Underestimated Heiress

CHAPTER 9 - Surprise guest

Colin was in a gaming centre playing with his friends, he was still thinking about how he could convince Jess to come for camping. While he was thinking he saw the message from Richa in the leadership group. The dates were finalised and he still didn't have a plan to complete his promise. Now, he only had 7 days left to think and execute a plan. After thinking for some time he came up with the easiest solution that was to help Jess's parents on the farm and work with Jess to finish her work early so that she can be allowed to be away for a couple of days. The only problem was Colin hardly knew Jess, she was as good as a stranger to him. What if he unknowingly creates a problem for her. He still needed to try this approach for his leadership team.

Colin decided to visit Jess's farm the next day. He didn't know the address, he will try to find the farm based on the information he had, if he still didn't succeed he will give Jess a call. He was prepared to work on the farm for more than a couple of days with Jess, so he packed his bag and requested his driver to drive him near the location that Jess mentioned. They arrived in the small town in around 1 and half hours.

"Master Colin, I don't see a farm here. Where should I drive? Why don't you call your friend and ask her?", driver asked Colin.

Colin called Jess multiple times, but she was currently in her jiu jitsu class and didn't answer his phone. So he got out of the car to get some coffee.

The town didn't have many shops, all the shops were located on the only cross road in the town. The people here relied on farming and their house was close to their fields. Colin thought of asking the shop owner if he knew Jess Mitcham but then he thought how can a coffee shop owner know a small farmer, so he dropped that thought. He ordered his coffee and was waiting for it near the kitchen window.

That's when he heard a few people talking in the kitchen.

"Yesterday, Miss Mitcham looked beautiful like a model. I wonder why she doesn't dress like that everyday.", one of them said.

"I heard she goes to a big school in Melbourne. It's one of the biggest private schools, I am sure all the rich kids go there. Don't they like to wear expensive clothes and dress up?" another one asked.

"Our miss Jess is very simple and down to earth, I hope other kids don't bully her. Mr and Mrs Mitcham make the kids work so hard. I feel bad for them.", one of the maids that worked in the Mitcham house said.

Colin was shocked when he heard the discussion. Everyone in school thought that Jess Mitcham was a poor girl, she studied in private school because she got a scholarship and she worked part time for extra allowance. While browsing through the photos in his mobile, Colin thought he should confirm if they are talking about the same Jess Mitcham. After looking for sometime Colin found a class picture from last year, it was shared on social media by one of his classmates.

He approached the lady who addressed Jess as 'Our miss Jess', she sounded more familiar with Jess, "Excuse me Ma'am." Colin said.

The maid was leaving with some stuff in her hands, she turned around to look who Colin was addressing as ma'am. Colin was wearing a plain tshirt and a blue denim jeans, he had a lightweight jacket over his thin tshirt.

He walked towards the maid and asked, "Can you please help me? I am looking for my friend but don't know her address, she said her family had a farm near this town. I tried to call her multiple times but she didn't answer so I didn't know what to do.", he took a pause to make sure that the maid was listening and understanding what he said, he continued, "I was waiting here for my coffee when I overheard her name, her name is Jess Mitcham."

Colin showed her the photo and asked, "Is this the girl that you were talking about? This is our school photo from last year. Look, this is me." He said pointing to himself in the photo. He wanted to make sure that the maid doesn't think of him as a swindler or fraud. The maid looked at him and then the photo, it looked like she was confirming if it was the same person.

"Yes. That's our miss Jess.", she said after confirming Colin's identity. Then she checked the time on her wrist watch and said, "She will not answer your call now, this is time for her jiu jitsu class. She won't be free today until 5PM in the evening and she said not to disturb her even after 5PM, as she wants to complete her school work."

Colin was speechless, who is this person, she is busy during school with her part time jobs and during break she is busy doing god knows what. He was curious to find out more about Jess Mitcham. He asked the maid, "Ma'am can you please give me the address of Jess Mitcham. She will not answer my call as she is busy but I have a very important message for her."

"Yes. You can ask anyone about the Mitcham farm.", she replied while she walked to the coffee shop owner and asked him, "Sir, do you have the address card for Mitcham farm. This young man wants the address." The shop owner recognised the maid and gave one of the address cards he had to Colin.

"Thank you", Colin said to both the maid and the shop owner.

He went back to his car and requested his driver to drive him to the address.

The car arrived at the gates of Mitcham farm, "We are here Master Colin.", the driver said.

Colin looked at the huge gate that said Mitcham farm in big bold letters. He requested his driver, "Uncle let's drive in.". There were security guards on the gate, when they saw a luxurious chauffeur driven car, they approached the driver politely and asked, "Do you have an appointment?"

"Our Master Colin is a classmate of Miss Jess, he has something important to discuss with her.", the driver said to the guards.

The guards looked at Colin who was sitting behind, he was dressed in simple clothes but had an aura of a rich heir. So they let him through after making a call to someone.

The car drove in for approximately 1 km. Colin was amazed by the design of the front yard, the fountain looked perfect and the mansion looked huge. He looked at himself and thought that he was underdressed.

Jess had received many calls from Colin today but she left her phone in her room. She was now busy practicing shooting with her dad. As expected, she was dressed in white tapered tights with a brown loose crop top and sports shoes. Her hair was tied in a high pony.

She was a bit nervous today as her dad had accompanied her teacher to understand her level and to identify her strengths and weaknesses. He wanted to make sure she is ready for the competition in January. While Eric was busy talking to Jess's coach in the field, their butler came and whispered something to Eric. Eric nodded and gave some instructions to the butler after which the butler left.

As per Eric's suggestions, the coach changed a few techniques for Jess and Jess continued her practice. She had no idea that her cover was blown and Colin now knew that she was a rich heiress.

While Jess was still practicing, Colin arrived in the Mitcham mansion. He was escorted by the butler as instructed by Eric. Eric wanted to test how Jess performed under pressure and he had a golden opportunity. He knew how important it was for Jess to hide her identity in school. He was sure that Jess will be stressed when she sees Colin in her home.

Colin was walking towards the shooting range, when he saw Jess he smiled in disbelief. He was still finding it difficult to believe that Jess being a rich heiress worked part time jobs and still worked hard to get scholarships.

While he was staring at Jess, Jess had her back towards Colin but Eric had his eyes on Colin. When Colin got closer, he couldn't believe his eyes, the business tycoon he admired was standing in front of him, Eric Mitcham.

Eric brought his hands forward to formally introduce himself to Colin, "Hello, I am Jess's father, Eric Mitcham".

Colin was still in shock and took a couple of seconds to reply back, "Hello, of Course. I mean. nice to meet you Mr Mitcham.", Colin stammered. He found that Eric had a strong hold on his hand and his gaze had a question mark. "Oh! I am sorry. I mean, I am Colin, Jess's classmate." Colin finally introduced himself. But the next second he felt embarrassed, he thought he had left a bad first impression on Eric.

"How unlucky!"Colin thought, "Not only am I under dressed, but I also made a fool of myself in front of the person I admire."

"Dad, I think the last round was pretty good.", Jess removed her ear muffs and said while turning around to look towards her dad. But as soon as she turned, her expressions changed from happy to shocked.