“Uloma what is happening to your friend? She hardly attains church programmes. She has totally stopped singing in choir. Are you sure that all is well?” Osas asked.

Uloma looked at him while trying to come up with the right answer to give him.

“Itohan is fine. Her wedding preparations is taking it tolls on her. I believe that soon, she will return to her duty Post.” Uloma replied.

“What do you mean by wedding preparations. Is she the first person to wed in this church? Answer me. Why are you supporting evil instead of advising your friend?” Osas blasted her.

“Osas please leave me. Itohan is my friend but she is your sister. I will advise her as friend, but you should advise her as a brother. Don’t be searching for who to apportion blame to. Even if Itohan is making a mistake, gossipping about it will not solve the problem. But prayers can . Let’s pray for her and pray for ourselves too because no one is above making a mistake,” Uloma replied.

As Uloma was discussing with Osas, she didn’t know that someone was eavesdropping. The person went to tell Itohan that Uloma was gossiping about her.

Uloma’s relationship with Itohan was strained after she advised Itohan to pray concerning her relationship with Eric. Though Uloma tried to apologize to Itohan when she discovered that she was angry, their relationship never remained the same.

Uloma got home after the fellowship and met Itohan and Zina in the room. She greeted them but none of them answered to her greetings.

She quitely sat on her bed while expecting the worse from them.

“Uloma, we might not be friends anymore, but courtesy demands that we don’t backstab ourselves. Why where you gossiping about me?” Itohan asked in anger.

“I.T I can never gossip about you.”

“Shut your mouth liar,” Zina flared up.

“Zina stop insulting me, I am not your mate,” Uloma reprimanded her.

“I will insult you and there is nothing you can do about it. If you are old, then respect your old age. Stop playing pranks. We are not the one responsible for your misfortune,” Zina blasted her.

“Uloma, you didn’t answer my question. Why are you gossipping about me? I was informed reliably that you were gossipping about me in the church, this evening. I want to know why?

Uloma ignored her went to the kitchen to cook. Her action infuriated Itohan and Zina. They kept pouring insults on her but she never replied them.

Few days later, Uloma went to the house of one of her students for home lessons.
The mother of the child told Uloma that she was going to buy food stuffs in the market. But after 2 hours, she didn’t come back. Uloma didn’t want to leave the small girl in the care of neighbours. Another was that she could not go while their doors where opened.

The woman’s husband later came back to explain that his wife was knocked down by a moving vehicle.

It was already 9pm before Uloma left the place. It was at the remote area of the town, so the road was lonely. As she was going, she noticed that a man was following her. She started running only to be stopped by other 2 people at the front.

Uloma stood, shaking in fear, “please, what do you want? Don’t harm me,” she pleaded.

Two of the men stood at her front. They stared at her for a while without uttering a word. Uloma tried to look at their face but had to quickly look away because, she couldn’t stand the anger in their eyes.
The other man was standing by her side, gazing at her with a blood shot eyes. His silence spoke volume.

“We have been monitoring your movement for some days now and you are proving hard to catch. Now you are here.” One of the them said while forcefully grabbing one of her hands.”

“What is my offence? I am innocent” Uloma pleaded.

“Your offence is that you don’t know how to mind your business. Is it true or false?” One of them asked in an angry tone.

Uloma kept shaking without uttering a word

“Are you deaf or you are dumb?”

“No please. Don’t be offended. I can talk,” Uloma answered in fear.

“So you can talk, and you are wasting our time” one of them thundered.

“No sir, I cannot waste your time. Please forgive me.”

Before she completed her statement, one of them gave her a slap on her face that sent her rolling on the ground.

They quickly dragged her up as she was still wriggling in pain and continued the questioning.

“Are you are marriage counselor?”

“No sir,”

“Are you married ?”

“No sir,”

“If that is case, who made you special adviser on marital matters?”

“Nobody sir,” she answered .

“Why do you like pouring sand in other people’s garri? Do you forbid good thing?”

“No sir,” Uloma stuttered.

“Why are you envious of other people’s good fortune? Your friend want to marry and you don’t want her to marry. Why?”

“No sir. I am not that kind of person. I wish my friends joy and happiness. The only thing I advise my friends to do is to pray, so that they don’t make mistake in marriage.” Uloma stammered.

“Why can’t you pray so that God will give you husband, since you are a prayer warrior,” they mocked her.

“God’s time is the best sir.”

Another slap landed across he face and she screamed out in pain

“God’s time is the best. Slogan of a frustrated woman” one of them mocked her .

“Why are we wasting time. Let’s waste this idiot immediately.” one of the suggested.

Watch out for next episode.