CHAPTER ONE

NORA

It's a calm breezy day that Saturday evening, one

which every lady always dreams of having a date

with their loved ones or just anyone; no one should sit alone in bed wallowing in thoughts on a weekend, not after having a stressful week. Nora's phone rings interjecting the quiet space, one look at the caller ID, she puts the phone on silent and shoves it aside. She regrets partying that fateful day, which turned out to be a sore one within twelve hours into it, she met this pervert of a caller. That day, her Uber had arrived and she walked out of her house gorgeously dressed! She looked so enticing that all through the trip even the driver kept catching glances at her through his rear mirror. She arrived at the venue only to meet an empty hall, she had decided to get to the reception early enough to get a good seat, where else can ladies in their 30s desperately meet the love of their lives if not at a wedding? That she totally forgot about African time. She searched for her handkerchief to dab the sweat already streaming down her neck only to realize she left it in the Uber. "Oh! Shit" she had exclaimed, thinking of how terrible her fully baked face might end up with this scorching sun. With her six inches heels, she walked down the scanty road looking for where she could buy one only to be embarrassed by her heels as they broke halfway to the only shop in sight "No! No! No! This is not supposed to be happening! Tade said this shoe was Zaia" she bent to pull off the partly ruined heel, hissing and lamenting why she decided to borrow the shoes from her friend in the first place.

With one shoe on and the other foot bare, she strolled angrily towards the shop, she could feel the gaze of every passerby and every occupant of cars driving past her. She is a lover of attention but not this kind of gross attention; she didn't dress gorgeously to be met by this ill fate.

Engrossed in her thought, she didn't notice the car that pulled up right in front of her until the driver asked her if he could give her a lift. She gladly hops in not caring if he was a kidnapper, at least less embarrassment. As she settles in the passenger's seat, the guy commented on how beautiful she looked which made her look him in the face to thank him only to be met by very ugly pimples invested black face, she swallowed hard and calls for a halt as she approaches the shop she was going. She alights in a rush while he begs her to exchange contact with him, as much as how irritated it sounded to her, standing close and staring back at his face was more irritating. She calls out her digit, gave a fake name, and walks off.