The door opened all of a sudden after ten minutes of waiting and listening to what was going on inside the bathroom. At a glimpse, Sherman was still sat on the wet floor but this time the shower had stopped running on him. What was more concerning was the epi pen-like injection that was stuck on his right thigh. What was different was that you could clearly see the purple liquid that was being induced in him. What kind of serious illness could he be going through? I asked myself as I felt a tinge of pain in my heart. Sara quickly closed the door again keeping my sight away from Sherman.
My senses were brought back when Sara quickly pulled me out of his office. " These gentlemen will take you home to Mrs Lu." She said pointing at two men who were coming towards us from a distance. As they came closer i realised one of them was Dustin, but he didn't look as smiley as before.
"If you may follow us, ma'am," the other guards said.
Sara stopped me with a quick nudge before I could comply. "Do not tell anyone about today. And I would be really grateful if you could keep a distance from Sherman." She whispered before walking away leaving me baffled.
"Ma'am?" This time Dustin spoke. I slowly followed them trying to figure out why in the world Dustin was acting fishy with me, at the same time trying to compress what i saw in Sherman's office and the confusing words that Sara said to me. This was all summed up to a headache.
My eyes fixed on Dustin as he drove the car with the other guard next to him on the passenger seat. "I thought we were friends?" I said finally.
"Sorry?" He asked as if he didn't hear me.
"I said! I thought we were friends, why are you treating me like a stranger all of a sudden." I elaborated
"Oh am sorry Mrs Lu I didn't think you were the clingy type." He joked but i didn't think it was meant to be funny.
"Mrs Lu?"
"Don't tell me you don't know that you're married to Sherman Lu or that you don't know your own husband's surname? Which one is it ma'am?" That's right, I never really bothered to know what Sherman's last name was. It never really occurred to me that people might be addressing me with his last name. I stayed silent because it did make sense, why would you wanna be friends with me?
The car stopped at the gates of some grand-looking mansion. One could really mistake it for a five-star hotel. Dustin opened the door for me.
"I will go inform the Madame about Mrs Lu's arrival," the other guard said before running off into the house.
"I thought there was nothing going on between you and the boss?" He stopped me in my tracks. I couldn't reply. I mean what was I meant to say, that I was kidnapped and forced to marry him. At the end of it all ill end up in an asylum. I thought not.
"Listen, Mrs Lu I..."
"Don't call me by that name!" I quickly stopped him "look I get it and I understand. It was selfish of me to want an ordinary life with friends, I guess not in this lifetime." I made sure to make it clear that I wouldn't bother him again.
"Oh dear Elayne." I heard a voice behind me. It was Mother Lu coming towards us in distress.
"We'll take our leave now ma'am," Dustin said bowing slightly, eventually driving off with his subordinate.
"I was worried sick Elayne. That spoilt child wouldn't pick up my calls. I hope he didn't bully you a lot." Suddenly her words reverted memories from last night. I could feel my face flush red.
"No!!" I exclaimed unnecessarily "no not at all. He wasn't harsh." I said trying to embroider my suspicious blabbering with more lies.
"Right, let's go inside its cold. I didn't know you were coming but fortunately for you, I made my speciality for dinner." She said clasping her warm hands on mine and leading our way into the house.
I was no longer surprised, Mother Lu's cooking was something out of this universe. I believed to have finished about two servings of it. She prepared a bedroom for me and gave me toiletries to use. It looked like I was going to stay there for a while and I was more than happy and relieved to do so. I wished her goodnight and quickly went back up to my room.
It was 8pm already and my plan was to go to sleep straight away, but after 5 hours of twisting and turning, getting up to use the bathroom and going down to get myself water, I gave up. I couldn't stop thinking about last night. The feeling of his lips still lingered on mine and his hefty breath still trickled my cheeks. I have never wished to erase my memories this much in my life. Not even after all humiliations and disrespect i have gone through. I shut my eyes trying to mentally kill my heart for racing that fast every time the thought-of last night came about.
But something about Sherman out of all things was very off about him. It's worrying yet mysterious and something tells me there is nothing good that's going to come out of it. First it was at the forest house. At first I thought he may have been rich enough to buy a listening device that good, but it happened again today in the company. Unless Dustin must have told him about our conversation which I doubt, he happened to know every single thing I've said to him. If all of that was not enough to make me question, he clearly did that in the lift on purpose for Dustin to see. However it was like he already knew Dustin would be on the next floor waiting which is why he did that right before the lift doors could open. Something was just not right about him but I couldn't quite pinpoint it. What I could pinpoint is that he definitely had a terminal illness. If not why would Sara so slyly ask me not to tell anyone about what happened to their C.E.O?
My train of thoughts were swooped away, when his voice was gradually getting louder and louder in my ears. He must have come to tell Mother Lu what happened to him. Yet it seemed like all he was doing was arguing with her. All of a sudden a panic attack was about to indulge in me. I remembered the reality I was in and his voice only kept getting louder and louder. I quickly shrugged under the duvet hiding my face underneath it as well with my eyes tightly shot.
"You know after all those years you finally decided to come visit me." I heard Mother Lu say with a slight crack to her voice as if she was tearing up. "I thought you'd nev-.."
" I really didn't come to visit you." He mercilessly cut her off. "If you'll excuse me, Mum, I've had a really rough day at work and I really would like to go to sleep now." He added with a bit of a lazy tone to his voice.
All of a sudden I heard the door to the room I was in twist open. My eyes opened wide in shock. Was he about to come in here?
"I'm sorry honey I'll let you rest. After so long you must have forgotten where your room was. That's not your room that's the spare room." Mother Lu explained trying to whisper.
"I know..." He answered back in a low tone. "Good night mum." He said before closing the door behind him.
Now it was just me, him and the silence that mocked my existence in the room. I could hear the sound from his shoes get louder as he walked closer to the bed. My heart raised even faster the closer I heard him come. It felt like I was hiding from a predator or someone I'm trying to hide all my secrets from. His footsteps stopped for a while as if he was glaring down at the supposedly-sleeping me. I heard him take his shoes off before the bed felt heavy beside me. I closed my eyes shot due to fear hoping that I wouldn't accidently scream out of anxiety. My heart continued to raise and my breathing remained heavy. He was right beside me and it felt like I was feeling his warm heaving breath through the duvet and on to my skin. All of a sudden I felt something heavy like his hand on top of me, down my waist and across my stomach. I remained silent underneath my duvet that was set out to be my shell as he held me closer with one heavy sigh.
"Even when asleep your heart beats like crazy when I'm around. Are you that afraid of me?" He whispered to what seemed like he was referring to me but was somewhat talking to himself and somewhat a rhetorical question.
I didn't know how to interpret both his words and actions right that moment. Was he being narcissistic or could he really hear my heart beat. Everything was just as if I was in a daze. Before I knew it he got himself comfortable and I could suddenly hear him silently snore. It must have been because I was awake till this time my eyes began to feel heavy, I could slowly feel myself drift to sleep.
Morning rose and my eyes woke up to an empty bedside. He wasn't there anymore. It was somewhat a comfortable relief because i wouldn't know how to act in front of him. I quickly rushed into the bath had a quick shower and daily morning routine. It felt like Mother Lu was already up because the delicious fragrance of her professionally made breakfast was like a parasite to my sense of smell.
I quickly but gently went down stairs knowing the timing that my stomach would start rumbling. I was almost too excited but a surprised looking Sherman could hardly finish his bite once he saw me. I myself questioned his reaction.
"What?" I mumbled still gently approaching him at the dining area.
"Why are you in those clothes" he asked dropping his toast on the plate almost angrily.
I looked at my clothes and looked back at him. I didn't understand what was so wrong in wearing a comfortable tracksuit in the house.
"Are you not going to work?" He finally asked. I mentally slapped myself due to how i already forgot that i had a job.
I quickly got back up and wore the first formal looking outfit i found in the wardrobe that Mother Lu already set out for me. I ran downstairs greeted Mother Lu, ate breakfast and rode silently in Sherman's car.
"What really happened yesterday?" Half way through i couldn't keep my mouth shut. He averted his gaze on me as if he was shocked and quickly looked at the driver who was only focussed on his driving. I then realised he must have not wanted anyone to know about the incident. I mouthed 'i'm sorry' to him before giving me a dirty look and going back to reading his news paper.
All day both me and Sherman only focussed in doing our work. Not a word was uttered from either one of us. I was mainly focussing on understanding my schedule. It was apparently a must for me to uselessly clean three times a day. I tried not to clean his desk until he left for a meeting. Whilst cleaning his desk i realised that one of his drawers was locked. Me being me, I couldn't but be curious. I searched the other drawers for a possible key to the drawer that kept teasing my curiosity.
After not finding a damn key i decided to just allow it and focus on my job. I crouched down to wipe underneath the desk when my hand felt something slide across underneath the table as i tried to wipe there. I looked under and there it was glowing like a piece of forbidden jewellery.
The key was stuck underneath the table. It seemed like some magnetic force was inserted underneath the table for the key to be stuck there. Looking at how hidden it was it had to be the key to that mysterious drawer.
I slowly opened the drawer and a sense of familiarity embraced me. It was the EpiPen syringe-like container with the purple liquid. Three of them were secretly kept inside the drawer. I lifted one up to inspect. There was no way that purple solution was epinephrine (solution found in epipens) if it was supposed to be epinephrine then he should have been dead by now because of the colour ( solution is supposed to be clear). I couldn't quite pinpoint what the hell this liquid solution was and why the hell he had to induce that in him. But i knew my time for curiosity was up.
Just as i was locking the drawer the door to the office opened and the angry-looking Sherman stood there staring at me with a depraved look in his eyes. Luckily for me i was able to quickly stick the key back underneath the table and pretend to be cleaning once again.
"You're back?" I exclaimed a bit not realising it i smiled thinking that it was less suspicious.
"Lucky for you i just finished cleaning your desk. You can go ahead and do what you do." I unconsciously giggled. I knew that the more i stayed here the more suspicious i would get. Looking up, his gaze did not change one bit, instead, it followed me with every step i took. "Well then... am just.. gonna... go grab.. lunch?" I said quickly trying to escape past him and reach for the door.
My hand was seized, and in no doubt was i swung back towards him. He painfully grabbed my arms and pushed me on the wall. My face was distorted at the sudden action taken.
"What are you doing?.. let me go you're hurting me." I cried in absolute pain, his grip on my arms were no less from the pain i received after being nudged on the wall. I looked up at him and the look in his eyes advanced to what would scare a 7ft tall body builder
"Why did you go through my stuff..!!" He exclaimed.
"What do you mean, all i did was clean your office like i was asked to, why are you getting angry at me! If you don't like the way i clean you shouldn't have hired me in the first place... you know, I could've been with Mother Lu learning how to cook instead of being so useless in this stupid office." I quickly waffled a whole load of bs trying to shift the blame on him. Reverse psychology was the only thing I could think of at that moment.
"Don't fucking piss me off !!" He bumped me against the wall once again as I groaned in pain. I have never seen him so angry. "Why the hell where you going through my stuff?!!" He asked yelling once more. This time my fear for him had relapsed mentally and I remembered the type of person he was.
I looked around inspecting for CCTV's in his office and there was absolutely none. It couldn't be possible that he knew i went through his drawer.
"Why did you go through my drawer!!" He specified. My eyes nearly bulged out of its sockets. I couldn't believe he actually knew what i did. I'm pretty sure i was on the other side of the desk pretending to clean when he walked in. There shouldn't have been any sign of suspicion at all.
"Ho..how... did you know?" I silently used the last of my courage to satisfy my curiosity.
He let me go feeling even more pissed off as he suddenly kicked the bin next to him sending it flying across the room. I jumped in contrast to the noise
"Get out!!" He suddenly said gritting his teeth as if he was trying hard not to belt me to death.
I whimpered as i ran towards the door but i stopped in my tracks. For some reason i felt like i lost in a game of superiority. I turned around and slowly walked towards him with a confident look plastered unwillingly on my face.
"This isn't right.." i squinted my eyes at him. For some reason my sudden confidence made him forget his anger for a split second , as if he was wondering what i was going to do next. "This really isn't it... I'm supposed to be the one baffled right now. Why are you even angry!?" I yelled back at him and paused to check if i was winning at his own game. At least he did seem taken aback.
"At least in my defence, i was asked to clean every single thing squeaky clean. I did just that and by opening your drawer i was fulfilling my duties. Now who are you to be questioning why i opened your drawer when you were the one who asked me to do so!!!" The tone in my voice increased as I finished my sentence. I was getting amused and excited when he took a step back and the scary in his eyes turned to what i would call scared. The minute he opened his mouth to speak i knew the gaze in his eyes turned back to being scary.
"Now this leads me to my next question.." i quickly stopped him before he could speak. I moved closer towards him not leaving his eyes for one second. "How on earth did you know I opened your drawer? Don't even try to use a dumb excuse because I've checked every explicable reason and there was none." I set it out there. What mattered to me most was that i had to know everything today if not my head would explode from curiosity.
He looked at me for a while as if contemplating whether he should tell me but he gradually turned around and attempted to walk away. I have no idea where my courage was coming from but i grabbed his arm and stopped his tracks.
"Answer.."
"Because.... i.." it suddenly looked like he was struggling with his words. The tone to his voice was a total 180-degree turn from his tone three minutes ago.
"Because you what.." I didn't want to let go of this opportunity
"Because you have a very disturbing habit of thinking out loud okay!!!" He shouted. As if he lost it. "You keep.. you keep talking and talking. Whatever you do, you just keep saying it to yourself and i just cant keep your voice away from my head!!! Its slowly eating me up from the inside and i am sick and tired of all of it!!!" Suddenly he let everything out. He let it all out to me as if he was suppressing these words for years. His eyes were red and all i felt was sorry and i didn't know why. nothing he said made sense. But what i did do was believe it was the truth because of the animosity in his words.
He finished breathing heavily and grabbed me by the hand and walked me out his office. This whole time I couldn't stop gaping and being in a full daze completely lost in his words. He reaches down his pocket and shoved his card on my hand.
" you said you were hungry, go get yourself lunch." He said before quickly locking the door behind me.
I stood there staring at the empty corridor still trying to make sense of what he just said. My life suddenly named itself an endless web of nonsensical curiosities