Mary and Olivia

Mary 

Helping Olivia with her home work was easier than I thought. She was really smart for her age.  

"Thank you Mary," she said, immediately we finished with her aptitudes. 

"You're welcome," I replied, standing up to take my leave. I really wanted to leave her play room.  

"Can you continue helping me with my homework as from today. I really like you." She said, grinning eat to ear.  

"You are smart and pretty, very pretty." She added, cupping my cheeks with her little hands.  

"But you should be careful of big brother," she whispered into my ear. 

I became alert immediately, if this little girl was warning me of her brother, then I should take heed.  

"He likes girls, pretty girls." She whispered, giggling. 

I smiled at her cuteness. 

"I don't have anything to worry concerning that, I am not pretty enough for your brother. Trust me, your brother is definitely of the higher class and I'm from a very low class. He won't even spare me a second glance."  

"But you are pretty," she said, pouting her lips.  

"Liv," a voice called out before I could reply her.

 

Jessie her sister came in with a angry look on her face. Jessie was beautiful and she was a replica of her mum. She should be between twelve or fourteen years.  

"Did you eat my pringles silly?" Jessie yelled. 

"I ate just a little and gave your bunny the rest of it. Stop yelling, you are hurting my ears." Olivia replied.  

"Haven't I warned you not to touch my stuffs again. And what were you doing in my room?" Jessie yelled again. 

"Stop yelling," Olivia cried, covering both ears as if she was in pains.  

"What are you looking at, ugly face." Jessie snarled at me. 

"Jessie!" A voice called out from the door.  The door opened and two pretty girls came in. 

"Hi." They both waved, smiling at me. 

"Hey," I waved back, returning the smile. 

"Hi Pretty Olivia," the girls said, waving at Olivia.

 

"Let's go." Jessie said, not looking pleased at all. The girls waved before following Jessie. 

"That is Jessie's best friends, the tall one is Grace and the short one is Mabel." Olivia said, still covering her ears with her hands.  

"Are you okay?" I asked, moving closer to her.  

"Shhhh..." She drawled out, puting a finger on her lips as she gestured me to come more closer.

 

"I have a left ear impairment." She whispered into my ears, giggling as if it was a nice thing. 

I gasped. She was deaf in her left ear. It was shocking to me, and I almost didn't believe her. 

"Mum says I should not tell anyone about it. Only my family knows about it." She said, licking her lips. 

"Then why did you tell me this?" I asked, raising an eyebrow up.  

"You are my family now, Mary." She replied, hugging me tightly. I held her in my arms. She made my chest tighten with her gestures.  

For a little child, she has accepted this and she was living with it. This was actually rare. 

"The doctor said I might go deaf later on." She whispered again, my heart almost leaped out of my chest. I stared at her and she still looked happy knowing this facts. 

She giggled at my facial expression. Suddenly she gasped. 

"You have to be going right now, big brother will soon be here." She rushed out. 

"You are too pretty for him." She added. 

I got up, dusting imaginary dust off my faded jean. I don't think I want to see her so called big brother either. I left the play room with a thought on my mind. Was she scared of her big brother?

 

***** 

I entered the room we were given, it was downstairs. In a particular section behind the main rooms in the house. We were told some other high ranked maids stayed in this sections, but they were all on vacation. 

The room was an en suite, a bathroom and a mini kitchen was connected to it. One major thing I Iiked about the room was the small corridor we came across whenever we opened the window. It is a great spot for me to read a novel, the pot of flowers around the corridor made it smell like a garden. 

Mum was in the kitchen, I could hear her singing. I flopped on the medium size bed at the left side of the room. I felt emotionally tired and drained. This was another type of stress.

"Are you okay?" My mum asked, peeping into the room.

"Mum, I should be asking you that." I whined. 

"I look okay, check me out." She replied, turning around for me to see.

I rolled my eyes, she looks kind of excited. Seems like a good news awaits me.  

"But Mary, you don't look good to me. What is the problem?" She asked, walking closer to the bed. 

"Nothing mum, I am very okay, just that I am a little bit tired." I replied, probing my head with a pillow. 

"Are you sure nothing happened in school today?" She asked, giving me a serious look.

"No mum, I already told you. School was fun. I made a lot of friends and they all like me." I lied through my teeth, she smiled so wide that I had to cringe.

"Oh my pretty daughter, I am so happy for you." 

"I was worried you won't be accepted, you teenagers are always hard to handle at times. But hearing this makes me happy and relieved. You have no idea how happy I am right now." Mum said, hugging me tightly.

I felt guilty I lied, I felt bad and I also felt good as well. The last thing I wanted was my mum to be worried about me. 

She has done a lot for me, made a lot of sacrifices. It should not be hard for me to make sacrifices either. 

"Good news!" She suddenly exclaimed, laughing happily. 

"I love good news," I replied her.

"Mrs Andrews paid me two years advance." She said loudly, beaming with smiles. 

"At least, I can pay up our debts. And I can get you some things for school." She added. 

Two years advance, that means we are going to be staying here longer than I have ever imagined.  

*******