Whispers of fate

“No! Don't tell me that.” Clara screamed at her parents with a pale face and red teary eyes, shaking from the rage she felt. “In all these years, you did not mention this to me, and now you want me to be the meat of the sacrifice? No! I refuse,” she shouted as she dashed out of her parents's house and jammed the door behind her. “Oh no, I've forgotten my phone inside, and I'm too angry to go back there. I'll just go to Liam and use his phone to call Mia; she’s the only one who can help me now.” Clara thought as she ran to her boyfriend’s house. Clara got to Liam’s house and called, but no one was home, so she went into the toilet to wash and clean her face from all the tears. “Finally a time alone with you, my love, from that wretched and poor girl, Clara,” Liam said as he walked in with a girl. Clara felt her heart racing, her palms sweaty, and sadness pressing on her chest as she peeped through the holes in the toilet door, but she couldn’t see the girl's face. "Baby, let’s just forget about Clara for now and enjoy ourselves before she comes here and starts boring us with her endless problems.” Mia said, “What? Mia and Liam have been having an affair behind me?” Tears fell from Clara’s eyes. “What about the pregnancy and our wedding plans? How do we tell her?” Mia asked. “It’s no big deal; we would tell her at the right time after all; all she has done all these years is exhaust us with her hardships day after day,” Liam answered. “Wow.” Clara was hurting as she heard all they could say about her behind her back and got to know the truth about them. She stood there shattered; she could feel her heart racing; a sharp pain ran past her chest down to her spine; and sweat covered her body. Clara loved and trusted Liam and Mia so much; to her, they were her second family. She and Liam have been lovers since childhood, while she and Mia have been friends since secondary school, when she got a scholarship to study at Mia's father’s school. Mia always stood up for her whenever she was being picked on by the other rich kids, and whenever she had a problem, Mia always came through. This was an absolute shock and the biggest betrayal of her life. “I feel pity for her, such an innocent fool, thinking I'll want to marry her as poor and wretched as she is, and to think she has been starving me sexually all these years because she wants to wait for her wedding night.” Liam smirked. “That's why you have me to provide you with everything you want, both financially and sexually; marrying her would only add to your problems because she will bring her family along too, and they can't even feed themselves after so many years on earth. Such lazy people.” Mia hissed “Nonsense! I can't stand here and listen to you insult my parents. Insult me all you want because I brought you into their lives, but do not insult them. They do everything they can to fend for me, even in their ailments and struggles; sometimes I just think the universe is against me.” Clara cried out as she banged the toilet door open. Mia and Liam stood there shocked; they could not believe Clara was inside the toilet and had heard everything they'd been saying. They knew she would find out someday, but not that way. Mia covered her face in shame as she picked up her clothes and quickly put them on. Liam stood there smiling as he put on his clothes. “Thank God you are aware, now I am free,” Liam said cheerfully without any form of shame. He walked over to Clara, wanting to touch her. “Don't! Do not touch me with those filthy and foul hands of yours! You cheat!” Clara cried out, shaking and continuously hitting Liam on his chest. “I hate you both; both of you are just filthy, backstabbing, disloyal, pretending, and dishonest animals." Clara continued, "Clara, listen to me; it is not what you think; hear me out.” Mia said, “I've heard and seen enough, Mia!” Clara slapped Mia. “Who do you even think you are? Is it a crime for Liam to love me and want to marry me?” Mia asked. “You b***h!” Clara slapped Mia. Mia got upset and slapped Clara back. “What nonsense! On a normal day, can you even get my attention? If not for this silly friendship, would I associate with a wretch like you?” Mia said. Clara was broken, confused, and lost; she felt as if everything around her was falling apart; sweat covered her body; and she felt a heavy weight on her shoulder. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She pinched herself, and yes, she wasn’t hallucinating; all this was real, so she dashed out of Liam’s house as she burst into tears. She kept running faster, crying as different thoughts ran through her mind. Her mind was driving her insane; she wanted it to stop, so she continued running with no idea where she was going until she got to an open and empty field. She stopped running, her heart kept racing, her chest ached, and she struggled to breathe. She caught her breath and screamed until she broke down on the floor. The pain she felt was overwhelming; she was exhausted. “I cannot let those two idiots ruin me like this; I cannot let them win; I have to be strong; I have to move on; I am a strong woman; and I cannot burden my parents with this betrayal.” Clara thought, then she got up, put herself together, and went home. Clara got home, went straight to her room, and sat down on her bed. “What is all this now? Who did I offend? Why are all these things happening to me?” she thought “But to think of it, now I have no life here, so I will just accept my parents's request and save them from prison; they are all I have, and I am all they have. It won't be bad; at least I'll be starting afresh in a new environment with new people; who knows, maybe I may get happiness there.” Clara concluded as she walked out of her room to meet her parents outside. “I have made a decision,” Clara said as her parents paid attention to her, hoping her decision was in their favor. “I'll go and serve them in exchange for your debts; after all, it's better than staying here and watching you thrown in prison,” Clara explained. This brought joy to her parents because Clara was their only escape, or they'd go to jail. They had borrowed a huge sum of money from a rich and well-known couple many years ago when they had just gotten into the city and swore to pay it back immediately. They could get the money, but they could not pay it back due to the countless difficulties life threw at them. They kept appealing to the rich couple until they got impatient and furious. The rich couple asked them to either pay their debt, give their most valuable possessions in exchange for their debt, or they'd be thrown in prison. Clara’s parents were very poor, and the only valuable possession they had was their only child, Clara, so they pleaded with the rich couple to take their daughter as a slave in exchange for their debts, and the rich couple consented. That evening, Clara packed all her things and went to the rich couple's mansion as directed by her parents. She was welcomed and accepted with so much love. “Am I in the right house?” she wondered to herself because her madam welcomed her with open arms. “Wow, I don't think I'll have problems working here; the atmosphere is so conducive and calm.” Clara smiled. “Have you settled in? Have they shown you your room?” Clara’s madam asked, "No, ma, I came straight to you immediately after I arrived. Thank you for welcoming me with so much concern and love. I am grateful, ma, and I'm ready to work. I am a very strong woman. I can do many things.” Clara said, “Don't worry, your only job here is to serve my son; his nanny, Jael, is old now and needs a lot of assistance in serving him. Don't be afraid to inform me if you need anything; I'm late for a meeting; we’ll see later." Clara’s madam said, “Jael! Jael” Clara’s madam continued, "Yes, madam!” Jael answered as she walked towards them. Clara stared at Jael in shock. “What! She is a weak and old woman." Clara thought, “This is Clara; she'll be assisting you with my son; please direct her to her room and teach her everything she needs to know,” Clara’s madam said as she hurried out. "Hi, I'm Jael, Nanny, the only son of this family since he was a baby." Jael stretched out her hands to shake hands with Clara. “I'm Clara, and I can't wait to learn from you." Clara hugged Jael excitedly. “Okay, such an excited soul. Let’s get you food to eat and then show you your room." Jael smiled. Jael took Clara to the kitchen and asked the cook to give her some food and some wine to drink and welcome her officially. Clara ate and drank everything, asking for more wine. “Wow! Are you okay?” The cook asked Clara, "Yes, I'm fine; I’m just stressed from the journey. After drinking a lot of wine, Clara said, “I’m very tired, and I’ll have to start work tomorrow. Jael, please take me to my room now; I need to rest.” Jael took her to the edge of the stairs and said, “Okay, I am too old to climb up these stairs; the only available room now is my old room, the one close to our young master’s room. You can go and rest; we will start tomorrow morning." Jael pointed to a room and went back to her room. Jael was old, so she had to move to the room downstairs to avoid the stairs, even though the son of the house would always make her climb up and down those stairs frequently because of his too many demands. Jael was his only nanny, but now that Clara is here, Jael will rest. Clara struggled to get up the stairs and went into the room. She was drunk from the wine she took. ” Wow! Such a big and lovely room for a worker? I wonder what my master and his wife or his son’s room would look like.” She wondered to herself, “I’ll just sleep; I’ll have a bath in the morning; I’m too tired for a bath now. Clara flung her bag on the floor, put off the lights, jumped into bed, and slept because she was very tired. Minutes later, Clara felt cold, with soft hands touching her and soft lips kissing hers. She couldn't see the man, but she felt his broad shoulders when he held her tightly. She kissed him back and began to caress him, and they had s*x. The next morning, Clara got up and saw herself in bed with a fine man, but she could not see his full face because the room was dark. She felt pain all over her body and saw blood when she tried to get out of bed.Oh no! What have I done? Did I just give my virginity to a stranger on my first night here?” Clara thought to herself, but she did not want this to ruin her work, so she acted tough, stood up, cleaned herself up, and went about her job.