Chapter 22: Chapter 22

After what occurred at noon, I didn't move to converse with Kendric immediately on the grounds that my dad naturally dropped his utensils and let him know that they would talk in the review room.

The lunch was complete turmoil in light of the fact that after Kendric and Father left the three of us, Tyler recommended that he'd follow those two men, and Deniece ultimately said that we'd simply eat in the nursery or in the house cleaners' quarters where Bertha and her child stay. The vast majority of the house cleaners that we're serving the food in the eating lobby were accumulated by Bertha, who taught them that they didn't hear or see whatever that they could perceive Auntie Leticia or, more than likely they'd move terminated immediately by me. Bertha even took a gander at me and persuaded me to act so legitimately before them, so I did.

At the point when we're in Bertha's room, I simply acknowledge how little it is for both of them, alongside Portia, who's dozing calmly in her buggy. They set up the food on a sweeping that they set down on the floor. We resemble having an outing inside their room.

"This is obviously superior to that stifling air inside," Deniece expressed, beginning to eat again while sitting on the floor with Bertha. In the mean time, I was lying on Bertha's couch bed while contemplating what occurred.

How would I do it now?

"Hello!" Bertha began to knead my hand. "Try not to consider it to an extreme."

"Definitely," Deniece muttered with her mouth loaded with food. "Who can say for sure? Perhaps he'll persuade him."

"That is plausible, young woman," Bertha concurred with Deniece.

I moaned and put the telephone out of my pocket, trusting that Kendric would message me an update or that Tyler would call me to let me know what he heard from the review room.

I attempted to recollect my dad's face when Kendric said that he was seeking me. There's no inclination blazing all over; it's simply a run of the mill thing about father that I became acclimated to. He never showed any feelings when he was going with a basic choice over something. In the interim, Kendric looks quiet, and the demeanor all over isn't anxious in any way. He's simply cool about it.

"We previously said quit thinking excessively," Bertha saw me once more.

Deniece kicked my feet while she was all the while eating the food that her sibling had arranged for us. Truly, how might she eat like nothing happened some time prior? Ugh!

I was having an all out total implosion when my telephone rang. I quickly replied without checking the screen out.

"Hi?" I replied.

"This is mother," a recognizable voice invite me.

I strolled beyond Bertha's room before I shouted out once more.

"Are you returning home as of now?" I asked, trusting that there may be an opportunity.

"Your dad's debilitated," she briskly said. "There's no way for him to support our necessities assuming that we return there."

I glared as I heard my mom's explanation.

"Mightn't you at any point see, mother? Father needs me here."

"He really wants you for what? As a trade for a major speculation or as a gigantic worth to pay for his obligations as a whole?" She asked obtusely.

"He wants me here, mother," I said, practically sad with all that mother told me.

How is this even possible? She might be cold and deadpan like father, yet why in the world does she believe father's condition doesn't mean very much to her?

"Your dad will simply involve you for his faltering organizations," Mother attempted to persuade me.

"He's attempting to fix it," I replied as I rested on the wall outside Bertha's room.

"Attempting to fix it by selling you into a marriage you don't need?" Mother's voice became furious via telephone.

"What about you, mother?" I put a ton of mental fortitude prior to saying it. "How will you respond assuming somebody offers something like that to you?"

The other line went quiet, and I just heard my mother took a full breath before she finished the call. I attempted to call her again multiple times, yet she didn't reply. It's far off any longer.

I returned to Bertha's room just to see her child alert and smiling from one ear to another with the hanky she had in her little hands. I took a gander at the hanky, and I understood that I had previously seen it previously. Don't bother, it's not my business in any case.

I attempted to eat more to not skirt a dinner, very much like Bertha told me. While I was all the while eating on the floor, I heard strides traveling toward us. At the point when I opened the entryway, I saw Tyler attempting to open different rooms, perhaps to search for us.

"Psst!" I attempted to call him.

Whenever he turned his look on me, he waved his telephone while pointing at it. I promptly took out my telephone and saw that there were five uninitiated messages from him, similar to ten minutes prior.

"You're so difficult to come by." Tyler flicked my brow and scowled at me.

I additionally frowned at him in view of what he did before I read his messages.

From: Tyler

They're finished talking as of now.

From: Tyler

In light of his response, I think he passed the last flood of battle for your romantic tale.

From: Tyler

Or on the other hand perhaps not? His temperament abandoned glad to bleak.

From: Tyler

Replied back, dummy.

From: Tyler

Yup, you're still not free.

When I looked at him, he just sighed and smiled sadly.

"I guess we're still stuck with each other," he said before he walked away from me.

As I closed the door, my knees became weak again, which made me fall to the floor. Deniece and Bertha just watched me while I was on the edge of crying myself out.

Deniece approached me and hugged me so tight.

This can't be happening.

...

It was past 6 in the evening when Deniece and I got back into the mansion. My eyes still felt so heavy because of my endless tears earlier in Bertha's room. It's just a good thing that Bertha's room was separated from other maids' rooms, so no one ever witnessed how I cried the whole afternoon.

When we got back, I saw how the maids lined up at the front door as they tried to assist me, but I ignored them all. I even walked quickly and left Deniece, who was walking behind me.

Inside the house, my father welcomed me with his typical emotionless face, arms crossed on his chest, while sitting in his wheelchair.

What now?

"I heard that you withdrew your enrollment from the university," he said with a stern voice.

"I heard you're just about to control my life even more," I answered in a rude way.

"That's not what I want for you, Monique!" His voice began to get louder.

"Then what is Tyler doing here?" I asked.

"Let's talk in the study room," he said, trying to control his temper.

"Is it a lecture day? It seems like everyone's about to get lectured in that freaking room of yours," I sarcastically replied.

"Mind your manners and just follow me upstairs," he said with finality in his voice, signaling his guards to carry him back upstairs.

I sighed and massaged my knees. I forgot that the maids were lined up outside, so I told them to go back to their quarters after their shift.

Someone tapped my shoulders, and when I turned around, I saw Deniece.

"We're going back to the city already," she said softly. "I'll see you there, hmm?"

She smiled sadly before she quickly hugged me. Afterwards, she ran outside to their van. She even looked back at me for the last time and waved her hand goodbye.

I know he's also inside that van. Maybe he just ran away?

Before I could even close the door, my phone vibrated. I just received a text message from him.

From: Kendric

I'm sorry for the short notice. I'll just finish my workload, and I'll see you again. Take care.

I sighed before I closed my eyes.

This is my dad's fault.

I furiously went upstairs to his study room. I opened the door, and when I saw him sitting so calmly on his couch, I got furious even more. I sat across from him and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Tell me what's happening," I said with no emotion at all.

"Our business is falling apart," he started to talk. "We're almost suffering from bankruptcy."

"I already knew about that," I told him.

He wiped the side of his lips and poured tea into his cup before speaking up again.

"I can lose all of it, dear," he confidently told me. "Move away from all of this; besides, each member of our family has a savings bank account at different international banks where we chose to settle, right?"

I remember that thing. Dad asked me about it when I graduated from high school. I chose to settle in New York City.

"Then why did you not do that?" I asked bluntly.

"Because I don't want all of our employees to lose their jobs just because I chose myself."

I bit my lips as I heard his reason.

"I didn't want you to marry your friend, no. That is just the easiest option, but I didn't tell you to go with it."

I looked into my dad's eyes to see any sincerity while he was saying that.

"If I face a lawsuit, that's fine with me. But that's not what they want from me, dear."

"What do they want?" I asked again.

"They want you, my dear. They gave me that condition just to push their son to marry someone from a wealthy family."

"You agreed to that?" I scoffed as I heard how Tyler's family is so old-fashioned.

"I didn't agree yet; I want to hear the decision from you."

"What will be the effect if we don't agree to this arrangement?"

Dad smiled sadly and looked at me directly.

"They'll force me to step down as an owner and probably steal anything that I worked hard for," he said before he sipped on his cup of tea.

I can't let them do that to my poor and sick father. Tyler's parents were ruthless enough about this matter that they even put their own son in this kind of deal. They're greedy pigs, another typical fact about people who are obsessed with money and power.

Like my dad, I'm just too empathetic about the condition of our employees. They are just people who are also trying to live and survive.

"I'll accept the marriage thing," I said, trembling upon hearing my own voice.

I saw a hint of shock on my father's face, but he remained silent, waiting for me to speak up again.

"But with three conditions," I said.

"Tell me, my dear," he demanded.

"Let me work on the company since I withdrew my enrollment from the university this year," I said, hoping he would agree.

He nodded right away.

"Let me go back to the city tomorrow morning," I said for the second condition.

"But you'll live in our house there," he insisted, so I nodded.

"Lastly," I stopped for a moment, wondering if it was the right decision to ask my father about this.

Dad's anticipating my final condition. He might get mad about this, but I'll just say it anyway.

It's now or never!

"Let me date Kendric," I said as fast as I could.

Dad smiled at me and took a sip of his tea again.

"You really both like each other, huh?" He said it in a jolly tone.

"What's your say about it, dad?" I asked impatiently.

I need to know it. I want to know if he'll agree with it. Please, dad.

"Go," he said after he put down his cup.

"Date him."

My lips parted as I tried to digest what my father had just told me. Did he really say that?

"But keep your words from earlier," he said, which just ruined my mood.

I just smiled and pretended to be happy about it. After our talk, I bid him goodbye and told my dad that I was going to rest.

But after I closed the door of his study room, tears started to fall down my cheeks as I recalled how big the decision that I made was.

As I cried silently with my head down low, I saw a pair of bare feet that stood up in front of me, and when I looked up, I saw Tyler. He opened his arms for a hug, and so I cried on his shoulder while hugging him. I felt his hand tapping my shoulders softly.

"We'll get through this, I promise."