Asia couldn't walk two weeks later. David had got her a beautiful and expensive wheelchair and she hated it. She wasn't an invalid.
"I am trying to help you, Asia. The wheelchair has all the latest features," David insisted.
"I know, David. Just like I know that this is your fault." Asia said curtly.
"I know. I chastise myself daily. And the newspapers and tabloids too remind me," David looked away.
"I am sorry, David. Crutches will give me more freedom. Kindly," she whispered, held his hand.
Asia preferred crutches. With those, she could access narrow spaces without help. David had got her those as well just in case but hadn't given them to her. In three minutes, he handed them to her and they both laughed.
Asia couldn't go to her place yet as there were stairs at the front. David liked that. He loved to come back to a warm home after work.
Asia would be there with a ready laugh and would tease him to death. He loved that. He loved the sight of her at the back yard enjoying the evening sun. Even the thought made him smile more at work. He looked forward to evenings.
The staff loved Asia . She never bossed anyone around . They asked for her routine and fit in. I any case, Asia did most things all by herself. They also knew David would be happy each time he found Asia at home.
David managed to push her to the family dinner a week later. She didn't have much say and literally had nothing better to do. But he had also bribed her into it. Not with money, no. He would invite Henry to dinner in his place for the very first time. For some reason, Asia wanted to have dinner with those two.
So David and Asia went to the Mara residence for dinner with the Mara family. Asia had asked him not to dress like her date. Well, they still turn up together and leave together.
"I am beginning to think you like it when people talk about us," Asia said as David helped her onto that wheelchair. His parents wouldn't understand crutches.
"Just a tiny bit," David enjoyed it alright.
"What? I tell you David, you will find me a husband. Just keep soiling my reputation," Asia said seriously as David laughed.
The two got to the dinner table, Asia quite serious and David still laughing. They cheerfully said hello to Mr and Mrs Mara and then old Mr Mara. He was in his eighties.
The parents knew Asia had moved over to David's place and now she was the only Rivers at the table. She seemed calm. They seemed suspicious.
"You two seem really close," the father quipped.
"It is a façade, she hates me." David said, smiled as Gabriel joined them.
"What are you talking about? I love you darling," Asia quipped, nudged David.
"I envy your intimacy," the doctor told David. "How is my favorite patient?" He greeted Asia, sat directly opposite her.
"I am better, thanks to you," Asia smiled at Gabriel.
"Still, David, you have never been happier. Even your staff commented on it. Asia keeps you in good spirits. Is it the sex?" the mother was serious.
Asia and David looked at each other and erupted in a bout of laughter. From their reaction, everyone could see there was nothing intimate there. Just friendship, as if David kept any friends.
Yet the two mention a dinner date they would attend the following evening. She seemed at ease in David's house and David, who was ever territorial, seemed to enjoy it.
There was peace on that table. Mrs Mara smiled secretly. She had a plan, an excellent plan she knew would work. All she needed was to ensure the son was in. And based on the son's point of focus, he was definitely in. All focused on the food.
"Asia, would you like a glass of wine?" Mrs Mara smiled warmly at Asia.
"Yes please. Thank you, Mrs Mara," Asia said as Mrs Mara personally got up to pour the wine.
"You deserve all the wine in the world for keeping my leopard company," Mrs Mara said as everyone laughed.
"Mother, I didn't bring my best friend to dinner to get embarrassed," David protested.
"He is a very loving leopard, this one," Asia said, leant over to plant a kiss on David's cheek.
"Really, Asia? Whose side are you on?" David asked as Asia laughed hard.
There was talk of having that dinner again in a week and strangely, everyone seemed enthusiastic. There was love at that table. But other than Asia and David, the rest had their motives.
While they were driven home, Asia and David, both tipsy, had broken into a song, rap music. They didn't even know what it meant, whether they sang the right words. They just sang while the driver suppressed a laugh. They didn't mind him. He could join in for all they cared. And that was a different David definitely.
"I fly out for business in a week for a week," David said casually as he pushed Asia's wheelchair to her room.
"Are you kicking me out?" she asked in jest.
"No! Why would you think that, you mad creature? I want you to come with me," he said, opened her door.
"As whom?" She asked, smiled.
"My assistant," they got to her room.
"You think I went to the university to study how to serve you coffee, Mr Mara?" she was serious.
"Where do you keep your passport?" he went for the drawer.
David would still ask. He would use whatever he could to twist her into admitting to travelling. He knew she wouldn't fit in her office after what Violet did. The workplace wouldn't be hospitable. The gossip of the sisters fighting for the MD, put more aptly, Asia going for the sister's fiancé, that wasn't dying down. Some openly wished that the wound would be fatal.
They labelled Asia a husband snatcher and she didn't even know it. If she did, she wouldn't do much as she was determined to cover David. That meant he would protect her at whatever price.