MISTAKE TURNED LOVE

The cool breeze was blowing gently across the street of Lavender as always that certain Wednesday evening as Bridget trailed the path home. She hadn’t felt like this in months because she had always fought with all her might to not get yelled at. Of all time, her monthly visitor had to show up during the exams and the crap was so bad because she fed on so much junk thanks to the excessive studying and staying up late into night. She really tried hard to read amidst the terrible cramp, but it didn’t work out that well, so she ended up dropping from her first position for the semester. She knew for sure that her mother would never want to listen to her excuse because it was either the first position or nothing else. She had purposely stayed behind after printing out her results at the school’s café. She wanted to come home late so as to either avoid her mother or sleep before she came back. “Even the cool breeze is not helping me to calm down” she muttered as she fanned herself with her palm to get rid of the thick sweat trickling down her forehead. She was extremely nervous! She ended up grabbing her burgundy neck tie to use the tip to wipe off the forehead before she gets an eye sting from it. After walking up the alley, she finally got home and opened the small white gate leading to the compound. She sighed for a bit before summoning up the courage to go inside and, thankfully, her mother was not around. She quickly washed up and crawled into her bed after hiding the result in a safe place, since she knew her mother would surely come to her room to check up on her. It was some minutes past eight when the loud bang on the door woke her up suddenly. She jolted up to see her mother furiously staring at her in front of the door and she wondered what happened to her to be this angry. “Did I not tell you it’s either the first position or nothing?” she roared at her and Bridget was shocked. “How did she know? I haven’t even showed her” Bridget thought, and her mom scoffed. “You wanted to hide it from me? I already asked your teacher to send it to me!” revealed her mother, who already read the confused look from her face. “Mom, I can explain” she said, trying to make her calm down, but “Whoosh!” a slap landed on her right cheek which stung her hard to the core of her veins. “You can explain? What do you have to explain? That you have gotten yourself a boyfriend? Or that you are now too big to study? Tell me what you have to say right now!” her mother yelled at her. “A boyfriend? I don’t even have any friends not to talk of any boyfriend. You never gave me the room to be friends with anyone”, she countered, and that only earned her another slap. “When I talk, you don’t talk back! You mannerless i***t! You are nothing but a symbol of bad memories. Must you cause me pain too? Must you make my life miserable? I am doing all I can to support you, but you think you can repay me with this mediocre result? You had better get prepared to study harder from now on because I will make sure you experience what is called hell”, her mom puffed out before stomping out of her room and Bridget could not believe her ears. The words she had just heard were too heavy for a seventeen-year-old like her. How could she be referred to as a symbol of bad memories? Every word that came out of her mom’s mouth was like pins that stung her in different delicate parts of her body. Tears were flowing down her face without permission and before she knew it, she was wailing profusely. She had never had a good relationship with her mother, but it was getting worse by the day. She was never a child to her mother, she’s just a tool to prove to the world that she is a successful single mother. Her mother, Agnes, gave birth to her when she was twenty and her father denied the pregnancy. She had to leave her neighborhood out of shame and relocated to another part of the city where she worked day and night to cater for her needs. She finally landed an office job where she worked tirelessly all her life before she was transferred to the headquarters in Hungary. Agnes had taken time to complete her first degree by taking only classes and she was now a master of business studies, which made her an excellent certificate holder. She believes if she could struggle through all that and could graduate with a first class, then her child who has nothing to worry about should never be lacking in any aspect. She made sure to provide everything she needed academically, registered her at an academy for further lessons and made sure to participate in all competitions, contests and events that pertain to academics. Even in that life, she had never loved her child deeply because she always reminded her of her dad, who she didn’t want to remember. She is just a tool to show off to people, her parents and her dad that she made it without them and for her to do that properly, she must also be perfect like her. Bridget cried so much in her bed but the words wouldn’t stop flowing through her memories so she threw on a dress and decided to walk down the alley for some fresh air. She got out of the house and walked without even having a direction in mind. She had walked for close to one hour when she came to her senses and found herself in an unfamiliar neighborhood. She didn’t know anywhere in the town except her route to school and the academy because her mother had always locked her in, so she began to get scared. “Are you looking for someone? You seem lost” A guy suddenly asked from behind and she jumped in fear. She was about to run away when she dashed her foot against a stone and that sent her flying, but the guy was quick enough to grab her for himself. She blinked several times in a span of a second and her heart raced wildly as she hugged the built chest of her rescuer. “You should calm down first and tell me what the problem is so I can help you. It’s not like you running away will solve any problem”, the guy advised, and she breathed out after realizing that she had been holding her breath for a while. She slowly detached herself from the hug and looked at the guy’s face. His long nose was sitting prettily on his small face, he had very thick and full eyebrows and his face was smooth as if he had paid special attention to them. “He’s handsome” she muttered, and he raised his eyebrows. “You say what?” he asked to hear her clearly. “I didn’t say anything” she lied and shut her mouth quickly. “So tell me, are you new here? You looked lost the other time” he asked again. She wanted to deny that she was lost, but it wouldn’t benefit her because the night was here and no one seemed to be walking past the street anytime soon. The shops were closing down early to her shock and she didn’t want another round of slap for coming home late. “I don’t know where I am but I have to get to Lavender Street as soon as possible” she confessed. “Lavender Street?” he exclaimed, and she wondered what was wrong. “That’s so far from here” he added, and she realized that she was in deep trouble. “Is there any cab I can hop in around? I have to get home as quickly as possible” she panicked. “I am not sure there are any cabs around here at this time because people here close down early due to the high rate of crime. With the look of things, it seems you will really be in a lot of trouble if you get home late, so how about I take you there?” he proposed. “You will take me home? Do you know the road to the street?” she asked to be sure. “Of course, I know this town like the back of my hand” he said with a smile before telling her to wait there a bit. He was gone for like three minutes and showed up with a bike and two helmets. “Get on” he called out to her and tossed her a helmet, “Are you sure you can drive this?” she asked out of worry and he chuckled. “Don’t be a baby and get on, you said you had to get home early” he replied and she hesitated a bit before she finally summoned up the courage to climb the back seat and the bike zoomed off.