Chapter three

"Mother!" Tamira exclaimed, wide-eyed.

No one was in more shock than the woman who had just walked in.

"What the hell are you doing with... with... Oh my God," she said and started to fan herself with her hand.

Tamira quickly helped me sit down and then rushed to the woman. I found the woman in question very family at first but after Tamira called her mother, I was sure of who she was.

Tamira's mother was the same woman whom I saw her face under the bed when I was only a little child. She was the one who killed my parents back then.

All of a sudden, I felt a building level of anger and hate rise in my chest. I was once again seeing the murderer of my parents after all these years.

"Mother, It's not what you think," Tamira said to her mother, picking up her purse.

"Then what is it?!" Mrs. Wilson scolded Tamira.

"I mistakenly hit him with my car on my way out of the gates. I had to make sure he was okay." Tamira explained. 

"Correction Tamira. You did not hit him with your car. The driver hit him with your car. If there is anyone who needs to pay it would be the driver and not you." Mrs. Wilson said to Tamira.

"Besides, it's not like he is worth paying anything for. Just give him a dollar or two and he will praise you like a goddess." Mrs. Wilson added.

"Mom!" Tamira exclaimed.

"What?! I'm just stating the obvious fact." Mrs. Wilson said.

"Are you teaching me what to do? Your mother?" Mrs. Wilson questioned.

"No mom. I'm not doing anything of the sort. What I'm saying is that maybe you just need to be a little polite. Try maybe treating people differently?" Tamira suggested.

Mrs.. Wilson scoffed. "Serious? I don't know why you have to take after your father." Mrs. Wilson said.

"Just get rid of him as soon as you can. After that, please get the maids to sanitize that area he was standing on some minutes ago and the sofa he is sitting on now." Mrs. Wilson said and walked away.

"Hold on." I heard Mrs. Wilson say.

I heard her footsteps as he walked back and she was standing in front of me but at a kind of distance that seemed she was running from my germs.

"My purse." Mrs. Wilson said. 

Tamira placed the purse in her mother's hand. "Thank you." Mrs. Wilson said to Tamira.

Mrs. Wilson, staring at me, dipped her hand in her purse. She drew out a fat bundle of money and was counting it in front of me. Mrs. Wilson stopped her count halfway and took out just one bill. She tossed it at my feet, laughed, and walked off.

I, however, did not pick up the money.

Tamira sighed. She sat beside me. "I'm sorry about my mother. I don't know why she behaves that way with people." Tamira said.

"You mean why she behaves that way with poor people?" I retorted.

"Don't talk like that," Tamira said.

I picked up her mother's dollar bill and placed it in her hand. I closed her hand on it and looked directly into her eyes. "Not everything is about money," I said.

That was sure to impress Tamira and I was right as she looked on in amazement.

"You know what? You are something. I look forward to seeing you again." Tamira said and smiled.

"Now what do you say? Friends?" she asked me, stretching her hand forward for a handshake.

"Friends," I replied and shook her hand.

"Come on. I insist that I take you home." Tamira said.

I got up and staggered at first before walking normally. We both left the mansion and boarded her car. I and Tamira sat at the back while the driver sat in the driver's seat.

"Which way ma'am?" the driver asked Tamira.

"You have to follow Devon's directions," Tamira answered the driver.

The driver's eyes met with mine in the rear-view mirror. I saw the way he glared at me and then turned to face the road once again. It was obvious he did not take a liking to me at all. However, I did not care about it one bit. I didn't come here to exchange words with a driver and neither do I plan on diverting my plans to him.

"Which way are you going?" he asked me.

"To the right," I answered.

The driver followed and after a while, I told him to take a left turn. After reaching our poor village, I told the driver to stop.

I saw the surprise in Tamira's eyes. "You live in this place?" Tamira asked.

"Yes. You want to mock me now?" I asked her.

Tamira shook her head negatively to the question. "I'd never do that," she said.

Tamira got down from her car with me and started to follow me. "What?" I asked her.

"Nothing. I just want to see where my new friend lives exactly. That's all." she answered.

Tamira's driver was about to follow us but Tamira stopped him.

"I will be fine on my own. I'm not a baby." Tamira said to him.

"But ma'am. These kinds of people can be very dangerous. I need to follow you so I can guarantee your safety." the driver opposed.

"What kind of people? The same kind you used to be before my father picked you and gave you a well-paying job? Look here my dear driver, I will go with Devon and as I do so I don't want to see you following me from behind, or else I will fire you myself." Tamira threatened.

We both walked away and this time the driver did not follow us. In no time, we reached my home. Tamira looked at everything with intensity in her eyes, as if studying us.

The wet and unstable wooden floor that was supposed to be the porch, though without its roof. The squeaky sound that came from the front door as I just opened it, and the almost empty room-sized house with just two mats and a pile of torn clothes in a corner of the wall.

I went in and Tamira still followed.

"I'm sorry but I don't have anything to offer you," I said to her.

"That's alright," Tamira said and looked around.

"I want to help you but I have to talk to my parents first. I never knew people lived this way." Tamira said.

At that moment, my uncle walks in. He first spots me. "Devon, you're back," he said. 

"I was able to..." my uncle was saying but dropped what he was holding the moment his eyes landed on Tamira. Uncle Francis immediately picks up his things and at the same time, avoids eye contact with Tamira.

"Uncle, what's wrong with you?" I asked him.

"N... Nothing. Nothing at all." he replied, stammering and hiding his face from Tamira.