Stepping stone

Tony got even more irritated as he heard his wife speak so harshly about Nelly, so he took out his phone browsed the winner for the recent season of the comperition, indeed a clear picture of  Nelly holding her cheque with conffeti falling on her from the ceiling.

"Tell me if this is not her?"

Asked Tony in a bold tone, leaving both Vivian and their daughter in disbelief.

"Impossible dad! I'm way better than Nelly, more prettier and much deserving of success but why does it have to be her? I should be the one who is famous and not that orphan out of all people!"

" Shut up!, at this point you should've realized that she can be your ticket to success. Once you are done with beauty school you can be her personal makeup artist use her as a stepping stone and there on, nobody can stop you. You will be working with even more prominent people in the industry, wake up and stop being so stupid. "

Vivian reprimanded her daughter forgetting the fact that they were not in the best of relationships with Nelly. She even forgot the fact that she had mistreated her throughout her childhood and even chased her out of the house just a few hours ago.

With greed taking over their minds, they were all smiles throughout dinner, and by the end of it Tony's anger had also subsided.

The following morning both Nelly and Nonto woke up and prepared themselves  to the journey back to the city.

"Hey sis, do you think this will look good on me?"

Nonto asked as she was wearing one of Nelly's clothing, all of her clothes were rags hence Nelly was kind enough share her clothes with her sister.

"Gosh you look good, if you continue looking this good in my clothes I'm afraid you will end up looking even prettier than me, sigh!"

Nonto knew that her sister was just fooling around hence she didn't get mad, instead she smiled bitterly changing the topic to something that has been weighing heavy on her mind.

"Do you think it was a great idea to move out of home like that, what will happen when they come looking for us?"

She knew how their Aunt was like, and should they face problems in the big city they would have to go back home, but with how they left, it was clear that they didn't have a home any more.

"If you are asking if I don't feel bad at all, well yeah I don't! You know Nonto this is the best decision that I've ever taken. Staying in that house have never done us any good, they will regret mistreating us soon and that will be too late."

Seeing that her sister was still not convinced, she continued to say.

"Look Nonto, if you continue staying at the Smith's house, all you will be in life is to act as their slave while they boast at how their children are doing well in their careers, they will never allow us to come as close at what their kids can achieve, let alone further our studies. Is that what you want?"

She then carefully examined her sister, she wanted to know how she truly felt.

"No, you know very well that I have dreams. I've always wanted to study entertainment law, but had since put that to rest after they said there was no money to send you to college, I knew then that my dream wouldn't be possible."

Hearing this Nelly smiled, to her this was a sign that her sister was starting to come to terms with her new reality, she was starting to evoke the dream that she had always had since young.

"Yeah, I remember you used to say that you'll study law so that they do not take advantage of me. See now how will that happen of we go back to that house?, that is no longer our home, not even grandma cared enough to protect us from that woman, so why would we bother ourselves about them? You ,Nonto are my home, as long as we are together under one roof I will be happy. "

By the time she finished speaking tears had filled up on Nonto's eyes, she walked closer to her sister and gave her a warm long hug.

"Thank you, as long as I'm with you nothing can tear me down. I love you sis."

They both hugged for some time, but Nelly soon remembered that they needed to get going.

"That's enough now, get your things we need to get going, otherwise your uncle's family will come and find us here after learning about my career. This world is small after all. "

"Hey, he's your uncle as well, sigh, If they still have some shame in them  they will stay in their home and not come to find us."

They then got their bags, checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the airport.

This was Nonto's first time flying, but she tried her best not to embarrass her sister and acted normal.

They soon boarded the plane and were soon on their way back to Southveil.

Once they had arrived at the Southveil international airport, since they only had carry on bags, the duo followed each other towards the taxi and pick up point but they were shocked to see   their way had been blocked by reporters Who were lined up interviewing a musician from the Electrotainment company about her recent scandal.

As much as Linda looked annoyed by the reporters that bombarded her with questions, she still answered well, with elegance and sophistication.

But that soon faded as soon as everyone started noticing the two ladies that were standing not far from that.

"Is that Nelly?"

"Yeah it is, Nelly we've got a few questions for you, do you not mind answering?"

They all started moving away from Linda, her answers weren't what they were looking for and weren't hot enough to get a front page on their magazine.

As much as she didn't want to talk about her personal life that had been leaked, their actions left a sour taste in Linda's mouth and what made it worse was the fact that they left her for someone who wasn't even a real musician.

She looked bitterly as the reporters rushed to that young looking skinny girl who had won the competition recently.

"Nelly how has winning opened up your career, and what are you planning on doing from now on?"

One reporter asked the frozen girl in front of them, Nelly wasn't trained on how to address the media hence she had no idea how to respond and all she could come up with was,

"Uuuhh..."

Before she could say anything, a large arm wrapped itself around her waist and she quickly looked up in shock only to find that man next to her.

As if sensing that she was about to wiggle herself out, the man tightened his hand around her.

"Sorry guys, Miss Smith can not answer your questions today. We are taking her away now."

Just Like that Rob coolly turned around and led the way out of the airport with the other three following behind.

Leaving the crowed speechless, they wanted to push further but none of them dared to challenge Robert, the CEO of the biggest company in the country and son of the most prominent family in SouthVeil.

They all sighed and turned to leave, but noticed that Linda was still standing there in disbelief. Her eyes were red with anger. The reporters started taking pictures of that and when they came closer to ask her about what had just happened since she was an artist under Robert's company yet he acted like he did not know her.

" could it be that her contract had been terminated because of her scandal?"

They muttered to themselves trying to figure out what had happen.

when Linda noticed them coming back, she turned around and started walking as fast as she could to her taxi.