Chapter 39

MAY

The drive helped me calm my nerves. I did some thinking on my own and realized that I might have feelings for Nicholas. That was the only reason I would be so annoyed about Lydia. This wasn’t the plan I had when I accepted the contract marriage offer. I had to do something about it before I fell even harder.

“Fall for him?” I muttered to myself.

“What did you say, Miss?” Abby asked. She thought I was talking to her.

“Please focus on the road, Abby,” I replied dryly. Both of us were on our way back to Nicholas’s mansion. My phone rang and I stared in shock at the familiar number. I could feel my heart beating hard as I thought about what I should do. The caller was Conan, my ex-fiance. I rejected the call uneasily.

Abby remained focused on the road. I eased into my seat and sighed. I was bothered by the mere idea of Conan calling me. What was he doing that for? Did he want to apologize for cutting off our engagement just like that? Oh no! Conan would never do that. He was now engaged to Emma. He probably called to curse me for betraying him. I was glad I rejected the call.

“We are here,” Abby told me as we entered the mansion. After Emma had parked the car properly, I got out. I looked around and Nicholas’s car was at the garage too. Right then, I saw Kelvin coming towards me.

“I was worried, Miss,” He told me. “I am your driver. You should call me whenever you wish to leave the mansion.”

“I had Abby with me…” I told him firmly.

“I know, Miss, but if you keep doing this, I will be fired. I don’t want to be out of my job so please…” Kelvin paused. “Let me do my work as your driver, please. I have a family to provide for.”

I took a deep breath. Without replying to Kelvin, I turned to leave. Abby was right behind me. Suddenly, I turned back and glanced at Kelvin.

“Is my husband home?” I asked as I pointed to his car.

“Oh yes,” Kelvin replied. “He got here a few minutes ago. He wanted to know where you were. I will call him now and inform him you just got here.”

“Don’t bother!” I exclaimed. “I will go in now and see him. You should find something else to do. Abby, you can get some rest now.”

With Abby and Kelvin left behind, I entered the main house myself. I paid no attention to every greeting I got. My only focus was on finding Nicholas. If he wanted to see me, I wanted to see him too. We had to talk.

I walked in on him talking to Lydia. Both of them were gazing at each other and Lydia had a pleased look on her face. I clenched my fists and walked towards them.

“I can see both of you are catching up. I thought you would be at work, Nicholas,” I said calmly even though I felt like there was a fire inside me.

“I left work early today,” Nicholas told me.

“Wow. Who knew the workaholic Nicholas would leave work so early to see his concubine?” I asked sarcastically. “You can do your thing!”

I began to walk away and Nicholas ran towards me, grabbing my hand. I pushed him off me instantly.

“Get your filthy hands off me!” I shouted, unable to control my temper anymore.

“Calm down, May,” Nicholas said calmly. “I can explain everything so can you just give me a moment? Let’s go to a private place. We shouldn’t do this in public. You know that.”

“Of course,” I smiled naughtily. “Your public image must be kept intact, you selfish jerk. If it isn’t in public, I don’t want to talk to you at all. Please carry on with your lover and leave me alone. I am too stressed to talk to you.”

I began to walk on but Nicholas continued to follow me. He ended up following me to our room and there, I turned towards him.

“Is your plan to make me look pathetic?” I asked him angrily. “Stop making problems when there are none. I already gave permission so you can continue with Lydia. I have no issues with your promiscuity.”

“That’s a lie!” Nicholas replied firmly. “If you had no problem with it truly, you wouldn’t have lost your temper earlier.”

“Really?” I began to laugh. “I think you overrate yourself, Nicholas. You are not enough for me to get anxious and jealous over. I don’t care how many girls you fuck, that’s your personal business. Both of us have no sexual relationship, I know that very well.”

“Is that so?” He moved closer towards him.

“Stop!” I said firmly.

“I will explain…” He began. “Firstly, yesterday was the first time I have been involved with a maid of mine. I acknowledge that I must have been out of my mind. It must have been because I was so stressed and…”

“I hate excuses,” I told him coolly. “If your plan is to apologize, you don’t need to do that. Just shut up altogether.”

“You might have been confused but when I left the room yesterday night, I didn’t go back to Lydia. I couldn’t sleep a wink due to how sorry I felt,” Nicholas continued.

“More excuses,” I laughed.

“And right now…” Nicholas forged on regardless. “I didn’t plan a meeting with Lydia nor did I leave work early to meet her. I left work early to meet you and apologize and while searching for you, I met Lydia. That is the whole truth.”

“Is that it?” I asked seriously.

“Yes,” Nicholas replied firmly.

“One more thing…” I muttered. “How did Lydia become the housekeeper in the absence of Mama? Who promoted her?”

“Well, I asked Mama to appoint someone experienced and…” Nicholas was explaining. I didn’t want to hear anymore.

“In a nutshell,” I interrupted. “You pulled strings to get Lydia the appointment.”