"Im leaving Edu" Veronica was shedding tears and his boyfriend, Edu, who had finished with his university education but dwelling on the village held her hand and tried to talk her out of it.
"Baby listen..." he was about to say.
"Listen to what Edu? Your mother is sick, you are sick too. My parents are both gone and...and I'm just going to sit in my father's house, that house my uncles are struggling over and then I will be there waiting for a day you will come for my hand in marriage, knowing quite alright that that day may never come if I don't do something about it"
"What are you saying? I love you and I have my handwork..."
"That isn't enough Edu, I have to leave the village, I have to look for work in the city. I'm a graduate and I can find a well paying job which I can use to make ends meet for both myself and you and your parents. Please don't try to stop me" She was shedding tears. Edu could not hold back his own tears. He walked out on her and headed into the room.
Shortly after that Veronica left the compound having made up her mind to leave for the city the next day. She was not going to let anyone talk her out of it again; not even Edu the love of her life. After she had left the left compound Edu stepped out hoping to still see her seated with his sick mother the way she always did whenever she came visiting but she was no longer there. He looked at his mother who was trying to force herself to sit up from where she was laying on a math and he walked up to help her and helped her. After she was seated she asked for a cup of water which he entered inside the house to fetch. She had collected the water and when he turned to walk back inside the house she called him and asked him to sit. He did sit and she cleared her throat and looked at him.
"My son, love is a dangerous thing" she said and waited for that to sink before she continued, "You have got to understand that most times people don't get what they want but what they need get them. You need yo also know that the lady your heart has been lost to is an ambitious one and I don't blame her for being ambitious. She is a girl and you are a man. One day she will wake up and find out that her time has passed but you, you my son need to understand that you must not have her beside you as your wife..."
"Mother please, please stop" he hated hearing about that. She understood him but had always told him that it doesn't make sense when a man runs away from his responsibility and it is even more terrible when a man decides to run away from the truth.
"You are my only son and I had you two. What you are about to see is a lady who have looked around her and discovered that there is no way out except to travel to the city. Veronica is a good girl and you are a good boy and both of you would make a perfect match on marriage yet destiny has to be destiny and we can't force some things rather we are expected to accept fate as it is. You love the girl in question and yes she loves you too. I am a woman and I can tell when a woman so much loves a man. You have got to let go and allow her make her own decisions" The mother concluded and this was not right to Edu. He stood up and walked away from the compound.
That same day, after Veronica had returned to her parents house, her parents who had become late she discovered that the door had been locked with a new padlock. She stared carefully to make sure she was seeing clearly and yes her door had been locked. She stood there wondering what had happened. Just then a neighbor, a woman approached her from the right side and said, "You are back?" she looked at the woman with sagged breasts and nodded. "If you were here and seen how your uncle, John was raging here I bet you would have melted away. He was so angry and..."
"Did he lock my door?" Veronica wanted to know.
"Yes, he did. He said next he will come to throw out your properties from the house because you don't deserve to manage what your father, his brother left behind" Said the woman. Veronica stood there panting in rage. She knew that if she was going to go to Enugu she would be needing her cloths and some other essential things she would be needing inside the house. She did not say a word again to the woman but turned and started going towards the compound of her Uncle, John.
Edu had decided to visit Veronica after he tried to shove the thought of her desire to go to Enugu from his mind to no avail. He did not know why he wanted to stop her and surely it wasn't because he was insecure that she would see another man and forget about him. When he entered her compound he discovered that the door was locked. He then started hearing a noise in a neighboring compound and he could tell that must be Veronica at it again with her uncle. He was angry and he was going to unleash his aggression on John if he decided to annoy his woman that scorching afternoon.
Inside Veronica's room in Enugu, she brought down her head as she thought about these things; how she left the village to come to Enugu, how she met a friend who introduced her to Charles.