“I’m full,” Nhanyi replied coldly. In fact, she hadn’t eaten a single grain of rice; just the sight of that glass of red wine made her stomach churn, leaving her no appetite.”I went to the trouble of having the steak cooked for you, and you won’t even take a bite? Truly ungrateful.” Abigail angrily took the plate away.
Nhanyi didn’t have the energy to be angry with the maid; at least she didn’t like her, and that disdain was genuine, unlike his duplicitous nature.
He didn’t return until late at night, this time bringing back a woman. Nhanyi saw his car drive into the yard from the window. The woman was escorted out of the car; she wore a long black dress, and her hair was styled extravagantly. He took this woman up to the third floor. Nhanyi peered through the crack in the door; the woman’s back was alluring, dressed flamboyantly. Her steps were somewhat hurried as he led her into the adjacent room.
Nhanyi felt relieved, thinking at least he wouldn’t come looking for trouble with her tonight. However, the woman’s cries of pain from the next room made it impossible for her to sleep all night. The next day, just as dawn broke, she knew he had left the house early. Today, he didn’t send maid Abigail in to forcibly drag her downstairs to have breakfast with him. She felt a mix of curiosity and sympathy for the woman in the next room, guessing from her screams last night that she must have been beaten badly.
Nhanyi walked to the door, tentatively pushing it open. She saw the woman in black sitting on the bed with a dejected expression. Her skin was very pale, delicate as if made of fine jade, which made the bruise on her neck even more pronounced.
“Are you… okay?” Although she didn’t know who this woman was or why she was here, they shared a bond of suffering; perhaps she too was imprisoned here. “Do you need my help?”
The woman raised her eyes, staring blankly for a moment before saying indifferently, “Give me a cigarette.”
“I don’t have cigarettes; I only have a first-aid kit. I can help you with your wounds; you have an injury on your neck, right? Don’t worry, I just saw from the window that the devil has already left.”
“Then… thank you,” the woman in black replied somewhat reluctantly but still accepted her kindness. Nhanyi sat by the bed and began to clean her wounds.
The woman’s expression was not panicked; instead, she engaged Nhanyi in casual conversation while she worked. “You must not be Jewish, right?” She had beautiful violet eyes and looked at Nhanyi with interest. “In my club, there’s a African girl who, like you, has black hair and black eyes. She’s…”
“No! I’m not African!” Nhanyi interrupted her. She knew a brutal war was raging in the country, and she hated the African invaders.
“You don’t need to be so agitated; I was just saying you resemble her. You’re much prettier than she is.” The woman blinked her violet eyes a few times, leaning closer to Nhanyi, whispering, “You look so pure and lovely; sometimes men like girls like that.”
“I’m not a prostitute!” Nhanyi admitted that the woman was very sexy and beautiful, but her every move exuded a strong air of the brothel, which made Nhanyi, who had always been proper, feel uncomfortable.
“I used to be a prostitute; now I run the largest brothel in this city,” the woman said, pulling her red lips into a smile.
Nhanyi was taken aback. In her mind, prostitution was the lowest profession, and this woman spoke so openly about her identity. However, she paused for a moment before continuing to apply medicine. “That devil, why did he bring you here?”
“Ryan? He wants to ask me about something.” The woman smiled somewhat helplessly and then asked in return, “What about you? How did you end up here?”
“I was also captured!” Just as Nhanyi was about to explain, she suddenly heard footsteps coming up the stairs outside. She was already familiar with that sound, the thud of his boots on the wooden stairs, a sound that was terrifying to her, like a death knell. “Oh no, I can’t let him see me; he will kill me.” It was clearly too late to escape back to her room. Nhanyi looked around and could only choose to hug the first-aid kit and hide in the large wardrobe.
