Fiona And James Meet
"I said Fiona is pregnant and I know it's for you," Mirenda repeated and James turned white as a sheet behind the wheel.
"How did you know?" James asked.
"I am with her right now," replied Mirenda.
"Are you telling me this in front of her?" questioned James with traces of anger in his voice.
"No, I am not with her right now. She is in one of the wards," Mirenda replied.
"In a ward, as in a hospital ward?" James asked moving his car from the main road to a safe parking place.
"Yes," replied Mirenda. "So it was you that night?" she asked.
"What did she expect? She was playing hard to get," James said casually.
"Well, you have fathered a child so get ready to take responsibility," Mirenda said to him as she entered the cafeteria.
"That is not my thing but help me meet up with her. No one must know about it," James requested.
"And why should I help you? What happened to 'asking Mum for help?" Mirenda enquired.
"Because I am your brother and you wouldn't want to see me in trouble. See, Fiona could be lying. I need to confirm first if I am responsible and I will take care of her," James replied.
"You will take care of Fiona and her baby if the baby is yours?" Mirenda asked thinking she was hearing things.
"Yes," replied James who had his reason for wanting to see Fiona.
"Okay, she already wants to see you. So I can give her your number to call you," Mirenda suggested.
"No, don't. Let's find a different way to arrange a meet-up. Think about it and come up with something. I will be on standby. Don't keep me waiting," James said and ended the call. "This can't be happening. How did she become pregnant from just that one time?" he thought. "I can't have her pin this pregnancy on me," he thought and started the car moving the car back to the main road.
James drove towards the house in deep thought. Upon arrival, he went up to the 6th floor in complete silence.
"I don't know why things are not going according to my plan," complained Mrs Haward as soon as James entered the living room but James was lost in his thoughts so he didn't hear his mother.
James walked towards his room in complete silence making Mrs Haward frown.
"James," Mrs Haward called out to him but he continued walking towards his room. "James!" she yelled and James stopped turning his attention to her.
"Mum?" James replied.
"I was talking to you. Are you alright?" Mrs Haward asked with concern seeing his son was not his usual self.
"I am fine. What were you saying?" James asked walking towards his mother.
"I was talking about Jason. I sent a story to be published and things didn't go as planned. I was expecting everyone to be condemning him but that is not what is happening. People are still going to the hotel and the media platforms are now debating," Mrs Haward complained.
"Yeah," James replied.
"James, are you alright? I just told you my plans are failing and all you can say is 'yeah'?" Mrs Haward asked looking at him with concern.
"I am just exhausted. I guess I had too much to drink last night," James said and headed for his room with his mother staring at his back.
Back at Paradise Hotel, business continues. Julia was wearing her apron and had her hair tied up in a pony attending to customers. She did so with so much love and treated all her customers nicely that she earned heavy tips from all of them. Jason kept watching her occasionally on his monitor inside his office.
Julia's shift ended and she went to the changing room. She took off her apron and changed her clothes. She stepped out of the changing room and went to see the head chef.
"You did very well for the first day," the head chef praised.
"Thanks, sir," Julia replied with a smile.
"I will see you same time tomorrow. Kindly go to the finance office and submit all your details before leaving," the head chef informed her and Julia acknowledged before exiting the kitchen.
Peter saw Julia and quickly entered his office so she would not see him. She will know Jason is the owner once she sees him. Julia asked the receptionist where the finance office was and she was directed. She completed filling out the form and happily left the hotel for home still with no knowledge of what had transpired in the hotel. Everyone was quiet about it.
Back in the hospital, Mirenda went back to Fiona after getting some food from the cafeteria.
"I was beginning to think, you were not coming back," Fiona teased.
"Why will I do that? I can't leave you here. I owe you my life," replied Mirenda placing some food on the tray which she pushed to Fiona.
"Thank you," Fiona appreciated.
"You mentioned you want to see James," asked Mirenda and Fiona nodded with a mouth full of salad.
"My mum rented an apartment downtown. Would you like me to arrange for you to meet James there? We want to renovate the place. So I can lure him there and you can just walk in," Mirenda proposed.
"Why does your suggestion sound like you want to arrange a secret meeting?" Fiona questioned filling her mouth with another spoonful of salad.
"James will not come out to meet you or believe your pregnancy story. I am only suggesting this so you see him in person," Mirenda explained and Fiona gave it a thought.
"You are right," Fiona agreed. "I am in," she added and Mirenda smiled.
"So, we wait for you to be discharged and I can arrange that for you," Mirenda informed her.
"Thank you, Mirenda," Fiona appreciated.
"This salad is nice," praised Fiona making Mirenda smile.
In the Wellington family, Dr Andesh was with Mr Wellington talking about the news that was on TV in the morning.
"Sir, what do you suggest we do about Mrs Haward who is bent on destroying Jason?" asked Dr Andesh.
"Just leave her for now. First thing first, I need to give my son his rightful place in the family," replied Mr Wellington.
"Should I still arrange the meet-up?" asked Dr Andesh.
"Let's deal with the news circulating on the media platforms," Mr Wellington replied and Dr Andesh nodded.
"I have to go back to the hospital but I will get my people on it," Dr Andesh replied.
"Good. Let's schedule the meeting for Friday," Mr Wellington added and Dr Andesh acknowledged before exiting his hotel.
At Paradise Hotel, Peter went up to Jason's office to do the assessment and reports to close for the day.
"That will be all for today," Jason said once they were done.
"Ms Julia did a very good job today," Peter announced.
"I know," replied Jason.
"So, how long are you going to keep her in the dark?" Peter asked and Jason frowned.
"Let's not talk about this again," Jason informed him and Peter stared at him as he got up from behind the desk and entered the sleeping area.
"I need to call Henry. He is the only one who can get to him," Peter thought before getting up and exiting Jason's offices.
Peter went back home with the car as Jason had decided to spend the night at the hotel. Jason took his shower and lay on the bed once Peter left. He couldn't get Julia out of his mind but he also felt the best thing he could do for her was to stay away from her.
At the hospital, the next day, Fiona was discharged from the hospital and Mirenda went with her to her apartment.
"You have a lot of cleaning to do," Mirenda commented once they entered Fiona's apartment.
"Girl I was only away for like what, three months," Fiona said as she dropped the keys on the table.
Mirenda's phone rang and it was Henry. Since the incident happened she has stayed by Fiona's side and has not seen Henry.
"Hi Babe," Mirenda said once she answered and Fiona gestured to her she was going upstairs to which Mirenda acknowledged with a nod while still on the phone with Henry.
They spoke for a while and Mirenda promised to see him later in the day to explain everything that happened the past two days.
Mirenda and Fiona cleaned the house and after prepared something to eat.
"Thanks, Mirenda, I don't think I could have done this without your help. At least not with the early morning sickness" Fiona said.
"No problem. I will be going to my boyfriend's home later today. I will arrange for you to meet up with James at the place I mentioned," Mirenda said and Fiona nodded.
They finished eating and Mirenda decided it was time to leave. After biding Fiona goodbye with a promise to come to visit, she hailed a taxi to Henry's and inside the taxi, she called James.
"I have given her the address of the apartment Mum rented for Julia. She will meet you there by noon," Mirenda informed him.
"Well done," James said and smiled before ending the call.
"Mum, I have something important to attend to in town, I will be back," James said to Mrs Haward and kissed her cheeks before exiting the living room.
Mrs Haward got on the phone after to understand what was going on with the news agency. James drove his car to the apartment his mother rented for Julia. The very same apartment he had attacked Julia. He parked the car and before he could open the door, it was opened and Fiona's face was in clear view.
"You are here. For once I felt something was up," Fiona said.
"What are you doing here? Where is my sister? She is the one I am supposed to meet here," James said pretending he didn't know anything.
Fiona applauded Mirenda in her heart for planning such a good meet up unaware that James already knew of her coming.
"Well, we need to talk," Fiona began.
"I don't want to," James said and was about to leave but Fiona stopped him with her words.
"I am pregnant," Fiona said and James stopped in his tracks.