THE UNEXPECTED HEART

"Ann, Angel, Bella take this boxes to the market square immediately and look for a good space to arrange them" shila shouted as she dragged her legs to the bathroom.

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Shila is a young mum and a widow.

Her husband died the previous year and the whole family had been trying to survive ever since then.

She ran a small business on the empty space at the market square, alongside her girls while the eldest of them (MIA) had 2 jobs which she does to support the family. Ever since the death of their father, Mia had taken up the responsibility of a breadwinner and worked so hard to provide for the family.

Before his death, he had catered for the family and ensure they were all doing fine. He wasn't extremely rich but he never made anyone suffer. He stood as a good citizen, father, worker, husband and relative to everyone at large but unfortunately death took him away.

Immediately his burial was over, the father's side didn't hesitate to show their evil side. They insisted on taking all that belonged to him including the house they were living , ordering for the exemption of the house within few days. Phila and her children pleaded for mercy but they turned deaf ears to them, taking everything relating to their brother including his land and business leaving the family with nothing.

After seeing how adamant the father's side were, phila and her kids had to move out in a hurry. They moved to an extremely poor neighborhood, rented a room there and continued living there since they were left with nothing. From then on their lives had become difficult and miserable, they began to face several problems and challenges, got humiliated by their peers, the husband family and friends, starved and embarrassed by people at higher positions.

Their neighborhood was listed as the most wretched community but nevertheless they loved themselves.

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The girls ran out of the house with a big smile on their faces and greeted the neighbors as they rushed to the market.

On arriving at the market, it was already filled up with crowd and sellers here and there. They looked around trying to see if they could get somewhere to lay their goods, Bella sighted an empty space and called her sisters attention immediately. They arranged their small goods and waited patiently for customers to come.

Ann stood up, planning to head back home because of their mother. She gave her jnr siblings some instructions before leaving.

" Always look around and make sure you watch out for any task officer. Angel hold Bella tight and ensure you get your money before giving out any items". The two girls nodded and smiled while she ran along.

Shila picked up her dress, grabbed her stick and struggled to the entrance of the house then saw Ann coming from afar. Ann ran to her mother immediately she saw her outside then grabbed the bags and held her firmly and walked out of the house. Ann walked carefully and avoided any stones to prevent shila from hurting her legs more.

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Few months ago while they were going on with their business as usual, the space they use to lay the markets were against the rules of the government so they had to change their location everyday. They never stayed at the same spot daily to avoid being suspected quickly.

One afternoon as they were focused on what they were selling, the whole family got carried away until they heard noise coming from the crowd before they knew what was happening. They grabbed each items they could and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. The people running from the task officials were large in numbers and no one wanted to be caught by them so they pushed each other but sadly while the whole thing was going on an income vehicle collided with phila unaware, which had brought a great injury to her left leg.

Despite the pains she felt with the leg, phila never stopped hustling after being pleaded to stop by Mia, she knew the burden on Mia 's neck was a lot adding to it would be a very mean thing to do.

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Reaching the market, with the help of Ann and her junior sis they helped their mum to sit and continued to reach out to customers. They made a pretty amount of sales and packed up as the day began to darken. As they got home, phila noticed Mia wasn't home yet then she began to panic. She wanted to go out to search for her but was stopped by Ann as she assured her Mia would be home soon. She tried using some words to calm her mother down but phila was not ready to hear them since Mia had never gotten home late before. She help her hands close to her chest as she pondered what could have happened to her. She instructed Ann to call her and send some texts but Mia never responded to any which raised her hearts high .

Few minutes later, Mia walked in looking extremely tired and stressed. Phila stood up immediately and rushed towards Mia as she hugged her so tight checking if she was very okay and nothing was wrong or done to her. After inspecting her thoroughly, phila began to question Mia about her whereabouts.

" my daughter, where have you been? Why did you come this late". Mia helped her mum to the chair and sat next to her.

" well, after leaving the company, I had to rush down to the restaurant for my shift but the manger pleaded I work some extra shifts since my colleague won't be working" she explained. Her mum breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Mia's explanation then asked her to always notify them ahead of she would be coming late. Mia nodded and hugged her mum tight then her siblings went to her spreading their hands widely for a big hug from her. She hugged them back and they began to share their details about the day to her. The whole family ate and laughed in excitement till late at night.