At The Tourist Center.After Phil announced that ‘we are home’, Denise expected Jude to get out of the car but he did not. Then, he turned and looked at him and observed that his eyes were moist. He was moved to see a beggar tearing up and had the desire to help him.“What is the matter with you, Young man?” he asked him with concern.Phil noticed the tears, too, and was willing to help if he could. So, he waited for his response. Likewise, Jude allowed the tears to drop before he spoke, “I am starving. I ate last yesterday morning."After he made his problem known, there was a pin-drop silence for a few seconds before Denise turned to the driver and spoke, “Take us to the Tourist Center."“It is all right, Young Master," the driver obliged and moved.Even though Jude was depressed, he was attentive enough to hear the driver address him as the Young Master. He stole a glance at him and mulled over his discovery.'Are they not beggars? If not, who are they?'Soon, he found himself in
At The Tourist CenterAfter Denise and his team drove off, Robin took Jude to one of the single rooms and informed him, “This is your room for now. Make yourself comfortable.”“Thank you for this, Sir.”“Do not mention it. Do you want your dinner to be served here, or would you have it at the restaurant?”Jude, who was not exposed to such a dignified life, looked at him for a while before he made up his mind, “I will prefer here.”“It is all right. That is the menu list on the table. Let me have your order at once.”He looked at the menu and quickly placed his order, and volunteered, “I can pick it by myself if you permit me.”“Oh! Never mind. I will be back before you know it,” the Security Officer said and left with the order. For three years, Jude had not lived in a house nor slept on a bed. That night, he would not only sleep in a room and on a bed, but in a Five Star Tourist Center. The kind of cars that he saw in the car park revealed the caliber of guests that lodged at the ce
Denise’s and Phil’s POVDuring their meeting at Phil’s office on Thursday afternoon, they mapped out a plan on how to annihilate Stephen. After brainstorming, they came to a consensus that they had to visit the island that was home to the indigent members of the society incognito. When Denise’s late father, acquired the island from the government many years ago, he was faced with the problem of displacing them. In his benevolence, he reserved a portion for them, which they had occupied until that day. By way of appreciation, they ensured that the Tourist Center was free from any form of attack from any quarter, and they had been enjoying that bilateral relationship. That explained why Jude had never operated in that environment. After work, they disguised themselves like buskers and beggars by dressing shabbily and got to the island. They had five hundred pounds notes which they flaunted. Likewise, they tried as much as possible to adapt temporarily to the unkempt environment by ig
They got out of the vehicle, picked up their backpacks and Denise handed the car key over to the security, who did as he was instructed and drove off immediately. They walked along with other comrades who were heading to the resort. As planned, over one thousand comrades came out to get their payment and were chanting:“Give us our money.”“We need our money.”At that point, Denise and Phil mixed up with the angry indigents and raised their voices too.“The owner of this resort is a thief. He had stolen our money.”“He must provide our money. We will not leave until he provides the money.”Now, the Resort was in disarray; it was easy for them to move about, mount their explosives in strategic areas, and wait for detonation. After they mounted their last one which targeted the underground, they walked back to join other comrades and warn them to vacate the environment based on their father’s instruction that there should be no loss of life. At that point, they ran into Jude who was al
At The Government Hospital.Denise gave Phil a call to inform him that he was heading to the hospital.“It is all right, Denise; I am a few meters from the hospital. See you when you come," Phil responded.“Okay,” he said and soon, they were at the hospital.The security man who Nichole spoke with concerning their coming walked up to them and greeted them, “Good morning, Young Masters. How can I help you?”“Good morning, Officer. Mrs. Nichole Bailey sent us.”“Oh! I see. Your mother told me about your visit.”“Thank you, Officer. Yes, she told us that she would talk to you. Are we free to go into her office?”“Sure, you can. Come with me," he said and walked them to Nichole’s office and watched them open the door.“It is all right, I will leave you to search for the document.”“Thank you, Officer," they appreciated him before he walked back to his duty post.They looked at each other and smiled when they heard the security man say, ‘Search for the document.’ Since it was a small offic
At Denise’s Apartment“Dad, Uncle, welcome back," Daniel shouted when he saw his father and uncle walking in. He rushed to them and hugged them one after the other. When Denise disengaged him from the hug, he began to imagine the day his baby would do the same thing to him when he returned from work. Then, he looked at his pregnant wife and smiled in satisfaction.“Welcome back, Hubby,” Olivia greeted him.(Peck)“Thank you. I promised you that I would be back before noon. Here I am,” Denise said and took his seat beside his wife.“Yes. You kept to your words. Thank you for that.”“It is my pleasure.”Freya welcomed her husband before she broached the news that Denise and her husband tried to keep away from her.“Denise.”“Yes, Big sister.”“Did you watch the news yesterday? Did you see how karma had caught up with Uncle Stephen?”“Yes. I saw it. That will teach him how to respect other people’s freedom.”“You have said it all.”“I learned that the government gave him some money to
The sound came the second time before he could get to the door, and he responded, “Hold on. I will be with you shortly.”He got to the door and opened it. Then, he breathed freely when he saw her. He welcomed her with a charming smile, “Welcome back. I felt empty without you.”She walked in while he held the door for her.“Thank you. I felt the same way, too," she said as she walked in, and he shut the door. Then, he held her hands while they walked to the couch. (Peck)“How did it go at the office today?” He asked her before they sat down on the couch. Then, Lorene gave a superficial answer, “Nothing much. We will continue on Monday.”She gave him a keen look, which he mistook for a suspicious look, and that made him fidget because a sinner would always run even if no one was chasing him. Then she requested, “Tell me, how did you spend your day without me?” Now, Stephen tried to change the tense atmosphere to a lively one and joked. He gave her the same response she gave to him
She calmed down, lifted her face, and announced, “I just remembered how Louis wept the other day.”Arthur smiled softly and said, “I thought as much. It is all right. He is fine now. Let us send a message to our family platform. I am sure it will soothe all of them to hear that we arrived safely."At that point, he ran his hand through her hair. Then, she cheered up and said, “Ok. It is a good idea.”They sat together on the bed, and he drafted the message and shared it. He looked at her and declared, “Maternal instinct can be powerful.”Nichole only smiled. Then, he drew her closer and gave her a peck. Indeed, maternal instinct could be powerful. Their message got to Louis when he was about to make a decision that would affect everybody adversely, which he thought would favor everyone. The feeling Nichole got when she got into the room was the type a mother got when her child was in danger.At The Tourist Center.Jude was beginning to feel guilty about eating and doing nothing. He
At The BarracksBrown arrived for the meeting at 7 AM. As the head of his family, he knew what to expect from the other Family Heads but he was prepared for them.“Good morning to you, our Patriarch,” he greeted him“Good morning, Brown. How are you?”“As you can see, I am good. What about you?”“I could not catch a sleep last night because of today’s meeting.”“It is expected. We cannot run away from our responsibilities.”“You are right. If those before us had run away from theirs, who knows where we would have been by now.”“You are right.”At that point, the scumbag, Stephen, walked in and greeted them, “Good morning, our Patriarch. Good morning, my Family Head.”The two elders did not bother to respond to his greeting nor glimpse at him. The Patriarch ordered without looking at his face, “Wait in the hall.”“Thank you, our Patriarch,” the momentarily repentant Stephen said, walked to the hall and took his seat. He watched the family heads trickling in gradually before the Patria
Denise paused and looked at her innocent face without responding, but she continued, “Are you still mad at me?”“Eat your food first,” Denise responded and kept feeding her. She took two more spoons and stopped. “I am okay. Thank you,” she sobbed.Unfortunately, Denise failed to respond to the situation. He was angry with the woman that he must save her life.‘I have to concentrate on saving her life first. I can get angry later,’ he advised himself and smiled. He scooped the food and then urged her, “Sweetheart, I don’t think you are okay. Just take more spoons and you will be okay.” Olivia saw it as an opportunity to strike a bargain with her husband, and she quickly asked, “Answer me. Are you still mad at me?”Denise smiled and asked her too, “Can I ever be mad at my beautiful Angel?”(Peck)She gave him a dampened smile and wiped the teardrops that trickled down her cheeks with the back of her hand. Denise was emotional at that point. He dropped the plate and the spoon on the
Now, he gave her a call for the second time. The phone rang several times and timed out.“She must have gone to sleep,” he concluded and went to sleep as well.At the Tourist Center.The Officer was happy with the changes in Jude’s composure. His youthfulness radiated as he was constantly happy. The moisture that usually gathered in his eyes whenever he wanted to speak was not there. He enjoyed making music with his piano rather than watching the television. When the Security Officer got to his room that afternoon for his lunch, he observed that he spoke freely with him; more like a relation than a stranger.“How is your day going, Jude?” he inquired.Jude smiled, paused from the keyboard, and responded, “My day is going well, Sir. And you?”“Fine. Your lunch is here.”“Okay. Thank you, Sir. How about the boss?”“The boss is good. He sent his love.”“Oh! I hope I will meet him soon.”“Yea! You will meet him sooner than you can imagine. Just relax.”“It is okay, Sir. Thank you for your
The clerks noticed the same attitude and were astonished. Without looking back, she walked to the car park, got into her car, and drove to the gate. She stopped and got out of the car. The Security men were surprised to see a woman who was raging a few minutes ago walking solemnly to their office. Quietly, she picked up her phone and drove away.‘What must have happened? Who is the President of the Bailey International Conglomerates?’ She mulled over and drove on. Nevertheless, she never considered calling Stephen, neither was she aware that she narrowly escaped the police arrest. Now, Denise had sent for the Security Officer who drove to the Admin Block after Lorene drove off.“You called me, Boss,” the officer stated.“Yes. Why did you call the cop on that woman?”“I did not call the cop, they just came.”“How? What do you mean by they just came?" Denise furrowed his brow and asked him.Incidentally, the security officer was not aware that Denise was not in the picture of the arra
At the Gate.‘He would be surprised to see me,’ she fantasized and parked. She honked with the confidence that she would not be turned back anymore. Then, the Chief Security Officer, who had seen many of her types since the previous week, walked up to her by himself.“Good day, Ma’am. How may I help you?” he asked her politely.The new face she was seeing for the first time looked more mature than the security guard who had embarrassed her the previous week. “I wish to see the President,” she said confidently.Now, the CSO observed her again and inquired, “Are you on an appointment with him, Ma’am?”“Yes. He must be expecting me. Please open the gate. I want to avoid keeping him waiting,” she made clear.The officer locked eyes with her and then declared with a mockery smile, “I see. Sorry, Ma’am. The President is not on the seat.”Just like anyone would be, with a surge of hostility and violence, she got out of her car and began to rant, “What do you take me for? A kid? After int
Under the present circumstances, Stephen’s head could not process the information he got at the same time. From the stranger’s speech, he grasped that he was aware of the issue at hand. Then, he looked at the two elders and inquired, “Oscar’s wife?”Stephen, whose purpose of visiting his Patriarch was to find a solution to the river of problems that was drowning him, had just discovered another problem.All the same, he had to straighten things out, “I don’t have anything to do with Oscar’s wife. I ….”However, the Patriarch and the Family Head thought that his explanations were lies and aggravated his already bad case. The Patriarch rose from his couch with his military demeanor and the might of the Patriarch of the Bailey’s family and thundered. “I will not hesitate to throw you out of the barracks after the soldiers have court-marshaled you if you think you can dance on our intelligence.”Now, Stephen was aware that he had screwed up and that making excuses would cause him more t
At the Barracks The daily drilling of the young soldiers, which Gen. Bailey looked forward to every morning, took place at 6 AM and lasted for one hour. As a matter of routine, he was in his studies, reading through the dailies after his breakfast, when he got the email from Barrister Guidance. He quickly read through it and was timorous. “Has Stephen gone nuts? How many women does he want to have at the same time?” The nonagenarian Patriarch asked while cold sweat formed on his forehead. He went through the mail again and discovered another serious point.“Accusing Arthur of using Nichole as a nanny is an insult that her children would not take. No wonder Denise was distraught during the meeting,” he thought.At that point, he got a call. He looked at his phone and discovered that the caller was Brown. He took a second look at his phone and vacillated between picking up the call and ignoring it. Shortly, the call timed out.When he was about to concentrate on his emails, he got a
After their breakfast, they prepared for work and got out of the house at once. Then, Lorene stopped him off.(Peck)“See you later, Love,” Stephen said and got out of her car.“Bye. Love,” she responded and drove off to the hospital. It was quite unfortunate. Stephen had devoted his love to her, who possessed all the attributes he needed in a wife, but she was in love with Arthur Bailey and not Stephen Bailey. “This is good. With a wife like Lorene and her friend Evelyn, I will have a blissful marriage,” he mumbled before he boarded a chartered taxi.Then, he sat comfortably in the back seat. While he was approaching his house, he turned on his phone to transfer the payment for the ride, but an epiphany occurred when he saw the different breaking news popping up on his phone. He punched on one of the news and saw his resort as a heap of rubble. Then, he looked at it critically to confirm that his eyes were not misleading him. When he confirmed it, he rested on the headrest of the
The other Family Heads attacked him at once and demanded, “Why did you not ask her son before he left?”Now, Zoey could not help but laugh. To defend himself and maintain his dignity, the Family Head explained, “I was about to ask him, but before I looked up, he had gone.”“Coward. You knew nothing but to insult and push a fellow Family Head," Brown blurted out and the Family Head rushed at him, but he was restrained by the other Family Heads. Then, the Patriarch ordered, “Go home, all of you. The meeting is over.”They began to file out one after the other, still barking and yelling at each other. Then, Oscar shouted, “Zoey, get into the vehicle and let us leave here.”Zoey glared at him and got into the car. She did not relent in rubbing it in his face, “Can you shout at me, Oscar? You could not raise your voice when it was necessary.”Oscar, who was used to such berating, ignored her. He turned on the ignition and drove off.At The Tourist Center After Denise got out of the cal