Simon decided to put the slight delay behind him as soon as he left the estate.
He had no choice but to enter the car the man sent to take him to the gate.
Soon enough, he was glad he had not argued that he could get to the gate just fine, because it took them almost ten minutes to get to the huge iron-wrought, motion-sensing gate, even with the car.
The black iron gate stood between intricately carved pillars, with stone walls on either side. The gravel driveway was bordered by grass, trees, and shrubs.
"People actually live like this?" Simon marvelled as he tried not to gape around at the different structures he could see beyond the driveway on opposite sides.
"I could take you to the place you want to go, sir," the driver said respectfully as he slowed down outside the gate.
He was dressed as professionally as the other men Simon had seen around the property and Simon wasn't sure if Kendrick and his family did not have other motives after all.
"Where can I get a cab here?" Simon asked without responding to his offer.
"Cabs are not allowed around here, sir. I can…"
"Just carry me to the closest place I can get a cab then," Simon said tersely.
"Yes, sir," the driver responded and moved.
It didn't take long before they left the serene environment behind, and they soon started seeing other houses.
Even these houses were jaw-dropping too, but Simon could see that it was nothing compared to the estate they were coming from.
He had many questions popping into his mind, but he didn't want to engage the driver in any conversation.
"Who knows what else they are up to apart from trying to kill and calling me what I am not," he thought cautiously as he looked out of the window.
When the image of Susan's sad look wanted to intrude on his thoughts, he promptly replaced it with that of his Ma.
"I wonder what she is doing right now? I need to get Mandy to see reason so we can leave this place," he muttered to himself.
Maybe one day, when things settle down at home, he will be able to come back to this city to earn better and even bring his Ma to enjoy the good life.
The pleasant idea made him smile.
The thought of having a house like Kendrick's seemed like a lofty dream, yet he somehow knew he could achieve it.
One day. Definitely one day.
"Sir, we are here."
Simon jolted out of his thoughts to see that they had arrived at a more bustling area of the city.
He thanked the driver and wanted to step out.
"I can call the cab for you if you don't mind, sir."
Simon raised his brow at him, but then he was more concerned with getting on with his search than thinking about reasons why the driver was doing him favours.
"Alright then, thank you," he said with a shrug.
The driver eagerly booked a cab on his phone and told Simon, "He will be here soon."
That was when Simon remembered that he didn't have an app anyway.
He would probably have waited at that busy junction for many minutes trying to hail a cab.
"Thank you once again, but you don't need to wait with me. I can take it from here." Simon said when he saw the driver not leaving.
"Are you…sure." the driver completed his question as a statement as soon as he saw the way Simon raised his brow at him.
He gave Simon the cab details and left after that ridiculous bow again.
"I should have asked him how long the cab would take," he suddenly thought, as he saw that it was almost noon already.
Then he looked around for a place to wait for a cab and that was when he realised he was standing directly in front of an upscale restaurant.
His stomach rumbled at the thought of food, and he thought of going to get something to eat.
He looked back towards the road and couldn't see any cabs apart from the private cars zooming by without paying him any attention.
Many exotic cars were in the parking lot of the restaurant too, and Simon felt uneasy about going inside.
Still, it might end up being a long day before he could get to Mandy, so he decided to get something to take along.
He hurried towards the entrance, but he hadn't gotten close when one of the uniformed security men quickly came forward.
"What do you want?!" The hefty man asked in a nasty tone as he gave Simon a once-over.
A look of disgust showed on his face as his scrutiny ended on Simon's sandals, then back to the duffel bag.
"Get away from here now before I make you regret it!" he snapped, before Simon could respond.
"What are you talking about? I just want to get some food," Simon responded.
"Some food, right?" the security men pushed him backwards. "You think I don't know that you are here to steal from us? What about you makes you think you can set your poverty-stricken feet here, uhn?!" he pushed Simon again with the last statement and Simon staggered backwards.
"What is wrong with you? I am not a thief! I have my money with me and I just want to buy food!" Simon yelled back at him in anger.
"Hear that, Ros? This thief thinks he can fool us with his gibberish." The security man called to the other one.
That one laughed and told his partner to show Simon what they do to stinking thieves like him.
The security man in front of Simon turned back to him and gave him a fake smile as he raised his hands in a sign of peace and said, "You know what? I believe you. You want to buy food, right? Fine. I will even get it for you and apologise for my tone. What do you want?"
Though Simon didn't trust his innocent smile, he said curtly, "I just want some breakfast."
"Ah, breakfast," the guard said agreeably. Then he started tipping off items on his fingers: "A cup of coffee here is one hundred dollars; our special bagel is one thousand, five hundred dollars. I am sure you want some waffles too. Our waffle is two thousand dollars. The egg...you know what? About five thousand dollars should do it. Hand it over, and I will get your food now and even apologise to you."
Simon's eyes widened as he looked at the exterior of the elegant, red-themed restaurant. Its large glass doors gleamed like no hand had touched them before. The frontage was made of marble with big tinted windows showing the inside. Soft lighting from sconces creates a warm glow and even the simple-looking signage was lit up in gold. Neat hedges and flowers surrounded it, giving it such a luxurious look.
Simon blamed himself for not looking at the building well before even trying to go close to such a place.
Of course, a place like this would have crazy prices for their food.
But five thousand dollars?
"You know what? I think I will just come back some other time," he said, with a sheepish look, and turned to leave.
A swift kick to the back had him staggering forward, and he almost fell as he heard the security man's taunt, "Of course, you will come back. You poor wretch! You think this place is where you can play one of your tricks? You are here to steal, you bastard."
As he grabbed Simon, a posh cab rolled up to the curb, and Simon could see the driver looking around.
"Hey, let me go. That is my cab!" he said as he shrugged off the man's grip.
"Hey, a thief is getting away!" The man shouted so loudly that everyone's attention was attracted.
Even the driver looked over and Simon waved to him.
"I am the..."
"A thief, babe? How can they have a thief here? Let's not come here again."
The voice attracted Simon, and he looked back to see Mandy just stepping out of the restaurant with a man.
As happy as Simon was about seeing her without added stress, he couldn't help but notice that this man was different from the one he had seen the day before.
Just as her blue, elastic-strewn gown was shorter and even more revealing than yesterday's.
"Mandy," he called to get her attention.
She turned her head and her pouting mouth turned grim as she saw him.
"You just won't die off, will you?" She thought grimly before she looked away without a second glance.
The security man who was about to rough Simon up immediately straightened and looked at the man with Mandy as he asked respectfully, "Sir, do you know him?"
The brown-haired man beside her wore a tailored black leather jacket over a fitted white shirt, paired with designer dark jeans and polished boots. He had on a silver watch, a chunky ring, and a sleek chain, while his hair looked like he had just stepped out of a salon.
He looked at Simon with disgust and said, "How can I know a loser like this? You need to get your shit together. If this is the type of customer you have here, I will not patronise you again."
"Sir, please don't do that. We will make sure we remove every eyesore like this from your presence," the security man said immediately with a fawning smile.
The sound of a vehicle had Simon turn around to see that his cab was already leaving.
"Hey!" He called after the man and even wanted to run after him, but remembered that his main reason for being there was standing glued to the side of a man like she didn't know him.
"Mandy, enough of this, okay? You need to come home!" He snapped as he turned back to see that the other guard was already leading the two of them to a sleek silver Mercedes.
The man turned back and looked at Mandy as he asked, "Is he talking to you, babe?"
"Of course not. I am sure he is hallucinating, maybe. Who the hell is Mandy? You know my name is Sandra, and I am too classy to know lowly trash like this," she said as she glared at Simon.
The man looked sceptical as he said, "Of course, but..."
Simon has had it.
In frustration, he said, "I don't care what name you are calling yourself, but you need to come back with me now. Pa is dead!"
What?!