Chapter 8 The Meeting

• The next morning when she woke up, she squinted her eyes as the heavy rays of the sunlight streamed through the open windows. She stretched forward and closed the curtains and plopped back on the bed. Her eyes were puffy from all the crying at night, she reached for her phone and peered at it, it was past 10 in the morning. She had missed calls from Leonard. She made a mental note to call him later on.
• She finally got out of bed and walked up to the mirror, she still had tear streaks on her face, her mind went back to the argument she had with her mother. She decided to brush it off. Her hands raked through her tangled long blonde hair. She brushed her teeth and proceeded to shower. She gingerly applied shampoo to her hair and rinsed off.
• She slipped on a big blue shirt and red shorts and absentmindedly ran a comb through her thick locks before she exited her room, the small corridor appeared quiet and then the spell broke, “I thought you wouldn’t come out from your room"
• She sighed audibly, not bothering with a response she entered the cramped dinning area, her mother had laid plates of scrambled eggs, it came as a surprise to her. She sat by the table and took a bite out of her food, her mom came to sit besides her. “Thank you for the meal" she said in a small voice.
• “Do you want to talk about the previous night and how we can deal with our financial issues?”
• “No I do not mother” she got to her feet. Her mother blocked her “You don’t get to walk out on me, not again, not this time”
• “Mom!”
• “Ashley!”
• Just then her phone rang, she turned to see it was Leonard.
• She reached for it, but her mother grabbed her hand to stop her. “Look at me Ashley, I am still talking to you"
• “Mother this could be important!” she struggled against her strong grip but it was futile. “Let go of me mother! You are hurting me"
• Her mother pulled her towards her. “Do you even understand the severity of the situation we are facing now?”, her eyes shone. “You need to get a job!”
• “This could be my job offer ma!”, she shouted.
• Her mother reluctantly let go of her and on the second ring she picked the call. “Hello sleepy head, I was thinking you needed the kiss of a prince to awaken you from your deep slumber...”
• “Hello Leonard" her voice was shaky.
• There was a short pause. “Are you okay? Is something wrong Ashley? Talk to me"
• Her eyes darted to her mother who stood in front of her, few yards from her listening in on her conversation.
• She nodded, then she realised he couldn’t see her head movements. “I am just fine Leo...”
• “You are clearly not...”
• “We will talk about this later" she interjected.
• That seemed to settle him for a bit. “If you say so. I got something for you...”
• Her eyes widened. “Really? On such short notice?”
• “On such short notice. I have told you several times that you would never find anyone like me"
• She grinned, tears glistening in her eyes. “You are the best Leonard, you are the best!. When do I come in for an interview?”
• “About that...” He paused, “Like right about now, is that okay for you?”
• “What?” she began pacing about. “I am still home, I...”
• “I have been calling you since for ever Ashley, it is urgent. Get your ass together and come for your interview. You are a really sweet person, it should be a walk over for you. Good luck sweetie, call me when it is over"
• “Thank you so much"
• “Thank me over a cup of coffee when you get your first pay, deal?"
• She smiled. “Deal"
• “I will text you the address and any other details you might need”
• “Thank you" when the line disconnected, she proceeded to finish her food but her mother dragged the plate before she could put her fork in it. “Get your lazy ass up and go for your interview. You do not realise how important this would be to us...”
• “I know that, I just need a few more minutes. I didn’t have anything to eat last night. I am terribly hungry mother...”
• Her pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears. “Get on your feet Ashley...”
• “Mother...”
• “Now, this minute" she said in a stern voice.
• “Why won’t you for once treat me like an adult, respect my thoughts, my opinions. I am no child mother, stop treating me like o...”
• Ashley stopped talking when she saw her mom walk towards the bin and dumped it. “Now go eat out of it”, she folded her arms across her chest. “Maybe if you try to work as hard and fend for the family, maybe then I will treat you like an adult" she said firmly.
• Ashley got to her feet, shot her mother a glare before walking off. She got to her room, picked up a beige coloured plain dress, it stopped just short of her knees. With short sleeves. It was a hot morning and so she didn’t bother with a coat. She slipped into the only black flats she owned. She styled her hair and slightly touched up her face. She picked her bag and left the room.
• “Try getting the job this time around" her mother called out to her before she left.
• ***
• Henry twirled the ball point pen around his fingers, paying no attention to the arguments going on around him. He was a man with a truck load of problems and no one around to share them with. Angela's attitude seemed to deteriorate daily. When he had married her, she was an entirely different person from who he knew now. There were the signs, he and brushed them off as insignificant. He was too desperate to find love, any kind of love, to give love. He had found a little semblance of love in his life and he had held on to it unwilling to let go.
• In the beginning she was loving. Maybe not so much but he had nothing to compare with and so it was overwhelming for him. He wanted to treasure it. Now that it was sour, he could easily have pushed her to the side but he thrived to be a different person, better than his father ever was and so he held on to what they had.
• He told himself she had flipped one day but even he knew that wasn’t the truth because it had always been there, underlying but there. He would have let anything slide but she had done one unforgivable crime true to her word she had ignored their son. She didn’t even spare him a glance. He had apologized in all the ways he could, with words, with the most thoughtful poems, exotic diamond, cars and vacations. Nothing worked with her. She didn’t wear the jewels, he never saw the cars and she travelled alone. He had exhausted every option he had, he was done with that, now all he cared for was his son.
• Deborah was married and she could not take up the job offer of nursing his child. He didn’t want to hire any one. He needed someone he could trust to be with his son. Someone he was comfortable with. He was paranoid and he couldn’t help it. He was constantly worried for Asher’s safety...
• “Sir what do you think about these designs? What is your opinion?” a man asked cutting short his train of thoughts.
• Henry lazily stared at the designs, then he slowly got to his feet, his hands in the pocket of his grey three piece suit, his silver watch sparkled. He stood in front of the projector in front of the room and studied the design which had been the topic of debate amongst his employees. They peered closely behind him. “This design is too technical" he remarked. “Remember one salient rule of architecture is to hide the technicalities and complexities of the drawing and let the outward appearance be as beautiful as can be...” his finger wiped at different parts of the drawing. “Take away all these pillars holding the building on the outside, try to create the rooftop in this manner” he drew it out. “In a way that the building is upheld and we are not in fear of its collapse” he turned to look at the shocked expression on their faces, some made no efforts to hide it. “Gentlemen that would be all for today” he walked out leaving them stunned.
• “Henry!”, a man called out to him.
• Henry almost groaned aloud. “Hey Eric” he said in a bored tone."
• The man named Eric chuckled, he towered just an inch above Henry, with dark hair cropped short with green eyes, “You do not look excited to see me", he had an amused expression on his face.
• Henry squinted his eyes, “Why would that be a surprise?”
• The man let out a small chuckle. “Anyways congratulations on your baby”
• “You have said it so many times it has lost its value" he replied dryly.
• “I mean, I can’t help it. You are the first one amongst us to get a family. Always have been the one giving love, craving love...”
• Henry spun around, “Watch your words”
• Eric did not look a bit startled or anything. “Easy there Henry, no need to fight. We are not kids anymore ”
• Henry spun around and began walking off when Eric called out to him, “I saw you on the news a few days ago, they are always one to sing your praises every time aren’t they? Super hero Henry saves the day, always the better one. If only they truly knew you.”
• Henry ignored the taunts but as soon as he grabbed hold of his phone, he searched for the news about him, when he stumbled on the picture where he held the girl by the waist at the restaurant preventing her from falling, he had smile on his face in the picture. He stared intently at it for a while. He hated to be on the news for whatever reason, yet here he was. He read the article and indeed he had been called a superhero, he found himself smiling at the many adjectives used to describe him and the picture.
• His smile slowly faded as reality began to set in. He massaged his temples and rang for his secretary, she walked in not too long after. “Found any one who could baby sit Asher yet?”