Chapter 2: Shocked

"I can't come out, just go to school and take your sister alongside you. I'll see you when you're back," she added.

"Did dad beat you again?" Jaden asked

Seeing that he had caught her, she started to cry and then opened the door for him.

Jaden was dumbstruck as he saw his badly wounded mother.

"Dad did all this to you? I've always warned you to stop picking a fight with dad but you always refuse and now look…. I'll have to take you to the hospital" Jaden said.

"How…. You have an exam today…. And I don't want you to be late" his mum replied.

" It's fine mum, the exam time is at noon and it's still early in the morning. I just wanted to go early and revise my books first so get dressed and let's go" Jaden replied as his mother went in to do as was told.

She needed to go to the hospital to see the bodily harm that had been done to her. She was even still bleeding from her nose which had been punched by her husband.

He has been waiting desperately for a daughter whom he would pamper and receive her bride price and so he was so happy when his wife became pregnant again and the pregnancy scan showed that it was a girl,

His joy knew no bounds but then after the child was given birth, it reached the stage for her to start speaking, and she couldn't. And on going to the hospital, it was confirmed by the doctor that she was dumb.

Right from that day, things changed and it became worse day by day.

Her husband who was so rich, and had many companies, suddenly started to act as though he was now poor and bankrupt just because he didn't want to take responsibility for Ruby, and because of that, he let both her and Jaden suffer from it. That was why she even started to work to make ends meet.

Her husband packed out from the mansion they were living in before and brought them to a three-bedroom flat and lied that their former house was used as collateral to the bank.

She had believed him and never doubted it because he covered his tracks well but one day, all his lies and pretense were found out by her and when she confronted him, he beat her up. That was the first day he started beating her and has never stopped till today.

She has tried to make things right between them but all her efforts proved abortive because his husband wasn't giving a helping hand.

He so much abhors Ruby and doesn't even step an inch closer to her. And if by mistake he gets to set his eyes on her, he would scold and even beat her up which was why Ruby was always inside whenever he was around.

But last night, she was wide awake and had even peeped from her room when her father started to beat her mother up and saw how badly wounded she was. That was why she was crying so much at the dining.

What hurts her the most was that her father was doing all these things to her mum and even his brother as well into the suffering all because of her and that hurts her so badly, especially whenever her mum gets beaten.

That night it was just too much for Mrs ava-Mae to keep quiet over her husband's escapes with other women outside; just because she didn't want to get on his bad side but then she couldn't bear it and challenged him to his face. She wished that she never did that as it only made things worse.

What was she going to do to right all the wrongs? Was it her fault that her daughter couldn't speak, and if at all she was to blame, it shouldn't be only her that will be taking all the blame after all, she didn't make the baby herself but only gave birth to what her husband has released inside her. Why then it's she being punished for what she doesn't know about nor did she ask for it?

I mean who could ask for their daughter to be dumb? Was it of great relief to her? She wished so badly that her husband could understand all this and come back to his senses to how they both began.

After dressing up, Jaden Lee carried her mum to the hospital after dropping her sister at her school.

After the doctor finished checking her, and the nurses were doing the finishing work, Jaden Lee quickly rushed to the school after saying her mum goodbye and asking her to stay out of trouble.

Reaching the school, he was so moody and as he stepped inside the school, the girls came drooling on him as they surrounded his path which of course, was a normal thing for him.

Getting attention from girls due to how handsome and dashing he was, with an out-of-the-world physique that already made him qualified to be a model.

Some days, he would just smile and wave his hands at them, while begging them to make a path for him to go in, after which they would demand to take some photos with him before they would let him pass, which he would just let them do but today……. He was not in any bit in the mood due to the recent happenings at home including the last night event.

He pushed them one after the other from his path as he walked past them leaving them dumb-struck as they stood rooted to their feets.

They girls started to wonder what they had done or probably what it is that is wrong with him today.

They weren't able to see enough of him yet, and weren't also able to take photos of him with which to feed their eyes.

With disappointed looks on their faces, they left the place.