Episode 7

“Listen to me baby, if you keep this our little secret, I promise I will marry you by next week. Can you do that for me?”

Untangling herself from the unwashed smelly sheets, crusted with an unhealthy amount of sweat and body odour, Nellie managed to drag her bruised body up from the very small spring-less mattress that was laid on the ground and wiped her tear-stained face with the back of her hand, then she looked up at Sunny and nodded to his request.

He had promised he’d be gentle but that turned out to not be the case; her little body was bruised and filled with cuts everywhere and the intense pains that came with losing her virginity in such a brutal manner made her privates hurt and her legs tremble, causing her to wobble on her feet.

“The blood won’t stop Sunny, what should I do? I can’t go home like this.” Her innocent eyes stared at him with so much fear and a powerful amount of trust in them. Sunny picked up his shirt from the floor and threw it over his shoulder then with a sigh he turned to the little girl who looked so confused and scared to death, desperately waiting on his every word.

He rolled his eyes at her innocence and his lips stretched in the fakest smile he could manage.

“You don’t need to worry baby, this is happening because it’s your first time and it will get better soon I promise. Now all you need is a bath and it will go away.” With the smile still decorating his face, he bent down and picked up her dress then he handed it up to her, urging her to put it on; and when she did as he asked of her, he took her hand in his and started leading them towards the door.

“Now don’t forget to take your bath once you get home ok?” Sunny said as they both got to the door. Nellie turned to him shocked and confused.

“But…but I thought… can’t I take my bath here? My stepmother will kill me if I go home looking like this.” She gestured to her body while looking at him with pleading eyes.

“Fine.” He said and she instantly smiled in relief but her smile quickly evaporated the minute he went back inside and came back out with a roll of toilet paper and handed it over to her. Nellie stared at him yet again confused as she held the toilet roll waiting for an explanation.

“Use this and clean yourself up; unfortunately you can’t do it here because I’m in a hurry, I have something urgent to attend to at my shop.” Sunny bent to her level, placed a kiss upon her left cheek, turned and locked the door to his house then turned back around to leave. Nellie quickly grabbed hold of his hand before he could have the chance of leaving her standing there alone and bewildered.

“Sunny, will you really come for my hand in marriage by next week?” she asked with hope and excitement twinkling in her big brown eyes as she perked up at him waiting for an answer to her innocent question.

Sunny stared down at the hand that was holding him back and instantly, the look of extreme irritation clouded his features. His face changed from soft to hard in a blink of an eye, the eyes that were now staring at her were as cold as ice and right then, all she could see was her stepmother staring back at her through him; immediately, she regretted ever asking any question.

“Come on, are you questioning me? Do we need to have this conversation again?” Nellie’s mouth opened a bit as though she was about to say something but nothing came out; “didn’t I promise to marry you by next week? Or don’t you trust me anymore?”

Panic took over Nellie like a flood as instant realization engulfed her—she had angered Sunny and he was going to break up with her.

“Please I am sorry, I didn’t mean it that way,” she said holding onto his arm tightly while looking into his eyes as tears threatened to fall down her face.

Realizing that she was about to start crying, Sunny soften his features and tried to speak more gently to the little girl.

“Don’t cry baby, I'm here for you remember? You don’t need to worry, I will see you next week; as for now, you need to go home because it's getting late.” He took out some money from his pocket and handed it to her, telling her it was for the day’s goods she had to sell, then he pecked her cheeks again and ran off before she could have the chance of stopping him again.

*****

Nellie lurked around Sunny’s house, trying her hardest to avoid his neighbours since he lived in a rented apartment building, she didn’t want him to have any issues with them because of her. She was too ashamed to walk out in the open for people to see her like that. She looked so rough, dirty and in pains; the thought of her stepmother noticing her blood-stained white dress or the fresh cuts that were all over her body—not that her stepmother would have minded the cuts on her but she was certain that the bloodstains wouldn't go unnoticed— scared her to no end. So it made her more determined to wait outside his door until it got dark. And besides, she was sure her stepmother would only think that she was still out hawking as usual. She only wished that Sunny had allowed her to wait inside his house instead of out in the cold hallway.

*****

Once the darkness blanketed over the sky, she got up from the cold hard floor and made her way home. She stopped by the street food vendors and got some food for her baby brother, just in case he was sent to bed hungry again—it seemed to be happening more often lately.

Nellie ignored the weird and concerning stares she got from the food vendors or the people passing by because to her, nothing else mattered; not even the extreme pains she was feeling or the staggering trend in her steps, all that mattered to her was seeing Peter smile, seeing him truly happy one day and thanks to Sunny’s love, she was going to be given the opportunity to achieve her dreams, the ones that seemed so impossible a day ago, the ones she prayed and hoped for so long. She wasn't going to mind the pain she was feeling, she was ready to endure it all, over and over again. Little Nellie was convinced that the pains offered her what she so craved—the assurance of a better and brighter future for both Peter and herself— and so it was nothing but the price to pay for freedom, it was merely her freedom bringing pains.

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