Following the way the conversation with her parents went, Amaka tried all she could to adjust her relationship with Auntie Bella. She started doing the house chores she neglected, leaving Auntie Bella to do them alone, and also started acting nice towards her. But despite all odds, her aunt's attitude didn't change. She thought about asking her parents if they did anything to her that was making her aunt treat her like an enemy, but she waved the thought aside because she didn't want to take chances that would threaten the relationship she was trying to hold with her parents.
The following day was Monday. She woke up as usual, prayed, went to her parents' room to greet them, and did her chores. All through her activities in the house, she didn't see Auntie Bella. She didn't really think much about it because Auntie Bella sometimes preferred staying in her room. It got unusual when she didn't still see Auntie Bella after Dad had driven his car outside. Normally, Auntie Bella would open the gate and also close the gate for Dad when she and her parents were leaving the house, but today's case was different because Dad did the gate job. She decided to keep calm with the mindset that her parents would let her know if anything unpleasant had happened.
They were almost close to her school, and neither Dad nor Mom was saying anything concerning Auntie Bella, coupled with the fact that the drive that day was unusually quiet. She decided to speak up and asked her parents about her aunt. Her mom at first said she was okay, that she slept at a friend's house. But then Dad started with the phrase that she was not a child and told her Auntie Bella had been kidnapped. The word kidnapped rang in her head. Who would kidnap Auntie Bella, though? The country isn't really safe this period, but Auntie Bella is one very careful person.
Dad further added that she was coming back from a birthday party with some friends and their car was abducted and they got kidnapped. She was surprised how Dad got to know about the details of the incident and thought that maybe she had been released and was probably in a hospital taking treatment. But she later got to know that the kidnappers called her parents and demanded a ransom of twenty-two thousand dollars before they could let her go. Hmmm, she sighed within herself and prayed that things wouldn't end badly, but her mood was already affected by the news, despite their relationship.
Her mood was very noticeable at school because she was literally absent-minded throughout the class. After the English class, her form teacher called her to her office to enquire about what was wrong, because the moody attitude was something she wasn't familiar with. She told her teacher what her parents told her. Her teacher encouraged her and asked them to go back to the class so her mates could pray for her. After the prayer, most of her classmates came to her seat to share some words of encouragement with her. Amaka listened to them all, but she really didn't believe she could feel this way for Auntie Bella.