Village Girl And The CEO

Chapter 3 - Leaving her alone

Sharon saw all the drama going on between Tina and Prisca, but she hissed and didn't bother asking them what was up. As she never liked Tina. Also, she wondered what her elder brother saw in Tina, that made Patrick so concerned about her.

Sharon would agree that Tina was beautiful and very fair in complexion, but Tina was still local to her.

Meanwhile, Patrick stepped out of his kitchen and into his parlor, as his house was a 2-bedroom apartment. He bought it and shared the two rooms with Sharon.

Patrick stared at Tina, who was sobbing, and he saw Sharon busy laughing and drinking happily with her two best friends, who visited her.

Patrick got irritated and asked, "Sharon, where's your friend?"

Sharon inquired with her hands apart, "Which of my friends?"

Patrick looked at the wall clock and saw it was getting late. He wonder what was taking Prisca so long to take Tina back to their village. Since their village was a little farther away from the nearby town where he resided. As Patrick and Sharon weren't the only children of their parents. Patrick had three other siblings aside from Sharon.

Just then, Prisca walked out of the visitors restroom, and said to Tina, "Let us leave."

As they stepped out of the house, the heavy wind increased accompanied by the heavy rainfall.

Prisca turned to Tina and said, "You see, Tina, we cannot go out in the rain. So, we have to wait for the rain to stop. I'm going back inside."

Prisca didn't wait for Tina's response. As she turned and went back into the house to continue discussing with Sharon and the two friends who arrived earlier.

Tina sighed and stood outside by the door, crying, "Why today of all days, that I followed Prisca here, did this heavy rain have to fall? Mom will already be at home from the market, and she wouldn't find me at home. Likewise, Richmond and Jude might be outside playing or wondering where I might've gone too."

Tina didn't want to enter back into the house, even as the heavy rainfall increased and soaking her clothes wet. Still, she stood outside by the door, crying.

Later, Patrick entered the living room, after he was done cooking. He discovered that Tina wasn't inside, aside from the four ladies discussing.

Patrick assumed Tina was still outside. It was getting dark, and the heavy rainfall continued.

Patrick ignored the four ladies discussing, and went out to look for Tina. He opened the door, and saw Tina sobbing underneath the little porch in front of his house.

"Come inside, Tina, it's still raining," he said, not happy to see her there.

"No..." Tina refused to move an inch, not wanting to enter back into Patrick's house.

Patrick frowned and went back inside to bring an umbrella for Tina. Later he stepped out and gave the umbrella to her, but she refused to accept it and told him, "There's no need for it."

"Take it and use it to cover yourself. You're already wet, and to avoid getting too cold, since you don't want to come inside," Patrick replied. He left the umbrella beside Tina and went back inside his house.

Patrick knew that Tina was very stubborn, and he wasn't happy about her attitude towards him. The rainfall continued until nightfall, accompanied with lightning and thunder strikes. Still, Tina stood outside of the house, and regretting to herself, while sobbing too.

~~~~

Meanwhile, Mama-Tina was in her market space earlier, where she normally sold her fruits and foodstuffs at the village square.

She noticed the sudden change of weather, and knew that it would fall heavily.

Mama-Tina quickly packed up all her fruits and went back home to her husband's house, where she lived with her three children.

Even as her husband had run away with another woman ten years ago, Mamatina still lived in the village house with her kids.

When she arrived home, she entered the house Just before the rain started. She met only her last-born child, Jude in the old parlour sleeping on a mat.

The house door wasn't locked, and Mamatina subtly wondered where Tina and her second child, Richmond, had both gone, leaving only Jude at home.

So, she approached Jude and gently tapped him on the shoulder to wake him up.

"Jude, Jude! Wake up," She said. "Where are your sister and brother?"

Jude, a 10-year-old boy, stirred awake. He was happy to see that his mother had returned. So, he quickly hugged her excitedly and replied, "I don't know, Mom. I had finished eating my food when Aunty Prisca arrived here. She was discussing with Aunty Tina. Later, Aunty Tina said that I should go back inside and sleep after I've finished eating my food."

"Hmm..." Mama-Tina frowned and asked Jude, "Then where is Richmond?"

Mama-Tina wasn't happy that only Jude was at home.

Just then, Richmond rushed back into the house, and shut the door closed, before the heavy wind blew. Then the heavy rainfall began.

"Good evening, Mom," Richmond greeted his mother as he saw her in the parlour.

Richmond was a 14-year old boy. He was at his friend's place, named Alex. He liked helping Alex's father at his furniture workshop.

"Where's Tina?" Mama-Tina quickly asked Richmond, and he gulped.

Richmond didn't know where Tina went. He had left the house earlier with Alex, when Tina was still at home, and he didn't know who visited Tina after he had left the house.

"I don't know, Mom," he replied.

Mama-Tina frowned and became worried, as she wanted to go out of the house to Prisca's house to search for Tina. Since Jude mentioned Prisca visiting them.

However, the rainfall increased and she couldn't leave the house.

Mama-Tina cursed and paced about in their old-looking parlor.

Eventually, she went back inside, hoping that nothing bad had happened to her only daughter, Tina.

Sighing, she went back of the house to the kitchen to sort out their evening meal, since it was already getting late.

Mamatina recalled that a neighbor of hers had warned her before to monitor Tina's movement with her friend named Prisca.

Prisca was always visiting them whenever Mamatina wasn't around.

Likewise, the neighbour had claimed Prisca was known to be corrupt and hanging out with different guys. But Mamatina had thought Tina was already disciplined enough, and she never took their neighbours warning seriously.

Mamatina thought there was no need to tell Tina not to make any street friends. Now she was regretting not warning Tina against Prisca, nor confirming if what their neighbor had gossiped to her about Prisca was true.

~~~~

At Patrick's house, the rainfall continued until 9 pm. Tina was still standing outside in front of Patrick's house, and her clothes was wet.

Likewise, she was shivering in the frontage due to the cold. The heavy rainfall had gradually reduced and she muttered, "If only I had known my way back home earlier. I could've trekked home to my village the previous time that I stepped out at noon. Then the sun was still out and shining brightly before the rainfall started."

Tina stood at the front of Patrick's house. She saw a black car arrived and parked.

Tina became scared, using her right palm to wipe off her face, to remove the raindrops from her eyes.

She saw the driver switch off the headlights, while fear gripped her, as she didn't know who was the man in the car.

Tina continued to stare at the man worriedly, as she saw the man answering a phone call in his car.

However, Tina heard Sharon's voice and her two friends' voices echoing and laughing out, as they stepped out from the house behind her.

They cursed seeing that the rain was still showering.

Tina saw that the ladies had dressed in new hot-looking short gowns, that was different from the initial gown she saw them wearing before at noon.

They looked like they were going out for a party.

To Tina's shock, she also saw Prisca tagging along with them.

Prisca had changed her black gown into a red seductive short dress. Tina quickly rushed up to meet Prisca to confirm if they were already going home, and probably the car driver was a good Samaritan who wanted to escort them home.

However before Tina could even approach Prisca and ask, Prisca yelled at her, "Where do you think you're going to with that soaked up body of yours, Tina? Please move backward, as you're not following us, not to mention of soaking someone's car with such a wet, dripping body."

Tina frowned, as she couldn't understand Prisca's recent behavior towards her.

Tina became utterly embarrassed, and she gulped down all she wanted to ask.

Likewise, Sharon laughed out and stared at Tina's hand, catching sight of the umbrella in Tina's hand.

Sharon walked back to meet Tina and collected the umbrella from Tina's hand, saying, "Don't be annoyed, Tina, kindly lend us this umbrella. Aw... this umbrella even looks like mine, which I have been searching for inside..."

Sharon glared at Tina, but Tina didn't respond to her.

Tina was still in shock with Prisca's statement to her.

Sharon then took the umbrella and walked away, using it to cover her head, as she walked back to the car.

Tina then snapped out of her daze, as she saw the four ladies wanting to enter the car. She rushed up to meet Prisca again, asking her, "Wait, Prisca. What do you mean by I cannot follow you? I thought we were already going home?"

"No, Tina. Sharon, please wait for me, and don't yet tell the driver to go," Prisca said, turning to face Tina. She stood beside the car and said, "Well, you see, Tina. I have changed my clothes, and what does that tell you? That I'm going out, and not yet going home. Besides, it's already late, and I will soon be back. So why not go inside and wait for us to return first? When I return, then we can start going home."

"But..." Before Tina could speak a word, Prisca immediately rushed back into the car and shut the car door closed. Not waiting for Tina to respond, as she saw the car driver start it.

Tina stood outside the house crying as she watched the car leave the compound without her, leaving her alone at the frontage.