Chapter Forty - Four

“ Valerie “

“ John “ … 

“ Eva “… 

“ Omg, what do we do now? “ Everyone became tensed. The guard immediately opened the door and they went in. Lady Lily was sitting close to Sofia while Mira lay down asleep. 

Their ( Lady Lily and Sofia ) eyes flew to the door, immediately the door flicked open. The guard rushed into the room with John and Eva and the guard locked the door behind them. The three of them, held their hands on their chest as their breathing accelerated.

“ What happened? “ Sofia asked them.

“ Va … le .. rie, out... side “ Eva managed to say. The duo understood the signals and immediately stood up to help them.

*Knock*Knock*

A knock came at the door. Lady Lily rushed off to a wardrobe at the corner of the room. She brought out a huge bag from it. 

Everyone was rendered speechless when the gazed what Lady Lily wanted to do. Eva and John jumped into the wardrobe and Lady Lily locked it securely.

“ What about me? “ The security guard asked in fear. His heart pounded so much when the knock persisted. Lady Lily dragged him to the wardrobe and unlocked it.

Eva and John looked at her inquisitively. Without further explanation, Lady Lily pushed the guard into the wardrobe and pressed it tight enough to lock it.

“ Ouch! “  Someone screamed from, inside the wardrobe.

“ Sorry, lucky you, this wardrobe is so big enough to contain you two. “ Lady Lily said after straining her joints to press the door ( wardrobe’s door ) closed.

She breathed out a sigh of relief when she had done that. “ Ma’am, I … “ Lady Lily squinted her eyes when she saw Mira sitting close to Sofia and covering her mouth at the same time, as to control her laughter.

“ What’s funny? “ She asked with furrowed eyebrows. Mira shook her head in response. “ Pretend to be asleep. Ma’am you should know what to do. “ Lady Lily told them and walked towards the door.

She retracted her footsteps because of the force with which Valerie pushed the door in, after it was unlocked.

“ What the heck is wrong with the occupants of this room! “ Sofia immediately rose up from where she lay. ( She feigned to be asleep )

“ Oh, so this is what you’ve trained these…” She pointed at the maids beside Sofia. “  … things to do right? “ Valerie asked with a loud voice. “ Where is the guard at this post. And why do you lock yourself inside. Shouldn’t it be the guards controlling the closing and opening of this door? “ Valerie kept asking and no one responded to her questions. That really pissed her off. Sofia sat erect, staring at her like a lunatic. Worse still, she had that expression that ignites anger in Valerie.  She was smirking at Valerie. Valerie felt like punching that face but she didn’t. She didn’t want to be embarrassed by Sofia. No one knew what Sofia had in mind because she is always silent and to herself. So, her actions are unpredictable.

Valerie failed to notice Mira still lying on the floor, pretending like one who was sleeping. It focused on Sofia with eyes and tongue like sharpened blade. “ Well, how have you been? “ Valerie asked and her facial expression returned to normal. Her gaze fell on Mira lying down. She immediately went to her and gave her a kick that got her (Mira) up immediately. “ Why are you sleeping till now? Didn’t you hear the noise? “ Valerie screamed at Mira who sat up, rubbing the part where she received a leg kick from Valerie.

“ I’m sorry about this. “ Valerie said to Sofia. “ I heard one can develop series of health issues when you starve. “ Valerie made a pity – looking face. “ Mmmmmm. I think I’ll need to lecture you now. When you starve, your body begins to feed itself. It consumes energy store ( carbohydrates, fats and protein parts of tissues ), metabolism slows, body cannot regulate its temperature, the kidney do not function well, and the immune system weakens. The heart, lungs and ovaries shrinks, your muscles shrinks and the body weakened. What next? “ Valerie ask. “ You die. “ She revealed before letting out a very loud laughter that shook the room.

“ Don’t you think I’ll win the best blogger if I should go into it? Well, please take heart because you’re going to stay longer than expected in this place! “ 

Fear gripped Mira’s heart. Lady Lily not exempted, apart from Sofia, with an unwavering face. Sofia scoffed again.

“ Miss blogger, seems you’ve not searched an important aspect of life. “ Sofia said to Valerie in a mocking tone, evading the laughter on her face.

“ Important aspect of life? “ Valerie repeated.

“ Oh yes. Haven’t you heard about halitosis? “ Sofia asked Valerie. She smiled when she saw Valerie still looking confused.

"It is a condition in which a person produces an unpleasant odour from his or her mouth. From my last research about this, it can be because of social anxiety. Aside that, it can be as a result of dry mouth. We release odour from the back of our mouth each time we talk, what happens when we talk a lot? Talking too much contributes to dehydration in the mouth increasing bad breathe, quote Dr. Mervyn Drulan. Moreover, the scripture advices us to be slow to speak and quick to listen. Now, who amongst us defies the rule? “ Sofia asked.

“ Valerie “…

“ Lady Lily “… 

“ Mira “… 

Lady Lily and Mira beamed with excitement. The trio formed a grin on their faces, at Valerie ( now embarrassed ).

Valerie scoffed, “ You’ll remain here as long as I want. “ 

“ A fool who thinks he is fooling others, not knowing he is fooling himself, is indeed, living in a fool’s paradise. “ Sofia told Valerie. Valerie felt her heart skip.

“ This lady is really evil. “ Valerie thought inwardly. “ What does that supposed to mean? “ She enquired.

“ In paradise, it is me, telling you, congratulations. “ Sofia said and smirked.

Valerie glared at her one last time and left the room in embarrassment.

Lady Lily and Mira began to clap for Sofia as soon as Valerie slammed the door and left. 

“ That was awesome. “  

“ Incredible. “ They praised her.

“ Ma’am, look. “ Mira pointed at the wardrobe which was been pushed out from inside it.

“ Oh my goodness, it eluded me. “  Lady Lily rushed to open the wardrobe.

The trio inside the wardrobe jumped off the wardrobe immediately it was opened.

*Cough*Cough*

The trio ( Eva, John and the security guard ) continued coughing as they sat on the floor. Their faces were red and tears gathered in their eyes.

“ Ho..w…lo..” Eva kept coughing and couldn’t talk straight.

“ I’m sorry, it’s that crazy Valerie. “ Lady Lily told them.

Mira rushed and opened the food pack which Eva and John brought with them and gave the trio water to drink.

After, taking water and almost steadied their breath, Eva glared at Lady Lily. “ What took you so long? “ Eva asked in an annoyed tone.

“ I already told you what happened. “ Lady Lily said. She didn’t know what to say again.

“ Ma’am Eva, thank you again for this and you too Sir John. But, you didn’t plan to break open the door, did you? “ Mira asked her.

“ Yes I wanted to do that. We wanted to do it. I almost said my last prayers in there but, I summoned courage to live. I was going to face Valerie no matter what. “ Eva said with boldness.

“ Thank you. I’m  indebted to the both of you. “ Sofia thanked them. ( Lady Lily and Mira) and also the security guard, you did well.

“ Yes we appreciate. “ Lady Lily added.

Sofia, Lady Lily and Mira ate the food to their fill. The guard was also give some to eat, which he ate thankfully.

…

…

“ Thank you for today.”  Eva told John as soon as they went back to the kitchen.

John turned scarlet red because of the compliment. That thrilled Eva and she laughed at his reactions making John more embarrassed.

“ Are you blushing or what? “  Eva said to John still giggling. John was shocked. He didn’t expect Eva to be that blunt with words.

“ I’m  not. “ John said to her and took the food pack to the washing sink.

Eva watched him wash the plates and returned the food pack to her. (Eva).

“ When should we relate this to Young Master Albert. “ Eva asked.

“ It’s just a day remaining, let’s allow them to be, else we initiate another problem. Moreover, I don’t think Young Master Albert is over with her. He is still under her seductive controls. “

“ If you say so. But, I don’t really think that the guard will allow us repeat today’s visit after what we encountered today. “ Eva also thought about the head guard who flirted with her.

…

…

The embarrassment Valerie encountered in the day’s confrontation with Sofia got Valerie irritated.

She didn’t want think about it as it rose the demon in her. “ How can she do this? “ Valerie asked inwardly in annoyance.

While she mused, her phone rang. Her gaze fell on the screen immediately. She furrowed her eyebrows when she looked at the name revealed by True Caller ID