Scarlet scars

CHAPTER 5: Stay away from rich men

Scarlet

I sighed as I got on the bus. Wow! I couldn’t believe that I had just seen Jerald, my childhood best friend. He had turned out to be so handsome and probably successful too. No matter what though, him and I couldn’t be friends because of a lot of differences between us. There was no need thinking about him.

Besides my aunt had already warned me against talking to any men or any good looking men to be precise. But it was okay for her daughters to do so.

Once when I was 19, there was this regular customer at Mr Grande's. He must have been at least 24 years or older. He had been so nice to me and he would always talk to me nicely, leaving me generous tips. We had been talking for weeks and this one evening he had waited for me to get off work and offered to drop me home. I had said no countless times, but he had insisted.

That night, I had found my aunt outside on the front porch with the twins. She had walked up to the car immediately she saw me alight from the car.

"that's my aunt and my cousins" I had said staring fixedly at my aunt, with fear.

"did I get you in trouble by dropping you off?" I remembered him asking to talk me out of trouble with my aunt, despite me telling him to leave.

"Hello aunty!," he said with a smile. "I am Scarlet's good friend and I just came to drop her off, I hope it is okay with you" he said. my aunt smiled at him and then at me. In my heart I had known that that smile was fake and that look meant I was in trouble.

"I always tell her to come home early because it's dangerous for a young girl like her to walk these streets alone.. but she never listens, she just comes back with different men every night, that I don't know what to do with her." She had said and I gaped in surprise. She just gave me a look warning me not to do anything.

I had seen the look on Calebs face that night. I could tell he was questioning my character but before I could get a chance to explain, he had left. I had gone in the house feeling like I would cry with the twins following closely behind me. as soon as the door closed, Amelia had pulled me by my hair making me stumble.

"b***h! you are shameless" She said sneering. "you’ve now gone to the extent of bringing men over here, I wonder how many men you bring here when we’re not around.“ she added "you are just like your shameless mother who went and married some African man she did not know very well that sh.." I remembered raising my hand to slap her face very hard before she got to finish her sentence, my blood boiling because of her words and I could not stand her talking badly about my parents.

Emelda turned around, shocked. I understood why she was surprised, because even I was shocked at my own actions, but Amelia stepped on my bottom line and I was not going to apologise for it. Never!

Amelia stood there speechlessly as the door opened. I knew Amelia would report me to aunt for slapping her, but I did not care. She ran forward and told aunt I had slapped her and also added lies to the story. I scoffed as I stood there like a rebel awaiting punishment.

"Mother, Amelia started it, she called Scarlet's mother a w***e and her father shameless, so it was not Scarlet's fault" Emelda had said before my aunt even got to reach me. I was surprised. Like really surprised. That had happened to be the last time Amelia had talked ill about my parents.

"Scarlet, I want to tell you this as a woman.” My aunt said as she followed me the kitchen while I prepared supper. “Men, especially rich ones just want one thing from you. once they get it, they will just leave you" she said seriously. "I know you understand what I mean. so stay away from that man and any rich man from now on. you hear me? and besides just look at yourself, do you think anyone would be interested in you, sincerely?" she added. and of course I listened!

I unconsciously looked at my self, my big shirt, my jeans, my converse sneakers and my dark skin. yes sure no one would want me sincerely unless if they wanted to have s*x with me. I was a girl after all and some men don’t care what you look like to want to sleep with you. But did have to always remind me that I was ugly? She had made me lower my expectations of men because one night, days after the night with Caleb, he had come home dating Amelia.

Caleb would usually drop her off home and my aunt would always talk sweetly with him. She would even invite him for dinner at times. Whenever he’d see me, he would give me a look full of disgust. I would just smile and I had made sure to avoid him.

Since that year, my perception of men had changed. I know anybody would call me stupid but I believed my aunt. That Caleb guy had changed his mind about me after what they had told him. If he had honestly liked me, he would have asked me about it. After that, I would immediately reject any man before they’d even said hi. It included those who claimed they had just wanted my friendship.

Anyway, the bus ride did not take long or so I thought. I was in my head for most of the ride. I could still smell Jay’s Cologne on me from the time he hugged me. It was so nice!

I needed to get out of my head and when the bus got to my stop, I got off hurrying to my class. Classes had gone by quietly. Everything as usual with me working at Mr Grande's untill 7 pm.

The rest of the week passed by in the same way. of course with me receiving my daily share of beatings for sometimes making the coffee too hot or too cold or even too lukewarm!, for over shining the floors, as "I was trying to kill them", for mistakes even I couldn't remember. My life was as perfect as ever.

My "closet" was well accustomed to hiding my body and concealing all the physical abuses I was getting every day.

It included five pairs of hoodies, 6 long sleeved t-shirts and four pairs of jeans. I couldn't wear skirts because my legs were always bruised. I’d sometimes get teased by people at college because of my sense of style but it never got to me because I knew better and those people didn’t know anything about me.