Chapter 12: The Feelings He Could Not Hide
1658 Words
The following morning, Ruth woke up earlier than usual.
She had barely slept. The news that Mama Nosa had visited Ugonoba with Vanessa kept troubling her mind. She knew those two women too well to believe their visit was innocent.
Ruth sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the small bag she had brought from the village.
“What do they want from me again?” she whispered.
She had worked so hard to escape the life they had forced on her. She was finally learning, earning money, and discovering that she could become something more than the girl everyone looked down on.
She refused to return to that life.
After washing up, she changed into a simple blue dress and hurried downstairs.
Aunty Kate was arranging breakfast when she saw her.
“Ruth, you are early today. You no sleep?”
“I slept small, Aunty.”
Aunty Kate studied her face. “Your mind is somewhere else. Is anything wrong?”
Ruth hesitated before answering. “I heard that Mama Nosa went to Ugonoba yesterday with Vanessa. I don't know what they are planning.”
Aunty Kate's expression changed.
“Those two again? My dear, don't allow them to destroy the peace you are finding here. Whatever they want, face it with a clear mind.”
Ruth nodded gratefully.
Just then, David entered the dining room, adjusting the sleeves of his white shirt. He looked ready for work, but his eyes immediately settled on Ruth.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning, sir.”
David pulled out a chair and sat opposite her. “You look worried.”
Ruth forced a small smile. “I'm fine, sir.”
“Ruth.”
She looked up.
“I asked you a question, and you gave me the answer you thought I wanted to hear. Tell me the truth.”
For some reason, his gentle voice made her want to speak.
“I am afraid Mama Nosa and Vanessa will try to drag me back into my old life. I don't want to lose everything I have worked for.”
David put down his glass.
“You are not going to lose everything because two people refuse to let you live your life.”
“But what if they come here?”
“Then they will have to explain why they are disturbing you.”
Ruth looked at him carefully. “You will really stand by me?”
David paused.
There was something about the way she asked that question that touched him. Ruth had been disappointed by people who should have cared for her. Yet, despite everything, she still tried to trust others.
“Yes,” he answered. “I will stand by you.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
David suddenly became aware of how much he had begun to notice her. He noticed the way she listened when people spoke, how she thanked the kitchen staff even for the smallest things, and how she never allowed her difficult past to stop her from helping others.
He had met many beautiful women, but Ruth had a quality he could not easily explain.
She made him want to be a better man.
And that feeling frightened him more than he wanted to admit.
---
At the office, David found himself distracted.
During a meeting, he caught himself checking his phone to see whether Ruth had sent him a message. When his assistant asked him to review a document, he realised he had read the same paragraph three times.
“Sir, are you all right?” the assistant asked.
David cleared his throat. “I'm fine. Continue.”
But he wasn't fine.
For the first time in a long while, his thoughts kept returning to someone he had not planned to fall for.
Ruth.
He remembered how she had stood before the girls in Ugonoba, speaking with courage even when the projector failed. She had not allowed embarrassment to defeat her. Instead, she had turned the problem into a lesson about believing in oneself.
He smiled without realising it.
Then his phone rang.
Vanessa's name appeared on the screen.
His smile disappeared.
He answered after the second ring.
“David, we need to talk,” Vanessa said.
“About what?”
“About us. You can't keep treating me like I mean nothing to you.”
David leaned back in his chair. Their relationship had been falling apart for a long time, and he was tired of pretending otherwise.
“Vanessa, I have already told you that things between us are not working.”
“So this is because of Ruth?” she demanded. “That village girl has turned your head!”
“Don't insult Ruth.”
The sharpness in his voice surprised even him.
Vanessa went silent for a moment.
Then she laughed bitterly. “You are defending her now? David, you barely knew her before she came into your life.”
“That is not the point. You don't get to decide who I speak to or what I feel.”
“What you feel?” Vanessa repeated. “Are you telling me you have feelings for her?”
David did not answer immediately.
He wasn't ready to call what he felt love. He needed to understand his own heart first. But he knew one thing: the thought of Ruth being hurt because of him made him angry.
“Vanessa, our relationship ended for reasons that have nothing to do with Ruth alone. I don't want to continue arguing with you. Please respect my decision.”
“You will regret this, David.”
She ended the call.
David stared at the phone for several seconds before placing it on his desk.
He had made his decision about Vanessa. He would not return to a relationship that had become full of distrust and control.
But his feelings for Ruth were a different matter.
He needed to be honest with himself before he could ask her to trust him.
---
That afternoon, Ruth was in the mansion's small study, practising how to prepare a report on the computer.
She frowned at the screen.
“Why is this thing refusing to arrange itself?” she muttered.
David, who had returned earlier than expected, stopped at the doorway.
“What is refusing to arrange itself?”
Ruth jumped slightly and turned around.
“Sir! I didn't hear you come in.”
He walked over to look at the screen. “Show me the problem.”
She explained what she was trying to do. David stood beside her and guided her through the steps, but instead of taking over the keyboard, he allowed her to do the work herself.
When she finally completed the report, her face lit up.
“Ah! I did it!”
David laughed. “Yes, you did.”
She turned towards him, smiling so brightly that he forgot what he had intended to say.
For a brief moment, they simply looked at each other.
Ruth's smile softened.
“Thank you, sir. You always help me.”
David wanted to tell her that helping her had become more than a responsibility. He wanted to tell her that he looked forward to seeing her every morning and that her happiness had begun to matter to him in a way he could no longer ignore.
Instead, he said, “You are the one doing the hard work, Ruth. I am only showing you the way.”
She lowered her eyes shyly.
“Still, I am grateful.”
David took a step back, trying to regain his composure.
“Keep practising. One day, you might be the one teaching me something.”
Ruth laughed. “Me? Teach you?”
“Why not?”
Their laughter filled the quiet room.
Neither of them noticed Aunty Kate standing briefly in the hallway. She smiled to herself before continuing towards the kitchen.
She had seen the way David looked at Ruth.
And she suspected that something special was beginning.
---
Across town, Vanessa sat in her car, gripping her phone.
David had rejected her again. Worse, he had defended Ruth as though the girl meant more to him than Vanessa could bear to imagine.
Mama Nosa sat beside her.
“So what did he say?” Mama Nosa asked.
Vanessa's jaw tightened.
“He said our relationship is over. He even warned me not to insult Ruth.”
Mama Nosa scoffed. “Then we must make that girl understand that she cannot simply forget where she came from.”
Vanessa turned towards her.
“I don't want to hear another failed plan, Mama. David is changing because of Ruth. If we do nothing, that girl will take the place I was supposed to have.”
Mama Nosa's eyes narrowed.
“Then we must discover what Ruth fears most. Every person has a weakness.”
Vanessa looked out of the window, her anger slowly turning into determination.
She no longer had a place in David's house, and David was making it clear that she could not control his life.
But she was not ready to accept that Ruth might one day become the woman David loved.
Back at the mansion, Ruth returned to her room that evening, still smiling over the little victory she had achieved on the computer.
She had no idea that David was sitting alone in his study, thinking about her.
He picked up his phone, opened her contact, and stared at her name.
He wanted to call her, but he had no real reason to do so.
Finally, he put the phone down and whispered to himself, “What are you doing to me, Ruth?”
For the first time, David Osayande was beginning to understand that his heart might be moving in a direction his mind had never planned.
And soon, he would have to decide whether he was brave enough to follow it.
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