CHAPTER 2: Begging her stepmother

The following week, it was a bright Monday morning. Mrs. Gina Adams woke up in her bedroom from her sleep, as it was the first room given to her before when she was officially married to the late Mr. Leo Adams, and two months before he chased her out to the boys' quarters apartment. She stretched her body as she stared at the wall clock in the room. She saw it was after 7 a.m.

Mrs. Gina carefully sat up on her bed, feeling like the madam of the house again.

"Hmm... how time flies," she said and dropped her legs down, still sitting on the bed.

Mrs. Gina adjusted her white nightgown properly first, and she stood up from her bed. She was a 39-year-old lady, and she walked out from her room and made her way downstairs.

Mrs. Gina knew that it was school resumption day, and her daughter named Mia Adams was going back to High School.

Mrs. Gina carefully walked downstairs to the living room and paused. She stared around the living room, seeing that the living room was already mopped clean, making her smile in satisfaction.

However, Olima Adams, a fair-skinned 17-year-old girl, stepped out from the kitchen, behind Mrs. Gina.

Olima paused and greeted her stepmother, "Good morning, Mother."

Mrs. Gina's blood boiled at the mention of the word 'mother.'

Without any warning, she turned to face Olima, who was dressed in a pink nightgown.

Mrs. Gina then rushed up to Olima and grabbed her shoulders. Next, she landed a hot, resounding slap on Olima's left cheek.

[SLAP!!]

"How many times have I warned you never to call me mother again? Do I resemble your late mother?" Mrs. Gina yelled, making Olima cry.

Olima hastily apologized to her stepmother, "I'm sorry, ma."

"Shut up! And keep your sorry to yourself. Have you prepared breakfast yet?" Mrs. Gina asked, and Olima shuddered and replied, "Yes, ma."

"Hmm." Mrs. Gina glared at Olima, and she stared at both palms that she had used to hold Olima.

Sniffing her palms first, Mrs. Gina walked into the kitchen to wash her palms off Olima's fruity scent, making Olima's brown eyes well up in hot tears.

Mia stood by the stairs and witnessed her mother's bullying of Olima. Mia looked away and carefully went downstairs into the living room too.

Similarly, Mia was dressed up for school, as she was in senior class 1. She knew so well that her mother hated Olima with passion. Mia also hated Olima, even though she never showed it to her. She was a black-skinned beauty, and she resembled their late father, while Olima resembled her own late mother and was an exact replica of the late Mrs. Zoe Adams.

Mia disliked the fact that before her late father's passing away, he never acknowledged her mother. He was more caring for Olima and Mrs. Zoe, more than he ever cared for Mia's mother - Mrs. Gina.

Mia attended day school, while Olima was in boarding school. Olima was the apple of her father's eyes, while Mrs. Gina was seen as an outcast.

Mia frowned as she walked downstairs and towards the dining table. She wore a blue school uniform, and she was a 14-year-old girl, while Olima was 17 years old.

After Mr. Leo and his admirable wife, Zoe, passed away, Mia knew that her mother had sent the previous two housemaids away with the disguise that there was no money to pay the maids. She then turned Olima into their full-time maid, with Olima's withdrawal from her tutorial classes.

Mrs. Gina even tore the admission form into any university and stated that Olima wasn't going into any university, but she would remain as her lifetime maid.

Mia stared away from Olima, as she knew that Olima enjoyed the luxury of their late father's wealth before, while she and her mother had to live in the boys' quarters, as her mother had told her the whole story.

Olima's eyes flooded with tears as she sobbed from the hot slap given to her. However, Mrs. Gina stepped out of the kitchen as she had washed both hands off Olima's fruity scent, as Olima smelled like apple.

"What do you stand there doing?! Have you prepared breakfast for my daughter, or do you want my precious daughter to be late for school?" Mrs. Gina questioned Olima angrily.

Olima shivered and replied, "I have prepared Mia's noodles."

"Then serve it out immediately. Do you plan on starving my daughter to death? Do you want Mia to be late for school today?" Mrs. Gina asked aloud.

"No, ma," Olima shivered and replied.

"Then get lost into the kitchen and serve Mia's breakfast quickly. It's almost 7:30 a.m," Mrs. Gina yelled, as her black eyes burned coals at Olima.

Mrs. Gina hated Olima because Olima looked so much like her late mother - Mrs. Zoe. She was also remembering Gina of her sins of killing her late best friend, Mrs. Zoe, and their husband, Mr. Leo Adams.

"Mom... It's okay," Mia said with an adorable smile curved on her pretty dark face.

Mrs. Gina stared at her daughter too and groaned. Mia also resembled her father, but Mia was still Gina's daughter, and she sighed and walked to the dining room to take her seat.

"It can never be okay with that stupid witch being in this house with us. Ugh," Mrs. Gina grimaced as she walked to the golden dining seat and took her seat.

Mrs. Gina subtly remembered how her late husband used to sit on the dining chair across from her and rightly to her presence. He then spoon-fed Mrs. Zoe, his admirable wife, to her view, and her face twisted in irritation.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Mia asked again, as she sat on the dining seat across from her mother.

Mrs. Gina replied, "Nothing, Mia. What is taking Olima so long to serve out the noodles? Does she want me to storm into that kitchen and break her head?"

Olima quickly came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of hot noodles that was in a smaller plate on the tray.

Fried eggs were placed on top of the noodles, and the aroma made Mia smile, as she sat properly and collected the tray of noodles from Olima's hand.

Mia didn't know how to cook, and Olima was forced to learn how to cook by her stepmother, Mrs. Gina, after Mrs. Gina took over the mansion.

"Get out of my sight, or what do you stand there staring at?" Mrs. Gina questioned Olima, glaring at her.

Olima shuddered away, knowing that her stepmother hated her before, but the hatred grew thrice as much, making her feel more guilty for her parents' demise.

Olima wished her parents never drove in the same car to her school to witness her graduation from high school as the best in her science department. Now her stepmother has plainly refused her from furthering her education with the excuse that there was no money, but Mia was going back to school after the school had resumed from its long-term holiday. Mia was in the second term already, while Olima was still at home.

Olima walked a bit and stopped at the kitchen door. She thought to speak to her stepmother again that she needed to write the entrance examination into the university. Olima thought she would apply for a government institution instead of a state or private institution.

She walked back to the dining room while Mia ate the delicious noodles and fried eggs.

Olima stopped with a trembling body, and she spoke, "Ma..."

Mrs. Gina turned and glared at Olima.

"What do you want? I thought I asked you to leave here?" Mrs. Gina questioned, shifting her dining seat backwards. She stood up from the first seat that was across from Mia, who was eating silently.

"Ma... It's about my entrance examination into the University..." Olima said, trying to speak with her stepmother.

"And I told you that you're not going to any University, Olima. Don't you understand simple English? How did you graduate as the best in your class when you do not understand simple English at home? Get out!" Mrs. Gina yelled, and Olima ran to the kitchen.