Chapter 4 - My Mother?

After an unusual conversation with my newest boss, we left the office and went to his house so that I could meet his son. 

John seemed to be a calm man, a loving father, and he missed his late wife very much, but what made me a little crazy was to feel that he had a curious look about me, as if he already knew me, and no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't find an answer, because inside me, it told me that I had already met him somewhere. 

When we arrived at the parking lot, he pressed the alarm of a black car, and I almost fell on the floor when I saw which car it was, a Lexus Ls 500h, and I knew very well what the price was, it was enough to buy the whole building I lived in and the building next door, the value of the car was nothing more, nothing less than one million reais! 

I even got in the car carefully, I didn't want to damage anything, because I knew that a scratch on this car, was 5x my salary, and even though I dreamed of having one of these since I was still the Muller family's daughter, my parents couldn't even dream of one, the most they could buy was a BMW or maybe a Land Rover, but a Lexus, no way. 

"Is everything okay? - John asked as he sat down beside me, and I guess he must have noticed my pained face, after all, any move I made could ruin a car like this. 

"Everything is fine, yes, it's just that your car is incredibly expensive!", I answered truthfully, and he laughed as he started it up. "And beautiful!" 

The road he was taking was in the direction of the Damha condominiums, one of the most expensive in the state where we lived, and I knew he was a man of money, but I didn't think it was so much, and when Sabrina told me that my sister was after him, it soon hit me why. The guy was a businessman, handsome, and had a lot of money, so logically my parents would not let this go, and would do anything for their only daughter to marry him. 

And although the Muller family was not poor, they were still not even close to being the most influential family in our country, in fact, they were only the most fluent in our town, because of the venture company, but if my sister got together with John, it would mean going from the tenth position directly to the fourth or third position in the ranking of the biggest companies in the country, and my family only breathed and lived for money. 

"I live in Damha, in Acqua Park, how far do you live from here?", He asked, probably trying to break the weird atmosphere that was in the car, and not even turning on the radio had helped. 

"Actually, I share an apartment with Sabrina, she has always taken me in, but I need to find a new place, as you know, children make messes, and although Arthur is a quiet boy, we are taking away her space.", I started speaking, and he smiled nodding. "So, in answer to your question, and since we are in the capital, yes, I live quite far from here, it takes about two and a half hours by bus to get here.

"So you live quite far away, and it won't be difficult for you to come every morning?", He looked worried, and I laughed. "Nothing a strong cup of coffee in the morning wouldn't help!", I replied, laughing.  

"Well, my son is a quiet boy too, but sometimes he can drive me crazy when he throws tantrums," John said, remembering his son. "But don't worry, I will pay you very well if Bryan accepts you, plus of course, you will be included in the company health plan, and on my company payroll."

"Really? I will have health insurance, and with that, my son will also have health insurance?", I asked in surprise at this information, and he nodded.  And for the first time in my life I was excited to work in a place, after all, my son would also benefit from this, and consequently, he could treat his throat disease, and this relieved me and a lot. 

"You'll get many benefits, I assure you, and so will your son," John replied, and only then did I realize that we had arrived at his house. 

And when I looked out the window my jaws dropped, his house was huge, and I even thought it was an exaggeration to live only him and his son, but I knew that deep down, who chose the house was his wife, and she must have had the dream of making her family here. But the house was simply beautiful, all in white and transparent glass, and right at the entrance there was a huge garden.  

"Welcome to my home! ", John said as soon as we got out of the car. "Bryan spends most of his time in the back yard, there is a park there that I set up for him, so if he goes missing, because sometimes he does, you can find him there. "He called to me and I nodded, following him to the entrance of the house. 

"Mr. Carter, you're back early! ", A middle aged woman approached the entrance. "Has something happened?" 

"You don't have to worry about us, in fact, I came to bring Liz to meet Bryan. ", He replied. "She came for the babysitting position." 

"Oh yeah, and you want me to call him?", She asked. "He just woke up and had coffee."

"Please, Anna, call him for me.", John asked, and the woman just nodded her head leaving walking towards the stairs. "Anna is my housekeeper, she took great care of me when I was a kid, and when I moved out, I stole her from my mother's house, so watch out for her, because she will tell my mother everything that happens here.", And I was surprised at this, he knew his housekeeper was not that reliable, but still, he kept her? 

"Oh yeah, good to know that!", I replied, and just then, I heard a rush coming from upstairs, and soon it went through the stairs, and when I looked at the child in front of me, I was surprised by her physical features, and if I wasn't the mother of my child, I would say that this child in front of me, was my child. 

"Mom!" he said, running up to me and then hugging my legs. "You're back! ", He spoke, and I stared at John, who seemed to be more in shock at the situation than I was.

"Son, that's Liz, your babysitter! ", John said recovering and crouching down next to the boy, who didn't seem to understand what was going on.  

"No daddy, isn't she mommy?", Bryan asked confused, and I decided to jump in. 

"Hi Bryan, what's up, I'm Liz, I'm your new babysitter, I'm not mommy, but, I have a son who is almost your age, would you like to see a picture of him?", I asked crouching down next to him, and he nodded, so I took out my cell phone and showed him the screen shot. 

"Is that me?", He asked, and I looked at the picture, and again, they looked a lot alike. Could it be that what Sabrina told me the other day, about John's mark, was true? Could it? No, it was not possible, there was no way! 

"This is my son, his name is Arthur, and if you want and your father lets me, I can bring him over to play with you one day, what do you think?", I suggested, and he nodded his head excitedly. 

"So, on the weekend, Liz will bring her son to play with you, okay?", John spoke up. 

"Daddy, can Liz stay with me today?", He asked, surprising John and I again, since according to what John told me earlier, he wouldn't take anyone. 

"Yes she can, and she's going to stay with you all week, okay?", John said smiling at the boy who nodded, and ran out of the house again, as if that scene earlier hadn't happened. "I'm sorry, I don't know why he thought you were his mother, in fact, you and Sullivan are nothing alike. "

"Could it be because I have a mother's love to give?", I replied jokingly, and John laughed. "But no need to apologize, he's a kid, and he's probably just confused about everything." 

"I have to get back to the company, it's not fair to send my employees in early when I'm away, so if you need anything, here's my card with ways to contact me, you can call me, and Anna keeps Bryan's card, it's a card I leave at home for when he wants to go out, buy a toy, eat, so you can use it, there's no limit to spending and I don't mind if you like something and want to buy it for you, is that okay?", He spoke giving me his contact card. "And if Bryan wants to go for a ride, you can use the car in the garage, it's the house car, just to be used by Bryan or the house staff, you can also see Anna about it, because I'm really late!", John said walking away, not giving me a chance to say anything else.

After he left, I went in search of Bryan, where he would be in the middle of this huge mansion. 

"Hi?", I asked Anna shyly, who smiled at me. 

"Hi, you are looking for young Bryan, right?", Anna asked, and I nodded. 

"Come, I'll introduce you to the house! "Do I know you from somewhere? You're no stranger to me!" she said thoughtfully, and I nodded. "Ahh, I just remembered, you look a lot like a lady who lives here wanting to see John, but he always tells her he's not here." 

"Who is the lady talking about?", I asked in fear of the answer. 

"Her name is Clara Muller, she is the daughter of a well-to-do couple who live in the condominium next door. ", He answered. "But, John hides from her, because he knows she has ulterior motives, and since madam passed away, he has never been involved with anyone."

So, Clara was quite insistent in her goals, but why didn't this surprise me? In fact, why didn't the Muller family surprise me at all?