Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Ava

Our ride to his home was peaceful. I had many questions but I did not ask him. I knew the moment I opened my mouth to ask him anything, this calm and peaceful silence would be over.

I was too selfish for letting that happen.

From the moment I got to know about my pregnancy, I craved this sort of calmness. Where I was not getting disowned or thrown away. A silence that came with comfort and peace. An acceptance.

We reached Jasper's house and Jasper parked his car inside his private parking lot. For the first time, I actually paid attention to his house. It was a big house. However, not as big as I expected from a Billionaire.

Which was weird considering that he could afford more than one for sure. Of course, it had all amenities and luxuries but still was not all too fancy.

I felt this way maybe because I had not been anywhere in his house except one room. I had not seen his rest of the house.

I did not pay attention to it though. No matter what, it was a house.

Big or small or large, it did not matter.

Jasper opened his car's door and came to my side before opening my side of the door for me as well. I would have done that myself but I was not fast enough. I stepped out of his car and closed the door behind me.

"Thank you." I told him. He acknowledged my thanks with a nod.

He placed a hand on my back and led me inside his house. I entered his house when suddenly, Maria appeared in the hallway.

Maria gave me a small smile as an acknowledgement of my presence before turning to Jasper.

"Sir, your secretary, Miss Charlotte is here." She told Jasper. Jasper placed his car keys in a bowl.

"Charlotte?" He asked. Maria nodded her head.

"Yes. She came here in the early morning. It has been almost an hour since she has been waiting for you to return." Maria replied.

"Tell her to wait for one more minute and I will be there." He told Maria. As if right on que, as the words left Jasper's mouth, Charlotte's voice rang out.

"Maria, is Jasper here?" She asked. A second later she appeared in the hallway. She was wearing a yellow bright knee length dress, looking gorgeous as ever.

Her eyes darted from me to Jasper to Maria then back to me. Finally, she looked at Jasper.

"What is she doing here? I think I showed her to her new house?" She asked nobody in particular but her eyes were stuck on Jasper's.

Awkward silence descended over all of us.

From the looks of Maria, it seemed like she was feeling stuck in this situation too. In a situation that did not concern her at all. Maria did not know the answer to that question either. So, she left the scene subtly.

"I thought that she will live there from now on." She said as a matter of fact. She stared at Jasper, waiting for a reply but when Jasper did not reply to her answer, she began to look angry. So I answered in his place.

There was no point in prolonging this awkward silence.

"I was." I confessed.

"But yesterday, something happened. My house was broken in by an intruder and I was attacked. The intruder almost killed me. But Jasper Sir, saved me. Police arrested the intruder." I told her, when she did not react at all and just stared at me with a blank face, I continued.

"Today, I woke up with pain in my stomach and the doctor told me that it was because of the stress I felt from yesterday. So, Sir decided that I should stay in his house until the delivery of my baby. That way, not only can I stay safe from such incidents without getting stressed but also protect my baby." I explained to her. Charlotte stared at me with an impassive face. Without uttering a single word to me, she turned to Jasper.

Which was odd.

She crossed her arms around her waist and stared at him. By the looks of her face and posture, it seemed that she was expecting some sort of answer from him.

Jasper appeared tense under Charlotte's scrutinising gaze. Jasper glanced at me.

"Ava, please go upstairs. Ask Maria to make breakfast for you. You should take leave and rest today." He told me. He was trying to get me out of there, that much was clear but I had one problem with that. However, before I even opened my mouth and said anything, Charlotte spoke.

"No. I think she should come to work today. Nobody is getting paid for sitting around and doing nothing. Everyone has problems but we still go to work daily and get things done." She said. Her words hit me like a blow. I Was going to tell him that I wanted to work today too, but her words made me feel like I was trying to find excuses to rest while at the same time getting paid.

And I did not even ask for leave to begin with. It was Jasper's suggestion.

Jasper turned to Charlotte, crossing his arms too.

"It is my company and I make the rules. If she wants to take a leave and rest then she will. No one will stop that, not even you." He told Charlotte. Charlotte pursed her lips at Jasper's answer. I butted in before things could go any wrong.

"That's alright, Sir. I think Miss Charlotte is right. I should work. Everyone here is getting paid for working and I'm not special. I will have some breakfast then I will go to work." I told him. Jasper frowned.

"You know you can ..." He said but I stopped him from speaking further.

"I know I can, Sir. But I would like to work instead of sitting around and doing nothing. I would get bored." I told him, trying my best to convince him to let me work. After a few seconds, he shrugged.

"Okay. Whatever you want, but I want you to know that you have an option to rest today, instead of going to work. You can still change your decision if you want. The rest is up to you." He told me. I grinned a little.

"I know but still I want to go with my former answer." I answered him.

"Okay then I'll get going." I told him and got out of that suffocating, tense situation.

Later, I messaged my parents that I will come back and take my luggage with me, so be ready to see my face again. I hoped that any of my parents would reply to me but none of them did.

To be very honest, I was hoping to get a reply back. After all, I WAS their daughter, even if they did not like or maybe love me anymore.

To say that not getting a reply from them did not bother or hurt me, would be a lie. I loved my parents. I love them a lot. Getting ignored by someone who you care so much about, did hurt.

I didn't even know what I was expecting.

Anyway, after Maria brought me breakfast, I ate it and then got ready for work. I wondered if Jasper and Charlotte were still downstairs and having a Talk.

By the look and behavior of Charlotte's face, one could mistake her to be Jasper's girlfriend rather than a secretary. Especially the way she demanded an answer from him without ever speaking.

I was pretty sure something was going on with them.

Today, I decided that I would not go with Jasper but take a cab instead. When I walked downstairs, I asked Maria about Jasper.

"They are still talking." She told me. Thus, I explained to her that I will be going to the office myself and tell Jasper not to worry about me.

Maria shrugged and said, "Okay."

I took a cab, used my ATM card to withdraw some money, paid the driver and reached the office. I was pretty sure that maybe, only one thousand dollars were left in my account. And now that I had withdrawn some money, maybe even less.

The journey of my struggle had just started.