COMPLICATED – Episode 11

Complicated

Written by Princess Juliet

Episode 11

Her mother’s love

It was Saturday morning, a special day for the Hobsons. Today, their first son Greg and his not-so-beautiful fiancee Nancy would be officially engaged by 6:00pm in front of some important and well distinguished guests at the family hotel.

Feeling bored, Jayden decided to drive around the city to see the sights. He wore a jacket over his shirt, picked up his car key and dashed out of his room and down the staircase into the sitting room where a surprising sight greeted his eyes.

The foyer of the mansion looked like a total mess and was disorganised. There were dozens of servants in white uniforms, busy in their respective tasks. They were going here and there, shifting wrapped items, food, drinks, and other stuff in the cars. Jayden was astounded to see that his family has umpteen number of domestic workers, ‘or did they hire them because of a one day occasion? So amazing!

He squeezed his way to the front door and walked around to the other side of the house, heading to the garage.

“Where are you going son?” Hearing his dad’s voice brought him to a standstill and he slowly turned around, Trent was sitting there in the relax house beside the pool, crossing and uncrossing his legs and was smiling proudly as he watched the scene before him.

“Out,” Jayden grunted his response and Trent merely nodded his head to that.

“Do make sure you return early,” He said gently, “I want to introduce you to her today.”

Who? Jayden wanted to ask, but then he remembered the colleague daughter that he, his dad was always blabbing about.

“Alright,” He simply said and climbed into his car. He started it and slowly began to drive out through the open gate when his cell phone suddenly dinged signifying a WhatsApp message.

He fished it out of his jean pocket to check out the sender and saw it was Atarah.

“I didn’t see you in office.”

“Where are you?” He messaged her back straight away.

“In front of the hospital,” Her response came almost immediately.

“Alright, wait there for me.”With that, he tossed his cell phone onto the passenger seat, made a quick u-turn, and sped down the highway leading to the hospital.

Just as he took the last turning, he saw her. She was leaning against a random car and was looking so pretty in her blue and white checkered gown.

The faintest shadow of smile played on his lips as he slowed down the car and stopped right beside her.

Atarah moved her head up and noticed him just then. A bit startled, she hesitated a moment before rushing to his car.

“Good afternoon, Dr Jayden.” She squinted slightly trying to get a glimpse of him through the darkly tinted window and this made Jayden laughed.

He retrieved his cell phone from the passenger seat before winding down the window, “Get in.” He said softly and Atarah looked at him confused at first, unsure of what he was saying.

“Aren’t we supposed to go inside?”

“Nah,”Jayden shook his head slightly, “I’m taking the day off.”

But why? Atarah so badly wanted to know the reason, but she was afraid of questioning him lest he gets angry and fires her, he was the boss anyway!

She walked around the car, opened the door and meekly climbed into the passenger seat, closing the door behind her. “You should’ve at least informed me earlier,” She mumbled this words so Jayden wouldn’t hear but unfortunately he did.

He glanced at her and forced himself to breathe deeply, “I’m sorry.”

Atarah stared at him, surprised. ‘Did the mighty Jayden Hobsons just apologise to me?’ She sat still in silent wonder.

“So, “Jayden started the car engine and turned to her, “Where should we hang out?”

‘And now, he is asking for my opinion.’Atarah was even more surprised. She looked out of the window and at the giant billboard poster of him adjacent to them.

“Let’s go to the fashion house,”She replied softly and Jayden regarded her with a puzzled expression, “I want to see you model.”

“Oh,” He nodded his head slowly, finally understanding her. Without wasting time, he jammed his boot on the accelerator and sped down the busy road, driving past an old abandoned building that once used to be an hospital.

His countenance changed that instant and Atarah noticed it.

“Are you alright?” She softly asked.

Jayden nodded wordlessly and increased his speed, and to Atarah’s dismay began to overtake vehicles. He was impatient to get to his destination.
~

After driving for about ten miles, he finally braked and parked out in front of the white building.

“Thank heavens!”Atarah let out her breathe in a sigh of relief and quickly got out of the car, panting heavily, her heart was beating erratically. ‘Jeez! What the heck is wrong with him? Why drive so fast, did he want to ki*ll us?’ She looked towards Jayden who was just climbing out and her heart literally stopped seeing his full form.

He was looking so handsome in his all black outfit, though he was dressed more simply that she’d seen him, in dark jeans and a black long jacket and heavy boots.Wow!

Jayden met her gaze and mouthed the word. “What?”

“Nothing.” She looked away from him and stared down at the floor shyly.

Jayden stared at her, puzzled for a moment and then started to laugh.

“What?”Atarah raised her head and gave him a questioning look.

“Nothing.”He walked into the building and led the way through the passage and into the glass-dome room where Toby stood staring blankly at his phone.

“Toby,” He called out his name and only then did Toby notice him.

“Oh my goodness Jayden,” He heaved a long heavy sigh as he walked over to him, “I was about dialling your number.”His voice, his eyes was full of sadness and Jayden didn’t fail to notice that.

“What’s up with you?”He asked concernedly and Toby sighed again

“It is my girlfriend, Hilary. Her father wants her to get………”His voice trailed off into silence when he noticed Atarah and his brows lifted in genuine surprise.

“You came with her?”

Jayden glanced over his shoulder, Atarah was standing close to the doorway with a child-like smile on her face as she watched the models in the next room pose in front of the cameras.

“Continue,” Jayden whispered to Toby, he was a bit pissed off by the interruption.

“Sure! Sure! Sure!” Toby took his arm and led him out of the room and to a quiet corner. “It is my girlfriend, Hilary.”He resumed talking and Jayden snatched his arm out his grasp. “Her father wants her to get into a relationship with you.”

“Me?”Jayden didn’t, couldn’t understand him, “How?”He was completely confused.

“He planned on introducing her to you today and your father is fully aware of it.”Toby’s explanation cleared the air and he nodded his head slowly, finally understanding everything.
‘So she is the colleague daughter dad is always talking about, impossible!’

“You have to play along with it, Jay.” Toby looked at him, his blue eyes wide and desperate. “You know, pretend like you’re hooked up, give a thousand reasons why you can’t date her, let the rejection come from you. That’s the only way to make her greedy father back down and let us alone in peace.”

“Is your girl aware of this?”Jayden wanted to know.

Toby nodded his head in response. “And one more thing,” He smiled a mischievous grin. “Don’t fall for her beautiful looks.”

“Crazy a**hole,” Jayden cuffed his shoulder playfully. When he returned to the glass room, he found Atarah sitting posed on the sofa and was smiling as two fashion photographers took her pictures.

“What’s going on here?” He demanded and they paused, the two photographers and stared at him.

“She has a beautiful smile, boss.”One of them replied causally and Jayden nodded, studying Atarah thoughtfully.

Her eyes, he noticed were large and beautiful, her skin naturally tanned. She was wasp-waisted and had this angelic smile. D**n! How had he not notice her perfect beauty until now?

“I’ll take the picture with her,” He heard himself say, almost like he wasn’t the one talking.

“What?” The photographers exchanged puzzled glances while Toby couldn’t control himself and burst out laughing.

“Are you sure about this dude?”He questioned Jayden.

“Yes, I want to make her my modelling partner.” Jayden was now certain that he wanted this. He walked over to the sofa, and to Atarah’s surprise, took her hand and helped her up to her feet.

Their eyes locked, and Jayden felt a different kind of warmth slide through him; he knew right away that he needed to get to know her.
Stepping closer, he slipped his hand around her waist and pulled her gently against him.

Atarah gasped but made no attempt to move. She was lost staring at his ocean blues eyes and was almost drowning inside them.

“Take as many pictures as you want,” Jayden told the photographers without looking at them, his eyes was intently fixed on Atarah without blinking, “I want our faces on the front cover of the hospital magazines.”

The photographers immediately set to work and began clicking their cameras, taking pictures of them in every position possible.

“You’ll need to kiss her now, boss.” One of them said, with a mischievous grin and Atarah almost choked on her saliva.

“We aren’t gonna do that, are we?” She looked at Jayden and he just stared back at her, not knowing how to respond.

His Phone suddenly rang, breaking the heated tension in the room and Jayden couldn’t be more pleased.

He fished it out of his jacket pocket and saw that it was Greg.
“Holyshit!” He cursed under his breathe as he received it.

“This is almost 6pm, Jayden,”Greg’s deep voice boomed somewhat angrily from the other end, “Where the hell are you?”

“I’m on my way bro, don’t wait for me.” Jayden replied in a rush and ended the phone call. “I need to get going guys.” He nodded at Toby and passed Atarah a signal before leaving the room.

Atarah sheepishly followed behind him,all the while wondering what the rush was all about.

“Are you going somewhere else?”She asked as they got to his car.

Jayden nodded. “I need to attend a family function.”

“Oh,” She looked away from him and just played with her fingers shyly. She was expecting him to give her a ride home, but he didn’t. He just got into the car, waved her goodbye and sped down the road.

Atarah stood there, surprised, almost speechless. ‘Did that just happen?’ She watched his car until it disappeared around a corner, and then took a taxi home.

~~

She arrived home just before sunset and her mother looked so happy to see her.

“Welcome darling,”She took Atarah arm and led her to the sofa, “I have a good news for you.”

“Seriously, mum!” Atarah grew excited hearing that, “Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! What’s it?” She bounced on the sofa like a giddy child.

A smile of satisfaction lit up her mother’s eager face and she reached for the folded paper on the centre table. “Here,” She handed it to Atarah.

Atarah was curious. She slowly unfolded the paper and a puzzled look came across her face as she read through it.
A letter of appointment, but why?She was also confused.

“I talked to my boss about you and she decided to hire you as a junior staff in her firm.”Her mother explained excitedly.

“But I already have a part time job, mum.” Atarah argued and her mother sprang up to her feet and glared at her, annoyance was clear on her face.

“I want you to quit working there.”She said,with finality and turned toward the kitchen.

“Never,” Atarah stood up to her and she froze in her steps, “Not until you give me a tangible reason,” She bit her lip as she heard the pain in her daughter’s voice.

Slowly, she turned around and forced out a smile.
“As a mother, I’m not perfect. I may have made a mistake in the past while trying to look out for you. I just want to protect you, I love you so much, Tarah.”

Sobs welled up in Atarah’s throat, forcing streams of tears from her eyes. She was so confused. She ran into her room, slammed the door behind her, and fell onto her bed crying.

Despite not understanding what her mother said, she was so sure about one thing. Her mother never abandoned her, she sent her to the Philippines just to protect her.

TBC