CHRISTOPHER WHO SEEM LIKE madness consumed him, walked into their mansion where his mother is currently in while his sister is sent away to hang out with Philippe in the meantime so that she wouldn’t hear what they’ll be arguing about. He went directly to her office and opened the door and found his mother sitting down on her chair while typing on her laptop. She walked towards her and stopped in front of the desk.
“What is it this time, Christopher?” she asked while she continued typing, not looking at her son.
“Did you pay Fatima’s mother or not?” he directly questioned but she didn’t even bat an eye. She continued typing before he uttered again, “Did you?” She sighed, knowing he’ll just keep pushing her buttons.
“I paid a lot of people, I’m not sure,” she answered before looking at the paperwork on her desk. His jaw clenched and he slammed his hands on her table and the papers almost fell. “Who else knows?” he further questioned.
“You don’t have to worry, the secret won’t be revealed,” she reassured, which made him angrier than before.
“This is so wrong!” he exclaimed and she stopped what she was doing and stared at him. She sighed before uttering, “Would you rather be in prison, then?”
“Maybe I do! Heck, maybe I’ll even turn myself in! Her father’s death was unjustified and his death was all my fault-“
“Why do you care about that woman so much? Do you know how much I sacrificed just for you to get out of that situation? I did everything to save the company from failing?! Do you not appreciate anything I do for you, Christopher?!” She snapped and stood up from her seat as she slammed her hand on the table.
“All you care about is the company. You never cared about me! All that matters to you is money. And I’m your little puppet,” he answered before turning around and walking to the door. He was about to leave when she shouted, “Get back here, Christopher!” He ignored her and slammed the door shut after leaving the room.
AT THE HOSPITAL, FATIMA constantly visits Grian since she will be working on taking care of him after he gets released. The following morning, she prepared soup for him so she brought it to the hospital before it got cold. She entered his room and found him playing with his phone. “Didn’t the doctor tell you to rest?” she asked and he looked up and saw her. He put down his phone right away.
“Hey, I didn’t know you were going to visit?” he asked and she rolled her eyes.
“How can I not? You blocked a bullet for me,” she said and he smiled. She put the food down on the table and opened it. “How are you feeling?” she asked and he shrugged.
“I don’t know, they put me on drugs so... fine, I guess? A little bit high, I guess?” he answered with a grin and she rolled her eyes again before grabbing the soup she prepared and handing it to him.
“Drink up,” she said and he took it from her. He took a sip and seemed to like the taste and continued drinking it.
“How’s Philippe?”
“Good. We talked to the detectives yesterday and I took him to his therapist earlier,” she answered. Philippe still gets nightmares and is traumatized by what happened but tries his best not to show it. Everyone around him is there for him through his recovery though.
She sighed and looked at Grian who’s drinking the soup. “Why did you take the bullet for me, Grian?” He stopped and put down the soup and stared at her. He took a deep breath and smiled.
“Isn’t that what friends are for? I told you years ago, I’d take a bullet for you,” he said and they both remembered the time he said that back in college. She smiled and shook her head. “I didn’t know you were serious,” she answered.
(I always am when it’s you,) he thought to himself.
“I’m going to meet up with William later after I fetch Philippe,” she said and he nodded. He took a sip from the soup and said, “I wonder how he’s holding up? I didn’t know his mother left him when he was a kid and turned out to be like that.”
WILLIAM WAS SLEEPING IN his house when his alarm started ringing. He woke up and turned it off before surrounding himself with pillows to comfort him from the things he just dreamed of. He sighed heavily and tried not to think about it too much. He looked at the time and noticed it was already afternoon.
“Fuck,” he murmured before getting up from his bed and looking at himself in the mirror, and sighing. He looks tired and dull from all the thinking he’s been doing. Maybe it’s time he gets a therapist as well.
He was interrupted when he heard knocking on his door. He approached the door and opened it slightly to see who was there. He opened the door when he saw it was the police. “Mind if we ask about your mother?” He shook his head and let them in.
“I haven’t seen her in a long time, she only wanted to meet whenever she needed money from me. She was always drunk whenever she came around and I never understood why she was like that. But whenever she visits, she always talks about.. clients? I’m not sure what type but maybe she sells them something. I’m afraid I have no idea what though.” After that, he canceled his plans to meet Fatima to sort himself out.
[Flashback Start]
William and Fatima were walking together as he was walking her to her house since it’s late at night when they came across his mother who got out of a red car and approached the pair. She went and hugged her son which caught him off guard. “Who’s she?” Fatima asked and he blinked a couple of times.
“My.. mother,” he answered and her eyes widened. His mother removed her hands from her son and turned to look at Fatima and smiled. “Hello, there. You look very beautiful,” she said in a weird way which creeps Fatima out.
“Are you dating my son? If not, I can introduce you to lots of men who are willing to pa-“ William grabbed Fatima’s hand and started dragging her away from his mother. His mother didn’t bother to stop them and Fatima looked behind her and saw her wave and smile at her once she turned around. She never forgot what she looked like since then.
[Flashback End]
FATIMA ARRIVED HOME WITH her brother and he wanted to sleep so she let him go in his own room since this house has three bedrooms compared to before. “I’ll wake you up when food is ready!” He nodded before going inside the room and jumping on the bed as he drifted off to sleep.
She was preparing food when the phone gifted by Grian started ringing. She answered the call and was immediately greeted by, “Are you okay? I heard the media is storming in the company. I was wondering if they found where you live,” he said and she rushed to the front door and looked out the window and saw the guards blocking reporters.
“Oh my god,” she said.
“They’re here, what do I do?” she asked and he sighed heavily before saying, “Just stay indoors and don’t do anything. Christopher will take care of it by tomorrow,” he reassured and she nodded before taking deep breaths. She doesn’t want herself to get involved with the media.
The following morning, things didn’t go as planned. As soon as she opened the television, news about her spread, and they even have pictures of her. What’s even worse, before Christopher can even defuse the situation, Hannah beat him to the punch and got interviewed by the reporters.
“Fatima Mendez is a horrible woman. She was a worker under Christopher who’s supposed to be my fiance but she stole him from me. She deceived everyone, turned ME into the villain in her story, and pretended to be the victim of the situation. That woman can not be trusted.” The television then shows pictures of her and Christopher at the party that Nikki took and posted on Instagram. She closed the TV and held her head.
“This can’t be happening!”
“Why are you on TV?” She turned around and saw Tim watching the whole thing before she turned it off. Thank god he didn’t understand why. “It was.. n-nothing, Tim. Sometimes they just like showing pictures from parties!” She laughed nervously and he nodded before grabbing the remote to watch his favorite cartoons.
IN THE COMPANY, CHRISTOPHER was in fury once he saw the news. He grabbed his phone and called Hannah who only picked up after a few missed calls. “What do you want?” she asked and his eyebrows furrowed in frustration.
“What the hell were you thinking?! Do you really want to start drama?!”
“What I said was true though,” she said sassily.
“Let’s get things straight here, Hannah. I never loved you, will never love you, and that engagement? That was just all a big scheme so the power of your family and mine can get stronger with the help of each other. I never wanted to get engaged and never wanted to get married. Guess what? I’m never getting married to a pathetic person like you! I was not yours and will never be. Stop getting ahead of yourself.”