31

DAVID WELLINGTON

"Hope and Oliver are not safe around him. Get that into your head. A man who can't look at women respectfully, won't hesitate to use his nephew as a ticket to heaven. He wasn't Venus' real brother after all. He's the half brother for God sake! And I sent you that news, didn't I? He's accused of being associated with a human trafficking gang."

I remember Eric's words from that day, my stress only multiplying manifolds. His security team is very fine, they know well how to deal with all this.

Aurelio, that day was a piece of shit. He badmouthed Hope, making me smack him thrice.

"Now I know why you married her. She looks so appealing!", his comment still had a nerve in my head bobbing. That was as ridiculous as Eric explained. Why did I think that he will ever be better? Why was I even helping him? My money is probably in some dumpster. And on top of all this, he wanted to meet Oliver.

Now I understand why Eric kept Oliver so shielded. He even told me that he was afraid that if he didn't use the card of Erica being his aunt in his favour, he would have lost him to the children welfare commission, and worse, Aurelio would have been contacted as the nearest relative. I can't imagine my baby living anywhere around that bastard.

I sat straight in my chair and called my new PA to come in.

When he did, I asked, "Eric is in his office or not?"

He nodded, "Yes sir! Mr. Ashton has just come back from a lunch meeting."

I stood up from my chair, and i guess after months made way to the cabin opposite mine, greeting Antonio, his PA on the way.

He was talking on the phone when I went in and took a place on the chair opposite him. He stared at me, probably wondering why I came there, but continued talking. To prove he is the same asshole who i know since our diapers time, he continued talking to the client for fifteen minutes. And to say all his clients talk to his PA. And definitely nobody talks to him for more than a minute, unless it was my sister.

Once he was done, he set his phone aside, "How can I help you Mr. Wellington?"

Oh! We are being formal. Or he's probably, no certainly mocking me.

I rolled my eyes, "I need your security men to report to me too. After all they are the incharge of my wife and son's security."

He nodded, "Your wife, son and you."

"Tsk! It's necessary to show how high and mighty you are. Isn't it?!? Tell them to report to me, or I'll hire a separate security team."

"Separate but second best."

I glared at him, feeling irritated because I have to ask for a favour from him.
"Will you or will you not?"

A smirk appeared on his lips, ofcourse loving how I am stuck in my problem.

Nonetheless, he made a call, most probably to Stephan.

"Stephan! Now onwards, report to David also about your management. He seems like he'll piss in his pants, worrying about his wife and son."

I looked at him bored, as he continued to give some more directions and then finally kept his phone down, "Happy now?"

I stood up from the chair, "This changes nothing!"

"You are here. In my cabin. After months. This changes alot!"

I folded my hands huffing, "You remember you were angry at me? How come you're so chirpy all of a sudden?"

He shrugged, "I am always chirpy?"

I scoffed, "Ofcourse! You are sunshine wrapped in flowers."

I left his cabin, and continued my work, but it felt as if a burden was lifted off my shoulders. May be because I will be now assured of my family's safety, or may be because I finally talked to him, in a 'civil' manner.

*

That night, I was busy setting up the rails for Oliver's toy train. He was sitting on my lap as I worked out the puzzle his mumma brought from God knows what continent! It was delivered yesterday and she herself was unable to understand how to join the complicated pieces of rails. Now it was on me to be the superhero dadda, or he will start crying for his next best option- his 'Papa'.

"Dadda lail!"(Rail!), he handed me a piece and I saw where to fix it.

Once we both were satisfied that the pattern looked somewhat decent, i asked him, "Should we start the train?"

He nodded eagerly, already holding the engine in his hand. I joined the boxes and engine into one and set them on the rails.

"Now? Is Oliver ready for his choo choo ride??"

"Choo choo!!! Choo choo!!", he starts jumping in my lap becoming hard to control, and making me laugh loudly. I hold him, and press the button on the engine. As soon as I do that, the engine starts making sound, and then starts moving.

"Dadda! Choo choo! Tain!!!", he starts clapping and jumping, enjoying the moving train as it covers the tracks we made. I stop looking at the train in motion, but instead look at this little guy in my lap, my heart ready to explode looking at him so happy.

How come I was ready to let all this go? If I meet myself from six months back now, I'd probably punch myself too. I could now see the reason that Eric held. I was missing out on this little happiness, and healing my heart, when the cure was born from me only.

Letting him go would have been the biggest mistake of my life. And I realise this now- as I sit as a family man with my son in my lap and my wife in the kitchen, cooking for us. Months back, I was nothing but a deranged, abandoned man, who was directionless and ready to abandon the world any day, without any regrets. Now, i want to live.

My thoughts halt the moment I feel arms sneaking around my neck, and a very familiar scent surrounding me.

"Where are you lost?"

I chuckled, "Does it matter? I am still in your arms?"

I feel her shaking her head, "So much cheese David! I will vomit if I come to realise that these are the lines you used to flirt."

"Yup! I used them. So what? Look at you going gaga over me!"

She shook her head, "I am going gaga over him. Looking at this charming little version of you."

I huffed, "Look at his dad also. That will be beneficial for you?"

"How?", she asked playfully.

Huh! Time to use your sharpest weapon!

"Beneficial as in only his dad can do dirty stuff to you. May i elaborate on 'dirty...", I am shut up by a smack on my head.

"Oli baby? How's your train?", she avoided me, a red tint covering her cheeks. She left me as if current run through me, making me smirk, and sat beside us, catching Oliver's attention.

"Hoe!....Mumma!", he often called her Hope, but now he has learned to correct himself soon after.

"Yes strawberry!?"

"Tain!! Choo choo!!"

"You love Choo Choo??"

He nodded, "Love Choo Choo!"

"C'mere and give a thankyou kiss to mumma! Will you?"

He immediately stood up from my lap and climbed on her, giggling at the prospect of kissing my wife. That made me roll my eyes, but a smile, nonetheless, made its way on my lips, looking at the two.

He held her face, and kissed on the tip of her nose, making her chuckle. In turn, she held his face and kissed on both his cheeks.

There display of love continued till I had enough of it, "Where's my kiss you two?"

They looked at me and then at each other as if asking each other for consent. And then collectively they made a face, i understood it before they could act. So, i tackled them both, careful yet firmly.

They laughed, Oliver having a little more fun in our 'fight'.

"You think you both can escape from me?"

Hope was on the floor, Oliver between us and me, on top. I kissed Oliver quite a many times, him giggling loud, and then I moved to his mumma, who tried to hide her face behind him.

"No Dadda! You baboy!!"

"Am I bad boy?"

"Yes David! He's right!"

Ignoring the two protesting, I placed a kiss near her lips, Oliver's little hand trying to save his mumma. I kissed her twice, thrice, alternating between the two.

The war ended though, when the doorbell rang. I looked up wondering who it would be at this hour. The two took it as an opportunity to escape. Hope handed over Oliver to me.

"I'll see who it is."

She left and I looked at the devil spawn in my hands.

"You were stopping me from kissing my wife?? I won't get you married till you turn fifty, and then you won't have a wife. Who will you kiss then!?"

He attentively heard me, and I know only the last part made sense to him, because he had only one answer, "Mumma!"

I rolled my eyes at him, and stood up, looking at the huge mess we created, "Time to wipe this clean. C'mon! Help me out!"

He started helping me by putting his toys in the box, and I folded the rug that we were sitting on.

Just then, i heard Hope laughing, and then she entered with Stephan, making me immediately frown.

"Hey David! Stephan is here for some security management thing. Eric has sent him."

He was holding a few files and Hope asked him to sit on the couch, and he greeted me.

"What would you take? Coffee or Tea? Or shall I serve dinner for us? Wait, did you eat yours already?"

He smiled and shook his head, "No Hope! I will cook after I am done here."

She groaned, "I told you to get a girlfriend atleast. Ofcourse someone who can cook."

He chuckled, "I can't help. All the good ones are already taken."

Wow! The good ones. My wife. Yeah, she's already taken.

"Okay! I'll serve dinner. By the time, you both be done with whatever it is. Oli? Baby come with me. Let Dadda work."

Oliver followed her to the kitchen, while I sat conversing with Stephan, rather tolerating him. I was never so repulsive about him. He was just another guy, existing as our security head. I had no reason to deal with him daily, but we interacted every now and then, as he was Eric's bodyguard, who wasn't as loyal to him, as he was to the family.

Somehow, getting to know that Hope dated him, didn't sit well with him. Yeah, he was a good guy and all that, but he makes me feel a little disturbed. Like what if he and Hope worked out!?

But they didn't. Right?

I convinced myself and focussed on the work at hand.

The dinner later on, was awful. Both my wife and son were so cheerful hand happy having Stephan around. And me, I was only occasionally speaking when things made sense to me, more than the burning sensation in my mind.

I sit quietly and feed myself, trying to act like a decent human, not a raging gorrila.

I took a sigh of relief when Stephan finally left and we resumed our usual routine. I was to put Oliver to sleep, which in itself was a humongous task, and Hope was cleaning up downstairs.

When Oliver finally gave up, after God knows how many monster stories, I laid him down on his crib and covered him up till the neck. Switching on the night lights, I waited for Hope to come and motivate me to have my medicines.

The thought alone made me smile to myself. How habitual I have become to her presence. When she left for her so called 'emergency' concert, I did not have the medicines for a complete day, because she didn't ask me too. I knew I wasn't doing good to myself. But medicine for me? They mean Hope. Both literally and figuratively. They were curing my illness, she was curing my heart.

My mind then drifts to the things I saw in her possession. A thought again and again creeping in my mind- What if the infamous guy she loved was me? Because I saw nothing in her possession that pointed to someone else other than me. There were a two or three pictures of Eric, but you could tell, they were kept as a memory. My things, on the other hand, they were kept as if her life rests in those.

I go to my closet, and open that one drawer behind my blazer section. And then I fetched a letter, and opened it.

It was written in her elegant yet heavy writing. You could tell she was thinking hard while writing this.

"I don't know how to say this to you. It was a huge struggle for me to contemplate my feelings, and then think if I want to tell them to you or not. I decided I have to tell you. Yes, I am afraid of losing you as a friend, but I know my feelings run too deep to be left unexpressed. Two years in this school, and two years of knowing you, I can't help but feel love for each and every antics of yours. You said- you are the easiest person to love, as you are so charming. But I believe loving you has been the hardest step I took. Yes, I love you, more than I like to admit. But I know depriving you of this knowledge, I am probably cheating on you as a friend. So I have decided - no more cheating! I love you, and I want you to know it. Just read this, and keep it with you. I don't want your answers. I only want you."

The note was in a very bad condition, crumpled and torn at the edges, like it hadn't seen good days since it was written. There was no name written on it. But one thing was certain, and that was- she wrote it. It wasn't mentioned who she wrote it to. But it seems like she was herself planning to give this piece of letter to the intended person. And somehow it was still with her.

Why was I still not loudly claiming that the guy is me, because I have no proof. Everything I saw, even the voice in my head is not a practical proof of her love for me. There was just one thing that even fully and explicitly expressed her feelings. But that had no name!

Even if I assume right now, that it was me (which surprisingly doesn't repulse me as a thought of that kind should), it is only overwhelming. It makes me feel like I belong somewhere. As if I am safer and assured that she wouldn't leave me since she loves me. And when I recover from this thought, all I am filled with is guilt. I reprimand myself for this selfishness- wanting myself to be the main character in her life, only so she wouldn't leave me. What scares me, in this case, is if she really loves me, how will I ever be able to return her love. And if I won't be able to return her love, how unfortunate and unfair that would be with her.

This confession in my hand, although I am not sure about the person it was meant for, but I still feel like she's saying this to me. I want to ask her, but I don't want to seem like I am mocking her. May be she loved me then, but not now? That's why she was able to keep aside her inhibitions and marry me.

"David?", I am startled when I hear her call. I told the letter carefully and keep it back where I know she never bothers to check. Behind my blazers.

"I am in the closet.", I say ready to walk out.

"Go out! I've to change.", and that was how my decision was changed. Decision to walk out of the closet

Her order has my eyebrows raising in defiance.

"Change! I am not going out!"

There was a small couch in the closet and I settle there, with my hands spread wide, "Hope Ricci Wellington! Change!"

She scowled at me, her hands on her hips, "David Daft Wellington! Be a decent man for once."

I plaster a mocking smile on my face, "Sorry to inform you Hope, but decency and me never crossed each other's way."

She nodded, "I can see that."

I smile sheepishly but make no attempt to move. She shook her head and opened her wardrobe to fetch her clothes.

"Wear those shorts - the blue one.", i point out, and she begrudgingly picks the pink one.

When she goes on to choose her top, i point at the spaghetti strapped one, and again she goes for a full shirt.

She turns and stares at me.

"You are not planning to go. Are you!?"

I shook my head smugly, "No babe!"

"So I will have to change before you?"

I nodded, "Ofcourse! I'd love a strip show."

She nodded, "Strip show it is. Then let me lock the door."

I nodded again, my grin widening.

She went towards the door, and i immersed too much in the enjoyment that I couldn't guess her next move. She dashed out of the door, and locked the door from outside.

"Hope! You cunning witch! Open the door!"

I hear her laugh, "Stay quiet or your baby boy will wake up."

I lean against the door, grumbling under my breath. This woman!

Five minutes later, the door opens revealing my cunning witch, dressed in her new clothes, grinning widely like she just received the highest civilian honour of the country.

"I hope your time in here, was nice enough."

"You hope your time out of this closet remains nice enough."

*

I sat back quietly as I watched her interact with the doctor. She was way more worried than me. And I was enjoying the attention at the moment. She held my hand like I was her kid, who she has brought here for vaccination.

"Doctor! I've read that liver treatment works better than other as the liver has some regenerative power. So if the reports are good, I am sure the damage is greatly reversed."

The doctor nodded in agreement, "You have read right. Mr.Wellington's treatment is a huge success, because the treatment was given on time, and the therapeutic process was monitored well. I've also seen how he only had liquids for the first three months. That helped him alot. The liver got enough time to rest and recuperate. But you know once our body undergoes a trauma, there are certain triggers that get associated with it. For Mr.Wellington, the trigger is alcohol. So i request you both to keep an eye on alcohol. In any form, it can be harmful for him."

"I'll take care of that. He won't have any alcohol from now onwards.", her confidence made me chuckle. But it also made me feel a strange warmth within me. I feel taken cared off. As if, reckless, however much i be, she'd always have my back. But I also know, being reckless was not an option. I have these two to worry about.

On the way back, we sat in the backseat as she examined my prescription.

"See your medicine dose is greatly reduced. Now, i hope you won't throw your daily tantrums."

I observed the ring in her ring finger, emerald and the 'D' on the inner side, busy scrutinizing how it fit her, "If you think I won't throw my daily tantrums, you're hoping for the pigs to fly."

I could feel her eyes rolling, but my focus was on her ring. Should I get one more stone added to it? Something that makes it more 'Hope' like? It was mom's ring and then I wore it for years. The design was gender neutral. It didn't look manly or feminine. The stones however, exuded power. This looked a lot 'Wellington' than I'd like to admit. I wish I altered it a little before giving it to her.

"You heard the doctor said no alcohol for life?"

I hummed, "You already threw my gorgeous wine cellar. What else do you want to destroy?"

She pretended to think for a while, and then turned to me, "How about we cancel your membership from all the clubs you and Eric hold shares in?"

I looked at her, bored, "Don't you think you are too much of a Hitler woman?"

"Am I?", she batted her eyes innocently, "Let me ask Rebecca to prepare a list of it. And then we can sit and get it all cancelled the next Sunday we get. Okay dear?"

I shook my head, "If you do that, I am going to talk all the erotica language that ever existed in the world."

She shrugged, "I can tolerate a little when it comes to your well-being Mr. Wellington."

Aren't you too good for your own existence! I pinched her waist making her shriek, "David!! I'll kill you."

"You won't!"

*

Next update in two days.