4-Behind the scenes

The next morning, I was woken up by a kiss on my forehead. I opened my eyes to see Nathan standing there on the side of the bed with a tray in his hands. There were two glasses of juice, pancakes and a few fruits already cut up and arranged beautifully on the tray.

“Good morning, beautiful.” Nathan said to me as I sat up on the bed feeling a slight headache. Probably from yesterday’s whiskey.

“Good morning.” I smiled up at him. He placed the tray on my lap and came to join me in bed.

“Breakfast in bed.” He smiled at me.

We placed the tray in the middle between us and I crossed my legs. We began eating.

Halfway through the breakfast Nathan burped. “Pardon.”

“Ew!” I laughed.

“I excused myself.” Nathan said. “Teachers…”

I laughed even harder. “And what are you trying to say?”

“Teachers always want things done in specific ways and no other way.” He told me.

“That’s not even true.” I told him. “Actually, we enjoy finding different ways to solve one problem.”

Silence.

“This is beautiful.” Nathan said after some moment of silence. “Don’t you think?”

“What?”

“This moment right here. Just you and I.”

I remembered last night, and I felt guilty about it. I couldn’t believe that I had done it. I wished I could share in his joy, but I just couldn’t. I suddenly felt sadness well up inside of me. I felt like crying. I hadn’t been thinking straight last night.

“Gen…”

“Yeah?” I replied casually, looking down at the sandwich in my hand. I didn’t want him to see the sadness in my eyes, not to mention the tears that were already blurring my vision.

“Look at me.”

I tried my best to hold back the tears. After a few seconds I looked back at him like I was okay.

“Let go.” He told me sincerely. His expression serious but gentle. “Let go of the past. Allow yourself to be happy with me. You do feel happy with me, you just won’t let yourself accept it. How long will you keep guilt-tripping yourself for being happy?”

He was speaking truth. Why was I so caught up in the past anyway? It was never going to come back. Ever. Why couldn’t I just let myself be happy? At least if I did open up my mind and heart, I wouldn’t have to worry about leaving anyone behind. If I allowed myself, Nathan would be my forever.

“Just open your eyes, like Lauren tells you. Wake up and see where you are, who you are, whose around you and what’s around you. Just open your eyes. I swear, it’s perfect.”

I looked at the trees being blown one way by the wind. I saw the beautiful furniture, the delicious food on our tray. I looked at Nathan, his innocent face, oh how hopeful he looked. Indeed, the scenery was beautiful.

I am the first daughter of the wealthiest man in this entire city. I had cars and people at my disposal. I’ve always been able to afford everything I wanted. I had a man beside me, in love with me. A man whose happiness lied solely in having me at his side. Last night we were laughing whole heartedly, if only I could laugh like that every day without having to worry about anything else. How amazing that would be. Not having any regrets or blaming myself for anything. At that moment I realized that this is what life was supposed to be about. Was supposed to feel like.

“Indeed.” I nodded. “It’s beautiful. Maybe if I just allow myself to move on, everything else will feel in place.”

“That’s it.” Nathan beamed. “I have an idea to change things for the better.”

I looked at him and smiled.

“Let’s get married as soon as possible.”

“What?” I laughed at his insanity.

“Yeah. What else are we waiting for?” He looked at me with eager eyes. “I mean we just spent the night together, breakfast in bed, no worries. What else is marriage life about? Let’s do it.”

“So soon?”

“Oh Gen, it feels like I’ve been waiting a lifetime for you.” He told me. “Do you know that we were planning to get married once you came back from your trip?”

“How long was the vacancy supposed to take anyway?”

“Six months. Unfortunately, life did its way and things completely flipped.”

I didn’t respond.

“Anyway, let’s get married as soon as possible. I’ll talk to my parents and to Raphael.”

“I don’t know…” I wasn’t sure about this. Sure, it felt good spending time with Nathan but marriage…

“What’s wrong, baby?” He looked a little sad. “Marriage just means more times spent like this.”

“It’s just, it’s a big thing. It’s a real commitment.”

“We are already committed.” Nathan smiled at me and then gestured toward my hand. “Remember?”

My phone suddenly vibrated on the bedside table.

I took it.

“Come on, no phones.” Nathan told me.

“It’s my dad.” I said tucking my, now messed up, hair behind my ear. “So many missed calls. Oh God…”

I opened up his messages:

-Baby family meeting is Thursday morning at 11.30 don’t be late.

-Gen it’s 11.25, how far are you?

-Genesis call me as soon as you can. Why aren’t you picking up my calls?

“Oh shoot.” I said scrolling past all the question mark messages he left me. “What’s the time now?”

“A few after 12.” Nathan told me. “When last did I wake up so late?”

“The press is coming to do the interview this evening and we are supposed to prepare for it. We have to go back now, Nathan.” I told him jumping off the bed.

“I totally forgot about that.” Nathan said getting off the bed too.

“Did Joe bring us some clothes?” I asked fixing my night gown.

“I was going to send him this morning, but I forgot.” Nathan grimaced.

“Ugh.” I groaned loudly running into the shower.

“Sorry baby.” Nathan called, running after me.

Nathan wanted to come in too.

“Woah, what are you doing?” I asked, putting a hand to stop him.

“What?” He looked at me puzzled.

“Hm-hm.” I said shaking my head and propelling him out of the bathroom. I locked the door.

As soon as I stepped out of the shower Nathan replaced me. I got ready in less than 10 minutes. Whereas Nathan took about half an hour to get ready. He kept complaining about his hair looking like a mess. When I finally managed to drag him out of the room, we took the elevator down to ground floor. We returned the key to the receptionist. Who was now a lady.

The lady took the keys and frowned. “Wasn’t room 204 booked for three days?”

“Not anymore.” Nathan replied as we scurried out of the double doors, trying our best to still look good at it.

As soon as we pushed open the double doors, a couple coming in stopped, their faces lit up.

“Hey, you are Nathan Storms. Your parents are the ones funding that scholarship agency paying for my daughter’s college fees.” The man, grey beard but hair plain black said. He held out his hand for a handshake, but Nathan didn’t take it.

The woman who I assumed to be his wife nodded eagerly. “We are so grateful that there are good people like you and your family on this earth.”

“Thank you. Thank you.” Nathan responded quickly like you’d normally do to annoying reporters. He took my hand and walked me away from the couple before I could thank them.

“That’s rude, Nathan.” I scolded softly. “That man was offering you a handshake.”

“I don’t know where his hands have been.” Nathan told me as we got into the car.

I didn’t even know how to respond to that, so I just shook my head in disappointment.

“Good morning.” Joe greeted us.

“Good morning.” I replied as I typed a quick text to my dad.

“Joe, take us to the Roseburg mansion.”

“Uh, no. Make a quick stop by the office.” I told Joe.

“What for?” Nathan asked me, fixing his hair with his fingers. He was sitting on the edge of the seat trying to see himself in the rear-view mirror.

“I need to pick up that letter.”

“What letter?”

“The one from Danlie Forbes.”

“You mean the fraud?” Nathan frowned at me. “You even remember his name?”

“I didn’t finish reading it.”

“Well, you don’t have to.” Nathan told me.

“Of course I do. I want to know what he wants after committing such a grave felony.”

“Well, if you insist.” Nathan responded sounding annoyed.

When my dad phoned again, I picked up and told him that I was out of the city but was on my way back. He went crazy.

“You knew that the interview was tonight-”

“Yes, but I didn’t know that the family meeting would be so early.” That was a lie. I had completely forgotten about it all.

“I texted you since last night.” Raphael scold. “What were you doing out of the country anyway?”

“I’m with Nathan, dad…”

“Why didn’t he tell me? I tried phoning him too, but his phone was off.”

I grimaced and stayed silent.

“You know what, just come home soon. We’ll wait for you.”

“Okay.” I replied.

“Drive safe.”

“Thanks…” I said and then threw Nathan a look. “I thought you said he wouldn’t mind.”

“He doesn’t. He is only upset because you are late for the family meeting. You know how serious he is about punctuality.”

I just rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest.

Nathan stayed in the car as I went up to my office.

“Hey, Penny.” I greeted her quickly as I rushed past her desk.

She followed behind me. “Where did you two go yesterday?”

“Not now, Penny.” I said shuffling through the files on my desk.

“You should just tell me next time on how long you’d take so that I don’t have to sound like I don’t know how to do my job once someone calls, asking for you.”

“Did you see the mail from yesterday?” I asked pausing behind my desk.

“Nope.” She replied sitting down at the usual chair opposite my desk. She always took the chair on the right.

“I left it here on the desk.” I told her pulling out one draw after another.

“Then it should be there.” Penny responded inspecting her nails.

I rechecked the files on my desk. Still no letter.

“Who came in here yesterday?”

“Uh…” She through her head back, trying to think. “Francis.”

“Francis wouldn’t touch my things.” I said. “And the cleaners?”

“They clean after everyone leaves, so obviously I didn’t see them.” Penny told me as if it was so obvious. “Besides, they are not allowed to touch anything on the desks. They are not even allowed to dust the desk. That’s why you have a box of baby wipes on your desk. Remember?”

She was talking to me like you’d speak to a child that just didn’t understand why you were not allowing them to have more candy.

“Yeah… So where did it go?” I asked her, checking under the desk in case it fell by mistake.

“Just calm down and retrace your steps.” Penny said handing me the fidgeter. “Use this.”

I took the spinner and began spinning it as I tried to retrace my steps.

“Maybe you took it with you to your date.” Penny said.

“No, I didn’t.”

“You probably did.” She said getting up as the telephone began ringing from her desk.”

She went to answer the phone. I was running out of places to search for this letter. I was getting frustrated. I was already 3 hours late for our family meeting.

Penny came in again. “It’s a call for you. Same guy that called when you were not here. He’s been calling all morning. He even called yesterday.”

“Not now, take the message.” I told her.

“Okay.” She replied and left.

As I stood there helpless, my eyes darted to the corner of the wall above the door. There was a security camera.

“Okay,” Penny walked in again. “The guy didn’t leave any message. He said that he wanted to speak directly to you.”

“Did you get his name?” I asked her still looking up at the camera. There was one in each corner.

“Yeah… Omar Williams.”

“Penny, I need to see the footage from yesterday after I left the office.”

“The tech guys are on the last floor.”

My phone began ringing, Nathan.

“I really have to go now.” I told her walking toward the door. “Do me a favour and go find out who took the letter from my desk. If it’s too much just email me and attach the footage, I’ll watch it myself.”

“Okay.” She told me getting up. “So, you are not coming back?”

“Probably not.” I told her. “Family meeting.”

“Sure.” I heard her say as I left.

I took the lift all the way down as people kept coming in and out and greeting me.

My phone rang again, it was my dad this time. I didn’t pick up any of his calls until I arrived at the house.

Our mansion was huge, and when I say huge, I mean huge enough to drive around the place. The lawn always looked green and well cared for. It was a triple story. There were servants and bodyguards everywhere. You had to drive for at least 10 minutes to visit our closest neighbours. We had everything in the compound. A family gym, a cinema hall (where we used to all watch movies as a family when we were younger), my father’s office, mom’s too, a library, a laundry room, 2 swimming pools and a carwash (where our cars were washed). The mansion was like our own little city.

The bodyguards at the door greeted us and opened up the door for us. We took the elevator up to the second floor.

“About time…” Alice said as soon as we stepped into the living room.

They were all seated on couches around the coffee table, with my dad sitting in his sofa in front of everyone else. There were 3 sitting rooms in the house, one on each floor. We always had our meetings in this one because the furniture was arranged like a board room.

“I’m so sorry…” I told them coming to kiss my mom, Leticia on the cheek. Yes, she had given me her name.

“Hi everyone.” Nathan greeted.

Leticia smiled at me and shook her head. “Enjoyed yourself?”

“Really?” I asked her, feeling embarrassed.

“What?” Leticia asked giving me a smirk.

I went to sit on the open couch and Nathan sat on the arm of the couch.

“Well, the queen has finally arrived.” Alice said looking up from her phone. “Can we finally get this over and done with?”

“Dad, I’m so sorry.” I apologized.

“A whole day messed up because you couldn’t pitch up on time.” My dad told me. “Do you know that I had to reschedule 2 meetings?”

“I’m so sorry, dad.”

“Yeah… I had to miss my classes today because of you.” Alice rolled her eyes at me. “If you had told me that drama queen over here would have showed up 4 hours late, I could have gone to class and even returned.”

“Don’t speak to your sister like that.” Raphael told her. “And put your phone away. The meeting has started now.”

“Whatever.” Alice replied looking away.

“What?” Raphael asked her.

She shrugged and then put her phone next to her car keys on the table.

Nathan whispered in my ear. “This is the reason why I don’t like her.”

Francis clapped. “Okay, without further ado can we please begin?”

“Thank you, Francis.” Raphael responded.

“So, we all know that after a few hours the reporter will be here.” Raphael began. “First and foremost. Behaviour. This is something you already know. You be polite; please, excuse me and thank you. And respect one another. Especially you Alice. We don’t want the country thinking that we are a messed-up family.”

“But aren’t we?” Alice asked. “Why do you always call up a meeting before every interview then?”

“Not now.” Raphael told her.

“The answer is simple. We’re messed up but we act like we are one big happy family in front of the cameras.”

“Can you shut up?” Raphael told her. “We don’t have time for this right now.”

“Yeah, you are right. I actually don’t have time for this.” Alice got up.

“Where are you going?” I asked her.

“Since when do you care about anyone other than yourself?” Alice asked me, taking her car keys and cell phone from the coffee table.

“Ever since you got here, you’ve been trying to leave.” Francis told her throwing his hands in the air.

“You stay out of it.” Alice told him. “This is a family meeting, not an extended family get-together.”

“She’s definitely on drugs.” Nathan whispered to me.

“What did you say?” Alice asked him. “Don’t let me get started on you.”

Nathan shrugged. “It won’t be the first time, will it?”

“Come on, Nathan.” I nudged him. “You are not helping the situation.”

“Alice, can you sit down?” Leticia asked her calmly.

“I’m leaving.” She told our mom.

“You can’t leave now; we have to get ready for the interview.” Raphael told her.

“Oh no, dad. I’m not a pretender. I’m not sitting here to hear about how I’m supposed to lie. At least I’m not afraid to speak my mind. All of you sitting here are such hypocrites.”

“Oh, really? Like whom?” Francis asked her.

“The shoe fits?” Alice asked him.

“Whatever.” Francis replied. “God knows what drug you are on now.”

“I don’t do drugs, and you know that.”

“The reporter will be here in a few hours; you can’t be absent during the interview don’t you flipping understand that?” Raphael raised his voice at her.

“Oh, so your favourite daughter over here can come 4 hours later, and you don’t even react, but if I want to leave it’s a problem?” She asked, talking with attitude.

“Why is everything always about me?” I asked her.

“Because everything is.” Alice replied, locking eyes with me.

Everyone went silent.

Yep, that’s my beautiful young sister. She hates me. Despite her very reckless attitude, Alice was really beautiful. She had pink lips like my mom’s and curly hair, which always bounced over her shoulders.

“If you leave now, I’m going to take away those car keys and you’ll have to start taking buses like those other people.” Raphael told her getting up too.

“You’ve done it before.” She replied. “If you do it again, I will just have to call that boyfriend of mine that you like so much to come pick me up then.”

“That lowlife of a cab driver?” Francis asked her.

She turned to Francis. “That’s Dave to you, cousin.” Saying the 'cousin' as if it was a cuss. 

She left despite Raphael calling out threats after her. Even when he threatened to block all her credit cards she didn’t turn back.

Raphael sighed heavily. “I really don’t know what’s going on with that girl anymore.”

“I think she needs help.” Nathan said coming to take her seat.

“How many times have we offered it?” Raphael said. “Maybe she’s just too far gone now.”

“Maybe if you were a little understanding towards her choices.” My mother said.

“We’ve been through that, Leticia. Don’t start now.”

“Face it, Raphael. It’s all your fault that Alice turned out this way.”

“And what exactly are you trying to say?”

I looked over at Francis and he grimaced.

“Can we calm down now?” Francis told them.

“You don’t treat her right.” Leticia got up from her chair. “You make her feel like she’s not good enough for you.”

“So, you want me to support her little singing fantasy and encourage her to go out and become some messed up pop star?”

Leticia didn’t respond, she stared at Raphael for a while and then walked out of the living room.

Nathan sighed and looked away. “Here we go again…” He mumbled.

“You all know how you need to behave.” Raphael said getting up. “And under no circumstance will we mention anything that might put a bad light on this family or the company.”

Then he looked directly at me. "Especially the fact that you were pregnant.”  

I nodded slowly.  I know. 

He then left the living room.

“Okaaay.” Francis said getting up. “Very informative meeting.”

As he passed me, he placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. He then took the stairs up.

“It’s all my fault.” I said as Nathan came to sit by me.

“It’s not baby. Don’t say that.”

My phone chimed. It was Penny’s text:

Hey. Watched the footage. Ur fiancée was the 1.

I frowned and re-read the text just to make sure I wasn’t tripping.

“Don’t blame yourself.” Nathan continued to talk. “You know ever since your return Alice has become so envious. I think she liked you better when you were both not on your daddy’s good side. She probably feels like you betrayed her by accepting your dad’s offer to work in the company-”

“Why did you take the letter?” I cut him short.

“What letter?” He was frowning.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Nathan.” I said firmly. “You knew that you took the letter from my desk, but you left me looking for it like a crazy person.”

“No. I didn’t.” He told me. “Who the heck told you that?”

“Penny saw the footage of you taking the letter off my desk.”

He opened his mouth.

“It’s okay you can stop lying now.” I showed him Penny’s text on my phone.

“I’m guessing sorry won’t be enough right now…”

“Where’s the letter?”

“Still, I’m sorry…”

“Where is the letter and why would you take it without my permission?”

“It’s just… I didn’t want you to read it.”

“Why?” I asked, totally confused.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Nathan responded, getting up.

I got up after him. “What is going on?”

I followed him down the stairs and out of the door.

“Talk to me.” I told him.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Nathan told me walking to his car.

“Fine! Just give me the letter then.” We stopped at his car.

“I put it in the shredding machine already.”

I couldn’t believe this. “Why in the world would you do that?”

Nathan looked at me for a while and then shrugged.

“What is wrong with you?” I asked him.

“I read the letter, the fraud is basically just apologizing and begging for his job back. Says he has a family to feed blah, blah, blah. I didn’t want you to read the letter and feel sorry for him. I know how sympathetic you can be.”

“What? You think I’d re-employ him?”

“Who knows.” Nathan shrugged. “I was just trying to do what’s best for the company.”

“I may not have returned exactly the same as I left but I’m not stupid.” I crossed my arms.

“I know, Gen.” Nathan touched my cheek. “And I’m sorry.”

I sighed. Although I didn’t like what he had done, I said: “It’s okay.”

“Well, I’m leaving now. I guess you won’t be going back to your apartment tonight.”

I nodded.

“Good night.” He gave me a quick peck. “I’ll text you once I get home.”

“Cool.”

Joe opened the car door for him, and they drove off. Nathan waved at me, and I waved back.

I stood there for a while in the cold before going back to the house. The large living room was empty. I went to the kitchen and saw a few of the servants preparing lunch. They all greeted me, one after another and I just smiled at them. I came to take a seat at the dining table and pulled out my phone.

“Gen, I’m so glad that you are back.” Anna came to join me at the table. “This house became like a funeral without you.”

Anna had been working here before all the other maids, she was practically the same age as my mom, if not older. She always made sure that the existing maids knew that she was in charge of the house. She was more comfortable around us and would sometimes jump into our conversations. Leticia did not like that at all but sometimes Anna would show some defiance and maybe throw in a last word or finish her point and then leave. Besides my mom, the rest of us didn’t have any issue with her.

“Well, I am actually not back back. I mean, I don’t live here anymore.” I told her shuffling through my playlist.

“But still, you are back.” She smiled at me warmly. “But don’t you miss staying here?”

“I prefer staying alone. I like the quiet.” I returned her smile.

“Here they’re always fighting, right?” She asked me.

I nodded and stood up from the chair. She was the only servant that did not respect the ‘you will never interfere in private matters of the Roseburg family’ rule.

“Where are you going?” She asked me.

“Upstairs…” I said walking away before she could say another word.

The rest of the day I stayed in my room. Although I don’t live here anymore, they still kept it tidy. My California king-sized bed was still crease free. The books and textbooks on my shelf were still in order. Dust free. I took one of the textbooks, Life Sciences Teacher’s Guide. The memory of my last class I had suddenly popped in my head. How disruptive those high school students were, how they treated me like I was part of the students instead of the teachers. How they confided in me and always wanted selfies with me. A smile stole over my face. I actually miss it, and I wish that I could go back there and continue teaching. Some of my students would still be at Bayview High. The notorious Bayview high. Popular for their poor education system, with not many resources. All the not-so-fortunate students attended school there. My dad once begged me to at least go teach at the rich private school up country. I tried. Resigned at Bayview high and applied at Duran High Private School where they accepted me with the blink of an eye, all because my dad is well known. I couldn’t bear that place. The maturity in that place, students who were self-conscious and condescending. I left after 2 weeks and came back to Bayview High.

I shut the textbook and put it back on the shelf. I know that I can’t go back to Bayview High, it’s not a good image for the company. So dad says.

***

We sat in the study waiting for the reporter to arrive. She is supposed to arrive in about 10 minutes.

“Tie your hair back, Gen.” Leticia told me as she came to take a seat next to me. “It looks messy like that.”

“Really?” I said pulling my hair together over my shoulder. “I like it like this.”

“It won’t look good in the camera; people will think you didn’t have time to style it. Janet, go get Gen a hair band to tie her hair up.” Leticia ordered one of the housekeepers that was dusting the coffee table.

“Okay ma’am.” Janet responded straightening her grey and white uniform. She always looked nervous and uneasy for some reason. She was 3 years younger than me.

“The reporter is supposed to arrive soon. Why are you guys still busy cleaning?” Leticia asked the remaining five maids after Janet left.

“We are basically done, just preparing the table.” Anna replied.

My mom looked at her without saying a word. She looked like she was in a bad mood. I guess she was still upset with Raphael and was taking it out on the maids.

“I don’t want basically; I want you to finish up.”

“Okay, Leticia.” Anna responded continuing her work.

“Hey.” Leticia said firmly. “It’s Mrs Roseburg. If that’s too much for you to handle, ‘madam’ will do.”

Anna looked back at Leticia for a while and then looked away. “Sure.”

“Finish up, now.” Leticia ordered and then began fixing up her own hair. “This is what you get for feeling sorry for someone and continuing to give them an income for 25 years. No respect.”

Francis looked up from his phone. “I think it’s time you start lightening up, aunt. The reporter may walk in any moment now.”

“I agree.” Raphael said pacing up and down with his phone to his ear. “We need to look happy. I can’t believe Alice is still not back yet. She’s not even responding to my calls.”

“Try her cab driver’s…” Francis suggested.

“And where am I supposed to get his number?” Raphael said putting his phone in his suit pocket. “If she doesn’t make it here before the reporter, I’m taking that car back and blocking all her credit cards. I can’t have this type of behaviour anymore.”

Janet came back and handed me a hair band.

“Thanks.” I said tying my hair up.

Just then one of the male servants walked in with the reporter. She was accompanied by a man holding a huge camera on his shoulder. We stood up to greet the reporter as she walked towards us. Her hair was neatly pulled back and she had on a red suit and a tight black skirt that sat right above her knees.

She beamed. “Good evening, Roseburg family!”

She shook hands with each one of us as we beamed back at her. When she reached Francis, he held onto her hand.

“The madam looks very lovely this evening.” He smiled at her.

She blushed at the complement. “Well thank you, Francis.”

“May I?” Francis asked her, still holding her hand.

“Sure.” She said.

Francis then kissed the back of her hand.

A thud jerked our attention towards the maids. Janet had dropped an empty bowl on the table by mistake. She looked nervous and apologized with gestures.

Francis let go of the reporter's hand and she went to sit down on the sofa opposite the big one my mom and I was sitting on.

“This is Lennon, the cameraman.” The reporter told us. “For those who don’t know my name, I’m Lisa.”

“Hi.” Lennon waved at us with a big smile.

“Can I have you all on this one big sofa if it’s possible.” Lisa told us.

“Of cause.” Raphael responded and came to sit next to my mom as Francis sat next to me.

“All good?” Lisa asked.

“You comfortable, babe?” Raphael asked Leticia.

“Yes, love.” She smiled warmly at him. “Are you?”

“If you are, I am.” Raphael responded.

“You two are just adorable!” Lisa grinned. “You’ve been married for 25 years now, what keeps the spark burning between you two?”

“Is that the first question?” Raphael asked her.

“We can make it the first.” Lisa said and then we all laughed.

Lennon had already begun filming and was moving around, making sure to get us on all the angles.

My dad began speaking, his voice always confident but gentle. As he spoke, he put his hand over my mother’s, and she responded to it with a beam. I looked at Francis, he was smiling too, paying close attention. I looked at the maids, they were standing at the door in a line watching us. The table was well arranged with food of all sorts, just waiting for us to finish the interview. Everything looked perfect, perfect enough for the camera and the newspapers.

“I don’t see Alice today…” Lisa asked me. “Where is she today?”

I looked at my father.

“Uh…” I said as Raphael returned my gaze. “She’s actually sleeping. She had a busy day at college today.”

“Yeah.” Raphael said. “They actually started this campaign, something about feeding the less fortunate, so lately that’s what she’s been busy with. So, she always comes back tired. She is coping but it’s a handful, so we let her rest.”

“Oh, that’s so kind of her!” Lisa said and then went on about the importance of taking care of the needy and how much we need more people like that in society.

The look on my father’s face was that of satisfaction. I kept my plastered smile and tried to look as jovial as I possibly could. It was all for the camera. For our company. Lisa, Lennon and the camera didn't know that this was all a facade and that just a few minutes ago there was anger, annoyance, ego and tension in this room. The maids, they knew oh so well. And as they watched us in utter silence, I wondered what they were thinking, about us, in their minds.