Eric switches the lights on in his office. He takes a seat behind his desk and stares at his laptop screen for a long time. The events from the day that Ally went missing keeps playing out in his head. He reaches for his phone and searches for Ronald’s number. He hesitates to call Ronald. Does he really want to ask a stranger about what is going on with his wife? Should he just go and talk to Ally?He wipes the screen and puts his phone away. After what feels like forever, Eric gets up and leaves the room. He heads to the bedroom, hoping to find Ally still awake. As he enters the room, he can only see her form laying in the bed. The lights are off, all but the bathroom light. He goes to switch off the light and looks into the bathroom as he does. The bathroom has already been cleaned. He doubts that Ally did anything to clean it. The staff in this house is extremely adequate.Eric gets ready for bed. He pulls the covers open and slides into bed. Laying next to Ally who has her back tu
Eric speaks to Ronald for a few minutes. Ronald does not elaborate on any specific event that occurred when Ally was away. He tells Eric that she was one of his patients and that he saw that something was wrong at that house. He helped her to get away when Doctor White contacted him.Eric asks about Doctor White and Ronald only tells him that she is a psychologist and that she treated Ally. Ronald gives Eric contact details for Doctor White.“One last thing Ronald. When we left the hotel, you gave Ally a strange look as we did. What was that about?” Eric asks the question that has been burning in his mind for a while now.There is a moment of silence on the phone line.“I thought she was acting a little strange. We used to talk about a lot of things during the sessions. Even the night before you came to pick her up, we had a good conversation. She is not shy around me. When you greeted to leave, she didn’t even want to make eye contact with me.” Ronald tells Eric. “I found the behavio
Eric is stunned. He looks at Ally across the room. She is standing with her arms crossed and she has an angry expression on her face. Eric looks at the other staff members. Each of them has the same shocked expression on their faces.The one lady takes off her apron and places it softly on the counter.“I am sorry. I will not be able to work here without Dirk.” She says before leaving the kitchen. One after the other, everyone in the kitchen takes their aprons off and walk out of the kitchen.Eric waits until the last staff member is out of the kitchen.“What the hell happened in here?” Eric asks Megan. Megan drops her arms from being folded over her chest but the angry frown stays on her forehead.“I cannot eat this shit!” she tells Eric. Eric takes a few steps closer to the plate of food she is referring to. He looks at it for a few seconds before lifting his gaze back to Megan.“But this is the way that you asked him to make it. He used to make it differently but when you moved in
Eric sits in his office at the restaurant. He finishes up his paperwork and puts the papers in the desk shelf where his secretary will take it to be filed.He sits back in his chair and looks across the street at Ally’s office. Ally is laying on the sofa with her phone in her hand. Surely, she must have a lot of things that need to be sorted out. She has good staff members at her restaurant but they cannot do the things she does. There should be things that need her attention.Eric gets up and takes his personal elevator to the ground floor. His restaurant is busy and everything is running smoothly. He walks out of the restaurant and across the street to Ally’s restaurant. The vibe is immediately different when he walks into the restaurant. When he walked out of his own restaurant he experienced a sense of happiness. The waiters were smiling and the patrons were chatting happily to each other.In here the waiters are all tensed up. They do not look friendly at all. The restaurant is a
Eric gets dressed. He looks at Ally laying on the sofa. She used to be so cautious about where she seduced him. And after, she would want to cover her body and lay with him for a while. This time, she stretched out and was laying on full display for him to see.She did not try to cuddle or talk to him. She basically just took what she wanted and cut him off. Eric walks to her hidden bedroom and comes back out with a soft throw. He covers her with it and leaves her office to let her sleep.He heads back to his office and takes a seat behind his desk. He turns to look out the window to where he can still see her laying on the sofa, sleeping. Eric feels guilt ridden. He feels guilty for not feeling the connection he used to have with her. He feels guilty for being angry with her. He feels guilty for leaving her there to wake up alone.Eric rubs his hand over his face and tries to focus on his work. After a while, he looks towards where he left her on the sofa. The sofa is empty. She must
Eric wakes the next morning before Megan does. He gets up and heads to the bathroom, expecting it to be in an utter mess. It is mostly clean except for the wet towel that is draped over the wash basket. Eric looks at the scene in front of him. Maybe he just found the way that he needs to work with Ally. He will have to tell her what he wants, since she has no idea how to behave herself anymore. Thinking these words makes Eric feel guilty. He does not want a woman to behave around him. He wants her to be comfortable in her own skin and do the things that she wants to do, but this Ally is not the Ally he fell in love with. He just wants that Ally back.He gets ready and goes to his office inside the mansion. He takes his seat behind his desk and opens his laptop to go through his emails. Most of the emails are work related. He scans through them to see if there is anything that needs urgent attention. Anything else, he will attend to at work.One email stands out from the rest.Its an e
Eric is furious. He struggles to get his emotions back intact. He grabs some of the things in his office that he wants to take with him and leaves for work. He does not wait for Ally to go with him. He saw yesterday that she does not really do anything at work anyways.He heads straight to his office when he arrives at the restaurant. There must be a thunderstorm showing on his face, because everyone who makes eye contact with him takes a step back to give him some space.Eric gets to his office and attends to the matters on his desk first. He then busies himself with anything his secretary brings to him. When he finds that he has nothing left to do, he checks his watch. It is only eight in the morning. This is going to be one hell of a long day if he does not keep busy.Eric takes his private elevator downstairs and heads across the street. The waiters in the restaurant area does not look much happier. He heads to the kitchen to talk to the head chef. He finds him and asks him why th
Gary stutters when he hears Eric speak. Eric gives him a moment to compose himself. He is used to having this effect on people. He has lots of investments with the bank and so does Ally. Eric knows if he had to take his business to another bank, Gary would be blamed for it.“Mr Symons. I had no idea you were working alongside Mrs May. What can I do to help?” Gary says. Eric can hear that the man is nervous. There are times that he wishes people would not react like this when they speak to him but right now, he takes pleasure in the bank manager’s discomfort.“To start off, you can give Mrs May the authority to authorise any salary payments.” Eric says. April looks at him with wide eyes. She cannot believe that Eric will be able to solve this problem over the phone. “And then make sure that she will be able to authorise any future salary payments electronically.”Eric listens as Gary explains why he could not do it before. He understands that someone with high enough authority had to r
Megan waits in her room most of the day. She looks up when she hears a soft knock on the door. Agatha stands in the doorway, waiting for her to acknowledge her. Megan stands up and takes a few steps towards Agatha.“Morning.” Megan tells her.“Good morning, Mrs Symons. The doctor is here to see you. Would you like to meet him in the downstairs room or should he come up here?” Agatha asks her. There is no emotion on Agatha’s face. She does not let it be known what she is thinking or feeling.“I will see him in the downstairs room. Thank you.” Megan tells her.Agatha nods and turns to go to the downstairs bedroom. Megan follows her in silence. Megan cannot ignore the pounding of her heart as she approaches the bedroom. She does not know how she will be able to get the doctor to keep her secrets. Agatha stops next to the open door and indicates with a gesture of her open hand for Megan to go in. Megan nods at Agatha and enters the room before Agatha pulls the door closed behind her.The
Eric wakes up the following morning. The first thought that crosses his mind, is that Ally has not been for a check up since she came back. He wonders how the baby is doing. When he found out she was pregnant, he was so excited to become a father. He could never share this excitement with her because she was not in a good place and when she was discharged from hospital, she was taken. Even when she came back, he couldn’t share his excitement with her. She was just not the same person anymore.Eric gets out of bed with effort. He will have to arrange someone to go see her at the house. He cannot trust her to go to an appointment. Eric takes a hot shower to force himself to wake up fully. He steps out refreshed and ready for the day. He gets dressed and ready for work. He smiles as he steps out of his hidden bedroom into his office. No commute today. He missed staying here. He lived here for a long time after he had a fallout with his father. He only moved back to the house after Ally w
After dealing with the staff member, Benson goes to Ally’s room. He unlocks the door and opens it slowly. He never knows exactly where she is. She may be behind the door. He enters to find her laying in bed. She has her back turned towards the door and is staring towards the window.Benson walks up to the bed and waits for her to acknowledge his presence. She does not.“Good afternoon, Ally” Benson tells her. She does not move or respond. He stares at her for a few more seconds. It irritates him that she treats him like this. If she only knew what he had to do to keep her alive after the stunt she pulled with Ronald. He was able to deal with Ronald, having him fired at the facility. He is not afraid that Ronald will ever come into her life again. He also got word that Doctor White was in on the plan and have dealt with her too. She will never be able to practice again in this country.“I would like to show you something.” Benson tells Ally. Ally lays in her bed. Not moving at all and
Benson sits at his desk in his home office. He watches the screen of his laptop. The security cameras he installed to keep an eye on Ally is displayed on the screen. He watches her lay in bed. She does not move around much. After he brought her home, he placed her in the same room Megan was in.She was distraught after Eric and Megan left the hotel, crying for days. She refused to eat and she spent most nights walking around in the room. Today, when her meals were taken to her, she ate some of it but not really enough to call it a healthy meal. If things go on like this, he will have to bring a doctor in to see her.Benson sees the screen of his mobile phone flashing on his desk. He takes the phone in his hand and reads the number on the screen.“Yes?” he answers. He waits a second before the person on the other side starts talking.“It’s Megan. We have a problem.” She tells him.“What is the problem?” Benson asks. He is a little tired of having problems. Nothing worked out the way it
Eric is furious. He cannot stand the way Ally does not care about anything. This selfish nature of hers is driving him up the walls. Eric looks at his desk, he already finished his work early this morning. There is nothing left for him to do in here. He refuses to go home and he cannot sit in this office all day with nothing to do. He cannot stand going back to Ally’s restaurant.Eric goes into his hidden bedroom and gets his chef jacket from his closet. He puts it on and takes the bandana from the pocket. Wrapping the bandana around his head to cover his hair, Eric heads out of his office towards his own restaurant kitchen. When he enters the kitchen there is a moment of quick silence. Eric walks straight to a young chef that is busy chopping vegetables. Her work is neat and her station is tidy. He holds his hand out to her.“May I?” Eric asks. The young chef looks at his hand and then at the knife in her own hand. She carefully hands him the knife she is holding. Eric nods and the y
Eric and Jane sort out most of the issues that Jane had within an hour. Jane looks a lot happier when Eric is done talking to her. He applies himself to sorting out the mess on Ally’s table. There are unpaid bills on her table. He looks through them and can now understand why some suppliers refused to deliver to the restaurant. Eric sorts out everything that needs attention. When he leaves the office, there is nothing left to do. Eric shakes his head as he enters the elevator. Ally could have sorted out most of these problems yesterday, if she had not laid on her sofa playing games.Eric stops by the kitchen to check on the mood. The kitchen staff is seemingly working harder than before. All the work surfaces are clean and the head chef is doing his rounds and making sure everyone is ready for tonight’s service. Eric is happy with the immediate change in personnel morale. It was a problem for him when he walked in here and saw all the doom and gloom in the world under one roof.Eric w
Eric walks into the dining area. He finds one of the waiters who are standing next to a wall with her hands behind her back. She stares out in front of her. Eric takes a stance beside her and stares in the direction she is staring in. There is nothing there.“Oh! Mr Symons!” the young girl exclaims when she realises that he is standing beside her.“Why are you so absentminded?” he asks the young girl.“I was just thinking how much everything has changed since I started working here.” The girl answers. She immediately regrets telling this to him when she realises that she is speaking to her boss’ husband. Why did she not think of this sooner?“How long have you been working here?” Eric asks in a soft tone. He has long since realised that when speaking to women, you cannot use your demanding voice. Except when you are in the kitchen. Those women expect you to speak in a strong demanding voice.“I have been here since the restaurant opened.” The girl tells him.“What is it that changed?”
Eric takes the number and dials it from his personal phone.“Good day, Mrs Johnson. This is Chef Symons. Your husband works in our restaurant.” Eric introduces himself. There is an immediate sense of panic from the woman on the other side.“Oh, no! Did something happen to him?” she asks quickly. Eric can hear the dread in her voice.“Not at all. Please do not worry. Your husband is fine.” Eric assures her as quickly as possible. He hears the sigh of relief over the phone. To Eric, this is a positive sign that this woman still loves this man. Eric is somewhat surprised that he is so invested in saving this relationship. Ally would do exactly this. Well, Ally that he married, would have done this.“Mrs Johnson, it has come to our attention that you and your husband has had a couple of difficult years. And to add to that, we have had an admin issue in our offices in the last few days that caused salaries to pay out late. I apologise for that inconvenience.” Eric tells her. He hears how s
Eric watches as all the staff members who have not received their salaries quickly take out their phones. Most of them receive their messages as they unlock their phones. The looks of relief on their faces gives Eric a sense of guilt. He did not know that these staff members were under so much pressure.Eric straightens his shoulders and claps his hands once to draw everyone’s attention.“Good morning chefs.” Eric says. He takes the stance he usually would in his own kitchen. His feet slightly apart and his hands behind his back. He looks at each of them, making eye contact.“Good morning, Chef!” they all greet in unison.“I apologise for any inconvenience regarding the late payment of your salaries. If you were affected negatively in any way, by paying penalties or anything of that sort, please report it to Mrs May. I will gladly compensate you for any of your losses.” Eric watches as some of the staff members start to smile with relief. There is always something that causes chaos wh