The next evening, she grabbed hold of her school bag and jogged down the stairs. Even though it was a Sunday evening, and everyone was at rest, she chose to formulate a lie about study lessons which she hoped her mum would believe. “Hey, mum! I am off to Priscilla’s place for some lessons. She has some old notes I will love to borrow from her,” Hailey lied. “Sure, of course. As long as it is Priscilla I do not mind. Come home before 8pm,” Lovelyn ordered. Hailey nodded and left the house. She got into the car and rolled up the car’s windows hoping not to see her mum’s face.When the car drove halfway into town, she tapped him on the shoulder with a smile. “Could you help me, Frank?” Hailey asked. “I am going to a friend’s place and I do not want my mother to know about it. Could you not tell my . mum about this?”Frank was a nice person so he didn’t mind complying at all.“Is it a guy?” He asked with a smile. “It is just a friend. But he is a fun one. I just hope to have a bit of
The dinner was so fun that Hailey didn’t realize so much time had gone. She immediately hurried out to meet Frank who was waiting for her on the car. “Wait!” Ryan stopped her. She turned back to him as she was about to open his car door. “Thank you for coming today.” “Thank you too,” she smiled. “You showed what a healthy family looks like.” He smiled and nodded. “It’s fine. Your family can be healthy too. You’ve just got to recognize those who deeply love you,” he advised. “At this point, I am okay by myself. I do not think I can trust anyone at this point. Everyone in my life seems to be lying to me…except you,” Hailey informed him. “I know it can be tough,” he advised as he took her hands in his. “But you’ve got to recognize those to trust. Believe me, it’s not everyone who is lying to you. Some people really care about you. You’ve just got to recognize them.” She thanked him and gazed into his eyes for a while before leaning to peck him on the cheek. “Thank you for tonight
“How does seeing your daughter hate you make you feel?” Naya’s therapist asked as she sat before her contemplating Hailey’s coldness towards her. “It reminds me of how much I hated my father,” Naya confessed. “I used to treat him the same way because of how much he abused my mother. I even did worse than Hailey is doing right now. I spat in his food, applied graffiti on his car on a Monday morning before he went to work, I spoke out loud during his business calls.” “Do you think this is karma teaching you a lesson?” The therapist asked. Naya laughed. “I do not regret any of those actions. Hailey’s situation is different. I didn’t do anything to harm her. I am the one who is wronged here, but she doesn’t understand. My father wronged me. He was abusive towards my mother and normalized toxicity. That was just too painful to watch. I had to do something about it. I didn’t know how else to react to such a cruel man.” Naya explained. The therapist nodded. “Alright, I understand,” she
Hailey paced around her room wondering why it took so long for them to take her. She called her father hoping for an explanation but he wasn’t picking her call. “What happened? Why is no one answering me?” She thought. The door opened eventually and standing before her was Naya who looked emotional to see her. Hailey felt disgusted by herself and looked around for her father. Without any warning, Naya pulled her for a hug and Hailey rolled her eyes in frustration. “I really missed you,” Naya said, tightening the hug. Hailey said nothing. She waited for the hug to be broken before looking around for her father. “Where is my dad?” She asked. “He is coming up now to carry your bags,” Naya said, clearing the tears that flowed down her cheeks. “I am really so happy to see you.” “Whatever,” Hailey was an ingrate. She walked out of her and jogged down the stairs to see her father. On seeing her, she wrapped her arm around him for a hug. “You had to keep me there all morning,” Hailey n
Lovelyn was impressed by what Hailey said. She cleared her fake tears and hugged the girl tightly, kissing her on the cheeks repeatedly.“Thank you so much my love,” Lovelyn appreciated. “Thank you for not leaving me alone.” “Mum, it’s fine,” Hailey cleared her tears. “Stop crying. You are going to make me feel hurt now. I just want you to promise me one thing.”Lovelyn nodded. “Anything for my baby girl,” Lovelyn agreed with a smile. “I will do anything for you.” “Stop being harsh to me,” Hailey said with a broken voice. “I won’t leave you, I promise you. I understand you wanted a daughter so bad and you are overprotective due to that. I would have done the same too, but please do not be hard on me.” Lovelyn had a slight confused look for a second before turning to Naya with a hypocritical nod. “Sure, sure!” She agreed anyway. “I will change my ways for you.”“Also leave Ryan’s family alone. They have done nothing to deserve this. You shouldn’t have gone to their home to embarra
Brett couldn’t be more grateful that Hailey was living with him again. Before she arrived home, he ensured he gave her the best room and painted the wall her favorite color. He bought her a lot of fashion magazines and placed a make up box full of makeup items under her bed. When the poor girl caught sight of these things, she was highly impressed. Lovelyn never let her use them, and the fact Brett was giving her this freedom shocked her. The poor girl wasn’t sure of what to say. She gazed at Brett for a while and hugged him briefly.“Thank you,” she thanked him. “But this won’t change my mind about you.”Brett understood why she said that, so he pretended to be unbothered. As soon as he left her room, he walked back to Naya with teary eyes. Unconsciously, he pulled her close for a hug pressing her breast against his chest. Naya was very uncomfortable since she had never felt this close to a man. She had but not when she was in her right senses. She stood there like a stiff tree conte
When Hailey stepped into the school, everyone gazed at her awkwardly. She couldn’t tell if it was because she lost the fashion queen contest or because of what her mother did to Ryan. Either way, she knew that both news were embarrassing enough for students to talk about her for days. She couldn’t still make friends and wasn’t even sure of how to start. The first one she had managed to make hated the living hell out of her. Thanks to Lovelyn who made drastic decisions. “At least she promised not to do it again,” Hailey said to herself, trying to convince her mind not to hate her mother. “Give her another chance, Hailey. It is not mum’s fault. Those people were just unfair to her.”Arriving at her classroom, she caught sight of Ryan making jokes with the others. When they caught sight of each other, Ryan ignored her coldly. He went on making his jokes pretending that she didn’t exist. Hailey’s heart broke. What the hell had her mother done to those people? Was it that bad? During rec
Naya felt relieved that Hailey was slowly opening up to her. They paused the movie for a while and took a walk in a park close to Brett’s apartment. They both watched cute dogs play around and some young couples giggling over a cone of ice cream. “How was staying in prison like?” Hailey asked. Naya made a funny face as if indicating that it wasn’t as easy as they presumed. “It was bad,” Naya confessed. “During my first few months, I was bullied a lot. I had to work as a maid for this ugly lady who wouldn’t shower at all.”“Ewwww!” Hailey exclaimed in shock. “That must be disgusting. How did you cope with her?” “I was positive at that time,” Naya smiled. “Someone gave me hope that I would be out soon, so I held on to that dream. The person deceived me big time. I felt very stupid.” “Is that why you are angry at dad?” Hailey asked. Naya shook her head. “No, your dad’s offense came later on. I was angry with him for years but it wasn’t his fault though. As usual, Lovelyn played her