Social Media Confusion
Mrs Haward's jaw dropped upon hearing James, and she remained frozen in her spot after James entered the apartment.
Mirenda sat on the sofa in the living room when James walked past her and headed for his bedroom. He was already exhausted from all the night's activities. Mrs Haward entered the living room a few minutes later and was also heading for her bedroom when Mirenda spoke.
"Mum, you know we went too far with this interview thing?" expressed Mirenda.
"Honey, when people play dirty, you play dirty too and make sure yours hits them harder," replied Mrs Haward.
"Is that what we were doing? I may not like Jason, finding out he stole from us, but we lied to the whole world. What if someone finds out?" Mirenda complained.
"Oh Mirenda darling, I did all of that for you and your brother. That is what mothers do; fight for their children. That viper would have put us on the street. I have to make sure he doesn't come to fight you all," Mrs Haward explained. "Do you understand?" she asked.
"I don't know," Mirenda replied and excused herself.
"O dear, if I fail, it would be because of this child. I need to do something about her and fast. I think I need to get her busy," Mrs Haward thought, and fetched her phone and dialled a number.
In the morning, Mirenda was coming from the kitchen as usual holding her cup of coffee in hand as she headed back for her bedroom. She saw a familiar figure climbing the stairs heading for the study.
"Is that Henry?" Mirenda thought as she took slow steps towards the stairs.
She took a peek and her smile widened as she recognized the person standing behind the study door. She left quickly for her room and changed her clothing into a pair of hot pants and a tank top. She entered the living room, grabbed a magazine and sat on the sofa pretending to be reading while sipping her cup of coffee. James walked into the living room and frowned at seeing Mirenda. He stood there for a while looking at her and started laughing. Mirenda lowered her magazine and shot him a look.
"Let me guess, Henry is here," James said.
"What gave you that impression?" asked Mirenda, looking annoyed.
"You are reading your magazine upside down," James said and continued laughing as he headed for the door.
Mirenda realized she was indeed holding the magazine upside down. She turned it correctly and continued to pretend she was reading. Henry descended the stairs a few minutes after James had left and found Mirenda sitting on the sofa.
"Hello Mirenda," Henry greeted.
"Hi," Mirenda said, not sure where to look.
"How are you doing?" Henry asked.
"I am good, but what brought you here?" Mirenda asked, still acting shy.
"I returned to the country yesterday and decided to see Jason. I was supposed to do that earlier, but I just found out he no longer lives here," Henry replied.
"My mum told you?" Mirenda asked suddenly, sounding concerned.
"Yeah, kinda," Henry replied. "Anyway, nice talking to you," he said and headed for the door as Mrenda stared at his back with dreamy eyes.
Unknown to her, Mrs Haward was standing on the stairs listening in on their conversation. She quickly went up the stairs when she heard Henry saying goodbye to Mirenda.
"So, this is the guy Mirenda likes," Mrs Haward thought. "Sure looks like I have a solution to my problem. Finally, something to keep Mirenda busy, so she will stop meddling with my plans," she said as she returned to her bedroom.
Out in town, with a few guards to stop the media from troubling him, James stopped at a very expensive restaurant. He was led into a private room where he met with the host who had interviewed him, Fiona. She smiled and welcomed him. They ordered some food and drinks while they chatted.
"Have you checked any of the media platforms after the interview?" Fiona inquired.
"No, I don't follow those," James replied with a laugh and sipped his drink.
"I don't think you would like what is going on there," Fiona pointed out.
"What is happening there?" James asked.
Fiona opened her social media page and showed it to him. James' eyes widened reading the comments from the people.
'From the interview, J said he went to ask the girl about the irregularities in the company's finances. Seeing the video posted of him harassing this lady, are we sure he was arrested for unlawful entrance? I don't trust this man' posted by someone named JB
'Mr James Haward is my man. I never liked this pridefully Jason guy who always has something against women' commented Rose.
'Something isn't right. I feel the Hawards are hiding something' posted by an anonymous person.
'Hmmm, was it just me or did it sound like the Hawards were just acting as if they cared about Jason when in actual sense they were selling him out?' came another anonymous commenter.
'I am totally confused about what is going on in the Haward family. It looks like they are fighting themselves' posted another anonymous person.
By the time James read through six comments, he was already tired.
"What is going on?" James asked Fiona.
"It's typical behaviour of media reaction. They are just confused. Give them the time they will follow the most trending as the truth," Fiona said.
"So all I need to do is get more positive news about my family out there, and this whole confusion will be cleared up?" James inquired.
"Yes," Fiona replied with a smile.
"Good, I gave you my number," James said and Fiona smiled.
James moved closer to her and she blushed. James took that reaction to mean she was interested in him too. He ran his finger up Fiona's shoulder and she tensed.
"What are you doing?" Fiona asked, moving away from him.
"I like you," James said. "Would you be my girlfriend?" he asked.
"Can I think about it? I ..I... " Fiona started but was not sure what to say.
"I am fine with that. No rush, think about it and let me know your answer," James replied with a smile and Fiona smiled back.
They ate their food and continued their chat.
Back in Croydon, London, Jason was preparing to start work on Monday as agreed. He decided not to go on any of the social media platforms. He went inside his bag to retrieve a document and he saw their marriage certificate. He stared at it for a while, reading the signatures on the certificate, his, Julia's and his step-father's. He suddenly remembered what his grandfather said before his passing.
"Why did his father choose Julia for him and why was their marriage organized the way it happened?" Jason started thinking.
"I need answers," Jason said to himself, and put the certificate back.