Kelly looked at George with sorrowful eyes. "Do you have to humiliate me like this?" she asked.
His gut twisted at her words, but he suppressed the discomfort because he figured he was just disciplining Kelly. He said, "Don’t bother complaining to my father. He’s away at the military district for a few days."
Kelly inhaled sharply. "Fine. I’ll wash it."
As soon as George left, Amanda quietly entered the house and with a satisfied smirk on her face, she said, "Kelly, I’m so sorry. I accidentally used up all the hot water earlier. You’ll have to use cold water to wash my dress."
In the compound, hot water was a shared resource from the communal kitchen. Amanda’s deliberate act left Kelly no choice but to scrub the dress with icy water.
It was in December, in the middle of the winter and Kelly carried a wooden bucket to the riverbank so she could wash the dress at the river.
When her hands dipped into the icy river, she shivered violently, but the bone-chilling cold was still unable to match the frost that entered her heart.
“They all say George spoils you, but I don’t see it now.” A saccharine voice came from behind her. Kelly did not have to turn around to know that it was Amanda.