Chapter 4

• “That's the extra room for guests,” Ms. Clinton let out as she moved up the stairs. “What about that room?” Teresa asked as they passed a milk door. “Uhmm, that Hector's room, he doesn't like people going inside his room, ” Ms. Clinton let out, earning a nod from Teresa.
• Ms. Clinton turned before giving Teresa a wide smile at the corner of her lips. “That would be all. I would give Rose a bath,” she mumbled attempting to go downstairs to get Rose but Teresa stopped her. “You need a break from working, you just got back and you have cleaned the kitchen, I would like to take care of Rose's bathing, ” Teresa let out, making Nita smile.
• “Not a problem, I'm used to doing all these chores, ” Nita insisted. “What is my usage here if I don't help out Nanny, I insist, you just take a rest,” Teresa said, ushering Ms. Clinton to her room.
• “Rosey? Rosey?” Teresa said, making the little girl turn with the stain of milk at each corner of her mouth. It was difficult for Teresa to understand what was going on in the little girl's heart, she hated herself for feeling pity for the poor child.
• She sat on the chair close to Rose before smiling at her. She knew Rose was only a child and she had nothing to be scared of, she needed the money for this job and nothing should stop her from doing her job, not even these girls.
• Teresa knew that she and Maria didn't get along on a first meeting but she understood what the girl was passing through. “You need to take a bath Rose,” she mumbled but the girl shook her head.
• She thought the girl might not have understood her as she tried to haul Rose but she forcefully pulled back. “Come on baby, if you don't take your bath, you would stink badly, ” she said but Rose still sat down on the chair with her hands folded.
• “Do you want me to get you some ice cream?” Teresa let out as a grin was plastered on Rose's face. “So, you want ice cream?” she asked, earning a nod from Rose. Teresa stood up before carrying Rose in her arms.
• She took the girl to her room which Ms. Clinton had shown her a few minutes ago. Rose kept playing with her hands as she was being carried to her room, she seemed to be enjoying being carried as she began to play with Teresa's hair. She giggled when Teresa ruffled her hair and touched her nose.
• It took 5 minutes to give Rose a good bath. It seemed like Rose was scared of the water for a reason Teresa had no clue about it, Teresa had ended up bathing herself with water due to the struggle of bathing Rose. She loosened her ponytail so her wet hair could get some air, she pushed a strand of hair that was stuck on her cheeks at the back of her ear.
• Rose sat on her bed which was laid with a pink bed sheet. She picked the remote before putting on the oversized television, Ms. Clinton walked in as she stared at the cartoonish sheep on the Television.
• Even if Hector hated everything that made noise in his house, Ms. Clinton still allowed Rose to watch the television, she knew it was a way for the girl not to miss her mother very much.
• “What happened here, Teresa?” Ms. Clinton asked, noticing the wet floor. She stared at Teresa to notice her cloth hugging her body. Her hair was soaked and dripping water, Nita was shocked when Teresa began to laugh and everything instantly turned to tears dripping from her eyes.
• She wiped them away before sighing. A few more giggles before she held herself from laughing further, “I'm so sorry Nanny, it's just that both I and Rose had a tough time getting her to shower, ” she said, closing the bathroom door.
• Ms. Clinton didn't say anything as they all stood silent for some minutes. “Go change or you might catch some cold, ” Ms. Clinton said, making Teresa nod. She sluggishly walked out of Rose's room to get changed to something else.
• Carefully stripping her wet clothes off she couldn't help but look at the scar at the side of her stomach. All of a sudden the painful memory of her Landlord in their hometown forcing them to leave his house because they haven't paid their house rent flashed to her head.
• A tear slipped making her look at the scar before laughing at herself. She gritted her teeth as her hand kept caressing the side gently, she stared at her slim statue in the well-furnished mirror.
• She wasn't shy of what she looked like, rather she was proud of her looks. She stared back at the scar that hadn't fully healed, it had gotten infected from not taking care of it.
• The injury peeked bad but she had no money to treat them since her problems were more important. The injury wasn't red but still looked fresh like it happened yesterday. She tried to remove her clothes but a small touch around that area caused a yelling pain.
• She knew it would cure itself. It just needed time to do that, she moved inside the bathroom before dropping all her wet cloth in a basin. She stared at the mirror and it looked steamy and a bit dirty so she didn't have to stare at herself again.
• She wore fresh clothing before using a towel to dry her wet hair. She sighed before pulling her pin button phone, she couldn't afford the screen touch phones which everybody used now.
• She stared at it multiple times, she waited for her sister to call and she didn't want to call just yet. She wanted to have money first before she could call them! Drawing a few breaths, she took some moment to compose herself.
• Finally, she forced her lips to smile. “Teresa you are going to do great, ” she muttered before smiling genuinely. She left her room before heading back to Rose’s room but noticed that the girl wasn't there but the Tv was still on.
• “Where is Rose?” she heard Ms.Clinton ask making Teresa's eyes pop out, oh no, what would she do now. What would Hector say about her on her first day of work? That was all that kept running through Teresa's head.
• There was no sound to be heard as fear filled her whole being.