“Is Mercy’s boyfriend on drugs?”

Those were the first words that came out of Kim’s mouth the moment she stepped into the house.

Chika was in the dining room while Isabelle was in the kitchen. Chika turned to look at Kim. She was a bit irritated by the fact that Kim kept talking about Mercy and her boyfriend. This same thing happened yesterday. Immediately after she got back from Gym class, she started talking to Isabelle about Mercy’s boyfriend.

“Mercy’s boyfriend is outside with the police threatening to arrest Mercy…” she had said yesterday. Chika had zoomed off to the room, so she didn’t get the rest of the story from her. She was tired of hearing about the Mercy situation.

Isabelle and Kim were the closest among the three. Chika was more like the third wheel in the house. Other than the fact that they live together, Chika has nothing in common with them. She tries her best to stay away from their conversations unless it involves her.

Mercy is Isabelle’s friend and was having issues with her boyfriend. They had been going on and on about this for a while in the house, and Chika was getting tired of hearing about Mercy. She was especially irritated because it appeared Kim, who wasn’t even Mercy’s friend, was more interested in the Mercy issue than Isabelle.

Today, when Kim came in and the first thing she said was about Mercy, Chika just stared at her blankly. She didn’t want to express her irritation so as not to cause any issues in the house.

Kim walked into the kitchen to find Isabelle, who was preparing something to eat.

“He’s outside with some guys to collect the things he bought for her house.” “He says since Mercy no longer wants to continue the relationship with him, she must return every home appliance he got her.”

“Aah aah! What kind of childish behaviour is that? Chika didn’t know when she chimed in. Her irritation at what she had just heard surpassed the one for Kim’s incessant interest in Mercy’s relationship.

“I wonder o! Is being in a relationship by force?” Isabelle retorted.

“You dey mind the mumu boy. How you go come collect things wey you buy for person because say the relationship no work again?” Kim continued.

Kim, Isabelle, and Chika continued berating Mercy’s boyfriend. Just beside their kitchen is a door that leads to the back balcony of their apartment. From there, you could get a good view of Mercy’s apartment.

The compound where Mercy lived is a three-story building consisting of flats of different kinds. Mercy’s apartment stood on the third floor, and the girls had a perfect view of it from the balcony at the back of their apartment. Mercy can be seen standing outside her apartment. She was leaning onto the rail of her balcony, staring blankly into the air with an unbothered look on her face. It appeared she couldn’t wait for the whole commotion to be over so she could go into her room and take a rest.

Soon, Kim, Isabelle, and Chika started hearing screams from Mercy’s compound. The ground floor was blocked from their view, so they couldn’t get a good view of the commotion going on there. So, the girls rushed out of their apartment to get a good view of what was going on.

It was Biggie, Mercy’s neighbour. He was holding a machete in hand chasing Mercy’s boyfriend. Men came out to stand in the way blocking Biggie.

“Biggie leave him! Leave him! Don't harm him.” the neighbors screamed.

Mercy's boyfriend who was running to his car to avoid being on the end of Biggie's machete suddenly gained confidence when he saw that others have stepped in to block Biggie from reaching him,

“You no reach me anywhere for this life! The kind money I get you no fit get am for this life…”

“Yes, I agree! If you be man come here come collect property. You no dey shame. Woman day she no want again, you say you want collect everything you buy for her? Where does that happen?”

The two men continued to exchange words. Chika, who was hanging by the gate of their apartment, observing all that was going on, rolled her eyes at Mercy’s boyfriend.

“Who cares about how much you have?” She thought.

She walked back inside

leaving Kim and Isabelle to the chaos