CHAPTER TEN

The minute he had satisfied himself, he stood up and headed towards the stairs. He took it to the second floor where he had his own personal bedroom. He kept most of his clothes here and the other half were still in the closet in his room at the Park's residence. 

He got into the shower and after a thorough cleaning, had a change of clothing before heading downstairs for dinner. He had a chef who also doubled as the housekeeper. 

Since he didn't usually stay at the house, the woman was responsible for overseeing other

domestic workers working in the house and whenever he was around and needed to eat, she would perform her chef duties. 

So far, the arrangement had been great and he paid all of them handsomely. However, his occasional bursts of anger made most of his staff concerned but since he hadn't shown signs of being mentally challenged, they let him be. 

Nicole Conner, who happens to be his most recent girlfriend was also not allowed into the house unless he called her beforehand to wait for him there. 

Nicole was Hale's daughter who also wanted to be the most powerful official at Crates and also the father-in-law to the company president. 

Hales Conner, who works as a director at Crates is a greedy fellow who would stop at nothing in order to achieve his aim. He sold the idea of being Roger's girlfriend to his daughter and she,being as greedy as her father, didn't think twice before jumping on the wagon. 

Now, his latest desire is for Roger to engage Nicole. That way, he'd be able to get more respect and power in the company. 

Roger got down to dinner and was immediately served. He had just started eating when his phone began to ring. He took a look at the caller ID and continued eating like he hadn't heard it ring. 

The phone stopped ringing and connected to his voicemail. A minute later, the phone rang for the second time and Roger ignored it as usual. It rang for the third time and he did the same. 

"It's Chris, right?" Nicole asked him when silence was restored at the table. 

"Hmmm..." A single word. That meant he wasn't interested in talking about it. He continued eating unperturbed until his phone made a song and lit up as a message came in. 

"Oh no. I don't want to be his brother. I don't want him to love me." Roger shouted after he had taken a minute to go through the message that came in. 

He flung the phone far away from him and stood up staggering. He pranced around the room in a few strides before walking towards the coffee table and picking up his keys. He went straight to the front door and slammed it shut behind him. 

A minute later, Nicole heard the loud revving of his car's engine. She hurriedly walked to one of the windows in the living room in time to see him back out of the garage and drive down to the gate before letting himself out of the compound. 

She stood there looking at him until the rear lights of his car disappeared with different conflicting emotions in her eyes. 

Roger drove on mad as the afternoon sun in New York. He knew where he wanted to be. That place never failed him no matter what. He had always found his healing there. 

He remembered the first time he had discovered the place. It had been on the day he returned from school and net his father frolicking happily with Chris in his study. 

He remembered storming out of the house on that day and taking off in foot. He was just walking and then he saw the narrow turn in the road. He had bravely followed it until he found the place. It later turned to be his place of healing and succour. 

Right now he was headed there. He needed to cleanse himself of all that had happened during the day. He was now on the road leading to the Park's residence. 

About a stone throw away from the house, his car slowed down and he gently navigated a little fork on the right side of the road. After traveling in his car for almost half a kilometre, he stopped the car and hurriedly got out of it and walked forward. 

Mina kept walking. She was about to give up and sleep at the busstop when she suddenly remembered something. As usual, the idea had flickered in her brain like a lightbulb. 

She still remembered the neighborhood where Chairman Park had his house. She knew that getting to Chairman Park's residence was like she had also gotten home. After all, he was her father's boss. 

Having gotten a solution, she stood to her feet and waited eagerly for the next person so she would get directions from them. Luckily for her, there was a bus going in che same direction so she was placed on it after explaining her plight. 

The bus dropped her at the busstop and she beamed with joy, seeing that her travails were almost over. She was able to recognise a few landmarks from the last time she came with her father to visit the chairman. 

That was six months ago and that was the last time she had been in the city. It was after her last visit her parents moved houses and she hadn't been to the new house. All she was a rushed verbal description of it from her mouther a few months ago. 

She was about a stone throw away from the house and already rejoicing when she noticed a car slow down on the other side of the road and gently ease into a side road. 

The lights were on in the car and she could see that the driver of the car happened to be Roger, Chairman Park's first son. She had seen him the last time although it was brief. She also remembered his face from the yearly publication of Crates. 

She furrowed her brows as she thought of what could be wrong with him for him to abandon going home when he was just a few metres away from it. She hurriedly crossed to the other side of the road and followed it for about six minutes. 

She got to where his car was parked and began to look around. She was scared of shouting since she didn't want to be discovered. She gently placed her bag on the floor beside the car and began to stealthily creep forward. 

The sound of a murmuring stream made her raise her head and that confused her the more. Walking forward, she saw the water rushing and approached it with caution while still watching out for signs of Roger. 

She was almost at the river bank when she felt something drop on her like a cloth. She flailed around in order to free herself but she lost her footing and fell into the water. 

She thrashed about in the water and felt someone dive into the water behind her. She was lifted out of the water and made to stand on the bank. She was about to say something when she felt the barrel of a pistol held against her forehead. 

Roger got to the river bank and removed his shoes. He waded in barefooted into the water as he rolled up the hem of his pants. Lifting up his face and stretching out his hands like a kid the way he usually did whenever he came there, he felt the water's healing power flow through him. 

Since it was a hit summer night, he decided to do a few laps in the water. Stepping back out of the water, he pulled off his clothes and left only with his briefs, he went into the water and swam unhindered. 

He was going around in little circles on the water surface when he saw the silhouette of someone approach the water. He quickly dashed a rock which rose out of the water. This enables him to clearly see whoever was coming but they couldn't see him. 

He was surprised to see it was a young girl about his brother's age and wondered what she was coming to do there at that time of the night. However when he remembered all that had been going on around him recently, he grabbed his jacket and dropped it on her in order to confuse her. 

Contrary to his expectations, she fell into the water. When he saw that she had a difficulty being in the water, he dived in after her and brought her back to land. He had already prepared his pistol before diving into the water to rescue her. 

While he was trying to support her to stand properly, he already had his pistol in his hand. 

The minute she stabilised, he had the cold weapon pressed against her forehead.