Capítulo 19: 19. Face-to-face

Rory casted a look around the waiting area near the parking lot where she sat waiting for Hayford. This feeling... Was she just overthinking? But why would she overthink? She wasn't as scared as she was at first when she was taken hostage, especially now that she knew they were in the army. The boss promised not to hurt her and the others were treating her well now.Oh, and did she mention the part when the boss gave her money to spend during lunch breaks? That came as a shock as well but he had assured her he meant no harm. So there was no way she would overthink. But this was weird. Why was she feeling like someone had been following her? She looked around again. People were walking around, so definitely some of them may probably look her way. Maybe she should just ignore.

Just in time, Hayford drove in and she felt relieved. She quickly stood up and looked around for one last time before making her way towards him.

"Good afternoon..." She wasn't used to mentioning his name so she left that part.

"Yeah..." He simply responded and kept looking at her. She looked a little bit grim, and he waited for her to say something but she just got in the car and shut the door gently. Hayford looked around as well but didn't find anything suspicious. He got in the car and sped off.

The car was quiet as usual, but this quietness was a bit awkward and stiff. Something was wrong with the girl but she wasn't saying it. Hayford wanted to ask as he looked through the driving mirror at her.

Rory was a bit relaxed now, but she didn't know if she should worry about it. She had heard so many cases where people were kidnapped and so many things happened to them. Nasty and awful things. She was afraid something like that would happen. And now she was contemplating whether to tell Hayford or not. Recently his countenance was more relaxed towards her. But she wasn't comfortable enough in his presence. Maybe she should tell Esther first.

Or should she and observe for some time? Maybe it was all in her head and that nobody was following her. That sounded like a good idea. Yes, she will observe her surroundings from now on and see if indeed someone was tailing her.

They arrived safely and Rory quickly jumped out and took quick steps inside. She couldn't wait to continue the conversation from morning. She couldn't deny that she had been thinking of all those things. The boss had been through a lot. Speaking of, it's been a while since she saw him around. Probably because he left very early and came back very late each time.

What has he been doing? Is he safe? And why did he have to leave alone? Or did he go with some of his men? And how was he...

"Hey Rory!" Esther's voice came through, pulling her from her unending questioning thoughts. She had her usual bright smile as she approached her and surprised her when she hugged her.

"Welcome back." She said. Rory blinked in surprise but soon smiled and hugged her back.

"You missed me, huh?" She joked and Esther laughed.

"Strangely, yes. I did." They both laughed. It was indeed strange how fast their relationship had progresses to this point.

"I'm here now. Don't worry I'll keep you company." They finally broke free and made their way to the kitchen. Rory went to the fridge and poured herself a glass of water and slowly drank it while Esther opened the cabinet and checked on something. The kitchen was well stocked now. The cabinets and fridge, and Rory guessed Esther went grocery shopping when she was away. Oh, she missed her mother's grocery shop. She felt a pang in her heart remembering her mother.

"Oh no! How could I have forgotten?!"

"What?"

Without responding, Esther quickly opened the fridge and threw her hands in the air frustratedly.

"Great, and I forgot milk. How??" She whined. "So now I'd have to go all the way back?"

"I can accompany you if you don't mind." Rory was quick to say. She just came from outside but she wanted to go out again. She missed grocery shops. They reminded her of her mother.

"I don't think it will be allowed. Or I'd have to ask the boss first." Esther said and sighed at the flash of disappointment on Rory's face, though she tried hard to hide it.

"Look, it's fine. Trust me, very soon you'll be free." Esther assured her. "They just need some few weeks, maybe, to finalize the issues concerning your dad. Then you can move freely. Right now, I can assure you this is the safest place you can be."

Rory nodded in understanding.

Thoughts of being followed came back to mind. Should she tell Esther? Or maybe she should be sure of it first. The last thing she wanted to do was to raise false alarm.

"And don't worry. I will go back tomorrow and get all those things. I forgot to get rice and milk."

Rory's eyes sparkled with excitement, remembering she had no school tomorrow, but it soon disappeared when she remembered she may not be allowed to go out.

"Maybe you can ask the boss if I could go with you?" Rory stated it more like a question. Esther seemed to be thinking for some time before she nodded.

"Alright. I'll try." She assured and Rory nodded.

"I'll go change." Rory said.

"Yeah go ahead. I'll also take a short nap."

They both went their separate ways. Rory entered her room and immediately her eyes landed on the heavy curtain, she remembered the glass wall. But she remembered Esther's conversation this morning.

"All triggering factors has been removed." She had said. What if it was a triggering factor? What if she opened it and the boss saw it and gets a reaction? No, she didn't want that. Though she was dying to view the garden from this end, she didn't want anything she did to cause trouble. She would wait till she got to know all that happened.

She slowly made her way towards the curtain and parted a small portion with her hand. The beautiful flower garden came to view, and her eyes landed on the empty flower bed among the rows. Why was the bed empty? If she was given the chance she would plant some flowers there. Obviously her favourites, tulips and baby breaths. She wondered why those widely known flowers were not in this vast garden. Esther is dead, she thought and giggled. She had a whole lot of questions to worry her with.

She closed the curtain and went to the closet to change into light clothes. Remembering Esther said she was going to take a nap, she fell on her bed. Maybe she should too. She relaxed and soon slept off.

----

Esther woke up from an hour nap and checked the time on her phone. It was almost half past 5pm. She went to her washroom and washed her face and headed for the kitchen to prepare dinner. The kitchen seemed to be her favourite place. She enjoyed putting things together and getting praised for a good job done. Well, the boss never said it but she knew he liked her meals.

Soon, she heard footsteps and turned towards the door. Speak of the devil...

"Boss... Good evening, boss." She bowed and greeted. She wasn't expecting him home this early.

"Mmm." He nodded and hummed his reply. "How're you doing?"

"Very well, sir." She politely responded, a bit surprised. That was a first, she thought. He never asked that. Derek just nodded and headed for the fridge. He grabbed a glass and poured himself some orange juice.

The blonde girl didn't come and help today, he thought. Did she give up now? She looked like she would never give up the last time he saw her. Or maybe she was tired.

"Where's Aurora?" He asked suddenly and Esther turned to him, a bit confused. Auro... Oh yes, Rory. She was so used to calling her Rory now that she had almost forgotten her name.

"She must be resting in her room, b..." She didn't complete her sentence when...

"Oh my, Esther, why didn't you wake me up when you came here? How far have you gone with the cooking?" Rory came in and started throwing questions everywhere, shooting a mock glare at Esther.

Esther's eyes widened.

Oh no! She didn't see the boss standing by the rack of glasses. Was she blind? Or was she pretending?

Rory too was lost in her own world. She had her eyes fixed on the casserole on the stove. She didn't even notice the horrified look on Esther's face. She went closer to the stove and gasped.

"Mmm... smells amazing!!! What's cooking?" She asked excitedly as she stared at the content and kept talking. Esther looked on helplessly, what should she do? She needed to stop her, or maybe let her know the boss was there. But this girl was far gone.

"Is that... egg stew?" Her eyes shone with interest. "But I didn't see how you did it. How did you do it? Wait, I'll quickly wash my hands so that we..."

The rest of her sentence got stuck in her mouth when she came face to face with the one she least expected.

Goodness me!!! Rory you're done for!!! She screamed inwardly.