“Good afternoon, Ma,” Greg greeted politely. “I’m so sorry. I was robbed on my way here. They beat me and took everything I had. Please, I’m hungry and thirsty.”
Chioma and Mercy hissed in disgust. Elizabeth looked him up and down, then scoffed dramatically.
“Look around you,” she said sharply. “Does this place look like a restaurant? Of all the houses in this neighborhood, you chose mine? Does this look like a charity organization?”
“Please, Ma,” Greg pleaded.
“Mommy, why are you still entertaining this madman?” Chioma snapped. “Let him get out.”
“No,” Elizabeth said suddenly. “If he wants to eat, then he should work for it.”
“Follow me,” she ordered.
She led him to a large piece of farmland behind the house.
“The rainy season is approaching,” she said. “I need this land cleared. Do that and I’ll feed you.”
Greg looked around at the vast land. “This is a lot of work. How much will you pay me?”
Chioma and Mercy burst into laughter.
“The hungry fool now wants to bargain,” Mercy mocked.
Elizabeth folded her arms. “How much should I pay you?”
“This is a lot of work,” Greg repeated. “I’ll take 150,000 naira.”
Elizabeth hissed. “I’ll pay you 50.”
“No. 120,” Greg insisted.
“My last offer is 100,000 naira,” she said firmly.
Greg sighed. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
For the next several hours, Greg worked tirelessly on the farm. As he tilled the soil, his mind wandered. Was this the kind of woman his father wanted him to be connected to? A woman who couldn’t show basic compassion to a hungry stranger?
Still, he held his judgment.
“First impressions aren’t everything,” he told himself. “I’ll wait and see.”
Later that night, he sat outside waiting for the food they had promised him. Mercy walked over and dropped a small plate of miserable-looking food in front of him—something even a rat might reject.
Greg stared at it for a moment, then slowly stood up to leave.
Just as he turned, a soft voice stopped him.
“I’m sorry, but I brought this.”
He turned to see a young lady stepping out from the shadows. She handed him a small but neatly arranged portion of food, along with a shirt.
“It’s one of my father’s clothes,” she added gently.
Before Greg could respond, she had already disappeared.
He frowned slightly. “I’ve seen her somewhere before.”
But he said nothing and left.
The next morning, he returned to complete the work. That was when he saw her again.
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