章 15: 15. Changes

"Good afternoon sir." Rory greeted when she got closer.

"I told you to call me Hayford."

"Sorry si...I mean, Hayford." She said softly. "Have you been here for long?"

"I just got here." Hayford said and opened the door to the driver's seat and got in. Rory got in at the back seat and the car took off. As usual, the ride was a quite one. Rory was feeling uncomfortable since she was not used to being picked up like this. She kept her eyes fixed outside, following the running trees with her gaze till they entered the mansion.

Esther was in the kitchen so Rory went over and greeted her.

"Good evening, Esther."

"Hello, Rory. Welcome back. How was school?"

"It was fine, nothing spectacular." Rory replied. "How's everyone?" She wanted to ask about the boss but she stopped herself. And what was she even going to ask?

"Well, just as you left us. We're all here."

All here? Is the boss here too?

"Okay. What can I help you with?" Rory said as she removed her bag and placed it on a high stool around the counter. She noticed there were a number of chairs around the counter and she guessed that was where the others had their meals since they don't join them at the other table.

"It's fine, you should just get inside and change..."

"No, Esther. I really want to help." Rory pleaded and got closer to her and whispered. "I don't really know how to cook. Maybe you could teach me, please."

Esther chuckled. She was expecting that she didn't know how to cook, but she wasn't expecting her to be so honest about it.

"Right. I was making some salad. You can help with the vegetables." She handed Rory some vegetables. "Here, wash these and cut them up."

Rory smiled broadly and got to work. She washed the vegetables and got ready to cut them. But how?

"How do I cut these?" She asked innocently, pointing to the onions.

"Cut them in halves and chop each half into thin slices." Esther explained. "And these ones," She continued, pointing to the cucumbers, "Cut them in long rods and dice them into smaller cubes. Do same with the carrots and then cut the bell peppers into slices as well."

Rory frowned but nodded. That was so much information. How was she supposed to cut this big thing into long rods?

She started with the onions. She suceeded in cutting them in halves but failed miserably in chopping the thin slices. She kept fumbling with the knife, being careful not to cut herself and trying hard to make the slices look nice, but her eyes hurt from the concentration of the onion and she kept blinking rapidly as tears gathered in her eyes. Esther laughed and took the knife from her.

"Here, you have to hold the onion in place like this, and then you begin cutting from the edge, like so." Esther demonstrated with another half. Rory could not even concentrate. Her eyes hurt, and she added salt to injury by rubbing her eyes with her stained hands. Now she was almost weeping and Esther couldn't hold herself from laughter.

"Come and wash your hands and face."

"Where? I can't see anything." Gosh, her eyes were literally burning, and Esther was just laughing. What was funny?

"Here, let me help you." Esther took her hand and led her to the sink where she helped her wash her hands and face. She blinked several times before she was able to open her eyes fully. Her eyes were red from all the burning and she joined Esther to laugh at herself.

"How are you not affected? It didn't get to your eyes?" Or did it only happen to the one cutting?

"It did, but I've become used to it since I do it almost all the time."

"Oh," Came Rory's reply. "So shall we continue? How do I cut it?"

Esther chuckled. This girl was funny.

"You really don't have to do it. I can handle it, okay? Just go in and change."

"Fine, I'll just stand here and observe." She really wanted to learn. If Esther had become used to this burning sensation, she should be able to endure it till she became used to it too, she thought. Esther just shook her head at her stubbornness and went ahead to cut the other vegetables. Later Rory helped in dicing the cucumbers and tomatoes since those ones looked soft and quite simple. She also peeled some boiled eggs for the salad and helped Esther combine all the ingredients.

They sent the dishes to the dining table and arranged them. Esther noticed that Rory was very open hearted and harmless. She was sweet, lovable and very hard to ignore. Maybe the boss had also noticed it and that was why he had been behaving strangely of late, she thought.

----

Derek came home exhausted. He had been driving most of the day, moving from one place to the other, following the lead that the detectives talked about, but he met dead ends. They had told him they found someone who may know something about the cross tattoo. He had gone over to that person, only to be directed to a different place. He went to three different places before he was directed again to a tattooist who finally told him he had done that tattoo on someone some years back, but he didn't know where to find them, nor did he remember how he looked like. He even showed a picture of the tattoo on the wrist in his album. Usually he takes pictures of all his works, and that was how he had that picture, but the picture only showed the wrist and a small part of the hand. That could not lead them anywhere.

Exhausted and hurt, he came back home to rest. He was making his way upstairs when he heard giggles of two ladies from the kitchen. Weird, he thought. Esther was the only lady in the mansion. And he didn't entertain bringing friends over, so he wondered who was there with Esther. Or was it the blonde girl?

Curiosity got the best part of him, as he found himself walking towards the kitchen. The door was slightly opened so he peeked through. He met the scene where Rory was trying hard to cut the onions and blinking like a doll while Esther laughed at the side. He stood there and watched, and then he saw Esther take the knife from her and teach her the right thing, but the blonde girl wasn't concentrating as her eyes kept burning. When he saw her lifting her hand to her eyes he nearly shouted to stop her. He didn't even know his hand was already raised midway in an attempt to stop her. He tensed up when she rubbed her eyes roughly and then began crying, while Esther laughed even harder. He nearly scolded Esther for laughing, but later he found all of it amusing and unconsciously smiled. Realising what he was doing, he shook his head and moved away. They were so engrossed they didn't notice him, thankfully. So he made his way upstairs to wash down and changed into a simple white t-shirt and draw string pants. He went to his mini fridge and grabbed a bottle of energy drink, took his towel and went to his gym just next to his room.

As he lifted weights, flashes of the happy blonde girl came to mind.

Aurora...

She looked so happy and relaxed now, and strangely he liked it. He wished she would be like this all the time.

And, Esther. That girl had been of great help. She had been with him for close to five years, although he couldn't say they were close even since then. He had seen how Esther had helped during the times his compulsions became severe, even in rehab. She would bring food and help him take his medications. He spoke very few words with her, even now. And now that he saw her happily chatting with another girl, he felt bad. He didn't know if she even had friends. He had restricted her life to what he wanted, and he suddenly felt like a bad person. She didn't deserve this life, he thought. She should probably be free, moving out and enjoying life, but here she was, all in the name of his mission, camping a girl, probably out of her will although she had agreed to be a part of his comrades.

It was time he faced all his problems alone, and not involve anyone. He would start with Esther, and tell her she could now go out whenever she wanted. She could now go and visit her family like she always wanted to. Maybe then, she would even meet someone who can lover her and make her even happier.

Wait, where was his thoughts going? A low chuckle left his lips at his own thoughts. He had really changed recently. He had began seeing things differently now, and he wondered how and why.