ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY

SHIMMER'S POV

Things were not going as per my plan; not at all. Earlier on I had scheduled to meet with Delicate, and just a day before she visited me, her mother fell down the stairs and broke her leg. This derailed everything in our plans, because Delicate was unable to leave her mother in such a state. Even after I pleaded with her to come for just one day, she insisted that her mother needed her the most during such a time.

What irritated me the most was that she did not seem keen at all about the new job offer. Other people would have jumped at it; yet she was reluctant. What was wrong with Delicate? Was she one of those people who believed that money on its own is not the answer to everything? Stupid! How can money not be an answer? To me it had always been an answer. I could not imagine life without money.

With the authority that I had, I could have ordered Delicate to report in my office within twenty-four hours; and she surely would have done it; but I wanted to be nice to her. Besides, I had already informed her that the visit was personal, it was not a business meeting. I also wondered why she was not eager to know what I wanted to say to her. Oh Delicate; don't start to disappoint me before we go any further.

I looked at my watch and wondered how many more minutes I needed to wait until she arrived. I was about to call and ask the driver how far away they were, when Iris came in and informed me that my guest was waiting outside. I told her to let her in, and Iris later came with her; Delicate, or Dee, as she wanted to be called.

The young lady walked with grace, I could tell before hearing anything from her, that she was raised well. Her lovely dress hung gracefully to her body. She wore a beautiful jacket on top of the dress. Her shoes, belt and bag matched perfectly, all of them were of beautiful emerald green colour. As she walked, her curls bounced nicely on her shoulders. She wore light makeup, and all in all, she looked stunning. Of course I could never compare her to Anisha. I knew, right from the beginning, that the chance of getting a woman more beautiful than Anisha was close to zero. I had accepted it; I came to accept that when it came to beauty, Anisha was probably the most beautiful of them all. But I wanted more. Beauty on its own was not enough for me. I imagined the de Milos helping the Zamara family in their businesses, and I was sure that Delicate also knew how to run a business. How could she not know, when she was the daughter of the business couple, Mr and Mrs Zamara? Dee's eyes shone at me, and she smiled nervously.

"What an honour it is, doctor de Milo; for me to be invited into the de Milo mansion!" she shook my hand.

"Please do take a seat" Iris offered her a seat, and she called on the maids to bring in some snacks for us.

"I'm very sorry that it took this much time for me to come here. I am terribly sorry. My mother needed me, for she could not even go to the bathroom to take a bath by herself; and I am her only daughter." She explained.

"Oh, I understand; but you could have paid a nurse to do that." I said.

"We had four nurses attending to her; staying in our home full time. But mamma needed me. Sometimes I feel like we need to be there in person, for the people that we love. It was easy to pay for a thousand nurses to attend to her, but my presence meant a lot to her." she said in her sweet voice.

Oh! What a graceful woman. If she valued her family that much; what more could she do to my son? Surely my son was going to be loved endlessly. Finally we had someone who knew the value of family. Someone who knew what it meant to belong to a family; not some random girl picked from an orphanage. My love for Delicate Zamara immediately increased a thousand fold. We spoke a bit more about her recovering mother, then I brought in my issue.

"Tell me, you are a physiotherapist. Where do you see yourself in the next five, eight, ten years?"

She smiled. "My brothers and I are currently working on opening a mini hospital. Nothing fancy, compared to the de Milo Group of hospitals, of course! But we want to try and run something in Yellowleaf."

"Oh, you have brothers? Are they older than you?" I showed interest in her story.

"They're older. They are twins. One is a radiographer, and the other one is a GP. So we were thinking of opening something, the three of us."

Wow. I liked what I was hearing. The girl had a vision.

"When do you plan to open this hospital?" I asked her.

"Umm, we are working on it. That was the reason why I could not give a straight answer, concerning the transfer to Southrain. Our plans are now at a very advanced stage, and I feel bad to leave my brothers at the last minute," Dee explained with a smile.

"But we're offering you very good money," I told her.

"Yes. It's very tempting. But …I still feel bad. It has been our vision for more than a decade. And now that our dream is becoming a reality, I cannot just walk out."

"Are you married, Delicate?" I got straight to the point.

"Married? No. But I am seeing someone, and we're talking marriage," At first she seemed astounded by my direct question, but she started to relax as she continued to talk.

"Ok. Tell me about the guy. What does he do?" I looked at her straight in the eyes. I wanted to read all the facial expressions, the body language and everything. I needed to know how dedicated she was to the man in her life.

"He is into real estate, up in Yellowleaf. We met at university. He's doing very well, and….that's it." She ran out of any further information to say about her man.

"Do you love him?" I asked directly, startling her again.

"Of course I love him, Mrs de Milo!" her voice was a bit high.

"Delicate, may I ask you something? Do you think a marriage should be built on love; love on its own, or you look for someone who meets a certain criteria? Even though you might not love the person, once they tick almost all the boxes, is it not wise to marry them? Some say love will grow, as the two spend time together. Do you believe in that theory?"

"Umm, I am not too sure. I do believe in love. I have my own criteria, I mean I have qualities that I look for in a man. All the same, I believe that in addition to those qualities, I must love the man. Or should I say, first I must love the man, and then I add the other qualities. Love is the first and most important to me."

"I see", I picked a piece of biltong and started chewing on it slowly.

"Why do you ask, doctor de Milo?" she smiled at me.

"I just wanted to know. I thought when a woman is looking for a man, they want a protector. Someone who can protect and provide for you. In addition to being handsome, he must stand by you, and support your dream. For example you have that dream of running a hospital which you want to open together with your brothers. If you ask me, I would tell you to open it with your future husband. That way, the two of you get a stronger bond, as you grow closer and closer together. You need someone who will understand the business that you're running. Someone who brings something with them on to the table. You don't need someone who will just come to get from you, continuously milking you dry, and failing to contribute anything."

She remained silent. She looked at me for a few seconds before lowering her eyes, "you are right, doctor de Milo," she said in a low voice.

"You need to open that hospital with your future husband. But now that you plan to work with your brothers, remember they will get married, or are they married already? You will end up with too many partners in the business. The de Milo group, if I may use it as an example, is owned by myself, my husband and our children. Business ownership should not be overcrowded."

"I understand," she nodded her head. "But my brothers and I have gone very far now. It's impossible for me to retreat."

"And that real estate man of yours? What does he know about running a hospital?" I realise mid-sentence that my tone had become very mocking. I needed to keep my attitude in check; I reminded myself.

"He…he will have to learn," she said.

"Do you believe that a parent can be the best to know what's best for their child?" I continued quizzing her.

"In what way, doctor de Milo?"

"In the way of marriage. As you are now, do you believe that Mr and Mrs Zamara are able to choose for you the best marriage partner?"

"No, doctor de Milo. I do not believe in that. I believe I am old enough to choose my own life partner. My parents may see the man and like him a lot, but what if he is pretending, what if he acts all nice, acting like a gentleman in front of them, and shows his true colours when he is with me? I should marry someone who makes me happy, who meets my own specifications. I don't think my parents should be involved in who I choose to marry." The young lady flatly disputed the idea.

"But do you believe that your parents know better than you?" I forced a smile.

"In terms of my marriage, no. In other areas of life, yes they may know better than me, but when it comes to my marriage, I believe I must be given the power to choose the man I want."

"What if your parents were to tell you that they have chosen for you Dylan, and they tell you that they want you and him to get married?" I brought my issue closer to home.

Her eyes enlarged and they became darker. She shifted a bit in her seat and opened her mouth wide. Yes. I loved that reaction. I felt happy just looking at her. I had her as putty in my hands.

"Dylan? Do you mean doctor Dylan de Milo, your son?" her lower lip hung low soon after she had spoken.

"The one and only," I answered proudly.

"Oh! Did my parents say I must marry him? Did you and my parents talk about the marriage? My mother never told me. Does doctor Dylan know about this; and is he interested in me?" the girl failed to hide her excitement.

"For now it's just you and me having this discussion. I just want to hear what you think." I smiled as I proudly dangled the worm to the fish. The fish was excited. I could see the fish taking the bait. I got you, Delicate! My heart pounded with joy.

"Well, if I am asked to marry doctor Dylan, and considering he too loves me, then…umm, I don't think any girl can say no to that?" she spoke shyly.

"What about your man that you just spoke about?"

"I…in the case that doctor Dylan also loves me, I guess I will have to end things with the guy in Yellowleaf."

"Interesting," I picked a glass of water and took a sip.

Delicate also picked hers and drank from it. She started eating from the plate in front of her, stealing glances at me. I saw her struggling to hide her smile, yet her lips kept deceiving her.

"Ok, so tell me, Delicate; will you join us at the de Milo Children's Hospital; the hospital at which doctor Dylan de Milo is the CEO?"

The girl fumbled with her phone and she playfully pulled on her fingers. I watched her with great interest. My fish was slowly taking the worm. Come on, take the warm; little fish. She placed her phone on the table and acted like she was counting her fingers one by one, and she unbuckled and buckled her wrist watch. She pulled on her watch, scratched her ear and went back to playing with her fingers. All this while, she was facing down. Slowly she lifted her eyes to meet mine, before she quickly looked down and said in a very low voice, but audible to me,

"I accept the transfer, doctor de Milo"