Julia Didn't Come Home
"Jason, you are in love," Henry said with a smile making Jason look in his direction.
"Is that what love is?" Jason asked lowering his gaze.
"Jason you have a special attraction for this girl. Tell me, do you feel the same when other women are around you?" Henry asked.
"No, I still feel uncomfortable but..." Jason began and paused recalling how he felt around Dr Andesh when she exhibited signs of fear.
Henry patiently waited for Jason to say what he wanted to say.
"The female doctor, I was chatting with her," Jason narrated lifting his gaze to look at Henry. "She got scared and I was no longer uncomfortable like I was when I entered her house," he said.
"Think about it, do you think Julia is scared of you all the time?" Henry asked.
Jason tried to recall his moments with Julia and realised it was not all the time she was scared. During the period of his scandal, Julia was worried. She was worried about him.
"She was worried about me. How did I miss that?" Jason replied.
"Mr Haward, your feelings towards this girl are different. Why did you let her go?" Henry asked.
"I wanted her to be free. I didn't want her to be scared of me to make me feel better. I ..I... don't like it when she is in pain," Jason said getting up from the sofa and walking towards the window
"Jason, you just said it now. You care about her. You love her. That is love," Henry pointed out also getting up from the sofa and walking towards Jason.
Henry stopped just a couple of distances away from Jason staring at his back. Jason turned to look at Henry.
"Is that what love is?" Jason asked.
"Yes Jason, that is love," replied Henry.
Just then Jason's phone rang interrupting their conversation. Jason looked at the caller ID and it was Mary. He quickly answered knowing it had everything to do with Julia. He was now feeling sorry for sending her away the way he did.
"Hello, Ms Bayford," Jason said and Henry took a couple of steps back giving him some privacy.
"Sir, Ms Julia is still not home. It's unlike her to stay out this late," Mary reported sounding very worried.
Jason looked at his watch and it was past 10 p.m. He also knew Julia would not stay out that late. It only means one thing, something has happened to her. Jason started feeling guilty all of a sudden. He started blaming himself.
"Sir, are you there?" asked Mary who was waiting on Jason for instructions.
"I will call you," Jason said.
"What happened?" Henry asked seeing the change of mood in Jason.
"Something happened to Julia," Jason said with traces of pain in his voice.
"Jason, this is no time to blame yourself. Let's go look for her," Henry said to Jason and he nodded calling Peter.
The phone rang twice but it was not answered. Jason stopped calling and turned to Henry.
"Did you drive here?" Jason asked.
"Yes," Henry replied.
"Please help me find Julia," Jason requested and Henry smiled.
"Sure," replied Henry and they both exited the office using the elevator to the ground floor.
"Do you have any idea where she could be?" asked Henry the moment they both sat inside the car.
Jason gave Henry's question a thought and realize Julia doesn't have friends and aside from work, home and the grocery stores she practically doesn't go anywhere. Well once in a while she visits the church but she has left his office upset. Obviously, she wandered off feeling hurt.
"Let's drive down the streets, she might just be walking down the street with no destination," Jason said.
"Okay," Henry acknowledged and started the engine but upon driving out of the compound they were now confused about which direction of the road they should take, left or right.
"Let's go left first," Jason suggested not realizing it was the same turn Julia had made when she exited the Hotel compound.
They drove to the end of the street but Julia was nowhere to be found. Jason pulled something that looked like a phone from his jacket and turned it on. Henry looked at him briefly and turned his focus back to the road. Jason looked at the screen and the device gave off a location.
"Let's go to this location," Jason said to Henry placing the device in a holder so Henry could see it while driving.
"You placed a tracking device on your wife?" Henry asked.
"I like to protect everything that is mine," Jason replied without giving his statement much thought.
Henry smiled at his response driving towards the destination the tracker was giving to them.
Meanwhile, back at the Southwest Ranches City, 6th floor, Mrs Haward was behind Mirenda's door knocking.
"Come in," replied Mirenda and Mrs Haward entered making Mirenda frown.
"Finally you decided to come home," Mrs Haward began.
"What do you want mum?" Mirenda asked.
"I came to apologize for the other time," Mrs Haward said and Mirenda who was sitting on her bed turned to look at her standing a couple of distances away from the door. "Look, I was having a bad time and you came with your questions. I lost it," she continued.
"Really. You came to the hospital and just when I thought you cared, I heard you scolding the guard for making you come to the hospital," Mirenda said furiously.
"Mirenda darling, you got it wrong. I was not scolding him for making me come to the hospital but I was scolding him for scaring me. I thought I had lost you," Mrs Haward explained sounding honest.
"So you came to the hospital because you thought you had lost me and decided to leave when you saw that I was fine," Mirenda said. "So you will only care when you lose me right?" she asked.
"O dear, what kind of a twisted mind does this girl have in her head," Mrs Haward thought silently staring at Mirenda who appeared to be hurt by her words.
"Okay, fine. You are right, I don't care about you. I don't even like you because you are a constant reminder of my one-night stand with an ugly, poor-drinking rat. And you know what, it was because of you, that my husband decided to kick us out of his house. You had to fall sick and you couldn't choose fever, or any disease that requires just medication for treatment. You had to choose the one that required multiple blood tests to identify what is wrong with you and some idiot, ran a DNA test on you," Mrs Haward yelled at Mirenda.
Mirenda's eyes were quickly filled with tears hearing her mother's hurtful words but she put up a strong front not showing any sign of being hurt by her words even though her eyes were now sparkling indicating tears in them.
"Yes, I am doing bad things to Jason and Julia so you will continue to have a roof over your head. The least you can do is be grateful rather than criticize me," Mrs Haward yelled at her exiting the room and slamming the door behind her.
Mirenda broke down immediately she left unable to hold her tears back. She grabbed her travelling bag and started putting her clothes into them. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand as she moved up and down the room collecting her stuff with a decision to leave the house.
"How did it go?" asked James seeing his mother coming out of Mirenda's room looking annoyed.
"Not as we planned but I can assure you she won't be a bother again?" Mrs Haward said as she walked towards the living room.
James thought of her statement for a while and walked towards Mirenda's door. He placed his ears to the door and he could hear sobbing. He wondered what his mother did so he opened the door to see for himself what was happening. He found Mirenda packing her clothes and it looked like she was leaving the apartment.
"Wait you are not going back?" James asked looking at Mirenda's emptied wardrobe and cleared dressing table.
"James, I give mummy nothing but pain. I am the bad omen of this family so it's best I leave," Mirenda said and zipped her travelling bag.
'Wait, What!" James reacted with a frown.
"I wish you and Mum the best of luck in your evil plans," Mirenda said and dragged her bag out of the room.
James was still standing in her room trying to understand what she meant. Mirenda pulled her back towards the exit and saw her mother sitting on the sofa reading a magazine. She paused briefly and looked at her.
"Thank you, Mum, for giving birth to me and having the heart to raise me even though you hated me. I appreciate your kind gesture. I think it's time I stop giving you pain. I am leaving your life. You wouldn't have to deal with me or see my face anymore," Mirenda said and pulled her bag towards the door and left the room.
Mrs Haward sat in silence after hearing Mirenda's words and felt a bit of pain in her heart. She hated the man that got her pregnant and her problem with Mirenda is her presence constantly reminded her of that awful night. She shut her eyes briefly and brushed it off.