The trap
1256 Words
“Shut up you slut!” Khardi threw a slap across Celene's face.
“I found this hair band in my fiance's study and it's yours.
Admit it!” she yelled, holding up the hair band.
“It's not mine, Ma. I'm telling you the truth,” Celene cried, holding her cheeks.
“Why do you servants enjoy pushing me to the edge? Must I whip y'all before I ever get the truth out of you? I sure do enjoy whipping your asses but you make it too easy for me," she teased.
“I'm not lying, Ma. It's not mine.”
“Strip her!” She ordered, tossing the hairband on the floor as she picked one of her favourite possessions; her whip.
“What?” Celene looked around, uncertain she heard right.
Two maids approached her and stripped her of her clothes.
“No! It's not mine!”
“On your knees!”
“I'm saying the truth,” she sobbed, covering her chest with her arms as she descended to her knees.
“Don't bother explaining, Scarface,” Khardi caressed Celene's broken heart tattoo with her whip. “You'd speak the truth before I'm done.”
She began whipping Celene, smiling at the wounds that surfaced with every whip.
Celene cried out loud. Not just because of the pain she was feeling but also her late husband's.
Roland Campbell, Celene's late husband worked for Don Roi, the city's wealthiest man as of five years back, way before Seth. A few months before his death, Roland, would come home with bruises and whip scars. And anytime she asked, he would say he fell.
“It was you all along, Khardi,” Celene's heart broke.
“You have no idea how much your punishment has increased. I would make you suffer Khardi, but for now, let's focus on getting your precious fiancé to save me.”
She glanced at the clock.
“Less than thirty seconds for your prince charming to surface.”
“Ready to say the truth yet?”
“I. Am. Telling you the truth!”
The whip landed on Celene's back again and she gritted.
“Liar!” Khardi snapped. “Good thing is I'm just getting started”.
She lifted the whip. Celene glanced at the clock again, shutting her eyes and tightening her jaws.
“Khardi?”
Seth's voice from the entrance interrupted, stopping the whip from landing on Celene's back again.
“What's going on here?”
Khardi smiled, moving to give him a hug but he held her back and moved to Celene where she knelt.
He stared at the tattoo for a while before lifting Celene to her feet.
“Khardi what have you done?
What crime made you dig into her skin with such a thorny whip?”
“Sweetheart!
I found her hairband in your study”
Seth recognised the hairband. Celene had it on when he found her in his study the previous night but he can't admit it, else Celene would be dead meat.
“And?”
“She denied being the owner. She's trying to seduce you!”
“With a mere hairband?
C'mon Khardi
What if it's not hers?
Did you even ask the other maids or did you just choose to be ruthless?”
“I asked them!
Alright then," she picks up the hairband, "Who owns this hairband?”
“It's mine, Ma,” a maid responded. “It might have slipped off my hair while I was cleaning the study.”
Khardi gasped.
“Satisfied now?
Look what you did to this innocent lady!" Seth yelled.
“No, Seth.
I had no idea it wasn't hers.”
Seth turned to Celene; they had been holding hands all along.
“I'm sorry for this. Can I at least help you clean it up?”
“What?” Khardi snapped but Seth paid her no attention.
“I'm fine, Sir,” Celene replied calmly, drying her tears. As she walked to her room, she glanced at Khardi who stared; dumbstruck with jealousy. “This is just the first part Khardi.”
“Where are her clothes?” He yelled at the maids who stood nearby.
“Seth, did you just offer to help her clean her wounds? Did you even consider how I would feel?”
“You should have thought about that when you bought that whip.”
He walked away.
“They are maids! Nobodies! Why do you care about them so much!”
But Seth was already out of her sight; headed to his study. Celene's door was open. He caught sight of Celene seated at her mirror, struggling to wipe her wounds. For a moment, he wanted to ignore her and go into his study as usual but the tattoo…
“Why does she have a broken heart tattoo? Just like mum'.”
He went in, shutting the door behind him.
“You know you shouldn't keep your doors open, especially when you're in just underwear.”
“I'm sorry sir. I'd make sure to keep them open, especially when I'm wearing nothing,” she managed to force a smile.
“Don't do that.
How do you even make jokes in such a painful state?”
She turned away from Seth, her eyes fixed on her reflection.
“I'm used to pain, Sir”
Seth looked away. He took the cotton wool from her and began cleaning up the blood.
“Ah!” She moaned, flinching at the wet touch.
Seth paused, staring at her in the mirror.
He touched her with the wool again and she moaned even louder.
“Are you supposed to enjoy this?”
“You have no idea how magical your fingers are, do you?”
Seth swallowed.
“Why the broken heart? I mean your tattoo.”
She sighed.
“You don't have to tell me,” Seth broke the short-lived silence. “Sorry for interfering.”
She nodded.
“I lost the man of my dreams three years ago.”
A tear escaped her eyes.
Seth raised her face, drying her cheek with his thumb.
“Sorry for your loss.
Hold on…”
Their eyes lit up.
“Where's your scar?”
She turned to the mirror, feigning surprise as she searched her cheek for the scar sticker she had intentionally removed before Seth walked into her room.
Seth turned her face towards his'
“I guess it healed.”
She nodded.
“You're so beautiful, Celene,” his warm breath caressing her cheeks as he leaned closer.
“The fish has caught the bait.”
“Thank you, Sir,” she replied, leaning closer to him as well.
Her arms slowly wrapped around his neck while he moved his lips closer to hers.
“Celene!”
Khardi's voice rang behind the door and the duo shook apart, eyes blaring.
“Who's that man in your room?”
“You're so predictable, Khardi.”
“There's no man here, Ma,” Celene replied as she hurriedly shoved Seth into her closet.
“Open the damn door!”
Celene opened the door.
“Oh!
You're still in your underwear,” Khardi giggled.
“There sure is a man somewhere in here.”
Khardi looked under the bed, the toilet and headed for the closet.
“There's no man here, Ma,”
Celene stuttered, standing in Khardi's way.
“You're such a good liar. But your shaky eyes are selling you out.”
She pushed her,
“Move!”
- Writer
