Scars

Sharon's House

After two days, Robert, together with his wife and child, left the hospital. They immediately went straight to Sharon's house where they are staying temporarily. When they arrived there, Robert's father immediately greeted them to see his new grandaughter. "She looks like me," said Jose, Robert's father. "Stop that!, She looks like me!" Sharon said. "We will go to the room first, so that Carmela could rest and Catherine could see her sister" said Robert.

When Robert opened the door, Catherine was seen playing with her cousins. "Catherine, this is your sister" said Robert to his eldest daughter. Catherine just looked at him and went back to playing. "Don't disturb her, there's no need to see her new sister besides you saw her busy playing," said Carmela. "Where are we going to put this Romela to sleep? Robert asked his wife. “ It's up to you, anywhere! Just don't bring her close to me", Carmela said angrily. Robert just shook his head and thought that maybe his wife was tired and suffering from post partum depression. That's why she was always angry. Robert let out a sigh.

It was eleven o'clock in the evening when Romela started crying. Carmela can't breastfeed so they rely on formula milk. Robert immediately got up to prepare milk for the newborn child. While he was carrying the child, he caught a glimpse of his sleeping wife. Robert wondered why Carmela was so annoyed with their new daughter. He suddenly remembered the scene when Carmela found out that she was pregnant with Romela. She was so angry and blamed him, saying that he wasn't careful or that he intended to get her pregnant so that she wouldn't be able to leave for Japan. The truth is that Robert didn't really mean to get Carmela pregnant, but he was secretly happy when he found out that his wife was pregnant.

A week later, Carmela's condition improved. She was able to go outside the room. She can also do housework but she rarely takes care of Romela. She always excuses Robert that her body hurts or that she has something important to do. Robert couldn't stand it anymore and confronted his wife. "How long have you been like that? I'm going to work tomorrow. Who will take care of Romela?" he said, as if he was holding back his anger. " What do you want me to do? Just lock myself in this room to take care of that child? This is not the life you promised me in the first place, Robert!” Carmela shouted. " If you had allowed me to work and you hadn't gotten me pregnant, I would have been in Japan, we would have had our own house, not like this, we are crammed into your mother's house!" she added.

After 10 years, Robert and Carmela had a constant argument. Until one day, the company that Robert works for closes down. It causes their remaining money to drain. Carmela became more and more hot-headed towards Romela as she grew up. It often commands, shouts and humiliates the child. As Romela grows, she gets more beautiful. Her uncles and aunts also paid careful attention to her good traits. She is always on the honor list of their school. She is also seen as a hard worker in the house because, even at her young age, she can do laundry, and knows how to help cut ingredients for cooking. But despite all this, her mother still seemed not to like her.

Romela was in grade 3 when their neighbor Adrian became her classmate. His family belongs to the middle class because his father is working abroad. The difference between the two is noticeable when it comes to their school supplies. Romela's supplies come from a foundation that helps underprivileged but intelligent young people. It provides school supplies every school year. Whereas Adrian's things are obviously expensive and bought at the department store. The two are always compared. Once, Romela's grandmother even made a bet with Adrian's aunt to see which one of them would get a higher grade. That's why Romela always studied hard. Whereas Adrian used to have his own personal computer and the projects he made were always good because he had to buy a lot of quality supplies. This was the beginning of the pressure on Romela when it came to studying.

Whenever there is no school, Romela and Adrian play in an empty lot near Sharon's house. One day, Adrian bought a spider from a seller of live spiders. He let his cousin Darius hold it for a while. Darius is a mischievous and naughty kid, he thought of selling Adrian's spider to a kid who was interested in it. Darius immediately bought candy that he had after selling the spider and gave some candy to Romela. Romela immediately thanked Darius for being generous. When Adrian came back, he immediately looked for his spider, to Darius, who immediately said that he gave it to Romela but saw that she had sold it. "I saw her, she bought the candy with the money she got after selling your spiders", Darius lied. Adrian cried and went home to tell his mother. Adrian's mother immediately rushed to Romela's house. "Your daughter sold my son's spider" shouted Adrian's mother to Carmela. "That's not true, Darius just gave me candy, I accepted it even though I don't know where and how he bought it". Romela said, crying. "Maybe Darius sold his spider. I'm afraid of spiders, I can't handle it" explained Romela. Because of Romela's words, Adrian's mother was convinced that she was innocent.

"Romela! Go inside the room!" Carmela shouted. When Romela entered the room, he immediately beat her on the body with a bamboo stick. “Ouch! Why mom?, what did I do? she asked. "Adrian's mother made a scene because of you! Shame on the neighbors! Do you know how embarrassed I am?” Carmela shouted at her. "I can only have that once, Mama, so I accepted" Romela cried. "You are really getting on to my nerves!" mother yelled at him. Romela was left in the room crying. Apart from the pain in her body, she was also upset. She had so many questions in her mind about why her mother was so angry with her. Weak sobs could be heard in the four corners of Romela's room, poor child,