Chapter 002

Olima woke up in her bedroom at 5:30 a.m. She was wearing a light blue nightgown and rushed out of her bedroom to tidy up the house. She knew that it was the first day of school, and her younger stepsister, Mia Adams, was going back to college.

Olima swept the entire mansion clean, starting from the top floor and working her way down to the first-floor living room. She swept and mopped everywhere until it was spotless before heading outside to sweep the entire compound.

After finishing her work and making sure the entire mansion was neat, Olima went back into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for her younger stepsister. She knew that her stepmother and stepsister would soon wake up from their sleep.

Mrs. Gina Adams, a 39-year-old woman, woke up in her bedroom upstairs. This was the first room given to her when she initially got married to Mr. Leo Adams.

She yawned and stretched as she sat up carefully on the bed, and stared around her bedroom, while feeling like the mistress of the house again.

"Hmm... How time flies," she said, as she dropped her legs down from the bed and stood up.

Mrs. Gina was wearing a long white nightgown, and she wore her slippers that were beside the bed, and knew that it was school resumption day. And her 14-year-old daughter, Mia Adams, was going back to college.

The time was 7 a.m. sharp on her room clock. And so she went downstairs to inspect the house and to see if Olima was through in sweeping and mopping the entire mansion to look cleaned.

Mrs. Gina stepped downstairs into the living room and stared around. She saw that Olima had cleaned everywhere, and a satisfactory smile curved up her face as she intended to get her revenge by punishing Olima too.

She walked up to the dining table to have her seat there and to wait for her daughter to step out for her breakfast, just before the school bus would arrive.

Just then, Olima stepped out from the kitchen and saw her stepmother in the dining room.

She stepped out to find out if Mia was through and ready to have her breakfast. And seeing her stepmother in the dining room, Olima quickly greeted the older lady, "Good morning, Ma."

Mrs. Gina swiftly turned to face Olima, and her blood boiled hot to hear Olima call her "Mother."

She rushed up to meet Olima, and next, she landed Olima a hot, resounding slap on her left cheek.

[SLAP!]

"How many times have I warned you never to call me mother again in this house? Do I resemble your stupid late mother?" Mrs. Gina questioned out angrily, as she glares at Olima.

"No, Mother.. I mean, Ma," Olima replied as she sobbed, while Mrs. Gina glares at Olima, as she released Olima's shoulder that she had gripped on tightly. And she questioned Olima again, "Have you prepared my daughter's breakfast? Or do you want Mia to be late for school today?"

"No, ma'am, I have prepared Mia's breakfast," Olima shakily replied, and Mrs. Gina's eyes narrowed at her, before she moved away from Olima and sniffed her both palms that she had used to hold Olima.

Mrs. Gina hated Olima's scent, as Olima smelled like apple.

She immediately went into the kitchen to wash her hands off Olima's fruity scent, as she felt irritated to be reminded of Late Mrs. Zoe.

Olima looked like her late mother and smelled like her late mother's scent too, and Mrs. Gina hated that.

Mia was standing at the balcony upstairs, and she saw when her mother had gripped Olima by her shoulders and landed Olima a hot, resounding slap on her left cheek. The sound of the hot slap reverberated around the living room and shocked Mia, as she had just stepped out to walk downstairs.

Mia knew that her mother hated Olima, as Olima had enjoyed the luxury of their late parents' wealth, and she knew how her late father loved Olima and late Mrs. Zoe, while ditching her own mother away.

Mia was wearing a blue school uniform with her white stockings and her black shoes. She was carrying her black school bag on her shoulder.

Mia carefully alighted the living room stairs, as she was already going to school, and her school bus would soon arrive.

She was not ready to say sorry to Olima, so she looked away and walked up to one of the dining room chairs to sit down and have her breakfast.

Mia was a dark-skinned 14-year-old girl, while Olima was 17 years old.

Mia also resembles their late father very much, and her mother had told her the whole story of how Olima's mother had begged her then to agree and marry Mr. Leo Adams.

Mia had also witnessed how her late father had treated her mother. As she was not happy with how her mother was been treated inferiorly, while Olima and her late mother were been treated like royalty. Olima was the apple of their father's eyes.

Settling on her dining chair, she kept her school bag on the next chair beside her. Her mother stepped out from the kitchen and glares at Olima again.

Olima's brown eyes welled up in hot tears, and Mrs. Gina yelled at her, "What do you stand there doing? Haven't you prepared Mia's breakfast yet? My friend, get lost into the kitchen and dish it out now, before I break your head!"

Olima quickly ran back into the kitchen and served out Mia's breakfast. As she didn't want her stepmother to flog her that morning. She sobbed and dished out the delicious noodles and fried eggs into a red flat plate, and she placed it on a white tray and stepped out from the kitchen to serve it on the dining table in front of Mia.

Mrs. Gina knew that she had to live with her gruesome sins of killing her best friend and their late husband out of jealousy. As Olima resembles her late mother, while Mia also looked like late Mr. Leo Adams too.

Mrs. Gina grimaced as she remembered when Mr. Leo was still alive, he usually fed Mrs. Zoe in front of her and pampered Mrs. Zoe too in the dining chair across from her, whenever they had their breakfasts and dinners in the dining room before she was sent to live outside the mansion.

She wished that she had peacefully signed the divorce papers and left when Mr. Leo had offered her a divorce. After she first quarreled with Mrs. Zoe. But she stubbornly refused to leave, as she loved Mr. Leo so much and wanted him as her husband too.

Now she had killed the truck driver to hide her secret for life, as they were living in the Emerson Estate, where the billionaire's families live. And she was not ready to go to jail yet.

Mrs. Gina sighed heavily, and Mia asked her, "Mom, what's the problem?"

Mrs. Gina replied, "Nothing, Mia, I am fine. What's Olima still doing in that kitchen? Does she want me to storm into that kitchen and break her head?"

Olima quickly stepped out from the kitchen and walked up to the dining table and served Mia's breakfast, while Mia adjusted her seat closer to the dining table properly. Olima stood aside, wondering if she could speak to her stepmother about the need for her to resume with her tutorial classes, as she really needed to further her education and become a nurse.

Olima stood beside the dining table, and Mrs. Gina glares at her and asked, "What do you stand there doing again? I thought I asked you to leave here?"

Olima shuddered in fright and moved backward a little, while Mia continued eating the delicious noodles and eggs on the dining table. As she knew that she didn't know how to cook, and Olima was forced to learn how to cook by her mother.

Olima stopped beside the kitchen door and thought to try her luck and plead with her stepmother about the need for her to resume with her tutorial classes.

She spoke, "Ma... it's about my university entrance examination form that I have spoken to you about?"

Mrs. Gina stood up from the dining chair harshly, and moved the chair backward as she stepped out from the seat and said, "And I told you that you're not going into any stupid university, Olima! How did you graduate as the best in your class and pass your examinations, when you cannot understand a simple English at home? Just get out of my sight now, before I give you another slap!" Mrs. Gina warned, and Olima quickly ran away towards the kitchen door and stopped.