9 " Where were you?"

Sophia kept shifting her eyes in several directions. Her heart started pumping faster than usual. One could feel her heart beating against her chest, placing his palm on it. Sophia stood there completely dumb, failing to utter a single word from her parted lips. She couldn't make up any further lies to escape this situation. Her cousins were too witty to believe even the words of a lawyer who gave the wrong verdict and grabbed the judge's attention.

Stella approached Sophia after one minute had passed, slipped her hand into her pocket, and pulled out the invitation to the fete. Sophia looked at the pamphlet, puzzled. Stella raised the pamphlet, her thumb and index finger clipped to the bottom corner. "Do you know anything about this?" Stella asked firmly, giving out a serious grimace.

Sophia nodded in response to Stella's suspicion. "No, I do not know anything about it. What is this? "Can you tell me?" asked Sophia in a gloomy tone. Suddenly, her cousin's expression changed from furious to funny. She started laughing loudly, turning her head back to peek at her sister, who gave out a giggling expression in return. 

"Diana, She believes she can just make things up and get away from us. She often forgets who we are. We have to continuously remind her forgetful brain of what it omits. We are the ones who discovered the most studious girl in this college, the one who always dresses elegantly. We kept an eye on her every day and discovered that she works long hours as a waitress in a restaurant. She will be left for nothing if we reveal the entire story in our institute.

Sophia gave out an annoyed expression. She crossed her hands and shouted, "Maybe she invests her income in the right assets. That's why she's got enough to spend on herself. You should think twice before defaming anyone. What you do to others automatically comes back to you in unexpected ways," she said, so Sophia sobbed. 

Stella stood forward and raised one of her eyebrows. Then crossing her arms, she said," Oh, so now Sophia has got the guts to speak ill to her master's daughters. She should get a good punishment in return for this. We haven't forgotten about this pamphlet dear, tell us about it or we shall leave you in the stray dog's company.

Then circling herself around Sophia's figure, Stella spoke," You think we are only two, but there's more of us, spying on you from the first day of college. You see, we got this pamphlet from one of our friends. She also told us that these pamphlets were placed inside the newspapers of our locality. What happened next, then? Oh, both of us were shocked. We started suspecting you. So, we checked the CCTV footage of our house through my phone, which revealed the whole of your act. So, you can't conceal anything now, tell us where were you, were you at the fete?" asked Stella, stressing the word in the end.

Knowing that she had no option, Sophia nodded deliberately in favour of their statement. Then, from the back, Diana murmured," Oh! She ate up our chance of availing free ticket to the event. If we had got that pamphlet, we would have enjoyed that event instead of her. She should not be forgiven for this, Stella, never. "

Stella turned her neck back and gave a half eye shut expressed to her sister. Then she started with a low pitch," Diana, do you think I am that foolish to forgive her, seriously?"

then turned her face toward Sophia and started with her high guttural voice," She should repent for this. Let her reach home with us. Our Mother will overburden her with more work and decide on a great punishment for her. She lowered our mood, she should suffer now. " After uttering such words harshly, Stella grabbed Sophia's hand and walked faster than usual. Sophia strolled with them, exhibiting a moaning expression. She kept apologising in the way, but Stella and Diana paid attention to none of her pleas.

"Oh, God, how desperate I was to attend the event that I forgot my wicked cousins. They could easily smell out the truth like a German Shepherd. They both are fit for the post of a police officer, a horrible one, I guess. " Sophia kept rolling these thoughts in her mind till her gazes met her home gate. Seeing these gates was itself a curse for her. It was as if she was peeking at the entrance to hell. She withdrew her gazes from the door.

When they entered the house, Stella and Diana's mother came running toward them and hugged them. When her eyes met their severe expressions, she shifted her eyes slowly towards Sophia's face and sensed that something was wrong. She raised her brows up and down to implore a question of what had happened at that moment.

Stella raised her palm towards her mother, to wait for a moment. Then she said," Sophia, you must be tired. You should stay in your room for a few hours. Mother, I have something important to discuss, come with me to the drawing room." Saying so, she snatched her mother's hand and took her to the drawing room, while Sophia stood there still, peeking at them as they went to the other room.

Sophia went to her room and closed it from the inside. She joined her hands and kneeled her head down, saying, "Oh God! Please save me from this harsh situation. I am manacled to the will of my aunt. Never in my life have I seen a person as kind and loving as Joe. He is my future partner, and I don't want to lose him. Please help me bear up with my present difficulties patiently. Please show me a path. That's all I need. Nothing do I desire from you at present. " She kneeled and kissed the floor in front of her god's statue.

Suddenly, Sophia's body jerked on hearing a hard knock at her door. When she inserted the key and tilted the handle of her door, She saw the figure of her Aunt standing there with crossed arms, as the door opened ajar.

To stare at the figure of her aunt beside her room door was a depressing sight for her. It was because she never called upon her except for household tasks or unwanted punishments.

Slowly, she paced her steps toward Sophia. Sophia was barely visible in that shady room. Only her startled gleaming eyes and shining face gave a hint of her spot. She often preferred to lock her with the darkness on when she had an awful day. But today, darkness itself footed inside her room with continuous steps.