TEARS OF A HELPLESS WOMAN (episode 8)

© Pualine Mumbi 
Life is full of ups and downs but just like the storm pas-ses away, so does every dark patch in ones life.
I did not realise how Mr. Atusaye’s behaviour had bothered me until I tacked into be-d. Many questions crossed my mind.
“Why would he do that?”
It baffled me and I just couldn’t get answers.
The following morning Mrs. Martin’s asked me to shower saying we would be going to the mall together.
I quic-kly bathed and wore a beautiful hand me down dress from Mrs. Martins before going to the main house.
“Are you re-ady?” She asked me.
“Yes I am” I responded.
“OK plea-se call Atusaye in the house, he nee-ds to drive us there” she said.
“Where’s Mr. Atusaye? I asked the maids in the kitchen.
” he should be in his room” one if them replied.
I walked down the pas-sage and knocked on His be-droom door.
“Who’s there?” A reluctant voice replied.
“Sir its me. Madam says we nee-d to go now”
“Mwansa come in” he said.
“Sir I just c@m£ to deliver the message” I replied before quic-kly heading back outside.
Mr. Atusaye emerged a little while later, he was looking very fine.
“Did this man escape from a magazine cover or what?” I thought to myself.
He was in a white polo shi-t, a nice blue jean and Nike sneakers. I also sp©tted the the Rolex on his left hand.
“Mwansa dear sit in front, I’m pregnant so its quite uncomfortable for me to sit in front” Mrs. Martins said.
Its the first time ever that I got to sit in front, I was so b!own away and wished I could do¢v-ment that day in my diary as soon as possible.
Before we could start off, Mr. Atusaye leaned over and fastened my sit belt.
“You will nee-d that” he said.
Mrs. Martins was busy re-ading throu-gh her small diary, perhaps going throu-gh the shopping list that she did even notice.
The drive was very smooth, I mean the car was very comfortable. I had never been on a plane but I imagined it would be just as comfortable.
We pu-ll-ed over at the mall and off we went to shop.
“Jesus how much money do these people have?”
I had my own cart where Mrs. Martins kept directing me to put cleaning supplies while Mr. Atusaye’s cart had all the food and other groceries.
Mrs. Martin’s st©pped to greet a friend and Mr. Atusaye used the opportunity to talk to me.
“Have you been to protea h0tel?” He asked me.
“Sir who would take me there?” I asked shyly.
“OK we nee-d to go there tonight for your birthday” he whispered as Mrs. Martins was approaching.
As we continued with the shopping I wondered how his suggestion would be possible.
We checked out of shoprite and went to Debonair’s to have pizza. Mrs Martin’s said it was my treat for my birthday and you can’t guess how blessed I felt.
We also bought a cake from vasili’s that I shared with the maids at home.
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When we got home Mrs. Martins separated sims items we she asked me to take to my ap@rtment as my supplies. I couldn’t believe it.
After that I went to help with packing up what we got from the sto-re.
“Is Mrs. Martins always this nice?” I asked Stella one of the maids.
“Oh yes she has a heart of gold, we all experience such treatment on our birthdays” Stella said.
“Eh… Such people exist” I whispered.
Stella heard me and laughed.
“I thought the same thing when I c@m£ here” she responded.
“I wouldn’t want to mess up, she is a good woman”. I said.
” how’s Mr. Atusaye?” I asked.
“Oh him?? He is also very nice and very funny.. but he is reserved” she said.
“Reserved?..” I asked with a lot of interest.
“Yes he is very reserved, he does interact once in a whole but he often minds his own business. No one amongst the maids really knows him at a personal level” Stella replied.
That sounded totally different from the man I had seen in Mr.
Atusaye.
“What are the other two sisters like?” I asked
“Well they are both very nice, Clara and joy.. Those are their names” she said
” Joy? I have a cousin by that name. She is something” I replied.
“No the Joy here is very nice in fact they both are. They can just be a little lazy sometimes..” she giggled
Stella and I finished packing all the things we bought and I went to my ap@rtment.
Shortly I heard a knock on my door and I quic-kly jumped up to answer the door.
“You promised not to come here” I said to Mr. Atusaye who was standing with a plastic in his hands
“I said I won’t be in.. But I’m simply standing outside” he said.
“I just brou-ght this for you” he said as he handed me the plastic.
“Sir what is this?” I asked nervously.
“It’s yours.. I have to go now” he said before walking out. I quic-kly shut the door and opened the bag.
“Oh …..my….. Jesus!..” I stammered
The bag had a beautiful mermaid dress, black in colour with some crystal details on it.
When I unfolded the dress a paper fell out. It had some writings on it.
“I ti-pped the security guard alre-ady. At exactly 7pm walk out the gate and you will find a car outside. You will find me there”
My knees suddenly bec@m£ weak.
“Dear Lord what is this now?” I thought to myself.
My thoughts were disturbe-d by another knock on my door.
Everything st©pped for a minute and I felt like trouble was knocking on my door.
quic-kly I picked the dress and the note and stuffed them in the bag, it was then that I noticed a black pair of heels in the bag.
After throwing the back un-der my be-d I quic-kly opened the door.
“Dear am going to see mum, I wont be here until later in the night. You won’t nee-d to come to the house.. I will have dinner from there” she said.
I felt like I was keeping a bomb in the house and I felt insecure, i guess that’s why Mrs. Martins asked if I was OK.
“Yes I’m fine” I responded.
“OK the guard is around and this place is very safe anyway so you don’t have to worry. I will go with Atusaye” she said.
” OK..” I responded calmly.
“Do you own a phone?” She asked me.
“no madam I don’t ” I responded.
” OK use this phone whenever you nee-d to communicate, my number is saved in the contacts, its a simple phone you will easily get your way around it” she said as she handed me the airtel phone.
“Thank you Mrs. Martins” I replied.
“I will also be calling you if anything so plea-se have it with you. Here’s the charger too” she said.
I peeped throu-gh the window and saw them drive out. My heart was still racing and I sat on the floor.
“I can’t say no he’s just like my boss” I thought.
When they were gone, I pu-ll-ed the plastic from un-der the be-d and offloaded everything.
The shoes were beautiful with a very simple heel nothing, exaggerated.
I wore the shoes and tried to walk, to my surprise they were so comfortable.
Its was 6:20pm and I quic-kly went to shower.
For the first time I was going to be removing tags from clothes, that had never happened before. I always wore hand me downs.
I loved the smell of perfume on my b©dy and my dress looked very beautiful.
“So I actually had curves???”
The dress accentuated my figure perfectly and that made me even more excited
When I was done dressing my stomach suddenly felt strange and I knew I was nervous.
“Why was he being so nice to me?” I asked myself.
I looked at the time on the wall cli-ck and it said 6:58pm, So I locked up and walked to the gate steadily.
I was embarras-sed when I reached the gate but the gateman went about his business even though I knew he had noticed me.
Just like the note said, I found a car outside and I walked towards it.
“Lord what am I doing?” I asked myself.
After taking in a de-ep breath I opened the back door and entered.
“I thought you wouldn’t make it” Mr. Atusaye said from the front.
My heart pounced really ha-rd and i noticed how handsome he looked.
“God this night better end soon” I muttered.
“I heard that” he said with a smile.
“Relax its a birthday dinner that’s all, I’m engaged remember?. This is just for you” he said.
“Mrs. Martins.. What if she comes back?” I asked.
“I’m her driver f or now, so she will call me. Let’s get going” he said before starting the engine.
To be continued… 
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