Chapter eighteen – You were my mother
Tilda jumps up from the bench in fright, she almost falls to the ground but Cecelia holds her in place. She steadies herself and looks in the way of the speaker, no matter who heard her and asked, she could have gotten herself into trouble. And so, she was troubled already.
The person turned out to be the old man Royale, he was smiling in her way but she wasn’t going to take that lightly. She bowed her heard and apologized immediately,
“I am so sorry, sir. I didn’t know that I was saying that out loud and I promise it wasn’t you that I was referring to.”
Old man Royale stepped closer to them and inquired in an amused voice,
“It wasn’t me? Who is it then? I believe that I am your boss so much as two other people in the company. Believe young lady, you are in trouble if it is any of the two that I know.”
Tilda couldn’t help but sniff, she had made trouble for herself for falling asleep in the company which is the first crime and it didn’t end there. She got caught for insulting her boss.
Tilda quickly apologized,
“I am so sorry sir, I didn’t mean to do this, trust me, my eyes felt heavy and I thought I should close them. Who knew that I will fall asleep and spill such nonsense.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about falling asleep, we all do that sometimes. To think that you were on the hospital bed yesterday, I can forgive you but I want to know, who in your mind is the bastard that you were calling in your dreams?”
Tilda felt dumbfounded, she did know what to say anymore, her eyes were teary but no one could see it because of her lowered head. Old man Royale wasn’t done having fun while teasing her and was about to continue when he heard behind him,
“Old man Royale, don’t you think that you are too much? How come you are bullying her this way?”
There were a few people in the company who were bold enough to call him by that name. Whoever that person was, he caught his attention and so, he looked back and saw that it was Jacob. He sighs and says to him,
“Jacob, I see that you are no longer in your weekend bonus. Since it’s like that, forget about it. You have spoilt the fun that I was just having.”
Jacob shakes his head, his hands in his pockets and responds to him lifting his head in the direction Tilda and saying to him,
“Take a look at her, if I am right that you have bullied her, you can forget about taking my allowance.”
Old man Royale looked back at Tilda and saw that she was busily blinking her eyes. And so, he says to her,
“Miss Tilda, raise your head and look at me.”
Tilda raises her head, the tears weren’t in her eyes but her wet eyelids were obvious. Old man Royale saw it and shakes his head and then immediately apologized,
“I am sorry, I thought… in any case, I am sorry.”
Tilda shook her head and sniffed and then responded to him,
“No, sir, I am the one that did wrong, I shouldn’t have done what I did. I don’t know why I suddenly became emotional. Please forgive me.”
Jacob smiled and quipped in,
“Miss Tilda, you better accept the apology so that I don’t lose my allowance. Or I will keep yours.”
Old man Royale shakes his head and says,
“The young ones are bulling me, Cecelia, aren’t you going to say anything? You have been away from your post for quite sometime.”
“I am sorry, Royale, I think Fred’s allowance should be taken as well as mine. He sent me over to calm Miss Tilda after bulling her.”
Cecelia says firmly without any fear and Tilda shakes her head to deny the claim but old man Royale walks away by saying,
“Then, you all have lost your allowances. I can’t believe that the CEO has caused all these troubles.”
He gets to Jacob’s side and whispers to him,
“You should know by now who Tilda is in here for. Don’t get your heart broken, I believe she might like Fred more than you.”
After saying this, he walks away with Jacob stilled like a tattoo with a blank expression on his face. But the bulge on his pocket could be counted as a fist, which he had hidden well from sight. He then walks to Tilda, he looks at her closely and thinks,
‘Why will he give this angel to that devil? She deserves to be treated like a queen and not like some toy that should be played around by your kid.’
Upon this thought, he lightens up and says to Tilda,
“I believe that you felt tired that’s why you fell asleep, you should have rested after getting released from the hospital. You can go home and rest, I will talk to Mr. Fred on your behalf.”
Tilda shakes her head to say no but Cecelia also adds up,
“Yes, you can go home and rest before you get us sacked instead of our allowances taken. You are aware that you talk in your sleep and your sleep is terrible right?”
Tilda sees that she is smiling and so, she smiles back and nods her head and then says to Cecelia,
“I thought you were an angel, in my dream, you were my mother who was comforting me as I was crying over Fred’s bulling.”
Cecelia smiles and sighs and then says to her,
“Oh, how I wish that I had a beautiful daughter as you are. But I can’t even remember my past, I lost my previous memories some years back. It was old man Royale who took me in and allowed me to work here.”
Tilda smiles and proclaims,
“Oh, what a nice man, unlike his son.”
“Isn’t your mother alive?” Cecelia questions curiously.