CHAPTER 51

Zoe and Zion have not been speaking to each other even though they live in the same house. Zoe is still angry at her brother for berating her instead of supporting her as his sister. She was also surprised when she came to know that her brother is aware of the kind of person that Amaka is but is still choosing to protect her. She was also angry that because of what happened the other day, she has been forced to start working in their parent's company as her mother believes that she cooked up stories against Amaka because she was jobless and jealous of her.

Zoe prefers her journalism which she was doing before than the work which her parents are forcing her to do at the company. This job to her is slavery because she has to report to a superior everyday before she leaves the company and she was not finding it funny. She began to regret her actions and was telling herself that if only she had known that this would be the outcome, she would have swallowed her pride and apologized to Amaka when her mother asked her to. Everything that happened on that day taught Zoe a new life lesson. Her friend Celine who she was also fighting for has not called her since the incident happened and it looks like Celine has deserted her. She has tried reaching Celine on her mobile phone but every time that she calls, Celine never picks up the phone.

She promised herself that on her way back from work today, she will go to Celine's house and speak to her because she was only trying to help as a friend and does not deserve being deserted and ignored. If not for the fact that she was trying to help her friend, there are different ways that she would have handled Amaka's case. She only wanted to discredit Amaka in presence of everyone so that her friend Celine will get more chance at marrying her brother Zion but instead of getting a thank you, all she got out of it at the end of the day was she being called names, forced to work, and also ignored.

She drove into the streets where Celine stays with her parents and parked her car in front of their building. She immediately walked into the house without waiting for long as her mum has also told her that she has a curfew. When she got into the living room, she met Celine seeing a movie and eating chips without a care in the world. "So you are at home and healthy. I have been trying to reach you and you have soon refused to answer any of my calls or return them. Is this the gratitude I deserve to get from you? I tried doing everything for everyone but what I got at the end of the day was villainy." 

As Zoe was talking, Celine dropped the chips that she was eating before Zoe came in "I can't believe you are here asking for gratitude when you actually messed up everything. Your mother has told my mum that I should stay away from you because I am a bad influence on you. Your mum said that without me you always think straight but the moment I come in, your thoughts go haywire. Zoe I am only adhering to instructions and it will also be better for you if you turn around and leave now. It is true that I love your brother but that should not give your mum the opportunity to come into our house and insult my parents by telling them to tell me to stay away from you. Was I the one who put ideas in your head and words in your mouth? I'm sorry Zoe, you and I have been childhood friends but your mother really crossed the line this time."

Celine, you are here angry at my mother because she said you should not come to our house for now. What about me who is her child? What should I say about the treatment that I am receiving from her because of Amaka? My mum has now given me a Toyota Camry because she seized my car. Do you know that I now have a 9 to 5 job? I also have a curfew at my age. All of this started since the day that Amaka stepped her feet in our house. My brother has not even married her yet and there is discord in the family already, so I wonder what will happen if he ends up marrying her. One of the most annoying things which has made my brother and I not to speak to each other for a while now is when I came to know and that he knows the kind of person that Amaka is but he still watched me get scolded and framed without saying anything on that day. I don't think that I want to talk to him anytime soon and neither does he want to talk to me also. Because of that, we have been avoiding each other and I noticed this morning that it seems he wants to move back to his apartment."

"Well Zoe, I am not angry at you but I think it's high time you left because I don't want your mother insulting my parents because of our friendship anymore. I'll rather end my friendship with you than let that happen again. Because of the friendship that they share, my parents did not see what your mother said as an insult and that's the problem. They don't see it that way because it is not pertaining to them. I am sorry to end our friendship like this Zoe because we have been friends from childhood but your mother has come to let me understand that my friendship with you is influencing you wrongly and I wouldn't want such to continue. I wouldn't want to remain friends with the person whose parents accuses me of influencing them wrongly. As of today I give up on our friendship and also on your brother as my peace of mind and self-respect is more important to me than certain relationships."

After Celine finished talking, she went back to the movie that she was seeing as she increased the volume of the television and continued eating her chips. Zoe who saw this action also turned around and left the house because she felt angry at her friend. Zoe couldn't believe that just a word from her mother would make Celine this mad. She felt that this is not the first time that they will receive a scolding from each other's mothers but why is Celine taking it to heart this time. She felt that Celine was ending their friendship because she is still angry at Zion and the best way to stop seeing him is by breaking all ties with his family.

Tonight, Zoe is more sad because her brother has moved back to his apartment and Celine has just ended their friendship tonight in a very cruel way. She thought about Amaka again because all her problems started the day that she met Amaka. She used to think that Amaka has no talent apart from seducing men but after this little display which has cost her almost everything, she came to realise that Amaka has a great talent at destroying things. When she walked into her brother's life, it was peaceful and her brother wasn't keeping secrets from her but now the story is different as her brother now keeps enmity with her and his life is looking like he is going through a storm. Zoe promised herself that she will not rest until she puts Amaka where she belongs which is on the streets.

On-the-day Amaka went to the Austin's house for dinner which turned out to become a circus show, she contacted somebody to help her deal with Zoe by wiping off every file about her that was in Zoe's laptop. Amaka got scared when she realised that Zoe was not using her laptop tonight rather she gave her mother had copies. Amaka was almost about to get up and leave before the whole drama started to unfold.

 Amaka has never seen the person who helped her to wipe out Zoe's laptop memory as they have only communicated on phone twice.  She sent him a text message saying "Thank you for everything that you did for me today. You don't know how much shame and embarrassment you took away from me for that clean awesome job which you did. Did you break into the house today, because even hard copies became weird."

Amaka has promised herself that if Zion doesn't come to her house to beg her, that will be the end of them as she will not take any disrespect from him or anyone. She allowed Zoe to talk to her the way she did and almost ridiculed her because she knows what she's looking for from the Austin's.

 The person who helped her, did not reply or read her messages since that day as he was also in a bad mood. He saw the message today and smiled at himself "you are welcome. Yes I came over without letting anyone see me as I ransacked the house in a professional way and changed the things that needed changing because your message sounded like you really needed help. I hope that the day I also request for your help you will be willing to help me the same way that I rush to your rescue whenever you call for it." 

The person whom Amaka contacted to do the job for her unknowingly was Zion. Zion is a professional hacker who is on the low and people give him jobs without even knowing who he is. His sister has tried many times giving him other business ideas but he is a businessman and he knows which is more profitable. When his sister discovered that she could not deter him as she wanted to be the only champion in the market, she decided to go with the flow. His sister has given him jobs numerous times which she ends up claiming that they are her jobs and when he sees them on her page, he starts laughing. Zion told himself that his sister is angry at him because she feels that he is beginning to keep secrets away from her. He also asked himself what she will do the day that she will come to realise that he is the anonymous hacker that everybody has been talking about that there has never been any like him. For Zion, hacking into a person's computer is always like a piece of cake for him.

Zion knows almost everything about what Amaka has done without her telling him as he has done his job and also bought the videos which leaked some time ago. Zion could not blame Amaka for anything as Fred was the one forcing her to do all those disgusting things. Zion loves Amaka and does not care about what she has done in the past because all he cares about right now is her present and her future not her past. He purposely Sabotaged his sister because he does not want her to present those files and pictures to their mother as he wants Amaka to be given a chance. Sometimes when Zion looks at Amaka, he feels very bad for her and tells himself that all she needs is a little love to show her that the world is not as wicked as she has been taught to believe.

Tracy has been trying to reach Joshua on his phone but all to no avail as he wasn't picking up any calls. Joshua refused to pick up anybody's calls because he feels that he doesn't have the patience for unnecessary questions as he may just end up turning on someone because of that.

After the third ring, Joshua decided to power off his phone. He suspected that the person who might be making them call him incessantly is Linda's mother as she has come to gloat in his face but unfortunately she will not get the satisfaction that she is looking for in taunting him because he will not pick up the calls.

 Cherry was the happiest girl on Earth after discovering that Linda has packed her bags and left without telling anyone about it. She had a little peace as she told herself that the major person who Joshua is interested in has left the game, so it will be left between she and Tracy right now. Cherry has promised herself that she will not stress over Tracy because she knows what to do to her to get her out of the road also.

While she was in her house plotting, Tracy who has called Josh many times without him picking up his calls was also at the hospital plotting. She was very happy when she also learnt that Linda has left Joshua and the City also. She is not worried that Joshua is busy drinking himself to stupidity or wherever he is because she knows that he will soon get over it and by then she will have a chance.

 Joshua's mother went back home and told her husband that he should call his son because she has been calling him and he has refused to pick up his calls as everyone is waiting for him already. Her husband looked at her and laughed as he told her that there was nothing wrong with their son because he is only nursing his heartbreak which is something normal for everyone to do. He told her that he will not call Joshua for her because if she has been a responsible mother, she wouldn't be telling someone else to help her call her son and talk to him. You had better stop pretending like you care if he's in any trouble because I know you don't and I know that you are here either because of a property or money.

"I don't care about anything that you have to say and I will tell you what I came here to tell Joshua today so that you can relate the message to your son when you finally see him. Belinda which you and him choose for him has disappointed so I have brought Cherry and she is waiting. Cherry will not be waiting for him forever because she is a woman and she also has to move on else she might become an old maid so Joshua has to reply me in the next three days to one week." After Joshua's mother was done talking to her husband like she was talking to her errand boy, she stood, adjusted her dress which does not need adjusting by pulling on her collar before walking out of the living room.