Chapter four: "Victor Hugo Roses"

Alex let me in his home office and gave me a glass of juice to calm my nerves down, the men in suits were too afraid to approach me that they asked Jason to hand the Juice on the tray to me. I was sitting in the office in front of the desk while I stare at the men.

Alex was sitting on his office chair with a huge grin on his face but the atmosphere in the room was heavy but it didn't affect me "So what brings you here Bea?" his silver eyes went to me, not only he was looking at me but I felt like he was observing my every move.

I finished the glass of juice before I told him "Mama has passed away" I told him in almost a quiet tone

He didn't seem to believe my words that he blinked multiple times in a row "Could you repeat that again for me Bea? I think I misheard you"

I sighed "I'm the new landlady since Mama has passed away"

The room fell silent, the men who were whispering to each other before have now stopped once they heard the news. A man who looked like in his early 20's stepped forward "So when is her funeral?" his eyes were filled with sadness

Who are these people to convey such sad eyes to Mama? if I remember correctly I know that close family members can make such eyes when hearing the news that a person has passed away

My hand started to clench itself "The day after tomorrow" I told him, the men looked at each other while Alex was deep in his thoughts. After they looked at each other all of their eyes landed on me "So you are the new landlady?"

I nodded "Mama's will said that I'm the inheritor of this land, so I'll be your new landlady I'm Bea Williams her granddaughter" 

Suddenly I heard someone talk loudly "I didn't know she had a granddaughter"

"Neither do I"

"She does have her meadow green eyes so she must be telling the truth"

I don't know what is their problem of wanting to make sure if I'm Mama's granddaughter but it's weird, Alex gave them a look and they all shut up immediately. He then turned his attention to me "I offer my condolences to you, Bea, we also acknowledge you as our landlady"

I raised a brow at him "Our?" I don't remember there were other people paying rent, don't tell me these many people pay their rent together?

If I did the math the two men at the gates, 50 men that were in line at the front, and 40 more here in the huge office. so there are 92 of them but I don't trust those numbers since the mansion was so huge who knows if there are more in hiding

The men who were in the office bowed down to me simultaneously, I looked at Alex with a puzzled face "Why are they bowing?"

He chuckled at me "You're the new landlady"

"They don't need to do that" I stood up and walked up to them "Hey, raise your heads I feel weird if you guys do that" 

The men smiled at me and I can feel Alex's gaze burn the back of my head and the men scramble to get out of the office immediately, I turned my body to face him "You do not tell me those are your friends Alex" 

He stood up from his seat "You'll find out someday, I must say that the performance you made at the gate was hilariously amusing" 

"If you're talking about those two men at the front gate they piss me off especially you, I trek a hill just to get to the mansion and I feel like I might accompany Mama in heaven because of you" I glared at Alex, he massaged both of my shoulders trying to calm me down

"Haven't seen you this mad since you were in college" he joked

"And can you believe it I got mad again and the reason is because of this" I gestured to the mansion, I can't even tell if it was a mansion from how big the place was. If anything some might mistake this as a castle

I look out of the window and I can see that there was even a small lake within the walls and it looks like they're farming something on the other side "Hey Alex what are you guys farming?"

I pointed to the rows of plants that were laid out on the land, he closed the curtains immediately "That's a secret" his answer made me give him a doubtful look

"I swear, one day I'll explain on you Mama's behalf"

"She's in on this too? what the hell are those plants growing on my land?" 

Before he could answer me we heard his phone ring on his table "Hold on, I need to answer that call" he went to his table and grabbed his phone before leaving me alone in his office. Since I was alone in the place I might as well explore the place since the mansion looks fun to explore in.

I started my Dora the Explorer mode on and exited the office while Alex was busy talking on the phone with his back facing my direction, walking down the hallways I can see many paintings that looked quite expensive and huge chandeliers on the tall ceilings.

There were gardeners taking care of red roses in the garden, The garden was filled with red roses

Does Alex like red roses?

I went down the stairs that lead out to the garden, the gardeners stopped what they were doing and stared at me with a confused look "Who are you?" one of them asked me, most of them were old men that look like around 50 or 60 years old

"I'm Bea the new landlady" 

My curious eyes then wander to the roses in the garden "What type of roses are these?"

"Those are Victor Hugo Roses, one of the most beautiful breeds of roses" he answered and smiled at me, he pulled out one rose and gave it to me 

"This is a welcome gift to becoming our new landlady, you do own the land anyway so the soil that is used to grow these flowers are yours too" 

I grinned at the old man and happily accepted the pretty rose that was given to me "Thank you"