3. Abandoned and Crying

Sharon saw all the drama going on between Tina and Prisca, but she hissed and didn't bothered asking them what's up. as she never liked Tina, and she wondered what her brother saw in Tina, which made Patrick disturb her about Tina.

Sharon would agree that Tina was indeed cute, sexy, and very yellow in complexion, but Tina was still local to her, and Patrick finally stepped out from his kitchen and into his parlor, as 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, and he saw that Sharon was busy laughing and drinking happily with her two best friends that visited. He got irritated, and he immediately asked Sharon, "Where's your friend Sharon?."

Sharon asked him, with both hands akimbo, "Which of my friends?" and Patrick stared at his parlor wall clock time, and he saw it was already getting late, making him wonder what was taking Prisca time 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, as Patrick had three other siblings aside from Sharon. And just then, Prisca finally stepped out of the restroom, and she said to Tina, "Let us leave."

But as they stepped out of the house to leave, the heavy wind blew them, and next, the heavy rain started to fall heavily, making Prisca turn back to Tina, and she said, "You see, Tina, we cannot go out in the rain, as we will have to wait for the rain to reduce first or stop before leaving for home. I'm going back inside."

Prisca didn't even wait for Tina to respond, as she turned and went back into the house to continue with her discussion with Sharon and the two friends that arrived earlier. While Tina stood outside by the door, she started to cry, as she didn't want to enter back into the house, even as the heavy rain continued to fall and soak her clothes wet. Tina still stood outside by the door and sobbed.

Patrick finally stepped out again to his living room, as he was done cooking, and he discovered that Tina wasn't inside with Prisca and the rest of the three ladies discussing, and he assumed Tina was still outside. It was already getting dark and still raining heavily, as the heavy rainfall made the night fall quickly.

Patrick ignored the ladies discussing it, and he went out and opened the door. He saw Tina sobbing underneath the little porch in front of his house, and he said to Tina, "Come inside, Tina; it's still rainy."

"No.." Tina refused to move an inch, as she didn't want to enter back into Patrick's house, and Patrick frowned as he went back inside, and he later stepped out to give Tina an umbrella, but Tina refused to accept it, as she said to him, "There's no need for it."

"Take it, and use it to cover up yourself, as you're already wet, and to avoid getting too cold, since you don't want to come inside," Patrick said, and he left the umbrella beside Tina, as he knew that Tina was very stubborn, and he went back into his house, not happy about Tina's attitude towards him, as the heavy rainfall continued, with lightening and thunder strikes, but still Tina stood outside and regretted to herself, "Why today off all days, that I followed Prisca here, that this heavy rain knows that it will fall? ... Mom will already be at home from the market, and she wouldn't meet me at home, and Richmond and Jude might be outside playing or wondering where I might've gone too."

Tina sobbed as the heavy rain continued to fall and increase until late at night.

~~~~

Mama-tina (Tina's mother) was in her market space earlier, where she normally sold her fruits and food stuffs at the village square, and she noticed the sudden change of weather at first, and she knew that it would fall heavily.

Mama-tina immediately packed up all her fruits, and she went back home to her husband's house, where she was still living with her children, even as her husband had run away with another woman since ten years ago. But when she got into the house, she met with only Jude, her lastborn son, at home and sleeping inside the house, as the house door wasn't locked, and she wondered where Tina and her first son, Richmond, had both gone too, leaving only Jude at home.

Mama Tina approached Jude, and she gently tapped on his shoulder to wake him up as she said, "Jude, Jude! wake up. Where's your sister and brother?."

Jude was a 10-year-old boy, and he stirred awake and was happy to see that his mother had returned. He quickly hugged her happily, but he replied with both hands, "I don't know mom. I had finished eating my food when I saw Aunty Prisca arrive here, and she was talking with Aunty Tina. And later, Aunty Tina said that I should go back inside and sleep if I've finished eating my food."

"Hmm." Mama Tina frowned, and she asked Jude, "Then where is Richmond?."

Mama Tina wasn't happy that only Jude was at home, but just then, Richmond rushed into the house, and he shut the house door closed before the heavy wind blew, and then the heavy rain started to fall heavily.

Richmond was at his friend's place, named Alex. And he was a 14-year-old guy, and he liked helping Alex's father at his furniture workshop, and he greeted his mother, "Good evening, mom."

"Where's Tina?" Mama-tina quickly asked Richmond, and Richmond gulped, as he didn't know where Tina went to either, as he had left the house earlier with Alex when Tina was still at home, and he didn't know whom visited Tina after he had left the house, nor where Tina went either.

Mama-tina frowned, and she became worried, as she wanted to go out to Prisca's house to search for Tina since Jude had mentioned to her that Prisca was visiting them, but just then the strong wind blew and the heavy rain increased.

Mama-tina cursed, and she paced about in their old-looking parlor as she went back inside, hoping that nothing bad had happened to her only daughter, Tina. She finally went back to the kitchen to sort out their evening meal since it was already getting late, and she remembered that a neighbor of hers had warned her before to monitor Tina's movement with her friend named Prisca. Prisca was always visiting them whenever she 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 she never took their neighbor's warning seriously. She thought there was no need to tell Tina not to make any street friends, and now she was regretting not warning Tina against Prisca or confirming what their neighbor had gossiped to her about Prisca to be true.

~~~~

The heavy rainfall continued to fall until dark nights, and Tina was still standing outside in front of Patrick's house, and she was soaked wet and shivering in the frontage due to the cold as the rain finally gradually reduced.

"If only I had known my way back home earlier, I could've trekked home to our village the previous time that 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, and she stood out in front of Patrick's house, and just then, she saw a car drive into Patrick's compound and park, making her become scared as she used her right palm to wipe off her face from rain drops away from her eyes, and she saw the driver switch off the front-lights, while fears gripped her, as she didn't know who was in the car.

Tina continued to stare at the man worriedly as she saw the man answering a phone call in his car, and just then, Tina heard Sharon's voice and her two best friends voices echoing and laughing out as they stepped out from the house behind her, and they cussed seeing that the rain was still showering.

Tina saw that they had already dressed in a new, hot-looking short gown that was different from the initial gown that she saw them wear before, at noon, as they looked like they were now going out for a party.

To Tina's shock, she also saw Prisca tagging along with them, and Prisca too had changed her black gown into a seductive red short dress. Tina quickly rushed up to meet Prisca and to confirm if they were already going home, and probably the driver in the car was a good Samaritan who wanted to take them home, but before Tina could even approach Prisca and open her mouth and ask Prisca the question, Prisca immediately yelled at her, "Where do you think that you're going too, Tina?! With that soaked-up 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," Prisca added, and Tina frowned, as she couldn't understand Prisca's recent behavior toward her.

Tina became utterly embarrassed, and she gulped down all she wanted to ask Prisca as Sharon laughed out and stared at Tina, and she saw the umbrella in Tina's hand. Sharon walked back to meet Tina, and she collected the umbrella from Tina's hand as she said, "Don't be annoyed, Tina; kindly borrow us this umbrella. Aw, this umbrella even looks like mine, which I have been searching for inside."

Sharon glared at Tina, but Tina didn't respond to Sharon, as Tina was still shocked by Prisca's statement to her. Sharon immediately took her umbrella and walked away. She opened it to cover her head, and she walked back to the car. While Tina finally snapped out of her daze as she saw the four ladies wanting to enter the car,.

Tina immediately rushed up to meet Prisca again, and she asked Prisca, "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, as she turned to face Tina, and she stood beside the car and said, "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 beside, it's already late now, and I will soon be back. So why not go inside and wait for us to return first? When I return, then we can start going home."

"But.." Before Tina could speak a word, Prisca immediately rushed back into the car, and she shut the car door closed, not waiting for Tina to respond, as she saw the car driver start the car, and Tina stood outside the house crying as she watched the car driver drive out of the compound, leaving her all alone and standing outside in front of the house.