Chapter 9

FIRM DECISION She smirks bitterly, massaging her cheek to soothe the pain. And I give her all the time she needs to digest what I just did. I have been too linient that she forgot her place, but that is all over. I am taking no shit form her again. “I see you have grown horns,” she hisses between a bittersweet smirk. I trade the smirk back, the only different between the smirks being that mine is genuine. “You don’t want to know how long my horns are, little sister. So I suggest you think thrice and watch what you say to me and even how you say it before opening your smelly mouth to me from now on. And as you can see, my child is asleep so you better find your way back to your beautiful and serene abode, because this cage is too small to accomondate you,” I hiss in a low key. She smirks at my statement, rubbing her finger on her nostrils as of to scour some bad smell away. “Don’t worry. I know I don’t fit here at all. This is not a place for people like me. I don’t intent to stay long because I am suffocated already!” she says. “Then why don’t you leave before you die in here? I swear I will just watch you die. You shouldn’t have walked through that door to start with,” I snap back. She nods, sarcastically. “Yeah, I should not have. I mean, this, isn’t a place for a real De’Mario! But unfortunately, a situation called for this so I had to swallow my pride and reduce myself to walking into something so cheap!” A situation that forced her to come to me? Well, I am flattered! Heck! The hell with her situation. Why didn’t she go to her preciouus dear parents? Why come to me? “Just how much do you care for that kid, huh?” She asks as if she cares or as if she knows a fuck about being a parent. The nerve! “More than you will ever know until you become a mother, Cynthia,” I respond boldly and bitterly, because it is all their fault that my baby is suffering and being deprived of almost everything in this world. She knows nothing aside from me and this room. It is like she does not have a life. “Well, I know being a parent means doing everything for your children, which is the exact opposite of what you are doing. Dad offered you a chance to enroll her in school, Ayana, but you selfishly turned it down. And you tell me that you have good intentions for your daughter? What kind of theory is that?” Ooh, yeah? Is it about that again? I made my decision crystal clear to them and told them nothing will make me bend to their demand no matter what. Why she is bringing that absurd decision up? “A theory that maybe only I can understand, and if that is what it means to be egocentric, I plead guilty as charged, and I am neither penitent nor will I ever alter my decision, come what may. If the world will not know my child as Lyana Angel Salma, then she is better off as a shadow to the world, just like me,” I state boldly without even blinking or hesitating. It hurts. It stings so bad! God knows how much I do not want to do this to my only child, but there is no way I am giving my child another person’s name. If it were my family’s name, maybe, just maybe, I would have considered it. But a stranger’s name? How will I even explain such absurdity to my child when she grows up and starts to ask questions? Heaven forbid! I cannot even live with that myself. And curse these hardhearted, narcissistic, God-forsaken beings that God gave me as my family! How dare they torture me like this? Would they do what they are asking me to do if they were in my shoes? Oh well, anyway, I don't care. They can feast on their wretched offer as today’s dinner, for all I care. My child will never bear anybody else’s name! “You are hopeless and incapacitated, Ayana,” I turn to Cynthis as she speaks agin, “I can't believe you are this dumb to not see that you do not have a choice here. If you don't grab this opportunity we are offering you, your child will be far much worse than you—a total nobody whose shadow will not even see the world. Is that what you want for the child you claim to love so much?” She mocks, and oooh, her emotional blackmail won't work on me. What does she even know about being or just parenting in general for her to have the temerity to question me like this? I am incapacitated, yes, but not a fool! Their offer, my foot! Is that what I want for my child? Nobody can understand what I want for my child, and much less not them. They have no hearts, hence no humanity, so how can they understand me? The least they can do is to just freaking leave me the fuck alone! Can they do that? “I alone will worry about my own child, Cynthis,” in respond, bold and unthreatened. “She is mine alone to care for, and I honestly don't understand why you all are making a fuss about her now. I mean, for you to even come all the way here to ask me about this, huh? You have not cared about her since I got pregnant. Why now all of a sudden?” I arch an eyebrow because something is beginning to smell fishy here. She shakes her head, making sure that if there is any motive behind all of this, I do not get a tinge of it. But screw her! I am certain that her mere presence in this cell is more formidable proof that they are up to something. Up to no good. And this Lyana issue? Come the fuck on! Even an idiot would sense the awful odd aura here. Since when did they start caring? Something is not right here. I can sense it. I can feel it. Anyone would sense it. But, what on earth could that be?