MY TREASURED DESIRE

Chapter THIRTY-THREE: Greta’s Anecdotes!

Thursday. 2:00 am Local Time (6.00 pm, GMT or UTC.)

Greta’s Residence, Sir Reinhard Merkel Mansion, Achaia.

30 Days Before the Proposed Traditional Marriage Between Alexa and Reynold.

Two of my maids took their positions beside their obviously melancholic mistress. Earlier, the duo had succeeded in forcefully dissuading me from getting myself drunk, not knowing that they had just made me fail to defeat this insomnia. They must have known me well enough to discern that I could be a gambler, but never a woman who is so habituated to so much alcohol. In front of my centre table was a mug filled with hot coffee and a decorated plate of cookies. But I sat there, on the fluffy continental carpet in my sitting room wearing a nightgown, while my hands roughly fingered and scatter my blonde hair before the fireplace. I could not stop crying my eyes sore.

“Should I call the General, since you refused to taste your coffee and cookies?” one of them teased me, their mistress. And I turned aside with my blood-shot eyes…

“Won’t you miserable comforters leave me alone? Go to your rooms, I appeal to you,” I muttered quietly as if I would do something eerie in a moment! Of course, the girls were afraid. But their reaction touched my heart: They both knelt, each holding one of my legs and gently crying and shedding tears! I watched them for about 5 minutes, befuddled! Then, I touched their heads with my own head and resumed my crying… After a while, I wiped away their tears and dragged them closer… “My dear friends, I am sorry to trouble your hearts so much… I have not been tested this much before. Can’t you try to understand? Now, let us eat and drink together. Shall we?”

“I will get two tea-cups…” With her hands mopping her face as she sobbed, she moved away. The other one continued her hugging, and kept me warm, saying:

“You are a kind-hearted mistress… You pay my brothers’ school fees in an expensive college. I will be doomed if you hurt yourself. You calm me when I get emotional, yet you are my boss. Where will I find a friend who cares about my musings… Please get hold of yourself, Your Majesty!”

I kept quiet as the other one poured coffee for the two of them and said: “I think you are over-stretching yourself to be the wife of the emperor because she calls you ‘Her Majesty!’ But, Big Sister, you will watch us drink your coffee and eat your cookies… and see how much we love you! We eat fat on you… If you hurt yourself, we’ll become desolate. You talked sense into that ‘money-missed-road’ guy who I love but ravishes different kinds of girls! You are my own hero… Stop these new acts, Boss… I don’t like it!” As she spoke, she shakes her head and tears rolled down her reddened cheeks!

I was not shocked, I just got amused. The two girls finished my coffee and shortcakes. And I loved it. I felt what it is to be a normal human being.

“Fine girls, I am now fine. No more crying. I will take another shower and sleep tight, I promise,” I said at last. I sprang up and moved into my bathroom to befriend my jacuzzi. I stayed there for 32 minutes… By my bedside, I saw a bouquet of my favourite type of flowers beside my mug of coffee and pack of hot freshly baked cookies. These domestic executives make me smile. What will I do without them?

I dressed myself up with a new nightie – a red one… I covered myself with the snow-white duvet and the pains gradually returned as I recalled that sacrificial love, expressed by General Raymond Chang, and my own handicapped position, which had made me air my request to re-consider the peace offer. I started to think about myself in a new light: am I truly a heartless betrayer of my paternal grandmother and my maternal grandfather’s nation? I am beginning to see my dad as a prince who only considers himself before his adopted nation’s interests: Is it really my evil bidding to be a chip off the old bloc?!

I summoned up the incidence that made me use the reflective needles against the crown prince and what could have happened if circumstances had not warranted my informing Raymond about what I had done. I had imagined what the inner circles of the Chang Dynasty would have thought about me if they had known what I tried to do: I would have killed the one on whom much investment had been made to become the next emperor of the nation… Just because of my ambition! What could I say I had been fighting for? Yes, what is my life all about? What is my family really doing?

I imagined that my uncle was level-headed, not wanting the crown prince to be decimated just because I thought him to be a cheater who took undue advantage of my blind ambition to become an empress, to ravish me and pass me on to his cousin…

What if Prince Raymond had told the whole truth to his constituency? Will I be here weeping because I was exposed, or be remanded in prison awaiting treason trials? Tears blinded my eyes as I drifted to another place…

Alistair Wu’s Office, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa.

“Willkommen in Südafrika, Liebe Schwester!” My uncle’s only daughter had welcomed me to the Republic of South Africa, with such great excitement.

That was after my two years statutory medical internship when I arrived at Johannesburg on a brief holiday. Alistair had convinced me to buy some properties in RSA and I had turned down the offer until she spoke to me about one new professional, which she employed thirteen months ago. She told me that that lady said a lot of good things about her alma mater, German-Achaia University… And that the lady’s hardwork had increased her company’s fortunes by more than two billion Rands within six months!

“So, how do you intend to help out your new employee? What does she desire?” I asked, curiously.

“The lady opted to work for me for a whole year without pay. But cashing on our Firm’s influence and power in the sector, she made a legal agreement with us, that we should help her set up and register her Estate Firm in RSA within ONE YEAR. I agreed… She signed up, within that agreement, to earn for our Firm, one billion Rand in profit to be so qualified?” Alistair told me. “It was a win-win situation for my firm because if she could not fulfil her contract, she would continue to work till she does! But she is another kind of religious faithful.”

“Is she expecting you to give her some funds to start up with her own firm?” I was even more curious.

“That was not a part of the agreement. I should truly do everything to set her up, since she made her mark in the last six months… Her first seven months was hell. She struggled to make ends meet while I gave her a room apartment to stay in, with two meals per day. No other comfort, and I was not trying to be mean. She could not break through till… a swift turn appeared, like magic, at the end of the seventh month!” Alistair expatiated… “Now, I feel I should not have signed the papers. She is now fully qualified to leave our firm. The Government establishments will give her the residence permit and associated papers this week: That is why she’s still here with us.”

“Does she have an office space and a new residence, to continue life with?” I requested to know.

My cousin shook her head and said: “I am planning to have her on contract. But she does not want that. My husband even hates the idea: she had served us, almost free, for thirteen months… Mr. Wu even wants us to give her a soft loan to begin her business, due to her industry. But she begged us not to!”

“She seems to know her onions,” I finally hummed. “I could help her, you know. How much does she need to start?”

“About 500,000 Rands will set her up… She would not want to be tied to a competitor, though. Only the loan is what she would need – but not from us! She wants to also start here in Johannesburg. Of course, she can only gain from us. She cannot be a competitor!”

“Did you say you wanted me to buy properties in RSA?” I suddenly asked.

“Oh, yeah. I will be so blessed if you can do this for the honest and hardworking lady. It will still be a form of appreciation – from our family - for her industry,” she seriously prompted me. “Should I send for her, please, liebe Schwester!”

I smiled, and said: “It should be a blessing, not a big deal to put smiles across the face of someone who is poised to rise!” I was shocked to see my cousin dancing, hearing my conclusion, while she frantically struggled with her phone.

She eventually spoke into the phone’s receiver: “Come. An Angel of the LORD your God is here to bless you, Christian!”

We continued our family talks, and within about 30 minutes, I heard a scream of nostalgia. Indeed, The God of Heavens knows those who worship him, as this lady used to say while she served us in the university days!

“Fräuleen Deutschland?!” Darlene Spiff said amidst a continuous sob! “I would have said ‘Impossible’ if I wasn’t a hopeful Christian. I am so glad to meet you again, Kind-hearted mentor!”

“You know each other?” Alistair wondered aloud?!

I only nodded, with tears flowing from my eyes. And Darlene said: “Indeed, The God of Heavens knows those who worship Him!”

I suddenly woke up from my little suspended animation. Buddha must be telling me something about life and me: I spoke out to myself: “Yes, I am not totally evil… I bought two Mansions through Darlene in Johannesburg, RSA. One for Darlene and One for Michelle Guan… Darlene manages Michelle’s Mansion till today, repatriating the funds so yielded directly to Colonel Michelle Guan’s South African Bank Account… I also gave Darlene, a gift of One Million Rands to run her business, apart from the 10 million Rands Mansion I gave to her! Oh no, I am not a sadist, after all!”

Darlene Spiff’s House, Johannesburg, South Africa.

While I chew on my cookies and sip on my coffee, I hark back to Michelle’s official trip, a year ago, to the Republic of South Africa. General Raymond was there, and he was accommodated in a huge hotel with his colleagues from other nations. She had taken a short time to visit her own house in RSA. It was quite bigger than Darlene’s Mansion. Her own had an Olympic swimming pool and such amenities that she kept giggling about… But she spent her two nights in Darlene’s Mansion.

My Friend, Michelle took a video shoot of Darlene’s beautiful House and how she had cut out about half of the Mansion for her Estate Firm, with her staff at work… Business has started to boom for Darlene… And I could only rejoice that she would be able to take care of her extended family responsibilities. This brought huge smiles to my face as I apprehend the fact that my subconscious has a way of being as strong as reality… I chewed harder at my cookies and allowed some hot coffee to burn my lips, that I may recall that I deserve to be happy!