose saw  her parent looking so sad,

Mrs. Chinonso was in tears. Rose couldn't control the tears from her eyes as she was going to miss her parent especially her mother.

"Dad, I appreciate your efforts at raising me to this level, I also appreciate your concern for my education, I wish you are wealthy, you would have sent me to the best schools, but God knows why things happen the way they do, I promise to work hard and take you and mum out of poverty, I will make you proud, anyway, I agree to go to Port Harcourt to get a job but I will miss

you both do much" Rose said, cleaning the tears from her eyes.

"We will also miss you very much, we don't want you to go but you have to, so you will be able to further your education because we want the best for you", Mrs. Chinonso said as she wiped the tears from her eyes with her wrapper.

It was a very sad moment for the Chinonso family. Two weeks later Rose arranged her traveling bag with her

mother's help, her Father bought some things she would need for the traveling; he also bought some things for Uncle Richard, his wife, and children. That night, Rose could not sleep, she was

thinking about Port Harcourt, she had heard a lot of things about this

garden city and she couldn't wait to see things for herself, she imagined how and what the city would look like until Mother Nature called.

The next day, very early in the morning, Rose woke up, took her to bathe, she cooked for her parent and ate little as thoughts of the city filled her mind when her parent woke up they were surprised to see their daughter up so early, they prayed for their daughter and

gave her lots of advice after which they all went to the motor park where they helped Rose board a good bus, they waited till the bus was full, they bade her goodbye as the motor jerked up in action,

Rose could not control the tears from her eyes, she felt bad leaving

her parent, she wiped off the tears from her eyes with the handkerchief in her hands. The bus was very fast and seemed unending, the driver stopped every three hours for the passengers

to stretch and buy some edible things.

After many hours, the bus finally got to Port Harcourt City,

Rose was very happy to be in such a beautiful city, she alighted

from the bus, looking around the place for some time, she brought

out the white piece of paper from her bag, where Uncle Richard's address was written, she asked around for the location until finally she was directed to a big house painted brown, she knocked at the gate and a young woman in her mid-thirties came out.

"Yes? What do you want?" The young woman asked.

"Please ma is looking for Uncle Richard who lives in this house", Rose said, showing her the address.

"Ok he lives in the next house over there", the young lady said pointing to the next house which was a little bigger than the brown house.

Rose thanked the lady and went to knock at the

big black gate; just then a short, robust man came out, wearing a uniform. Rose greeted him.

"Good evening Sir", "Good evening, who I dey find" (who are you looking for), the gateman asked in his Hausa intonation.

"Please, am looking for Uncle Richard that's stays here", Rose explained.

"You dey find Oga Richard, I dey come to make I call am," (You are asking for my boss Mr. Richard, just a minute, let

me call him) the gateman said as he closed the gate and went into the house. A few minutes later he came out with Uncle Richard.

"Welcome Rose, how is everything over there? How are your parents? Please come inside", Uncle Richard said as he and the gateman helped her with her bags.

" They are all fine, they send their greetings", Rose answered as she followed her uncle into the beautiful house, she was welcomed by a tall fat woman who was happy to see her, two teenage boys came to hug her as their mother led her to her room. This was the first time Rose would have a room all to herself. her room was well arranged and decorated, she took her to bathe in the shower and joined the family at the dining table where they ate fried rice and chicken with a glass of orange juice each, The couple asked her about her parents, academics, and other things while the children asked so many questions that their parent had to stop them, after the dinner they had their devotion and all went to bed.

After 2 weeks of staying in the city, Rose was able to get a job at a big supermarket, with the help of her uncle. She took care of the

house and did all house chores which made her uncle and his wife

love her. to Ebuka did so well in his Jamb, he got admission into one of

the best universities to study his dream course Banking and Finance, while in the university, he made friends with intelligent

students and made up his mind to do well in his academics, he missed Rose and usually thought of her, but he didn't know where she was, he prayed to God to make him see Rose again, even though there were lots of beautiful girls on campus, he knew that none of them could replace Rose in his mind.

Two years later after Rose had saved up enough money from the job she decided to write Jamb; when she told Uncle Richard about her decision to further her education, he supported her and agreed to assist her financially because Rose was a very good girl and very hard working too. After few months of going for Jamb lesson, she enrolled for Jamb, and luckily for her, she did well, she got admission into the university she had always dreamed of to study accounting, few months after Rose had settled into the university, she became carried away with the fun and vibe of university life and promised to enjoy her life to the fullest. She went to various parties both inside and outside the school; she made friends with big Aristo girls and had lots of rich boyfriends who provided everything she needed. One Afternoon after lectures, Ebuka, and his friends went to the restaurant to eat, since they were all famished when they got to the restaurant, they ordered their food and sat down to eat while discussing their studies, while they were discussing, a tall yellow, slender and beautiful lady walked into the restaurant

with a young handsome guy, who looked so wealthy in appearance, the young lady sat on the chair while the guy who was her boyfriend went to order for their meal, he soon came back with

a tray of sausages and soft drinks, he placed the tray on the table and sat on a chair opposite her, they discussed and laughed

together as they continued looking into each other’s eyes in a

romantic way.

"Chai, that babe is very beautiful, that guy must be very lucky to have her", Felix, Ebuka’s friend commented, looking at the young lady across the other table. Ebuka raised his head to see

what Felix was talking about, to his greatest surprise he saw Rose,

she looked more beautiful and elegant than ever, he couldn't believe his eyes, he was so excited to see her, he stood up from his seat and excused himself from his friend and went towards Rose's table to his friend's surprise.

"Hi Rose", Ebuka said with a big smile, interrupting the romance between the couple. Rose looked up and was shocked to see Ebuka, her face turned cold immediately.

"Who are you? How did you get to know my name?", Rose asked pretending not to know Ebuka who was so surprised and embarrassed by Rose's attitude.

Rose, it's me Ebuka, or have you forgotten me so soon?", Ebuka asked.

"Young man I don't know you, I have not met you before neither do I know anyone bearing such name," Rose denied.

"Rose you are pretending you don't know me, because of this man

here?", Ebuka asked angrily.

"Young man, I think you heard her loud and clear, she doesn't know you so excuse us", Rose’s boyfriend said possessively.

Eyes turned from different angles to watch the unfolding drama, Ebuka, feeling embarrassed, walked back to his seat, he felt like the ground should open up and swallow him up, he paid for

their meals; he and his friends left the restaurant to their hostel.

"But guy, why did you behave in such a manner? Look at how you just embarrassed yourself, why did you lie that you know her", Kelvin, asked Ebuka as they entered their hostel.

"I didn't lie, I know her she was just pretending not to know me, she was my

school mate in secondary school, I can't believe she would deny me", Ebuka said, laying on his bed.

That night Ebuka could not sleep throughout the night for

that day, he had never been so embarrassed all his life, he felt so

sad.