The Sebana Heir

Chapter 30

The next morning, Ria didn't come down for breakfast. She was feeling too cold and her body ached all over, her headache was spinning and it felt like something really hot and hard was pounding in her head. Mrs. Harber sent Sheela up to check on her and the Indian maid ended up taking her temperature. She went back to the kitchen where Mrs. Harber was cooking up her special soup that rainy day. Hayne and Sophie were sitting on the stool when Sheela was mentioning Ria's condition to Mrs. Harber.

"Mostly her back," she continued, "She told me her back was only hurting. You should probably come check on her, Mrs. Harber."

"I will," Mrs. Harber nodded. After Sheela left the kitchen as Sophie followed her out to the dining room, Hayne decided to ask his mom.

"Ahm.....what you told me last night. About, Ria not being as fortunate as I was?" he began, "What'd you mean by that?" His mother gave him a shrug instead. Hayne looked at her with pleading eyes, seeking more information about Ria.

"Why do you wanna know?"

"Was she..............abused?" Hayne asked. His mom was now changing the expression on her face to a more solemn look.

"Well...........that's something I can't talk about without her permission, son," she let out a slight smile.

"So she was?" Hayne's voice followed his mom when she took the tray of soup up the stairs. He looked back at the time on his phone before finally grabbing his keys to drive out.

•••••••

Sunday night, Ria was feeling a little better after Mrs. Harber had come in to check on her and giving her a shot of the needle to quickly heal her from her body aches. She told her that her body was just stressed out and very tired and the rain must have worsened things with a fever. Ria came up with an excuse for the injury from the accident to keep Mrs. Harber from finding out.

Ria was able to crawl out of her bed and walk around her room. She did some reading, scrolled through her phone, chatting with Korene and Sky, but she did not tell them about what had happened. At around 10pm, she decided to come out of her room and head downstairs. The house was quiet except the for the sound of the ongoing rain, everyone must have been asleep. Sophie must be in her room, Mrs. Harber could be video calling her dear husband who was still in London and Hayne, she didn't care about and neither wanted to give him any more of her thoughts.

Ria came into the kitchen and headed straight for the refrigerator. She pulled it open and reached in for the carton of milk. One glass was all it took to calm herself. The feel of the cold rush it gave down her throat, quenching more than her thirst but somehow, also her stress.

She then headed back upstairs and approached the passage, when Hayne was coming out of his room. The sight of him made her want to turn back the other way. She quickly got to her door where she thought, she sensed him rush up to her.

"Ahm........Ria. I ah- had something to say about that night," he found the words hard to get out in front of her. Ria was facing her door and stopped when he spoke. "I know that what I did was not cool and it made me look like a total jerk..."

"Made you look like a jerk? You are a jerk!" Ria said in her head.

"...leaving you there to wait for more than an hour, I honestly didn't wanna do that,"

"One hour? I was waiting in the cold for 120 minutes!" Ria spoke again to herself.

"And, I am.........sorry, for that," he replied as he glanced down at the floor. Ria finally gave him her brown eyes, they were very beautiful but stubborn, soft but stern and she was looking directly into his.