Serenade of Scars (Unedited)

Chapter 4

I sat down on a bench that wasn't far from the entrance of the club. I was confused on what to do, part of me wanted to go inside and the other just had deep regret towards everything related to the stripping. How was I going to save my father's life? Tears streamed down my face as a light wind passed by, and all I could do was to look at the leaves flying by me. Why couldn't that wind just take me along with it? Why couldn't it just take my problems away?

What shocked me even more was my mother's action towards the whole situation. I reached out to her multiple times and as always she'll tell me that there's no money. She always told me that or she'd just keep quiet, yet I'd see her at the mall shopping for her new family. It hurt to be in the same town as her, why couldn't she just move away with her new family?! Gosh, I hated them all! They were so wicked. Were all the mothers in the world like her?

If a mother knows that she's not going to love the child that carried for 9 months, why not just abort the child? My heart ached as I thought of my dying father. He was the only realest person that I knew. At least he showed what true love is, the love of a parent to their child. I remember always sleeping next to him in the hospital when I was young. The woman that he had married would always drop me off and come back for me the next day. I never understood why at the time but as I grew up, I realised that it was better to not know.

Didn't I have a life cover? I mean if I died right now, wouldn't that money be enough for my father's treatment? I didn't have a life either ways so, why couldn't I just give up my life for him? He deserves it after all.

It was getting dark and I had made up my mind. I knew how I would get the money and I was done stripping for it. At least I would go to my grave with my shame and my father would never know, well, unless Dr Jamal tells him. As I was in my thoughts, I didn't notice the person that sat next to me on the bench. I finally snapped out of my thoughts and my body went stiff when I saw Dr Jamal next to me.

I blinked blankly at him as I moved away from him. Words were hard to find, so I quietly looked at him. He was dressed casually and had a serious look on his face. The same look that he had on the night when he discovered my secret. I got weird goosebumps as I had a thought of him looking at me stripping in silence. I bet he thought I was whore.

I couldn't stand the silence, so I reached for my handbag to go but he reached it before me. What did he want? I swallowed hard as I tried to compose myself. "Why did you choose stripping?" he asked in a calm yet hard voice.

Why did I choose stripping? How is that your business? Well, I was not even in the state of questioning him because I didn't want to push him to tell my father anything, so I had to comply. "I couldn't find any other job and I was really desperate," I answered in a still voice.

"That's not an excuse for exposing your body like the way you did. Dang, Chloe I thought you were raised with a religious background, how do you think God feels about it? About you exposing your temple..."

I turned to him in defence. "Don't you dare judge me! You don't know what I'm going through," I told him. How my tears were so close but I despised crying in front of people. I didn't like pity one bit.

"I'm not judging you, Chloe. I just want to remind you that this world is full of wicked people, be careful of the things that you do. Especially since you're even showing off your body to horny rapists."

"Oh please! As if you're not a 'horny rapist' yourself," I spit out as I folded my arms at my chest.

"It's not what it looks like."

"Really? Mind explaining what you mean by that?"

"The only reason why I was in the club that night was to confirm what my colleagues have been talking about. I'm not the only one who knows."

I sank into the bench as I realised that there was a possibility that my father already knew the truth. My eyes widened as fear kicked in. "Don't worry, he doesn't know," said Dr Jamal.

"How do you know?"

"I've left trusted people to watch over him."

Even after he said that my heart was still not at rest. Why couldn't I just trust him? "Dr Jamal, what do you want? Why do you care so much about what I'm doing?"

"I just wanted to help."

I let out a heavy sigh as I rolled my eyes at what he had said. "Help with what?"

"Your father's treatment."

I let out a surprised laugh and smirked at Dr Jamal. "I have lived long enough to know that nothing in this world is free. What strings are you attaching to this 'help' of yours?"

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