"How dare you have that attitude after sleeping outside the house without your parent's permission?" Mr Anderson bellowed his fierce glare centred on Joanna.
"Where are your manners and dignity as a woman?" Mr Anderson asked as he started walking towards Joanna.
"Maybe I am lacking in manners because when other parents were busy teaching their kids, my father was too busy to care about whether I am alive or dead," Joanna replied with her chin held high.
She climbed a step down. "Also, maybe I don't have dignity because I take after my married father who couldn't exercise self-control and had to impregnate unmarried…,"
"How dare you little brat talk to me like that?" The furious Mr Anderson raised his hand to hit Joanna on the face.
His raised right hand was about to descend on her pretty face when someone grabbed it amid the air.
"Who has the guts to stop me," Mr Anderson raised his free hand to hit the one who held his hand.
His eyes widened on turning around to hit the person but only for him to see that it was none other than his wife.
"As you can see she was already in a bad mood so why don't you let it slide hmm," Adhara pleaded softly, still holding onto her husband's raised hand.
For a minute Mr Anderson could not utter a word. He wondered whether the woman interceding for Joanna was the same woman he has spent over twenty years of his life with.
Joanna rolled her eyes seeing how her father and Stepmother were looking at each other. "Bunch of pretenders," Joanna turned and continued scaling the stairs.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtShe halted at the middle of the stairs and turned to look at the couple still standing at the foot of the stairs.
"Also Sir, you can stop pretending to care about my existence because everyone in this house and Kingdom knows that you don't," Joanna said as she stomped up the stairs afterwards.
Mr Anderson lowered his hands and raised his gaze to stare in the direction of a door that just jammed close.
"She is becoming very unruly. If none teaches her a lesson I am sure her unruliness will worsen…,"
"That is how kids are when they reach puberty. Being rebellious is part of growing up so let her be hmm," Adhara said smiling as she held her husband's right arm.
"Mum is right Dad. I am sure she will come around after a while," Laura supported with a forced smile.
Mr Anderson found his wife and daughter's attitude strange.
As far as he can recall, his legal wife and daughter hate his illegitimate child to the core.
Every day he witnessed the two of them maltreat her, so since when did they become so close that they would stand up for her in front of him?
They have lived together for over sixteen years and nothing of such happened so how could their relationship get better overnight?
It was just impossible!
"Why are you both acting weird?" Mr Anderson asked, his questioning gaze moved from his wife to his daughter's face.
"Did something happen in my absence…,"
"What could possibly happen Sweetheart," asked Adhara. Mr Anderson found her more suspicious when she let go of his hand and started approaching the couch.
"Now that our family is finally harmonious don't you like it or do you prefer always seeing us at each other's throats every day?" Adhara now sitting with her legs crossed, questioned in displeasure.
Mr Anderson proceeded to join his wife at the centre table. "You know that's not what I meant," Mr Anderson said as he tried to hold his wife's hands laying on her thighs but she beat his hand away.
Laura used this opportunity to slip out of the house.
After successfully getting out of the gate, Laura let down the long brown hair she had tied into a ponytail.
She ran her fingers through her hair to straighten the hair.
"Gosh… the atmosphere in there was tense and horrible," Laura shook her head as she turned and glanced at the tall building behind her.
"There is no way I am gonna get used to treating that lowlife girl nicely… In fact, I felt like an insect was crawling over my body while I spoke up for her," Laura mumbled.
She turned and took the right direction when the campus was located on the left.
"Mum, better think of ways to get us out of this mess because I don't think I would be able to keep on pretending for long".
Laura slid her hand into her right chained handbag hung around her left shoulder.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmShe brought out the cell phone vibrating inside her bag.
"Where are you now?" A guy's anxious voice demanded at the other end the instant she lifted the phone to her ear.
"Where you able to get away or do we need to postpone our meeting like how we have been doing…,"
"I am sorry, Babe that you had to wait for so long but don't worry the wait is over," A bright smile appeared on Laura's face as she walked on the less busy street.
[Although I hate her guts, I must admit that getting away under my Dad and Mum's watch wouldn't have been easy with her]
A sweet smile lingered on her pretty face as she turned left when she got to the three that split into two.
"You succeed this time around?" The guy previously sitting on the couch with his two friends jumped to his feet.
His eyes lits up. He paid no attention to the fact that his friends were laughing at him.
"Hmm… expect me because I will be there in fifteen minutes or lesser," Laura replied.
"Hurry Baby, I am afraid I might lose my senses if you take longer than this," He said as he licked his lips hungrily.
He disconnected the call and shot his friend's piercing glares.
"Hey, dudes, what was that about huh?" Rafael started. "If you had something to say couldn't you both have waited until the phone call ended? What if she heard you guys?" He asked as he returned to his seat.
"And what if she did?" The guy in the green short sleeve shirt asked without any sense of remorse.
"I have told you guys to respect her because she isn't only my mate but the love of my life…,"
"Hahaha…love of your life?" The guy wearing a knitted long sleeve shirt laughed to Rafael's annoyance.