WOUNDED

CHAPTER 61

This is THE chapter.

AZ
Song: Whatcha say? - Jason Derulo

"Um..." I start and rake my brain for words. "Kacely, I..."

"Az can you please just spill it?" He says impatiently.

"Ok... OK." I breathe. "Before I tell you this, know that I have never ever told anyone. Not Zoe, not Trevor, not a single soul."

"You might just be lying again." He disappoints me by saying.

"I'm not, I swear" I squeak

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that, it was mean and inappropriate. I'm sorry." He says and closes his eyes.

"It's OK, I don't blame you. But I swear I'm not lying this time. OK, here goes." I say and take a whiff of air and a leap of faith."You do know that we depend on people for love, comfort and growth right? We are naturally interdependent as human beings, especially when we are younger."

"Yes, it's a natural thing" he shrugs

"Exactly but... I didn't have that as a kid. It might not make much sense to you but I've been thinking about it a lot since it happened and this is the only way that I could see it for it to make sense."

"Thinking about what?" He sighs.

"Please just let me talk? Please..."

"Alright..." He says and I smile slightly

"Like I told you, my nanny Jinwi left when I was nine. Her only daughter had an ectopic pregnancy so she had to return to Cameroon to take care of her. She came back though, after a month but left again after because her daughter's health was worsening and she needed her. I cried and cried and cried and I never got over it. She honestly was and still is the closest thing I have ever had to a mother.

I got a new nanny two days later. She was nice, but she was to be there till we found a better replacement. Just when I was getting fond of her, another one replaced her. Her name was Milagrose and she was a Latina. I use to call her Mila.
Mila took care of me for seven months and I got another replacement. Felicity replaced her and then quit two weeks later. Eventually, I grew tired of getting close to them and being detached. It wasn't easy."

"I can imagine."

"No, you can't." I scoff and he slumps his shoulders.

"Gramps was never really around, as you already know. Seeing him was always a thrill for me, like a gift on Christmas. Thrice a month, sometimes once a month... And I would always sleep with him till he left. I would cry everytime he left but by the time I turned eleven, I grew used to it. He used to be away on business sometimes, he would go over to Angola to check the oil Company we had a huge number of shares in and sometimes, he would fly to Cameroon but then, most of the time, he was away with girls." I say and he walks over to the bed to sit down.

"Remember I told you I was homeschooled?"

"Of course I do" he answers.

"Right... I got this teacher when I was eleven. His name was Lautner Stewart, he was twenty six years old. He was coloured with curly black hair and greyish eyes. He was handsome and kind and had a warm smile.
He would bring me these cookies he found out I liked so much and he would let me watch movies on his laptop sometimes because Gramps only gave me access to cartoons and kiddy novellas. He tried his best to know me, the things I liked, my favourite colour, my favourite fruit and he liked music like me. His favourite band was Daughtry. He used to play their songs sometimes for me to listen to and I liked the band so much.
He was a genius. Not just in Mathematics but in other subjects too. He was actually the one who got me rooted in Math. He was my best friend, my only friend really. We would watch movies together on his laptop and when I begged him to stay a little longer because I didn't want to be alone, he would stay."