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As the dispersed naira notes slowly glide through the air, the entire world stops before Uju's dismal eyes. Somehow, in the black and white hue of their mint demeanor, she is able to envisage the apparent value of life, love, chastity, loyalty, aspirations, integrity, justice and the truth on earth. As each weakly crisp note gracefully touches the reddened sand, she beholds in their countenance, the apparent value of this world and everything in it. Never before has she loathed the sight of money so much. And never before has she felt so wretched; not because she is a pauper or because she desperately desires riches, but because of the enormous power money has come to possess over human existence. It irks her to know that no matter how much pride or dignity she has, she will eventually have to bend the knee to pick up each and every one of those naira notes, because right now, she is absolutely penniless. She cannot even call for help, because the phone Mr. Akintola gave her is nowhere to be found. So if she hopes to survive, she will need this money. And she'd better hurry too, because leaving them scattered on the floor for too long might tempt even the rats scouring along the streets to steal them. Therefore, with tears still in her eyes, she gradually stands up from the pavement and bends down to pick up each note from the sandy floor. Afterwards, she puts them into her ghana-must-go bag and sits back on the pavement, at which point she starts to think of what to do next.

While Uju sits outside in despair, not many people pass by. It isn't a very busy street. It is a long lonely road where each house has a towering concrete fence and iron gate, with tops beautifully decorated by deadly-sharp barbed wires, in case of robbers. Everyone lives in a fortress really. And they hardly ever come out without their cars, unless they need to purchase something from Iyabeji's provisions store. Speaking of which; the last person Uju wants to see right now is Iyabeji, as she would be more than delighted to feast on the sordid details of Uju's story, her sorrow and her pain, just so that she can circulate the scandalous news. Truth be told, some other passers by will most likely do the same. She believes that perhaps there might be a silver lining after all in the fact that she is here alone. Although, once it gets dark, she fears for her fate. A lonely teenage girl on the streets at night! Who knows what could befall her?

After a while, the sun gradually sets, and the cool evening wind begins to blow. But Uju barely even notices. She simply huddles beside the gate, pondering over her entire life; her devastating past, her woeful present and her bleak future. As she gradually sinks deeper into the abyss of despair, a sort of calming lethargy begins to permeate her mind. It is almost as though she has experienced so much pain, that now, she has lost the ability to feel anything at all, or has simply become so acclimatized to pain, that more of it only makes her slightly weary. She is getting quite sleepy already. Although, as her weakened eyelids start to close gradually, she feels a gentle tap on her shoulder.

"Sisi... You dey sleep?" Yusuf asks with a tender and sympathetic tone, afterwhich Uju looks up at him. Then she sighs and replies feebly, "No o."
Afterwards, she continues staring into space and then sighs again.

Yusuf feels quite sad for Uju. He never really liked her much. And he believes that she never liked him as well. But if there is one thing he has come to realize over time; it is that she is actually a very kind and decent person; more decent than he had hoped anyway. If she weren't, it would have been much easier to watch her get kicked out, and may have subtly appeased his sentimental distaste for her. But right now, she just looks like a poor little thing. And the worst part is, there is nothing he can do to help her out. He himself is a victim of circumstance. But unlike her, he is illiterate. The small room and toilet at this house's gatepost is his only home. And his job as a gatekeeper is the best he can aspire for at the moment. Uju has no idea how much in some ways, he envies her, despite her suffering.
"Wetin you do madam?" he asks, in warm concern. But Uju simply sighs in reply, unable to begin yet another round of that horrible story. She is truly exhausted.

Upon noticing this, he goes to sit on the floor beside her and then begins,
"Sorry o... I know sey ee no easy. And... I no really know wetin happen. But... You be betta person... dat one sure. And... I believe sey madam go forgive you. Yus...give am small time. She na still good person..." Then he drops the large padlock in his hand and continues, "...I know sey before, I no too dey good to you like dat. Abeg, no vex... Na just de way I be. And de house wey I first dey ehn... de house girl na correct thief!... She dey thief money, dey thief food, dey thief spoon and cup... She dey even thief baby cloth..." Upon hearing this, Uju bursts into tearful laughter unexpectedly. Wow!
Even she is surprised that she can still laugh.

" ...bad thief, like dis!" Yusuf adds, with a chuckle.
Then after Uju recovers from her laughter, she replies warmly and earnestly, "... No worry, Yusuf. You no do me anything. I no dey vex for you."

Back in the house, Amara is still crying profusely. She just cannot believe that Femi actually cheated on her; and with the maid! 'How could he?' she wonders, as she starts to mumble, "They must have been at it for a while now... he and that snake, Uju!"
She believes that they have been sneaking around the house and making a fool of her, all this time. 'But inside our home? How could Femi do this?... How could Uju do this??' she wonders. 

"...#SNIFF... I trusted her... I took her in... I fed her! I clothed her!!!... #sniffs... I put her in a private school!!!Oh Lord! #SNIFF... Do I deserve this kind of humiliation???" Amara keeps lamenting in agony.
What on earth will she tell her son now? What on earth will she tell Tobi? She definitely cannot keep quiet about this. She will not. Femi has betrayed her in the harshest way possible. Thus, she decides that one way or another, she is going to make him pay dearly. Now, she intends to make him truly wish that he had never married her. 'Damn him!' she exclaims within herself. Afterwards, she falls on top of her pillow and buries her face completely in it. Then she starts to scream like a banshee. She keeps cursing the day she met Femi. But then all of a sudden, she stops abruptly with a gasp and raises her head up, hot tears still trickling down her cheeks. 'But what if I brought this upon myself? What if... I pushed Femi into the arms of another woman? Who knows if Uju was his only mistress? What if... What if he has been pretending all this while; making me believe that he still loved me, when in fact, he did not?' she wonders in anguish. Amara knows Femi all too well. He is a 'slow poison'. And she believes him more than capable of such a dastardly act. But could it all be her fault? Could it be that her inability to give him the kind of love he deserved, gave him no other choice? Or worse yet; could it be that she is not really angry that he cheated, but is only angry at herself for never truly loving him; and for marrying him simply because it was the most appropriate thing to do? Although, maybe not. She definitely loved him. But later on, something happened to that love. Or maybe it was just not as full as she thought. Nonetheless, she can still feel it. The love is still there and is very much alive; but the desire, not so much.

"Cynthia!... Cynthia is the cause of all this." she mutters. For some reason, ever since she met Cynthia, her love for Femi has diminished. She believes that somehow, her friendship with Cynthia may have affected her love for her husband. But that does not even make any sense. They are just friends! Then Amara gasps again, "No... No!!... Absolutely not! It can't be! I am not..." she mutters, while fidgeting a bit. Afterwards, she starts to breathe heavily and wonder whether she is going crazy. In fact, she wishes she were going crazy right now. It would be much easier to stomach it all, if she were. But to her utter dismay, she realizes that she is still very sane.

It is difficult to comprehend the sort of agony Amara is going through right now. But at this time, two things have become certain- that she has a lot of questions to ask herself, and that Uju is only a victim in this situation. Hence, after analyzing the entire scenario again and again, Amara finally comes to the conclusion that in truth, Femi did rape Uju; most likely out of frustration with her, his wife. 'The poor girl is innocent.' she avers.

                                   
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GLOSSARY
"Sisi.....You dey sleep?"- "Sisi....Are you asleep?"
"Wetin you do madam?"- "What did you do to the madam?"
"Sorry o... I know sey ee no easy. And... I no really know wetin happen. But... You be betta person... dat one sure. And... I believe sey madam go forgive you. Yus...give am small time. She na still good person..."- "I'm so sorry...I know it's not easy. And... I don't know what exactly happened. But... You're a good person, that's for sure. And...I believe the madam will forgive you. Just... give her some time. She too, is a good person..."
"...I know sey before, I no too dey good to you like dat. Abeg, no vex... Na just de way I be. And de house wey I first dey ehn... de house girl na correct thief!... She dey thief money, dey thief food, dey thief spoon and cup... She dey even thief baby cloth..."- "I know that I haven't been very good to you... Please, don't take it to heart... It's just the way I get sometimes. And in the last house I worked in... the maid there was a chronic thief!... She would steal money, steal food, steal spoons and cups... she would even steal some of the baby's clothes..."
" ...bad thief, like dis!...."- "...terrible thief, that girl!..."
"....No worry, Yusuf. You no do me anything.....I no dey vex for you......"- "...Don't worry, Yusuf....You didn't do anything to me... I'm not angry with you....."