Chapter 34: Chapter 34

Isabella's pov;

Finally, after the tiring camp, I returned to Mr Martinez's house.

"I'll take the bag to your room, mam." Mateo insisted on carrying my travel bag up to my room.

"It's fine, I'll take it with me. It's not that heavy either, Mateo."

"But mam..."

"The thing is, I hate when people do work for me. Did you get it?"

He smiled and nodded his head.

"Thank you."

I took my bag and dragged it inside the house. When I entered the house, I saw Mr Martinez and Big brother talking with each other. I slowly walked to the staircase, seeing me dragging the bag. Butlers offered their help but I refused them and took my bag up the stairs by myself.

I came to my room and dropped on the bed and let out a sigh seeing the ceiling. The soft bed under me felt so comfortable after sleeping in the tent for three whole nights. I rolled on the bed and fell asleep somehow.

I woke up after a while. When I looked at the time, it's 5 pm. Argh! I feel so hungry. I want to eat!

I came downstairs after taking a hot shower.

I sat at the dining table and started to eat food which was served to me as soon as I came.

While I was eating, my big brother came and sat in front of me and asked, "How was the trip?"

I let out a sigh and started, "Do you want the entire story or the outline of it?"

He smiled and said, "The outline. You take half a day for the outline. If I asked you for the entirety, I bet we'll be sitting at this table for one whole day."

I turned to Mr Martinez to complain about Big brother but he was working seriously on his laptop so I asked Big brother, "Do you really want to hear it?"

He said, " Even if I said no, you're still going to say it anyway, right?"

"Right! Okay. On the first day, we went hiking. It was pretty fun going along with friends but it was tiring as well. To get extra meat on my plate for dinner, I competed with others up the mountain."

"Did you win?"

"Hahaha. Yes! I'll do anything for meat. It tasted more delicious when I won the competition. The next day, we went for a scavenger hunt. They put everyone in pairs. Do you know who I got paired up with? The person who I wished not to get paired with. Harry."

"The bully?"

"Yeah. I got paired with him."

"Did he bully you on the trip too?"

"No. It was pretty opposite to bullying but it was still bullying to me."

"What did he do?"

"He started flirting with me."

He smiled and said, "Really?"

"Yeah, when we got paired up with each other, he did whatever i said to him so i did things to make him hate me but it didn't work. While we're scavenging for food, I put everything in his bag to make him walk slower so that he won't follow me by walking closer to me but still he put up with that weight and walked behind me. Did he know what happened because of that? He hurt his leg. It made me feel guilty so I treated him and helped him get to the camping site. Even though he hurt his leg, he still flirts with me all the way to the camping site. Argh!"

"He's so persistent."

"After scavenging, everyone had lunch together and played games. On the third day, we had a campfire. Noah suddenly brought a guitar from a tourist in the camping site and made me play it infront of everyone."

"You play Guitar?"

"Why are you so surprised? Don't I look like one who plays, huh. And, Yeah! I play guitar, but only a little since I learnt it on my own. Actually, I was keeping it a secret from my classmates but he exposed me."

He smiled and said, "What happened after that?"

"While everyone was enjoying the campfire, dancing around it and singing along with others. Harry sat beside me and flirted like usual. What happened after that was... really unexpected!"

"Why are leaving pauses?"

"To make you more interested."

He let out a chuckle and said, "You sound like yuyang a lot. Okay, continue with your trip story. What did he do?"

I looked at Mr Martinez who was working and leaned towards Big brother and whispered, "He kissed me."

"He kissed you???" Big brother shouted at me.

I shushed him and said, "Yeah, he did. On my cheeks. Liam saw him kissing me and got mad and started fighting with him. We all separated them somehow and they got punished by Ms Devlin."

"Liam? The friend who liked you?"

I nodded and continued, "Yeah. I get scared whenever Liam reacts like this. This makes me worry about him a lot."

"Can I ask you something?"

I nodded at him.

He continued, "Aren't you interested?"

"No, he's my friend. How can I..."

Before I finished, he said, "I didn't ask about him. I asked generally. This is the age where people get boyfriends and girlfriends. Aren't you interested in those things?"

I let out a smirk and said, "If you asked me what's important to me right now, I'll answer as 'my mom' . I've never given a thought of dating since mom was the one all I can think about. The reason I took many jobs is because of mom. I should take care of her and I want her to be healthy. Big brother, you did a background check on me, right? Do you know anything about my father?"

"Not much. But I've heard that he left you and your mother when you were five."

I nodded and said, "Yes, it's true but... he didn't leave by himself. My mom sent him out of the house. One day, when I came from the school, they had a big fight. I didn't understand what they're fighting for but I could see that the love between them was lost. All they had was anger and hatred for each other. Suddenly, my father slapped my mom and the fight got even bigger. I was locked in my room by my mom. When I came out after a while, I saw mom asking father to leave the house and he left. He just left. Never turned and looked at me. It looked like he was waiting to leave the house. After that, my mom worked hard to take care of me. Let's leave it aside, what's for dinner?"

"Do you hate your father?"

"How can I hate someone whom I never knew." And made a fake smile.

"What if you meet him again?"

"I don't know." And finished with my food. "Big brother, where is Ethan? I didn't see him when I arrived and I can't see him around now either. Where is he?"

"He's having issues in his company."

"Can it be solved?"

"It will if he works on it."

"But he doesn't like business then why is he struggling to maintain one?"

"His mom is making him do it."

"His mom? Do you mean Olivia Rodriguez?"

"Yes."

"Can mom be like that? My mom never forced me to do anything even though we are poor as rats."

"Come here." Mr Martinez ordered.

I walked to him and asked, "What was it, Mr Martinez?"

"Do you really have to go to school tomorrow?"

"Mmm... Not really. Why, Mr Martinez?"

"Take an absence tomorrow."

"What was it, Mr Martinez?"

"Go to sleep." And left with his laptop.

Big brother asked me, "Why are you still standing here? Didn't you hear him? Go and sleep."

"Big brother?"

"What?"

"Do you have any idea what he's going to do tomorrow?"

"No. He told me to take a leave too."

"You're not coming here tomorrow?"

"No."

"What is he planning to do? Is it about... Big brother, I'm going to my room. Goodnight." And walked up the stairs to my room.

I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about what Mr Martinez was about to do tomorrow. He never said things like this before so it really makes me wonder a lot while thinking about tomorrow.

Someone knocked on my door. I looked at the time. It's 12. 30 pm. It's past midnight. Who would knock on someone's door this late? Big brother left while I was eating dinner. Mr Martinez went to his room even before seven. Rose and others would have left by 10 pm. Was it Ethan? No, he can't be. Big brother said he's staying in the company. While I was thinking about the possibilities of the person who will be behind the door, the knocking continued which made me get scared. I got out of the bed and switched on the lights, to my surprise, the power went down. I pumped up my courage and slowly walked towards the door and stood in front of it. The knocking wasn't harsh but it was enough to make me get scared. Was it a ghost? No! There's no such thing! Don't think stupid! Was it a thief? But which thief will knock on doors? I grabbed the nearby candle stand and opened the door forcibly.

"Mr Martinez?"

He avoided my eyes and asked, "Are you going to hit me with that?"

I let out a nervous laugh and placed the candle on the table and said, "What are you doing here at this hour, Mr Martinez?"

"The power's out."

"Yeah, I came to know that some minutes ago. What was it?"

He avoided my eyes again and ordered, "Turn on the generator."

"You want me to turn on the generator?"

He gave a nod and stood still.

"Okay, I don't know where it is? Can you show me the place?"

He gave a nod and walked to the place where the generator was. I followed him behind silently. What was he thinking while ordering me like that? I know he's my Boss but isn't it inappropriate to knock on someone else's door past midnight asking to turn on the generator? Was he a silver spoon? Does everyone have to work for him? More to that, he would have said that it was him behind the door. Why did he remain silent while knocking and gave me a scare?

Mr Martinez showed me a room and pointed into the room. He didn't even say anything and stood still so I asked him, "Is it inside?"

He gave a nod. A nod again? Argh!

I walked in saying, "I thought it'll be somewhere in the basement like how they show in the movies."

He didn't give a response.

I asked him, "Mr Martinez, I couldn't see anything in here. Can you bring that torchlight which you're holding in your hand inside the room?"

I waited but he didn't come. I walked out of the room and asked him again, "Didn't you hear me? I asked for the torchlight."

He didn't give a response and took his phone and turned on the flashlight and gave it to me. I gave up asking him and took the phone from him and walked into the room again. I searched for something shaped like a big square box having so many connections and wires and stuff. Since I worked in restaurants, I learned little about generators.

Finally, I found it and turned on the generator and came out of the room. Where is he? When I came out of the room, Mr Martinez wasn't there. Where did he go? Is it really him or did I see a ghost in his form?

"Go to your room."

When I turned to the direction of the voice, he was standing beside the stairs. I let out a sigh of relief. It is really him.

"Mr Martinez?"

He stopped from stepping on the stairs and looked at me.

I said, "Where is Jack?"

(Jack Collins - one of the security guard who lives here)

"Mr Collins left for his hometown two days before."

"Ohhhh. Is it only you and me in the house?"

He gave a nod.

"Aren't you scared? When you knocked on my door, for a moment, I got scared that it might be a ghost or a thief."

He gave a nod and said, "That explains the candle stand."

"Aren't you scared of being alone in this big house?"

He shook his head and started walking up the stairs.

"Mr Martinez, why did you ask me to take a leave tomorrow? What are you going to do? Did you plan something? Or are we going to clean the garden again? Did the dried leaves become more numerous?"

"We're going out."

"Really? You're taking me out? Where did you plan to take me? It's new to me since you never asked me to. Do you have some place in your mind?"

"Was it really because of your mother that you aren't interested in relationships?"

That was sudden. Did he listen to the conversation which I had with Big brother? I thought he was working on his laptop. Was he eavesdropping? No! He doesn't look like he's that kind of type. Maybe it's because we've talked louder that he happened to hear our conversation accidentally.

"Yeah, she put a lot of effort in raising me so I want to take care of her in return. And there's another reason too, my parents fell in love and got married. I have never seen a couple like my parents used to. They were in love and liked each other. They fought here and there. I thought fights were also a common thing among loving couples but whenever the fight got bigger, the love in them faded as well. One day, I saw my father leaving the house and mom stood without doing anything. He didn't even take a look at my mom and me. He just left like that. I still remember it like yesterday. When I saw him leaving us, I wondered where the love he had for us was. He left my mom to suffer alone. If I like a guy, and if he leaves like my father, I'm afraid that I'll end up like my mom. That's why I'm scared of being in a relationship. As days pass by, I'm losing confidence in myself."

"You play basketball and get a scholarship for your school, you take many part-time jobs to earn for your mother's surgery, I don't think you lack confidence."

"When you say it like that, it makes me feel proud of myself, Mr Martinez. Can I ask you something?"

He gave a nod.

"Why don't you turn on the generator by yourself? It's not that difficult though."

"I have …phobia."

"What does that phobia mean?"

"Fear of darkness." And left.