Chapter 7: A Melee in the Road

As soon as Daphne went downstairs, she came across Nathan in the hallway. Smiling at the man, she greeted him politely while he just returned her an impassive glower. Daphne didn’t make that man’s elusive gesture to her an issue as she decided to pass by him, walking toward the entrance door of the manor.

When she was about to open the door, Daphne suddenly paused by the time she heard Nathan’s voice stammering.

“You can have dinner here,” Nathan said in an uncertain and hesitant voice.

Daphne burrowed her eyebrows. She then pointed her thumb in the door's direction. “No, it’s okay. Anyway, I should be heading out since it’s already late.”

Then Nathan’s secretary interrupted. He was a man in his twenties whose extravaganza personality exudes in his colorful clothing. “Darling, you’re such a sweetheart! No need to be shy, darling.” He circled his arms around her shoulders and uttered to her ears, “Mr. Kelly never invites anyone to dinner in his house, so if I were you, I'll accept it because it is damn rare!”

Nathan seemed to have heard Elliot’s comment. His eyes glared at his secretary, clearing his throat. “Stop corroding her mind with your nonsense, Barker.”

“Boss, I’m just sayin’ the truth,” Elliot Barker retorted in a sassy tone.

Meanwhile, Daphne found their interaction appealing. It was her first time to see Nathan with his secretary have that dynamic, yet respectful, professional relationship between them.

“I really can’t. I have to go…” Daphne adamantly rejected his offer.

He lifted his left hand to loosen the tie on his collar. “I will have Isaac drive you back to your apartment. If that’s what you’re worried about.” Shrugging to himself as he tried to explain, he muttered, “Besides, I don’t want to be rude to my nephew’s teacher.”

“I haven’t been invited by him to dinner, mind you, Miss Collins. If I were, I would take that chance.” Elliot winked at her before looking back at Nathan. “Anyway, boss, I gotta go. All the documents for tomorrow are done and your meeting with the Saundra Land Corp. has been all set.”

Nathan nodded at his secretary. Elliot then waved his hands to Daphne and said, “Night, darling! It’s nice meeting you!”

“Same, here.” Daphne smiled at Elliot while waving her hand also as she watched him leave.

When the door in front of Daphne and Nathan shut closed, he gazed back at her and asked again, “So, would you want to stay for the dinner?”

“I really shouldn’t—" She chewed the bottom of her lips as she contemplated whether to accept his invitation. Her pre-thoughts wanted to refuse the offer, as she didn’t want to add her debts to this man. However, a part of her also knew that it would also be obnoxious of her if she rejected his offer. Furthermore, it was just a casual dinner among the Annistons’ and she surmised that not could go wrong with it.

“Are you sure?” Nathan asked her again as he waited for her with his other hand clutching a suitcase while the other was shoved inside the pockets of his trousers.

She shook her head with a bit of reluctance and answered, “Oh-kay. Yeah, sure.” Daphne stepped forward, gripping her back onto her shoulders. “Thanks for inviting me.”

“Uh, great.” He sounded odd, airy, and breathy. Nathan then turned to his left and pointed his index finger to the narrow passage. “Just walked straight here, turn right, and there’s the dining hall.”

“Er, sure. Thanks…” She roamed her eyes to the bright halls of the way on the right wing of the mansion. Then, as she was about to go, she noticed Nathan going upstairs. Stopping behind his back, she asked him, “Are you not, um, coming to eat… for dinner?”

Nathan looked back at her and pursed his lips. “I’ll head there late. Don’t wait for me.” He then continued walking upstairs when suddenly he collided with his nephew going down.

“Hey, kid. How’s your day?” Nathan greeted his nephew like he was just some child he casually knew.

Daphne found it odd, as she had thought that the two were close. Backing up her expectations, the man went to lengths just to get Chuck Kelly a credible tutor. If he didn’t care about the kid, he wouldn’t go through the painstaking process of giving the best of everything to his nephew.

Chuck, however, didn’t respond to him and just ignored his uncle. Nathan didn’t force the kid to answer him, even if Daphne felt Chuck was a tad disrespectful. Just like him, Daphne tried to ignore it as though it didn’t happen.

When the kid finally came down, Daphne approached him. “Want to go with me to the dining room?”

The kid, again, neglected her for the nth time and just spout a snide remark. “Stupid!”

Daphne just sighed in dejection while she followed the young man to the dining hall. On the other side, Nathan trotted up the stairs, going to his room.

***

Thirty minutes had passed when Nathan came to the dining table. He was wearing a light-brown sweatshirt and loose pants. Daphne was sitting on the left side of the long mahogany table, while Chuck was on the right side, near the head seat.

“Why is your plate still empty, bud?” Nathan quickly noticed that Chuck wasn’t even lifting his arms to grab some food. “Are you not hungry?”

The kid gave him a grumpy look. “I’m not hungry.”

Nathan reached the bowl of beans in the center and took a portion of it to give it to Chuck. “And why not?”

Chuck harrumphed. “I don’t like the food and…” He shifted his gaze to Daphne, who was sitting two seats apart from Nathan and was a noticeable distance away from Chuck. “And I don’t like her.”

His uncle looked up at Daphne as he folded the knitted sweater on his right arm. “You don’t like Miss Collins?”

The brat nodded. “Yes. She makes me study so much!”

“But it’s for your own good, Chuck. I told you to have to study hard—" Nathan tried to explain to the child when Chuck intervened with him immediately with his tantrums.

“I don’t like to study, uncle, and I don’t like her! And I don’t like the food! I hate her and I hate this!” He shouted as he banged the utensils on the table.

Daphne jumped in her seat, surprised at the kid’s reaction. She knew that Chuck had a problematic attitude, but she didn’t know that it was deeper and more extensive than this.

Nathan didn’t scold his nephew. He raised his arms and pinched the bridge of his nose as he called out Mrs. Willis. “Mrs. Willis!”

The old woman came quickly while wiping her dark brown hands on her apron. “Yes, sir. Is there anything you want?”

“Chuck doesn't like the food.” Waving his hands to the maid, he added, “Bring him whatever he likes.”

Mrs. Willis nodded. “Right away, sir.”

However, Daphne felt this was too much. The kid was being spoiled rotten by everyone in this house, which intensified his insufferable behavior more. Gripping the spoon and forked, she meddled, “Hang on…”

Both Mrs. Willis and Nathan stared at her in bewilderment.

“Don’t you think you’re coaxing him too much?” She dropped the utensils to the surface of the mantle and then placed her hands under the table. “He needs to know that his behavior is disrespectful and appalling. Moreover, if you give him everything he wants, he’ll think that it’s alright to be rude and impolite.”

Nathan’s jaw tightened. He propped his elbows on the table and cracked his knuckles with his fingers. Ignoring Daphne’s comment, he signaled Mrs. Willis to take Chuck with her to the kitchen.

Mrs. Willis just obliged him as she approached Chuck, who was so cantankerous. “Come with me to the kitchen, dear. We'll make your favorite grilled-cheese sandwich.”

The kid followed the old woman to the kitchen while Daphne and Nathan were left alone in the dining area. When Chuck and Mrs. Willis’ shadows disappeared in the room, Nathan grabbed his utensils again and forked some French beans.

“Don’t tell me what and what not to do with my nephew, Miss Collins. I’ll discipline him whenever and whatever I want,” he rebutted her suggestion a while ago.

Daphne wiped her lips with the cloth. “Please, just call me Daphne, Sir Kelly. As a teacher, I’m just giving you a bit of advice to help you with Chuck, and not, in any way, doubt your ability as his guardian.”

“Then just Nathan, Daphne. Besides, I don’t need your advice regarding him and, more importantly, I don’t like you intervening in our affairs,” he said softly, but with warning and indignation.

With this, Daphne didn’t try to defend herself back to her employer and just ate in silence with him. The past thirty minutes of them sneaking out stares at each other while eating was the most awkward and unsettling feeling Daphne had experienced in her life.

***

By the time their dinner finished, Daphne was about to go home. It was already eight o’clock in the evening and she had to still travel back to the apartment for at least forty-five minutes. Nathan’s nephew, Chuck Kelly, was already in his room sleeping, while Nathan was in the living room with documents and papers scattered on the coffee table and on the sofa.

Daphne greeted him in the evening as she fished her bag on the couch. “I’ll be going, si-Nathan.” She bowed her head partially and added, “Thanks for the dinner. I sincerely appreciate it.”

In his spectacle glasses, his eyes titled up to meet hers. “Wait a minute. I’ll just call Isaac to drop you in your place.”

She hastily shook her head at him. “No, it’s alright. The ride on the bus would take me twenty minutes only, and the fare is not that really expensive, so it’s fine.”

“No, it’s already late. The walk here to the subdivision is too long—“Nathan explained as he got his phone and opened it.

“It is really okay, Nathan. Besides, Isaac must be already sleeping…I don’t want to bother him just to take me home,” Daphne insisted.

Nathan couldn’t respond to her and because of this, Daphne decided to head towards the front door, when all of a sudden, she heard him at her back.

“I’ll drive you home then.” He stood from his seat as he looked at Daphne. She was, on the other hand, surprised by his prompt gesture that made her eyes gape wide.

Waving her head in persistence, she rejected his offer. “No. No, no, it’s really fine. You don’t have to do that, Nathan.”

Nathan didn’t listen to her. He moved out from the table and said, “Wait for me here. I’ll just grab my keys.”

Daphne was about to stop him when she didn’t catch him up as he hastily walked upstairs to his room. Sighing in resignation, she hunched her shoulders down while she waited for him to come down.

After a few minutes, Nathan, with his long black coat, stepped down the stairs and walked toward the front door. Daphne, who couldn’t do anything about it, just let the man insist on his offer as she also didn’t want to make the atmosphere between them become more obdurate.

As they both stormed to the garage, Daphne went inside the car, and sat at the back, while Nathan sat in the driver’s seat. Nathan recognized it and was dismayed by her intended avoidance of him.

“Sit by my side,” He ordered her as he took a glance at her in the rear-view mirror.

“No. I’m fine here.” Daphne wetted her lips, turning away from him to the window of the car.

Nathan raised his eyebrow. “I don’t want to look like I’m your driver, Daphne.”

“You’re not.” She shrugged obstinately.

“And yet, sitting there on the back, make me look like one,” Nathan stated to her as he shifted to his back and to give her an ultimatum. “Now, are you going to sit beside me so we can go, or will you keep on insisting on your point throughout the entire course, wasting our goddamn time?”

Sighing in defeat, Daphne didn’t have a choice but to change seats and sat on the passenger seat beside the driver. After getting situated inside the car, Nathan turned on the engine, revving and driving the vehicle on the road, together with a lady, who looked a bit conscious of the situation between them.

***

While on the road, Daphne couldn’t help but think about what Nathan had said to her minutes before when they were having dinner. She didn’t like the way he responded to her like she was a nosy bitch who meddled in other people’s life.

She knew she wasn’t that kind of person, as she was just concerned as a teacher toward Chuck’s reprehensible attitude. The kid was too much and way out of himself that he was downright rude to everybody, even to his elders. For Daphne, Chuck was just so disrespectful to them that she couldn’t let it go, even if this was the first time meeting and interacting with him.

For this reason, she broke the silence between them as she clutched her purse tightly. “I know this might be way too overboard as Chuck’s tutor, and I mean no disrespect for your parenting skills with him, but I think you shouldn’t tolerate his tantrums.”

Yeah, Daphne was stubborn, and even if Nathan Kelly would get mad with her, she didn’t care, and to the hell with it.

Nathan pulled the clutch, shifting his gears. Despite not looking at her, the anger on his face swelled up that it was evident to be noticed by Daphne.

“As I’ve said before, Daphne, I know what I am doing with my nephew. If you can’t comprehend that, please just keep the advice to yourself.” Then, after a couple of seconds, as his arms were on the steering wheel, he continued, “Don’t go beyond the boundary of being his tutor and my employee. You know nothing about him and you also don’t have the right to talk about him that way. I don’t want this to become personal to you and would never desire to affect this … to your work, but please do me a favor and respect the distance between being his teacher and tutor. Am I making myself clearer to you this time, Daphne?”  

Daphne became tongue-tied after that. Even though she understood his point, she still couldn’t accept his explanation. She knew her limit as Chuck’s teacher, but she also knew her responsibility along with that role. Deep in her heart, she believed that as a teacher she shouldn’t only teach the kid with basics, but also inculcate a positive and well-mannered attitude toward the kid.

Being a teacher didn’t end in the four corners of the room. To be a teacher was also to be a second parent to the child.

And because of this, Daphne was absolutely annoyed with him. “Well, I wouldn’t tell that to you if you know how to treat your nephew, Nathan,” she muttered, to which Nathan heard considerably. 

“If this is how you do your work professionally, Miss Collins, then I suggest this deal between us would never last long. Pay me the fine you’ve caused for the inconvenience and the ruckus you'd made.”

Daphne gritted her teeth. “Oh, don’t you worry, mister, because I’m not like others who run away from their debts!”

“Good to know! Because if you continue being an insufferable swot, then I don’t have a choice but to fire you, Miss Collins!” he shouted, stopping the car to a screeching halt when the red light blinked at a traffic light.

Daphne scoffed. “You don’t have to worry about that, Mister Kelly, because before you can even fire me, I already quit!”

“Huh, so this is how you want to do this?!” Nathan spat back.

“Yeah, because apparently, I’m a fucking insufferable bitch!” She snapped at him and hastily walked out of the car before Nathan could reply to her.

All alone by himself in the traffic, he thumped his hands on the steering wheel, looking pissed off and irritated. “I said swot, not bitch!”

***