Cinderella And Her Stepbrother

Chapter 15

Though only four days had passed since the chaos that happened in my room, it felt like I had not gone out for a fortnight. It was not about being locked in– I was used to it– it was just not being able to do anything. In past days, I barely could move my legs and it frustrated me to no end.

For the first two days, I was happy, glad that I could finally get rest from doing house chores. It was what I wanted all this long, to have free time and be in my room, doing nothing. However, as sun and moon kept changing colours of the days, I felt new sort of feelings I had never felt before: boredom and lonely.

I cried one night. I cried whilst staring at the moon, muttering regrets and promises that I would stop moaning over my fate, that I swear not to complain of being tired anymore, and scolding myself for my clumsiness.

Now that I remembered, it was just last night. But why it felt so long ago? Or had I miscounted the days and it was actually a week before?

I sighed, perhaps I had been overreacting. But being alone and not able to do anything had made me somewhat vulnerable, that allowed my heart to submit to such foreign feelings.

I stared at the door. Nobody had come searching for me, not that I wished for it to happen. I was glad, or that what I kept telling myself. To be honest, I was half expecting Venda to barge in and scream at me like last time, telling me to get over my laziness and go down there to prepare dinner. But it never happened. The door had not been opened since Ian shut it the other day.

Ian.

It would be a lie if I said he never crossed my mind during my alone time in my room. A little, ridiculous part of my heart was hoping for him to come with a bowl of soup for me, just like that one day when he thought I might catch fever. I refused to feel disappointed when I remembered, me waking up to him standing at the corner of my tiny room was only dreams.

Things happened before didn't go unnoticed by my heart and mind either. His and Aden's words kept rolling over in my head like they were the only things that mattered.

Shaking my head in hope to erase the thought, or at least to push it to the back of my mind, I averted my eyes which then had them landed on my feet that I'd managed to move onto the floor. It took a lot of struggles and groans, but I finally succeeded.

I could not just sit in here, sighing over my loneliness. I had to do something to get out of this room. I wanted to stop crying over things that had happened and start finding solutions.

With new determination, I held onto the bedsheet and took a deep breath, before pushing myself up. A sharp pain shot over me, and tugged me down back to the bed abruptly. I bit my lips to restrain myself from letting out any sound. The pain, it wasn't from my legs, it came from my right arm.

Gently, I hold my hand and skimmed it over, flinching when I found the sore spot. I touched the blue bruise that had slightly faded; the one from Venda's death grip on the staircase. Although the colour of it had blended back into my original skin tone, the pain had not subdued any less.

"It's just a bruise, Orchid. Do you really let it bother you? Unbelievable!" I scolded myself.

Again, I tried standing up, ignoring the pain that stung both at my legs and arm. I fell for four or five times, before I finally managed to stand on my feet, trembling slightly. With a happy smile, I glanced around. Using the bed edge to guide me to the wall where I spotted a broom, I slowly made my way to it.

Once I made it there, I grabbed the broom in no time and turned it upside down, using its stick to support my weight.

I cringed when I felt the pain on my feet and stopped my movement. When the pain lessened only a bit, I stepped to the door carefully. I was a whole mess when I finally reached the door. Beads of sweat coated my forehead and neck, with my messy locks covered half of my face.