CHAPTER 4

          DARKEST HOURS 

           CHAPTER FOUR 

            JOHN PAUL'S POV

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After a while of tossing and thinking of what to say to me, she said: “My mother is sick and her condition isn’t good at all,” Her gloomy utterance triggered some tears, “I hate to think that she’d die and leave me alone in this crazy world,” she was moved to tears.

" She normally go out to beg, a-and that how we feed. I havent seen her close to four days now, and am so worried" she narrated while tiny drops of tears, made it way out of her tear ducts.

I held her close to myself and cooed her like a loving mother.

" It okay, i can hire a private investigator to find your mother whereabouts. Provided you give necessary information" I replied in which she nodded obediently.

" My mom name is Felicia Federick and she is 56 years old, honey brown eyes and black raven hair. I can list more if you want ." She replied sniffing. I stood still immediately .

" Felicia? I almost ran into an elderly woman days back, and she muttered her name to be felicia." I told her and her head shoot up quickly at me .

" Th-that, my mom she is Felicia" she replied with a hoarse voice, and i can see her panicking. 

" She was sick and i had no money, so i left her to go find a menial job to earn money to meet up with her native drugs. But before i could get home she wasn't here anymore" she slumped down at the old worn out chair, and held her hair as though she wanted to pull out her scalp.

I felt so bad for making her open the door without her permission.

The room looked so old and cracked but well arranged.

I could picture her mum mentally lying helplessly on the wooden couch, with native drugs which were probably administered by her daughter to manage the illness.

Looking at the woman, I saw and dying woman not recuperating at all.

There was something intriguing about Treasure; she was a very intelligent and shrewd girl, endowed with special wisdom notwithstanding that she looked kinda shy.

***

I provided an accommodation for Treasure in the mansion, making sure that she lacked nothing.

Amid her prettiness and seductive looks, I noticed that she was so naïve in terms of romance and love. I didn’t have to rush her.

We met her mom over the weekend and the woman was really overjoyed, and could probably die of too much happiness.

The mother and daughter moments, was so special to look at and made me longed for my parents.

Being with Treasure in the mansion wasn’t too easy, because her presence made me stop playing around with women just to respect her so that she wouldn’t meet any other girl in my house.

I even started regretting giving her a position in the mansion because it began to affect my social life.

At a point, I began to see myself as not being man enough because Treasure wasn’t even noticing my love, lust, and desire for her.

 She was always focused on her duty, making everyone in the mansion to like her so much.

One morning, I was in the shower when I noticed that someone entered my room.

I came out from the bathroom still wet.

I was surprised to find Treasure keeping my room clean. Seeing me she was startled and became uneasy.

“Oh, Treasure, you don’t have to do that,” I said as I toweled myself. “Why didn’t you assign Jenny or Matilda or any of the other maids to handle that?”

“Good morning sir…John,” she stammered trying to avoid seeing me naked.

“I don’t want anyone to be assigned to your room, because I’d noticed that they don’t keep it tidy to my satisfaction,”

Hmmm, that sounded more protective of me.

She could have assigned any of the maids to do that but I noticed that she didn’t trust me, and never wanted me to be involved with any of the pretty maids.

If she could be protective, then why wasn’t she showing that she had an interest in me? But wait, it could be that she had an interest in me but disguising her true feelings. Well, time would tell.

“What can I say?” I indistinctly asked myself.

“Did you hear me right?” she asked, bringing me back from the land of my thoughts.

“Oh, yeah, I heard you. That’s thoughtful of you dear”

“Thanks,” she replied, feeling shy to look at my face.

“Can we talk?” I solicited as I put on my clothes to get ready for office.

“Of course, we can. That’s if  I won’t be taking your time for work,” 

I could see her smiles even though she tried to sweep her cheerfulness under the carpet of seriousness. 

“Not really,” I said and made her sit on my bed, but she stood up and went to the sofa and sat down with her knees locked together as she waited to hear what I had to say.

“What else do you lack?” I asked thinking of what to do for her to make her life more beautiful.

“You’ve already done so much and I can’t thank you enough for your benevolence,” she appreciated smiling and feeling uneasy in my presence.

“I bought a house for you and your mum at the third street but you’d still be in the mansion often because I need you closer here,” 

Treasure didn’t understand it at first until my words sank into her, making her realize the magnitude of my promise.

She became gravely shocked.  “Oh, My God!” she said and jumped on me with uncontrollable happiness. “You’re God’s sent to my life and I’ll keep serving you, as a way of repaying my debts to you,”

I laughed and looked at her innocent face as she talked. “You don’t need to repay me for any reason,” I muttered and shook my head, having smiles lurking all over me.

I still held her close to me while we talked but the happiness that took over her didn’t allow her to notice my grip on her if not, she’d have avoided being close to me.

 Happiness can do a lot of things. For the meantime, I enjoyed holding her soft and smooth hip that got me thinking lewdly.

At that point when my grip was beginning to metamorphose into a caress, she got back her senses and quickly shifted away to the sofa.

 “Thanks once again, but…” 

“But what? What’s the problem?” I asked looking confused because I wasn’t ready to accept her rejection of the offer.

I went closer to her and sat beside her thinking that she’d run like before but she didn’t.

“My mum,” she said and placed her straight and sexy fingers on her lap.

 “How can I live in the mansion and still take care of her at the new house you bought for us?”

Hearing that complain made me heave a sigh of relief because I could solve the problem. It wasn’t something too difficult for me.

“I’ve taken care of that too. There’ll be three maids assigned to stay with her, to take good care of her needs, no matter what her needs could be. Mom is now a young girl once more." I chuckled, watching her lips curve into a sexy smile in appreciation.

Out of great happiness and unexplainable joy that overtook her, she knelt before me and started shedding tears of joy without knowing what else to say or do.

The more her tears rolled down dropping on my feet, the more her beauty blossomed. 

At that point, I realized that I was beginning to fall in love with her but I couldn’t explain if it could be love yet or lust.

Seeing her in that apron made me feel that apron is the finest cloth for any woman.

Treasure was just stunning in all ramifications. The simple words to qualify her are ‘celestial beauty’ 

“You’re making me more indebted to you but I can’t repay you. Please, stop making me a perpetual debtor to you,” she pleaded with tears.

I offered my napkin to her for a proper clean up of her tears, pulling her up back into my eyes to assure her that it was okay to cry but not for long.

“It’s okay, you’re not indebted to me in any way,” I explained trying to make her understand the sincerity of my purpose, “I felt like helping you out and that’s what I’m going to do even if you don’t need it,”

“But this is too much,” she said and gave me a kiss on my cheek. It was like a dream but she did it and I enjoyed her. For the very first time, I felt loved.

I felt some magic rumble in my head making me feel that I was spinning around in the room. I felt so cool and happy and held her for a kiss.

I actually wanted to take it by force but she rejected and slightly pushed me away and said: “I have a boyfriend and I don’t want to cheat on him,”

Did I hear her well or was she pulling my legs? I’d never imagined that such innocent girl could keep such secrets from me all these while.

It was almost the second month after meeting her but I never suspected that she had someone she was seeing.