Chapter 4: The Request

Fred watched as Ruth laughed. She seems to have forgotten about her grief for some time. He had called his wife and told her about the situation. She had advised him to bring her to their house where they'd all look after her. Ava was the most excited. She took it upon herself to arrange Ruth's bedroom. She had gone shopping and bought a lot of clothes, shoes and purses for her. They were all happy to receive her. But there was Ethan, acting cold as always. Or even more.

Fred had noticed how passionately Ruth talked about finding a job. He thought to ask Ethan about it. He stood in front of Ethan's room contemplating whether to knock on just go back. While he was still at it, the door opened and Ethan appeared.

"Dad?"

"Hey son, I was hoping I could talk to you about something"

"Come in," Ethan said.

Fred stepped into the room and turned to Ethan. "I want to ask you for a favor" Ethan raised an eyebrow "About Ruth" Fred added.

"What about her?" Ethan asked.

"Can you give her a position in your company?"

"There's no vacancy except…" he stopped " there's no vacancy at all dad" Ethan said and looked away.

"I know you haven't hired any secretary. Give her a chance son"

"I can't give her that position that was Claire's"

"Yeah but Claire is not here. Someone has to take that position Ethan. You have to move one. You can't be miserable cause of a wretched girl"

"Not now dad, I can't"

Fred sighed "come to me when you change your mind. Don't give Claire the satisfaction of making you miserable" he patted his shoulder and made for the door.

Those words sunk into Ethan's mind making him clenched his fist hard.

"Wait!" He said.

Fred stopped Midway.

"Why are you doing this father?" Ethan asked, advancing towards him.

Fred sighed "you see her father was a very good man. He had a huge impact on my success story. So I'm just returning the favor by helping his daughter"

"So she's just a sob story" Ethan said casually.

"Don't you dare call her names" Fred yelled pointing his finger angrily "you have no idea what she went through. You have no idea how it feels to lose both parents." With that, he stormed out of the room in anger.

Ethan was left stunned. Why was his father so angry? He decided to go after him and find out what's wrong.

He met his father at the balcony taking deep breaths. He was trying to calm his anger.

"Father, what's wrong?" Ethan asked.

"Son, you don't understand how it feels to lose both parents," Fred replied, shaking his head. "I lost both of my parents at a young age. Sam's parents, Ruth's father, adopted me. Sam and I are like brothers. So I perfectly understand what Ruth is going through." He heaved a sigh "would you please give Ruth a chance please?"

"You don't have to beg me. She can start on Monday. I'll have David arrange her office" saying that Ethan left for his room.

.

.

Ruth slowly opened her eyes when she heard voices. She opened her eyes to see a figure pacing to and fro in her room. She rubbed her eyes to get a clear view of the intruder.

"Ava," she called.

"Oh thank God, I've been waiting for you to wake up for ages. Good morning" Ava said

"Morning Ava" Ruth yawned.

"I've been asking her to leave and allow you rest but she refused to listen to me" Marie said.

"Oh! Good morning Mrs Sinclair." Ruth greeted.

"Good morning my dear. How was your night?"

"It was fine. Thank you." Ruth replied with a smile.

"Ava, let her freshen up. Leave the room already. Don't be so stubborn." Marie scolded.

"Okay mum" Ava said before turning to Ruth "go freshen up. We'll go shopping together."

Ruth nodded with a smile.

Ruth looked at the mirror, contemplating whether to tie her hair up or just leave it. She finally settled for a high ponytail, leaving some strands of her on her face. She was fully dressed with a black jeans, white crop top and white sneakers. She walked out of her room and trode towards Ava's room. She knocked gently on the door.

"Come in," she heard Ava's voice.

She entered the room.

Ava's room was more of a girly room. Everything was pink. Starting from the paintings to the ceiling and even the bed. Ruth has never entered Ava's room before, but Ava had pointed it out to her the other day when she accidentally bumped into Ethan while looking for Ava.

"Sit down," Ava said, interrupting her thoughts. She strode towards the bed and sat on it. She watched Ava rummage through her closet looking for what to wear. A maid came in.

"Miss Ruth, the master requested your presence," the maid said.

"Could you take me to him please?" Ruth asked.

"Sure ma'am, this way"

Ruth raised her voice a bit "Ava I'm going to see Mr Sinclair. I'll meet you in the living room"

"Alrighty" Ava said in the same tone.

Ruth walked into the living room and saw Fred sitting near the fireplace. She walked towards me. Fred turned, having noticed a presence behind him. He stood up from the fireplace.

"You're here. Let's sit" he said, walking towards the couch. Ruth sat opposite him.

"So I called you because I followed up on our conversation the other day at dinner, about the job…"

He scanned her face for any expression. Having noticed none, he continued "and I've found you a job for you"

Ruth said nothing.

"And it's not because I wanted you to work but I think it'd be a huge distraction for you. Ava will soon be returning to modeling school so you won't be all alone."

'He was right,' she thought. She could really use a distraction at the time.

"Okay sir, it's fine by me. Tell me where and when I'll have to start working."

Fred's face beamed "at Tidal Wave Tech. It's a very huge company and their pay is really good. You'll start on Monday"

"Okay sir. Understood"

"Good. And also could you please drop the formalities, you're making me feel old. I'm still a young man" Fred added and they both laughed.