Five thousand dollars wasn't a small thing, an average countryman would spend about four years of hardworking in order to earn such amount of money. But here I was, I did practically nothing and Frank credited it in my account. How nice of him, he really did great and I couldn't thank him less... even though he was against being thanked for it, he said there was no thanks between us. A phrase that made me feel more special than I used to.
Before I left, I demanded to talk to Camila in private. It wasn't as if I had something special to tell her, I just wanted to put a smile on her face just like Frank did to me. But guess what? After asking for her account number she shook her head and told me that was against the rules of the Walters Family. She knew I was trying to credit her account, hence she told me no servant was allowed to accept money from visitors or guests. And when I asked why, she told me it was because they were well paid.
According to her, the lowest salary being received by the junior servants was five hundred dollars, minus new year, mid year, and end of the year bonuses that Mr Walter used to offer them. She, personally didn't tell me how much she was receiving but by the looks of it, as a senior servant she might be receiving double the amount of the junior servants or perhaps half more.
"Okay then, no problem. Take good care of yourself" I said to her as we gently hugged each other.
"You too, Miss Laura" she gently patted my back.
And as soon as we averted from each other, she escorted me to Frank who was already at the parking lot waiting for me. I then hopped into the car and off we went, en route to Cornfield.
While on our way he asked if Camila was nice to me as she should. I was surprised to hear him asked such question, by the looks of it he only wanted to know what our conversation was all about. But why should I share that with him? I mean, wasn't it supposed to personal? If I had wanted to share everything with him I wouldn't have requested to have a privacy with her. "We talked about something" I said folding my arms across my chest. My handbag was at the back passenger seat sitting majestically, (kidding).
"Something like... what exactly?" he asked making me to burst into laughter. "Hmm, what's funny, my love?" he wrinkled a brow at me. Wow, nice, how I loved it when he call me his love. I also loved it when he call me sweet names like Sweetheart, Queen, Angel, and so on. I could easily start thinking special when he does that.
"Nothing is funny, trust me" I scoffed, trying to hold my laughter. If only he knew the persistence to know something didn't used to fit him. I loved it when he act bossy and just shrug the matter off when I tell him NOTHING .
"Not funny and you are laughing again?" he crooked a smile and shook his head. "You know, I can ask her if I go or and she would tell me everything. I can also call home and tell whoever picks to give her the phone, then I will ask her while you listen to what she would say" he said. And for a minute I thought he was serious, but as soon as he began laughing I told myself he can't be serious. By the way, why would he even do that? That was more like the abuse of power he had over them, something I wouldn't expect from him. He shouldn't lower himself to that level, he was way beyond that level.
"I know you won't do all that, I trust you" I beamed at him and then continued, "By the way, we only talked about girly stuff. You don't want to know about it, trust me" I lied trying to divert his attention.
"Sure, and I trust you" he fell for it. "So," he cleared his throat, "how was your day today? I mean, do you enjoy it?" he asked. And I was like hell yes, I mean why wouldn't I enjoy my day in such a big house and luxurious house? Even was lit, from the bottom to the top. I never imagined how awesome living in the mansion would be but after spending hours in the house I felt the need to relocate there soon or somewhere having similar taste with it.
"It was great, I really love it" I responded, picturing the interior designs and everything that I had seen in the house. "Everything is topnotch, I wonder how your family spent on that mansion"
"Fortune!" he giggled.
"Yeah, I thought as much" I heaved a sigh, just then I decided to ask him about his portrays. "Those portrays, when did you bought them? I could remember the first time I stepped into your apartment, they weren't there" I uttered.
"Actually, I had then packaged in my store room. But recently I decided to bring them out, they were among the gifts I received during my trip to the Central Arts Gallery. I was an ambassador then for a nongovernmental organization known as, AIDERS LEAGUE" he responded.
"Is the organization about helping people? The portrays portray one thing in common, pain. Is that the language used by the organization to tell the world about people's pain?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Yes, kind of. But the artists that depicted them was inspired by real life events, he was there and most of the portrays you saw were of the people he encountered. We are still trying our best to see they get the help they need but one thing is certain," he glanced at me, "we can't save everyone, and we all know it for sure"
"That's true" I muttered. Actually, he was right. No matter how they try, they wouldn't be able to save or help all the less privileged people in the world. They can only try and keep trying their best, over and over again. "Keep up the good work" I encouraged him.
"Thank you" he beamed at me. "I heard you checked the mini theatre, but I never asked the movies you watched" he apprised me.
"The Masked Man" I said and huffed, "It's a nice movie, although I had watched some of its parts before. It's really amazing, have you watched it before?" I asked even though it was in their mini theatre, or was it cinema... he must have watched it.
"No, I don't have time for movies. All the movies were downloaded by our engineers, my parents used to watch there whenever they don't have anything important doing. They would go there together and watch, sometimes with important guests. Perhaps they had watched it" he elaborated.
"Your parents like horror movies too?" I asked. Reason because The Masked Man was a horror movie, and also because there were many horror movies in the Smart Tv's storage. And I believed if they weren't the fans of horror movies, it wouldn't be there. After the cinema or mini theatre was there in the first place for their own advantage.
"Yes but not all the horror movies" he huffed a sigh, "My mom hates seeing too much blood, she prepare horror movies with a bit taste of comedy. Like the ones meant for kids. Sometimes though, she don't used to mind especially when she and dad are not the only ones in the theatre" he explained everything bit by bit for me. That was one of the things I liked about him, he was good at explanation.
"Wow, nice" I uttered, "I would love to see your mom someday" I said even though I knew that wouldn't be easy. I gave myself the impression that both his parents were so strict, and would definitely not allow their one and only child to marry a girl from a poor background like me. That thought alone used to make me feel less of myself, as well as scared of meeting his parents in the future. But here I was, dreaming to see his mother someday... and his dad too.
"Hmm, she would be back soon. Trust me, a lot is keeping them overseas. Not just our faulty business jet, I heard there is a virus outbreak where they are and the country is on lock down for now. No international travel, that is to say nothing is leaving or coming into the country" he said not looking happy.
"When did that happened? You never told me until now" I wasn't happy. At least if nobody needs to know about it, I needed to know it judging from our closeness. "I am not happy, Frank, you should have told me" I feigned angry.
"Laura," he called out to me on a serious note abd heaved a sigh, "I didn't know until recently, and the reason why I didn't tell you is because a lot is going on in your house. Jessica is under house arrest, you are looking for clues on how to help her, your aunt fell sick, Jessica went insane, all those things stopped me from telling you anything about the whole thing. Trust me when I say I did wanted telling you but I... I just couldn't seeing you in that kind of situation" he elaborated and huffed again as he made our final turn that would lead us straight to Cornfield. "Trust me, Laura..."
"I trust you" I cut in, "hmm I was just kidding, by the way ity not as if they are hurt right? I know if they were hurt you would definitely tell me, right?" I asked, and just then he laid a faint smile on his face and heaved a sigh again, "Why the sigh? Is everything okay?" I was worried, he didn't really look good.
"Yes, everything is fine. Just that a lot is going on in our company and I am finding it difficult to manage things despite the fact my dad's assistant is helping me. I am finding it difficult to do things the way my father wanted it to be done. I wanted doing things my own way by my dad just wouldn't allow. He keeps giving me instructions, and that always makes me feel like quitting the job even if that means earning less from the company or losing profit to our rivals" he said and gently began reducing the speed as soon as we reached the bridge that separated Cornfield with the Mainland.
"Don't say that, please don't. You are the sole heir of the company and sooner or later you will find yourself in control of it. Nobody would dare you and your opinion would always matter, nobody will tell you whst to do. However," I gulped and continued, "for now you need to obey instructions from your dad. He had been in control for many years, right? And look how prosperous the company is under his control. If you won't emulate him later, at least obey him now. You are his legacy, and the company is your family's legacy. One day you will have your get married and build your own family in wealth, they will grow to become senior staff and thence Chief Executive Officers. Don't you want that to happen?"
"Of course I do, it's just that right now I am tired. I am trying my best to be kind to our customers because that's how I am but he wants me to be harsh. He accused me of mismanagement, and that the outstanding bills he left were higher now and it was due to my negligence. Meanwhile, I only wanted to overlook certain factors. I can't just start ordering field agents to disconnects lights. I wanted to give our customers chance first, to give them the morale to pay their outstanding bills. Not to force them to do that by threatening to disconnect their lights" he bespoke.
