Chapter 2 She passed the interview

She laid on the bed as she reminisces about her past, tears streaming down her cheeks as she asks God why life was so unfair to her.

Why did God not allow my mom to live until I am old enough to take care of her. Until I am able to sincerely show my gratitude for taking care of me even when the situation was bad. She talked to herself and wished that someone could answer her.

But then she consoled herself as she also looked at the schools she attended after her mom was gone, maybe this was His way of blessing her.

She has attended one of the best universities in the world when it comes to apparel design. She stands better chances of being hired because of the schools she attended, her grades also makes her a perfect candidate.

If it wasn't because her grandmother does not want her to work. She would be working right now. But she doesn't even want her to work in the family company even though it deals with apparel designs.

Nobody knows why she doesn't want her to work. Her grandmother has quarrelled a lot with her brother about this but she has told him over and over again that as long as she is alive, Melinda will never enter her company as an employee.

Her brother always consoles her by saying, "sis, you are one of the best designers. It is her loss if she doesn't want you there. Another company will hire you and you will have an impact in their finances such that she will regret not having you in the company."

Her mother used to tell her that she kept her away from this family for a reason, she wanted to protect her.

Sh did not understand it then because of the humiliation she got back at school for not having a father.

Children back at school used to make fun of her mother and her, some would even call her mom a homewrecker. Some would say the Heavens did well by not allowing her to destroy the man's marriage. They used to call her a bastard and sometimes she would fight back especially when they insult her mom.

Back then she wouldn't mind it if you insulted her but when you insult her mom. Yoh! She would hit you so badly such that one of those boys one day stayed in the hospital for two full weeks. She literally gave that boy a lesson he probably will never forget.

When her father came to get her from the police station, she was very happy and was looking forward into being part of her new family.

However the treatment she has received ever since she got here has made her see that her mother was telling her the truth when she said that she was trying to protect her by keeping her away from this family.

Every time they do something bad to her, she remembers that this is exactly what God and her mom were protecting her from.

If it was not for the fact that her mom used to say to her, "when I am gone from this world and you happen to be taken by your father's family. Do not be discouraged by their treatment but be grateful for the education you will receive. In this world my child, you can only get to enjoy life once you have a successful career so strive for that and you will reach greater heights. You will achieve things that you never thought you would have."

Those are words from her mom that has kept her going. Those are the words that have made her to be what she is today.

She remembers that one day she told her mother that she hated her when she tried to explain why her father was not part of their lives.

Right now she wishes that she could see her and say, "sorry mama." She was sorry for not believing her when she said that her father's family was very cruel. Her mom made the best decision for her but unfortunately death took her too early.

She stood up and walked towards the mirror, she wanted to see how bad her back was from the whipping. She can see that her shirt was already stained with blood from the whip that her grandmother gave me.

She heard a knock on the door, the door opened before she could respond to it. The old lady who has been a helper since her father was born came in with a basin.

She wondered what was in it, then she said to her "come here baby girl, let me help you with that. We need to apply some medicine so that you won't have any scars. We both want the man you will marry to love your body and not be disgusted by your scars, now don't we?"

She smiled as she said those words. Melinda looked at her and said, "Mrs Simpson who told you I want to marry. I will grow old in my father's house."

"Shh don't say that my darling, don't let these old bones die with a sorrowful heart. It would pain me not to see someone marry you so you can live this hell house. If I had a grand son I would ask him to marry you so you can get out of this house my dear."

"Oh Mrs Simpson, it's a good thing you do not have that grandson because I do not believe in love, I wouldn't want to tie him down to a miserable life."

"What do you know, you are still too young to say you will never marry. Look at how old I am but if given a chance I would marry again. It's stressful to be alone and the thought of dying alone with no one by your side is horrible."

Mrs Simpson washed her back as she was saying that and whatever she had put in the water was like hell. The pain she felt on her back was unbearable but she knew that after a few days. She will be fine, this old woman has always been her doctor.

She is her grandmother's most trusted servant but surprisingly she treats her better than her grandmother and sometimes she wishes that she was her grandmother.

After cleaning her back, she reaches for her left pocket on the overall she was wearing. She takes out something wrapped in a foil and says to me "eat very fast then brush your teeth before your grand mother comes to your room."

She looked at her with teary eyes, Mrs Simpson wipes her tears and says "be fast, don't get me into trouble. I also do not want to get caught I am too old for your grand mother's drama."

She nodded at her and said "thank you" then munched on the sandwich very fast. She was really hungry which was one of the reasons why she was the first one to sit on the dining table today.

After she finished eating, Mrs Simpson took the foil paper and got out of the bedroom. Melinda went straight to the bathroom to brush her teeth, put on a gown and prepared to sleep.

If her grandmother comes, she should find her sleeping. She thought about the interview she had few days back and she began to wonder why they have not called her yet.

Then she suddenly got up, she had literally forgotten that she was hurt. The pain she felt for getting up abruptly reminded her that she was hurt.

What made her get up abruptly was the fact that when she left this house to go to the shop, she accidentally forgot her phone.

Could that be the reason why her grandmother hit her. Did that company call her while she was out of the house and the call just happens to be picked up by her grandmother? She had so many questions but she had no one to answer them.

She hated myself for being so stupid, she should have asked Mrs Simpson some of these questions she has and she might have given her answers.

While she was still blaming herself for being stupid as her grandmother usually says, the door opened. And she knew that it was her grandmother, she always comes to see her after whipping her back. She does not know why but she always does this before she goes to sleep.

She comes in and sits on the bed, she had already tucked herself in the bed and she was really not in the mood to talk to her but she wanted to know about that interview.

She needed something to get out of this house for at least a few hours a day in order to keep her sane.

She has been looking at her for a few seconds without saying a word at her. She wondered what was it that she wanted to say but could not say it.

Then she made a long sighed and said "for the first time since you got into this house I finally see a resemblance of my son in you. I thought people were crazy when they said this but you really do look like my son. Why haven't I noticed this before?"

She did not know how to answer her grandmother but in her she had answered her. In her, she had already said "that is simply because your hatred covered your eyes. You hated my mom so much that you did not even see that God had reasons for bringing me into this world. I am the only child that will make you have a memory of your son. Your beloved grandchildren do not look even a tiny bit like your son."

She had those words but she certainly did not want to be whipped again. So her silence made her ask her next question "did you see the owner of the company when they were interviewing you?"

"Unfortunately grandma I can not give you the right answer because I do not know the owner, is it a male or female?"

"He is a man."

"Oh then I guess I really did not see him because the people that interviewed me were all females."

"How many were they?"

"There were three females."

"How old do you think they are?"

"I am not too sure about that but one of them was old and seems to know about designing clothes a lot better than the two."

She received a hot slap for saying that, she does not know what she has said to trigger her anger.

Today definitely seems to be a bad day for her, she slapped her before whipping her and now she was slapping her again.

Can't her day get any worser than this, God why was she living in this earth, why can't God take her life so she can join her loved ones.

She said those words silently then said to her grandmother, "grand mother if there is ever something I have said or done wrong today I am so sorry. I know you were happy when you woke up and I am sorry to be the one to ruin your day."

"Oh you should have thought of that before you applied for a job at that company. Since they have accepted you then who am I to stop you from achieving your dreams. I should warn you though, if you dare ever say a single word about us to one of them. I will remove your fingers one by one before I chop that stupid head of yours. Did they ask anything about your family?"

"Yes, the old lady asked if I am in any way related to the famous chocolate cake baker because it seems as if our last names are the same."

She saw rage in her grandmother's eyes, and she asked, "what was your response?"

"I said you are my grandmother."

She got another slap, yoh! She felt her cheeks burning, it was almost like they were on fire.

She threw the phone to her face and if she was not fast enough in grabbing the phone, it would have hit her face so hard.

She left immediately after that and her coming in here made her have more questions that really stressed her out such that her head hurts so badly.