After three years of being locked in the mental hospital by Kendrick, I finally learned to give in. He arrived with his pregnant mistress to take me home. I quietly took her bag and politely opened the car door.
“From now on, you’ll take care of Fiona. She and the baby are your family.”
I nodded without protest. After causing my parents’ deaths, he gave me two new “relatives.” Once we got home, I started waking up at five every morning to study pregnancy meal plans.
At eight, I woke Fiona to take her to prenatal yoga. At ten, I made snacks and tea while she and her friends praised me for being an obedient, useful “dog.”
Day after day, this continued until Fiona gave birth. When we took the family photo, Kendrick looked at the three of them close together, his voice shaking.
“Thalia, why didn’t you insist on being in the photo with us?”
Why would I insist? In the mental hospital, all I learned was how to obey and how to slowly drive a sane person mad.
——
When Kendrick said that, I quietly wrung out the handkerchief in my hand. “Sir, I don’t like taking photos.”
He frowned and stared at me, as if trying to see if I was lying. I quietly wiped the dust off the family photo and adjusted the frame bit by bit until it sat perfectly straight.
Fiona stood on the stairs with a proud look in her eyes. She ran into Kendrick’s arms, tiptoeing to kiss him. “You’re back. I put the baby to sleep on my own today and it actually worked.”
Kendrick looked at me instinctively. I nodded with a sincere smile. “Madam is amazing. She put the baby to sleep so easily.”
Kendrick frowned even more. But I didn’t have time to guess what he meant; Fiona’s nourishing soup was still cooking on the stove.
I rushed into the kitchen, put on oven mitts and carefully brought out the soup. Fiona sat at the table, her smooth legs brushing against Kendrick.
Kendrick smiled at her, but the moment he saw me, it disappeared. I gently poured the tonic soup into Fiona’s bowl and let it cool for her.
Fiona smiled softly at me. “Thalia, sit and eat with us.”
Kendrick pulled out a chair and nodded gently. “Taking care of the baby must be tiring. You should rest.”
I lowered my eyes and smiled as I refused. “It’s an honor to help Madam with the baby. It’s not tiring at all.”
Fiona smiled happily and held onto Kendrick’s arm. “Thalia takes such good care of us. Make sure to give her extra pay.”
I stood quietly by the table, remembering how the last time Fiona saw Kendrick holding my hand, she purposely said the tonic soup was too salty.
She punished me by making me kneel in the yard under the burning sun until nightfall. My knees were raw and my skin was peeling. I knew it was her warning. Kendrick was someone I must never try to approach or tempt.
After the meal, Fiona pushed the leftover soup toward me. I didn’t get what she meant and threw the scraps into the trash like I always did.
Fiona suddenly yelled, “Thalia, if you don’t want it, just say so. I know you’re weak, so I saved the ginseng from the soup for you. It’s top-grade ginseng. How could you throw it away?”
Holding the baby, Kendrick looked over with a slight frown. Panicking, I bent down, grabbed the dirty ginseng from the trash and shoved it into my mouth. “Thank you for the gift, Madam.”
Kendrick hurried over, eyes full of worry. Ignoring the baby in his arms, he held his hand to my mouth. “Spit it out, now.”
