Amanda stepped back in a sequence. Nelly waited to know from Amanda who it was at the door but she didn’t hear anything from her. Neuer proceeded with an equal amount of steps as Amanda took backwards.
“Is Nelly in?”
Nelly recognized the voice. She would even recognize it even if she’s just awoken from sleep.
“Neuer?”
Neuer got the answer to his question. Nelly’s voice was all proof he needed to know that she was at home.
He stepped into the house fully and as he geared his eyes towards Nelly’s direction, their eyes met and they stared soberly at each other.
“Do you guys need some privacy? I’ll be more than happy to let you have that.”
Was Amanda trying to be sarcastic in this situation? Nelly would sort that out with her later. First, she needed to sort things out with Neuer first.
“Hello!” Amanda was still waiting for a response from either of them. A minute and then two, but they were still standing fixed, staring at each other without breathing a word and hardly blinking their eyes.
“If you guys don’t want to say anything to me then I’ll just have to leave you two this way till maybe you get tired and decide to either sit down or leave each other’s asses alone!”
Amanda was upset a bit, they could feel it in her tone. She didn’t understand why Nelly, who was looking for a way to speak to Neuer, was now silent when he was standing in front of her. More still, she could not understand why Neuer should drive all the way to Nelly’s home just to engage in a staring match with her.
“Clowns!” Amanda said discreetly to the audience of herself only.
Nelly broke the jinx of silence:
“What are you doing here?”
“Are you really asking me that now, Nelly? I thought you would be excited to see me around but it’s evident that I was far from correct.”
“How dare you insinuate? When have I ever not wanted you around me?”
Neuer stepped forward, much closer to Nelly now and he placed his hands on her shoulder –
“I do not believe whatever that mail said concerning you, Nelly.”
“You don’t?”
“You’re not that way, I know you well enough to say this with confidence.”
If Neuer didn’t believe any of it then why did he react the way he did? Of course, Nelly made sure to ask him that.
“I was just upset that you didn’t let me know from the onset. I was furious that you kept it from me and you still wouldn’t have let me know about it if I didn’t find out through the mail I received.”
Nelly apologized to Neuer even though he told her that there was no need for it.
After everyone was calm and had spoken out what they truly had in mind, Neuer said to Nelly –
“This isn’t why I’m here, Nelly.”
Nelly was surprised. “You didn’t come to patch things with me?”
Neuer nodded in affirmation.
“Then why did you come, then?”
“I came to tell you something, something that can change almost everything.”
Nelly became even more confused. She had no idea what Neuer was talking about and whenever she tried to get him to clear her, he said something more complicated.
“Are you going to break up with me and leave me for good? Please babe, I’m sorry for hiding the truth from you. It’ll never happen again.”
Neuer laughed hard as he his eyes shone bright with excitement –
“You’ve just been handed the lead role for our new project in Dortmund!”
“What! Really?” Nelly could not contain the excitement and happiness that arose within her. She hopped on Neuer and hugged him so tightly –
“I’d never have gotten this opportunity if it wasn’t for you and your sister who gave me the chance to prove myself.”
“No, Nelly, you would have. Sooner or later, your talent would have paved the way for you, I’m so certain of that.”
Neuer’s response made Nelly love him even more. He told her that Sandra was even happier than she herself was. She could not wait to see Nelly turn into a superstar.
“How about my past?” Nelly asked Neuer when she was done embracing him. “Do you think I should tell your sister all about it?”
Neuer took a pause to reason. He continued, “I don’t think it’s going to matter to her but we can tell her in Dortmund.”
“We?”
Yes, Neuer was going to be Nelly’s manager and they’d go together to Dortmund. When Nelly found out about this, she was so happy, even more than she earlier was.
“Amanda! Amanda!” She wanted to let her best friend know about the abrupt change in her life.
Mr. Stratford assembled all his office staff and shareholders together in the conference room. They knew very well that he was aging and he needed to hand over to someone to continue from where he stopped.
“That’s the reason I’ve assembled you all here today, to witness the transition of power from me to my progeny.”
The atmosphere was littered with incomprehensible utterances. What was the reason that caused almost everyone in the room to murmur amongst themselves?
They knew Mr. Stratford to have only one heir and that was Nelly Stratford. Unless he was saying Nelly was back to the states, they saw no sense when he said “my progeny.”
Mr. Stratford understood where the confusion was coming from. He didn’t want to blame them but at least they should have waited for him to finish before starting all that side talk in his presence, he thought.
“I have another child other than Nelly and his name is Ethan – Ethan Stratford!” As Mr. Stratford declared, Ethan walked into the conference room and surprise filled the entire room.
After the handing over was officially done and Ethan appointed as the new CEO, the gathering was done.
Ethan rushed into the restroom with the excuse of being pressed:
“We can begin now!” He whispered to someone over the phone.