The Love of An Invisible

5/29/2023 – New York, Manhattan, East Village.

[Vision of Aya Millenis].

It is impossible not to get emotional, in these four years that have passed, so many things have happened…. I am ashamed of many of them, but I thank God for the people around me, especially for Mrs. Carmen and Mr. Gustam, they are the reason that I can be here today.

The numerous flashes in our direction register the awarding of the trophy, I hold the graduation diploma above my head while Mr. Stevens embraces me. Even though I wanted to give it all up, thanks to my friends, today I have a degree in Economics. My smile is huge.

“Congratulations Aya” after the photos, Leandro comes to congratulate me. Mrs. Carmen and Mr. Gustam went to greet the children of the other employees of the company.

“Thank you, congratulations to you too,” the hug.

The mark on my wrist reminds me of the stupid thing I tried to do two years ago. After I accepted the help of the Stevens family, I asked them not to tell my parents about me or that they were helping me. I didn’t want to have to face my mother so soon, I know what a spiteful and poisonous mother I have. The scenes from my last dance are crystal clear in my memory:

“-You’re a slut!” my mother’s scream makes me cry even more, I raise my hand to my face and sure enough it is red, it burns badly, she has never hit me so hard.

“I can’t believe you did that, Aya!” my father says disappointed and angry “I told you not to lie to me!”

“Mo-mom, dad…” my voice comes out shaky from crying “Let me explain, no… that’s not how it happened…”

“Shut up!” order and I shut up at the same time “I’ve been clear with you, Aya! You have shamed your whole family! You are a disgrace to the Millenis! Your existence…”

“No, no, no…” I shake my head frantically in denial, getting punched in the stomach must hurt less than hearing that.

“You humiliated me, you humiliated your mother and your sister, you disgraced our name.”

“She is no longer my daughter!” my mother cuts him off and his speech hurts more than the slap that was given to me a few moments ago.

“Mom, please…” I try to get closer, I can’t take being rejected like this.

“Don’t touch me!” his hands push me, I fall off my heels and fall on my ass on the floor

“From this day on, you are no longer part of our family, we disown you! You slut!” my father points his finger in my face, tears catch in my throat “I gave you the best of the best, and yet you didn’t think twice before lying and exposing us to public humiliation, throwing our name in the trash, you are nothing to us! And don’t even come back to my house, what you thought you had there is not yours, it was me and your mother who bought it, and we’re going to burn it, the only thing you’re going to take is the clothes on your body.”

“She doesn’t even deserve that!”

“No, Mom, please …. Stop it! Stop it…”

No matter how much I ask, the hatred in my mother’s eyes cut through my skin like sharp knives. She pulls at the thin straps of my dress ripping them, I try to stop her, but I get another slap in my face. The screams give way to sobs, and as if on fire I feel the fabric being torn, my breasts are exposed, I try to cover them at all costs. The shame I feel is so great.

“You are not worth a penny, we raised you in the best way possible! We raised you with the best! But you’re a fifth-rate, scrotum-sucking slut, a….”

“Please stop…” even though my knees are shaking, I stand up while holding the tears to hide the nakedness of my breasts “That’s not me, please believe me… I would never do anything to embarrass you like that, that woman in the video is not me, please….”

“The floor is your place! You filthy scum!” my mother pushes me using more force than before. The contact of my forehead with the damaged floor of the court makes blood run down my forehead and the cut stings.

“Let’s go, we’ve wasted enough time in this shithole.”

“No please, don’t do this to me, believe me, please…” I hold my mother’s dress and she kicks my hand, my wrist throbs.Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

I close my eyes tightly to scare away these memories.

In my mind, I imagined that I would only see her on the day I entered the company headquarters, however, the world put her in front of me long before that, when I was leaving college, the memories to this day hurt me, every line and expression are extremely clear in my memory:

** It is the last day of autumn, the ground is covered with many different colored leaves, the onset of winter was very close. I take a deep breath, the fourth semester is being very hard, even though I am very studious, even I was having difficulties in some subjects. I need to clear my mind. I decided to study in a different place, I wanted to breathe the fresh air, so I decided to go to the little square near the college, I sat on the wooden bench and took the book and notebook from the backpack along with a pen, but as soon as I opened the book on the marked page, thin black heels entered my field of vision, I raised my head and my mother’s gaze distilled disgust in my direction.

“Where did you steal that book?” she speaks harshly.

I answer nothing, I just put my head down, memories of the day of the prom come flooding back and I take a deep breath.

“From your clothes and the direction you got here, you came from college in New York, how did you get in there? I know, you got into bed with everyone in the management to get a ferry, right? I could only, the way it’s a…”

“Yo… You have no right to pry into my life or make any wrong speculation about…”

“Bitch has no life, without selling your body you could never get in there, also do you lie with the students for a place to sleep? You are a filthy pig, surely you must have several STDs by now.”

Headless to listen, I start to pack my things inside my backpack, better to go back to the Stevens residence, but she gets in my way and throws everything on the floor, stepping right after, crumpling the expensive book Ms. Carmen gave me.

“Why… Why did you do that!” I kneel on the floor, taking the book from under her heels.

“You’re not worthy of reading those books or even stepping foot in that place, you’re just a slut who fucks anyone and makes videos to expose yourself in front of everyone!”

“I didn’t do any of that!” I speak with a choked voice and get up from the floor, hugging the book tightly over my breasts.

My cheek burns, again, this is the third time she has hit me, tears fall, I deserve this slap, no matter how hard I fight against it, I will always be defeated by my mind.

“Your place is in a brothel, wiping the floor with your tongue. A worthless slut, don’t you ever dare appear in front of me again, stop spoiling the scenery with your promiscuous presence.”

She turns her back and starts walking away, I feel my knees weaken, but before they reach the ground, she turns towards me again and looks me up and down, even though I haven’t done anything wrong, I feel dirty in front of her eyes.

“You should be dead” her words hurt me “Or rather, you shouldn’t even have been born, then we wouldn’t be subjected to the shame of having you tarnish the Millenis surname.”

Her words cut me, I can no longer bear the weight of my body and collapse on the floor, once again the tears fall thick from my eyes.**

I shake my head to shake off these memories, today is not the day for that.

“And Luana?” I ask as I take a sip of the champagne in my glass.

“She is taking pictures with her mother” he replies and points in the direction where she is.

I watch her smile for the cameras as she hugs her mother. I am happy for her, I became friends with her two years ago, I know all the struggle she had to go through to be here today, just like Leandro. They make a very beautiful couple, I am happy for them. Despite the pain of remembering what they did to me, I am also happy for their transformation and for the friendships that they came to have with me.

The day when Leandro and I met again for the first time after the dance, somehow still hurts me, and every second of that day are vivid in my mind: