The Mafia's Flower (ON HOLD)

Chapter Eleven

Three days had passed since our last discussion where Michael blatantly rejected my confession, and it seemed like I saw less and less of him each day. His work schedule had doubled that the only time I got to see him was either when he was walking towards the front door or when he was exiting or entering his study. His eyes were always shielded behind the square reading glasses he wore and his head was either hung down on either a file he read or behind a computer screen, attending a virtual meeting. He was hardly ever around, being driven almost all day by Fred (his driver) in any one of the many black official cars that were parked in the lot. The words we'd exchanged with each other seemed lesser each day and I feared we were beginning to grow more and more apart.

Sometimes, I felt he purposely avoided me. Quickly waltzing into his study if the slightest creak of my bedroom door sounded across the hallway, or hastening his steps as he passed me on his way out the front door. He ate most of his meals in his study and bedroom and everyone could testify that he was extra busy these past few days. But I didn't know why I had the weird feeling that it had something to do with me—with my confession. It bothered me but just like every other time, I didn't know what to do to make the situation better. I was even more afraid now than ever of trying, fearing I'd made him uncomfortable and the air around us awkward with my unrequited love interest.

I'd told Belinda about what happened (definitely not the raunchy bits of that night's escapade but more about his rejection) and I'd always remember her words when I felt overwhelmed. 'Give him time. He'll come around.' but I couldn't shake the feeling that he never would this time. I feared that I'd irked Michael too much, maybe to be point that he was already more tired of me than he already was.

I mean, he was busy catering for a teenage girl who wasn't his even responsibility whilst her father had absconded to an unknown area with no signs of coming back nor any form of communication whatsoever.

Of course, Michael's wealth had not come through charity acts like these. And I began to doubt how close my father had claimed they were prior to our arrival. Maybe he felt he was only lending a helping hand; a brief stay, a matter of days. Days that had turned into weeks, and then months and now three years. Of course, he would be fed up with me—I would be fed up with me. Knowing the little that I did about Michael Valdez, I knew one thing for sure: the man valued his privacy, and I was a direct infringement on it.

He didn't have a lot of visitors. The only people that came by were work associates and he saw them at the porch within a matter of seconds before they were out of sight again. He didn't even let them into his home, and before getting into the residence, they'd have to provide ID at the gate before they could pass through. There were only a handful of people who came to the manor, and that was mostly the staff that came from home. That was even more of the reason why I was shocked when I saw Abel in the garden that day. To extend more knowledge of his love for privacy, he ensured I was homeschooled. Undergoing online classes in one of the best highschools in the country that offered the degree program. To be frank, I didn't have much of an issue with it, especially when I wasn't the one paying my tuition fees. I had less of a say in the matter and was more happy that I wouldn't have to deal with the likes of having annoying classmates as I once did in middle school.

But Michael never stopped me from going out. I had the liberty of going into the city at will. I once went to the cinema with Joan and Belinda; we ended up watching a romcom about two housemates that fell for the same guy. Joan and Belinda seemed to enjoy the movie but I just wasn't vibing with it. It seemed like a movie their age group would relate with more, so I sat back and enjoyed their company instead. I didn't have a lot of friends back in the town I left with my father. After the freak accident that claimed the lives of my mother and baby brother that I was yet to hold, the town kids began to avoid me strangely. Making some sort of rumor that I and my family was cursed. The only friend who stood by me was Sally, but even with time, she too began to edge away. I was saddened when my father's business wasn't doing so well, to the point that our old house got sold. But I was glad when we moved away, from that old town, where no one seemed to like us anymore and it seemed like we'd lost more than we'd gotten.