So we packed into the new neighborhood, it was already a month and I took that chance to familiarize myself with my surroundings, as a result of exploring I became friends with this very beautiful aunty, her name was Aunty Amara, Aunty Amara was that kind of a person you just wanted to get closed too, she was extremely nice, really intelligent and she was done with school, she had currently moved in with her boyfriend, who she told me was going to marry her after a year or so, they were two good looking people, it's like God took his time in molding this two, Uncle Sammy was tall, and he was nice and rarely talked, well that was my mind making assumptions.
So being friends with Aunty Amara gave me the free will to go to her house after school, immediately I was done with lectures, I was going back home, then what did I know, I just got into school, and as a freshman, I found it a bit hard relating, so I just rush back to aunty Amara's house to eat free food and my parents weren't so worried cause they knew where to find me.
These couples were the type to pepper you with love, they were always all over each other but in an appropriate way when I was around, they were the type of couple that would make you jump into a relationship without looking back, they made love look so beautiful that I couldn't help but dream about a future lover or husband.
The statement "God when" started coming out of my mouth more often than usual.
Love had a different meaning to me. I was the kind of girl that would 'aww' every love scene, and cry sometimes for movies, and Korean movies did well to fuel my concept of love, Wattpad, Anybook, and Ebook. I knew every book app there is to know.
It was on a Friday, I got back from school and was heading to my other house…(Aunty Amara's house) on getting there I saw a crowd of people around Uncle Sammy and Aunty Amara's house and the commotion wasn't child's play, I had to struggle my way from the gate into the main compound, and that's when I saw the police, the landlord and his wife, literally, everyone I knew and didn't know in that environment was there, and the most unwelcoming and shocking sight greeted me, Aunty Amara all beaten up, with swollen purple eyes and a bruised up body since she was fair the purple marks were very visible.
And uncle Sammy was handcuffed, and dragged by the police, they were giving him the beating of his life as they took him away. And Aunt Amara was rushed to the hospital where she stayed for a few days getting treatment before she came back.
It was after a week I heard the whole story that Aunty Amara had caught Uncle Sammy harassing a small girl and when Aunty Amara intervened she got the beatings of her life, and that as I was told wasn't the first time he was beating her up, and what was really out of place was she was the one paying his house rent even before he packed into our neighborhood, he was driven out of his previous house because of the same domestic violence.
And that's when I realized that all those flirting comments he made when he noticed Aunty Amara wasn't looking weren't just ordinary, they were compliments but they always sounded so wrong in my ears but I ignored it because I respected their relationship, most especially Aunty Amara.
My mom had invited Aunty Amara to our house after everything calmed down. And her exact words were.
"Did he rub charm on you or is it just desperation, Amara?."
"Mommy I don't know, I just thought since we had been together for 6 years that he would change." Aunty Amara replied.
"I don't know if you don't watch the news, or your friends don't talk to you, any man who can openly raise his hands on you is not a man, nor is he the one God has a destiny for you my dear."
Aunty Amara just kept crying over and over again and I felt pity for her, imagine their love that I was envying, look how it turned out to be, she had covered him up for 6 years, and deep in my mind I just hoped the policemen beat uncle Sammy for not just beating her but embarrassing her so much that she had to move out of that neighborhood the next week.
After she moved, I too moved into the hostel. Around 2022 she came back, looking healthy and more beautiful. It happened that she had moved back to her state and had met her current fiance. She only came to give us her wedding invitation card and material for the wedding.
The first time I saw her, I almost didn't recognize her, because she changed, a good change. I had hugged the life out of her.
"Thank God I listen to you Mommy and myself unless I would have been the current Osinachi Nwachukwu, who couldn't say anything till she met her end, all in the name of marriage. God forbid." Aunty Amara said.
"At least this experience have helped you learn and you're alive to tell the tales. Just be careful my dear oh_Same with you Esther, please talk to Esther too for me, let her open her eyes when she wants to bring any man to me." I could help but laugh when I heard what my mom said.
"Mommy I have heard you, now is not even the time for me to think about man, I have to finish school first," I said in my defense.
"Good ooh. Finish school but still open your eyes so you can shine like Amara, the way she's shining now." We all laughed after hearing what my mom said.
Aunty Amara got married and she had two kids, and I attended all their naming ceremonies. While Uncle Sammy heard he was released. And later got a girl pregnant, and her father who was a military man forced him to marry her. So he was married too as well.
But I was happy with the way things turned out for Aunt Amara.
Thank for reading, please leave a comment, nice day ahead.