Chapter Five: Being Covetous

'Be careful'? She tried to make sense of the message she'd been sent.

"You might get a headache if you keep your brows furrowed like that for another hour"

Mrs Robinson was pouring her another glass of milk

"(sighs)Mrs Robinson, (whispering) you must trust the Kens very much"

"I've had no cause not to. (Hesitates) why do you ask Miss?"

"Oh, nothing, just trying to trust them myself"

"If there's an issue, you know you can always go to Sir Ken right"

"(scoffs) yeah sure"

"Are  you ready?"

Sophie stood up with a fright

Jerome's tall frame stood gracefully at the top of the staircase--already in a black suit; the jacket did little to disguise the broadness of his shoulder and firm chest,

Sophie was done eating in less than an hour and so they both headed to her mother's hospital. None of the drivers went with them except Ryan, Jerome's bodyguard.

“Thank you sir, mere words can't express how grateful I am to you” She said staring at Jerome. He looked at her, she was not pressed against the car door as usual, a smirk formed on his face and vanished as quickly as it came he turned back to face the busy road.

  ‘ weirdo’ she said to herself.

She remained quiet for the rest of their journey and beamed joyfully at the sight of X hospital.

  “Mum!” She couldn't hide her excitement at the sight of her mother, she was no longer connected to several tubes as in their video calls, this noticeable improvement made Sophie's eyes water.

  “(Clears throat) Good morning Mrs Richards”

  “Good morning sir, I'm very grateful for your benevolent nature” She moved to kneel down but was restrained by Sophie.

  “Mum, it's okay (turns to look at Jerome) would it be nice if you stepped outside for a while?” She stared meekly at him, inwardly happy; It was the first time she actually told him to do something which he had to oblige, he stared back seething with annoyance, knowing fully well what her intentions are.

  “Mum, I need you to tell me exactly what happened”Sophie continued following Jerome's absence. She showed her Mum the text message.

"Sophie, I don't know what happened...I was unconscious for a whole day before the Kens rescued me (whispering) I overheard Mrs Ken this morning, she said that whoever did this knows their way around our apartment- -because they knew how to avoid all the cameras"

"Oh Mum" she grabbed her Mum tightly in a warm embrace snuggling against her neck.

"My love, you're acting like a cat(laughing) a very cute cat."

"I love you Mum"

"Then,(holding Sophie's chin up) tell me love, what's going on?"

"ohh Mum, I don't know how well you'll take this" she face palmed herself in embarrassment.

She held Sophie's hands in hers and kissed her palms.

" Try me"

  She briefed her mum on everything - The Contract, the job, and how it would be a medium to pay back the Kens for their benevolence. Mrs Richards listened with rapt attention to everything her daughter told her.

  “Sophie” She finally said “No doubt you're an adult - and you're old enough to make your own choices, you still chose to do this for me, and I'm very proud of you for wanting to pay back every dime they've spent. But love, you can come home and we'll both work together in order to pay them back, I do not want you to be deprived of your freedom”

  “Mum, I'm not being deprived of my freedom, in fact, Sir Jerome- -my husband allows me to go wherever I want without supervision of any kind, besides Mum, a contract is a contract.”

  She didn't want to bother her Mum with her unhappiness with the contract, she just recovered and it would be best if she stopped any form of labour; she understood this and therefore decided to shoulder all the responsibilities.

  **Cough**

  “I'll get you water” she took a disposable cup and tried to pour water from the dispenser but it wasn't working.

  “The nurse always gets me water from the dispenser in the hallway,” her mum said.

  She went out to get the water when she heard voices coming from the nurses' lounge, “I can't believe Jerome Ken is in this very hospital”

  “I heard he's a share holder here” another nurse commented

  “You know Rebecca, I heard he came here with his wife, but I do not know who she is and why they came, I do hope she's not pregnant or anything…he's been my all-time crush”

  “At this point, I don't think I care about his marital status. I'll gladly be his second wife if it comes to that, matter-of-fact, I'll gladly be his mistress if I get the chance,” the nurse, whose name was Rebecca, said.

  Sophie smiled mischievously to herself ‘if only they knew how troublesome that man is’ she walked into the lounge and asked for directions to the closest water dispenser but didn't leave immediately she got directions;instead, she stood outside the door, waiting for what she knew was coming.

  “Speaking of dispensers,”  Rebecca started causing a smile to appear on Sophie's face, “That lady at ward 13B, she hasn't had anyone come to visit her. Because of this, I had to replace her dispenser with the dysfunctional one”

  “Very good” the second nurse replied, “that poor woman has really got guts coming into a hospital like this, she should know her place”

Sophie was baffled, she was very sure a top tier quality hospital like this one had functional facilities and simply needed to be certain although she had no reason to confront them, her Mum was here only because of an act of kindness, therefore it was not in her place to confront them.

  Jerome's kick on the door startled her, she hadn't seen him approaching where she stood because she was deeply engrossed in her thoughts.

  “You two, follow me” the girls followed him, blushing obliviously.

  Their smile faded as Jerome angrily opened the director's office, “I want them relieved of their duties” He simply said and left the office.

  “...” The director was speechless but had to follow his orders, Mr Ken wasn't just a billionaire and the wealthiest man in X city, he was also the highest shareholder of their hospital, he was as good as the actual owner of the hospital.

  Jerome went back to Mrs Richards' ward and met Sophie offering her mum the glass of water. She remained mute even as she prepared her mum to leave the hospital.

  Sophie politely asked Jerome to drop her mum off at their apartment, this he did, recruiting three maids to see to her needs, and two bodyguards to take care of her security-wise.

  The drive back to Jerome's mansion was awfully quiet.

     The car finally came to a halt and Sophie was about to come down from the vehicle when Jerome held her wrist, “About what happened back there, I wasn't aware of any of it, I'm sorry your Mum was treated that way.”

  “No, it's not your fault, I don't expect any other thing from you, you kept to your own end of the contract” She withdrew her hand and went into the house and up to her room.

  Ryan looked at his boss from the rear mirror, ‘First time I've heard him explain his actions to anyone’

  “What are you looking at?” Jerome snapped and Ryan quickly looked away.

  Jerome walked past Sophie's room on the way to his room and heard her sniffling, she was crying and for some inexplicable reason, he felt great remorse.

  **Knocking**

  Red-faced Sophie opened her door to find Mrs Robinson.

“I prepared your favourite”.

She was holding a tray that contained Sophie's favourite dishes - fried snails and fish soup.

Sophie savoured the aroma and took the plates from Mrs Robinson, thanking her profusely. It was the first time she was being served in her room, and it wasn't even time for supper yet.

She wondered what Jerome would say if he saw her, this thought made her content - she loved going against his orders. Mrs Robinson seemed to read her thoughts, “Sir asked me to serve you the meal”

  “...” Sophie was speechless

  She finished her meal and went straight to Jerome's room.

  “Come in” he replied on the first knock, she complied and saw herself ogling at his physique; The shirt he had been wearing was completely unbuttoned and left little to her imagination.

  “You know, I'm your husband, so I believe you have every right to stare…just lock the door behind you”

  She snapped out of her daydreaming “W-well, you said we'll be heading to the office from the hospital, I'm guessing you forgot about it”

  “I didn't, wait for me downstairs if you're ready” he replied, going close to her in a way she felt very uncomfortable.

  She practically half walked and half ran downstairs only stopping when she was in the sitting room.

  “What's chasing you”

  “Huh?” She looked up to find Mrs Robinson hovering over her as she bent down panting and trying to catch her breath.

  “You were running,what from?"

  “Um...nothing” Mrs Robinson scrutinised her amused by her little huffs before walking away.

  ‘That man is a weirdo and a psycho all in one!’ she muttered to herself, ‘One minute he's apologising and serving me meals, and the next, he's looking at me like I'm a prey he's out to devour’

  She waited for two minutes and a half before Jerome came downstairs.

  “Let's go”

  ‘He didn't even think it nice to apologise for keeping me waiting for so long’

  “Sorry?”

  “Nothing, just talking to myself”

  They went with two cars - one in front for his two bodyguards, and the one they rode in, Ryan was their driver.

"Are you still angry about the hospital incident?" He saw her dry up her tears a couple of times.

She stared red-eyed at him and shook her head negatively. Her hand was suddenly grabbed in a tight grip.

"Whoever hurt you, tell me. I'll make them pay"

She looked up timidly through her long lashes with trembling lips.

"Jerome" she whispered 

He stared at her intently.

"Did you hurt my mum?" She asked softly 

His gaze grew stern "Why would you think such?"

"Please just tell me" her wet lashes made his gaze soften

"I swear Sophie, I didn't. But I know who did and I promise you, I'll make them pay"

"Please tell me what happened" her voice was trembling 

He grabbed her waist with one hand and brought her closer to him. Her slender body was very soft against his hard, sturdy frame.

"How about i tell you everything when we get to the office?"

She nodded timidly- their bodies were very close, she could feel a strange warmth spread through her.

********

  She was now familiar with the building, but this time around, it was dazzling. The last time she went there was at night- -when the contract was made.

  Something was stirring an uproar at the entrance. Someone rather. “I won't leave until I see him, I know he's in there!” It was Shelagh, Sophie's stepsister - Bethany Richards daughter, who had previously been ‘engaged’ to Jerome.

She'd lied to everyone that they were engaged even though Jerome never entertained her; they were once seen together due to the alliance Jerome had wanted to form with her father, Mr Richards.

Shelagh's mother had asked for her to personally deliver the documents in order to try and seduce Jerome but it had been futile. She immediately ran towards Jerome's car despite being restrained by his bodyguards.

  “Jerome love, let's talk darling, tell all these people to let me go”

  Jerome didn't respond, instead, he gestured towards Sophie who remained seated in the car, to join him.

Sophie came down timidly, she'd been waiting for the chaos to calm down so she could slip in unnoticed.

Jerome stretched his palm towards her and she slipped hers into it unaware of Shelagh's disdainful look.

‘Isn't this Sophie?, that rat!!’ Shelagh thought to herself seething with anger. ‘She’s being covetous now huh?, I'll teach her a lesson, since the first one wasn't enough'.