Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

THE SERVANT GIRL

~ Gina ~

"Gina! where is that stupid girl?" I heard the woman I used to call mom yell my name.

"Such a nuisance, I'm sure she's somewhere lazing around," Selena added and of course, loud enough for me to hear.

"I'm coming ma!" I had to yell back so they could hear my voice since I'm currently washing the red Bugatti downstairs.

Yvonne and her husband have been named top ten millionaires for 10 consecutive years. Obviously, they can afford to pay someone to wash the car but won't, they're just hell bent on breaking me.

I desperately want to punch that fool in the face. Lazing around? seriously?

If laziness was a person, it'd definitely would be Selena Ross.

After running up the stairs, I went to the lounge, panting. Don't blame me, I could never get used to it. There's an elevator in this house, but I'm not allowed to use it.

Entering the lounge, I saw two of the three devils in my life.

"You call..." I could not finish my statement when a resounding slap landed on my right cheek. I didn't need a soothsayer to tell me who it was.

"Why did you take so long to get here?" Selena yelled in my face.

"I'm sorry ma'am Selena," I apologized. Don't worry, that wasn't sincere.

"Oh, no. You are never sorry, dimwit" Yvonne supported her child as always. One would think that she's not my biological mother as well.

"Get down on your knees," Selena shouted.

Feeling the usual rush of anger surging through my veins, I did as commanded.

"Calm down damsel, you wouldn't want to get stressed. Remember, you have a shoot scheduled for tomorrow," Yvonne said in an unbelievably calm voice. Not like I'm surprised. She only uses that voice for her husband and daughter.

"True mum, she just wants to stress me because she's jealous of my beauty" she said smiling

Sorry? what beauty? Who? Selena beautiful? she's just delusional again.

"Get the hell out of here, go to my room and prepare the things I'll be needing for my shoot. Make sure you take your bath, wash and sanitize your hands before entering my room and touching my stuffs" Selena ordered.

"Yes, ma'am." Don’t be surprised even though she's just one year older than me I call her ma'am.

How did Yvonne do it? I don't know. I'll just tell you the story another time. For now, I have some packing to do.

I hurriedly took my bath, and I went to her room to start packing. As usual, the room decor, all the luxurious clothes and accessories, mesmerized me.

Even though she's not that beautiful, she's a top model.

I could only admire her things but never dream of trying them on.

After I was done, I went back downstairs, finished cleaning the car and head back to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Mr. Ross will soon be back. I have to be fast. I boiled water and set it aside.

"Gina!" I heard Selena yell my name for the hundredth time today.

"What now?" I rolled my eyes at her annoying attitude. Soon she came rushing into the kitchen.

"How dare you?" she barked angrily.

"What did I do, ma?" I asked politely

"How dare you mess up my room?" she barked with so much anger.

I was confused, given that I was clueless about what she was talking about.

"My room stinks" she hissed, placing her left hand on her hip

Before I could open my mouth to speak, she took the hot water I had set aside for her father's tea and poured it on my hands. Thankfully, I covered my face because right now my face would have been ruined.

I yelled in pain, crying profusely. Yvonne came out of her room with a grin on her face.

"Better get up and finish preparing dinner, stupid" with that she left together with her daughter.

Why me? Why does my life have to be so miserable? What have I done wrong?

I'm tired of this unending pain. Have I not suffered enough? It's been over 15 years.

I miss my papa. He was my best friend, the best dad in the world. After all the pain Yvonne has caused me, I realized that anybody could be a mother, but not everyone can be a mom.

After crying, I had to get up and continue making dinner because if Mr. Ross comes back and I haven't finished preparing his meal, that means today will be my last day on earth.

I had to boil another water, bearing the pain Selena had caused me. Few minutes after I finished cooking, Mr. Ross came in, thank goodness.

"Good evening sir" I greeted respectfully

"What is good about the evening? Definitely not seeing your face" he spat.

His eyes drifted to my hands, but said nothing.

Soon, his wife and daughter came down to welcome him.

I quietly left their presence and started serving their meal. After they finished eating, I cleaned up everywhere.

Hiding behind a corner, I sat on the floor eating the leftover Mr. Ross left. Yvonne and her daughter didn't leave any, because they want me to starve to death.

Finishing my work for the day, I retired to the tiny space I call my room. It's actually a tiny store where we keep unnecessary stuffs.

I applied ointment to the burns, after which I did my regular night routine and went to sleep. I laid on the old tiny mattress thinking about my life.

All the terrible memories but the happy memories and my love brought a smile to my face. With that, I dozed off.

~Third person ~

It's another beautiful day and Gina was ecstatic. She was already up and going about her usual routine.

Yesterday was horrible, but Gina could somehow feel that today would be different. Currently, she's preparing breakfast for those masters.

Right, there are basically three reasons for Gina's joy. Western Aves University will release their admission list, her boyfriend will be back from his business trip this week and most importantly, Selena is going to another country for a shoot.

Don't be confused. Yvonne and husband are not kind enough to sponsor her education. Selena has always been lazy in education, so Gina secretly reads her books. The laptop that Gina is currently using it belongs to Selena. Don't blame her, Selena was not using it, in fact she disposed all of them. Saying she didn't like the color.

Seeing that her masters won't help her, she attended online classes and has been under scholarship since high school.

Gina was smiling brightly and singing happily that she didn't know when Selena walked into the kitchen.

"Why are you singing?" Selena asked with a scornful look.

"I just felt like singing" Gina casually replied. She wasn't ready for anyone to ruin her mood.

"To even think that it’s a romantic song. Listen, no man in his right senses will settle for something like you, not even a beggar" Selena smirked.

"Time will tell” Gina mumbled

"What did you say?" Selena groaned, ready to attack again.

"Nothing. Do you want something?" I asked, changing the topic.

"As if you can give me anything nonsense." She rolled her eyes.

"Okay” I am not gonna let this witch ruin my mood today. It's true my body still hurts from the beatings, but I won’t allow anyone to make me sad.

"Make me banana split " she murmured, acting all cranky

"I thought you said I'm not capable of giving you anything." I acted surprised, trying to irritate her .

"Shut the hell up and do as you're told." with that she walked out, swaying her non-existent hips.

"Such a rude brat" I scoffed.

Yvonne really did a poor job raising her daughter. Not only is she ugly, she's mannerless.

~ Third Person pov ~

Later in the day, Selena left for Italy, Yvonne went shopping, and Mr. Ross went to the company.

Gina was home alone. It was time for her to check the admission list. She was confident until a few minutes ago.

Though she wasn’t totally discouraged, she was very anxious because she had checked the university’s recent news and had seen a new update, which didn’t look very encouraging.

What surprised her the most is that someone very close to her played a role in the recent development and the worst part is that Gina didn’t know what the person was up to.

"Please God, help me get admitted into Western Aves University" she silently prayed, after which she logged in to her portal on the school's website and inputted her password.

Mrs. Yvonne, her so-called mom, and her bitchy friends are responsible for the recent development.

According to her, when interviewed, she claimed that Western Aves University is a school for the rich and that poor kids are prohibited from the school.

Even though the poor kids would be on scholarship, they still had to undergo strict scrutiny by the board of investors and she is the chairperson of the board.

 What scared Gina was the probability of her mother removing her name from the list of beneficiaries.