Chapter Three

"What makes you think I want to get home safe?" Munzi asked Adrian.

"You have dreams to reach and I happen to be a gentleman." He said and she snorted.

"You wouldn't even offer me your coat when I shivered." She said taking the right turn that led to her house. She really hated this neighborhood. It was dirty and noisy but she couldn't afford to live in a better part of town.

"I thought you loved the cold. Besides, I don't think people would appreciate seeing a man with an exposed torso walking a girl home. Unless of course you want to see my six pack." He said chuckling as he watched her tiptoe to avoid stepping on the grass.

"What's funny? You think I'd care to see your 'six pack'?" She asked making quotation marks with her fingers around the six pack.

"I'm sure you would like to see them. Believe me, after all the time I've spent in the gym, you'd want to lick them." He said.

"Eew.That is disgusting." She said scrunching her nose in disgust.

"I knew it. You just pictured yourself licking my abs." He said smirking at her. She blushed and almost played with her hair until she remembered how dirty it was.

"I had to otherwise how would I know I was right and it's gross. Also this is my destination so adios." She said stopping at a blue-green door. He looked at her and wondered how to convince her to let him stay. And then the Lord gave him an answer.

"Perfect. I'm not picky. I'll take the floor, you take the bed. Like I said, I'm a gentleman." He said and placed his hands in his jeans pockets.

"You must have hit your head harder than I thought at the gate. You are practically a stranger I met barely two hours ago. I'd be proving all those idiots right by inviting you into my home. I am not crazy." She said looking him in the eye. He had really beautiful eyes, dark green and her favorite color.

"I might be stranger but remember Abraham welcomed angels to his home." He told her admiring the way her skin shone in the moonlight.

"And remember I am only nineteen not ninety and I sure as hell don't want a son right now. And unlike Abram, I don't have faith in God." She said the intensity of her stare increasing tenfold.

"I know that you secretly think you are an embodiment of the moon like the Greek goddess Selene. Your biggest fear is hurting anything or anyone. You feel so much that you won't be able to live with yourself unless I'm safely sleeping your floor." He finally said after a few minutes of contemplation. He watched as she lowered her gaze and knew that he had been right. God had given him an answer.

"Selene was everything I am only I'm stronger. Also I wouldn't mind being killed in my sleep. I've been anticipating it's happenstance. Welcome to my place." She said turning to open the door. She hoped he'd like it. A year of living in this town, she had done her best to make it look at least presentable. It was single room with only one window. The bed took up most of the space even if it was only three by six feet in size. Thank goodness she had made it in the morning. The only other furniture in the room was a small cupboard and a plastic chair. In it were her clothes in one drawer,her books in another, the utensils in the third and the last one had her food supplies. In the last corner behind the door was her gas cooker and two buckets with soap.

"Nice place. The blue and yellow are really warm." Adrian said moving to sit on the bed.

"It isn't that bad?" She asked. She was really proud of her little home but given he was from Arica, one couldn't be so sure of his taste.

"Yeah. It has character." He said making her blush.

"I'll make us dinner." She offered.

"Okay. Do you have any water? I need to clean up. I haven't showered in weeks." He said and smiled as she cringed.

"Yeah. Take a bucket and soap. There's a tap on your right to the gate and a bathroom next to it." She said.

"You guys have a communal bathroom?" He asked unsure of how hygienic it was.

"Hey not every country is as developed as yours but mind you ours is the most hopeful." She said moving to get him a kanga he could use as a towel.

"Okay, I rest my case. Do you have anything I can wear?" He asked.

She looked in her clothes drawer and found him an oversized t-shirt and another kanga. She gave them to him.

"You tie the kanga around your waist. It's wrong for a woman to wear trousers. That's why I don't have any." She explained when she saw the confusion written on his much too handsome face.

"Thank you. This is the most hospitality I have ever received my whole life and from a stranger at that." He said his heart pulling at him.

"Don't mention it. Like you said, for all I know you are an angel." She told him before shooing him to the bathroom.

After he had left, she folded his dirty clothes and put them on top of hers in the other bucket. She looked at his dirty torn up and smelly shoes and placed them outside the door. She was sure that some neighbor would come steal them but she didn't particularly mind. They were making her blue carpet dirty and was sure that they did more harm than good to Adrian's feet. She would buy him another pair with her savings if need be. After tidying up the place, she finally took off her school bag and placed it on the chair. She didn't have lots of assignments so she started cooking right away. She hadn't eaten in ten hours and was positive that Adrian was just as hungry if not more than her. Given that she didn't have alot, she decided to make ugali from the maize flour she had milled to eat with kales. It was a quick meal but one that would make sure they were sated to the morning.

When Adrian came back a few minutes later, she had a steaming plate of ugali on a tray and mouthwatering kales in her two bowls.

"Something smells good." Adrian said placing the bucket on the floor.

"Thanks. It's ugali and kales." Munzi said after she was done admiring his beautiful body. "Come on let's eat."

She placed the food on the bed and proceeded to sit on one side of the tray. Adrian took the other side and his bowl of kale. He liked this style of eating. It made everything feel warmer and familial compared to the dining room he and his wife had shared.

"Aren't you going to pray?" He asked Munzi, when he saw her take a piece of ugali and some kales and put it in her mouth.

"I already started eating." She said rolling her eyes.

"Okay then. So let's give thanks." He said and she rolled her eyes again but still closed them and bowed her head.

"Thank you Lord for this food and the wonderful woman who I'm sharing it with. May she never lack and those who don't have any, may you provide for them. Amen." He said and started eating. "Aren't you going to say Amen?" He asked her.

"No thanks I'm good." She said.

"This is really good." He said. "How do you know how to cook so well?"

"I enjoy good food and growing up, my parents made sure that I would make the perfect wife. If I was a bad cook, my husband would send me back to my mother and it would be embarrassing." She explained.

"Your culture is really interesting." He said with a chuckle.

"More like outdated. I believe in equality. Society favors the boy child way too much." She said.

"How so?" He asked.

"Kabila was sympathized with after I refused to marry him. He already has two wives. No one even looked at me twice even after they knew he had forced himself on me. Now I am shunned by the community while he became a village elder." She explained before taking another bite.

"Why would they make him an elder? He's a rapist." Adrian pointed out and watched Munzi wince at the last word.

"He said that I tempted him. He was a victim of seduction in the people's eyes." She said looking at him.

"Well, that's just wrong. People like him should be castrated or jailed." He said shaking his head at the unfairness of it all.

"It's okay. If not me, he would have done the same to another girl. It was just my day to get the shorter end of the stick."