Chapter 3 - The heavy rain

Sharon saw all the drama going on between Tina and Prisca, but she hissed and didn’t bother asking them what was up. She never liked Tina and wondered what her brother saw in her that made Patrick disturb her about Tina.

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

Patrick then stepped out from his kitchen into the parlor. His house was a mini 2-bedroom apartment that he had bought, and he shared the two rooms with Sharon.

Patrick stared at Tina, who was sobbing. He saw that Sharon was busy laughing and drinking happily with her two best friends. He got irritated and immediately asked Sharon, “Where’s your friend?”

Sharon asked him with both hands on her hips, “Which of my friends?”

Patrick stared at the parlor wall clock and saw it was getting late. He wondered what was taking Prisca so long to take Tina back to their village, since their village was a little farther away from the nearby city where he lived with his younger sister Sharon.

Patrick and Sharon weren’t the only children of their parents. Patrick had three other siblings aside from Sharon. Just then, Prisca stepped out of the restroom and said to Tina, “Let us leave.”

But as they stepped out of the house, the heavy wind blew against them and the heavy rain started to fall heavily.

Prisca turned back to Tina and said, “You see, Tina, we cannot go out in the rain. We will have to wait for the rain to reduce or stop, before leaving for home. I’m going back inside.”

Prisca didn’t even wait for Tina to respond. She turned and went back into the house to continue her discussion with Sharon and the two friends that arrived earlier.

Tina stood outside by the door and started to cry. She didn’t want to enter back into the house, even as the heavy rain continued to fall and soaked her clothes wet. Tina still stood outside by the door, sobbing.

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Later, Patrick stepped out of the kitchen to his living room. He was done cooking and discovered that Tina wasn’t inside with Prisca and the other three ladies. He assumed she was still outside. It was already getting dark and still raining heavily. The heavy rainfall made the night fall quickly.

Patrick ignored the ladies discussing and went out. He opened the door and saw Tina sobbing underneath the little porch in front of his house. He said to her, “Come inside, Tina. It’s still raining.”

“No…” Tina refused to move an inch. She didn’t want to enter back into Patrick’s house.

Patrick frowned, went back inside, and later stepped out to give Tina an umbrella, but she refused to accept it. She said to him, “There’s no need for it.”

“Take it and use it to cover up yourself. You are already wet and might get too cold since you don’t want to come inside,” Patrick said. He left the umbrella beside Tina.

Patrick knew Tina was very stubborn. He went back into his house, not happy about her attitude toward him. The heavy rainfall continued with lightning and thunder strikes, but Tina still stood outside, regretting to herself, “Why today of all days did I follow Prisca here? This heavy rain knows that it will fall today… Mom will already be at home from the market, and she won't meet me at home. Richmond and Jude might be outside playing or wondering where I might have gone, too. Hmph.”

Tina sobbed as the heavy rain continued to fall, increasing until late night.

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Meanwhile, Mama-tina (Tina’s Mother) had been 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 it would fall heavily.

Mama-tina swiftly packed up all her fruits and went back home to her husband’s house, where she still lived with her children, even though her husband had run away with another woman ten years ago.

When she got into the house, Mama-tina met only Jude, her last-born son, at home and sleeping inside.

The house door wasn’t locked. She wondered where Tina and her first son Richmond had gone, leaving only Jude at home.

Mama-tina approached Jude, gently tapped him on the shoulder to wake him, and said, “Jude, Jude! Wake up. Where’s your sister and brother?”

Jude was a 10-year-old boy. He stirred awake, happy to see his mother had returned, and quickly hugged her. He replied with both hands apart, “I don’t know, Mom. I had finished eating my food when I saw Aunty Prisca arrive here. She was talking with Aunty Tina. Later, Aunty Tina said that I should go back inside and sleep if I had finished eating my food.”

“Hmm…” Mama-tina frowned and asked, “Then where is Richmond?”

Mama-tina wasn’t happy that only Jude was at home. Just then, Richmond rushed into the house and shut the door, before the heavy wind blew. Next, the heavy rain started to fall heavily.

Richmond had been at his best friend Alex's place. He was a 14-year-old guy who liked helping Alex’s father at his furniture workshop. He greeted his mother, “Good evening, Mom.”

“Where’s Tina?” Mama-tina quickly asked.

Richmond gulped. He didn’t know where Tina went. He had left the house earlier with Alex when Tina was still at home. He didn’t know who visited Tina after he left, nor where she went.

Mama-tina frowned and became worried. She wanted to go out to Prisca’s house to search for Tina since Jude had mentioned Prisca visiting. But just then the strong wind blew, and the heavy rain increased.

Mama-tina cursed and paced about in their old-looking parlor. She went back inside, hoping nothing bad had happened to her only daughter Tina. She then went to the kitchen to sort out their evening meal since it was getting late.

Mama-tina remembered that a neighbor had warned her before to monitor Tina’s movement with her friend Prisca.

Prisca was always visiting when Mama-tina wasn’t around, and Prisca was known to be corrupt and hang out with different guys. But she had thought Tina was already disciplined enough and never took the neighbor’s warning seriously.

She thought there was no need to tell Tina not to make street friends. Now she was regretting not warning Tina against Prisca or confirming if what their neighbor gossiped about Prisca was true.

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The heavy rainfall continued until dark night. Tina was still standing outside in front of Patrick’s house. She was soaked wet and shivering in the frontage due to the cold as the rainfall gradually reduced.

“If only I had known my way back home earlier, I could’ve trekked home to our village the previous time I stepped out at noon when the sun was still out and shining brightly before the rainfall started,” Tina said to herself as she shivered. She stood out in front of Patrick’s house. Just then, she saw a black car drive into Patrick’s compound and park.

Tina became scared. She used her right palm to wipe rain drops from her face and eyes. She saw the driver switch off the front lights. Fear gripped her as she didn’t know who the man in the car was.

Tina continued staring at the man worriedly as he answered a phone call in his car. Just then, she heard Sharon’s voice and her two best friends’ voices echoing and laughing as they stepped out from the house behind her. They cussed when they saw the rain was still showering.

Tina saw that they had already changed into new hot-looking short gowns, different from the ones they wore at noon. They looked like they were now going out for a party.

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

Prisca, too, had changed her black gown into a seductive short red dress.

Tina quickly rushed up to meet Prisca to confirm if they were already going home, and if the driver was a good Samaritan who would take them home.

But before Tina could approach Prisca and open her mouth to ask, Prisca yelled at her, “Where do you think you’re going, too, Tina?! With that soaked-filled body of yours? Please move backwards, as you’re not following us, not to talk of soaking someone’s car with such a wet, dripping body.”

Tina frowned. She couldn’t understand Prisca’s recent behavior toward her.

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

Sharon laughed, stared at Tina's hand, and saw the umbrella in her hand.

Sharon then walked back to meet Tina, collected the umbrella from her hand, and said, “Don’t be annoyed, Tina. Kindly lend us your umbrella. Aw… this umbrella even looks like mine that I have been searching for inside. Mm…”

Sharon glared at Tina, but Tina didn’t respond. She was still in shock from Prisca’s statement.

Sharon then took the umbrella, opened it to cover her head, and walked back to the car.

Tina finally snapped out of her daze as she saw the four ladies wanting to enter the car.

She hastily rushed up to meet Prisca and asked, “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. She turned to face Tina, stood beside the car, and continued, "Well, you see, Tina, that I have changed my clothes, and what does that tell you? That I’m going out and not yet going home. And besides, it’s already late now, and I will soon be back. So why not go inside and wait for us to return back first? When I return, then we can start going home.”

“But…” Before Tina could speak a word, Prisca hastily rushed back into the car and shut the car door. She didn’t wait for Tina to respond.

The car driver started the car, and Tina stood outside the house crying, as she watched the driver drive out of the compound, leaving her alone and standing outside in front of the house.