18 Chapter 17

The week dragged on without Brandon. She followed her routines everyday but because Dorothy was around, there was actually nothing else to do. Dorothy is an early riser, so by the time she wakes up, everything's been tidied up and breakfast is cooked and ready. She would help her set the table up, help her tidy up after eating, then go to the garden to enjoy the fresh air and relax.

Back when she was in the city, her time was always spent with either Ron or just herself. She goes shopping all by herself when her bestfriend is not around so there wasn't any difference with her routine right now. If she doesn't feel like going out, she stays home to read books or swim at the pool. She always enjoyed it every time. She doesn't have a lot of friends and she hated being around a lot of people. So it was weird that she feels like waiting for someone lately, and staying in her room reading felt suffocating. Thanks to Dorothy, who has quite a sense of humor even with her age of 54, she was able to get by day by day.

It was almost 11am when she saw a car approaching the mansion. It was Brandon's car. She leaped from the bench where she sat in the lilac gazebo and was about to ran to meet the approaching car but stopped midway as she noticed that Brandon wasn't alone in the car. Beside him was the beautiful woman they have met at the restaurant a week ago and just the thought of her beside him made her ache inside. She sat back to where she was sitting, not willing to go back to the mansion. She too was curious about the weird feelings she's starting to have since the day she came to live here.

Just then, someone emerged from the right side entrance. She raised her head and met the gaze of another man.

"Hi there." Jason eyed her with pleasure. "I saw you just as I was passing by the garden so I wondered if I could join you while the lovebirds are enjoying themselves inside."

She felt a pinch in her heart as he mentioned lovebirds. Were they really in that kind of relationship? Then she remembered the incident in the car before Brandon left that night. Was he just toying with her?

She just gave him a faint smile. That's when she remembered the book she brought with her to read. She turned the book as if to find the page she was reading but because she isn't actually reading it, she just put it back on her lap again and sighed in frustration.

The man opposite her eyed her with curiousity. She gave a gentle laugh when she sighed unknowingly. Whatever she was frustrated about he wanted to know.

"It seems that you are not in a good mood today." He said.

"Oh, I'm sorry if you felt that way. I'm just having a lot of thoughts." She turned her gaze to him but then immediately gave a laugh when she saw what Jason did.

Jason made a funny face turning his face to that of an old man. One of his friends taught him how to do it when they were in high school. That friend wasn't good looking at all but he got the girls' attention whenever he did it so he asked him how. He had tried it several times with ladies and has worked well everytime. They always laughed. And they would end up having a great conversation.

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Brandon parked his car in the front of the mansion. He hasn't been home for a week due to an emergency in one of the hotel branches in South City. The receptionist received a phone call about a bomb threat in the hotel so his assistant called him personally to know his next actions. So he had to leave her right away and drive three hours to the hotel while on the phone giving orders to his assistant. When he arrived, all the guests were already evacuated and given overnight accomodations in a sister hotel. The police and special bomb operatives were already combing through the 325 rooms of the hotel to see where the suspicious bag supposedly containing the bomb was. It was really crazy. They found the bag of explosive device in one of the suite rooms. Luckily, the bomb didn't blow off and the operatives were able to stabilize the situation in the hotel. He was in a meeting with the executives and managers for the next two days. He found out through investigation that the room was booked via a stolen credit card under a fake name. As photos of the bomb threat was posted by the hotel guests on their social media, the news went out like wildfire and soon the media came knocking at their doors demanding them for explanation. He mobilized his PR team and made a statement regarding the incident.

He was about to go back to the mansion when the Young twins arrived and asked if they could go visit his new home. This was the first time he felt excited going home and he doesn't want any delays. So he agreed not wanting any more argument especially from the woman who's been clinging to his arm eversince she arrived at his office this morning.

He alighted his car and went into the house swiftly. He was met by Aunt D who smiled with an outstretched arm and hugged him tightly afterwards. He combed the house with his eyes looking for the reason for his excitement. He missed her dearly and wanted to look at her lovely face but was disappointed when he didn't find her.

"I miss you dear," she said as they hugged. "She's in the garden," she whispered, as she noticed her nephew looking around as if trying to find something or someone.

Brandon gave her a quick kiss on her forehead then headed to the door and into the pathway leading to the sunflower garden.

The young woman only eyed the older woman and followed Brandon to where he was going.

It was not long when he finally reached the gazebo at the center of the garden. He took long strides to the entrance out of excitement only to be overtaken by jealousy when she heard Julianna crack with a loud laugh. He had wanted to make her laugh but hearing her laugh because of another person sent daggers to his heart. It was almost a lovely sight, but it was painful enough that he isn't the reason for her happiness. His heart sank in despair.