RIGHTEOUS FOR A DAY

FLOODING TEMPTATIONS

I was up early, like I usually was. The day was going to be kind of a big deal, but it couldn't be that hard, could it? I was almost done with the last button of my shirt, when Julia walked into my room with one of those her nagging expressions. She was only 15, but she looked 25 because of her constant frowning. The child just had no joy since the ordeal that stroke our family.

"What??" I snarled at her.

"I'm almost late for school! You haven't given me food money yet!" She nagged.
Now, I know their actions were no excuse for my bad habit, but they pushed every fibre of my being towards that direction everytime they sang financial complaints in my ears.

After a gasp, I took out a note of 500FCFA from the back pocket of my khaki trousers and handed it over to her. At least then, her face brightened up a little bit.

"That's money for a week!" Before I could add, she was already rushing off. "Hey! I said a week!"

I gave a quick brush on my hair, and it was time to take Mom to her physical therapist. Julia was always her help mate, because I was almost never home. So for the days she went to school, I pushed Mom down to mama Sonu's; Julia's friend's Mom, and physical therapist in the village. Julia would pick Mom up from there after school.

***
I used the back door into the compound, and just my luck, someone just had to leave their wallet outside. I felt my hands sweating on the grips of mom's wheelchair, having every desire to open the wallet up and do away with whatever cash there was in it.

My agitation was visible even to my mother. She had heard the rumors about me being a thief, but since she couldn't talk, she just stared. I gulped several times, praying that someone would just walk through that door before my traitor hands reached for that wallet. I could picture Sharon smirking at me. She knew I'd fail at this. Isn't that why she dared me in the first place?... But no. I could do this.

"Mama Sonu!" I called out desperately, like my life depended on it, and behold, Sonu's older brother walked out. He already knew why I came, so he just helped me push my Mom in. On recognizing his wallet, he grabbed it jealously, shooting suspicious glances at me. I left the place without looking back.

***
What better way to stay righteous for a day than to spend it with the most righteous of people, right? So I went to the eatery. I could always just steal and lie to Sharon, couldn't I? But there was always this still voice that kept taunting me whenever I thought of foul play. I wanted to do this for her. I liked her a lot. As a matter of fact, I loved her. And her opinion about me just happened to matter so much lately.

At the entrance of the eatery, I searched for a discreet angle on the left and sat down. I saw her gasp when she noticed me, and the palpitations of my heart skyrocketed when she began walking towards me. Her Mom was nowhere to be found that morning.

"Ivan what are you doing here?... And don't tell me you're here to eat, because you've never been here in the morning." She spoke melodiously.

"No, I'm not here to eat. I'm here to help." I told her.

If I had to spend the day being righteous, I couldn't just sit and watch people eat. So I had to come up with something.

"Help?" She asked, arms akimbo and raised eyebrows.

"Yeah." I stood and walked out of the bench. "Since I'm trying to not steal, I could wash plates, fetch water and more."

"On whose expense exactly?" She asked skeptically.

"Not all help costs, but a date with me tomorrow won't hurt." I smirked.
When she flung a table wipe at me in response, I understood the job was on.

"You'll be cleaning the tables after the customers." She informed me with a smile she was trying to hide.

***
It'd been almost five hours of cleaning tables. Wasn't as easy as I pictured it. But in my exhaustion, I glance at Sharon, and she's still serving resiliently. How could someone be so energetic? I stood to clean one more table before I could finally rest, and as I swept the table wipe across the table, I found something; another damn wallet.

It so appeared a customer was careless enough to forget his brown, attractive and calling for my attention, wallet. So much for trying not to STEAL! Looking around the eatery, no one happened to be staring my way. The guy adjacent me was done eating, and had his eyes glued on his phone. Then there was a couple at my far right who seemed really engaged in their conversation. And Sharon? Sharon was nowhere to be found. Where was she?? She could have been the one to save me from this!

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It's Monday! Happy New Week readers! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. One more chapter left. Remember it's a three chapters story. See you next Monday for how it turns out with Ivan!🤗