‘I I am patiently waiting for the day he'd throw you out of his house and come for me.’
Those were the words Mia uttered before ending the call.
Orla marveled at how someone could call her sister just to spew those mean words at her.
Mia's words almost paralyzed her mind, she tried not to dwell on her harsh words but it wasn't all easy. Just when she thought she was free from her family, Mia was frustrating her again. It had been three days since she called, but the words were still fresh in Orla's head.
She didn't think Callan would throw her out. It wasn't certain, but she felt he wouldn't and sometimes, her instincts were always right.
And if Callan wanted any of her sisters, he would have gone for them before he married her. He didn't want them and he didn't want her either. She assumed he just didn't want a wife from the Sullivan family and he just settled for her.
She roamed around the flower garden, plucking from the Allium. It was her third day in the house and she was yet to finish her touring—that was how big the mansion was.
She had been on it for two days now and it felt like she hadn't seen much of the house.
The maids were yet to resume work, but she had taken up their duties by cleaning the house. She didn't cook, she couldn't. She never learned how to cook because she didn't have the chance. Callan didn't know about it though, he had been ordering food since they moved in and he never asked her to cook for them.
She dropped Betty on the floor and moved to cut from the Aster in the garden. She shoved it close to Betty's ear, giggling as she kissed her. When she was satisfied with how her cat looked, she yanked at the Calendula flower and thrust a stick into her ginger hair.
"See we are twinning, Betty." She took a picture of them and walked further into the garden, plucking out from the flowers and fixing them to her hair and Betty's hair. When it was too much, she took some pictures of the garden and walked out, heading towards a smaller building that adjoined the mansion.
Darkness engulfed her when she plodded into the building, but as she walked the hallway, the lights became noticeable and everywhere was so quiet she'd hear the sound of a pin if it dropped to the floor.
"Wow!" she yelled excitedly, wondering why there was a building like that in the house.
She moved from room to room, taken aback by how beautiful each structure was.
She unlocked the door to one of the empty rooms and Betty jumped off her hands, running towards a room adjacent to the one she was about to scout.
"Oh, not now." She grumbled, running after Betty. "I told you to stay still, didn't I?" She slid into the room, unaware of the people who were seated on different armchairs listening to Callan as he led a presentation on the projector.
"There are two…" Callan halted when everyone in the room turned back to take a look at Orla.
She was still at the far end of the room, her eyes flickering around in search of her cat. She raised her head to glimpse all eyes on her.
She froze on the spot, her senses numb. She had no idea Callan made use of the building as his home office. She had not seen him since she woke up that morning and she thought he had already gone to work.
"I am sorry." She scooted out of the room, neglecting the reason she barged into their meeting.
Callan sighed, caressing his temples in worry. He glimpsed Betty wandering around the room and he understood why Orla was in there.
"I am sorry for the distraction, that was my wife." He smiled, eyes on Betty, monitoring all her movements. "She loves her cat so much. The cat must have gone nasty again, she always does that."
"I will get the cat, Boss." Rosa straightened out of her chair when she sighted Betty.
"No, don't worry about that. I will get the cat for her." Rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, he clasped his hands together and looked back at the board members present in the meeting. "Can I have a few minutes off? I need to attend to my wife."
They all nodded, agreeing without hesitation.
"I would like to excuse myself now." He lowered the sheet of paper in his hand on the table and trudged towards Betty. "Come here," he whispered, scooping her into his arms.
He smiled as he headed towards the exit door, but the smile didn't last long. It faded immediately after he stepped into the hallway.
He was angry, so mad at Orla for being so careless and disrupting the meeting with his staff.
"Where the fuck is she?" He was so tempted to fling Betty off his arms, but he didn't want to hurt her. It was wrong to hurt the innocent cat.
Orla slipped out from one of the rooms when she heard footsteps approaching. She had stayed with Callan for days to master the sound of his footsteps.
She stood in the hallway, right in front of Callan. He stopped, fuming with anger. He was so angry he didn't know what to do with her.
"I am sorry." She hung her head low, the flowers she arranged on her making her look so funny and small. "We were touring the house and didn't know that you were in there with your people."
"You get on my nerves all the damn time. What the hell do you want from me?" He asked, still holding Betty in his hands.
"My…" she looked up at him and motioned to Betty. "My cat, can you give her to me?" She asked, blinking her eyes so cutely that Callan almost thawed at her charms.
He looked up at Betty and noticed the flowers on her body. He scoffed and handed her to Orla.
"Are you sick?" He queried, amazed that she would arrange flowers on her cat.
"No," Orla nodded.
He took two steps closer to her and she moved back. He shook his head, closing the distance between them.
Orla tried to shift back but she couldn't, his closeness messed up her mind, causing her heart beat to increase. "I am not sick, Callan." She spoke up, but he didn't listen to her.
He placed two fingers on her forehead to check her pulse. His fingers lasted there for a few seconds, warm around her forehead. Orla tried to talk, but the words failed her.
She let Callan do what he wanted and when he was done, he took his fingers off her head and shook his head again.
"I figured out that you are sick. You should see a Doctor."
"I am not sick," she argued.
"If you are not sick then you wouldn't have arranged flowers on your hair and that of your cat's." He said, staring intently at her.
He was somehow glad she was no longer wearing the horrible-looking gown she sported the first time he saw her.
The shorts she was wearing almost swallowed her up, but they looked good. Her flowery blouse matched the flowers on her messy hair.
Out of embarrassment, She took the flowers out of her hair and turned away from Callan. "I will not disrupt your meeting again and thanks for bringing my cat to me." She ran away before he could talk.
She couldn't stay one second longer, her heart was throbbing at an abnormal rate and she feared it would explode if she didn't run away from him.
Callan placed his hand on his sides, wiggling his head at her behavior. One minute he was so mad at her and the next minute he was so neutral about her.
"She's crazy, really crazy." He nodded his head, heaving a drained sigh.
He walked back into the room, wondering why he had to touch her forehead to feel her pulse. He shouldn't have, but he already did. Nothing special about it.
"Sorry for the beautiful distraction, may we proceed?" He asked, pointing at the projector.
"Yes, we may." They chorused in unison.
Callan offered them one more of his charming smiles and then he took off from where he stopped before Orla disturbed with her cat.