The two studied their surroundings for a while by shifting their gazes.
They were in one of the haughty neighborhoods within the city. The streets were tarmacked and the pavements on either side of the streets were tiled. The streets were clean, as well as the pavements. At the edges of the pavements, lawns and colorful flowers extended to the concrete walls of perimeter walls of different homes. The atmosphere in this area was fresh with a mixture of sweet scent from colorful flowers within the vicinity. It felt like, a small paradise on earth.
The house designs were closely related, that it was somewhat difficult for one to differentiate one house from another.
In simple terms, somebody could have easily concluded that the homes were built by the same engineers.
Dragging the suitcase along the pavement on the left side of the street, Natalie began walking. Without questioning, Jean followed behind. He hastened his gait and caught-up with Natalie.
On seeing this, Natalie gave Jean a quick sideway glance and continued her walk. Jean was studying the vicinity with a fascinating look. It was clear that he wasn't believing what was meeting his eyes.
He then slowed down and sighed.
"Mom, where are we heading to?"
Shifting her gaze to look at Jean who was now trailing behind, Natalie lingered for a while as she slowed down.
"Where did I tell you we were heading to when we left home?"
Dropping his head dejectedly, Jean shrugged and scratched the back of his head.
"…I know… we are going to our new home mom, but just to ask. Why are we at this place?"
Natalie immediately stopped when she heard this.
On the other side, Jean was stupefied for a while as he assumed the same stationary state as Natalie by her side. He didn't expect such a reaction from her. During this moment, he felt like he had unknowingly offended Natalie.
As he was still in his reverie, Natalie gave him a reassuring smile. And instead of the smile looking comforting, it strangely looked creepy. He blinked several times as he gave Natalie a furtive look.
Continuing with her walk, but this time with a slow gait, Natalie wore a complicated look. This act from Natalie prompted Jean who was now trailing behind, to add on.
"If we were truly heading home, then why did we alight this far?"
Natalie's face became somewhat pale, almost immediately.
"…this far you say?! We are almost there. Just like a couple dozen meters away."
Jerking to the side with wide eyes, Jean gaped.
As if not noticing Jean's reaction, Natalie now took a turn to the left and entered another street. This street looked narrower than the previous one. Although, it was just smaller by a few meters, the difference between the two was still noticeable.
It contained several gates for several homes, though, fewer than the previous. The gates were fancy and dissipated the aura of haughtiness.
On seeing this, Jean couldn't help but stare at this environment that was enhanced by the green plants and flowers around with awe. There were trees alongside the flowers and lawns growing along the concrete walls of different furnishes and finishes. This was the environment that laid on either side of the street.
The street that they had just entered, was more attractive than the previous one especially in terms of vegetation. This street looked livelier than the previous one, as human activities were evident. There were several dumping sites along the streets with some car thread marks on the tiles of several gates that the two had managed to pass along. The flowered plants were neatly trimmed, with only a few looking rugged.
Despite him being preoccupied by what he was seeing, the thought about Natalie's statement a moment ago, didn't escape his mind. After analyzing Natalie's statement with much keenness, Jean came to a conclusion that; Natalie was hinting him that their new home was within the estate.
'…who knows, maybe it is her long-term dream. Hopefully she achieves it, because on my side, I can't wait to reside in such a cool and attractive place. The rich they say…'
This thought from Jean confirmed that; Jean didn't lean on the side of the conclusion that Natalie's statement a moment ago leaned. It was hard for him to process such an answer, especially by considering the kind of life he had lived before.
Their family didn't enjoy the luxury of owning expensive properties. It was among the low-class families. Though they were better in their category, as they could afford all the basic requirements and even some secondary requirements, such as education. Perhaps leaving his school was one of the reason Jean was bitter for leaving his village. He was schooling in one of the local schools, and he felt bitter for parting ways with his schoolmates, who seemed like friends to him.
'How did I even arrive to such senseless conclusion?'
Jean was dead sure that Natalie stood no chance when it came to affording a home from such an estate. Even if he could relate her affording a house in such a place to her new job in town, it still didn't make sense. It was to his knowledge that Natalie's salary was going to be higher than her previous, but he was pretty sure that it won't be far from it.
'How could a salary that barely afforded all our basic requirements while in the village, manage to pay for a house in a city, and not just any place in the city, but and estate of this Caliber?'
Putting the reality that Natalie was yet to receive her first monthly wages from her new job in town into consideration, it was easy to suspect that Jean's suspicions could be right.
'Maybe she saved? No… that can't be. What was there from her previous salary that she could have saved? I have to stop this and embrace the reality.'
"Here we are."
This sudden statement from Natalie drew Jean out of his reverie.
Paying attention to Natalie who had turned to her left and was approaching a black metallic gate, Jean gaped as he stood rooted to the spot for a while.
When Natalie glanced at him, he shuddered a bit and reluctantly approached the gate. Almost immediately, Natalie rolled her eyes and took out a key from one of the zips of the suitcase.
During this time, Jean was curiously studying each and every detail of the gate that stood before him.
The gate was decorated with several beautiful patterns on its surface. It was two point-four meters wide and one point-eight meters high. A rusty adamant chain that was constricted by a huge padlock, that had some patches of rust across it, formed a loop around the vertical steels at the center edges of the gate.
With just a single glance, someone could tell that; it has been long since the lock was last opened.
On either side of the gate, a concrete wall extended on both sides looping around the house that stood behind the gate. A few distance from the perimeter wall, a few flowering plants and lawns covered the ground, with a few indigenous trees towering above them in various points.
Everything about the home, suggested haughtiness.
As he was still in awe about the vicinity, a rattling sound resounded. Throwing a quick glance in the direction where the sound came from, Jean blinked a couple times as he wore a complicated look on his innocent face.
Natalie had just unlocked the padlock and was now pushing the gate open. Jean hesitated for a moment before taking a few steps ahead. Natalie gestured Jean to enter as she followed behind after closing the gate behind her.
On entering the compound, Jean was stunned by what he saw. A huge, exquisite bungalow stood in front of him. It was painted a mixture of grey and white. Although the white might have been mistaken for crimson at the moment, but with a closer inspection, someone could decipher that it was white.
The pavement within the compound was made of pebbles, with lawns covering the ground around it. The compound was littered with dust and organic materials such as leaves, sticks, dry grass among others.
Cobwebs ran through the compound across the flowered plants and the wall of the bungalow. A few meters above the roof of the bungalow on the rear side, some branches of a tree could be seen from the front side of the house.
Among all the things that Jean had seen in the compound since he stepped his feet in it, none caught his attention more than the tree at the rear side of the house. His eyes darted across the leaves of the tree that towered above the house.
The house was a single floor building. This was enough to explain how tall the tree on the rear side of the house was.
Without hesitation, Jean began making his way to the rear side of the house. He was on his way to have a closer look of the tree. He was burning with inexplicable urgency of getting closer to the tree.
Just as he was about to disappear on the right edge of the house, a familiar voice resounded.
"Hey!"
:-D