Chapter 2

Ivy's POV…

“Here, have some water” The kind man said, handing me a glass of water.

I stretched out my hand and collected the water.

“Thank you” He smiled at me. He must have noticed how nervous I was. The glass of water was shaking while I held it.

“What's your name again?” He was quick to forget my name as I had told him earlier while he was driving me to his house.

“My name's Ivy” I didn't know his name yet.

“I'm Julian” He smiled at me again and I nervously smiled back. His smile was contagious and it really enunciated his handsomeness.

“I'll get you something to eat” He said and moved towards a door by the far end of the living room.

I touched the sofa, observing how soft and smooth it was. Taking a nap here would probably relieve me of my troubles, temporarily.

He came back shortly after with a tray and dropped it at the dining and asked me over.

“Thank you so much for tonight”

“Honestly, I don't know what would have happened to me if you had not alerted the police and I don't want to think about it either” the thought of that made me lose my appetite.

“It's okay. I happened to have left the office a bit later than usual and I heard you shout for help, so I had to do something quick” He said and checked something on his phone.

“Why exactly were you outside by that time, running under the rain?" he asked.

I looked down and poked at the food in front of me.

“Daddy!” A little girl of about 10 years came running down the stairs.

My eyes widened. How could he be a father already?

He stood up and spread out his arms and she ran into his outspread arms.

“My angel. I thought you were asleep already”

She quickly detached from the hug and sulked.

“How do you expect me to go to bed when I missed you and you were not back. You came back late today” She looked away and crossed her arms.

All the while this was happening, I was unnoticed. I just sat there poking my food.

My throat felt dry and I reached for the glass of water in the tray, but unfortunately, I hit it and it fell to the floor.

It shattered on the floor and the little girl looked at me. She looked at me with disgust.

Julian then introduced me to her.

“Ivy, this is Tracy, my daughter and Tracy, this is Ivy…a friend”

I smiled at her but she didn't smile back.

“Daddy, is she going to be my new mom?” She queried.

I looked at Julian and he looked away while rubbing his forehead.

Tracy must have hit a nerve unknowingly.

“No darling. She's not, "he replied.

“Then why did you sleep with her? She asked innocently.

Heat rushed to my face. Julian looked away.

“Why do you think so, honey?” he asked.

“My friends at school said if a man and a woman sleep together, her clothes will be torn” She said and looked at me before looking at Julian, proving her point.

He bent to the same level with her and held both her hands.

“That's not true. You shouldn't listen to them and stay away from them because they are a bad influence, okay” He said and rubbed her cheek.

“Yes daddy. I'm going to bed now, goodnight “ She said and ran upstairs.

“I love you. Sweet dreams” he said after her and turned back to me.

I don't know but for some unknown reason I felt shy.

Why am I blushing? I asked myself.

“So…about your accommodation, where do you intend on staying?” He asked me while looking at his wrist watch.

My heart dropped to my stomach. Where was I going to stay?

Before now, I had a ray of hope in me that he would ask me to spend the night at his place, but with him asking this question now, it seems I was wrong.

“I don't know…but I was hoping you would let me spend the night here” I muttered. “I hoped you would consider that”

“I barely know you, I mean I just met you a few hours ago…” he paused. "But I'll let you spend the night here,” he said.

“Thank you so much. I deeply appreciate it. If there's anything you want me to do, I'll do it” I was happy I had a place to lay my head.

I won't be a bother to them tonight. That was my little way of being appreciative.

“Let me take you to your room” He said and started walking up the stairs.

He took me to a room that was down the hallway. The hallway was pretty long and there were doors on each side.

I entered the room slowly after he did. The room was dark, but I could see its beauty and sophistication even in the darkness.

“Get settled and we'll see tomorrow” he said and turned to leave but I spoke up.

“Here. You gave me this earlier” I was returning his suit to him.

“You didn't come with any clothes, so keep it and there are a few clothes in the closet” He said and left the room, closing the door behind him.

I went into the bathroom to have a decent bath. My body was sticky and added to the fact that I had been under the rain.

I remembered the hands of those men on my body and I felt disgusted. I scrubbed my body so hard to rid myself of the feeling and ended up getting myself injured.

After my bath, my body felt sore, but I was the least concerned about it. I looked around the room for some oil or cream and finally found some inside the closet. I applied them on my body and that eased the pain.

I put on pajamas and went to bed. I wasn't with my phone, Mary took it to avoid any form of contact with anyone.

I was bored. I opened the drawers by the bedside table and found a little note inside the last drawer.

‘Dear Susan,

Living without you these past years has been the worst thing I've ever been through. I love you so much I can't wait to meet you again.

Love J.

That was it. I blinked severally. Looks like this house has secrets that need unraveling.

_________________________________

I felt like someone was banging my head. It was painful. The banging sound became louder and I could hear a voice shouting.

I slowly opened my eyes and shut them back as the rays of sunshine entered the room.

“Get yourself off that bed, you woman” I opened my eyes again to see who was speaking to me.

A lady in her 50’s was standing there and glaring at me.

I tried greeting her but she cut me off.

“Keep your greetings to yourself and go meet Mr Trahan downstairs”. She said meanly without smiling and left the room after looking at me in a deadly manner.

Who is Mr Trahan? I didn't know who that was but all the same, I brushed my teeth and went downstairs.

There was not a single soul in sight. The mean woman that came to me earlier was nowhere to be found. The Mr Trahan was nowhere to be found too.

I heard some murmurings outside, at the verandah. I went there to ask for directions.

I saw Julian and another lady out of here. There was tension in the air. I could sense it. They stopped talking as soon as they saw me.

The lady walked away in a brisk manner and it was just Julian and I.

“Good morning” I greeted but he didn't respond.

“I didn't hear anything”I said to ease his discomfort. I only heard silent talking.

I was about to leave when I remembered I was looking for Mr Trahan.

“I asked Caroline to get you” He spoke before I could.

Oh… the mean lady was Caroline and he was Mr Trahan.

“I thought hard last night and seeing you have nowhere to go and not ready to open up about your past”

My heart was racing. What's his point now?

“I've made a decision to let you stay…”

My heart leaped with joy.

"But you'll work… and there'll be rules" he said without a smile.

He didn't look as kind as yesterday when he helped me.