"After she closed her Boli shop around 8 p.m., Bassy found it difficult to go back home, remembering what had happened that morning. Her son started crying for her to take him home as they stood in front of her shop while she was contemplating what to do next.
Out of frustration, she gave the poor boy a thunderous hot slap, prompting him to shut up, but he did the opposite as the crying persisted even louder.
Bassy, baffled about what to do, decided to just go home, thinking, "Maybe Mr. Nnamdi won't have enough courage to tell Dule about it." She said to herself before carrying her crying baby. "It's okay, we are going home now," she told him while she danced slightly for him to stop crying.
Immediately, Bassy stepped into the house, drooping. Dule gave her a heavy hot slap on her cheek. "How dare you step your stingy feet into my house again, you little witch!" she widened her eyes.
Gabriel, who was right in Bassy's arms, started crying upon seeing what Dule had done to his mom. Bassy promptly went on her knees, pleading with Dule to let her explain what happened.
The fact that Bassy asked for the chance to explain herself led Mr. Nnamdi, who was sitting on the couch in the living room, to dash outside and start beating Bassy for returning to his house even when he asked her not to.
Instead of Dule stopping him, knowing that he's a man and he might end up breaking her bones, she decided to join her husband in beating Bassy mercilessly.
After the harassment, Dule personally went inside to throw Bassy's things outside.
Bassy didn't bother begging them to stop or tried to explain anything to Dule because her word will never be enough. Moreover, she packed her bags with her son's to start heading nowhere that night.
"Stupid girl, I gave you a privilege and you took it as a right, you want to snatch my husband from me just because I did what your Aunt couldn't do for you! Is it a crime to be a nice person? You dared abuse my kindness, Bassy, it will never be well with you for trying to lure my husband to sleep with you."
Bassy overheard Dule ranting while pouring out all the lies Nnamdi had told her in an effort to send her out of their house.
She didn't say anything; rather, she continued working with so much pain due to the overbeating she had received.
She was crying bitterly in her heart while her son was crying out.
"God didn't allow my husband to fall for your cheap trap because he knows I did you no evil. I took you like my own sister, even after I warned you to stay out of my husband's lane, you still went ahead begging him to have sex with you. Now I see why Edu denied you completely and why your Aunt sent you out just like that. You are such a wicked soul, and you will remain unfortunate for the rest of your life. It will never be well with you and that bastard you call a child."
Bassy walked farther from the unpleasant words echoing in her head. With each step, the voice grew fainter, its barb dulling until they were nothing more than a distant murmur. With each step, the weight of her sorrow pressed down upon her, threatening to engulf her in its suffocating embrace.
She managed to pat her son to stop crying while she carried him on her back wrapped with a brown wrapper.
The rhythm of the cloak of night sounded like whispered secrets that only she could hear. Their eerie sound was like a haunting reminder about the darkness that lurked within her own heart. She tapped Gabriel, seeking solace in the warmth of his tiny body even as tears continued to flow unabated under her cheek.
With her mind racing around thinking of what to do next, a flicker of hope gripped her, retrieving the man that gave her his number about a domestic staff job last night.
She briskly brought out her phone and dialed the number. She tried to maintain a cool tone as much as she could, reminding the man that she's the Boli seller. She could feel it from the man's tone that he's pleased to receive her call because he even mentioned that he has been expecting her call for a while.
Bassy opened up everything to him, beseeching as she explained everything that had been going through and her current situation.
The man resisted, considering the fact that his boss won't accept her with a child.
Bassy solicited with a voice changing gradually to a crying tone as she couldn't hold back her emotions anymore.
The man wanted to end the call, concluding that he can't be of help to her, but was left bewildered considering all her sad story. It was like a narrow voice from nowhere whispered to his ear not to hang up on her.
"Please, sir, even if it's to hide my son for a while until I prove myself to them, I will," Bassy implored.
"Ah, this girl, you are putting me in a tight corner. How did you even end up in such a situation? Everywhere in the village, they talk about you and how you useless your life."
"I didn't do it deliberately; it's my fate I'm facing. Please, sir, help me, you are my last hope," Bassy couldn't help but cry out loud. It was like a reminder to her how her life had been swinging in jeopardy over the last four years.
"I'll call you back by tomorrow morning; I can't give you any solid decision right now," the man spoke with a firm tone before hanging up the call.
Bassy strolled to the street where her shop was to spend the night. Even if it wasn't covered with enough materials to hide them inside, at least a hand trampoline could serve as the roof to shield them in case it rains, and old woods as the pillars to keep it standing. Bassy joined the benches where customers sit together to serve as a bed. She laid her son, who had cried to sleep, on the wooden bench. She said a few words of prayer for God to protect them as they sleep in the street before laying beside him to sleep off as well.
Bassy couldn't sleep due to too much fright. She feared that someone could just come in from the bush near them to snatch her son away or even rape her.
Her heart couldn't stop beating at the back of her chest, terrified of the fear of the unknown. She attempted to force herself into slumber but to no avail.
As the first rays of dawn tiptoed through the horizon, Bassy gasped in relief.
"The sigh of relief that washed over her made her fall asleep that early morning.
As people started passing by that early morning, everyone that saw Bassy sleeping in such an open place under the cold Monday dews gasped at how she's surviving in the cold.
Some glanced at her sympathetically, wondering why Dule had sent her away again as she has always been moving from one person's house to another ever since her predicament started and her Aunt sent her out of the house.
While some mocked her heartlessly, saying she's getting what she deserves.
Bessy woke up to hear the whispers, but brushed off the murmurs of people walking by and talking about her and her son but decided to pay them no mind. Moreover, she had nothing to answer them.
The sudden call that hit her cell phone prompted her to promptly get up to see who was calling, furthermore, she was expecting a call back from the man that spoke with her last night. for his feedback. She couldn't shake the feeling of just disappearing from the village and never returning off her head, believing that's the best thing to do, as Dule and her husband are going to start spreading fake news about her again, claiming she lured Nnamdi to have sex with her, just to make things worse for her.
A wave of relief gripped her upon seeing that it's the call she was expecting that just popped up on her phone this early morning.