Great Mind Writer

EPISODE 10 I was already heavy. Pregnant. Vulnerable. And every time I stepped out, aunty’s husband would pull up with his tinted car, spoil me like royalty in public... then we'd both return home like nothing happened. My birthday was coming up, and I needed a breath of fresh air, something that felt like mine so I invited a friend to visit. While aunty and her husband were singing me a birthday song, the gateman came to say someone was at the gate. I quickly asked him to let her in. She came alongside another friend. But instead of understanding, aunty exploded with anger. "Why would you bring strangers here?" she barked. I calmly explained, “They’re my friends. They know where I live.” Before I could blink, her hand landed across my face. Just like that, a slap. As she and her husband argued over it, I walked away heart pounding to tell the gateman to open the gate. He refused. I began shouting and aunty’s husband intervened, ordering him to open it. My friends...

EPISODE 9: A few weeks later, my due date finally arrived. But instead of rushing me to the hospital like any normal family would, they insisted I stay home to deliver. I was left to labor in pain with no proper care, for about ten minutes before I gave birth right there, in their house. It was their family doctor who delivered the baby. Barely an hour after giving birth, aunty’s husband walked in with a new gown and told me to get dressed, he was taking me out. According to him, it was his “thank you” gesture. Meanwhile, aunty stayed home, pretending to be the one who had just delivered a baby. The deception ran deep. When we returned from the outing, things took a darker turn. He didn’t take me home. Instead, he drove me to a hotel. An old woman he had hired was already there, to clean me up. After sometimes she left and he took over, saying he wanted to “take care of me himself.” Then he started with unsettling questions: “Do you like me?” “Am I the kind of man you can marry?”...