I heaved as beads of sweat seeped out of my forehead, a man about the age of sixty walked in with his hands behind his back and his lips parted in shock. I may have to kill him.. what am I thinking? How will I hide the body?
"Go.. good morning, " I stuttered.
"Good morning, " The man greeted, walking towards the bed and taking his coat off. "You must be Cassie, Logan's new wife, is that it? "
New wife? "No, no. I'm the hired surrogate and temporary caregiver," I replied, rising from the floor.
"Oh, I'm Harold Wellington,"
"Oh, you're the Harold everyone's been talking about. Nice to finally meet you, " I laughed.
He chuckled but quickly switched into a death stare, "What are you doing here, Cassie? "
"Look, I can explain. I was looking for something earlier and I remembered that I came in here when I last had it, "
"And that is? " he asked.
I held my pants tightly in a bid to hide my shaky hands, I was getting weak but that would be a topic for another day. Now, I needed to come up with something worth believing or at least pleasing to the ear.
"My, umm.. err… "
"Phone?" he took the words right of our my mental word processor.
"Yes,my phone! Wait.. how did you know? "
Harold's lips twitched into a sly smirk as he rolled up his sleeves, walking towards me.
Calmly, I clenched my fists as I prepared myself for a potential fist fight and I hope it wouldn't lead to any of us crossing to the other side.
"You see, Cassie. I arrived late last night and I had a chat with my wife, Heather in the living room. Pardon, I got so carried away that I had forgotten that my phone was in my coat as you can see it on her vanity over there, " he stated, pointing at the vanity and a spotted a phone identical to mine. "I returned this morning to look for it and I didn't know it was mine until I couldn't get access, silly me, " He chuckled, walking past me and pulling out a drawer where he retrieved my long lost phone.
"Oh my.. " I uttered, covering my mouth with both palms.
It was here all along.
"Why didn't you just tell the family, Cassie? We could've conducted a search,"Harold said, giving me the phone as I quickly checked if it was mine with the face ID verification. Yes, it's mine.
"I didn't want to disturb them, thank you very much for this anyways. I owe you big time, "
"You sure do, " He smirked.
Then an awkward silence followed, "I'll just head back and continue the movie then, " I announced and slipped away from there immediately.
જ⁀➴ᡣ𐭩
LOGAN
Cassie has been off her seat for several minutes now, I wonder if I'm the only one that noticed.
Her attention was barely on the screen rather, on the snacks she was consuming speedily. I think something's on her mind but I don't want to ask unless it's something she's okay with sharing.
Looking back at her words now and taking a glimpse of my family in the living room, I thought of how I was just being stupid so stupid to think that they'd be better off without me.
If I had pushed through with my plans then no one would be here, they would probably be mourning and my mom and Gwen? They'd probably get a call or something and rush down here.
My mother collapsed and stayed unconscious for three days when I had that accident and my sister couldn't even speak.
How would she bear the news if she heard I was dead? It's definitely something that I cannot imagine, something dreadful to picture. Right now, I'm even more confused about what Lois' potential reaction to my passing. It's already five days since she left and she has refused to take my calls and she kept snubbing my text messages. The longer she becomes distant, the more I crave to go to her and beg her profusely maybe she'll take me serious if I came over.
She keeps repeating the same thing about me hiding things from her and I am being totally transparent in the most possible way, I've told her everything she needs to know. She wanted access to all my finances and I gave her that, there is no building or investment I have in the world that Lois is unaware of, what else could be the matter?
Cassie finally returns but that was when the movie was almost over, we rounded things up and had a small breakfast since everyone was quite full with the snacks during the movies.
Afterwards, the regular Saturday engagements began: Sarah and James took their kids to an amusement park later on for a family date.
Uncle Luke and Harold headed to play golf with a couple of friends.
Aunt Heather and Evelyn drove down for some shopping and grooming, they tried to convince Cassie to tag along but she turned down the offer, I had hoped it isn't because of me , but she stated that she wanted to give her hair a break from products.
Jesse and Penelope went for a friend's birthday under the supervision of a guard so it was just two of us left in my study, I was behind my desk, tracking the stock exchange market and Cassie was reading Greta Van Helsing.
My head wasn't clearly focused on my computer as my thoughts kept drifting off to Lois from time to time, I checked her socials and she hasn't posted anything but was still active, I sent a message and just like the others,she left viewed it and ignored it then went offline thereafter. I know what I did was wrong but isn't it too long to hold a grudge?
"Hey, what's wrong?" Cassie's voice called me out of my world of thoughts.
"Oh it's nothing," I answered, wheeling off to the mini refrigerator to get water.
"Okay, if you say so," she shrugged, adjusting her head on the cushion and returning back to her book.
I'm tempted to tell her but I'll start awkwardly, "Can I ask you something, Cassie?"
"What?" she snapped quickly, sitting up.
"Well, it's about my wife, Lois. Since you're a woman like she is, I need tips on how to patch things up with her,"
This sounds like a bad idea but the way Cassie sits up encourages me to keep going.
"She hasn't reached out to you since that time? When is a she coming back?"
"Yes,she hasn't reached out. She said two weeks but from the looks of things, I don't think she's coming any time soon. I thought it was because of my disability but before then she's always been complaining about something else,"
"And that is?"
"She thinks I'm hiding something from her, she'd tell me this weird story about a man who kept a secret from his wife and how he ended up dying because she traded his tongue with the devil,"
"Umm, are you —"
"I'm not cheating on her, that would be the last thing that I would do. And I'm also not hiding anything from her,"
Cassie paused for while, "Maybe there's something she knows that you're not telling her about. How long has she been telling you this story?"
"For as long as I can remember, since we got married. I used to see it a reminder of our wedding vows but now, I think there's something more. Do you think she wants to leave me?"
"No,no. Maybe you guys have to talk things out, I haven't gotten married, boy but I think that sorts things out. Can I go out for a sec, I'll see you soon," she said, standing up.
Fair advice, communication may work things out a bit. But did she find out about that I haven't told her and how long did she know about that since we got married?
"Sure. Thank you for listening though, I'll try reasoning with her when she comes back,"