THE ROYAL WIFE
Market Heat and Street Love – Episode Title: The Price of Integrity
The marketplace was buzzing, a thick scent of pepper, fish, and gossip floating in the hot afternoon air. Traders called out in high voices, slapping their tables, waving tomatoes and cassava leaves like flags of war. But one stall—Esther’s—stood like a calm eye in a storm.
Tamba, the tall, caramel-skinned man in designer jeans and sunglasses that cost more than the stalls themselves, strolled through like he owned the world. He stopped at Esther’s table and dropped a smile that melted most girls into puddles.
“Sweet girl, keep the change,” he said, tossing a crumpled Leones note after buying groundnuts.
Esther barely blinked. She handed the note back.
“I’m here to work, not to beg,” she said with quiet firmness. “Shortcuts don’t last.”
A few heads turned. The other girls around, including Fanta, Jebbeh, and Mira, stared, stunned by her calm resistance.
“Tamba fine oh,” Jebbeh whispered as she giggled, flipping her braided hair. “If na me, I go even follow am go club.”
Soon, like flies to honey, the girls swarmed Tamba.
“Buy from me, handsome!” Fanta called.
“Mira, you no see say his watch na gold?” Jebbeh muttered as she passed her number on a scrap of paper.
“Bae, you want chilled water? Free for you,” Mira offered.
But Tamba’s eyes stayed on Esther, even as she ignored him.
“I don’t give my number,” she said softly when he tried again. “If you want me, you know where to find me—right here.”
---
Meanwhile in Liberia…
In a royal mansion wrapped in marble and secrets, Queen Rebecca sat with her legs crossed, her fingers drumming the armrest.
“He is in Sierra Leone, ma’am,” the Intel man said carefully. “Makeni market area.”
Rebecca’s brows twitched. “So… the king has turned himself into a flirt?”
“We believe he is blending in to observe something. But yes… there may be distractions.”
“Distractions with curves and fake lashes,” she hissed. “Find him. Tell him his real wife is watching.”
---
Back at the market in Sierra Leone, whispers began to swell.
“I swear, that girl Esther dey use charm,” Auntie Wokie told a customer in a hushed tone. “How man go see fine girls like Fanta, still dey follow that one like dog?”
“She put something in her soap,” someone whispered.
“Maybe under her stall. Or inside her bra!” Mira exclaimed.
Soon, eyes watched Esther not with admiration but suspicion.
Even as she sold her goods with a smile, their hearts grew colder.
But Zuwu, in his plain clothes, sat beneath a mango tree and watched it all unfold.
“She refused the money.”
“She turned down Tamba.”
“She works hard, even when lied against…”
He smiled to himself.
The king had found something more valuable than beauty—he had found fire in her honesty.
But the fire was attracting enemies too. And the storm was only beginning.
To be continued…
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