Chapter 4

Nina left the tray of tea and snacks a while ago on Eleanor's table. But Eleanor was so busy that she couldn't set time aside to enjoy it. Afterwards, it got cold. However, she had no attention to it. She was roaming all over her room looking for an important file.

"Where did I keep it? TCH!"

Suddenly the phone rang. Eleanor squinted her eyes since it was an unexpected call. Although she was kinda troubled by it, Eleanor picked it up. “Hello? Eleanor Anderson speaking here.”

"Eleanor!" A female voice whispered from the other side of the phone. 

Somehow the voice made Eleanor jump out of joy, " Oh my!!! Aunt Laura! After a long time." It was Laura Anderson on the other side of the phone, the one and only daughter of Miranda And also Eleanor’s aunt. 

The one who first gave Eleanor blessings other than Eleanor’s father was Laura. She had no child of her own and had only an adoptive daughter named Lione. But for some reason, Laura used to love Eleanor more than Lione. Although she never showed it well, her caring for Eleanor was reflected in her actions naturally.

However, it was just Laura who used to like her niece a bit, others seemed to be the same as usual. That went for Eleanor’s grandmother too. In the end, Eleanor had to face bitter treatment because of that!

"Don't 'Aunt Laura' me!!..…... Where's your dad?!" Laura's voice sounded cautious. Eleanor could guess she was scared of something.

"He left for the party long ago! Why?" Eleanor was feeling anxious. Whenever her parents were involved, she could never feel relaxed. They were like packages of trouble for her. 

Eleanor's mom was born trouble and her father was a bomb that used to explode without notice! In summary, any news related to them was ominous!! Black cats who are in the same crime.

"Is it a joke? I am here at the party from the beginning. I haven't seen his face at all!"

"How's that possible? I saw him off when he was leaving!"

"I don't want any excuses! Mom is really angry at him. Don't let him see her anytime soon! Got it?!"

"Yes! Got it!!"

Laura ended the call from the other side. But the beep sound stopped Eleanor's heartbeat for a moment. She stared at the phone in her hand for a while. Unable to think of a plan on what to do, she sat on the sofa. But she regained her sanity shortly. 

“NINA!!!”

Nina rushed into the room hastily. She had a troubled face to look at! As she was breathing heavily, she somehow managed to ask, “Is it your parents again, ma’am?”

Eleanor had a faint smile, a bit of sadness and a bit of unwillingness to accept the truth was mixed in it!  “You know me so well!”

“I’m calling the driver. Please try to contact your mother.”

“Wait..were you eavesdropping?”

“Well, do I have any choice?”

“Yeah...I guess you don’t have one.”

Nina went outside the room in a rush. Eleanor grabbed her phone to call her mother, Emilia who was probably at the party at that moment. Nothing would have gone wrong if both Emilia and Aiden left for the party together. 

Eleanor couldn’t hate her mother more than anything else since her mother was nothing but a gold digger. What's more, Emilia never wanted Eleanor! She wanted a boy as a successor of the Andersons! After Eleanor’s birth,  Emilia was informed that she couldn’t be a mother again because of her strong diet and weak health. But she never gave up on her cloudy dreams! For money and position, she could stoop to the lowest!!

Emilia turned into a filthy woman trying to seduce her eldest brother-in-law, Laurence Anderson. She wanted to ensure a position beside him as he was about to inherit the Aloha Enterprise. But she failed in that aspect as soon as Laurence left Roveign for business purposes. She had nothing to do other than give up and use some flattery words for her mother-in-law.

Emilia was already shameless since she had skin like a rhino. Although people made fun of her foolish behaviour, she never behaved! And her ignorance always cost Eleanor. As for Eleanor’s father, he was an ignorant and carefree man who never thought of anyone other than himself! He was addicted to gambling, drinking and drugs! 

Never a day went into Eleanor’s life that her parents didn’t have fights! It was like a usual occurrence for them. Sometimes she wondered why her mother and father married in the first place! They didn’t have anything in common. Moreover, they cared for none other than themselves!! And not so later that she realised crazy people take serious steps on whims or maybe calculative steps on whims.

Everything in Eleanor’s life was calculative. From her parents’ marriage to her success, every scenario was planned! Even her birth! Just her sexual identity wasn’t planned. God made a prank on Emilia and Aiden. But for their mistakes, Eleanor was paying the price. This incident was nothing new either! Eleanor suggested to her parents that they should go to the party together. As if Emilia and Aiden would agree on that! So they humbly refused after creating a scene on it and by turning the house upside down. 

Sometimes Eleanor carefully thought that it wasn’t wrong for the Andersons to despise her that much because of her parents. But then she thought about why she couldn’t be accepted as she was!! Some questions don’t have answers. And even if they are answerable, we avoid them since they might cause rifts between people! 

Eleanor did the same! She avoided the answers since she didn’t want to despise her parents. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be calling her mother, Emilia to look for her father!

“Hello!”

“...Ah! Hello, mom. Did you see dad at the party?”

“What do you want now? I’ve already got an earful because of that man!! Where is he?”

“He didn’t go to the party?”

“NO!! What am I saying then? Shit!! That man! Must be gambling in a casino or somewhere, trying to drown us in debts!!!”

“I am hanging up then…”

“Wa..wait!! Don’t you have the manners to talk with your mother properly?” Emilia shrugged a little bit and then continued, “If you find Aiden, tell him to show his face to mother-in-law as soon as possible. I’ve had enough of his part! He better asks for forgiveness and makes up for the mess he has made !! Otherwise, my chance of buying the new diamond set will….”

BEEP!!!

Eleanor ended the call on her mother’s face. She wasn’t surprised at all to see Emilia worrying about her wants even when Aiden was missing! She took a deep breath and kept tapping her forehead, “Debts, huh?”. Eleanor whispered.

At that moment, Nina entered Eleanor’s room, “The driver is nowhere to be found! Even his phone is switched off!”

“HMM! Nina, get my car! I am going out!”

“But where are you going, ma’am?”

Eleanor wore her coat which was kept on her chair and walked past Nina as she came out of her room, “Roadway surveillance office. Have to hurry!”

Nina followed Eleanor who was about to leave, “How about a driver?”

“Don’t think anyone is here at the moment! Don’t worry! I will be okay.”

“That’s what I worry about the most!”

Eleanor smiled at Nina before she got out of the house, “All will be okay!” She dashed outside with the keys in her purse. Nina watched her going as she intensely stared Eleanor’s way even after a while she left. She let out a deep sigh, “It’s you, that’s why I worry, ma’am!!”