Chapter 11
1166 Words
Claire stood beside John with her arms folded, wanting the whole situation to blow over already.
“You will speak to my wife with respect, grandma.” John snapped.
“John, are you raising your voice at me because of this slut?” Natalie yelled.
“Ma'am, I'm not a slut. This is one big misunderstanding.” Claire tried to explain but Natalie was having none of it.
“When I'm speaking to my grandchild, you stay out of it, you evil gold digger.” She hissed.
“Look, I'm so sorry.” John turned to Claire, ignoring Natalie for a moment. “Can you go to the room and do your thing?”
“Please, can you sort this out with her already? I don't like messes like this.”
“I will.”
The whole time, Natalie was hissing at them, saying everything that came to her mind.
“You've been blowing my phone.” John said as soon as Claire was out of sight.
“And you've been ignoring my calls… for a slut.” Natalie hissed.
“What did you want to say?” I asked, watching her take her seat.
“Karen is in town, and she tells me that you've married this slut.” Natalie said, fuming from head to toe. “Why?! Isn't Karen even more beautiful?”
“Okay, easy now grandma.” John scoffed, walking over to his wine counter to take a bottle of scotch wine.
“Why would you bring Karen to the city without my permission?” John asked.
“I need your permission now?”
“No, but couldn't you consult me first?”
“I do whatever I think is best for you, and I don't need to consult you for that!” Natalie snapped.
“Then, we shouldn't be having this conversation.” John shot back at her.
They were at it for a while, until Natalie decided to play the victim card by bursting into tears.
“Oh C'mon now, don't cry.” John groaned, knowing exactly what she was doing, but had no way to stop her.
Natalie wailed louder as John tried to pet her. He closed his eyes, shaking his head from tiredness.
Claire peeked from a corner, locking eyes with John who just shook his head. She went back inside immediately.
“What do you want?” John asked, finally giving her the opening she wanted.
“Are you sure you would do it?” Natalie asked, amidst tears.
“As long as it doesn't involve leaving my current wife for my ex-wife, yes.” John agreed.
Natalie brought out a sheet of tissue paper, blew her nose aggressively, wiped her fake tears and prepared to make her demands. She was so devastated when Karen came to her crying that John had abandoned her for some woman. For more than half a decade , she kept imagining the beautiful kids John and Karen would make, and she wasnt going to let some tiny lady destroy her plans.
“Take Karen on a date.” Natalie simply requested.
John scoffed, leaving her immediately. “That defeats the purpose of the statement I made earlier.”
Natalie's eyes reddened again, and she was about to summon the tears that were at her disposal all the time.
“You would not listen to me? You keep hurting…” She cried.
“Okay, I'll do it,” John agreed with a deep sigh, “but I'll only go if you stop referring to Claire as a witch or a slut.”
“I'll take it.” Natalie's eyes cleared up immediately, almost making John regret his decision.
“Thank you my boy. I know you'd always make me proud.” Natalie smiled mischievously.
“Are you going to stay the night?” John asked.
“I'll be damned if I spend the night in this house with that wit… woman in here.” she grunted.
“I'll have the chauffeur take you home them.” John said, actually relieved that she was leaving.
By the time John went in to the room to check on Claire, she was already asleep. She was wearing one of his singlets, and had crouched into the duvet.
He chuckled lightly as he watched. She was unlike any other lady he had met. She was calm and sophisticated, brilliant and gorgeous.
***
Claire woke up to a chunk of new clothes on the bed when she woke up. She stretched her hand all over the bed in search for her phone, and only found it after a minute of searching.
“Fuck.” She grunted, realizing that she woke up pretty late.
She yawned, sitting on the bed whilst looking at the several boxes of clothes on the bed.
There was a note on the side of the bed. She reached for it, and forcefully looked through it while grinding against her eyes.
“Out already. The chauffer would take you wherever you want. And there's a chef to make you whatever you want to eat.” She dropped the note, shrugging as she read it.
She fell back into bed, feeling very tired.
Eventually, She got out of bed, had my bath, had the chef cook her his special. He called it a particular name she couldn't keep in my head, but it was really delicious.
The chauffeur drove her to the library, and she was about to alight when Andrew called her phone. She picked it up almost immediately.
“What's going on, Andrew?” Claire asked.
“I'm at the library and you're not here yet. Is all well?” He asked.
“I'm outside. I'll be inside in a minute.” She said, walking into the library in the new expensive clothes John had gotten for her.
“You look so tired.” Andrew complained the moment he saw her.
“I drained my social battery yesterday, and it someone took more of my physical battery than I thought it would.” She groaned, winking at Anthonia who had just greeted her.
“Oh, I'm sorry about that.” He muttered.
“That's fine.” Claire shrugged, heading towards her office. Andrew followed behind.
“So, why are you here so early this morning?” Claire asked, opening her windows, and easing herself in to work.
“I need you to be calm for this.” Andrew said like he was about to deal her a blow of terrible news.
“What is it, Andrew?” Claire asked, now feeling very impatient.
“Your father is in town.” Andrew said, and Claire frowned, wondering why he was so slow with saying it.
“Okay?” She asked, keeping her brow raised.
“And he wants to see you.” Andrew added, and Claire immediately understood why he was slow about it.
“He hasn't reach out for so long, and suddenly he wants to see me now?” Claire scoffed.
- Writer
