Selena's crib

Selena

My step mum had found an event for me.
Did I tell you I worked multiple jobs sometimes, everyone worked in the house,even CJ did.

Somehow she had landed a job in one of the biggest events in town that needed young girls between the ages of 18-24 and my step mum had lied that I was 19.

"But she's looking so thin,we need really curvy girls"The woman who was part of the event planning committee took a look at me, trying to understand if I was probably eating. I felt embarrassed under her gaze. Yes I was thin but that dirty look,it was tiring.

"Madam please,I don't even want her to be an usher,even if she's washing plate at the background,keep her there"My step mum pleaded.

We were standing in the woman's over spacious sitting room that had every fancy thing you could think of. I felt like a commodity who couldn't speak for herself.

And then the woman agreed and gave my step mum the clothes I was supposed to wear. I didn't test it until today.

I stood still and watched the girl in the mirror.

I hated myself. I looked like a slut honestly. The gown was stopping mid thighs and though I had to admit my non existent curves were suddenly out, still I felt uncomfortable.

I was in Kim's room since she had a mirror,a cracked one that hang on the wall.

"Is that what you are wearing there?" She asked in that voice of hers that didn't show what she was feeling.

I nodded.

All the while she was sitting on her bed as I slipped into the red gown that was off shoulders with beautiful patterns made with white thread or something. It was the first time I was wearing something so sophisticated.

"Take that my wig,you look like a mad person"

Ouch

I nodded,I took her brown wig and placed over my head and from behind me I heard her sigh in frustration. She got down from her bed and walked towards me.

"You are supposed to be smarter than this" She said only and adjusted the wig better,took one of her nude lipstick and applied it on my lips.

When she was done,she climbed back on her bed ignoring me, sometimes I wanted badly to understand Kim,know the story behind her distant looks,her cold stone eyes and her expressionless face.

"Thank you" I said to her

"Turn off the lights when leaving"she said to me and I did as instructed.

Time was 6:00pm,the big clock in the sitting room read,the sitting room where mother and son were currently sitting watching an American action movie. Their heads snapped at my direction once I walked in. I saw it, the flirty smile on CJ's lips,the surprise on her face. The somewhat different atmosphere.

" Ahh, you look as though you want to go and seduce the people there"My step mum looked at me disgusted.

" With what? Somebody that doesn't have breast or ass" He laughed loudly as though it was the funniest thing ever.

I simply stood at the center of the sitting room watching him, feeling tired.

"And who gave you the wig?" She asked

"Kim" I replied

" You still look stupid despite this dress."

I didn't say anything to respond,he was mentally degraed as long as I was concerned.

"And you even applied lipstick,it's the audacity for me" My step mum laughed and clapped her hands together.

"Come here"

"Ma?"

"Are you suddenly deaf?"she asked and I walked slowly towards her in fear.

She draw my mouth and cleaned every trace of the lipstick, I wanted to vomit cos her hands smelt like fish and Maggi,dirty smelly hands,I liked Maggi,fish but not her hand,I stopped myself from throwing up the little bread I had eaten.

"You are going there to work not slut around,I'm not surprised anyways,your mother was like that"

I was quiet, tears at the brim of my eyes,if only...

"Let's get going osiso" She shouted at me already making her way towards the door,she pulled the door and walked out and when I tried running to the door, CJ stopped me. Cunning looks,dirty looks thrown at me,his lips curled up in a kind of way that terrified me. I saw his eyes,lust laden eyes,he wouldn't do anything to me I tried to convince myself

"CJ please" I tried begging but he was smirking,I knew that look,that sinster look.

"You really are a slut,do you know how turned on I am right now,do you?You think you can just flash your legs right?"

How he swirled me around and pressed me against the wall was what I didn't understand,he was stronger than I am,I wanted to cry, scream at him,his hand was tracing my legs,he was so dangerously close,so close I could feel his boner against me.

"Can you see what you do to me?" He asked,his voice laced with passion. I wished my step mum could open the door and see what her monster of a son was doing to me.

"CJ please don't hurt me" I whimpered. My frail voice failing me.

I could feel his hand slipping underneath my dress and then as though he changed his mind and was possessed by a stronger demon,he pushed me on one of the old couch and was on me.

Tears were already streaming from my eyes,I could see the dangerous look on his face,his eyes filled with passion, God please.

He was covering my mouth now. I struggled,I tried but he was hell bent on having his way with me.

And suddenly,and suddenly as though a whirlwind swept across the room, CJ was off me in a minute and someone,no Kim was the someone who was bent over him punching him with all her might.

Girls threw weak punches but that didn't apply to Kim, I always knew the Kim that brooded,the quiet Kim always bent over a dark fiction,the Kim who listened to majorly Billie Eish but this Kim who was throwing punches like The rock,I didn't know her.

I saw her eyes,the muderous look in her eyes,the anger,the pain, God, Kim was furious, CJ didn't even have a chance to block the punches,I never knew Kim was so strong,the way she kept focusing on his face,the grunts as she punched him as though she was transferring all her pain,all her anger,no,this wasn't Kim,this one was possessed with something really strong. She wasn't planning on stopping anytime and CJ looked half dead.

And that was when my step mum walked in,the fear for her beloved son was all over her face,she pushed Kim out from him. The bastard wasn't even dead.

His face especially his nose was badly broken,his lips too and he bled too. He looked messed up

"Kim, what did I ever do to you? Do you want to kill your brother"

Kim didn't reply,she was trying to control her breathing as she glared at her brother,the venom visible in her eyes. Her chest heaved up and down,she was fighting the urge to tackle him and continue,I could see it on her face.

"What's going on here, somebody speak up!"

No one was answering,there was a pin drop silence.

" Maybe you should ask your son" She glared harder at him and turned around walking towards her room.

" Kim!Kim!" The woman shouted but it was practically in vain since the lass ignored her.

She turned to the boy who was still trying to clean the blood from his face. She threw a look at me also.

I was expecting her to ask him but she didn't.

"Get yourself to the chemist. Munachi let's go"

And just like that we left.

***

Selena

I was still shaken at the fact I was nearly raped by CJ as I walked beside my step mum. We took a train and a bus to get to our destination and mehn,my jaws dropped when we got into the compound.

It was a multipurpose hall. A lot of cars I only saw in movies and imagination was lined up at the parking area. Young men,old people,all best dressed,the elegance and the poise they carried themselves was everything for me.

Loud music was playing from the inside,how massive the compound looked was everything to me. I was already wondering how the inside would look like.

My step mum handed me over to the woman and left,she was not an invited guest after all.

My jaws dropped again for the second time, money was the key word, money stared at me from the decorations to the organization.

There were about 500 tables or so arranged in little clusters. Four chairs to each table that was covered with white linens.
Then the light was somewhere between blue and pink, giving the  hall a gentle hue.

There were loads of journalists at the event too and DJ Neptune was here,I was already thrilled.

The podium was covered in blue decor. Everything screamed sophistication and then there was a buffet of food to the right.

My attention was drawn to the cake standing on the podium,I could tell how much expensive it was from the icing,to the layers.

Whoever planned this event did a great job. I was left speechless. The hall was nearly filled and I knew my job would start soon. God help me.

***
Yobanna

You know something about pretending to be a happy family, my family and I was pulling that stunt,not like we didn't do it all the time

My dad was having a party to celebrate his third company,his third company that was into Agro products.

There were going to be a lot of dignitaries in attendance and we had to act.

I deserved an Oscar. Back to back acting and pretense,most consistent male actor.

I was wearing my simple black tuxedo that I rarely wore except for events. And yeah I had to buy a new one cos I couldn't step out in one I've worn previously.

See, I had a stressful life too.

I sprayed my perfume generously and took a last look at myself,the previous day I had loosed the braids and had an haircut.

We had to take the same car, if there was a I didn't have to take another car,then I'd gladly do so.

I was the only one in the car with my parents, Zara was in boarding school writing exams, Mattew stopped attending such events,the press didn't really pay attention to them,as funny as it sounds, they were more interested in me,more interested to know if I would miss any events,like I was a yardstick to know if the family was together. It sucks.

I tried to control my breathing. Tried hard to control the rapid rise of my chest.

Breathing the same air with my parents was suffocating. The silence was definitely choking but I preferred it that way, except for the song playing from the radio, no conversations, nothing. I was already bored out of my mind. I took out my phone to distract myself and then later I looked outside at the dark night.

I took a peek at my mum in her pink dinner gown that had a slit that stopped right before her knees.  It had a lot of shinny stuffs,it reminded me of Indian brides, sleeveless and showed virtually no skin.

She looked like royalty especially with her hair tied up like that and her makeup done so lightly,the heavy looking necklace gleaning and then our eyes met for a while, she was gorgeous.

She didn't look like my mum,she looked good. I saw it,the internal battle within her,as though she couldn't decide whether or not to smile and then she she didn't.

I felt like she was about talking and then i turned my face around. It was enough I was sharing the same space with them. I didn't want a conversation too,it was exhausting. Last thing I wanted was negative energy.

My dad was wearing a navy blue tuxedo, nothing much, nothing too special. His hair gleaming from where I sat,he looked blad.

The limo pulled up in front of the hall and it seemed Cynthia and her family also arrived the same time.

Cynthia looked good I had to admit. She was wearing a black gown,a long gown that was sweeping the floors and I noticed first of all the contacts she was wearing, green ones. She looked beautiful,she always did anyway.

She was my date.

No, I didn't ask her but somehow we both knew she was my date,it was like an unspoken rule. Family friends kind of thing. The twins didn't come along.

"Hey" She whispered as she linked her hands with mine, trying to perfect her smiles for the camera.

"Hi" I mumbled back in reply,I also had to smile at the camera,it was exhausting.

"You look good"

"You too" I replied and then we stepped into the hall,one word for the design was astonishing.

We made our way to the front of the hall where our chairs were already prepared.

I hated dinner parties,the excessive lights, cameras,the long speech,I had lost count of how many I had attended in my years of existence,it was more like a routine now.

"You hate this don't you?" She said again,this time my father was on the stage, saying some stuffs, I managed not to doze off and occasionally chatting with Ken who was online.

"Kinda" I muttered.

"My father said your dad is going to be announcing something big today"

I turned to look at her properly and for a moment I thought she looked like Shade Onam with those green eyes,sadly Cynthia was wearing contacts.

" Something big?,well his now on stage isn't he?"

" Promise me you won't flip when you hear it, promise you'll act along,you know we are in public right?" She pleaded and I suddenly became more confused and suddenly interested.

I turned my attention to the stage just when I heard big news.

"Years ago,my family and the  Ifeanyis went into a pact to build our family ties. Today we want to announce the engagement between Yobanna and Cynthia officially to the world"

Which Yobanna? Didn't seem like but I was Yobanna right?

I took two breaths. My eyes seething with rage,I was yet to understand perfectly,I was trying to understand how and when such engagement happened.

This man was daring me right. I was this close to fixing his jaws but I kept my cool and took more generous amount of breathe.

I watched as his eyes narrowed down to where I sat, as though he was daring me to flip in public. He knew how much I hated so much public attention, how much I needed a good slate cos of my ambassadorial deals. Did people know how evil he was?

I turned to Cynthia, so she knew? Was this some kind of publicty stunt, a kind of blackmail, match making?

It happened so fast, so fast I couldn't control it, I wanted badly to show them the worst part of me, the best they could do was inform me before hand but they had to prove they were sick, sick as always.

I was 18 for goodness sake, engaged? No, they were definitely playing with me.

"Yobanna please, my dad needs this" Cynthia tried to plead, it was a huge lie, they wanted to hold me to some sort of marriage without my consent. If I agreed to it, I was for sure going to be viral, Cynthia and her family would go more viral, lots of things would go wrong.

Fake or real, I wasn't buying the pleading, I was still sitting still, boiling in rage and then I stood up,  quick and fast as though I was electricouted theight light was beginning to blind me but I didn't care.

My dad's eyes were on me, he wasn't expecting I would react, he thought I was going to be a dumb one, despite everything he had done, this had to be the worst. And then, I walked towards the door. More blinding lights from the camera, this was the kind of thing these journalist liked.

When I was close to the door, I saw her.

I stopped in my tracks and held her gaze for a while,she looked surprised,I was also surprised and then I realized she was a waitress.

I had never seen her in such type of dress, she looked beautiful, more beautiful rather.

I had never looked at her that way,never saw her in that light but there was something different about her that night and suddenly a plan came to my mind.

Her innocent eyes narrowed at me, looking at me wondering why there were lots of lights on her and it seemed for a while it was just two of us.

I gave my dad one look, he was still watching me, and then I closed the gap between Selena and I, I kissed her.

Flash
Flash
Flash

Damn

****
Me sipping my wine as I write this scene😂
It's the wahala for me👅😂💔
See ehn,rapists annoy me, like they really annoy me. Kim na my person seriously 📌
I Stan and restan the queen.

The kiss?
Okay, we just started this book