TRAIL OF LOVE

Heena was at home arranging her princess room, she's fondly called Princess of Ro'Sau empire by her father. She was not the only girl but she was the eldest of all the children. She has two siblings. Shawn the male and Avie the second and the youngest daughter of Ro'Sau. Heena is older than Shawn by a space of two years while Shawn is a senior to Avie with three years margin.

Her phone rang and it was her friend that was on the line.

"Hello, Heena," Leah greeted on the phone

"Hi, Leah. What's up?" Heena asked playfully.

"I am good. What about you?" Leah inquired.

"As Ro'Sau empire princess I am fine," Heena replied witfully

"Heena is like you are not getting it…" Leah waited in line for Heena's response.

"What are you talking about?" Heena became frightened.

"Don't tell me you have not seen your dad's face trending all over the T.V channels?" Leah did not want to believe the news either, that's why she called her friend to confirm the truth of the news.

"Dad! Trending for what?" She interrogated her friend.

"I think you should watch the T.V or stream Venushoods online and see with your eyes," Leah said and dropped the call without a formal goodbye.

Heena thinks she should stream her father's company than listen to any fallacy from the T.V. She went to the bookmarks pages on her phone and clicked on the Venushoods. She saw the writing in bold.

"KICK OUT THE SLUSH FUND MAN" she clicked on the heading and saw an article posted a few minutes ago by the media department that her father Mr. Ro'Sau will be facing a trial, he was accused of using his position as the CEO to steal money away from the organization for personal use and many investors agreed he should be stripped off his duty as the CEO till when the proper investigation will be completed.

There was a video posted on the site where her father was caught by many reporters interrogating him. They even asked who will be the acting CEO as he will be away from the office for a while. His driver helped him to walk out of the crowd, he used his jacket to cover his face.

For the past twenty-six years that he has been managing the company he has not even for once overpaid himself, nor did he abuse his authority on any of his subordinates. Ro'Sau was confident in himself that he will be out in the public as a clean man.

Heena called her father to hear what he has to say on the issue at hand. She can't believe that her father would get himself messed up in such a scandal, he was also accused of improper misconduct in office, that he tried to take advantage of his secretary, though the woman told him she is married Ro'Sau didn't back off, so she fired the secretary unjustly.

Ro'Sau did not pick up his calls, from the beginning of the scandal his phone had been ringing from one caller to another, and he was tired of explaining to people, especially when they could not believe his side of the story.

Heena called her mother who also works in Venushoods company. On a normal day, Trisi doesn't answer Heena's calls during work hours, she always lets her assistant pass all her information to her. She once said to Heena that as her face is ugly so also is her voice, that's why she doesn't like listening to her on the phone.

Aside from Trisi who finds everything about Heena irritating, every other person finds her company interesting. She's one of a kind girl. She lives a quiet and peaceful life.

"Hello, what did you want?" Trisi asked her daughter Heena on the phone with an even tone. Before Heena's call came in, Trisi was discussing in her office with Mr. Pindra, her old friend that often visits her, whenever there's a need. She was angry that Heena's call came in at the wrong time to ruin her mood, and if she leaves the call unanswered, she will not get what she wanted.

Trisi raised Heena for twenty-five years, so she knew her more than Heena know herself. Though she can't see her expression at the moment, she will be happy to hear her tremble on the phone, that's a priceless Joy to her.

"He-ll-o ma," Heena said on the phone stammering.

"What's the occasion of the moment?" Trisi asked to taunt Heena. How can your husband be going through the trial moment and you still joke around like nothing is going on? Heena wondered what kind of a person her mother is.

"Nothing ma! I called to check on you" Heena said in a rush, though fear was feasible in her words.

"O' my sweet darling, that's thoughtful of you," Trisi was still poking fun at her. I am getting a gift for the whole family tonight, what did you want? She asked Heena.

"Gift?" Heena was surprised. "But mum, what's the celebration all about? I thought dad is…" Heena wanted to air her worries but her mother cut the words short from her lips.

"I thought you called because you read the news? Trisi said and Heena was silent on the phone, Trisi added "Has a family we need to celebrate our togetherness, no matter the ongoing trial."

Her point was valid enough still Heena did not want to cross her boundaries. "Bring dad home safe, that's my gift" she gave Trisi her reply.

"Consider it done!" Trisi said and hung up the call to continue with her conversation with Mr. Pindra.

"How could you be so naughty to the girl on the phone?" Mr. Pindra questioned.

"C'mon let's not talk about the girl right now, Heena is nothing but a toy in my hands," Trisi said without feeling remorseful for her statements.

Heena knew if she had asked her mother for a gift, she wouldn't get any. The last time her mother got her a present was when she was eighteen, and according to her source, it was her dad who forced her to get Heena the swimming trunks. Whenever they all made a list of what they wanted, Trisi would go all the way to buy for Shawn and Avie but she would always leave Heena out, feed her with a thousand, and one reason why she could not get the gifts. Heena has stopped bothering herself on such a matter. There's money available to buy them, but her mom hates spending her money on her.

Avie most times will add a few of Heena's list to hers and give them to their mother, no matter how expensive it is, as long as the list is from Avie, Trisi would get them for her.

No matter how busy Mr. Ro'Sau is, he always creates time to spend with his children, especially Heena. Ro'Sau noticed early the difference in Trisi's attitude towards Heena. Since the conception of Shawn, Trisi has hated everything and anything that has to do with Heena.

What offense would a two years old girl have erred that warrants such ill-treatment?

Ro'Sau thought with time everything will be normal between Trisi and Heena, instead, Trisi kept driving a wedge between herself and her daughter.

Heena loved her family a lot, apart from her mom who doesn't show her love, everyone else loves her to the moon and back. After she dropped the call with her mother, she called her dad's line again and it was switched off.

She had the driver's number, she remembered she saw the driver together with her dad on the video. She dialed his line and he picked up at once.

"Hello, young madam," the driver spoke with a sign of respect. On different occasions as Heena told him to stop referring to her as young madam, he should address her by her given name Heena.

"Hi, are you with my dad?" She asked

"Not exactly madam, I just drop him off at the usual place, I am on my way to the office to pick up a file for him," he explained.

"Okay, before you drive to the office, please pass by the house, let go to the office together and from there we will go and meet him at his usual place," she instructed the man on the phone.

"Yes ma," the driver screamed on the phone and he stepped fast on the accelerator.

Mr. Ro'Sau's usual place is his former house at Molicano, which was where he and his wife lived in the early years of their marriage. Whenever he has tons of weight on his shoulder, he visits the house to loosen it a bit.

From what Heena heard, dad loved the old house because it was filled with unforgettable blissful moments, while mom doesn't like to visit the house since the birth of Shawn because the house reminded her of some bad event. It was said that anytime Trisi visits the old house, something bad always happened.

A month after Trisi visited the old house was when she became pregnant with Avie. Ro'Sau gave the current house at Ordana to Trisi as a gift for giving birth to Shawn. When Trisi was discharged from the hospital, she said she was not going back to live in Molicano anymore, baby Shawn was taken from the hospital directly to the new house at Ordana.

The distance between Molicano to Ordana is about 90 minutes drive if not more than. An hour after Heena spoke with the driver, the driver came to the house, parked outside the gate, and called Heena to come down. Avie and Shawn are not at home, they went out with their friends. Heena rushed out of the room and went to the office with the driver.

Heena was sitting inside the car, waiting for the driver. She sat for about five minutes, so she was tired, and got down from the car to look around the company. Maybe she can find something to help with her dad's trial. It was quarter past one in the afternoon, she wondered why the huge office looked scanty.

Maybe the news outbreak went bad on the employees and they closed earlier than usual. She seldomly visits the company. Trisi gave her a strict warning not to come to the company if it's not important. However, Avie and Shawn always go to the office in their free time. She's done with her first degree with good grades and is expected to register for her master's soon. She wanted to work with her dad's company but her mom refused her proposal. She claimed that Heena does not have any work experience, so she needs to work with another firm and she must have a recommendation before accepting her to the family organization.

Mr. Ro'Sau agreed with Trisi for all their children not to work with the company until they are twenty-seven years old. He helped Heena to get an appointment with Tulip-Consult. They are in charge of designing the configuration and everything of a company. They also promote companies that are registered under them. Sometimes Heena works from the house or she goes for a new site inspection. She has been working with Tulip-Consult for two years now and her records are good.

Getting to the Venushoods company, she decided to drop by her mother's office to say hello. The secretary to her mother's office was not on site so she walked straight to her mother's office but the door was locked, she was about to turn back, then she heard a male voice.

"For how long will the staff be away?" He asked

"I have bought three hours of their time, they won't be here until 3 o'clock," Trisi replied.

"You are a superwoman!" The man commends Trisi.

Heena peeped through the tiny hole in the door, she saw her mother holding a bottle of wine, and saw the man's back view, but that wasn't her dad.

"Let's celebrate a step toward our victory," Trisi said and poured some wine into the glass, and hugged the man. Heena was curious to know who the man was, she was about to open the door, her leg hit on the door and the mother shouted from the inside "who's there?". Heena got a text from the driver that he was ready to move, so she left hurriedly without answering her mother, Trisi came out and saw no one at the door, she assumed she heard the sound wrong.