Chapter 9: The mysterious man

Aunty Iren was out of the villa and stood in front of the roadside waiting for a taxi. It was exactly 1:00 Pm and the sun rays were burning, this left Aunt Iren in a displeased mood. Soon she was able to get herself a taxi. "Street 21?" Aunt Iren asked, stretching her hands from the other side of the road and waiting for a response.

"Yes, madame!" the taxi driver retorted. Aunt Iren entered the taxi and folded her arms so right, she seemed worried, but why was she? She sounded not happy as she was unable to reveal everything she had in her but for the rest, she sounded at peace for vehemently talking to Mrs. Jane Easton.

"Oops! I'm on my way to Caitlyne's house without informing Mariah, I better call her." Aunt Iren said, as she just remembered she had not informed Mariah that she was on her way, the taxi driver turned and asked if she had been talking to him and she declined, she told him she had been murmuring to herself. The next thing aunt Iren did was open her bag and search for her phone, she noticed the phone wasn't in the first pocket this got her worried as her face became more darker "I thought I kept my phone here and now is nowhere, did I mistakenly drop it at the Easton villa? No, I don't think I did that, when I entered the villa, I don't recall removing my phone out of my bag.'' she said as she tried recalling what happened at the villa. She then searched for it in the middle of her bag and found it lying helplessly. In absolute shock, she tried calming down herself, she thought her phone was stolen by an unknown person.

She later scrolled through her contacts searching for Mariah's number, when she found it, she dialed her number. "Hello, my girl."

"Hello aunt Iren, how are you ?"

"I'm good and you? Called just to inform you that I'm in town already and I'll be heading to Caitlyne's house, I hope you are around?" Aunt Iren said gently.

"Aunt I'm sorry, I completely forgot you mentioned you were coming, right now I'm not at home, I went out with Naja and we are presently at her job site, but Caitlyne is home as she developed a cold and couldn't make it to her job site. I hope you don't mind joining her while we see each other shortly?" Mariah said gently.

"No worries my daughter, I'll be home waiting for you, and I'm really happy you are out, it proves you are willing to change your ideas, I'm so happy for you my girl." Iren mumbled.

In a few minutes, the taxi driver dropped Iren at street 21. "How much is my bill"

"14.75$ madame." the driver exclaimed.

"Here is 15$, thanks for the lift." Iren mentioned with a smile on her face.

From street 21 to Caitlyne's home, it was just a matter of seconds before she arrived. Iren was finally at Caitlyne's cottage and she knocked on the door, by that time Caitlyne was in the kitchen trying to get herself a hot cup of coffee when she heard someone knocking. "Yes, a minute!" Caitlyne exclaimed as she was on her way to open the door.

"Hey aunt welcome, I hope your journey was a success?" she mentioned as she helped her with her luggage

"Thanks my daughter, it was not bad. Before arriving here, I called Mariah and she made me understand that she was with Naja at her job site and I was so glad." Iren said while taking a seat.

"I was equally blissful this morning when I heard her say she was actually following Naja."

Caitlyne took Iren's belongings to the guest room, and was back downstairs at the same minute, she asked if she had taken something since morning, Iren answered saying she had taken bread with omelette by 10:00 am, this got Caitlyne worried, she abandoned her cup of coffee in the living room and found herself in the kitchen making something delicious for aunt Iren.

Mariah tried calling Caitlyne to inform her that aunt Iren was on her way home, but she could not get to her, as her phone sounded not to be going through. Naja, who was back from a delivery, noticed her face wasn't rosy, and feared that she might be thinking about Neil. In fear she asked why her face wasn't sharp, and Mariah explained to her what she was worried about.

"I think you should calm down, Caitlyne is home and she's going to take good care of Aunt Iren, you literally got me worried, I thought you had been thinking about Neil." Naja implored. Immediately as Naja said this, Mariah's face got darker indicating sadness.

"Anyways, I wasn't thinking about him, I have been worried for my aunt, what if Caitlyne isn't home?" Mariah asked, as she raised her head and looked straight into Naja's eyes.

"Caitlyne is home!"

The two ladies returned to the cave as they still had a lot of work to do before getting home, given that it was a Saturday. On Saturdays, the restaurant was always full given that they were in a zone where the ladies in that area never loved making home food, they preferred getting meals at their restaurant. On their way to the cave, there was this young man who walked up to them and asked for some recommendations, Naja was behind while Mariah walked fast as she had some plates in her hands which were heavy. This man had been following them since morning from the house till the restaurant, he had no opportunity to see them until that hour when he walked in, he moved forward to Naja and stopped her, he asked if they could have a two-minute talk. Naja kept looking at this man with a fierce face, all her life she had never seen this man, and she was wondering why the man wanted to have a two-minute talk with her. At first, when he approached her, she thought he was lost and needed some clarification, but from his words, she realized the man certainly had something to tell her.