Her Redemption

Chapter 8 – Her resolution

“Mom, it’s alright.”

“I know you don’t want this for me, but I still decided to do it.”

She has already told her about the club and how it differs from the usual s*x work.

“How did you end up doing this?”

“I didn’t want to make you worried so I didn’t tell you.”

Yeah, she already figured that part out. Still, her chest tightens at the thought of her daughter doing that. How hard it must have been for her to decide doing that?

Nia hugged her again when her expression darkened.

“My first client was kind. He was very gentle. I actually developed a little crush on him.”

Her mother squinted at her upon hearing that. “You’re not lying now, are you? I feel bad for you, but I don’t want you to keep lying to me.”

“Mom, I’m not lying now. You don’t want the details of our first night, do you?” She tried to tease, but her mother glared at her.

“Actually, it was him who told me about the private club. I asked him where he usually goes when he wanted to sleep with women.” Nia decided not to give her mom too many details. She’s not about to tell her how she went to keep sleeping with him to gain experience.  

“They have rules that are both beneficial to us employees and the clients. It’s not one-sided. The clients can’t abuse us and we can decline if we feel that we can’t get along well with the client. It’s quite good, mom.” She’s trying hard to convince her mother.

“How about your future? Don’t tell me you plan to keep working as an escort?”

Nia already explained some things and used that term to describe her position. It’s escorting services, for want of a better term to use.

“Of course not. I’ll finish college, then I’ll stop.”

Her mother’s expression worsened. “College? How long do you have? Four years?”

Just thinking about it is already squeezing her heart so much. Her daughter has to endure that long.

Nia’s eyes wavered. Yeah, even she feels that it’s too long a time. Four to eight years is what she’s looking at. Still… she sighed. With her mother’s hospitalization, she can’t just quit working halfway. Her earnings are split for the hospital bills, her college fund, her siblings’ school fees and a little savings on the side. Their current neighborhood isn’t that bad, but with her current line of work… her brother and sister are bound to hear unpleasant things. They could get bullied or mistreated because of it. She plans to find an apartment for the three of them. Well, the two of them. She’s rarely home anyway.

The following weekend, she took Mark and they went to check apartments. Nia wanted it to be close to the hospital so she can easily drop by to check on them, and it would also make it easier for everyone to visit their mother.

Their mother is happy whenever her children comes to visit and spend time with her. Though with the current situation, Lara usually visits when Nia’s away.

“How’s school? Are you still working parttime at that fast food? You should quit if it gets difficult.” She told Mark one time she went home to relax. Her brother was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen. He always does it for him and Lara.

“It’s fine. It’s not too hard.” Compared to what Nia is enduring, he feels what he’s doing is not difficult at all. He spends four hours a day at the fast-food restaurant. His classes are all in the morning so he has the afternoon to do whatever. He chose to work and help out a little.

“Where’s Lara? Shouldn’t she be home by now?” Nia rarely gets the weekend off so this is an opportunity for her to talk to her siblings. Her client went on a business trip abroad. Thankfully, he didn’t ask her to accompany him.

Mark glanced at the wall clock in the living room.

“She’ll be here in thirty minutes. She spends time with her classmates somewhere. They’re usually at the mall.”

Nia showed a concerned expression.

“She’s fine. She only says hurtful things but she’s actually doing well. She’s a contradiction that way. She simply likes annoying you.”

“Are you sure? Do you see her studying? How do you know?”

“She’s not really irksome to me. Normally, we just co-exist in the house. We eat meals together. When I leave the dishes on the sink to work on something important, she silently helps out. I learned not to comment on whatever good she does. She doesn’t like hearing any praise from me. When I do my assignment in the living room, she comes to do her own. She looks serious when she’s studying. A few times she asked for my help with Math. When I’m busy with my own, she just watches videos on how to do things on her own.” Mark told her as much information as he can give. He knew the rift between his two sisters and how Nia is concerned because of the things Lara says when she’s angry.

“That’s good, then. If there’s anything worrying, you tell me.”

Mark smiled. “I’ll keep an eye on her. She’s also my sister.”

Nia returned his smile. Right. She’s not her responsibility alone.

“When she comes later, it would be best not to talk to her. Just leave her alone. Don’t pry into her activities. She’s prickly that way.”

“Alright.” Though she merely wanted to have a conversation with Lara, she didn’t want to keep arguing with her. Mark between them seems like a good bridge.

As expected, Lara froze upon entering the door when she noticed Nia’s presence.

“Let’s eat. I cooked your favorite today.” Mark intervened before she can say anything. He hoped the enticing dish would convince her to be civil and eat with them.

Lara paused and exchanged a look with Mark. In a way, the two of them have a certain level of understanding. Her brother has always been kind to her.

“I’ll get changed first.” She stated as she strode towards her room.

“Go ahead.” Mark relaxed a little. That’s good enough.

When she came out, they ate in silence. Mark started asking Nia about their mother’s condition, to which Lara didn’t have any adverse reaction. When Nia answered, she would direct them towards Mark. It’s factual and she asked them to visit often.

When the meal was over, Mark couldn’t help chuckling. It felt like he averted a real war.

Nia sat with them on the living room. Mark’s taking time off from school stuff as well and decided to watch a movie on television. Lara chose the farthest seat away from Nia.

Well, this feels nice. Nia thought her worries have gone down a little. She stared at Mark. She should trust him. It’s clear Lara doesn’t want her as a guardian.

She fell asleep while entertaining such thoughts. She feels light for some reason, like a burden’s been taken away from her shoulders. She’s head of the family, but she didn’t need to take care of everything. She’s not supposed to monitor or control them, she realized that now.

With that, she can also focus on her education. Mark already expressed interest to take up Architecture for college. He’s very much interested and as early as now, he’d been studying the basics. His sketches are good. He has the artistic talent for it.

Nia? She doesn’t have that. She’s still contemplating about taking business management. All her clients would normally talk about their businesses at some point. She could see the challenges and how they address them. Mostly, she understands their logic and reasoning. Despite not having gone to school, she could think and analyze those situations. Albeit slowly. Technically, every job is related to a business.

Mark’s too busy to be bothered, unlike Lara. After school, he would go to work. After work, he would come home to prepare dinner. Sometimes, he would drop by at the hospital. At home, he would study diligently. Sleep. Prepare for another day and that’s how his cycle goes.

Lara? She has idle time, which she spends with her friends or classmates at school. It is during these vacant periods that she would hear unpleasant things. Rumors. Gossips. She couldn’t deny what they were saying about her older sister. She doesn’t have the energy to defend her sister. How is she going to do that when it’s the truth? She’s not about to fight a fight where she’ll eventually lose. She could only endure their words and their mocking. Even her friends would sometimes slip and mention her sister. When she gives them a glare, they would clam up and go silent. Someone would awkwardly change the topic and they would continue the conversation. It’s good enough that she has friends who doesn’t mind the rumors. Some of her classmates are nasty, though.

It's all good and well to her if it’s just words, but there were these guys who insult her by asking how much for a night. She’s nearing her tolerance limit.

Frankly, she doesn’t care about Nia, but she does care about their mother and her brother’s been good to her. She didn’t want to disappoint those two. If she gets suspended because she fought certain bastards, how would they react?

Fortunately for her, when she exploded, Mark was there to save the day. Or not.

She attacked this guy and got a couple of punches in, before her brother showed up and shoved the guy away.

The guy hissed when Mark tightened his hold on the guy’s collar. She hasn’t seen Mark work out or anything, but he’s bulky and tall. She wonders if their father was like him. She doesn’t have any memory of him.

“You’re the boyfriend? Or did you sleep with her? How much did you pay?” The guy taunted. She couldn’t be bothered with his name.

“That’s my sister. Learn to respect women, bastard.” Mark threw a punch after saying that and the guy staggered backwards.

Yeah. She got her brother suspended. Mark only shrugged it off.

“I can do a lot of things during this period.” He’s already looking forward to studying on his own.

“Won’t this hurt your chances of getting into your chosen university, though?” Lara’s worried but she’s trying not to look overly worried.

“Doesn’t matter to me in which university I go. I can study anywhere.” He’s not about to rely on a flawed system to educate him. He’ll supplement it with his own efforts.

He did have a relaxed week during his suspension. He idles at home in the mornings, then go to work in the afternoons. Three days that week, he went to chat with his mother. Her condition’s getting better and she looked healthier as well.

She asked about Lara and their situation at school. Mark’s not the type to hide things from her, but he made sure to explain things properly so as not to make her worry.