24.

-HER-

After our talk, we ate silently. Both of us were lost in our own thoughts. Her eyes looked dreamy. She was probably reminiscing about the good things in her past whilst my mind was still occupied with today’s incident.

It almost made me groan out loud when I realized that I’d have to go down to the properties tomorrow and then the day after the tomorrow and so and so on and see him and that woman. I wanted to disappear all of a sudden.

I thought of the chances to call Mr Toles tomorrow and tell him I was sick but at the same time, I didn’t want to be in the house because I knew I would feel even worse.

After dinner, I didn’t feel like going to bed. I wanted to do something to distract my mind. I was afraid to find myself alone with my thoughts.

“Let me do the dishes,” I offered as I helped Nana clean the table after dinner.

“Gee, thanks. I don’t want you to ruin my fine china ceramics.” Nana commented as she snatched the last plate off my hand and deposited it in the washbasin.

“You have to let me do it someday,” I told her.

“When the time comes, we’ll see. Till then I want my ceramics in good condition,” She commented without showing any sign of giving up soon. I decided to just lean by the kitchen counter and see her do the dishes, just like I used to do when I was small and we used to live in the run-down house.

“What’s bothering you lately? You look so awful,” She made an attempt to stir the conversation in the direction I was even scared of looking.

“I am fine,” I answered, stealing my gaze from her.

“Then look like you’re fine. That awful look on your face makes me want to kick you out sometimes,” She frowned. I sighed.

“You know when a woman looks as awful as you, it is either she’s worried about her children or a man is messing up her mind. Which one is it with you?” She asked. I stared at her momentarily because of her right she was.

“I am just worried about your great-grandchildren,” I told her. She stopped doing the dishes and looked at me with wide eyes. Her face had brightened up with excitement all of a sudden.

“You’re preg-“

“IT’S A MAN! DAMN IT!!” I interrupted her before she could take it any further. A look of disappointment crossed her face before she turned to her dishes again.

“So, who is it now? What does he do? Did you pick up an unemployed leech again? I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. Your tastes really suck and you never learn from mistakes,” She commented. I stared at her as she dragged me.

“You don’t always have to bully me,” I muttered while I reached for a bowl that she had put to dry. She snatched it away before I could even touch it. With a pointed look thrown at me, she pressed, “Start speaking now,”

I took a moment to collect my thoughts to choose my words properly before I finally told her, “I am currently dealing with two clients. They’re kind of… odd, especially one of them,”

“Why what about him?” She turned to me and asked after putting away the last dish and taking the gloves off.

“I think I am hallucinating,” My words made her arch an eyebrow at me whilst her eyes grow pensive.

“What makes you think so?” She asked very grimly. The wittiness was gone from her face. The longer I stared at her, the younger she seemed to me. Maybe, I was really hallucinating.

I shuffled on my feet and pressed my lips in a thin line and contemplated telling Nana about Theodore’s horns.

“He has…” I trailed off, feeling that same anxiety and hesitance. I was finding it hard to say the word out loud to someone else, just like the first day when he visited the office and I asked one of my co-workers if they saw his horns as well.

With my eyes locked, I simply raised my hands above my head and made horns with then. The pensive look on her face was replaced by a mixture of shock and another emotion that I couldn’t quite comprehend. Although it was gone as soon as it flashed across her face.

I had expected her to ask me more about his horns or bully me for seeing horns on a guy's head but she asked me instead, “What’s his name?”

“Theodore Acilio Vittori,” This time, she seemed even more shocked but she turned away from me and simply muttered, “I need to go to the bed,” Before I could say anything, she started to walk out of the kitchen.

Although, she stopped at the kitchen door and spoke to me over her shoulder, “Stay away from him,” Her tone was grim enough to send a shiver down my spine, “And get out of my kitchen,”

It was very odd for her to act like that. I was very much surprised and concerned. This wasn’t the reaction I was expecting from her and unlike any other times, I was finding it hard to read her.

I was very much bewildered by this but the seeds of doubt had already been sown. Was it that Nana was keeping things from me? She wasn’t the kind of woman to have secrets. We always have been open books to each other but was it really so?

I didn’t want to weaken her trust by doubting her but she has been acting really weird for the past few days. It was starting to bother me and I just couldn’t look over it.

“WHY DO I STILL HEAR YOU IN THE KITCHEN?” Nana yelled from her bedroom. I snapped out of my daze and ended up going into my room. I tried going to bed but I found it very difficult to sleep. So, I searched for my phone. Turned out I hadn’t taken it out of my purse after I came back from my office.

Whilst I searched my purse for the phone, a small business card escaped from one of the side pockets and fell on the floor. I instantly went on my knees to pick it up and look at it. I flipped the card to see the name on it.

My heart leapt out of my chest as soon as I saw Levana’s name on it. I contemplated making another trip to the gift shop.

**...
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