"Where have you been?" His mother started nagging as soon as he got into his room.
"Mum please, not today again." He complained, shutting the door behind him. She'd been waiting for him in his room that night.
"You were with a girl, am I right?" She asked him. He ignored her question and started undressing. He knew she didn't know about Haera, she just assumed that to get on his nerves again.
"I want to undress please, if you can excuse me." He told her as he had already unbuttoned his first two shirt buttons. She got up to leave, feeling ignored and defeated as she stood by the door for a moment, turning to him, she stood there rooted.
"I'm not going anywhere. Am I not the one that gave birth to you? What's there to hide that I haven't seen before?'' She asked him as she went back to sit on the bed when he pulled her by the hand and dragged her out of the room.
"What you saw was when I was young, okay? I'm grown up now so please…" He told her, dragging her out of the door but she held the wall to support her. He used his strength to pull her away from the wall out of the room then locked the door behind him. She knocked and bannged on the door, shouting at him to open up but he ignored her, knowing fully well that when she's tired she'd leave and it did happen as she finally gave up and left.
He heaved a sigh of relief when she was quiet. He was really getting tired of her everyday nagging and complaining.
"You'll come down to eat my food. You'll come down for dinner…I'm the one who cooked for your information and it's your favourite…you'll see…" She screamed and went back. After some seconds she came back again, banging at the door but he just ignored her and continued with what he was doing.
"Women." He sighed.
He didn't go for dinner as he was already full after eating at the hotel. His mother started complaining when he didn't come down for dinner. She told everyone to wait for him but it was futile.
"Mum, let him be. He's not a kid anymore and can decide whether to eat or not. I won't starve because of one stubborn child." His sister uttered as she opened the flasks and took out her portion on a plate, eating silently as the others did.
"Yes…Shanya is right…he might have eaten outside and is not hungry…remember he's a grown up man and not a kid. Please stop this." The brother added, supporting his sister's words as he munched on his meal.
"It's after you've filled that hungry mouth of yours that you're now telling me that." His mother replied to her son.
Shanya and King were the step siblings of Ryan. His mother was the second wife of their dad. He divorced Bianca, his first wife after which she passed away two years after their divorce. Bianca had stolen a larger part of the company's shares and money and had run away with them. Her husband asked her to come back home and return them but she refused to.
He threatened to divorce her if she didn't do as he said and finally filed for a divorce when thier children were still young. She accepted it and moved on with her life. It was later discovered that she had a side lover and she had married their father for his money. She even had two kids outside their marriage, a grown up boy before she had children for Tahir and a young girl after she had given birth to Shanya.
Her children were only eleven and seven when she ran away from home. They didn't like her after their father told them the truth about their mum. She ran bankrupt and came back to beg for forgiveness when they had grown up and when he had already remarried and had Ryan, who was in the university already.
She begged for forgiveness and told them to help her with some money for an expensive surgery as she had a terminal illness that could cost her life when not treated. Her ex-husband didn't want her near the kids so he sent her away, after keeping tight security around the house. He didn't want them to know their mother had come back because she might have evil plans of destroying their home again.
Tahir, the father of Ryan didn't give her a dime but for the fact that she was the children's mum, he gave her some money and Tom's her never to show her face to them again. He still couldn't forgive her for what she had done. She had collected half of his properties and ran away and came back for him remaining through the court. Luckily for Tahir, he was a very influential and wealthy businessman so his wealth grew back again.
Ryan laid in bed as he took out his phone to call Haera, putting on his ear pods.
"Hello…" She picked the call after it had rung.
"Hi Haera." He greeted.
"Good evening sir…" She greeted him back.
"Evening, how are you doing?" He asked her.
"I'm quite alright, and you?" She asked him.
"I'm fine too. Will you be sleeping now?" He asked her.
"Not really…I'm still awake." She replied.
"What are you doing awake? It's past ten." He reminded her of the time with a smile lit on his face.
"Yeah…just…can't get any sleep." She replied.
"Okay…same here too." He replied too.
"Sorry about that sir…" She apologized.
"Hey, come on…it's fine. You know what? Why don't you come online…then we can chat till you're sleepy." He suggested.
"Alright then…I will." She replied to him.
"Thanks…" He said and ended the call. They both came online on WhatsApp and began chatting.
Ryan: Hi.
Haera: Hello.
Ryan: Still can't get any sleep?
Haera: Yes…how about you?
Ryan: Same here…
Haera: Sorry…
Ryan: It's fine…how's David?
Haera: Who's David?
Ryan: Your baby…
Haera: Lol…He's sleeping. Is that his new name?
Ryan: Yes. Can we call him that?
Haera: It's okay…
Ryan: Thanks.
Haera: Smiles.
Ryan: Smiles...
Haera: LOL…How's your family over there?
Ryan: They're fine…
Haera: That's nice. I think you should get some sleep…you have work tomorrow.
Ryan: Don't worry about me…I'll sleep later.
Haera: Are you sure? I don't want to keep you up.
Ryan: No…I'll sleep later.
Haera: Okay then, if you say so. I think I'll have to go now…he's up.
Ryan: Who? David?
Haera: Yes.
Ryan: Oh..! Hope he's not crying…?
Haera: He is…
Ryan: What are you going to do now?
Haera: I'll feed him.
Ryan: Okay. Take care of yourself and David. Let me leave you to also get some rest.
Haera: Okay. Good night.
Ryan: Sweet dreams.
Haera: Thanks for your time sir.
Ryan: You're welcome…one more thing.
Haera: Okay. What's that?
Ryan: Don't call me sir again…refer to me as Ryan or Aryan but not sir.
Haera: I'll think about it sir.
Ryan: There we go again…
Haera: Funny.
Ryan: I'm your friend, aren't I?
Haera: We'll talk about that tomorrow… I have to go now and attend to my baby.
Ryan: Okay, have a lovely night rest.
Haera: Thanks and you too. Bye. She ended the conversation as she went offline. He couldn't stop thinking about her as he read the chats again and again from the beginning.
The next day at work, Ryan was in his office working on some documents. His secretary, Mr. Aziz came in with some files as he reported his schedule for the day.
"Thanks. How about the work I have to you? Are you done with that?" He asked his secretary.
"Yes sir. They're here." He replied.
"Okay, let me have them." Ryan asked for the files as his secretary handed them to him. He went through the files and dropped them on his table.
"Good job. Do I have any meeting today?" He asked his secretary, forgetting the read schedules.
"Yes sir, you have two meetings today." He replied to Ryan.
"With who and who?" He asked as he looked at him.
"With the board and some investors." He reported.
"Okay. Remind me when it's five minutes to time." Ryan ordered.
"Yes sir. Also, the director wants to see you in his office, he said it's urgent." Mr. Aziz replied, conveying the message of the director which is Mr. Tahir, Ryan's father.
"Okay, I'll be there after the meeting with the board members." Ryan replied.
"Okay sir." The secretary replied, leaving his office.