Amara lay on the bed in the hotel room, staring at the ceiling. A shudder ran through her body as memories of what had happened that night came back to her.
She pulled the duvet over her head and curled into a fetal position on the bed as her heart began to race.
She could have died. She would have died just like that had God not saved her. She would have disappeared from the face of the earth, and nobody would have known what happened to her.
How would her family have survived had she been killed last night? Would she have died and gone to hell just like that? All for what?
She threw off the covers and got out of the bed. She knelt beside the bed. "Lord, thank you for saving me. I know I do not deserve it. I turned my back on you, yet you didn't turn your back on me; instead, you were watching my back. Thank you for having my back. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for disappointing the devices of the crafty so that their hands could not perform their enterprise. Thank you for using pastor Mike to save me. I'm sorry for all my sins. I tried to do it on my own, but it didn't work. If anything, I failed even more. Please forgive me. Please accept me back into your fold and help me to live better going forward."
As she knelt there praying, the telephone in the room rang, startling her. She rose and went to pick it up.
"Hello. Someone is here to see you. She says her name is Loveth, and she is from Pastor Mike," the receptionist informed her.
Amara's brows pulled together. "Does she want to come in, or does she want me to come out?" she asked and waited as the receptionist asked the person.
"She said anyone you prefer is fine by her," the receptionist told her.
"Okay. Let her come in."
A knock sounded on the door a minute later, and Amara opened it to see a dark, pretty young lady standing there with a small nylon and handbag.
"Good morning. My name is Loveth. Pharmo… I mean, Pastor Mike sent me," she said, looking Amara over.
Loveth noted Amara's spotless, fair skin, long, colorful nails, and very long braids and eyelashes.
She was a fine girl. If skin like milk was a person, then it was Amara. Loveth concluded that Michael had a very high standard for women if Amara was his spec.
But why did she look familiar? Loveth wondered.
Amara stepped back to let her inside. "Good morning, ma," Amara greeted politely while wondering who Loveth was to Michael.
Was she his wife or girlfriend?
"Ma ke? Please call me Loveth. Or nurse Loveth," Loveth said with a friendly smile. "He said I should take you to go and get you some clothes. You also need something to wear to church tomorrow."
"Church?" Amara repeated.
"Yes. Take these slippers. He said you only have bathroom slippers," she said, giving Amara the nylon.
"Thank you," Amara said as she took the nylon from her and took out a pair of black Pam slippers.
Why did Michael send someone? Why didn't he just give her the money to buy it herself? Or did he think she would run away with his money?
"Wait, let me call him. He said I should call him so that he can talk to you," she said as she dialed his number and put it on speaker so that she would hear whatever Michael told Amara.
"Pharmo, I'm with her now," she said immediately after he received the call.
Pharmo? Nurse? Did that mean she worked for him? How much did she know? Did Michael tell her what happened? Amara pondered.
"Please give her the phone," Michael said, and Loveth passed the phone to Amara.
Amara turned away from Loveth as she raised the phone to her ears and removed it from the speaker. "Hello, it's Amara," she said softly when she took the phone, and Michael didn't say anything.
"How are you?" Michael asked, feeling slightly awkward.
"I'm fine. What about you? I thought you'd be resting by now," she said, and Loveth drew closer so that she could hear what Amara was saying because Amara's voice was too low.
"I'm fine. I hope the phone is not on speaker?" He asked curiously.
"No," Amara said, moving away from Loveth when she noticed how close Loveth was standing.
"Good. Don't tell her anything. She might want to ask you questions or make you talk. Don't say anything. I didn't tell her anything," Michael said, and Amara nodded, relieved.
"Okay. Thank you," Amara said quietly.
"Go with her and get what you need. Can you find your way to the pharmacy?" He asked, and her brows pulled together.
"Yes. Sure. She said something about church tomorrow," Amara said, waiting for an explanation.
"Yes. I want you to come with me to church tomorrow. Do you have a problem with that?" He asked, wanting to hear what she would say.
"No. It's just that it's been a long time since I went to church…"
"You were in church last night," he reminded her.
"I was not inside the church. But it's fine. I will go with you," she said with a resigned sigh.
"Good. Later in the evening I want you to come to the pharmacy so that we can talk in my office," he said, and she raised a brow.
What did he want to talk about now when he didn't talk to her all the while she was with him that morning?
"Okay. When should I come?" She asked, and Michael remembered another reason why he had wanted to talk to her.
"I will call you. Take my number from her and flash me with your phone…"
"I lost my phone," she cut in before he could finish.
"Oh! Okay. I will call the reception line and ask them to pass my message to you."
"Okay. Would it be okay if I used her phone to call my mom? She will be worried if she hasn't heard from me by now," Amara said, and Michael couldn't help but wonder if her mother knew what she did for a living.
"When I come you can use my phone," he said and after that they ended the call.
Amara left the hotel with Loveth, who was feeling disappointed that she had not heard anything she could gossip about.
As Loveth stopped a tricycle to carry them to their destination, Amara paused when she heard the name of the street Loveth was telling the driver.
"I can't go there," she said immediately.
It was Valerie's street. The last thing she wanted was to run into Valerie or for anyone to tell Valerie they had seen her.
"Why?" Loveth asked curiously as she stepped away from the tricycle and let him drive off.
"There is somebody I'm avoiding there," she said, and Loveth looked at her closely again.
Was that why she looked familiar? Was it that street that she had seen her before?
"Let me call my friend and see if she can bring the clothes here. I can't go and buy clothes from somewhere else when my friend is selling clothes," she said, and although Amara wasn't comfortable with seeing her friend, she nodded, understanding the need to patronize her friend.
Amara waited patiently as Loveth called her friend, who thankfully said she was in Onitsha.
Together, they went to the market, and Loveth was surprised to see a clean girl like Amara selecting thrift clothes like an expert.
She was even more surprised when Amara selected some for her, too: "Take. These ones will look good on you."
She wanted to protest, but Amara insisted that she keep the clothes, so she happily and gratefully took them with her.
As they shopped for clothes and undies, they made small talk, and Amara tried to ensure the conversations were steered away from her relationship with Michael even though Loveth kept trying to ask her about it.
After they were done shopping and returned to the hotel, Loveth took out what was left of the money from her bag and counted it. It was Eleven thousand two hundred naira. She handed it to Amara.
"This is the remaining money."
"How much did he give you?" Amara asked, wondering how much was left after everything they had bought.
"100k."
"Hundred thousand naira?" Amara asked, surprised that he would spend that much.
What did he want in return? He couldn't possibly have given her that amount of money for free, could he?
"Yes. You can buy food. I need to go back to the pharmacy now. One of my patients is coming soon for her dose of injection," she said. Before she could walk away, Amara took five thousand naira from the money and handed it to her.
"Take for your transport."
"Ah! No, thank you. You bought me clothes already," Loveth said, refusing to take the money.
"It's just my way of saying thank you. It's not easy to help someone you don't know. Please take it," Amara said, and Loveth smiled.
"Thank you. God bless you," Loveth said, thinking that Amara was a perfect fit for Michael.
She wasn't sure about their relationship, but she could see that Amara was a good girl.