NINE

"Oh my goodness!"

Nanny Isha's jaw dropped on seeing the condition Lora was left in. She had prepared breakfast and came to her room to inform her that it was ready as it was her weekend duty. The sight of Lora's bruised body puzzled her and made her hair stand on edge and it got her misty-eyed. Lora had fallen on the floor after putting on her dress, crying and breathing hard. Isha approached her and called out her name.

"Madam Lora!" Isha called, lifting her arm. "What the hell happened here? Anyone there? Sam! Come over and hurry!"

"Nanny Isha, what's wrong with Madam Lora?"

Sam asked frighteningly after cropping up with two female servants.

"Don't just stand there and ask stupid questions. Come help me lift her to the bed."

Immediately, the four helped Lora up. She could no longer stand on her cuz her legs couldn't carry her. She was nerveless, looking all feeble that when they took her up, he would fall again and again till they finally got her on the bed.

"You can leave now, I will take it from here...and shut the door."

"Madam Lora talk to me, wot happened to you?"

Lora still found it difficult to speak out cuz of the grief and anxiety. She just cried continuously.

"Could it be Sir Bill?"

Lora nodded slightly.

"He tied me and hurt me again." She managed to say, crying.

"Heck! Bill is me up the wall, he shouldn't make me do something I would regret later and forget he's my boss."

Isha yelled into space.

"Bill is a devil..he's certainly going to pay for all the hurts he has caused me."

"Take it, easy ma'am, you're worsening the situation. I know someday it's going to be all..."

Lora cuts her shut

"I hear this every day, every bad day! Tell me, nanny, when will all this be over? When will that monster of a husband stop causing me pain? He rapes me and he's taking advantage of the fact that I can't conceive cuz he doesn't shoot in."

"Calm down madam Lora please you're hurting yourself the more."

Isha said worriedly but Lora didn't stop.

"I know how many times I've attempted abortion because of Bill."

"Goodness!"

"Why on earth is he treating me like a slut?"

"Have you tried asking him the reason for his cruel actions?"

"I asked him severally but he'd refused to state his reasons. I'm just so tired and most times I feel like I should attempt suicide."

"Shhh! Don't say that again, there's still hope for the future, and am quite certain that every problem you're facing now will quit coming. The best help you can give yourself right now is to close your eyes and sleep while I apply the treatment on you."

"I'm tired nanny, I can't take it."

"It's gonna be fine."

Nanny Isha said as she gave Lora an affectionate pat on her hands to stop her from crying. Then she dropped a liquid sleeping drug into her mouth and in no time, she fell asleep. This was done anytime Bill rapes her so she wouldn't feel the pain while applying the treatment on her parts.

While she slept, the nanny applied ointment on the open bruises on her arm and cheek. She had obtained the bruise on the cheek from the slap Bill fired earlier. Next, Isha reached for the door and made sure it was locked when she went to Lora's legs, opened it, and as usual what she saw didn't astound her cuz she saw it every day. She gently applied ointment on the lips of Lora's swollen vaginal for it to start healing, then she returned to sit next to her.

"Bill you're such an animal. Look what you've done to the poor lady u call ur wife but I promise you gonna pay for all the harm you've cursed, I promise!"

Isha kept yelling while she stared blankly into space.

AUSTIN's

Mrs. Marie was sitting in the living room seeing a tv program and smiling at it when Jessy came in from her room and sat on the couch, next to her.

"Mom."

"Baby. You're here?"

"Obviously. You seem so engrossed in this lifeless show."

Marie laughs.

"It's lifeless to you because you haven't put your interest in it."

"Maybe." She said staring at the pictures of the characters on the tv without paying attention.

"Is there something you need?" Asked Marie

"Yea, I need answers to my few puzzling questions."

"Answers? Okay, just a second." She turned off the tv with its remote and faced her. "Ride on."

"What are those things a person does when he's in love?"

Jessy fired and Marie stared surprisingly at her.

"Where's this coming from already?"

"Just answer me, mom."

"He or she does all kinds of crazy stuff."

"Humm. Tell me more about relationships."

When Jessy said this, Austin emerged from his room to get chilled water from the water dispenser in the dining. At first, what they were saying didn't matter to him until the word *relationship* was mentioned. Then he stood to listen to what they were conversing. He stood behind, the couch covered him so they were unable to notice his presence.

"Relationship is like a mirror. It's beautiful while it's still intact but becomes ugly when it's cracked. Sometimes, even when you try to maintain a relationship, one of the parties defaults. When a person is deeply in love, let's take a lady for an instance ...yea, when she's in love, her behavior changes and her reactions as well. Every time, she wants to cling to her man, she wants to be in his arms minute after minute, she wants to act crazy around him, go out to see movies and have meals with him, play, and do nasty things. She discovers that before any other thing, he's first in her mind and out of 100 percent, 70 percent of her thoughts are all about him that she never wanna let go a bit. Most of them love being troublesome for no crucial reason. Ladies can be annoying most times but get hurt easily in a relationship. They're jealous when they see their guy with another, they hate being compared. They need love, care, and most of all, attention. When they get heartbroken, they sometimes find it difficult to forgive the past while some do and move on. True love changes our story and who we are. In a relationship, love and trust are the most essential, if not it would crack like a mirror."

Marie smiled conclusively and faced Jessy. All the while she spoke, she stared into space and talked from experience. Austin on the other side stood blankly. He had picked all the points his mother made about how ladies do in a relationship and had digested them at once. Immediately, he drank from the glass of water he had been holding then returned to his room, but wasn't recognized yet.

"Wow mom, I'm so naive. How come you know so much about relationships?"

She stunningly asked and Marie laughed.

"How I came to know about relationships doesn't matter, what matters is that you sink it into your heart and mind. You're 19 and mature" She smiled " Wait...are you seeing someone baby?"

Jessy looked shyly away

"Urm... yes but not exactly."

"Really? Oh my gosh am so flattered. Tell me, who's the lucky dude huh?"

"He's a guy I met at the market a few months ago. We exchanged contact and since then, we have been meeting. He's Samuel."

"Hmm Samuel, I hope he's handsome anyway"

"I ain't looking at that aspect but he's cool"

"Have you got feelings for him?"

"Yes, mom."

"Does he know you feel something for him?"

"No. I haven't confessed yet, am waiting for the right time."

"Huh? Are you waiting until you are 50? Please make sure to hurry about this."

* * *

In a local bear parlor where all kinds of drinks were sold, Bill sat comfortably in one of the seats as he drank from a glass of whisky and ice. He does this every day for here was his regular place to pass time alone or with some rich useless men like him. Here was where he gets drunk and then comes home to pounce on his wife like an animal.

"Fancy seeing here today and this early."

One of the friends he had made from the beer parlor said in the background. He wasn't used to Bill's coming here on Saturdays cuz he believed that he was usually out.

"Hey, Luke!" They exchanged handshakes and he sat opposite him. A table demarcated them.

"Man, the past few days have been hell for me. But first of.." he beckoned to a waiter who showed up immediately. "A bottle of whisky and two packs of cigarettes"

"What could be hell for you?"

The waiter served it and Luke sipped from it before speaking.

"My wife and I had a little argument three days ago and since then, she had denied me sex. I am clueless about what to do."

Bill unsealed one of the packs and released a stick of cigar as he lit it.

"It's simple."

"Really?"

"Why do you think I am capable of getting anything today? Because no one controls me, I own myself and I know how to go about myself.

"So where are you driving at?" Luke asked after he sipped again.

"Be man enough and force her to bed."

A cigarette hung from his lips.

"What?"

"Don't give her the guts to control you man, you own her body anyway. I don't tolerate Lora's shit, so I f**k her the way I want until she starts limping. C'mon, you're a man, fling her on the bed, force and f**k her hard so she wouldn't mess with you no more."

"You're sure about this?" Luke asked

"If I ain't sure, I wouldn't have mentioned it. My wife is under my control and nothing will ever make her leave my side, nothing!"

* * *

Austin sat on his bed, recalling all that his mother had said. He had never fallen in love so he never knew what ladies cherish in a relationship. He tried fixing Lora in the picture and imagined being in a relationship with her then he shook the fog off his head. He wasn't falling for her already, rather was only being a nice friend and colleague to her. He realized that he had started missing her so he picked up his phone and tried to place a call on her then suddenly remembered that they weren't couples. Unluckily, he dropped out and returned to working on his system.

* * *

While Austin worked on his system, Lora winced in pain on her bed trying to get hold of her body. She had woken up not quite long and had requested water which nanny Isha served in no time.

Isha had been there to watch over her while she was asleep. She does this every time Lora was being harassed by Bill and the other servants wonder if she wasn't getting tired, they also feel for Lora but was scared of the results that would come out of it when Bill finds out. Isha never bothered about the consequences cuz she considered Lora as her daughter.

"Nanny?"

She called in a faint voice trying to get up.

"No madam you can't get up now, you aren't strong enough."

Isha said as she layed her back on the bed.

"Thanks, Nanny."

"For?"

"For everything. I'll forever be indebted to you cuz of this and when am finally out of this mess, I will repay ur kindness."

"Don't say that again, you're wanting to make me cry. I have told you severally that you are like a daughter to me, and each time I am with you, I get reminded of my late daughter. So everything am doing, is the best a mother should do for her suffering daughter."

Isha explained and Lora mildly smiled. She did everything, cracked jokes just to make her laugh but it was hard for her to even laugh because every moment that passes by, she remembers that she was still under Bill's roof and he can hurt her at any unexpected time.