Ethan steps quickened as he walked down the stairs. All of the rules her father set for them always had a reason, how could he have taken that particular rule for granted?
When he finally saw her, she was standing at the floor to ceiling window and staring out at the night. Her expression was calm but her face was pale and she was shivering.
Ethan eyes trailed down from her face, down to her body and he almost cursed.
She was wearing a pink nightgown which complimented her pale skin perfectly. That was not Ethan's problem. His problem was how short and provocative the nightgown was. Her scarless shoulder and thighs looked like they were inviting him to give them hickeys so she wouldn't expose them to the night air again.
There was a broken ceramic by her feet which Ethan presumed had made the sound earlier.
"Hmmm..." He heard her sigh and he walked towards her to take her by the shoulders. He slowly helped her turn and led her up the stairs, his heart rate spiking whenever her legs hit the stairs.
Immediately they entered the room, the first thing that came to his mind was that the monotone decorations didn't fit Shikera's bubbly image. However, redecorating would be at his own expense since he would have to do everything himself.
He slowly led her to the bed and helped her lay on it, his hand smoothening her hair as he did. Her eyes closed immediately her head hit the bed and Ethan chuckled at her cuteness. She was really a princess.
He covered her up with the quilt and sat down on the bed beside her. If he went to sleep, he would only have terrifying nightmares so why not just watch over her instead.
Settling on that, he bent towards her face and his eyes travelled over them. From her silky brown hair, to her eyes and her curling eyelashes. He was sure her thin nostrils was adding to her health issues while her rosy pink lips.... He didn't know what to do about that.
"What are you doing, Ethan?" He whispered to himself, averting his eyes from her face as he sat up, staring at her until dawn.
The next morning was an uproar in the villa as they all got ready to go to work and the kindergarten for Esther. Ethan had assigned Shikera and Enoch to clean the second floor but they had spent more time on arguing about home training than the time spent on actual cleaning so Shikera was late now.
She rushed downstairs and grabbed her car key or so she thought, from the numerous car keys on the table and walked to the doorway, pushing her feet into the nearest shoes she could find, before finally running out of the house. Her hand pressed the button of the car remote and she was surprised when it wasn't her car headlights that flashed.
"If I go in again to start looking for my own car key, I might get fired from my own father's company. I might as well use Ethan's car." She thought, as she proceeded to the car and drove off.
Raymond and Ruthlyn, who were just coming from their own apartment at the back saw the disappearing car and their brows furrowed in confusion.
"He didn't leave without us, right?" Raymond asked.
"He can't. Did he let Master Enoch take it instead?"
"He knows that would be very risky. Enoch can't evade reporters."
Noticing Shikera's car in the driveway, they turned to each other, sharing a knowing look.
"She should be able to evade reporters, right?" Raymond asked.
"She should. She wouldn't have taken a car bearing Ethan DeLoach's personal plate number otherwise."
On the other hand, Shikera who was now on the highway far away from Ethan's villa, was wondering why she was being followed. She wasn't scared because she knew the owners of the cars. A few reporters from a rival TV station, whom she had worked with for a while when she was just a newbie reporter.
She pulled up at the nearest curb as she couldn't allow them follow her to Anderson Corporation.
The cars also pulled up, one of them parking at her front while the others surrounded her. What was going on here?
She alighted from the car at the same time they did and they immediately surrounded her, until one of them recognized her.
"Kera?" The person called. Turning to the other reporters, he tried to calm them. "Keep off guys. She's one of us."
"Hey!" Shikera greeted, racking her brain while trying to remember his name.
"I'm cool, Kera. Why are you using a car with Ethan DeLoach's personal number plate?" He asked.
"Ethan DeLoach? Ohhh, It was a trick! I thought I could annoy him and make him challenge me with this!" The fear of the reporters finding out that she knew Ethan, spurred the lie out of her.
The reporters laughed, all at once. They knew the rewards attached to seeing Ethan DeLoach's face so they concluded that Shikera did it because she was desperate.
In a few minutes, Shikera excused herself and got into the car. There was nothing anyone could tell her; She knew she was going to be fired today.
****
Ethan stepped out of the elevator, Raymond and Ruthlyn behind him.
"They should not be allowed to see me until I..." His words were cut short together with his steps when he saw his wife... or ward talking with someone and smiling brightly in the garage.
Ruthlyn traced his line of sight and she hurriedly blocked her Boss.
"Should I go see what it is about, Sir?" She asked.
"No." Ethan replied, "I just want to know everything about the man who made her let her hair loose when she always ties them up when she's with me."
"Not again, Boss! Not again!" Raymond screamed inwardly. This was the same thing his Boss did 4 years ago.
"I'll deliver it to your table tomorrow!" He spoke out. It didn't matter how much he thought Ethan shouldn't take this decision, he had to do the will of his Boss unless he wanted to suffer.
"Hmm. Do I have any work pending in DL Corp?" He asked again.
"Do we have to talk about work while standing in the garage? Just say you want to see what's going on between your wife and another man!" Raymond thought again.
"No Sir. But there was a call from Mrs DeLoach. She wanted to see you."
To Raymond and Ruthlyn, the only answer Ethan would give to this kind of question was "I will meet her later.", but when they heard his answer their jaws fell.
"Let's meet her tonight. Inform my wife so she can meet her mother in-law." Ethan said.
Ruthlyn was quick to recover from her shock as she hurriedly texted Shikera while Raymond stood there, staring at his Boss.
Few metres away, Shikera, who was speaking with Andrew while waiting for Cyprian to join them downstairs, looked down at her phone.
There was a text from an unknown number which wanted her to meet outside Anderson Corporation. The name at the end of the message was Ethan's.
How did he know she was at Anderson's Corporation?
The same question popped in Ethan's mind at the same time as he turned to Ruthlyn and Raymond.
"What is she doing in Anderson Corporation anyway? None of you reported her presence to me."