Chapter 36: Chapter 36

Garren's men assisted us to the car, which drove us to the Montreal mansion. We reached the house at almost five in the afternoon.

"I thought you'd arrived three days from now?" Uncle Oliver was surprised to see us.

I felt Garren's eyes on me. It's as if he's asking for my permission if he should tell the truth. I shook my head, and I'm glad that he got what I meant.

I don't want to talk about that night for now. Before we came back here, I decided that I wanted to bury those dreadful memories in oblivion and leave them on Santorini.

"Something came up and we had to cut the vacation short," Garren reasoned out.

Uncle Oliver seemed unconvinced, but didn't ask any questions. He opened the gate and helped us carry our stuff inside. The house is still the same as when we left it a week ago.

Aunt Esther and the other maids are also surprised by our arrival. They all had the same question as Uncle Oliver, and Garren was the one who answered them.

"We enjoyed the vacation, nonetheless."

"Yes! I can't wait to show you guys the pictures we took on the island!" Greyson said excitedly.

"I'm happy to hear that," Aunt Esther said with a warm smile.

"I want to rest, Aunt. I still have jet lag from our flight."

"Sure."

Garren suddenly turned to me. "You should rest too," he said, and left the scene.

None of them were weirded out by his words, except for Cynthia, who's grinning from ear to ear. I shook my head and ignored her.

Aunt Esther talked to me for a while before I excused myself and walked Greyson to his room.

"Cleo, I have something for you."

My brows snapped together when he pulled something out of his bag and gave it to me. It's a small brown box.

I reluctantly accepted it. "Thank you. But what is this for?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing. This is just my token of appreciation for you. We bought that from the souvenir shop earlier. Open it!"

I did what he said, and I was shocked to see a brown wooden bracelet. I scrutinized it and looked at the letters written on the beads.

My heart fluttered after reading that it was my name.

"I asked the aunt who was selling that to customize it with your name, so people will eventually know that it's yours. Do you like it, Cleo?"

I hugged him tightly. "I didn't just like it... I love it, Greyson. Thank you."

He giggled and wrapped his arms around me. "You're welcome."

I broke free and sighed. "I should've came with you so I could buy a gift for you as well."

"You don't need to. The fact that you're always there for me is enough. Thank you for being the best nanny to me, Cleo."

I pinched his cheeks. "You're always welcome, baby."

I tucked him to sleep before I left the room. I was about to head downstairs when someone called my name from behind.

I turned around and saw Garren who had already changed clothes.

"Yes, sir? Do you need anything?"

"I have something for you."

Surprise would be an understatement to describe the reaction on my face. I hadn't had the chance to respond as he handed me a paper bag.

He instructed, "Open it later," and turned his back.

I followed him with my eyes until he completely vanished from my line of sight. Since my curiosity was piqued, I took out what's inside the bag.

It's a frame with a picture of a tree... an oak tree to be exact.

My forehead creased. Why did he give me this? Does it have a symbolism perhaps?

I looked at the direction where Garren walked through. "You're indeed a puzzle."

I went downstairs and headed to my room. While I'm arranging my stuff, the door suddenly opened and Cynthia barged inside.

"What happened between you and Sir Garren during that vacation?"

And that was the first thing that she asked me. She didn't even let me rest.

I frowned. "Why do you wanna know?"

"Do you think I didn't notice how weird he acted a while ago?"

She discarded the emotion on her face. "Cleo, you should take a rest too."

A flush crept up to my cheeks when she mimicked what Garren said to me when we arrived.

I hissed. "How is that weird? You're reaching."

"It definitely is! I've been living here in the Montreal Mansion longer than you, and I've never heard Sir Garren say that word to any of us here. You're the first one."

"You're blowing things out of proportion," I replied, shaking my head.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. But you haven't answered my question yet. How did your vacation with them go?"

I let out a sigh of defeat. "It went well. Santorini is beautiful. The places we visited were breath-taking. I got to ride a kayak boat and do jet skiing. It was a great experience."

Until now, I can still feel the humid sea breeze on my skin, the lap of water against my body. My eyes still picture the picturesque sceneries. And lastly... the sunset. Perhaps it's my favorite part.

"But the most important thing was that Garren had finally made peace with his son. And I can confidently say that they finally rekindled their relationship."

Cynthia smiled. "That's good to hear. I know Greyson has been longing for the love of his father. I'm happy for that child. But it's you that I'm most intrigued about. Did you and our boss talk? I won't buy it if you answer no, because that's impossible."

I sighed. "Fine. For your peace of mind, we talked-"

Before Cynthia could explode, I already stuffed her mouth with a blanket.

"Why would you do that?!"

I laughed. "Because I know you're going to scream like a banshee."

She shot daggers at me.

"Like I said, we had a decent talk. And you probably won't believe it if I say that he apologized for being a jerk and saying horrible things to me."

Cynthia is aware of the enmity between us and how much I hated that man. So I don't get why she keeps on pushing me to him.

"No way..."

I laughed at her reaction. "That's how I reacted too when I first heard the word 'sorry' from him."

She clasped her hand against her mouth and shook her head. "I knew it! My guts are right."

My eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Cynthia held my shoulders. "You know that Sir Garren is a huge narcissist, right? He's self-absorbed. The word 'sorry' is not in his vocabulary."

I hesitantly nodded.

"But he apologized to you! That was far-fetched , but he did it!"

"And what are you trying to imply?"

"That he likes you."

My expression flattened. That was my last straw. I fended her hands off of me and slammed her face with a pillow. It was enough to send her on the floor.

She glared at me. "My butt hurts, you witch!"

She threw a pillow at me as revenge, but I managed to evade it.

I chuckled. "You deserve it for spewing balderdash."

She scoffed. "It's not ridiculous. He's done things to you that he's not capable of doing. You're bringing something out of him, and you're oblivious of it."

I took a deep breath. "You're sick in the head. First off, Sir Garren did that solely for his son. He knows that Greyson hates it when we fight, so he decided to apologize to me so we could at least be civil with each other."

She scoffed. "Well guess what? I don't believe that."

I stood up and dragged her from my bed.

"Your acting up again. You have to leave my room now," I said as I yanked her out of my room.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "You'll regret it one day that you didn't believe in me."

I ignored her words.

She grinned mischievously and said the words, "I can't wait to prove you wrong," before finally leaving.

I shook my head and slammed the door close. "She's not in her right state of mind."

I went back to what I was doing before Cynthia barged here just to work me up, but I stopped when I caught a glimpse of the frame that Garren gave me less than an hour ago.

It's a good thing that she didn't see it, or else she would have bombarded me with questions about it too.

All of a sudden, her words rang inside my head.

"He likes you."

I scoffed. I admit that I'm also being weirded out by Garren's behavior, especially when we were on the island, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

•••••

"Good morning."

Aunt Esther, who's busy watering the flowers in the front yard, looked at me. "Oh, Cleo. Where are you going early this morning?"

"I have to go to the remittance center, aunt. I'll send money to my family in the province."

It's Wednesday morning. It's been a day since we arrived home from Santorini.

Greyson still has no classes because, as far as I remember, their school lengthened the supposed one-week school break to two weeks.

"I really admire your kindness, dear. Any parent will be more than happy to have you as their daughter."

My heart fluttered with her remark. "Thank you."

She smiled. "Anyway, should I call Oliver for you so he can drive you to the mall?"

I shook my head. "I'll just wait for a cab."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded.

"If you insist. Take care on your way, hija."

I smiled in response and was about to walk towards the gate when I heard a voice from behind.

"Where are you going?"

It turned around. It's Garren. Why did he wake up so early? Will he go back to work today?

"I'll go to the mall, sir."

"What for?"

Why does he need to know?

But because he's my boss, I still need to answer his question.

"I'll send money to my family."

"Where's Oliver then?"

"I'll just take a cab."

His brows snapped together.

"Wait for me."

He turned around and walked back inside the house. What is he up to?

I turned to Aunt Esther and gave her a questioning look, but she just shrugged her shoulders.

Though perplexed, I still waited for him. After a couple of minutes, he came back with a key in his hand.

Wait. Don't tell me...

"Sir. You don't need to drive me to the mall. I swear, I can manage."

But he just glared at me.

"Don't be stubborn. I can't let you go outside alone."

That knocked me for six, but I didn't dare ask questions.

I was left with no choice when he drove his car out of the gate.

"Hop in."

I sighed and opened the door to the front seat. I don't want to argue with him, which will surely happen if I insist on sitting at the back.

"Tell Greyson to wait for us before he eats breakfast, Aunt Esther. Just in case he wakes up before we arrive."

The senior head maid nodded.

"Take care on your way."

The car is veiled in stillness. It's so quiet that I can hear our breaths synchronizing with each other. I was thinking of ways to ease the awkward atmosphere when he suddenly turned on the music. A classical song came playing. I haven't heard that before, but it sounds calming so I'm having a great time listening to it nevertheless.

"Have you ever fallen in love?"

The peace I'm relishing was disrupted when Garren asked me that question. I looked at him incredulously, not expecting such thing to come out of him.

Why is he suddenly intrigued by that part of my life?

Howbeit, I still answered.

"I've never felt a romantic type of love before," I answered honestly.

Needless to say, like any other teenager, I had my fair share of guys I admired back then, but I'm confident that my feelings were nothing more than a passing fad.

"Why did you ask anyway, sir?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just curious."

That was it?

It was once again crickets between us. I leaned against the headrest and admired the just-risen sun hanging over the horizon, but for the second time, Garren's words took me by surprise.

"If ever you fall in love, guard your heart. Keep it closed to those who are unworthy of entry."