When aunt Vicky and Jessica returned later, they walked into the living room and found Frank and I gisting. Frank greeted aunt Vicky while Jessica greeted and sat close to him on the sofa. Aunt Vicky on the other hand sat in the armchair close to mine.
After asking me about work, and also Frank about his family, I decided to ask her about Reade. "Did he come?" I uttered, glancing at her.
"No, he didn't" she responded.
"He didn't? But why? I mean, how comes?" I bespoke.
"He called and told Jessica he has a lot to do these days, and would be out of town for some time. However, he would be back before Summer" she explained, crooking a smile on her face.
"Oh, okay" I uttered, feeling sorry for them. If only they could believe me, that guy was obviously a deceiver trying to take advantage of them.
"Hey Frank, your dad is billionaire, right?" Jessica uttered while staring at him strangely with a smile on her face.
"Well, what can I say? He owns a multi-billion dollar company and has a lot of properties account America and Europe" he said, crossing his legs.
"Wow, that's nice!" she cleared her throat.
"What do you want to know?" he asked.
"Nothing, just wondering how you got that sport car as young as you are" she sarcastically said.
"That's funny, I have my own money too. Although it's all traced to the Waters Family, but," he heaved a sigh, "I worked for it"
"I love that!" she uttered, "I love it when men work hard to get money, and I love it when I date them!" she smirked glancing at me. Was she trying to provoke me or what?
"Is your boyfriend rich?" Frank curiously asked.
"Boyfriend? I don't have any, or do you have someone for me?" she sexily uttered. I was already fed up by her strange behavior, hence I chimed in as soon as Frank opened his mouth about to reply her,
"Actually, there are cute looking guys in our head office, we can get you one or make a list of them so you can select your preference yourself" I said, faking a smile.
"Wow, are you telling me there are handsome rich men like Frank – here, in your working place? Don't tell me you've started looking at men's faces already" she said, probably trying to disgrace but Frank quickly came to my aid,
"She's the assistant head of the accounting department in our head office, hence she ought to take note of all the staff in the department" he apprised her.
"Assistant what?" Aunt Vicky chimed in too, but she wasn't looking towards Frank, she was staring at me surprised.
"Actually," I cleared my throat and continued, "Frank made me the assistant head of the department I got employed to work in" I said to her while Jessica and Frank continued with their conversation.
"He did that? Wow, that shows he really likes you" she said in what seemed like a whisper.
"Hmm," I heaved a sigh, fidgeting my fingers. I didn't know what to say, you know, I was kind of speechless.
"Yes, he likes you. Just don't fuck up, else I would have to strangle you" she sarcastically said while I smiled like a new bride.
All that while, Jessica and Frank were busy talking. And just like that she requested for his contact. For some unknown reasons I felt a very sharp, piercing pain in my heart.
Was I being jealous or what? I just didn't know, but it was obvious I didn't want them both to get along. Jessica was a very crazy girl and could cross all boundaries if she had to.
She could be a bad influence to Frank, you know? But what can I do? It wasn't as if I could do anything to stop him from dishing out his number to her, what would Aunt Vicky say? She might think I didn't want her daughter to associate with my buddy.
After giving her his contact, she gladly saved it and then gave me strange look before withdrawing to her feet to head upstairs. "I need to take a shower, I will chat you up, okay?" she said to him before leaving.
The whole thing pissed me off but I tried all my best to hide my emotion. Thus, he and Aunt Vicky chit-chatted for a while about business before he decided to leave. I sluggishly escorted him to his car outside and he asked if everything is fine. He must have noticed the change in my attitude.
"Why did you ask?" I muttered.
"Because... I care" he said.
"Okay, thank you. You should go home now" I rudely said. I actually couldn't control my mouth, I wasn't thinking straight.
"Hmm, okay. But please, if there is something I need to know..." he said as I cut in,
"Nothing, Frank. I am just tired, I need some rest" I lied.
"Okay then, see you tomorrow. Take good care of yourself" he bade me goodbye and I returned back into the house.
While heading to the stairway, my phone buzzed. It was a text message from Naomi, "Hello, cutiee... I just got promoted to sales manager! I will call you when I am back home, I just can't help with the excitement"
That was awesome, "I am happy for you!" I texted back and never bother to check the phone again. I went into the bathroom, undressed and turned the shower on.
As the water began flowing down my body, the thought of what happened in the sitting room earlier bounced into my mind. I didn't just know why I felt like rewinding the time back and then telling Frank to go the moment he dropped me home.
If it was Aunt Vicky that asked for his contact, I wouldn't mind. But Jessica? Before she even ask for his contact, she had to ask about his father's wealth first to be sure, and that clearly shows her motive for requesting for his contact.
I am pretty sure by now, she had already started sending him messages and soon they would become friends and she might even start blackmailing him.
I might hyperbolizing things but the fact that Jessica was an unpredictable somebody, I might just be thinking straight. The only thing that wasn't clear to me was if I was jealous or not. If Frank was a random guy, I wouldn't mind right?
But, even though I wasn't showing any positive feelings to him, deep down I knew he was special to me. And if being special means love, then I guess I was in love with him. But I just didn't know what to do or how to react to him.
I had never been in love before and didn't really know how it felt to be in love, perhaps that was the reason why I was so confused. I mean, totally confused to the fact that I couldn't even understand my feelings for people or differentiate between love and, normal feelings.
While thinking about Frank, the thought of Fred bounced into my mind. The day he had accident, he had promised to tell me something.
Something I believed was practically about Shirley. He must have maned up and finally decided to voice it out his feelings for Shirley, but then he had an accident and died after spending some time in coma.
So tragic if I may say, and I couldn't imagine how Shirley was feeling right now. Would she be able to cope with the loss and the jewelry case altogether? What if she ends up with a post traumatic stress disorder? I wondered.
After the shower, I changed into an akimbo and headed downstairs for dinner. Jessica was there, all happy and helping Aunt Vicky in the kitchen. They were talking about her little discovery about the Walters Family.
"Mom, what if Frank isn't who he really is?" she said and I slowly paid attention while trying as much as I could to not let them know I was around. I actually stayed by the stairway.
"What do you mean? He got Laura a job and even made her the assistant head of a department in their head office, what more do you want to know?" Aunt Vicky replied her.
"Well, I did a little research about him and found out he had no relationship with the family. I also didn't see any record of him as an employee in the Walters Family's company, StableGrid" she said trying to convince her mother into believing Frank wasn't who he was.
"Really?" Aunt Vicky paused to listen more to what she had to say.
"Yes, you can do your research too. The Walters Family never mentioned Frank or anybody as their sole heir, I don't even think they have children. If Frank claims he's their child, then I guess he's probably a far relative or the child of a family friend trying to brainwash us into thinking he's part of Walters Family" she explained further.
"Okay, I heard you. But I don't think it's good to start meddling into people's business, infact you shouldn't have asked for his contact in the first place. Whether he's part of Walters family or not, that's not your business. At least he has gotten Laura a job, and he's also trying to woo her" Aunt Vicky said. Did he told her that, I mean the wooing part, or she just made that up? Anyways she was doing good trying to talk sense into her daughter's skull.
"Woo her?" Jessica scoffed, "What would he do with that naive girl?"
"The naive girl that is wise enough to avoid childishly sneaking into a jewelry store to take pictures with the ornaments there and post them online for the world to see" Aunt Vicky backlashed to her words.
"Mom, why are you always supporting Laura? I just don't get it, is she better than me... or what?" Jessica wasn't happy by how her mother refused to back her up, "You are always supporting her"
"Am I? Well, that's because she's sensible. She doesn't behave like a child or cause trouble around. You on the other hand,..." Aunt Vicky paused and heaved a sigh, "I don't even know what to say. Just pray you don't end up in jail soon for sneaking into that store with your friends!"
"Come on, mom, please!" Jessica exclaimed, "Stop saying that, mom. If you keep saying that, I am leaving. I would follow Reade to wherever he is because he's the only person that understand me"
"Oh, I see!" Aunt Vicky muttered, "Lest I forget, Lorraine ran a background check on him and told me a lot about him. I swear, if he comes and lie to me here about himself I will make sure you don't see him again. I will have him locked up for trying to deceive and trick you into eloping with him"
"I hate you mom!" Jessica pulled her apron away and turned about heading to the stairway only for her to meet me standing, she was kind of shocked but quickly maned up and walked past me upstairs.
"Were you there all that while?" Aunt Vicky asked.
"No," I lied because I wanted her to feel more comfortable, "just came downstairs now" I added.
"Okay, good" she said. Thus I helped her with dinner, and as soon as we were done we served ourselves and left Jessica's in the warmer. "I am sure she's not hungry now. Whenever she's ready, she will definitely come down here and eat her food" she added.
After eating, I went upstairs to my room and began wondering if Jessica knew about Fred's death the fact that she didn't seem to care. Out of curiosity, I went to her room and knocked.
"Laura, if that's you please go. And if it's mom, I don't want to see her either. Mom, please leave!" Jessica said but I was quick to intrude,
"It's me!" I pulled the door open and walked into the room.
"What the... Didn't I told you to go?" she withdrew from her bed and stood angrily while facing me.
"Yes but, I just came to ask you a simple question. Are you aware that Fred is dead?" I curiously asked.
"Fred? Yes, I am aware. And so?" she said with no iota of respect, it was as if she never cared about him eveb though they were friends and had known each other for long.
"Do you even have a heart, Jessica?" I tried to control myself as tears gathered in my eyes.
"No, I don't. What I have in my chest beating every second is cheese, right? Get the f*ck out of my room before I force you out myself!" she roared at me.
