I loved my dad so much, but he loved her too much to listen.

I always heard my aunt tell me the reason I had no mum like the other children was because my mum died when she was giving birth to me. Dad wasn't around because he was busy, and by the time he got there, she was already gone.That was the story I grew up hearing.Dad used to do everything himself. He packed my lunch, braided my hair badly, and sometimes forgot to put sugar in my tea. I never complained. He was my dad, and that was enough for me.So when I turned seven, Dad brought her home(my step mom) as his new wife. He said I needed someone around. Someone to take care of me when he was at work. Someone who could be there for me in ways he couldn't.She was quite tall and fair, and she wore this sweet smile all the time.Grown-ups fall for that easily.My dad thought she was an angel, and he spent the first few weeks trying to convince me I was just being a difficult child.But kids just know these things.I knew she was wrong.For the first three weeks, I couldn't feel safe around her at all. One evening, she walked into my room while I was changing and just stood there watching me with this strange, cold look until I pulled my shirt down.When I told my dad, he gently touched my hair and said she was only trying to check on me.Another time, she leaned over my desk while I was doing my mathematics assignment and asked softly, "Does your father keep any important papers or keepsakes from your mum in that big closet?"I stood up, took my books and left without a word. I told my dad about it, but he didn't even hear me. Or maybe he did. He was always on a call or at work.After a while, I stopped telling my dad things, but something always felt off.When my dad wasn't home, she barely talked to me. She was always on her phone. Sometimes she would say she was going to the market, but she would come back very late, right before my dad got back from work.One afternoon, I stayed home from school because I had a very bad migraine. She didn't know I was in the house.Later that day, I heard her talking to someone on the phone, using words like signing papers and the house.I didn't really understand what adults meant by business talk, so I just figured maybe they were planning to paint the walls or fix something broken.Then I caught her trying to open our family closet.That closet was only known to me and Dad because of my mum's things.She didn't see me watching her that day.Ever since then, I started keeping an eye on her.A few days later, I saw her holding a key near the closet. She quickly put it away when she noticed me.For weeks, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I kept wondering what she was actually up to and how I was going to find out. She was always careful, always watching me right back.That chance finally came one Saturday evening, when she and my dad went out on a date. As soon as they left, I slipped straight into her room.I wanted to check her bag just in case, but I was scared I wouldn't remember how she packed it and she would punish me for touching her things.So I grabbed my small tablet and snapped a quick picture of everything inside.I searched through her bags and found nothing. I was about to give up when something fell and made a sound.It was a key.A key to what?I was still standing there holding it, trying to figure it out, when I heard my dad's car horn outside.Panic caught me.How was I going to clean up before they came in?I opened the picture I took on my tablet and started arranging everything back to match it. It was a lot of work, and my hands were shaking.I slipped the key into my pocket anyway. I didn't know what it opened, but suddenly I didn't want her to have it.I was almost done when I heard my dad's voice downstairs."Chidera!"Both of them called out almost at the same time.I am so close, I told myself.The footsteps were getting closer on the stairs.Panicking, I grabbed my tablet, stuffed it under the bed, and felt the key still in my pocket.I pulled it out, kicked it deep underneath the bed right beside the tablet, and scrambled to zip up her bag.Suddenly, the door slammed open."Chidera, are you there?"It was my stepmom's voice.But I was already under the bed.

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