h water. Prepare breakfast. Clean the kitchen. Wash clothes. Scrub floors. Prepare lunch. Wash

cupied. When you are thinking about the temperature of bathwater and the correct way

when she noticed something: the wall where her father's university degree had hung was bare. The wooden frame where her parents' w

t to Mrs. Okafo

man said quietly, not meeting Tiara's eye

n of understanding. They were not temporarily managing her inheritance. They wer

ded a new section

entory

university

s wedding

onze

intings from t

d earrings (left

air from Fat

the sil

imate values based on overheard conversations. It was the only cur

~

rn to school like a life raft. She studied her old textbooks, borrowed Tola's notes, tried

asked for the thousandth time. "Be grateful we're fee

d clear: accept your fat

ordering her around with the casual cruelty of the newly empowered. "Tiara, my uni

a had become invisible-or worse, lower than dirt. Young Tayo, at six, had learned to mimic his parents' di

on: Your real family died, so you belong

the kitchen floor when she overhe

g her humility... the house will be hers eventually, when she's old enough to understand its value... f

entual inheritance. There was only the gradual tearing apart of everything her

~

shed her. If she protested, they increased her workload. If she cried, they mocked her. So sh

oving through the house like a ghost. She learned to smile when req

and the secret attic nights, she lived a para

She wrote letters to her parents, askin

I thought bitterness was sharp, like lemons. But it's duller t

see it yet. Is it okay to be angry? Is it okay that sometimes I hate them so much I

creating a future self to

ra Who S

story. It's barely the beginning. Hold on. Write everything down. Remember every injustice. One day, you'll be strong enough to ch

in body, but something ancient and

~

er kindness. She left extra food in Tiara's portion when no one was looking. She spoke to her like a person, not a servant. She t

"was a good woman. Strong. She wouldn't recognize what's happeni

admitted, chopping onions. "I

-cruel, grasping, hollow-that's strength. Every time you refuse to let bitterness spoil your character,

ra clung to them, wrote them down, repe

her uncle in the kitchen. He was drinking

can I go ba

alk. "School? Why do you need school, Tiara? You think you'll become

ietly. At least he was successful e

I'm feeding you out of charity. Don't mistake that

Dad

s was a failure. Everything he built will soon be sold

tood finally: there was no appeal to compassion. There was no

~

She stopped hoping. She stopped behaving as if she belo

tters, watching how the world worked for people with power. She studied her cousins' textbooks in secret, teaching herself

her only honest companion, the only place she could

e finally wrote the word

ting for revenge-but because I refuse to let their theft define my life. I will build myself from nothing. I will prove that lemons, even bitte

the last senten

first tremor of a truth that would sustain her through everything to c