CHAPTER 15: CHIPO

Chipo was overjoyed with all that had happened to her in the last few hours.

Chipo was barely twenty years old, and the inn, which was nearly closed down owing to a lack of customers, was a property that she inherited from her concubine mother.

Chipo was one of her father's many children in an era when men could marry several wives and have numerous children.

Unlike her older siblings, she was an only child with no siblings to support or defend her from others.

And because she was her mother's only child, her mother's meager dowry was immediately handed to her when she passed on.

Everything her mother had left was a run-down inn that had been bled dry by previous employees to the point that opening the inn was more of a gamble.

However, Chipo, who saw the inn as her mother's only reminder, refused to sell the inn no matter how poor the business was.

She had been looking for an investor for quite some time, someone she could trust and who, at the very least, shared her enthusiasm. This has been particularly difficult because someone like that did not exist at all.

Everyone she met was out to take advantage of her and buy the inn for a low price.

She didn't want to sell the inn just to find out the next day that it had been razed and replaced by another one.

She sought to save the inn as much as she could, which proved to be tough.

She just never imagined that after nearly losing hope, giving up, and considering selling the inn due to how long it had been since someone booked a night in the inn, she would meet her savior.

Chipo had no idea why she suddenly felt the need to pour her heart out to a complete stranger and beg the other to listen to her.

It was still a mystery to her, but she was glad she was impetuous and ended up making that option.

Otherwise, she would have missed out on a fantastic opportunity to start over and see her dream come true.

Even though Madam Tapiwa had gone earlier that morning for Karoba and would return to Guche in two weeks or more, Chipo was eager to get started on the improvements.

She wanted to have this done as soon as possible in order to impress Madam Tapiwa when she returned to check on the progress.

And when she remembered the lovely ideas Madam Tapiwa had left for her, a genuine smile returned to her face.

Chipo occupied herself by jotting down some critical information that Madam Tapiwa had given her the previous night during their lengthy talk.

She was doing this for a while before raising her head and stretching her tense neck.

"I should start getting used to this!" she exclaimed, reaching her hand for a little bell on the desk.

Before setting the bell down on the desk, she rang it three times.

Chipo then tore a piece of paper she had written earlier and straightened it up while she waited.

A knock came on the door a few minutes later, and Chipo raised her head magnificently with a smile on her face and responded eagerly, "Please, come in!"

The door opened seconds later, and a familiar face filled her vision.

Chipo's smile didn't fade, but instead became wider when she saw who had just entered the room.

"Uncle Terrence, I'm glad you came so quickly!" she exclaimed happily as the man approached her.

Uncle Terrence, the first person Tapiwa saw when she arrived at the inn the night before, smiled dotingly at Chipo as he approached the desk and said, "When duty calls, I should answer as soon as possible."

Chipo came out laughing, her eyes welling up with tears as she said, "Don't joke with me like that. Why are you making this sound so serious?"

Terrence didn't say anything, but his doting expression remained constant.

"Okay, okay, Uncle, please take a seat," Chipo said defeatedly after noticing that her uncle was no longer willing to continue with the teasing.

Terrence sat opposite Chipo, looking eagerly at the young girl he had watched grow from a baby.

She was really special to him, and he was willing to give up everything simply to see her happy.

Unfortunately, his resources were limited, and he was unable to assist her when she most needed it.

He wasn't very well educated, and his mental power was likewise limited. He was born into a slave family; thus, he had few options and largely dreams.

But his life changed for the better when he met his previous mistress, Chipo's mother, who bought him while he was dying and about to be abandoned since he was useless.

His life had improved as a result of her, and Chipo's mother had never treated him unfairly. She treated him well and as if he were family, and it was largely to her that he was able to learn the fundamentals, which had actually benefitted him even to this day.

The mistress died three years ago, leaving the inn to Chipo, who had cut relations with her family at the time after her father refused to give her mother a decent funeral.

Chipo relocated to Guche after successfully breaking ties with her family. She had been trying her hardest to turn the inn into a profitable business, but she had been quite unsuccessful, and the inn had reached this situation in a matter of years.

As much as it ached to see the place deteriorate over the years, there was nothing he could do to assist. He was too impoverished to help financially.

Furthermore, other inns were coming in hot and offering far greater facilities and at lower prices, which they could not afford or manage.

Everything was just too expensive, and if they put all of their money into the inn, the next thing that would be sold would be them.

All of his concerns were no longer there though, because his mistress had finally found someone interested in investing in the inn.

This would put him, his mistress, and the remaining servants at rest.

He had no idea what would happen next, but he prayed that he wouldn't be disappointed. And now that Chipo had summoned him, it meant that whatever plans she had were finally going to be carried out, and he couldn't wait.

"How may I assist you, young lady?"