“Are you not going to tell me what you are planning?”
“You have to be patient, princess. You will find out in due time, maybe today as soon as Duke arrives from the errand I sent in”“And when would that be?”“I am sure he will be here in a bit” I was about to convince him to tell me right now because patience was wearing thin. There was a knock on the door as soon as I opened my mouth to start my whining and I threw a glare at the closed door.“Come in” my Dad weakly called out. He was slowly becoming worse and we could all see it but no one mentioned anything since there was no use in pointing out the obvious.Duke walked in and gently closed the door behind him before walking to my father’s side. They were quiet and just staring at themselves but I could tell they were having a silent conversation. After some seconds of just staring at each other, Duke let out a curt nod before turning to me to look at me briefly. There was a little bit of relief in his eyes and even Dad seemed relieved. This had to have something to do with Dad’s grand plan to not leave me alone.“Tell me, what did you people do? You promised to tell me when Duke arrived and he is here so tell me?” I reminded my dad.“You are so impatient my darling”“Well, you aren’t helping matters either by delaying the conversation. ”My dad turned to look at Duke who gave another curt nod before walking out of the room. After Duke left, nobody said anything. It was as though Dad was thinking of the best way to deliver his statement and I patiently waited for him to put his thoughts and words together.“Do you know who Atticus Hayland is?”“Of course I do” Who doesn’t know Atticus Hayland? That man was a force to be reckoned with in the business world. His name was always mentioned in business lecture halls as a mentor all future business owners should look up to. He took his father’s failing export company and turned it into a conglomerate whose subsidiaries were at the top of their field. From real estate to semiconductors, Axis practically ruled the capitalist market.“What do you think of him?” Dad asked again and I had to narrow my gaze at him.“What’s with all these questions? What do you care about what I think about him? I was seriously getting confused by all these questions.“Just answer the damn question, princess. I can barely keep my eyes open since my body has been awake for too long so I need to sleep soon” Now he is making me feel guilty for asking questions.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know him personally so all I've heard about him is solely on his business. I don’t have anything I could say on his personal attributes”
“I am sorry for snapping at you. I am just anxious because I know I don't have a lot of time left. I have to do this as soon as I can”“It’s fine. I understand. But why are you asking me all these questions? We don’t have anything to do with him”“We will soon”“How is that going to happen?”
“You will be getting married to him”“I am going to do what? Dad, you can’t be serious. Wait… this is your grand plan of not leaving me alone? To marry me off to a stranger?” I could not sit down any more so I stood up. I was furious and my hands were shaking. Do I look like a commodity that could easily be sold off at convenience?“Calm down”“Calm down? Don’t tell me to calm down. You are going to arrange a marriage for me or may have already done so without my consent. That is not happening dad. This isn’t the 18th century. I won't be getting married to anyone” My breath had also become shaky. I tried to breathe properly but it was getting lodged in my throat and my restlessness was getting too much so I started to pace the room.“Please Hazel, calm down and listen to me” The mention of my name stopped me in my tracks. Dad hardly called me by my name and even the workers in our home didn’t so I hardly heard my name being called. Dad only called me by my name when he was angry and by the look on his face, he was getting angry.“I don’t like this dad”“I know but you cannot manage the company. I didn’t prepare you for that which was a failure on my part. I should have done a better job raising you ``I didn’t like the tone of his voice that made it look like he did a bad job raising me. I walked to the bed and sat down once again. I let out a sigh and calmed myself down.“Stop looking down on yourself Dad. You did a very good job raising me to be the woman I am today. Are you not proud of me?”“Of course I am. Every time I look at you, the amount of pride that wells up in my chest can never be measured” he was looking at me as if I was crazy to think he would not be proud of me and I gave him a look to tell him that was exactly how i felt when he said he did a bad job raising me.“That’s exactly how I feel, Dad. I would never trade you for anything else in the world”“You know I would always do what's best for you right? I would never do anything to harm you or make you sad?”“I know that but this is different. Marriage is for life, dad. How did you even get someone as powerful as Atticus to marry me?”“Marriage is exactly what you want it to be. You just have to make sure you make yours the way you want like a potter. He takes a plain clay and shapes it into what he wants.”“You still haven’t told me how you got such a powerful man to want to marry me. What kind of deal did you strike with him?”“Thirty percent shares from the company and managing rights of the company”“What!!! Dad, are you crazy? Thirty per cent out of our seventy per cent? Are you selling off the company to him? And managing rights? That would practically make him CEO”“That's the plan”“What do you mean by that’s the plan? That's our hard work there Dad and you cannot just hand it over like that to someone else”“The company would still be yours”“In name only” I was on the brink of tears. I know that I may be incapable of managing the company at this moment but I could learn. Did my father have such little faith in me?“I can assure you it is not because I think you are not capable. You are far too delicate for me to thrust into the ruthless world of business, especially one as powerful as ours. Atticus would be the perfect person to make sure the business stays as the best construction company and also make sure you get your money. I don’t want you to suffer or worry. I have shielded you your whole life and I plan to continue doing so even in my death”“I am not weak Dad, I can handle it” I tried to reason with him but his decision was final.
“I know you are not weak but I would not risk someone hurting you because they think you are not adequate to handle the company. The people I work with are not people to take very lightly. I would not have you in the middle of vultures”“How dangerous can it be Dad? Then why did I go to business school if I would not end up managing the company?” I had wasted four years of my life studying something I didn’t like just because I thought i had no choice but to take over the company.“I wasn’t aware that was your reason for studying the course, else I would have asked you to do what you wanted. I am sorry for that.”“There isn’t changing your mind?”“No. I’m sorry princess but you would thank me for protecting you like this later”“I don’t think I would” he started coughing and I reached for the cup of water that had a straw in it so I could give it to him. When he finished drinking the water, I dropped the cup back in its place.“Consider it your old man’s dying wish and do this for me. Please” he didn’t have to pull that card on me and now there was no way that I could deny it even though I didn’t want it.“Fine, just because you pulled that card '' I stood up and walked out of the room, not even turning back as he struggled to call out my name. It hurt me to hear him struggle but I was too hurt to care and I felt ashamed of myself for not caring but I still didn’t go back to check up on him.I did not go back to see Dad after I walked out due to anger. I made sure Agnes, the maid in charge of Dad, gave me updates about his health though. Even though I was angry, I was still scared of anything happening while I wasn’t there. I was currently lying in my bed where I had been since I walked out of my father’s room. I was starving because I was too angry to eat anything yesterday and now I was suffering as a result of my poor decisions. The movie I was watching suddenly seemed uninteresting as I remembered that I would be married to a man I had never seen. I tossed my phone to the side and rolled on my back so I could face the ceiling. Marriage may not be one of the things that I had sorted out but it still didn’t mean I wanted to just marry anyone. I was considering being single for the rest of my life and just adopting a kid or two so I won't end up alone and sad but now that option was out the door. I had spent all night searching for everything I could find about
I don’t think I have ever been this nervous in my life. I thought the most nervous I would ever get was when I was waiting for my admission letter but standing here in front of the mirror in my walk-in closet as I examined my outfit for the thousandth time, I could barely breathe. I told myself I didn’t care and I would not bother to try hard at all but when Mariam, one of the maids had told me that Atticus was around and Duke had requested that I make myself present in an hour, my body told a different story altogether. I hated that my body wasn't working with me as I tried to calm my nerves. The sweat in my palms seems to increase with every moment that passes despite the cold room. It was as if the air conditioner was no longer working or my body was rejecting the cold. I know I looked amazing but I had no intention to try and seduce the man just because I wanted him to treat me fairly. Atticus was not a stranger when it came to stunning women. I had seen pictures of him with
I was trying to make myself late on purpose. I was currently standing in the middle of my closet trying to decide what to wear or rather I was trying to make Josephine who was supposed to help me get ready think I was trying to figure out what I wanted to put on which was a lie. I was not thinking about what I was going to wear because at the end I was just going to grab the first outfit I could find. I was just trying to get myself to believe that I was really getting married. My wedding was nothing like I would have imagined it if I ever had to think about what my dream wedding would be because there was none. It felt useless to get angry over the logical reason why there was no wedding but it still irritated me and made my annoyance for Atticus grow. He didn’t want to have any wedding so we were just going to be signing the papers and the lawyers were going to take care of the rest. Dad told me that he insisted on no wedding because doing one with Dad’s condition wasn’t the ri
It's been three days since Atticus walked out after we signed the marriage certificate and there had been no contact from him at all. Not that I was expecting any form of communication with him or anything but somehow for reasons unknown to me, I felt a little ache at being so blatantly tossed aside because that was what it was, he didn't need to do anything for me and he didn't owe me anything. He was obviously letting me know he didn’t care and that’s to be expected since we were strangers and I hated myself for feeling a bit irritated. I dropped the cloth I had been using to wipe Dad’s cold and still body. He was running a temperature so I decided to clean him with a cold cloth to see if I could reduce the fever. He had been unconscious since yesterday and I had made sure not to leave his side. I wanted to be the first person he sees when he wakes up anytime I’m sure I smelled terrible since I haven't taken a shower since yesterday but I didn’t care at all. I was too scared to
Someone was shaking me awake and it was getting annoying. I swatted the hand away again for the thousandth time but it came back just like it did the numerous times I had tried to get rid of it. I wish I could open my eyes and the person so hard they would find it difficult to get their bearings for a week but I had to open my eyes first and I was too tired to open them. I had been by Dad’s side for almost a week without sleep, waiting to see if he would wake up but he didn’t. Just like he did before, Duke had to force me to get some sleep and that was about an hour ago. The moment I hit my bed after taking a much-needed shower, I could almost kiss Duke in appreciation as I realized I was on the brink of death with how exhausted my body was. The delay in Dad’s consciousness was taking a toll on the staff and their hope was slowly fading away with time. They seemed to have given up altogether because they had heard he was not getting better so now all they did was throw me sympatheti
Life had suddenly gone still and I seemed to be the only one that existed. Dad died three days ago and my sense of living seemed to have died with me. I couldn’t muster up the energy in me to do the simple things of life any more. Duke and Dr Martin had found me lying across Dad’s chest. I held on to him for so long that they had to pry me off him when the Dieners came to pick him up. It had been a struggle. My mind would not believe that Dad was going away for good. I didn’t stay behind to watch them cart him away. I may have struggled with them too and not allowed them to do their job, instead as soon as they successfully got me off him, I walked straight to my room and shut the door behind me and I haven't opened it since then. I’ve had multiple people that I didn’t bother to identify come up to my door and knock asking me if I was okay but I didn't utter a word. Somehow, Duke managed to open the door to my room but he didn’t say a word, just rolled in a cart of food and kept it
The atmosphere was really tense in the living room. It seems like Atticus had no issue leaving me to deal with my uncle alone because he left as soon as the burial was done. He only held back to relay some information to Duke and then he was off. I was too bothered trying to think of ways to get rid of my uncle to bother asking Duke what Atticus had told him. “What are you doing here Uncle, I thought you decided to cut all ties with us, so what are you doing here now?” I asked my uncle. He was sitting on the chair opposite me and was giving me a dirty look but I didn’t care and he knew it was not affecting me. “What do you mean by that question? Of course, I would be here for my brother’s burial” “Then you can leave now that it’s over since that was what you came here for” His Jaw tensed and he clenched his fists as though he was trying to prevent himself from doing something. I raised my brows at that and scoffed. “You should watch your mouth, young lady. I will have you know th
Today was moving day. I was finally moving in with Atticus and it was not in the least exciting. Atticus sent the movers here and they were loading everything that I wanted to take with me into the van. There was not a lot to be moved so I didn’t bother contacting a moving company but Atticus did and like always without contacting me first. Some of the workers have been laid off regrettably but the house didn’t need as much staff caring for it when nobody would be living here anymore. Maybe one day in the future, I could actually come here sometime for a break but only time would tell. I was currently in Dad’s bedroom trying to get one final look at it before I left. Everything was still the same way it was before it was filled with medical machines that were currently gone. This room holds so much memory and I was leaving it behind. If I could stuff it in my bags, I would. “Dad, do you think they would like me?” I spoke to the empty room. I spent last night thinking about today.