CHAPTER 53

The next morning, Lily woke up and almost screamed when she saw her surroundings. At first she was confused when she opened her eyes but taking a good look at the hotel room brought back memories of the previous night. She looked beside her and saw Jay still sleeping and instantly she knew that she has lost her virginity and something more which she doesn't know yet because she might get home today and get disowned for not coming back home the previous night as that is what her stepmother has always wanted. Lily stood from the bed and didn't know whether to start crying or fighting the man who she spent the night with. She went into the bathroom to clean up herself and tears began to drop from her eyes.

 When she sat on the toilet to pee, the stinging pain that she felt in her vagina gave her a clear assurance that her virginity was gone. She blamed herself, blamed the alcohol, and also blamed Jay. It is now she understood the reason why people say "never do anything under the influence of alcohol."

 She powered on her phone and saw a message from her father telling her not to come back home as she has now grown wings and grown bigger than him and her stepmother. He told her that she made everyone go to bed hungry last night because she refused to come back home and cook dinner. She sat on the bathroom floor and began to cry because she has nowhere else to go as even her only friend still lives with her parents. She did not know how many minutes went by while she was crying there but the only thing she noticed when she raised her head was that Jay was standing in front of her.

 She instantly stood, cleaned her eyes and began to walk out of the bathroom but Jay held her hand and pulled her back "what's the matter? Why are you crying? I thought you said that you were twenty three years old and also a University student?" She raised her tear-streaked face at him and said "I have just been disowned for not coming back home last night and it was all your fault. You said you wanted us to have a few drinks so why didn't you take me back home even though I was drunk?" As she was talking, her voice was faltering as more tears began to run down her face. She pulled her hand away from Jay and walked into the room but he followed behind and stopped her from leaving.

"How about I drive you back home and explain to your parents that something happened last night that was why you couldn't come back home? Just trust me on this because I can be very convincing when I talk to people." 

Lily laughed at herself and said "the same way that you were very convincing last night to get between my legs and steal my virginity." Jay was just blaming himself for everything that has happened as he began to wonder how he managed to get himself entangled with a girl like this. He thought that she was an independent lady who do not need to report back to her parents.

Jay did not want to go there in his car so that people will not see his car and recognise him so he called an uber. Lily was so embarrassed that she cried in his presence and now he's going with her to beg her parents. This was not how she imagined the meeting with her crush to go but with everything that has happened, she has no choice than to let him follow her home and plead with her father and step-mum. She knows that everything that is happening is the wish of her stepmother as she's the one instigating her father against her and making him believe that she is wayward and now feels like nobody can talk to her anymore. Her stepsisters always go out to party and come back days later yet no one says anything to them. She only goes out for one night and her father is already disowning her, what a good father he is. If only she had a place to go, she would have just left home because she is tired of how she's being treated and she knows that this thing that happened today, will be talked about forever. Henceforth if she dares to make any mistake, she will be reminded of this day and will be called a prostitute or anything that's unpleasant to the ears. She was looking at Jay as he was dressing up then she said "it is not necessary for you to come with me. I even think that coming with me will complicate matters as they will think that I spent the night with you and I don't know what my father will do to you as my stepmother will start instigating him against you." 

Inasmuch as Jay felt slightly angry about the girl being very childish, he still felt pity for her as he couldn't imagine what she has been going through for her to be this scared of her parents. She looks very tensed and she made him remember one person, Chris. He began to ask himself why he has always met girls who have issues with their families and all they want to do is run away. He is very sure that if Lily gets the chance,s will leeave her family so he resolved in his heart that if her father refuses to take her back, he will find a way of getting her an apartment to live in. Despite Jay's decision, he was still hoping that things will go well between him and her parents as he didn't want to be the person who separates a daughter from her father.

By the time he finished dressing up, the uber has already arrived so he held Lily's hand and took her downstairs while he kept assuring her that nothing will happen to her and she should remain positive because her father will accept her back. Although Jay was encouraging her, even him knows that her father must be a very difficult person for him to send a text message to his daughter telling her not to come back home that she has been disowned because she refused to come back previous dayto cook for the family. Reading that text message, gave him an insight to how difficult Lily's life has been as he wondered which family will turn their daughter into a ceremonial maid. Jay felt that Lily's parents should be arrested and punished for treating her that way.

While they were seated in the uber, Lily called her friend Francis and the first thing her friend did after picking up the call was to tell her that she was in trouble because her parents have been calling since yesterday and she has refused to pick up their calls. "With the way your parents were calling me last night, it was obvious to me that you did not go back home, so where were you? Twenty minutes after you went backstage, I came looking for you and couldn't find you anywhere. I kept looking for you until I got tired and even tried calling your phone but you weren't picking up. I missed ten calls from your father and stepmother and that only spells trouble for you girl. Have you seen them and spoken to them?" 

Lily just held her phone to her ear and when Francis was done with the whole interrogation like a journalist, she decided to answer her. "No, I have not been home since yesterday and I am just on my way there. He sent me a text message this morning that I shouldn't bother coming back home because I have grown bigger than him that I can't obey him anymore or respect his authority. Jay and I are on our way there to speak to him and I hope he really accepts me back because I don't have anywhere to go if they kick me out of the house. Francis I just feel so bad and wish that my mother was still here because none of this will be happening to me. Her friend Nina who was supposed to be the next person that I can run to, is the person who is after how I will be chased out of my own father's house. Francis I curse the day that my mother met Nina." Lily began to cry as she was speaking because she couldn't take the pain and tension that she was feeling anymore so she had to let them out in the form of tears

Francis began to pacify her friend as she told her to look on the bright side because she is riding in the same car with a celebrity who is taking her home to beg her parents to accept her back and hopefully because he is Jay, they might just accept her back. She told Lily not to worry because Jay was there and she was sure that her parents will accept her back. Jay will find something to do about it and she told Lily to stop embarrassing herself in presence of Jay because her luck is about to change forever.

Lily could not imagine that her friend was still thinking about making it in such a situation and she wondered how her friend thinks sometimes but she ended up shrugging her shoulders and telling herself that people will not understand your pain until they are in the same situation as you but in her friends position, she was very sure that her friend will never experience such a situation because her father loves her so much and even if her mother and father gets separated tomorrow, her friend will not be like her as she also has insurance against her parents separation.

After what happened to Lily's mother, seeing how Lily was being treated, most men and women became wise and learned from that situation as they started to ensure their children's future with the insurance company in the town. Ally insurance company has gained more clients over the last few years as many women kept coming to ensure their children in case of separation, divorce, or death. None of the women want their children to suffer after they were no more or not around because just as many of them will say when they come to ensure their children, "men can be very funny sometimes as most of them do not think with their brain but rather, they think with what's between their legs so the last thing that I need is for one woman to come from nowhere and start maltreating my child without my child having any options but to bear the ill-treatment. I want my child to be able to make a decision whether to stay with their father and step mum or to move out on their own and start a life. Many of the women refused to allow Ally tell them that their children can have access to the money only when they are eighteen, as most of the women told Ally that they will not work with them except they reduced the age limit to fifteen years because any child who is fifteen years old already knows the difference between good and bad and also have some money spending skills. In the beginning, Ally did not want to reduce the age limit as they felt that only an adult could handle money so they wanted it to be eighteen years but their potential customers refused to allow it, so Ally discovered that they are losing customers and they had no choice than to bring it down to fifteen years just as their customers suggested

Jay and Lily arrived at her father's house and immediately she stepped into the compound, she saw her boxes packed in one corner waiting for her. Seeing that, gave her no joy rather it made her feel more sorrowful as more tears kept pouring down her eyes. Jay also saw the same and a kind of anger came upon him as he told himself that there is no need going in there to beg anybody anymore because she can pack her bags and decide to come with him if only she wants to.

Lily told Jay that she can't follow him without speaking with her father because he is the only family that she has left so he needs to hear her explanation and change his mind about kicking her out of the house that he and her mother built.

They walked into the house and before Jay could have a seat, her father came out and began to shout at her "you little prostitute, what are you doing my house? Didn't you receive my message or have you also gone blind and can't read?" He turned two words Jay and said "young man, what are you doing in my house and who asked you to sit on my sofa? So you are the one that she was with all through last night and you still have the guts to walk into my house and sit on my sofa without an invitation from me." 

Jay apologized to the man for his behaviour and told the man that it wasn't Lily's fault but his. He told Lily's father that his daughter is a very nice person as she saw him in trouble yesterday and decided to help him to the hospital where she got stuck staying with him all night to make sure that he recovers. He begged her father not to kick his daughter out of the house and should rather see her as a hero who saved someone's life the previous night.

Save your life my foot. Do you think that I am a fool who can just be easily deceived by some kind of words which have been well rehearsed? Since she has added nursing to her talents, she is free to pack her bags from outside and go to a hospital as that is the place that should accommodate her and not my house anymore. So Mr, if you do not want me to call the police and you arrested, get up and drag your little whore with you out of my house." 

Jay could not take it anymore and went berserk on the man as he also raised his voice at the man "what on earth is wrong with you!? I can't believe that you also call yourself a father. Please when next you hear people calling out fathers, do not bother going out because you are not one. Would you have been able to treat her this way if her mother was still alive? I am new in this town but every corner I turn, I hear people gossip about Lily's life. Do you even know that there is an insurance company that opened a few years ago, and women are insuring the lives of their children because they've learned the bitter lesson from you?