You Will Pay For This
The closing of the door caused Julia to turn, coming face to face with James, who looked at her smiling sinisterly.
"So, you decided to talk to my brother, right?" James questioned. "You see what you did?" he said, pointing to the plaster on his nose bridge and his upper lip was also bruised.
"You are going to pay for it," James said, took two more steps towards Julia and held her neck, pushing her against the cabinet behind her.
"By the time I am done with you, you will wish you had never said anything to Jason," James said, releasing Julia and rubbing her cheeks with the back of his hand,
James stared at Julia, and she was looking at him sternly, but James could read from Julia's eyes she was scared even though she was putting up a strong front. James touched Julia's lips with his thumb and was inching closer, but she turned her face away and James chuckled. He smiled and left the storage room. Julia stood frozen for a while before leaving the room with the design she had come to pick. When she returned to the department, she was trembling all over.
"Are you alright?" Julia's line manager asked.
"Yes, I... I ... just saw a spider," Julia said, just to cover up her current state, but the words of James kept running through her mind.
"A spider?" questioned her manager, wondering how a spider got into such a tightly sealed storage space.
"I don't know, but I saw something like a spider," Julia repeated, and quickly moved away from his presence to continue with her work.
"You are shaking, can you do the sketch?" the line manager who had followed Julia to her working station asked and Julia looked at him trembling.
"Please give me 10 minutes," Julia requested, and the line manager checked his time.
"It's 11.30 a.m. now, you can take your lunch break," the line manager said and moved away to check on the others.
Julia turned towards the door and decided to go to the cafeteria for a while. At the cafeteria, she got herself a bottle of water and decided to return to her department.
"Please come with me," said one of Jason's guards, and Julia nodded, following him out of the cafeteria.
A few staff who saw Julia following the guard wondered who she was and why she was always around Jason. Some have seen her come to work with Jason, and now she is following Jason's guard. However, they can only keep their thoughts to themselves as gossiping was not allowed in the company and everything concerning the company also remains in the company. The guard led Julia through the elevator to the third floor, straight to Jason's office. Jason was sitting on the sofa drinking a cup of coffee. He beckoned Julia to come and asked the guards to leave once she entered.
"Have a seat?" Jason said and Julia sat down on the sofa opposite him.
"Are you feeling okay?" Jason asked, wanting to know how she was doing today after yesterday's incident, but Julia thought he had noticed her current state and hence went silent.
When she didn't answer but kept fidgeting with her fingers, Jason quickly concluded something had happened again.
"Did my brother bother you again?" Jason asked, looking at her questioningly.
Julia lifted her head to look at Jason briefly and lowered her gaze again. Jason stood up, went to the small table, poured a cup of tea and brought it to her.
"Here, have this and tell me what my brother did again," Jason said, handing the tea to Julia.
Julia accepted the tea from Jason's hand but was still afraid to say anything.
"Nothing, I just thought I saw a spider in the storage room," Julia said slowly after a while, and Jason raised his eyebrows.
"Hmm," Jason replied, but for some reason, he felt, she was not saying exactly what happened.
The phone on Jason's table rang, and he went to answer it.
"Hello sir, I just wanted to let you know, I am giving Ms Harrison the rest of the day off. She doesn't look okay to me. Probably a day's rest would help," the line manager said.
"That is fine with me," replied Jason.
"Go see your boss and once you are done, come back here," Jason said to Julia. She nodded and exited the office.
A few minutes later, Julia returned to Jason's office, and he opened the bedroom door for her.
"Get some rest," Jason said and Julia nodded, entering the room.
Once inside the bedroom with the door shut behind her, she climbs into bed and lies on the bed with James' words running through her head.
Jason concentrated on his work for the rest of the day. At 5.10 p.m., he finished working on his last file and decided it was time to go home. He entered the room and Julia quickly sat up on the bed. He wished she had slept a little, but from the look of things, she didn't.
"Let's go home," Jason said and Julia nodded, putting her shoes back on.
They both left the office for the house and returned to the apartment. The car stopped in front of the apartment and they both got out, heading for the front door. Using the elevator, they went up to the 6th floor. Jason looked at Julia, as she had her head lowered, and he knew something was bothering her. The elevator bell rang and drew his attention to the opening door. He let Julia step out of the elevator first before he did. They both entered the living room and went up the stairs to the bedroom.
Supper was perfect as it was just Jason, Julia, Grandpa and Mirenda. James and Mrs Haward were not at home.
"Where is Mum?" Jason asked.
"She went out to meet some friends," replied Mirenda, and Jason nodded.
After a few minutes of silence, Mirenda spoke. "You won't ask about James?"
"I don't have to. It's Tuesday, definitely in a club," Jason replied.
After dinner, Jason, Julia and Grandpa sat for a while in the living room watching TV. Grandpa smiled, seeing that Jason and Julia were bonding gradually. It was the first time Julia had watched TV since she moved in. They both retired to their room.
"You are a quiet person, I know, but you are extremely quiet today. Please talk to me, what happened today?" Jason asked and Julia opened her mouth, but the words wouldn't come out.
Jason sat down on the bed and pulled Julia to sit down next to him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
"Don't let anyone make you feel uncomfortable. I will protect you," Jason said and was surprised at the words that were coming out of his mouth, but he was happy he said it and Julia nodded.
Julia went to take a shower and climbed into bed. Jason also took his shower and joined her in bed, pulling her into his embrace.
Mrs Haward returned to the apartment at 11.30 p.m. and went straight to bed. James, however, did not return to the apartment as it was his usual behaviour to spend the night outside the home. The whole house was quiet as everyone was asleep, except for Jason, who kept looking at sleeping Julia. In the quietness of the night, the only noise you hear is the second hand of the analogue clock on the wall in front of the stairs.
Meanwhile, in Mrs Haward's room, she was on her phone sending one message after another.
'I need Jason out of the house if we have to do that. It appears he is now in love with the girl and will do anything to protect her.'
Mrs Haward typed and sent it and received a reply immediately.
'Don't worry, I am working on something. He will leave, and you can execute your plan.'
Mrs Haward smiled while reading the message and finally laid down to sleep with a smile plastered on her face.