Chapter 9 Chapter 9

Eva again started laughing and saying,

"You don't know what has been happening these past few days?. Are you this naive Betty?", she asked.

This question left a lot of questions roaming through Betty's mind and she was more curious to know what her friend could be referring to.

She looked at her and asked what was so funny that she couldn't share with her.

Eva sighed and walked to the other side of the kitchen and leaned on the wall and with the help of her left hand, she placed it under her chin for support as she looked at her friend with teasing eyes.

Bethany was getting impatient and she turned to continue with the cleaning of the sink since that was the last thing to do to complete her work in the kitchen.

She was the type that knew her friend's behavior to be guided so she thought to herself that might she had nothing to say but just wanted to showcase her normal personality of being a nuisance.

Eva noticed that her friend was interested in her and wasn't taking her serious either so she left from her spot and walked to her taking a glass from the glass stand and getting a bottle of water from the fridge saying,

" Did you notice anything strange from the incident that had happened to you? she asked opening the bottle of water, and pouring it into the glass slowly so as not to let it spill on the dry and wiped surface.

Bethany couldn't recall much from the incident so she was wondering what her friend was talking about.

"What do you mean Eva?", she asked lost from all indications, and wanted to hear what her friend had off her chest.

Eva drank up the first glass and poured out some more water into the glass again.

Bethany's face was pale and twisted with anguish and anxiety to hear what her friend had to say, her eyes sunk from waiting for her friend to spill whatever she had to say.

Eva looked from the window of the kitchen onto a fallen fresh air from the summer and said to her friend,

"Didn't you notice how caring our boss was with you?",

Bethany opened her eyes would open and her mouth was in shock as someone was stroke by an incurable disease.

She closed the door behind her and walked closer to her friend asking?

" What in heaven are you saying Eva?", she asked in total confusion.

Eva was surprised by the naivety of her friend and how innocent she was not to have noticed anything.

Bethany could have been very mad if this was going from someone else but she wasn't as it was her friend that was saying it and knowing who Eva was, she could not be saying something like this for anything.

"I believe you must have noticed that he was at the hospital to check on you and he also settled the hospital bills too or did you not?", She interrogated strolling in the kitchen to the cupboard standing by it to get some coated peanuts.

Bethany was dumbfounded by how much Eva had noticed and she became worried about what the other colleagues must be saying behind her back at that precise moment.

" You know fully well that I had never seen our boss in person and I didn't know his name either", she defended herself from whatever Eva was thinking in her head.

Her mother called out from the living room and she had to attend to her mom before coming back to the kitchen to continue with the conversation.

When she went to meet her mother, she wanted her to make some tea for her so as to help her to sleep.

Bethany came back to the kitchen to meet her friend who was still feeding on the peanuts with so much appetite.

She put on the stove, poured some water into a kettle, and put it on the stove.

She took a chair by the kitchen door and sat down on it as she had not yet recovered fully.

With deep thought and a huge sigh, Eva continued,

"I had never seen the Mr. Duke behave in that manner before with anyone. He is always so busy and he keeps a straight face whenever he passes by his staff". She narrated.

Bethany was silent and kept listening to what her friend had to let out.

Eva brought into the world something that Bethany wasn't even thinking of talk less of noticing

The heat from the kitchen cookstove permeated the whole kitchen and the kettle signaled that the water was ready for the tea preparation.

Bethany stood up and put off the stove and with the help of the right hand and he feet taking her up to get a tea goblet from the kitchen holds off, she brought out a tea mug and took a sieve from the little stand, and sieved the teach into the mug and excused herself to go give her mom.

Duke was on his way out to give his dirty dresses to a laundry room to be washed.

Dunbar pressing was his favorite laundry place since he had become a young adult and the hospitality the team showed to their clients was top-notch.

The laundry place was very clean and orderly and their parking spaces were always available no matter the hour of the day or night.

His staff at home always took out his laundry but he had some peculiar outfits that he loved to take them for washing himself.

He stepped out of his car putting on a short sleeve shirt over a pair of clean white shorts and some good slippers.

From the outside one could have a view of the laundry room as the glass that centered the front door was transparent which made it visible enough.

He was already a regular client there as he was known by his name by all the crew.

He pushed the door and entered the laundry place and the receptionist smiled upon seeing him.

" Welcome Mr. Duke, trust you are doing fine today?", she said with an extreme politeness.

"Thank you Tessa I am fine, what about you?", he asked as he dropped his batch on the desk.

She smiled and said," I am okay too".

She took the dresses and went through them, aggravating a receipt on each dress in order not to get them mixed with the other costumes in the washroom.

When she was done doing that, she asked when he was going to come back for them, and are responded by saying as soon as possible.

Tessa nodded and handed over a general receipt to him which stated the total amount of the dresses.

Duke wished her a nice and lovely day and she did the same too. He left from there to his favorite spot to wait for his friend Henry.

Bethany came back into the kitchen to meet her friend and she told her friend that they should go to the garden to better discuss.

It was sunset and the sweet evening breeze blew from East to West and North to South and it was a good time to enjoy nature in all its splendor.

Eva accepted to follow her friend outside and together they went and sat on the bench that was in the terraces.

The vision of bringing up the topic again made Eva cold because it seems that she had said something that her friend didn't like.

She looked up her mouth tremblings and with a heavy sigh she took her friend's hands and apologized for saying the things that she had said back in the kitchen

Bethany was surprised that her friend was apologizing for something so small like that's and she said,

"Hush now Eva, you didn't say anything bad rather I am the person to apologize to you for my behavior", she spoke with her head bent down like a sinner.

She had let her anger for Duke turned her into an aggressive person ever since she saw him. by her hospital bed.

" I was just carried away by what he had done to me in the past and so I didn't want to see him", She narrated sadly.

Eva was in a terrible position stroke by concussion as she couldn't decipher what her friend was talking about.

With a devastating look and a friendly voice, she asked,

"What are you babbling about Betty?".

Eva had no idea of what her friends were trying to say but she was ready to find out.

Bethany continued,

" I had met him under unfriendly circumstances but I could never imagine that she was the owner of the hotel where I was working at and his behavior that day was one of a rascal". She spoke pressing her hands tightly onto her thighs.

Eva could not still make out what she was trying to say and asked her friend to be more explicit with her choice of words so that she could understand her better.

With a deep breath and sweating forehead, she said,

"He tried to knock me down one day in front of the hotel and he didn't apologize". She finally let out her frustration and the reason why she was so mad at him.

Bethany hated rich people right from when she was small because of an ugly encounter that her family had with a rich man.

" So you hate someone for something she did unknowingly to you?", Eva asked surprised.

Bethany opened her eyes and just couldn't believe what her friend had just said.

"He tried to run me over and he didn't have the courtesy to apologize, instead he brought down his glass and yelled out at me in an arrogant manner", she spoke out of resentment.

Bethany was a good lady with a golden heart but she had a problem which was her short temper.

She easily got angry and could be irrational occasionally.

" Can you just calm down Betty, I understand that you are hurt by what he did but that man risked his life to save yours and that is something you ought to be grateful about", she reasoned her friend.

Bethany whizzed and got up from the bench and walked around the lawn in an attempt to calm down herself and to breathe in some fresh air.

She knew very well that she had crossed the limit with her friend and that she had raised her voice whereas she was only stating what she had noticed.

Some minutes had passed and with a remorseful attitude and a face full of regrets, she apologized to her friend and said that her emotions had gotten the better part of me.

Beyond the tough-hearted girl that she was proving to be, she was a very nice person and a good friend and daughter.

Yet even that was not salved enough for the hurt that she felt when he did that. Though that had happened, she had to be thankful to the man who saved her and paid her hospital bills, at least he deserved that much even though he is a monster as you paint him.

There was a moment of silence between both friends as Bethany was processing what her friend had just said.

Time had passed and the night had set in. The cold was now felt heavy and it was time for Bethany to go inside to take her medications.

Eva on her part had a date with a certain guy that he didn't know and had never met as she was invited by another friend to that date.

Bethany wished goodnight to her friend and watched her leave while she too went into the house to keep warm.

Her mood had changed from the words of her friend and her heart had become lighter to the recognition of what Mr. Duke had done for her.

She entered the house and sat on the sofa and with the help of a cushion, she supported her back with several of them so as not to get hurt from sitting in the same position for too long.

Her mind narrowed to what could be called flashbacks as she remembered what her dad always told them about forgiving people.

"How could the world be so cruel to such a good and harmless man like my father", she muttered in pain as some droplets of tears dropped down her eyes.

With the back, of her right hand, she wiped her eyes and struggled to swallow the lump that had formed in her neck that had begun hurting from remaining there.

She sighed while looking at her late father's pictures that were hung on the wall and her heart began beating faster than the normal way thus she knew that she had to calm down at least for the sake of her sick mother.

If her mother had to walk in on her crying because of the memories of her late husband, her wounds too will open up and it won't do any good to her.

Bethany was interrupted by the sound of the closing of the front door and the limping step into the deck.

She wasn't bothered as she was pleased that her kid brother had returned from where he had gone to.

Bryan was rarely at home as he will always refer to the house as a " Woman's workplace", she said smiling.

Bryan walked across the room and he tapped his sister's shoulders as he sat down beside her.

"Hope you are feeling better now?", he asked all concerned like a father will do to his daughter.

Bethany smiled at him and kissed his forehead and touching his nose.

She loved her junior brother so much coupled with the fact that they were just the both of them to their parents and he was always by her side.

He drawled himself like a cat on the sofa leaking his mouth and rubbing his belly like a little puppy that wanted some milk.

She knew what her brother wanted so she told him to go get dinner from the kitchen because that was what he was about to ask next teasing him.

Bryan's face lightened up as he laughed out loud telling his sister that he is a man so he needs to eat well.

He somehow noticed that their mother was not in the living room so he asked his sister where mommy was.

Bethany answered him with her hands on his cheeks grabbing his jaws just like she will always do telling him that mother was resting in her room.

He was happy to hear that his mother was sound like a newborn baby so he rose to his feet and with a long stretch, led himself into the kitchen to get something to eat.

He took out his dinner from the kitchen and started walking towards the dining room to eat his meal.

" Do you care for some noodles", he asked as he ate them rolling his eyes as though he had never eaten noodles all his life.

Bethany glared at her brother and was happy that he was having a good time.

Duke was all alone at the bar waiting for his friend to arrive.

He had called him severally and there was no response from him. He dialed his number again but when he got no response from Henry, he became worried.

"Where could he be now?", he asked disturbed.

" Hey Handsome, do you care for a brew? a voice asked from behind as she walked in front of him.

With a rush and inquiry attitude, he lifted his head to take a look at the person who had spoken from behind.

There stood a tall caramel young lady with a pair of revealing jeans and a T-shirt matched with sandals.

He took time to look at what he could call a deity in human form.

Her curves were printed from her jeans and her beauty illuminated the place.

"Hello, beautiful damsel, yes I will very much like a drink with you", Duke said as he rose on his feet and pulled a chair for her to seat on.

" I have been watching you from the corner handsome and I must confess that you are my exact kind of man", she asserted with so much boldness.

Duke was always excited over ladies who were this good and stated what they wanted without any fear or shame.

Her ascent and her words spoke for her as an influential lady and someone who has a place in the situation.

The conversation had become interesting between the both of them and she forgot that she had not yet introduced herself.

"I am Rochelle Craig, an accredited reporter and I work in a journalism firm", she related.

Duke was impressed by what he was seeing and he introduced himself too.

When the lady to the knowledge of whom she was speaking with, she held her breath and couldn't talk for some minutes just wondering if the name he just called was real.

" You are Duke Smith?" she asked as though she wanted to scream out to everyone at the bar.

"Yes I am", he asserted.

She got up from her seat and with unexplainable energy, she jumped ok Duke shouting, I am a fan of your works sir and I have read about the works of your enterprise.

Your father was one of my role models and I often researched his wealth and enterprises.

She was so overwhelmed with joy that she couldn't withhold her countenance.

Duke had to calm her down and ask her to sit down as people at the bar had already started taking pictures of them and he was aware of the effects that were going to bring ok the next day which is supposed to be a Monday.