“You are a living slut, Tinsley. Your parents, your friends might not know it but I do so I will do everything to keep you in a leach. You get that??”

He threw insults after insults right on my face. He just could not let go of that one day when I was fifteen and kissed the boy of my driver.

“Do you get that??”

He roared making me jerk back in fear with bloody eyes looking at me, waiting for an answer.

“Yes…yes.”

I gave him what he liked to hear.

He pushed me away from his body like a plague right after he got his answer.

I stumbled back a little before gaining my balance, standing straight as he walked away giving one last strong glare.

My eyes could not stop watering as it dampened my flushed cheeks. I was trying hard to keep my composure intact as the party was not over yet.

I closed my eyes as that day flashed in my mind. Taking me back to those days when life was so carefree and light. 

Autumn wind blew, maple leaves falling down. I was dressed in one of those summer frock with long sleeves, my red hairs blowing in waves.

I giggled as he kept complaining about how my hairs were poking him on his face, disturbing him from reading the book.

We were both seated under the big mango tree in the back of our mansion.

Knees pressed to our chest, eyes running over the open book on our hands but I could feel him stealing glances at me making my cheeks bright red, resembling the red sinning sun marking the end of the daylight.

And how it happened, what happened, neither he nor I could tell what led to that.

But soon enough, our eyes were into each other, face to face, so close as if we were breathing the same air.

His green eyeballs accessed my face as he raised his both hands, dropping the book on his lap, lightly touching my cheeks, making my entire being hot.

My heartbeat started raising as he leaned so closer, our lips parted, almost touching.

When the last bell rang off in the church, we ended whatever distance we had in between us, giving in to our young heart’s desire.

As his warm lips pasted against mine, the butterflies flew up from the pit of my stomach.

The excitement, ecstasy, feeling of a boy’s touch made my soul flutter for the very first time, and right after that, we went on for it once again.

We looked like the lovers of summer, parting in winter, kissing under the tree as the autumn wind remembered the moment of our life blowing all around us.

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“Tinsley? Tinsley?”

Someone’s voice calling out my name and constantly shaking me got me out of the dreamland I had journeyed to in just a matter of seconds.

I opened my eyes to see Anna Mariya, hands on my shoulder, her eyes on my face trying to get an answer.

I first tried to look around where I was. And looked down as I felt the soft grass on my thighs and the cool wind blowing over.

I was back in the garden, sitting under the mango tree, daydreaming about the event that happened five years ago.

Shit!!! The party!!!

I stood up abruptly, bending down to straighten my red Dior dress. I spoke out to Anna Maria in action in my panicked voice.

“How is the party going on?? Shit, I lost the track of time, Anna Maria. Did they come looking for me? ”

On receiving no answer from the old lady in her late forties made I look up at her after making sure the crease of the dress was gone.

“The party was over long ago, and everyone went to their home. Your parents are asleep and I had to search the entire mansion before coming and finding you here, child. ”

Anna Maria answered making me close my eyes for a flash of a second in disappointment.

I must have angered my daddy and Josh too for they could not find me anywhere when they were concluding the party. I knew I would have a handful to hear the next day from both the men.

As if Anna Maria understood what I was thinking, she patted my tensed shoulder lightly asking me to walk inside with her.

I obliged not commenting further as she followed me from step to step. The hall was empty with balloons, confetti everywhere. The chairs, the glasses everything, everywhere.

The maids and cleaners cleaning the mess up late at night as Anna Maria walked me up the stairs to my room supporting my tired frame.

She opened the wooden door, revealing the floral violent walls of my room.

I walked towards my walk-in closet right after. Anna Maria helped me out of the dress, sticking to my body, I kicked away my heels.

She made my lukewarm bath ready in the bathroom as I waited patiently outside in my red lingerie.

After the mind-cooling bath, I wrapped myself in the white towel and sat before the vanity to do my night beauty routine.

Anna Maria combed my red hairs to make it tangle-free for the next morning. Our eyes joined as we look in through the mirror.

“What??”

She asked still continuing to brush my hair. I just gave her an unsure shrug not really knowing what she was asking.

“Whatever that is going in that mind, ask away, child.”

She muttered giving me that knowing eyes. She always knew me so well. Even my own mother would not know me that much. Sometimes it made me think if Anna Maria was my real birth mother.

She had been my nanny all my life till to this date. She knew me too well. Her eyes furrowed asking me to say it.

“Do you know how he is?”

I finally asked it out loud.

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