I fell in love with a poor PRINCE

It has been over two weeks I've been hearing about the stranger in my village, everyone is talking about him. About the kind of house he lives in,and no maiden in our village wants anything to do with him. This is strange to me,how can people not like someone they don't even know.

It's in the morning hours when my friends Rose and Sandy come to my house .

"Good morning Mercy my good friend, how are you today" says Rose smiling at me

"Good morning, what are you too doing at my house this morning" smiling back as them.

"We came to get you , we are going to the stream to fetch water"says Sandy

" okay, let me inform my mother that I'm going to the stream with you" as I rush inside the house to let my mother know I'm going to fetch water.

As we leave my house and walk to the stream, along the way we meet a young man dressed in old torn clothes,I've never seen him before in our village. It looks like his going to one of the farms around our village.

"Greetings beautiful maidens of this village" wink a beautiful and kind smile. Sandy and Rose look at him disgusted as they walk past him without returning their own greetings.

"Greetings to you too" I give him a small smile as I walk past him. My friends look at me in shock.

Sandy -"Did you really greet that filthy looking thing " looking at me annoyed.

"Sandy? Why are you calling him names? What did he do to you?" Surprised by her choice of words.

Rose - "He did nothing to us, but we wouldn't want to associate our beautiful selves with such poverty stricken people" looking disgusted

I don't have time for your behavior this morning, let's just go the stream and fetch water.

On our way back from the stream,we come across a beautiful car and it stops in it's tracks, the driver rolls down the window.

"Hi ladies,how are you" smiling at us. He looks very clean and wealthy,he smells nice ,brown skin ,his hair cut perfectly, beautiful muscular body and very tempting lips. You can tell that his tall and his very handsome.

"Hi,we are fine thank you and how are you? As Rose and Sandy answer with smiles that meets their eyes.

" hey...... you the girl with the yellow skirt, can I talk you ?" With a smile.

"No you can't talk to me,sorry I have to go" I signal for my friends for us to leave. But instead they question me .

"Mercy ?what is wrong with you? He just wants to talk to you " Rose looking at me shocked.

" you can stay and talk to him if you want ,but I'm leaving." I turn to leave and they rush after me as the man drives off.

Sandy-" Mercy how can you not want a man rich like that? I mean did you see his car and the ways dressed, don't you want a rich man who will take you out of the village to the city? " while walking behind me.

" I want a man who will love me,appreciate me and value me, whether his rich or not" as I keep walking

Rose- " money can get you all those things and as for us ,we want rich man from the city " they laugh and high five each other. We get to a point of where we have to part ways.

"I'll will see you two silly girls tomorrow when we go to fetch fire wood" as I'm taking the road that leads to my house.

Sandy-"you should talk to that rich man next time we meet him" as they wait for me to reply.

"You can talk to him,I'm not interested" I walk away before they could say anything else.

Walking to my house,I come across the same man my friends were rude to.

"Hi again, I'm sorry please don't get annoyed" as he stops in front of me.

"Hi, no I'm not annoyed. I'm sorry about how my friends treated you earlier on" offering him a warm smile

"I'd like to ask a small favour please" his looking nervous

"Okay, what is it" looking at him

"Can you please talk to your friend for me, the light skinned one with the short hair, I really like her." He avoids my gaze

"Her name it's Sandy, I'll try and talk to her when we meet tomorrow." Smiling .

"Thank you so much, enjoy your the rest of your day" as he leaves

I walk home thinking to myself "*such a handsome man,he looks so kind and respectful. This shows his from a good family. I'm just worried that silly girl will insult him and call him names again*" I sigh.

"Mother I'm home" as I look for her around the yart .

"I'm in the kitchen darling" she shouts.

"Hey mommy, how are you ?" Hugging her from the back

"I'm good sweetheart and yourself?" Turning to face me.

"I'm good mommy,.....you won't believe want happened today on our way to the stream and back" as I take a sit

"What happened? I hope this village boys are not disturbing you" looking concerned.

"Mommy, we met that stranger everyone is talking about around the village, his so respectful. He greeted us mommy,Sandy and Rose were so rude to him they even called him all sorts of names. On our way back ,we met a rich man with a car from the city and he greeted us and they were all nice and smiling at him. The man wanted to talk to me and I told him I'm not interested, my friends almost chopped my head off because I didn't want to talk to him" looking at my mom as she's cooking

" my darling daughter , don't mind your friends. Always be kind to others ,rich or not and God will bless you greatly. Always remember that" with a warm smile.

"I will always remember that mommy, I promise. Let me get our clothes from the washing line" as I leave the kitchen.

Later at night I'm struggling to sleeping, my thoughts are of that stranger and how its rare to find good man like him nowadays. I didn't even ask his name, Sandy is so lucky. I finally fall as sleep after a while.

I wake up early in the morning to start doing my chores , few hours later my mom wakes up.

"Good morning darling,.... Wow the house looks spotless. Well done" smiling proudly

" thank you mommy, we are going to fetch fired wood this morning ,so i wanted to get the house cleaned up before my friends arrive." Smiling back.

I serve my mother her breakfast and leave soon as my friends arrive.

"Sandy I have something to discuss with you" smiling at her

"When you are this smiley ,what is it Mercy" smiling back at me

" Uhm....there's a man who likes you very and he asked me to talk to you on his behalf, his very respectful and well mannered " avoiding her eyes.

" Really?....who is this man and where is he from" with excitement.

"I didn't ask his name but we met him yesterday on our way to the stream"looking at her nervously

They both start laughing hard.

" why are you guys laughing, did I say something funny?" Looking at them in confusion

Sandy-"Mercy I thought you were my friend, I thought you wanted what is best for me" annoyed

"Of course I'm your friend and I want the best for you" still processing her words

Sandy-" so your best is the thing we met yesterday, I never knew you are this heartless, how can you want me to get married to a poor man who is drowning in poverty?,what kind of friend are you? "Looking hurt. I was about to answer when we heard

" Greetings beautiful maidens of this village "

It was the same man again, greeting us so polite.

Rose- " WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM ,CAN'T YOU SEE WE ARE DISCUSSING SOMETHING WITH MY FRIENDS" shouting at the man.

"ROSE!!!! you don't have to shout at him ,he was only greeting us" irritated by my friends behavior.

"Uhm... Its okay. Sandy can I please talk to you " smiling

" HEY DON'T EVER IN YOUR LIFE CALL MY NAME OR TALK TO ME IN THIS VILLAGE, WHAT WILL I DO WITH A POOR MAN DROWNING IN POVERTY? PLEASE LET THIS BE THE LAST TIME YOU SAY ANYTHING TO ME.....ROSE LET'S GO" they hold hands and leave. Living us there in shock.

This man looks so hurt, how can someone say such a thing to another human being.

"Ehm....I'm so sorry okay, please forgive my friends for such harsh words okay? I rub his arm hoping to make him feel better.

" it's okay , don't worry about it. Its not your fault that some girls were not raised well...." With a warm smile.

"How can you smile when your feelings are hurt like this?" Smiling back

"My dear I didn't choose to be poor , I can't entertain everyone who calls me poor ,or who is disgusted by my presence. I'm alive ,I don't go to bed hungry, I have clothes and shoes to wear and I'm grateful for that. The rest is up to God.

" that is so true , I admire your courage and faith in God" as I'm about to leave.

"WAIT.....you didn't give me your name,please what is your name?"

"My name is Mercy and yours?" Looking at him he smiles

" I will tell you next we meet" smiling back

"Okay, at least tell me where you live" waiting for him to answer .

"My house is the last one at the end of the village" he turns to leave but he stops in his tracks.

"Mercy where are you going this morning" as he turns around

"I'm going to fetch fired wood" as I turn to look at him

"Let come with and help, just to say thank you for being so kind to me,and before you protest I insist" with a smile that meets his eyes.

I smile at him not even protesting, we go together to get the wood. We gather the fire wood ,as I'm about to carry it on my head he stops me.

" no no no.... I can't let you do that ,I will carry the fire wood to your house don't worry okay".as he carries the wood like its nothing when it was so heavy for me ,I giggle louder than I anticipated.

"What are you giggling about" with a small smile

" you carried that wood like its nothing ,while it was so heavy for me " avoiding his eyes.

"It's okay ,you're a girl and it's expected" as we walk to my house.

On the road I'm thinking to myself "* what will my mother say about me bringing a man to the house? I've never taken any man home before ,how will she react*".

" which one is your house?" He asks

"Oh.... .that one at the corner....ehm...please don't be offended, I've never taken any man home before, I don't know how my mother will react " not able to able to face him.

"Oh I see....don't worry about it will see when you get home" we keep walking and I see my mother sitting outside. As we approach her face is unreadable, I'm not sure what's going to come out of her mouth.

"Greetings mommy" I nervously greet her

"Greetings mother" his also nervous ......

Do you think Mercy's mother will be polite to the poor man or rude?

I would love to hear your thoughts on that before the second chapter.