The mute's forbidden love

Chapter seven

I feel a presence just a few steps behind me, ”Hey.” The guy passes me and hugs Rachael.

“I didn’t know you were coming today.” She says pulling away.

He simply shrugs, ”I just had one class for today.”

“Oh, cool. Do you remember I told you I needed a teacher? Well I have one now. Meet Celia. Celia this is Kai.” She gestures to me and looks at him, ”Kai, will you please show her around? I really have something urgent to do.”

He glances at me and then back at her, “Sure. Don’t worry.”

“Thank you! Celia, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She waves at me and walks away.

Kai shifts on his feet a little, ”Um.. shall we?”

I nod and follow him down the hall. I feel a little intimidated by his presence. Well not by his appearance. He is just around 6.1 feet, simple grey eyes, black hair and a heart shape face. He is dressed very casually, a grey and white sweatshirt with black pants. He looks really soft spoken and quite. But I wouldn’t know the actual truth. I have not been the best to judge someone correctly by their looks in the past.

Right now if Matthew were to see me with this man, he would burn this whole place down. I haven’t talked to any man for a year other than him and my dad. I remember the last time I did and it was a disaster.

Flashback

It’s been a week since Matthew’s outburst at the dining table. I had tried to gain a little courage and talk to him. But the moment he looked at me with those blue, cold eyes I backed down. I admit it, I’m scared. I don’t want to be though. I’m trying, I’m genuinely trying to stand my own. But I don’t know how to confront him. He hurt me, he abused me. He is in the wrong isn’t he? However I couldn’t bring myself to face him.

I know I shouldn’t be this weak, I was never weak. I’ve always considered myself a strong women. But I don’t know why is this happening? Why am I so afraid of him?

“Ma’am your food is here.” I look at the bodyguard who just came through the elevator.

He walks to the couch and puts the food on the table. He goes and stands beside the elevator. I start removing the containers and then their lids. I accidentally knock one down on the floor. The bodyguard comes swiftly and starts picking up the mess.

I bend down to help him, “No ma’am, let me do this.”

I shake my head and stop his hand from moving further. Before I could gesture for him to move aside I hear a voice, “What is going on here?”

Both of us look at Matthew who steps out of the elevator. The bodyguard and I get up quickly, ”Mr- Mr Wright-“

“You are fired.” He states. The bodyguard takes a step forward, his form shaking, “You are fired. Get out of my house!”

He lowers his head and walks away. Matthew strides towards me, “Do you think just because I’m not at the house you can w***e around with the bodyguards!?”

I shake my head and frown at him in disgust. “How dare you say something like that! I would never-“

He cuts me off by slapping my right cheek tightly. I gasp and immediate tears start pouring out of my eyes. “No more bodyguards, no more drivers. No more services. You will be making food for us.”

He holds my left cheek and makes me look at him, ”If I see you even glancing at another man, I won’t hesitate to slap the other one too. Now stop crying, a little ice will fix the pain. I’ll be down for dinner at eight.” He pecks me on the forehead and walks away, taking one more piece of my dignity.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"These six are the classrooms." Kai points around the hallway. I smile when I look at the kids inside. They are listening patiently to the people talking to them.

"You would be alternating in between these. When you are in one of them, the others would be handled by the volunteers." He informs, “Do you wanna check out the cafeteria? That's the last spot."

I nod at him and start walking behind him. It's been almost 15 minutes in the tour, I saw the staff's room, the restrooms, the playing area inside the building, the playing area outside the building and an activity room, all of them on the second floor. The classrooms are on the third floor along with the cafeteria.

He leads me to a huge room with tables and chairs. A food counter is situated on one side of the room and a fewer number of people occupy the seats. We sit on one of the corner tables.

Kai clears his throat and pulls my attention to him, “Do you want something to eat? Or drink?" I shake my head and place my hands on the table, “Also the food is free for the kids only, the staff has to buy it if they want."

I nod and look away. A very awkward silence makes it's presence known. I haven't talked to strangers in a year let alone a man. I don't want to look stupid in front of this guy. It's better to let him do the talking.

"Won't you talk?" I look at him in surprise on hearing his annoyed voice, "I mean all you have done is shake and nod, it's annoying."

My hands raise on instinct to sign but then I remember he probably won't understand. I pull out a tissue from the holder and a pen from my purse.

'I'm mute.'

I slide the paper in front of him. He looks down to read and his eyebrows raise slightly, “Oh, jeez you can't talk." He looks up quickly, “Sorry, I'm not trying to be rude. I can't help it, I'm just unintentionally rude to people. I blame my non existent social life for that."

I fiddle with my pen awkwardly, "I just don't like it when I'm just talking and I get no response. I feel like an i***t, I feel like the other person is laughing at me in the inside you know. But I also don't like loud and obnoxious people. So I stay away from mostly everyone at college. Well that won't be a problem with us, I mean you can't talk at all." He shuts his mouth abruptly, “That was rude."

A chuckle slips out of my mouth and I shake my head at him in a no. He sighs, “Cool. By the way I can understand sign language, Rachael taught me. But I only understand it when I choose to understand it."

I met two people in a row who know sign language. That's new. "Do you work here?"

"No, I volunteer. Unofficially. I can be here whenever I want. Rachael is my sister in law. So it's kind of a family thing." He shrugs with a small smile.

I nod and look down at my phone at the time. "I should go. It was nice meeting you. Tell Rachael I'll be here tomorrow."

He gets up with me and nods, “Sure. See you tomorrow."

I smile at him and make my way to the outside of the building. While walking I once again look at the hallways to remember my way for tomorrow. Once I reach the parking space I get inside my car and start driving back to the house.