25 The Depth Of His Hatred.

Shikera had to strain her ear to enable her hear the words of the reporter speaking on TV. The news airing was one from four years ago which was coincidentally the case in the file she wanted to study tonight. Superstar MD's case.

"Very interesting, isn't it?" The reporter on TV smiled, her tone was gossipy and also like she was mocking someone. "MD, whom the whole country had high hopes for has disappointed us again after she..."

"What the fuck are you doing?!" She heard a cold voice say, the voice looked like the owner was trying to suppress the rage he was feeling.

She turned to see Ethan standing a few metres from her with a deep frown on his face.

"Ethan?" She hadn't forgotten what he said before he left her earlier but she also knew that he had informed her not to watch TV whenever he was home. "Can I watch the news for a few minutes? I need to use this to prepare an article."

Ethan's eyes hardened at her words. She still had the guts to watch this damned news in his house? She wasn't even scared to tell him she wanted to write an article on his scar?!

"Switch it off!" He commanded, the rage in his voice showing that he didn't want to be disobeyed.

Shikera was taken aback at his words. Normally, she would have switched the TV off but with the way Ethan had been acting irritated since that morning, coupled with the face that she really needed to listen to this News Presentation, she couldn't comply with his words.

"That was rude," she complained. "I'm particularly interested in this news because of MD, I never expected…"

"Shut your mouth!" Ethan roared, his eyes blazing intensely with fury. He knew what she was going to say. He knew she was going to say the same thing all the other reporters had been saying until they drove Mignon to suicide. He knew she would only just talk about how Mignon was a slut who dissapointed her fans; he knew...and that was why he needed her to keep her mouth shut!

Startled at the way he suddenly raised his voice, Shikera slowly stood up to her feet. Was he that displeased at the fact that she didn't want to switch off the TV? Or did he hate watching TV that much?

"I was simply…" She tried to talk but Ethan interjected.

"I just asked you to shut your mouth, Miss!" He repeated. The look in his eyes as he glared at Shikera was nothing less to hatred. "I asked you to shut your filthy mouth yet you keep running it! Why are you guys so despicable? Like an inexhaustible tank of water, you keep running your mouth with things you know nothing about. Till you destroy innocent people with them under the guise of doing your jobs as reporters..."

Shikera's eyes narrowed, as it seemed like Ethan was talking to another person while looking at her. She wasn't about to allow him channel his anger at another person on her, though.

"Ethan! It's Shikera Anderson standing before you, and if any reporter has offended you, then I will advise you to talk to them directly. I am different from them so..."

Ethan suddenly laughed out loud, stopping her from speaking any further. What kind of joke was this wife of his trying to play on him? She is different from other reporters? What a joke!

"Different? Miss Anderson, did you just say different? You tarnished the actress's image too, didn't you? Alicia Brown, was it?" He asked mockingly, noticing as different emotions fleeted through Shikera's face. "You destroyed her career so don't deceive yourself into thinking you are any different from the others," he could see the confusion evident in her eyes, and the way her jaw dropped in shock as she stared at him.

Ignoring her, he walked towards the table to pick up the remote placed on it before suddenly remembering something.

"Lest i forget, you shouldn't beat yourself much over it. As far as I know, it's a reporter's innate nature to gossip and lie without conscience; your mother was also like that after all," he added, watching as she swayed under the impact of his words. Surprisingly, his own heart's sank as he knew the gravity of the blow he had just dealt on her but he ignored it.

Meanwhile, Shikera walked to the stairs, not bothering to look behind and see what Ethan was doing. When she just got acquainted with Ethan, she had wondered why anyone would hate reporters. And even when she later accepted that he disliked reporters, she didn't know his hatred for them was this deep, to the extent that he just used her greatest regret to make her feel bad.

Yes, her mother had been a reporter; and like every other reporter according to Ethan, her mother had done something regrettable. This matter was not secret to the members of the Mega families, just like how they all knew of her frail health, they knew what her mother had done. But not one of them knew why her mother did it, not a single one of them.

It was her fault, then and now. It was her fault that her mother had done that many years ago, and now it was her fault that Ethan could still insult her mother even after she was already dead.

She willed herself not to shed a tear, because she did not deserve to cry. The only thing she could do was live the life her mother wanted her to live, and patiently wait for the day she would join her in heaven, since that was the fate of someone who had been destined to die young.

She locked herself in her room when she got there, to prevent any disturbances even though she was sure there would be none. However, being someone who upheld his ethics, Ethan could not be predicted as he might suddenly come and ask her to eat because of the contract. And she was not ready to face him, not now.

As soon as the moon began to say bye the next morning, Raymond found himself at Cyprian's apartment. Not exactly hers, but that of one of the brother's, the eldest of them.

Just like the previous day, the door opened as soon as he knocked and if not for the fact that the man's eyes were still unfocused when he opened the door, he would have concluded that the man didn't sleep but was always at the door.

"Good morning, Sir!" He greeted, at the top of his voice in order to wake the other people in the same floor, particularly Cyprian. It had been a while that he had seen her as she was mostly at work, a forbidden territory for him.

"Trying to wake others up?" Cyprian's brother asked, a weird smile on his face before he opened the door wider to let Raymond in.

"Why are you here this early in the morning?" He asked, settling on a chair in the living room before looking at his sister's ex- boyfriend.

Raymond wondered if this was the only person that would interrogate him today. The last time he came here, the four brothers had grilled him with questions, even asking him his grandmother's genotype. After they were done with the questions, he had been asked to clean all their apartments excluding Cyprian's own. He had only been allowed to go home after he had exhausted his strength and when it was almost time for Cyprian to arrive from work.

Today, he had prayed he would be spared from that and it seemed his prayer had been answered.

"I still need to go to work," he replied to the question earlier asked.

Cyprian's brother nodded, his expression turning serious.

"It looks like you don't know why Cyprian left you, am I right?"

Raymond nodded, that was his main mission here.

"I will tell you then but after I tell you, I won't expect to see you around here ever again." The man announced, staring at Raymond who was now wearing a perplexed expression.