CHAPTER 58: I WILL DO WHAT I WANT.
Richard strolled into the mansion from the backyard with his phone in his hand. As usual, he was busy pressing the hell out of it. It was already getting late in the evening but he seemed to be in a very good mood as he kept scrolling past different posts on the internet related to his hobby.
When he arrived at the sitting room, he met Elizabeth seated with her legs crossed and her palm under her chin. When he saw the way she was looking at her, he concluded that he might have gotten into another trouble for the day so he pressed the button beside his phone before putting it into his pocket. He sat down thereafter and locked eyes with his mother.
Richard took a lot more of his mother’s appearance than his father but the masculinity was probably from the lineage of the father.
The house was silent but that did not mean that there was no one at home. It was only the men that were not always at home but the women and the rest of the kids who were still attending school were left to occupy the mansion.
The family’s main business was oil and gas but the two sons of Madam Gulf were allowed to venture into anything else other than that and was related to business.
“What mistakes have I perhaps made this time around?” He asked with a tired tone. Elizabeth puts down her leg and adjusted her sitting.
“Richard, why do you keep doing this just to hurt me? Are you not tired of being disobedient just for once? When will you stop involving in something that can be injurious to you?” Elizabeth threw a lot of questions at him.
Richard scratched the tip of his ear and pulled a pretentious confused look.
“Mum, I don’t get what you are trying to say. If this is about my choice of career then drop it! I am not doing anything against my choice because it’s mine, not anyone else’s.” He waved the issue off with a tone of finality before standing up. Elizabeth was out of words, why was her son’s rebellious act multiplying?
Just as Richard was about to leave, Queen stepped out from another corner with a customized paper in her hand. She smiled at the both of them as she got closer.
“Richard dear, please hold on.” Queen quickly stopped Richard before he could take another step. The latter had the look of ‘what do you want from me?’ on his face when staring at her.
“Not to waste much of your time, I have heard and so did your Nephew, Eugene, about your sole interest in a car race. Unlike anyone else who wants to stop your dream, he wants to make them come to fulfillment so check this out. He said he was able to lay his hands on one of these in a meeting in case you are interested then the both of you can meet and talk.” Queen explained to him. Richard received the paper. It wasn’t just any paper, his eyes widened when he saw this. It was an invitation to an academy for car racing.
He looked at Queen gratefully and nodded.
“Thank you very much for making yourself this useful to me once.” He replied and left. Queen’s smile dried up when she heard this and she scrunched her face.
Elizabeth stood up anxiously and was full of suspicions.
“What do you think you are doing?” She asked Queen.
“Helping a son of mine to achieve his dream rather than put unnecessary pressure on him as his mother would,” Queen answered.
“You don’t know anything, Queen. Stay away from my son and don’t try teaching him your wicked vices.” Elizabeth snapped her fingers at her and left uncontentedly.
Queen smiled and shook her head, “What do you think you are doing, Eliz? Stop being obsessive. I have stopped playing this game of competition with you ever since.” She mumbled.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*
In the evening, Kira dropped her painting brush and sighed in relief at her artwork. This time around, it was a romance type as the characters were intimately holding each other with a few clothes hanging onto what could be considered their ‘flawless’ body.
She scratched her neck with the tip of her fingers and a tiny smile found its way up to her lips. It was easier for her to enjoy these paintings than to experience them. While still hooked to her thoughts, her phone rang. It was a call from her partner so she answered it.
“Hey, Kira. How are you doing? Have you been able to finish the work yet?”
“Yeah, I am done over here. What about you?” Kira asked as she started clearing up. She didn’t use too many paints so the whole room wasn’t messy.
“I have only been able to do half. I am feeling a little bit sick so…maybe tomorrow, you can come over?” Her partner asked and sneezed.
“Bless you. Let the dawn of tomorrow arrive first before I know what to do…”
Ding…Ding.
The doorbell interrupted Kira’s call.
“Give me a minute.” She shouted.
“Yeah, so I will call you tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Kira. Bye.”
Kira left the room to answer the door. She pulled it open after checking through. Richard was standing in front of her, holding a customized brown bag.
She went back in, leaving him at the door to sort himself out. Richard entered and shut the door, he took off his grey jacket and hung it before settling down on her couch. Kira leaned against the wall.
“Hey, I brought us some snacks to help with your work…” He stopped halfway when he saw that she wasn’t responding. Her gaze on him was that of conflict and this worried him, he stood up and walked towards her.
“Kira, are you alright?” He asked and held her hands but she pushed him away.
“Please, Richard.”
“What is wrong? Did I do something to offend you?” He asked her and tried moving closer to her again. Kira shifted to the other side.
“Look Richard, I think it’s high time you stopped coming here.” She told him with her eyes staring at her feet.
Richard was stunned and his head jerked forward. He blinked in disbelief and walked to stand in front of her.
“Am I allowed to know why?” He asked with a low growl. Kira rolled her eyes and pushed him away before entering her room. Richard followed suit.
“Don’t pretend as if you don’t know why Richard. We are both adults here.”
“Exactly, we are both adults so why are you getting worried? Are you perhaps falling in love with me?” Richard asked as he walked step by step slowly towards her while Kira did the opposite.
“Don’t you dare come close to me, stay away?” She warned. This was how it was always like in romance novels and movies, he was playing that trick on her. Richard didn’t listen till her was able to cage her within his arms.
“So I was right, you do feel that way.”
“Don’t be so proud of yourself, Richard. It’s nothing. Normally, I have a crush on you because you’re handsome but it’s meant to go away…”
“Exactly, you have a crush on me because I am handsome. I fell in love with you the first time I saw you. There is a difference but we can sort things out.”
“Excuse me? Did you just confess to me?” Kira asked with disbelief.
“Yeah, I wasn’t planning to do it this way but it’s better this way.”
“Can you even listen to yourself, Richard? Do you think that this is a joke?” Kira half yelled at him.
“No, it is not. You only consider something you don’t want to accept as a joke because you see it as a way of escape but I am not willing to escape, Kira. I am telling the truth and I am damn serious.” He said with a firm look.
Kira folded her lips and gazed into his eyes for a minute before shaking her head. She wanted to walk away from him but Richard grabbed her by the waist in a bid to stop her, Kira’s back hit his chest.
“Walking away won’t solve a single thing.”
“How sure are you that I feel the same way as you claim to feel?” She whispered and Richard leaned on her shoulder.
“Because when I hold your waist…” He said with his deep and low voice that made Kira’s ear tingle seeing as his mouth was beside it.
“You seem to have no problem with it. When I kiss your ear, you only want me to do it all over again, when I wrap my hands tightly around you, you feel warm, when…”
“Okay, just drop it. That is enough.” Kira interrupted him and turned around.
“What is it that you want me to do for you?”
“Give me a chance. I know that there are a few factors surrounding us but we can make it work, please.” Richard pleaded softly.
“What you are asking for is very huge, Richard. There aren’t just a few but many…”
“We can just be less concerned about them and focus on us.”
“But I don’t know you that well.”
“This is the time for you to learn more about me then. After a month, if you are not satisfied then we can end things so I propose intimate friendship.” He stretched his hand forward and Kira raised an eyebrow at the word intimate.
“Just read it as friendship but not an ordinary one.” Richard tried saying it in another way.
Kira looked into his eyes, for the first time in a while, her heart beat faster than before and she gulped. What if he was able to break down her walls? What was she even thinking? He had already broken half of it but it wouldn’t hurt to give this a trial, right?
“Fine then, it’s a deal.” She took his hand
“Thank you…babe.” Richard kissed her forehead and she hit him before picking up her towel.
“I am not having any snacks for tonight. I am really tired so we can eat them tomorrow. Let me take a shower.”
“Do you need me to join you?” Richard winked at her.
“Damn you!” She cussed and slammed the door shut while he laughed after catching a glimpse of her flustered look.
After a few minutes of minnie’s talks, the two of them climbed into Richard’s bed with her in his arms. Richard stopped talking when he heard her light snores, he hit his forehead lightly. She mentioned something about being tired earlier and here he was complicating the issue.
He kissed her cheeks and adjusted her sleeping position, “Goodnight, Kira.”