chapter 16

"I'm so happy to hear that. I mean, what we've always wanted is coming to  us." She giggled.

"Yes, it is. Now be a good girl and go back to work.".

"Hello". Anne greeted Mary from behind, leaving her in shock.

"What? What are you doing, her?". Mary yelled in shock as she surveyed her eyes to see if anyone else was around.

"I'm sorry for frightening you. I just came to apologize for what happened earlier.".

"Hehehe!". Marry let out wicked laughter. "You're sorry? Oh really? You don't look sorry to me." She hissed.

"I know you've never liked me from the first day, and I would appreciate it if you stopped rubbing it on my face; I've done nothing wrong to you." Anne told her as she made her way out.

She paused immediately as she stepped out of the kitchen as she recalled the conversation she heard Mary have. "There's something fishy about that lady," she thought.

Anne made her way up the stairs as she began to hear distant noises. She hastened her steps to ensure she saw what was going on.

She found a lady yelling at James in anger. Anne, surprised by what was going on, moved closer to the scene.

"And who are you?". The lady barked at Anee.

"Leave her out of this." James defended.

"Oh, should I? And why should I? Is she the one? Are you the one?". She said this, facing Anne again.

"Please, what's going on here?". Anne asked, confused.

"Please go upstairs and don't come down until I ask you to." James instructed Anne.

"And why should she? Isn't she the reason why my sister is locked up? Don't you dare move an  inch." The lady thundered.

"Rosina, you know exactly why your sister is behind bars, and forcing your way into my house won't do any good but harm. I can also make you join her in a second, so just leave.". 

"I'm not leaving this place, not until you let my sister go. She's the mother of your child, remember?". 

"You mean the same child she turned her back on because I was nothing? She denied Sophia; don't you remember? She's only bearing Sophia's mother because I haven't remarried, so don't come here and preach to me. Guards!". He thundered.

"Yes Boss". Two armed men answered as they walked in.

"Get this woman out of my house and make sure she doesn't step her feet into the house ever again." He instructed.

"Noted Boss". They chorused as they dragged the last out of the mansion.

"I know I have no right to question your decision, but please release her." Amer begged.

"I should pretend like I didn't hear that, and I'm glad that you're aware that you shouldn't be interfering with my business." He said as he continued with his food. 

"I apologize for that, but I'm sure that she has learned her lessons.". 

"Hmm!". He scoffed. "Lessons? Amanda? You just won yourself an enemy; with time, you'll come to  understand." He said this as he sipped his tea.

Silence fell in their mist as the thoughts of telling James what she overheard in the kitchen wandered in Anne's head. She took a deep breath as she decided to carry out a survey before coming to a conclusion.

"Do you want anything or want to say anything?". James asked her after observing her cantance.

"No! I mean, yes! I wanted to inform you that I'll be leaving now; I have to go check up on my  mother." She voiced out.

"Okay! We should go together then. I'm done with this." He responded as he wiped out his mouth.

"No. That shouldn't be necessary. I mean, you have  a lot of work to do, and I can take care of her myself with the help of Eun.".

"If you insist, I have no say when it comes to your personal life. I'll ask one of them to give you a ride home. And yes! My regards to your mother.".

"Take you, sir." She smiled while he returned the smile.

*********

Anee placed a soft knock on the door while expecting to get the biggest scolding of her life.

"You're finally home?". Eun chuckled mockingly.

"Good morning, Eun. How's mother?". Anee asked, ignoring Eun's question.

"If you cared that much about her, why then did you leave with a notification?".

"I'm sorry, Eun. I was in a hurry, and I didn't want to disturb your sleep.".

"And didn't it occur to you that we would be worried when we find out you weren't home, you didn't even care to call, and you think you can just bang into his house, huh?".

"Huh? I wanted to call, but he said he already had. please… I didn't mean to." Anee pleaded.

"He? He who? Eun teased.

"James, of course! Don't tell me, he didn't call.". 

"He did. So tell me how it went. What happened through the night?".

"Eun! What were you expecting to happen? Sleep, of course. Please, I want to see Mother.".

"I just hope you're telling the truth." Eun teased as she walked behind Anne.

Anne met her mother sleeping as she walked back to the living room, running away from Eun's questions.

She stood by the window, recalling the previous night with James. She still couldn't bring herself to believe that she made out with him or stop herself from smiling as she recalled every moment.

Her thoughts quickly drifted to Mary's conversation: "Who was the person she was talking to? Who really is she?". She thought.

Her eyes were still outside the compound when she saw a man wearing a mask taking a photo of their house and driving away before she could even make a sound.

She ran outside to see what model of car it was, believing that it might be James doing it, but she noticed that she had never seen such a model at the mansion, meaning that someone was spying on them.

Who could it be? She thought.