Episode 9
1397 Words
Episode 9
Behind Rich People's Walls
The next morning, Didi followed Aunty Bose to the rich part of town.
As they entered the area, Didi could not stop looking around. The roads were clean, the houses looked beautiful, and expensive cars filled the streets. Everything felt completely different from the life she knew.
“You see this life?” Aunty Bose said quietly. “Some people don’t even know suffering exists.”
Didi forced a smile but remained silent.
Finally, they stopped in front of a large white gate. A security man opened it immediately after seeing Aunty Bose.
Inside stood a massive mansion surrounded by flowers and shining cars.
Didi’s eyes widened.
“This is where the woman lives,” Aunty Bose said.
Before Didi could reply, a woman wearing expensive clothes walked out of the house.
She looked elegant, but her face carried pride and coldness.
“So this is the girl?” the woman asked.
“Yes ma,” Aunty Bose answered quickly. “She’s hardworking.”
The woman looked Didi up and down carefully.
“What’s your name?”
“Didi.”
“You know how to clean?”
“Yes ma.”
“Cook?”
“A little.”
The woman folded her arms. “You poor girls always say ‘a little.’”
Didi lowered her head quietly.
“My name is Mrs. Lawson,” the woman continued. “If you work here, you’ll obey every instruction. I hate laziness.”
“Yes ma.”
“You’ll sleep in the boys’ quarters and resume immediately.”
Didi glanced at Aunty Bose nervously.
This was happening too fast.
But she remembered her mother lying weakly at home.
She had no choice.
That same day, Didi started work.
The mansion was so large that cleaning alone felt like punishment. She swept, washed dishes, cleaned bathrooms, washed clothes, and served food from morning till late night.
Mrs. Lawson hardly appreciated anything.
“Didi!”
“Yes ma?”
“Why is this table dusty?”
“Sorry ma, I’ll clean it again.”
“And who told you to arrange these flowers like this?”
“I’m sorry ma.”
Almost everything she did was wrong in the woman’s eyes.
The house also had two children — Jason and Kimberly — who treated Didi badly because they copied their mother’s behavior.
“House girl!” Kimberly shouted one afternoon. “Bring my juice.”
Didi quietly brought it.
“You’re too slow,” the girl hissed.
At night, Didi usually returned to the small room behind the mansion completely exhausted.
Sometimes she cried silently before sleeping.
But whenever she remembered Mama’s sickness, she forced herself to continue.
A few days later, Mrs. Lawson called her.
“Take this food to my husband upstairs.”
“Yes ma.”
Didi carried the tray carefully and knocked gently.
“Come in,” a male voice answered.
Inside the room sat Mr. Lawson reading documents.
He looked calmer than his wife.
“Good evening sir.”
He nodded slightly. “Keep it there.”
As Didi turned to leave, he suddenly spoke again.
“You’re the new girl?”
“Yes sir.”
“What’s your name?”
“Didi.”
He looked at her carefully for a moment before speaking softly.
“You look too young for this kind of work.”
Didi smiled painfully. “Life is hard, sir.”
Mr. Lawson remained silent.
That night, Didi thought about his words repeatedly.
“You look too young for this kind of work.”
Maybe he was right.
But suffering had already made her older than her age.
Days passed slowly.
The maltreatment became worse.
One afternoon, Mrs. Lawson slapped Didi because a plate mistakenly broke while washing dishes.
“You useless girl!” she shouted angrily.
“I’m sorry ma!”
“Do you know how expensive that plate is?”
Tears filled Didi’s eyes immediately.
“I said I’m sorry.”
Mrs. Lawson pointed at her angrily.
“If you break anything again, I’ll deduct it from your salary!”
That evening, Didi sat alone in her small room crying quietly.
Her hands already had small injuries from constant washing and cleaning. Her body hurt every single day.
But the emotional pain hurt more.
The humiliation.
The insults.
The feeling of being treated like she was less than human.
She picked her phone and called Mama.
“How are you?” Mama asked weakly.
“I’m fine.”
“Are they treating you well?”
Didi hesitated before lying.
“Yes.”
Mama sounded relieved immediately. “Thank God.”
Didi closed her eyes painfully.
She could not tell her mother the truth.
Not now.
The next morning, Didi woke up very early to prepare breakfast. While rushing downstairs with a tray, she accidentally bumped into Kimberly.
The girl screamed immediately.
“My dress!”
Tea had spilled slightly on Kimberly’s expensive clothes.
Mrs. Lawson rushed over angrily.
“What happened?”
“This stupid girl spoiled my dress!” Kimberly cried dramatically.
Didi panicked immediately.
“Ma, it was an accident.”
Before she could explain further, Mrs. Lawson slapped her again.
Hard.
“You’re becoming too careless!”
Didi held her cheek in shock.
“I’m sorry ma…”
“Get out of my sight!”
That day, Didi cried in the bathroom quietly while washing clothes.
Something inside her was slowly breaking.
For the first time, she started questioning whether survival was worth this kind of suffering.
That night, she overheard Kimberly speaking to her friend on phone.
“Our house girl is so local,” the girl laughed. “You need to see the way she talks.”
The girls laughed loudly together.
Didi quietly returned to her room.
She stared at herself in the small mirror hanging on the wall.
Tired eyes.
Weak body.
Pain hidden behind silence.
She barely recognized herself anymore.
The next morning became the final straw.
Mrs. Lawson accused Didi of stealing perfume after failing to find it in her room.
“Search her bag!” she ordered angrily.
Didi froze completely.
“Ma, I didn’t take anything.”
“Open the bag!”
With shaking hands, Didi opened it.
Nothing was inside except her clothes and small belongings.
Mrs. Lawson hissed loudly.
“So where did the perfume go?”
“I don’t know ma.”
“You people are unbelievable.”
The statement pierced deeply into Didi’s heart again.
“You people.”
Poor people.
House girls.
The less privileged.
Always suspects.
Always looked down on.
Suddenly, Didi spoke quietly.
“I can’t continue working here anymore.”
Mrs. Lawson looked shocked.
“What?”
“I want to leave.”
The woman laughed mockingly.
“Leave and go where?”
Didi remained silent.
At that moment, she honestly did not know.
But she knew one thing clearly.
If she stayed longer in that house, she would completely lose herself.
“Fine,” Mrs. Lawson snapped. “Get out!”
Didi quickly packed her few belongings.
As she walked out of the mansion, tears rolled down her cheeks again.
Another job gone.
Another failure.
Another disappointment.
The hot afternoon sun burned against her skin as she entered a bus heading home.
Throughout the journey, fear consumed her.
How would she survive now?
How would they pay hospital bills?
How would she save her mother?
When she finally reached home, she noticed their apartment door slightly open.
“Mama?”
No response.
Her heart skipped immediately.
“Mama!”
She rushed inside and froze completely.
Mama was lying unconscious on the floor.
“Mama!”
Didi dropped everything and ran toward her.
Her mother’s body felt weak and cold.
Fear exploded inside her chest.
“Help!” Didi screamed loudly. “Somebody help me!”
Neighbors rushed inside immediately.
“Aunty Bose, help me!”
“Oh my God,” Aunty Bose cried.
“She fainted!” Didi shouted while shaking uncontrollably.
Within minutes, some neighbors helped carry Mama outside.
Didi entered the tricycle beside her mother while tears poured endlessly from her eyes.
“Please don’t die,” she whispered repeatedly.
The tricycle sped toward the hospital while Didi held her mother’s weak hand tightly.
And for the first time in her life…
She truly felt like she was about to lose everything.
- Writer
