“I am still waiting,” I say after a moment because it seems like this gross sister of mine swallowed her tongue or the voice just ran out of her mouth. “Why don’t you marry this De’Leon son instead?”She cocks her head to the side, giving me a barren glare for a moment as she thinks of a convenient lie to puke. “That is because I am too precious to be used as a merger,” she says proudly, as if she and I were too distinct from each other.Or maybe we are. Could that be the only reason? Then again, even if this man is this banged up,? Naah! I am wiser than this. I am sure they would not look at it as a deal if there was nothing fishy. She would be the one marrying this guy if all is as good as they are painting. But it surely isn’t. There is a hidden secret behind this marriage facade that they are hiding from me. That is why I am the pawn. That is why I am the one being sacrificed here.But they won’t succeed. I would love to see how they are going to force me into this. Let them try m
I usher Robby inside the cage, and I sigh in relief when I find my daughter still tucked under the duvet and fast asleep. My heart is filled with hunger—hunger to know what is happening to Robby and what exactly he wants us to talk about. And what he is asking me not to do. I don’t remember sharing any of my plans with him, so of course, I am baffled because of this.Like the norm, he casts a glance at his little buddy but decides not to disrupt her irenic sleep. Their affection is mutual. Anyone can see that. Maybe he feels so much pity for the poor little girl. For us. Just like anyone with a sense of humanity would. That is why he is getting so attached.“Please sit,” I say as I slam on the seat across him in the painting area, or simply, where we normally hold our lessons.But today we are not doing the painting lessons. Today we are not playing with the colors and drawings. Today, my student is not even shedding the aura of a student. No. He is percolating something else so diffe
Robby takes quite a long, unnerving moment just staring at my oblivious self. His silence speaks volumes, and it is getting my demons all riled up. “Speak to me, Robby! What does the world know about me?” I ask in apprehension, my breathing taking a higher pitch, matching the tone of my words.He better slap whatever he has on my face as soon as now before I vent all this combo of emotions that is shaking me to the bone. Every single passing second is echoing with dread and worry about what all this is about.I am a nobody. No one has ever asked about me since I dropped out of college and was thrown into this dungeon. All my friends blocked me from social media or something. They don't care to look for me, and I don't. I see no one on my wall. My social media accounts have nothing on my friends list, and my walls are filled with only my own paintings. The world has been mute, unaware, and unbothered about my existence. Why would anyone rekindle my existence just now? For what godforsa
Bent on shedding light on the kind of man that my family wants to marry me off to, Robby seems to have gone out of his way and gathered enough info about the De’Leon son just to open my eyes.He hands me his phone, which seems too expensive for a student like him. Anyway, I dive into the matter at hand and start scrolling through the screenshots that he has saved from Adam De’Leon’s various social media accounts.And guess what? It seems like I am living in a different world. An underground perhaps, where all this news could have not reached me.Talk of women eaters, and jerkwhores who can’t keep their tails in their pants, and Adam Stone De’Leon is the real beast! The legacy he has left so far stinks! Women are his life! He changes them more than he changes his boxers! Love? That is nowhere close to him. He is merely a sexual type! Pure sex! He does not fuck one woman twice and can’t stay a day without exercising his tool. No strings are attached. If you get attached, you deal with y
So, what is this? Are we going to stare at each other the entire day like this? Is this what he wanted to say? “I am still waiting to hear what we have to talk about, Robby,” I say, breaking the silence and making him blink for the first time in a decade. “I have things to take care of, so kindly be quick about this,” I add.He shifts his posture and clears his throat before speaking, “I want to help you, Ayana. I can get you out of this mess.”He is back into this?He takes a step closer, and I take one back, throwing him a warning glance that stops him in his tracks. “I appreciate your concern, Robby, but I can fight my own battles. I will handle this. You don’t have to do anything,” I say boldly.He dips his hands in his pocket, towering a short distance before me. “I want to help. You need someone’s help to pull through this, Ayana.”You know, I look at this kid, and I fail to understand the man who is able to say all these things to me—this somehow of a man who has the guts to lo
I shake my head in disagreement with his words: “You are confused, and you..."“I can clear up the misunderstanding so that..."“There is nothing to clear up, Robby!” I squeal. It seems like my voice is too soft for him to understand that this discussion is heading nowhere. “You are my student, and that is that. Forget any other ideas that are developing in your head. I wouldn’t want us to hate each other because of this.”“But…”“Mommy? Uncle Robby?” We snap in the direction of Lyana. Damn! “Are you two fighting?” She asks as she peels the blanket off her.I start walking to the bed, and Robby, as the annoying man he has decided to be, strolls behind me. Actually, that was for a second before I saw him bypassing me with his long strides as he opened his arms for my daughter, who was all smiles for him. “How is the most beautiful princess doing this morning?” Robby asks as they embrace in a hug that does not sit well with me. His confusion is the reason for this feeling. How can he sa
“Miss, you are not allowed in here, and you know it,” one fucking guard tells me at the doorway. I knew this would happen. They have been communicating with their eyes ever since they saw me leave my cage. I actually didn’t think I would come this far without them stopping me.“I know,” I respond without causing any unnecessary fuss. They are not my problems anyway, and they are just doing their job. “But I need to speak with the owners of this home,” I add.“Do they know you are coming?” One kind guy asks.I shake my head. “But you can inform them I am outside,” I respond.I am certain they will drag their rotten asses here to come and see what brought me here. They might think that I have surrendered.“Give me a sec, miss,” the kind guard responds, and he turns the doorknob and walks inside while the rest are left to keep me under watch.None of the guards bother me, and the wait does not take long either. In a flash, the guard walks back outside, keeping the door ajar as he speaks,
“Have you lost all your manners? Have you gone nuts?” Mr. De’Mario finally lifts his face. It is filled with anger, shame, and disapproval of my actions. His face is flushing red from ear to ear, denouncing how riled he is.And who cares? “Yes!” I retort, and I see his wife shift in her posture, their eyes scorching my face with disbelief. “You all have made me lose it all! I am nuts! I am insane! I am wild! I am so mad right now that I want to kill you all!” I howl, the maids stopping on their here and there chores to come and witness what is happening here.Silence befalls the humongous house for a long decade, my words cutting through their entire beings. All the eyes are fixed on me, unblinking. And I remain bold, unmoved, and unthreatened. This ends here today! The fate of my future with these people will be decided today and right here!“How dare you talk to your father..."“I don’t,” I cut this woman off, shifting my gaze and cruising through them, making sure that my message s