"That damn old man!"
Edric was surprised to hear Jane cursing someone.
Had she done this in the past?
Maybe he was not paying much attention to her that's why he was caught by surprise.
Her cursing only meant that she's totally p*ssed.
"Don't worry about him. I have him taken cared of."
"No! I want to punish him myself!" Jane immediately opposed of letting other people to punish Mr. Sandoval.
"I know you'd say that. When you're ready, we will go and meet him."
But, Edric would never let her stain her hands with someone else's blood.
Since when did he became this pampering towards her?
Edric looked at Jane who was silently sobbing while looking at Mrs. Sanchez. He had no idea while he felt sad seeing her tear stained face.
He wanted to approach her and wiped those tears but he had stopped himself.
'What is going on with me?'
Jane wiped those tears herself and Edric reminded her through telepathy that she should retouched her make up again.
She had created a mess.
"Okay."
"When is she going to wake up?" Jane raised the question to Dr. Harold who was fixing Mrs. Sanchez's IV drip.
"I have put her into sleep. She'll wake up around lunch time."
"Jane. I think we should leave her for now. I already asked Phil to bring your siblings here. We can go and wait for them outside."
"Don't worry Young Miss. I'll be watching her. I'll call you when she wakes up."
Hearing Dr. Harold's reassurance, Jane had no other choice but to agree.
She kissed Mrs. Sanchez's forehead and held gently squeezed her hand and then whispered, "I'll be outside Mama."
Jane and Edric left the room and went to the living room to wait for her siblings.
"Do you want to have anything Master, Young Miss?" Sandro did his job and asked them.
"I'm good. Thanks." But then she thought of something.
"Show me the kitchen, please?"
"This way, Young Miss." Sandro then lead her to the kitchen while Edric decided to stay in the living room.
Just as expected, the kitchen was huge and spacious with grey and white as the main motif.
Jane walked towards the island counter top and tapped her fingers on the marble slab.
Jane then walked towards the double door smart refrigerator and opened it. It was empty aside from bottles of water and a few pieces of eggs.
"Pedro will be going to buy groceries to stock that up, Young Miss."
Jane looked at the time and saw that it was almost ten in the morning.
If they would wait for Pedro to get back from buying groceries before she would start cooking, then she might finish preparing their lunch by one in the afternoon which was already very late.
She opened the freezer and she heaved a sigh when she saw meat inside.
"Do we have rice here?"
"Yes, Young Miss. We brought some when we arrived last night. I bought the meat at the market this morning so it's not stocked. The previous owner of the house left us with a vegetable garden on the backyard."
"Bring me there."
Sandro led her there through the backdoor entrance in the kitchen.
Pedro was plowing the garden bed and removing the weathered leaves from the plants.
She saw eggplants, squash, okra, ampalaya (bitter gourd), beans, tomatoes, carrots, red bell peppers, lemon grass, ginger, spring onion and other leafy greens.
She was surprised to see a row of each plant mentioned.
As soon as Pedro saw Jane, he stopped what he was doing and greeted her again.
"Are they ready for harvest?"
"Some of them, yes."
"Good. Please harvest those that are already good."
Jane then left the garden and entered back to the kitchen.
The next thing she did was to check on the spices.
Salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and red onions. She mentally ticked on the boxes she created on her head.
With old Jane's memory and the experience of using the kitchen while she was in the dorm and with their family, she could tell that she mastered the art of cooking.
Jane then went to the cupboards to check for pots.
"What are you doing Young Miss?" Sandro asked while watching her opening each one after the other.
"I'm looking for pots."
"They're on the cabinets. May I know what for?"
"I'm going to cook lunch."
"What?! No-no! Let us cook lunch for everyone Young Miss." Sandro immediately panicked after hearing that she's going to cook their lunch.
Little did they know Edric was watching them as he leaned on the door frame.
"Jane, let Sandro and Phil handle the cooking."
Jane then turned around to look at Edric.
"But-"
"Come with me."
Jane had no other choice but to obey him.
Reluctantly, she left the kitchen with Edric behind her as he left some instructions to Sandro.
Jane found herself entering the living room and so she decided to throw herself in one of the sofa in the living room.
Edric followed her afterwards as he sat down opposite hers.
"Do you like it, here?"
Jane just shrugged. Compared to the Palace she had lived in the past, this one might be smaller but the vibe of loneliness was the same.
"Honestly, I prefer living in a smaller house than this big one. I felt lonely in here. Gladly, I won't be staying here for long since I have to go back to my dorm."
"I see."
"About that. We better hide me being your wife while I'm at school."
Edric frowned when she said that.
"Why?"
"You're a professor there while I'm still a student. Relationship as such, though nominal should be hidden. It's a taboo thing."
"Okay. Until you graduate, we will hide this to anyone but you have to at least stop staying in the dorm and live with me in my house."
"What?!" Her eyes widened in shock.
"Don't worry, we will be staying in separate room. I'll respect your space and please do respect mine." At least, Jane heaved a sigh of relief after that.
"But...that means I'm going to go to school with you every morning, right?"
"Not necessarily. I don't have a full load. And my lectures won't be everyday."
Edric then clasped his hands together as he intently looked at Jane.
"What do you think with that arrangement?"
"I'll be fine with it." 'There's no use disagreeing to it. You won't hear me out anyways.' She continued inside her mind.
"Did you already inform Director Lopez that you'll be coming to school late?"
Jane gasped as she realized that.
"Oh my!"
"Then you better inform him. I could tell that he would really be worried when he won't be seeing you on the first day."
Jane immediately grabbed her phone and excused herself to call Director Lopez.
While she was at it, Edric summoned Edward and he appeared behind him.
"Master." Edward greeted him.
"How's our little captive?" Edric didn't beat around the bush and asked him directly.
"He's still alive Master. Per your instruction, I didn't touch him anymore." Edward gave him a sly smile afterwards.
"How about those injured people inside his house?"
"You left them barely breathing Master, but I managed to not let them die."
"Good. One of these days, I'll bring Jane to visit him. So better be prepared."
"Master, what are you going to do with that house after we finished him off?"
"What else?"
What's a better way to discard it than to burn it down together with its previous owner.
"It's such a waste. Can we just renovate it and add it to one of your properties?"
"Not a chance. Wait, why are asking about it? Don't tell me you're interested with that man's house."
"I really can't hide anything from you Master."
"Forget about it. Do what I want you to do."
Edward was not interested with the building but the collection of books inside Mr. Sandoval's library.
Seems like he had asked the wrong question.
When he felt that Jane was going near them, Edward decided to bid his goodbye and disappeared in the air.
"Done?"
"Yes. I asked for a week leave."
"That'll do. At least we will have plenty of time to settle your Mama's case and probably take your documents needed for your marriage license so when we go back, we'll go to the judge to make things formal."
*Sigh*
"What's wrong?"
"Since when are you this talkative? I remembered you were such a man of few words the first day we met."
Edric was caught off-guard with her question.
"I just don't want to have a misunderstanding between us, Jane. That's why I'm trying."
"Why does it matter if I misunderstood you?" She argued.
"Jane..."
However, no words came out of Edric's mouth after that. Silence consumed them before Edric found the right words to ask her.
"Don't you like it when I talk to you like this?"
It was Jane's turn to be caught off guard.
Did she not really like it?
"No, it's not that. It just felt weird." Was all Jane could think of.
This change going on with Edric somehow made her hard to adjust.
She was used to seeing him the aloof, indifferent and 'no care in the world' type of attitude.
But now, here he was, doing the exact opposite of it.
Sometimes she wondered if this man hit himself in the head during the days that he was overseas.
Edric stood up with a sigh and then said, "If that's what you want. Then, I'll give it to you."
Like a switch had been flipped, Edric's aura around him changed. He was back to this cold and aloof person that she first met.
She watched him walking steadily going outside. He had decided to leave her alone in the living room.
She watched him wear back his shoes and exited the main door.
Then she heard him entering the car and closed the door shut. Seconds later, she could hear the gate opening and the screeching of the car tires as it prepared to drive out of the compound.
'Did he just leave?'
Then, her phone beeped with a message. It was from Phil.
***Jane, we're already on the way going to the new house with Naomi and Anton. A mover will also be coming for your things.***
After twenty minutes, Phil's driven car entered the gate and Jane could hear the opening and shutting of the car door and unsure steps going towards the house.
Phil then opened the door and let Anton and Naomi inside.
"Ate?" Anton asked Jane the moment he saw her sitting on the couch.
Out of habit, he removed his outdoor shoes and changed into the indoor sleeper before he came inside to approach Jane.
Jane on the other hand got up from the sofa and walked towards Anton and Naomi.
"Ate? Whose house is this?"
"Ours."
"What?!" Shock was evident in both Anton and Naomi's face.
"Really?" Naomi could not hold back the excitement.
However, it was a different story for Anton.
"Ate, I don't understand. How come we can afford to own this when we have a huge debt." Anton was not dumb to realize it.
Jane was rendered speechless.
She didn't know how to explain the situation to him.
"Ahm. Young Master bought this house to give it to your family, Anton."
Phil's answer didn't help making the situation better.
"Why? Why would he do such thing?!"
"Because Miss Jane has done something good for Young Master's family. She sacrificed her life to save Young Miss Celeste. So for the Mc Williams, she had become the family's benefactor."
"Isn't it so much?" Anton was not dumb to realize that.
"No. Young Master is really like this towards those deserving people. And your sister deserved it, Anton."
Phil said as he swept everyone a glance.
"And besides, isn't this place familiar to you?"
"..."
"This entire land where Pristina North Subdivision is standing was once owned by Mrs. Sanchez' grandfather. And this location is exactly where your great-grandparents' house used to be."
"How can we believe you?" Anton asked Phil.
"You may ask your Mama when she wakes up." Phil then cleared his throat as he tried to change the topic.
"Anyways, Jane, I have to go."
"Wait, where are you going?"
"Young Master has decided to stay in one of the resorts in your town. I'll be heading there."
"Why would he do that?"
However, instead of giving her an answer, Phil just shrugged his shoulders and continued going out.
Was Edric keeping his distance away from Jane for the better?