During dinner, my stepmother was extra nice to me. “Is that portion enough for you? Or you want more?”. My stepmother extended a spoon to me. I shake my head. I don’t want all the unnecessary attention and care my step mother is giving to me.

“Am okay with the portion I have eaten?”I faked a smile. She immediately shared a glance with her daughter. I saw the action but I cared less about it. My future was blinking right in front of me. They are my least worries.

My stepmother flashed a smile across her face. “You have done great, Michael's father has promised to pay half of the debt in the next two hours”.

“Hmm”I nod my head. Grace was happy she smiled. “Now I know our house will be safe and not snatched away”. Clearly, none of them cared about what happened to me. Retaining the house was their main concern. I also don’t want to lose my father’s house.

My phone rang, it was on silent mode and I wasn’t expecting anyone to call me. So, I didn’t put my mind at it. “Your phone is ringing”Grace called my attention to it. I was startled, “Oh!”. I removed it from my pocket and checked the screen. It was a number I didn’t save on my phone. I tried to rack my brain if I had ever come across the number before. But, I couldn’t place it. I don’t want to answer because I am not interested in talking to anyone.

My phone starts ringing again. I picked it up,“Hello, who is this?”. My stepmother and step sister kept quiet as I answered my phone. “Hello Wendy”,the voice that came through was thick. I rolled my eyes. I recognise the voice at a go. Yes!I had heard the voice. It was the same harshness that came with it physically that followed it on the phone. I was not expecting the ruthless man to call me.

My heart started pounding like pestle against mortals. I shivered on the phone . This was the man who I lost my value and integrity to. The man who treated me like trash because I needed his help to erase my family’s debt. I swallowed my saliva, “Hi”. My reply wasn’t satisfying to him. He frowns, “and is that the best way to answer a call?”. I twitched my mouth to the side. I wasn’t in for long talk as I want to be free with my head and thoughts. “Meet me at the same hotel you came to last time. By 2:00 pm”he commanded. He said it in such a way I had no choice but to accept it. He didn’t give me any option to decline the invite. “OK”I ended the call.

“Who was that?”My stepmother inquired. I didn’t see any reasons she had to intervene in my phone conversations. She and her daughter had been eavesdropping on my call since I answered the call. They didn’t know who was on the phone before I didn’t mention any name while on the call. I turned deaf ears to my stepmother’s question, I continued with my meal. She asked again, “Wendy, who called you just now because I know you rarely make friends with people?”. I bent my head to the side like I couldn’t see her face clearly. “It’s Michael”I answered and returned back to my meal. My response was shocking to her. She repeated “Michael?”. I didn’t answer. I only nodded. “Same Michael Carter”she widened her eyes.

I exhaled and took a gulp of water. “This is good news for him to have called you himself”,my stepmother laughed. I didn’t smile, I concentrate on my meal. I checked the time on my phone. It was past ten in the morning. I stood up and headed into my bedroom. “Where are you going to Wendy?”Grace said. I turned in my tracks and faced her, “I need to rest my head”. I went to my bedroom taking my step slowly, was in deep thought as I walked into my bedroom. I slid into my bedroom, I covered my head with a pillow. I wondered what he could want me for. I remembered only half of the debt will be cleared and we still have the remaining half to balance up.

I set an alarm on my phone to wake me as I was about to take a nap. Michael’s father, Williams, had called his bank manager to send half of the debt to my stepmother. “Oh my goodness”,my stepmother exclaimed. Grace peeped at her phone. The way her mother exclaimed, she doesn’t know if it was good or bad. The bad was a greater option in her mind. She feared for any bad news. “Mommy, what is it?”,Grace asked.

My stepmother jubilate, “Half of the money has been sent”. Grace covered her mouth with hands. She widened her eyes. She rotates them to every corner. My stepmother was glad.

Immediately, she phoned the bank we owe. “Hello, I sent half of the money already. Will get the remaining half across soonest”she said proudly. “OK, we will expect”.the manager aborted the call. My stepmother felt proud of herself. Her mind was half way rest assured she was not losing the house. She literally has nowhere to go. She had been a lavish spender while my father was alive. Moving with the high society ladies had made her spend extravagantly.

Now I have to pay for her recklessness with my future. “Mommy, I know you hid me from going to meet with Michael”Grace gossiped. My stepmother laughed hysterically. “Am alive I will surely be protected. It is my right to do so. And I will do it with all my strength”My stepmother vouched.

Grace was feeling fly, she was glad she wasn’t the one sent to Michael. “Mommy, I heard he is a strict man,”Grace inquired. My stepmother sighed,“Yes, strict and harsh. To the extent that even I can’t deal with him. Am sure Wendy must have tasted his bitterness”. Grace looked shocked, “it’s so bad to that extent?”. My stepmother took a gulp of drink. “It’s so bad my dear. I never want you near it. Let Wendy deal with it. And once our balance is paid. The rest is left to her”. My stepmother talked nonchalantly.

Madam Lucy called her on the phone. “Hello Lucy, I have gotten half the money and I have paid it. Hopefully, this girl obeys and gets the remaining half paid”. Madam Lucy nods her head, “Yes, she should. Michael called me to ask for her contact today. I sent it to him already”. My stepmother listened attentively as madam Lucy talked. She listened to get any information from the conversation because I didn’t talk much about the call to her. My stepmother smiled,“Okay, that is a good head start for us all”. Lucy smiled, “Okay, we'll talk later. At one o'clock in the afternoon, my alarm rings. I woke up, put it off. I heaved a sigh, “It is well with me”.

My legs were heavy because my heart was sad. I don’t know what awaits me at the hotel. My last experience there was still fresh in my memory. The way he pushed me hard from one angle to the other. The stain of my own blood on sweat on the bed.Still, I had no choice, so I forced myself to the bathroom, took a quick shower. I wore a long pink gown with long sleeves. Carried a white handbag. As I was about to step out of the house, I turned and picked up my daddy’s picture and hugged it tight. I controlled my emotions. “I am doing this for you daddy. The house you suffered to build with mommy won’t be taken away just because of some people’s selfish decisions”, I said to myself. I dropped his picture, sprayed a nice cologne and finally stepped out of my room. I checked the time it was thirty minutes to two in the afternoon. I don’t want to keep him waiting.

I had fear for him. I don't want him to get angry and lose the remaining half. My dignity has been crushed. I should endure to the end to gain the reason behind my troubles. I walked through the garden and no one was there. I don’t know the whereabouts of my stepmother and her daughter.