Chapter 18: Chapter 18
Gabriella thought about the man in the hospital bed that she accidentally killed, ‘wonder what will happen to his body? He has nobody,’ she bit her lip as she is thinking what she could possibly do. She needs to see to it that he gets buried properly but she has no money for a funeral. That is why she went to see Alex, to asks for a loan so that she can pay for a funeral, ‘perhaps I should ask Anthon, but he is not the kind of person I want to be in debited to,’ she put the thought of asking Anthon out of her mind. Gabriella knew just the person to asks for the loan, and she decided to go ask immediately. She quickly jumped into the shower and made herself presentable.
Gabriella arrived at the hospital just before 4 pm and made her way up to her aunt’s office, but on her way there she felt a warm pull towards one of the rooms and she recognized one of the voices, Alex’s voice. She quickly peaked inside as she walked by and then stopped when she saw who Alex is talking to. Gabriella put her hand on her heart and sigh with relief; the beautiful man is not dead after all!
Zurier felt a familiar presence and looked up towards the door but he is too late to see Gabriella as she already walked on.
Gabriella made her way out of the hospital as she no longer needed to ask her aunt for help but as she is on her way out, she saw Anthon standing at the elevator doors, waiting for it to open. Gabriella stood still for a moment not sure if she should proceed or duck into one of the rooms so that she can wait for him to be gone first. Gabriella took to long to make up her mind and the elevator doors went open. Anthon got inside and turned around to press the button when he saw her. He stopped the doors with his one hand and Gabriella knew that she had no choice but to walk over.
“Hi,” Gabriella greeted him, and Anthon came in for a kiss but she dodges it with a hug to the side.
“Hi, what are you doing here?” Anthon asks, wondering if there is any chance that his plan of ghosting her has worked and if she is perhaps here to see him.
“I forgot that I am on study leave,” Gabriella quickly says.
“But don’t your shifts only start much later?” Anthon caught her in her lie.
“Um, yeah,..” Gabriella didn’t know what to say.
“Are you stalking me,” Anthon jokes.
“No,” Gabriella laughs uncomfortable.
“If you say so,” Anthon says, feeling impressed with himself.
When the elevator reaches the ground floor Anthon took Gabriella’s hand, “come over for an hour or two, I would like to show you my place,”
Anthon’s grip is firm and Gabriella wanted to object but Anthon is already walking her to his car, “sure, but only for a short while, need to get back to my books, I have my first exam tomorrow.”
“Sure,” Anthon smiles as he unlocks his car door releasing her hand. They drove for a short while and Gabriella realized that Anthon’s house is a bit remote with no neighbors, almost like a smallholding, that appeared like several large buildings on the property, almost like stables.
“I own a couple of horses, so this property is perfect, a bit remote but not too far from the hospital.”
“It’s beautiful, I would love to see the horses,” she admits.
Anthon stops his car in the driveway of the main house and they got out of the car, “let me go get into something more comfortable and then we go for a ride on the horses.”
Anthon’s house is a mansion, Gabriella notices. She waited in the foyer for Anthon. She looked around at the family photos and noted one of her parents together with his parents. She also saw a photo of a woman, ‘must be his birth mother,’ Gabriella thinks to herself as she lifts up the photo frame to inspect it closer.
Gabriella put it down just in time, “shall we go?” Anthon leads her to the stables. At the stables, there is a man busy with one of the horses.
“This is my number one, Zina,” I like to ride her every day after work, so she is always ready when I come from work.
“Gabriella meets my stable man, Abraham,” Anthon introduces them.
“Should I get another horse ready?” Abraham asks.
“Yes please, a gentle one,” Anthon says in a questionable way to Gabriella.
“Yes, I have not ridden in years,” she admits.
They rode the horses around the smallholding and afterward brushed them.
“It is getting late, dinner must be ready,” Anthon says as he wraps his arms around Gabriella.
“I can not stay for dinner, but you don’t have to take me home, I can use an Uber, no problem.”
“Ok, I will book an Uber for you,” Anthon says getting his phone out and immediately books Gabriella a uber. Gabriella is surprised that Anthon did not ask her to stay.
They walked to the main house and moments later UberBlack arrived. Gabriella rolled her eyes, ‘hope he is paying with his card,’ as she hated wasting money unnecessarily.
She is about to get into the Uber when Anthon pulled her back into a deep kiss. This time Gabriella did not stop him as she felt that since there is no one else she might as well have a little bit of fun.
“See you soon,” Anthon says as she gets into the Uber this time.
Gabriella is glad when they arrived at her house and the Uber driver says that payment has been settled.
Gabriella is hungry and made herself some noodles before she went back to studying.
Over the next two weeks, Anthon stopped by every second day bringing food, helping Gabriella study, and pushing his luck but Gabriella never wanted to do more than kissing and Anthon did not understand why as he knew that she slept with Alex.