Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Mr Martinez pov;

"Sir, Ms Garcia has woken up. Shall I bring her to your room?"

"No need."

I stood up from my place and walked out of the study room and headed to Isabella's room.

The butler opened the door for me, when the closed doors opened wide, I saw Isabella standing near the window.

After I walked in, I signalled the butler to close the door behind which left Mr Johnson outside the room.

When I approached her closer, I found her staring at the garden.

"What are you looking at?"

She flinched when she heard me and let out a sigh and said, "Do you like gardens, Mr Martinez?" Asked while looking at the garden.

"I don't know but when i get concentrated on certain things, it helps me forget unwanted things."

"Unwanted like what?"

"Company issues for example."

She nodded and continued looking at the garden.

"It's weird to see you like this."

"Like what?"

"This one. The silent type."

"Everyone becomes silent when they can't figure out what's happening around them."

"It doesn't sound like you though."

She gave a stare at me.

I continued, "Well, your clothes, bag and books are here. So you can go to school from here. Mateo will pick and drop you to the school from now on."

When I was about to leave, Isabella asked, "Aren't you gonna ask?"

"About what?"

"Nothing."

"Well, drink a lot of water from now on and take a rest." And walked out of her room.

When I came out, Mr Johnson was standing outside.

"You can go inside now."

"I was waiting for you, Sir."

"Then get the meeting ready."

While I was on the way to my room, I got a call from Ethan. What does he want now?

"Hello?"

"Hey, brother! How are you?"

"What do you need?"

"You know me well, brother. Actually, I'm renovating my place so I need a place to stay..."

"No."

"Brother? Please, let me stay at your house. It's just for a week. You know how mom would react if I stayed in the hotel, right? So let me stay at your house, please?"

"Okay. But only for a week."

"Thank you so much brother."

I ended the call.

Ethan Rodriguez, son of Olivia Rodriguez, mistress of my father. Ethan took me as his brother ever since he came to this house along with his mother. Even though his mother hated me to the core, he never did. Instead he stuck to me all the time during school. I never hated him and never showed love too. When his mother asked me to give my father's corporation to her son, I got worried that what if he can't handle a big company like Rodriguez corporation because he's still a newbie to the business platform.

"Mr Johnson!"

"Yes Sir? I arranged the meeting at 2.20 p.m. and informed every employee to gather at the scheduled time, Sir."

I gave a nod and said, "Ask maids to clean Ethan's room."

"Mr Rodriguez is coming? When will he be coming, Sir?"

"He didn't say it in detail."

"Okay, Sir. I'll inform the maids about it. Sir? What about Ms Garcia?"

I totally forgot that part.

"Keep her out of sight of Ethan as much as possible."

"Out of sight? Sir, she's going to stay here. How can we keep her out of sight of him?"

"Okay, I'll call him and inform to stay somewhere."

"Yes, Sir."

After getting the voicemails, I kept my phone back in my pocket after looking at the time.

It's past noon.

"Okay, let's go to the company."

When we came to the hall of the house, someone made an entry.

"Surprise! Brother!"

Ethan entered the house and flashed with bright colour casual wear with branded sunglasses like a teenager. Since I have known him, he always wears clothes in rainbow colours. He also got detained once in school for his clothing, that's when he got caught by his mother. His mother never liked it from the beginning so he wears formal clothes in front of her and bright colours when she's not around. I thought he would have learnt to dress properly since he's grown up and into business but he never changed.

The butler carried his bags inside the house so I stopped saying, "Take it back to the car!"

"Yes, Sir."

Ethan stopped the butler and said, "No! Don't take it back." And took the luggages back from him.

"Brother? What are you saying? You gave me the permission to stay here a minute ago. Did you forget that?"

"A minute ago? Right. How did you come here if we talked a minute ago?"

He let out a nervous laugh and said, "I was on the way when I made that call."

"No problem. I asked Mr Grug to arrange a room for you in the four star hotel so you can leave now."

"Let me stay here. I don't want to stay in the hotel. I hate staying there and mom will scold me if she comes to know about that. There are so many rooms in this house then why aren't you letting me stay here?"

While I was asking Ethan to leave, Mr Johnson reminded me about the meeting.

"Ethan, go to the hotel."

"Where are you going?"

"To the company. You shouldn't be here when I return. Understand?"

He pouted his lips and said, "Yes, brother."

I gave a stare and left the house along with Mr Johnson.

Ethan's pov;

After my brother left the house, I wondered why my brother acted weird and asked me to leave. I know he doesn't like the idea of people staying in his house but he allowed me which is an exception in his rule book. But, what happened today? Why did my brother look tense? Even though it's hard to read my brother's face, I can sense his feelings clearly. He looked tense for sure. Someone is not right.

Rose gave me tea and stood beside me waiting for the cup which i was drinking the tea in so i asked her, "Rose, Is someone here?"

She didn't give an answer and stood still with a stunned face.

"So there's someone in the house."

She shook her head and said, "Mr Martinez said to make sure you leave the house."

I let out a sigh and said, "Everyone's telling me to leave. Okay, I'll leave after this tea but before that, I need sugar. It tastes so bland."

She nodded hurriedly and ran to the kitchen. I used this situation and ran upstairs to look for who's in the house that my brother was hiding from me.

I opened every room on the first floor and checked if there's someone there. When I opened the fourth room, I stopped when I saw a girl in a room. She gave a shocked look when I opened the door. She looked young and beautiful. Who's she? What is she doing in this house? Is she the reason my brother wanted me to leave the house? Why did my brother try to hide her from me?

After seeing her getting stunned, I apologised to her, "I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry about the door."

"No problem."

It seems like she returned to being cool.

"Um... Can I come inside?"

She gave a little nod.

"Um... Sorry about the door again. I didn't know that there was a person inside. Did I scare you?"

"It's fine." and gave me a little smile.

I gave my hand a shake saying, "I'm Ethan. Alex's brother."

"I know."

"You know me?"

"I mean... I heard about you through gossip."

"Oh. That! Your name?"

"Isabella."

"Isabella?"

"Yes. Why do you sound surprised after hearing my name?"

"Nothing."

Why does her name seem familiar? Do I know her from somewhere? But I'm sure I'm seeing her for the first time.

"Your clothes. It's good."

"Huh? Oh... Thank you. I designed this myself. Do you like it?"

"You design clothes? But I heard you're the CEO of Rodriguez corporation."

"Where did you hear it?"

"Gossips again."

"Well, what else do you know about me... Through gossip?"

"Ethan Rodriguez, son of Olivia and Matthew Rodriguez. Aged twenty two. Two years younger than your big brother, Alexander Martinez. You went to study business school in the UK and returned here recently. Now you're a CEO of Rodriguez corporation. Am I good?"

I clapped my hand while saying, "You're a pretty good listener. But stop gossiping around this house, brother doesn't like that."

She gave a nod and sat on the bed.

"You look so young. How old are you by the way?"

"Seventeen."

"Are you a high schooler?"

She gave a nod.

"What is your relationship with my brother?"

"I signed a contract with him."

"Contract? What type of contract?"

"I'm helping him with his phobia."

"I didn't know there's a cure for that. So, what do you do... to help him?"

"We hold hands while he sleeps."

"You two hold hands?"

She gave a nod and continued, "Without gloves."

"Huh! Without gloves? Didn't he flinch or get uncomfortable when you held his hands?"

She shook her head while saying, "No."

"He found his cure then. I hope he gets better. And... What are you doing at this hour? You're supposed to be at school, right?"

"My mom's sick so I took leave."

"Ah! I got the picture now. Your mom's sick. You need money so you signed a contract with my brother, right?"

"Yes."

"It sounds like a manga storyline. And now I get why brother tried to hide you from me."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. I have to arrange things in my room so catch up with you later."

I left Isabella's room and headed to mine's.

When I opened the door to my room, my luggages was already here. Unpacking time. I squatted down, opened my bag and took my clothes out of it. I opened the other bag, took my neck pillow, and other things which I needed wherever I travel.

"Looking like a spoiled kid."

I turned and saw Isabella standing near the door. She walked in and looked at the things I scattered throughout the room.

She asked, "Do you want my help to organise these things?"

I smiled and said, "It's fine. I do these everytime i come here so it's not a problem for me. Moreover, I don't want to trouble the guests. You may leave, I'll take care of it."

"Okay." And left.

Huh? She left? I thought she'll ask me again when I acted like I was hesitating for her help. This works with everyone but why didn't with her? Okay. Let's unwrap everything.

I got a call while organising things in the wardrobe.

"Yes, mom?"

"Did you reach there?"

"Yes, mom."

"Well, get your place renovated quickly and get out of there."

"Yes, mom."

I ended the call.

After finishing setting my things and clothes in the room, I went to the kitchen since I got hungry by working.

Isabella was talking with Rose and other butlers.

I walked to them and asked one of the butlers, "Can I get some tea?"

Rose said, "Haven't you given up the habit of drinking tea?"

Isabella asked her, "What's wrong with drinking tea?"

"He's an addict. He drinks ten cups of tea a day."

"Oh."

I asked Rose, "I didn't get my tea yet."

The cook ran to me holding a cup of tea in his hands.

"What took you so long?"

While I was drinking the tea, Isabella said, "If you want to know how much time it'll take for a tea, then you have to prepare it by yourself to find it."

I thought she's kind of a girl who keeps everything to herself, when i first saw her but she wasn't. She's bold.

"I'm not interested in those things but after hearing it from you, i think i have to give it a try."

The cook said, "Sir, it's my mistake. I'll prepare it quickly next time."

Isabella said to the chef, "It's not bad to give it a try. Leave it."

After the cook and Rose left. Isabella and I were the ones in the hall.

"It's cool talking to you."

"What?"

"Having these 'yes' people around me, I feel bored talking with these people. It's never fun. But it's good talking with you. You sound a lot more like my girlfriend."

"You have a girlfriend?"

"Do I look like I don't have one?"

"With this attitude, I wonder how she fell for you?"

"So you agree to the fact that I have a girlfriend?"

"You don't look like a liar though. Well, what is her name?"

"Helen. She's in Uk. We met when I went to study business school."

"Classmates?"

"Yeah."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, go on."

"Studied business school but designing clothes. I don't get it. Can someone be interested in two different things?"

"Um… I forgot to make a call to my girlfriend. So let's talk later. It's nice meeting you, Isabella."

"It's obvious."

"What?"

She gave a smirk and said, "Nothing."

It looks like I'm looking into the mirror. It's fun and dangerous at the same time. I should be careful around her.