"Get out," Joanna said, pointing her finger at the door. Amos' expression fell the instant she said these two words.
He hurried to where she stood and held her hands. "You promised you will go on the date so…,"
"And how am I going to go on the date with you if I don't get changed?" Joanna started. "You don't expect me to wear this right?" Joanna lowered her gaze at the dull clothes she wore.
Amos' eyes glimmered hearing her words. "Oh…," His lips curled into a beautiful smile realizing that he misunderstood her intentions.
Joanna shook her head seeing him act like a little child whose parents finished promising him to purchase his favourite toy.
In the past, she has always thought that she knew this guy standing in front of her like she was the back of her palms.
But she realised that she knew nothing about him after spending two weeks in the forest with him.
Staying with him, she got to discover a lot of things about him. Things that even his best friends are not aware of.
Being with him feels like she is playing a puzzle or reading a mystery book. Every day she gets to discover new sides of him she never knew he had.
She snapped a finger at him, "If you are done daydreaming will you go out so I can freshen up and get changed?" Joanna questioned.
"I have seen your naked body not once or twice so why…,"
"Do you believe that I will kick your butts out of this room if you don't get out while I am saying the words nicely?" Joanna asked, showing him her tightened fist.
Amos stared at her, weighing his chances of winning if he decided to go on arguing with her.
When he recalled all the plans he had set up for that day, he concluded that it was a waste of time bickering with her.
He knew he would be at a loss if he kept bickering with her and she changed her mind about the date.
"Let's just say you won today," Amos conceded defeat. He approached the door.
Standing outside the door, he refused to shut the door. He leaned against the brown door and stared at her.
Though this is not the first or second time he had stared at her so intently, for some reason she felt so nervous.
She felt butterflies in her stomach.
"Do you need me to shut the door on you or will you do it by yourself?" asked Joanna with furrowed eyebrows.
She clenched her fist to suppress the strong emotions threatening to burst out.
"I will leave but I won't say that you should take your time. I am already missing you as it is. I doubt I won't barge into your bathroom if you take time…," Joanna stretched her hand and carried the flower vase laying on a small stand.
Just when she was about to throw the vase at him. He slammed the door shut.
"I wonder why I didn't do that sooner," Joanna muttered. She extended her hand and returned the flower vase to where she carried it.
Joanna walked to the small size wardrobe situated on the right side of the room, just some distance from the bed.
She raised her hand, grabbed the handle and pulled it open.
Inside the wardrobe, there were less than thirty clothes inside it; a combination of both ones hanging and those folded and placed inside.
Out of the few clothes she had, only about three or four were presentable ones.
The remaining ones were worse than clothes worn by some of the beggars she often saw on the road.
"I can't believe this is the wardrobe of a person," Joanna muttered as she skimmed through the clothes hanging inside the wardrobe.
"I must get myself some decent clothes after I receive my paycheck. It doesn't matter whether this will cost me my entire paycheck this month".
Joanna continued checking out the clothes. No matter how many times she examined the clothes she didn't find anyone appealing.
Never had she hated her wardrobe so much as she is doing today. She had the urge to just gather everything and set them on fire.
On her third try at finding decent clothes to wear, she finally settled for the yellow tight-fitted dress Audrey got for her about two years ago.
When it reached to choosing a handbag, she had not had many alternatives since she has only two chained handbags. The handbags happened to be gifts gotten from Audrey and Kayden.
Adhara never saw the need to buy her clothes and other accessories ladies need.
But she and her daughter find delight in destroying these things given to her as gifts.
She can't recall the numbers of her shoes, handbags, jewellery and makeup sets they had destroyed in these past years. They went as far as converting some as theirs.
After what she went through in their hands whoever says she should go easy on them must be out of his/her damn mind.
She is not a bloodthirsty girl but a saint is the last thing she will become.
Joanna removed her clothes. Unlike other ladies whose body was blemish-free. Her body was full of scars. And behind each scar lies a story she will never forget in this lifetime.
Staring at herself in the mirror made her feel irritated. Joanna was about to cover her nakedness with the white towel in her hand when the scar below her waist caught her eyes.
She could still vividly recall how she got that scar.
That day, it was a sunny afternoon. She was climbing down the stairs with a cup of warm tea in her hand when the twelve-year-old Laura racing down the stairs collided with her.
Even though the content of the mug wasn't hot, Laura had screamed and alarmed her grandma sitting on the couch in the sitting room watching television.
"It's burning," Laura chanted the words as she ran to her grandmother.
Because of Laura's reddened hand, the elderly woman didn't care to know what happened. She grabbed the knife the maid was using in slicing the apple and threw it at her.
Seeing the swinging knife she turned to run up the stairs but before she took a step forward, the knife pierced her deep just below her waist.
Ahhh!!!
She let out a scream of pain. Warm blood immediately gushed out from where the knife stuck to her body.
She wailed and writhe in pain but none came to her rescue.
After Nanny Susan had defiled the wicked woman and bandaged her wound, she was still made to work the entire day.
She was barely about nine years old back then and the wicked woman didn't spare her.
Each time she sets eyes on the cruel woman who always made sure to leave a scar on her body each time she visits, she feels the urge to poison or strangle her to death.
Because she wasn't the woman's match she always behaved even though she hated her to the core.
But now that everything has changed. She will meet the shock of her life when she visits this time around.
"I will be the one who laughs last, I promise," Joanna wrapped her slender body with the white towel and proceeded to the bathroom.
As Joanna was inside the bathroom freshening up Amos was busy studying the layout of the Anderson building.
He was strolling when he suddenly got pulled into a room and the door shut behind him.
"Who…," He relaxed when he saw the little boy standing in front of him with his arms folded.
His scowled should have made him appear angry but Amos found his expression funny.
"Why are you staring at me like I just stole your favourite toy?" Amos asked. He raised his hand to touch his hair but Anthony pushed his hand away.
"What are you to Big Sister?" Anthony inquired, still scowling at him.
Instead of answering his question, Amos walked further into the spacious room that was twice the size of Joanna's room.
[I guess this is a privileged that comes with being that cruel woman's flesh and blood… you get to enjoy the life of luxury]
His eyes scrutinized the room as he walked in.
In the middle of the room, there was a huge shelf that demarcated the room into two.
On the shelves, toys of different models were neatly arranged. His collections of toys were mostly superheroes.
On the walls hung paintings of murals, landscapes and so many others. Two family picture frames hung on the wall.
Anthony jumped to stand in front of him with his hand spread. "What are you looking at?" Anthony demanded.
Amos lowered his gaze at the little boy frowning at him. "Don't you think you are being rude to your future brother-in-law?" asked Amos as he playfully hit his forehead with his index finger.
Anthony squinted his eyebrows, "Brother-in-law?" He scoffed. "Your wish".
His expression and the tone he used made him recall the many times Joanna said the same words to him.
[When they said the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I guess that wasn't a lie… it sure runs in the blood]
"And why do you say so?" Amos asked, not understanding why the boy was hostile to him.
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