CHAPTER FOUR

"That's enough Ericka. Escort me to the garden."

Grandpa Hart said and Ericka nodded before he outstreched his left hand, placing her palm lovingly in his, his right gripping his aid stick tightly.

The fruitful garden was lit up brightly by the afternoon sun. Grandpa Hart led Ericka to a golden like seat placed in the middle of the garden.

"So dear, tell me about yourself."

Ericka smiled slightly.

"My name is Ericka, i'm twenty four. I'm an orphan, I lost my parents at the age of five and...I guess that's all."

Grandpa Hart laughed slightly and shook his head.

"No dear, that's not what I meant. I meant your hobbies, likes and so on. These are the details that best describes a person and i want to know the hobby of my future grand daughter in law."

A knot formed between her brows. Hobbies?.

Come to think of it, she had none. The only thing she loved doing was cooking.

"I guess my hobby is cooking?." She said, more of to herself than to grandpa Hart.

"Cooking...Kate loved cooking. She did so everytime we went on picnics. Back then Xander would sneakilly hide some in his pockets. Ha ha, he was such a stubborn kid, and at the end, Kate would always give him a good beating, those days..."

A sincere smile etched to Ericka's face.

"Who's Kate by the way?, no one mentioned her."

There was a moment of silence.

"My wife. Was my wife. She's dead."

Ericka's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my-, i'm so sorry, I didn't-"

"There's no need to apologize." Grandpa Hart said with a half smile, a drop of tear rolling down his cheek but he immediately wiped it.

"You know...*sniff* I really did love her, I really did... and I miss her badly to."

Ericka wrapped him in a warm hug. She understood clearly the pain of loosing the ones dearest to you.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like this. *sniff*. I want you to know something. Xander might be harsh or rude sometimes, but i assure you, he has a big heart, so please don't be offended if he says anything mean to you. He doesn't really mean it."

Ericka nodded with a smile.

"Okay grandpa."

———

Later that evening, everyone was sitted around the table to have dinner, but mainly to taste Ericka's cooking. And Jessica saw this as a way to humiliate Ericka once again.

"Who made this?." Xander asked, his eyes scanning the table.

"Ericka." Jessica immediately said.

"Madelyn!. Throw this food away. I've lost my appetite."

Madelyn eyes grew with. She looked at Xander before looking at Ericka whose eyes were glued to her feet, her hands slightly gripping the side of her dress. 'Please young master, don't do this. Young miss is sad already, please.." Madelyn begged within but it didn't change anything.

"Are you deaf?!. I said throw away this food away!." Saying that, he stood up and strided upstairs to his room.

"You little witch!. Did i make a mistake bringing you here?!. Now look, my poor Xan will go hungry because of you!."

Ignoring Dianna, Ericka ran to her room, shutting it tightly behind her.

"Eri-"

Grandpa Hart was about to call her back but she had disappeared by then.

———

Inside her room.

Ericka laid flat on the bed. Her face buried inside the pillow. She kept on twisting and turning, but it seemed no position was good enough. She took out her phone and found ten missed calls from Tony. She thought of calling him but rethought her decision.

It was for the best anyway.

Still after trying for more than an hour, Ericka couldn't fall asleep, so she decided to take a tour around the house. But that didn't end well for her.

The mansion was so big that the first turn she took made her loose her way. And now she found herself in front of a door which looked identical to hers.

Thinking it was her room, she entered and soon after she realized it wasn't hers. The decor of this area felt dark and eery. The walls were all painted black, everything here was either the color black or ash. She looked ahead and saw that the door leading to the balcony was open. Curious, she decided to take a peek.

"Stop right there." She heard a voice say and she instantly remembered it.

"X-xander?, i-is that you?."

Xander didn't answer immediately. Instead he tapped his fingers on the rail which made a loud sound due to the quietness.

"Who else would it be?."

Saying this he walked out of the balcony, facing her with a cigarette in between his fingers.

"Y-you smoke?." She asked surprised. Xander smiled, not those type of welcoming smile, a sinister type of smile and this gave her goosebumps.

"Do you have a problem with that?, wifey?."

Ericka gulped and shook. "N-no, i-i mean—"

"You know, I like it when you stammer. It's show's that you are afraid. And you should be.'

Ericka looked at him with teary eyes. "W-why are you behaving this way Xan?."

"First of all, it's Mr Hart and secondly, why am I behaving this way?. Ha ha. You should ask yourself that question. You made a promise and you broke it, you said we would stick with eachother, but you lied..."

Ericka did not say anything, instead she turned to leave but he held her by the arm.

"Where do you think you're going too?, hmm?."

"Let me go Xan!."

Xander's gaze instantly turned cold. "No!. Not until you tell me why you had left me. I suffered all alone at that orphanage before i was finally adopted. All along, you were living a perfect barbie life!."

Ericka dragged her arm out of his hand. "Stop being so childish Xan!. How can you be so selfish?, you were meant to be happy i finally got adopted. I had to leave the orphanage sooner or later, and we were kids for crying out loud!. We didn't understand what came out of our mouths!."

"You didn't, but I certainly did." Saying this, he dragged Ericka harshly out of the room before banging it in her face.