Mrs. Gilbert came hurriedly and helped Natasha up the stairs to her room which was two rooms next to Brandon's room.
"I am okay Mrs. Gilbert. I can take it from here. Thank you very much." She said with a smile as she got in to her room.
"No time Ms. Claire."
"Please call me Natasha."
"Okay, Natasha. The young Sir had your clothes brought in from your house and I have already packed them in your closet. Freshen up and supper will be ready in two hours." Mrs. Gilbert said as she shut the door behind her, leaving. Natasha was shocked. 'How did he…' She trailed off as she looked at the king size bed before her covered in white sheets. The room had its own walk in closet and bathroom with a bath tub. She had never seen such before, except in the hotel where she worked but only the richest customers could afford that room. And here was a man having the whole experience in his house for free. He must be very rich; stinking rich!
She carefully took off her clothes and put on one of the bathrobes from the closet. She then headed to the shower. The house was all quiet. Suddenly, her phone rang. She had not gotten into the shower as she was distracted by the beauty products in the bathroom. She was surprised as she did not remember having her phone the whole day. Strange! She went back to the bedroom and tried to listen from where it was ringing from. Then she saw the bedside drawer and pulled it open. Her phone was there! Did Brandon do all this?
"Hello." She answered.
"Tasha!" Sasha called out from the other end of the line. She was loud so Natasha had to put the phone at a distance from her innocent ear,
"Thank you for taking care of me today. Did you get home safe?"
"Don't mention it. And yes. I did. Did you?"
"Ye...yes. I did. I am home safe and sound."
"Why did you hesitate? Is Will there?"
"What? No! Not at all." Natasha answered hiding the shyness in her voice. "I… I am at his house." She added in a soft voice.
"You are in Will's house?"
"No. I am in…" Natasha could not bring herself to say it. Sasha understood and let out a curious scream.
"Damn girl! So quick?"
"It is purely help. He knows I am not safe in my house. So he offered me security." Natasha shyly said the last words.
"I change my mind. He does not like you anymore." Sasha snapped.
"What?"
"Yes. He does not like you. Darling, he is falling for you. Hard!"
Natasha suddenly felt her face turn pink in embarrassment and hurriedly changed the topic asking how Sasha had been. She told her what happened with Watson and how Brandon had offered to pay her mother's medical bill. Sasha was very excited and really liked both men. The two girl caught up for almost an hour and by the time Natasha was hanging up the phone, it was almost twenty minutes to eight. 'Twenty minutes to supper!' She exclaimed and remembered how her boss hated being late. She decided to hurry up. She rushed to the bathroom, took off her robe and started washing as fast as she could.
Brandon had already freshened up and was dressed in a black t-shirt and black short. He opened his door and was headed down for supper when he suddenly heard a loud thud coming out from Natasha's room. His instincts drove him to go back and knock on the door. He called out for her several times and hearing no response, he rushed in. Luckily, the door was not locked. He saw no one on the bedroom and heard the shower running. He called out again for her. There was no answer neither was there a change in water pressure from the shower. He suddenly felt uneasy. Without thinking twice, he opened the unlocked bedroom door and rushed in. He found the woman passed out on the floor, naked. Half of the body in the shower with hot water running down it and the other half out on the cold floor. He rushed back to the room, grabbed a sheet and rushed in to get the woman. He turned off the shower and wrapped her body in the sheet before carrying her to the bed. He then called out for Mrs. Gilbert and asked her to dress her. He went back to his room and took a cold shower to cool down his body temperature.
When Natasha came around, she was dressed in purple silk pajamas, which she immediately knew were not hers. She looked at Mrs. Gilbert who was just placing her supper on the bedside table.
"What happened?" She asked rubbing her sore temple.
"You passed out Ms.... Natasha. The young boss found you on the floor and he brought you to bed. You were unconscious for a while." Mrs. Gilbert said and noticed Natasha blush. "I put the clothes on you. Please eat." She added, hoping to ease her shame. She turned around and left. But Natasha knew that Mrs. Gilbert could not have carried her naked body from the shower to the bed. She held her sore head. She felt hungry so she slowly ate the food that had been brought to her by Mrs. Gilbert; wet fried fish and ugali. It was really nice. After she was done, she brushed her teeth and took the empty dishes down to the kitchen.
"No Ms. Claire. I could come up to get them!" Mrs. Gilbert exclaimed as she stood up from the dining seat and took the dishes from Natasha.
"It is alright Mrs. Gilbert. And please, I asked that you call me Natasha." Natasha replied sweetly, smiling. She looked around, as if looking for someone. Where was he? Mrs. Gilbert noticed as she walked to the kitchen and she followed her.
"He is not here. He has not come down since after he put you in your room." Mrs. Gilbert read her mind as she put the dishes in the dishwater. She then put some drinking water in a glass and gave them to the disappointed girl before her.
"Has he eaten?" Natasha asked taking a sip of the warm water.
"No… Natasha. But he will come down to eat." She reassured her. Natasha finished her glass of water and turned to leave but stopped at the kitchen entrance.
"Can I take to him his food?" Natasha asked trying to sound as calm as possible. "If you do not mind."
"Sure." Mrs. Gilbert said as she got the food from the microwave and put it in a tray for Natasha. She then handed the tray to the girl who was eagerly waiting. As she handed over the tray, she smiled sweetly and added: "The young boss, has been through a lot in the past years. I hope you will realize when he is trying to shield you from his pain and the errors of his past."
Natasha nodded and balanced the tray on her hands as she turned around and slowly proceeded to walk to her destination. She occasionally stopped to compose herself and get rid of her occasional dizziness. After a few minutes and a few struggles, she got to his door. 'I hope I got the right door. But it must be this one. Mrs. Gilbert said two doors right of mine. So it must be this one.' She told herself as she looked at the doors once again to confirm. She balanced the tray on her left hand and knocked at the door with her right, softly but loud enough for the man inside to hear while he was busy immersed in work on his laptop. He looked up to the door and thought that he heard wrongly so he paused to listen again. A slight tap was heard again. He stood up from the study table in his room and walked to the door and slowly opened it. The two stood at the door looking at each other. Tension.
"Uhm… Boss Brandon, I brought you your supper. Mrs. Gilberts told me you had not eaten so I…" She trailed off at seeing how the man was looking at her indifferently, as always. She cleared her throat. "If you don't mind." She added trying to contain how uncomfortable she was. 'I did not think this through.' She thought to herself as she hid her embarrassment. She then turned around as she concluded that he did not want to eat. Brandon suddenly realized that he was lost in his thoughts looking at her. He was struggling to control his breathing and hold himself together. What was happening?
"Come in, Ms. Claire." Brandon said to the woman who was walking away from him and opened his door wider to give her space to pass. She hesitated, turned around and got in to his room. She almost dropped the tray from shock upon seeing the majestic room. It was almost twice the size of hers with a glass door leading to the balcony on the right end. Before you got to the door, there was a study table, with a shelf of books behind it. As the curtain on the glass door softly let the wind blow it away, she could see a sofa on the balcony. 'Wow! The view from there must be beautiful!' Natasha thought to herself as she placed the tray on the bedside table. She suddenly felt the chill and she folded her hands across her chest. Brandon, who was still figuring out whether to close the door or leave it open, suddenly closed it and walked across the room and closed the glass door and turned on the heater. He looked at the young lady standing before her.
"Thank you, Ms. Claire. You shouldn't have. I was to go down to eat anyway." Brandon said as he looked at the young lady before him. "You should not have to strain yourself. That is why you are here and have a sick off for the next week." He then went back to sit on the sit at his study table. Natasha looked at him surprised.
"But I got to work Sir." She said as she stood there, not knowing what to do with herself. "With all due respect." She added after she noticed her stern eyes at her. "I have to work."
"If you go to work within the next week, I'll have your boss fire you. I'll fire you" He said arrogantly as he shut his laptop and looked at her even more sternly. "How is your head?" He asked intentionally as he enjoyed watching the lady struggle to hide her embarrassment.
"Um…thank you for saving me, helping me that is… from the shower…yes." She said as she tried her best to hide the shaking in her voice. The air was becoming too hot for her. She could feel herself suffocating, she did not know whether it was all physical or mental. She suddenly said "Excuse me!", then rushed out of the room leaving the man behind smiling.