“Babe…. Babe”
She walked into the room, her hand still attempting to place the pin perfectly to hold her hair.
She heard footsteps, thinking it was her husband, she took a turn into the living room instead.
“Babe I….”, Mrs. Bane stopped on track, not expecting to meet their maid there.
“Oh. It's …. you”, she said, her expression shifted to an obvious glow down, opposed from the initial enlightenment that filled her face.
She turned, taking the door from whence she'd just come out from. In the adjoining dining room was her husband, his sitting position not quite the usual.
“Honey..?”, Mrs. Bane asked, quite concerned already from where she stood. She finally stopped trying, letting her efforts come to waste as her french twist style loosened fast, letting her hair flow freely down to her waist. She moved to where he sat, a worried expression on her face.
“Honey?”, She called, shaking his shoulders vigorously. No answer. Now that she saw him in full view, she noticed his slumped sitting. Usually he'd snore.
But he wasn't.
“Hon…?”, She called to him, shaking his arm. She touched his hands.
His cold hands. His cold, seemingly lifeless hands.
Fear creeped into her, her eyes bulging in shock.
She touched his hand again, watching in horror how they swung freely, the cold feel lingering between her fingers.
“Oh my God”
Her breathing came fast and rasped and for a moment, she was lost on what to do. She walked back slowly, her heart racing more than a million miles.
Then suddenly, her adrenaline kicked in and she ran out of the room.
“Help!”, She cried, almost slipping as she tried to slow down her pace a little, not wanting to miss the door.
“Help. Tricia”.
She was in the living room again, but this time confused, looking everywhere with her fingers eating deep into her hair.
“I need help”, she said in a suddenly calm manner.
Her eyes met her phone and she grabbed it, dialing the family doctor's number. She missed a figure and her seemed to jump at her mistake too. In distress, she wiped out the whole number and typed it in again. It began to ring and her anxiety only grew.
“Doctor… Doctor”, she said, panicking, tears choking the rest of her words.
“Mrs. Bane? How may I help you?”
“Doctor, Doctor my…”
Her voice seized as the phone dropped from her hand. She held the belt, struggling with the holder. But whoever it was, was too strong, their hand a strong one like that of a man. Her eyes closed slowly until she could no longer struggle.
She fell to the ground.
“Hello? Mrs. Bane, are you still there?”
****************************
“Mum do I really have to sign this?”, Elara protested, hands folded and a grumpy expression.
“Yes honey. I'm sorry but you'd have to. Just for the records”
“Urghhhh”, she groaned, pushing the documents away on her desk.
“Do that quickly Elara, so we can proceed with the court wedding”, her mother instructed, walking out of her room.
“The useless son of a…”, she cursed under her breath as she signed the documents. She got up, walking angrily through the passage way to her mother's study room.
“Here, all signed”, she said, dumping the documents on the wide wooden desk.
“Great”, her mother said, not bothering to look up from her tab.
Just then, Alistair walked in. He as well didn't have such a happy expression on but he didn't look as angry as Elara.
“I'm back with the documents Mrs Wilde”.
“Oh please”, she replied sharply, her hand held up to shut him up.
“Let me have it”, she took the documents roughly from his hands.
She examined both, making sure they were duely signed. Elara stood impatiently tapping her feet, her hands still folded angrily.
Mrs. Wilde arranged the documents, tapping them on the table.
“Are we done here?”
“Yes dear. They are all complete and correct. I'll have them mailed to my lawyer”
“Great”, she said, turning sharply for the door. She swiped her hair against Alistair's face and didn't even turn back to apologize.
Alistair stood, hands to the back.
“And what are you still standing here for? Huh?”
“I'm…’’
“Get out!”
Alistair walked out, closing the door gently as he did. This was the kind of thing he was already used to. Ever since the day a new president for the Voxx Group of Companies emerged, his life at the Wilde's had suddenly taken a new turn. A fresh, new and bad turn. The Wilde's suddenly hated him and even Elara's attitude towards him changed.
They had stopped accommodating him at the dining tables, moving him to the second wing of the house where the maids stayed. They treated him with disgust, like he'd been some golden piece of the dirt that had suddenly lost value. Alistair couldn't comprehend the sudden turn of events till date neither could he comprehend why after so many years of being reminded that he would inherit the company, his uncle, out of blue, was elected as the new president.
“Perhaps the shareholders deemed him a better choice”, Alistair thought, shrugging his shoulders.
He'd decided to walk back to the second wing of the mansion when he heard the bell. That meant it was lunch time for the family, which meant he had work on the kitchen.
He passed through the dressing room, putting on the hair net and light gloves. He still had his apron on and he'd planned on taking it to the laundry room on his way to wing 2. He walked into the kitchen where Mama Doris had her hands full with a steaming hot pot of stew.
“Chefarito! Where are the strawberry cupcakes?!”
The pastry chef hurriedly brought them out of the oven, his face white with anxiety. He'd obviously left them over time.
Alistair took out some clean dishes, walking over to where the chef was. It was lunch time so the whole kitchen was quite in a haze. Chef cut open one of the cakes, taking a fork out to taste them.
His worried face relaxed as he took out another form from the drawer for Alistair to join him.
“How is it? Fantastic, isn't it?”
“As always Chef Aritos”, Alistair commended, smiling slightly.
“What chit chat are you two doing over there?!”
“Quick, get these to the table”, Chef said, as he carefully but hastily placed the perfectly golden brown cup cakes on the plate. He'd done some chocolate pudding as well to go with the cakes and Alistair soon had his hands full.
The saucers were hot and even through the salver, Alistair struggled to hold on. He got to the table, carefully placing them on the table. However, the chocolate pudding bowl tipped over a little and some of it stained the table.
“You dumb thing!”, Mrs. Wilde reacted almost immediately. A slap on his cheeks followed. Alistair touched his face lightly, his head falling and eyes to the ground.
“Can't you do anything right, you fool?!”
“I'm sorry Mrs. Wilde. I deeply apologize”
“Oh shut your filthy mouth up!” She retorted loudly. “Look at the mess you've made!”
“What's going on here?”, Mr. Wilde asked, as he walked in on the scene.
“This foolish thing here just messed up my expensive dining cloth!” she cried.
“You don't say..”, Mr. Wilde said, in his usual slurry manner.
He walked up to Alistair and before he could even explain, another slap came across his cheeks.
“Get out of here”, Mr. Wilde ordered. Alistair walked out of the dining room, with gritted teeth running his hand through his hair as embarrassment waved through him. He could still hear their voices clearly as he moved through the passage.
“The insolent thing!”
“Look at us thinking he'd be of some use, only for him to be as useless as ever”
“I told you not to adopt the boy, didn't I?”
Alistair dropped his apron at the kitchen change room, roughly pulling the net off his head. He shook in anger, kicking one of the cabinets. It shook vigorously and he had to quickly hold it to calm down.
“Arghh!”
“With all legalities checked and confirmed, this court declares Elara Shauna Wilde and Alistair Bane now husband and wife”“Finally”, Elara said under her breath. Elara turned, her flowing sky blue dress hugging all her endowed features nicely. She walked with some difficulty and she had to stop as neither of her attempts to free herself somewhat were working.“Do I have to ask you to help me Alistair? Urghhh!”Elara began pulling the dress up, trying to get some of it off under her feet.“Help her Alistair, would you?”, Mrs. Wilde said to Alistair, a plastic expression on her face.“Don't just stand there moron”, his mother-in-law said in a lower tone, as she came close to him.“Oh… ummm… sorry”, Alistair apologized, getting down on one leg to take up the tail of her dress. He didn't know why but the face of one of the lawyers at the court had such a striking resemblance yet he couldn't place a finger on where he knew the man from exactly. He held the tail of the dress so Elara could
“Alistair! What a … pleasant surprise”, Layla said, as she swung the door open.“Hey Layla. How are you… how are you doing?”“I'm great. Oh please, come in”, she said, stepping back from the door. Alistair walked up the remaining part of the small stairs into the house and Layla shut the door behind him. He walked slowly in, feeling a little nervous.“Where's your mum?”“She's in her room. She was on a call but I'm sure she'll be done by now. Let me check on her and tell her you are here”Alistair nodded, watching Layla walk out of the living room into one of the adjoining rooms. He turned to the windows, acknowledging the cozziness of the country house as he walked towards that end of the room. He'd wondered why they'd come all the way here to live, giving a lot of distance from the busy city. Here, you could barely hear honking cars, loud city ad screens or sirens. There was a still quietness about it, a comforting yet uncomfortable silence around it all.“Alistair?”, Tricia Moore's
“Get me another cup”, Ms. Wilde commanded the maid standing near her. The maid hurried out of the room and was soon back with another tea cup on a saucer. She placed it on the table in front of her madam, taking out the rejected one.“Where's my husband?”, she asked as the maid poured liquid milk into the cup.“He left for work early today ma'am”“Without letting me know?” she asked, slowing down suddenly as she placed some cut fruits in a bowl.“Ye..yes ma'am.”There was an uncomfortable silence that followed her reply.“Did he have breakfast?”, she asked, picking up the sugar tongs.She stopped as if listening for a distant reply from the maid that was right next to her.“No … no ma'am. He insisted on not …”“What time was the breakfast set?”The maid looked down and the room went dead silent again.“What time?”“ 5 …. 6.00 a.m ma'am”“And my husband left by what time?”“Four ma'am”Mrs. Wilde dropped the sugar tongs on the saucer. The sound of the metal clashing with the ceramic di
The red bubbly liquid filled the tall tulip glass in his hand.“Honey, have you seen this?!”, she said, walking into the living room rather more hastily thanusual.“The Voxx Group is having their first annual gathering in twenty years.”, Mr. Wilde said,sipping his chilled rose wine. “I'm aware”“And? Aren't we attending?”“Of course we are attending. But I have a business meeting today. It depends on when I finish”“And you didn't think to tell me Gerald? You had invitations from over a week ago! And I'm justfinding out today about this event?”“I've been occupied, Kate.”, He said in a cool tone, putting down his glass. “I'm busy”“Plus, you sit all day with your phone. How come you weren't aware?”“So? What has that got to do with this?”Gerald Wilde placed the glass out again for the wine chef to fill. He sipped slowly like he hadn't heard a word she had just said. He waved a hand, dismissing the young chef.“What do you want Kate?”, he asked, dropping the glass on the glass cent
“Dadd!!”, Elara whined on the phone. “You are not going to be done till another hour and the event is just fifteen minutes away from starting!”“Elara, I have said…”“And it just can't happen! Urghh”, she groaned loudly into the mouthpiece.“I have to go back to my meeting Elara”“Ok, ok, fine, wait. Release our own invites and you can cut down on my allowance by 5%”Her father was quiet for some time.“It's a one time offer Daddy. And don't you think I won't get it back”Gerald laughed. “I'll have my secretary mail the digital invites to you right away”“Perfect. Have fun with your boring meeting”, she said and hung up.Just then her mum walked into the living room.“Darling, this or this?” she asked, holding up the pieces of jewelry. In her right hand was a simple pendant necklace with a heart shaped diamond designed with shiny little threads of silver criss- crossing the face. Her left hand had a fine gold torque necklace in its open box with matching earrings, bracelets and rings.
He moved into where the main party was holding, where the elegant tables and chairs were arranged. Middle aged people talked in groups, very elegantly dressed so you could guess at once that they were rich. Most of the young people were in groups of two and three and their groups seemed clustered together to one side of the space from the supposed entrance.“Oh, there's Mr. Wilde”, he spotted as his eyes moved slowly across the open space. He could see him with some elderly men of his age discussing in low volumes near the stage.Alistair couldn't believe that he was in this very Voxx meeting - the first after twenty years of his parents’ death. What shocked him the most was his sharp memory of the faces - he could still tell and recognise the owners of some of the enterprises under the Voxx Group and some of his father's closest partners. As his eyes darted around, in search of a free seat, he hoped earnestly that no one would draw attention to him.But how wrong he was.“Isn't that
Alistair looked at the document shoved into his hands. He was confused.“What… I.. I don't understand”“Sign the freaking papers, Alistair!”, Elara shouted, glaring angrily at him.“I don't understand, Elara. What.. are … are these divorce papers?”Smack! That was the third time he had been slapped in a row.“Have you suddenly lost your ability to read? Or is it your ability to comprehend that's the problem?” , Elara insulted, casting her wicked glares on him.But Alistair's mental faculties didn't want to comprehend at that moment. They were blank, they remained blank and that was how he wanted them to remain.“I have had a whole year. A whole year Alistair! A whole year of putting up with your… your stupidity! And… and … with the …. disgrace… and with the … the… Urghh!”, She shouted in frustration, tugging furiously at her hair.“You see what you are doing?! Do you see what this bastard has caused for this family, Gerald? And I warned you, didn't I? And you didn’t fulfil all the pla
“Alistair”, Nathan said, getting to his feet as soon as he saw him. He walked over more briskly than Alistair entered the room, engulfing him in a hug. Surprised but not shook, he slowly hugged back, memories flooding him all at once.“Nathan”, he said slowly, in a raspy, loud whisper.“It's been… so long”“Yeah like fifteen years”, Alistair said, disentangling from the hug.“Still can't believe it's you”“I….me neither”“Ahemm”, the lawyer's deep cough brought both young men to reality.“Oh… ummm.. sorry. Back to business please”, Nathan said as he unnecessarily adjusted his suit, leading Alistair to where the fairly long conference table was.“Take a seat please”, Nathan instructed as Regan walked up to pull out the chair.“Thanks”, Alistair said to Regan, taking his seat slowly.An awkward silence filled the room as Nathan signaled all the men in the room to leave, except Regan of course. Nathan cleared his throat, obviously a little nervous to start.“Umm… Mr. Alistair, this is y