Susan took Rina to the room she would be sleeping in on the second floor and smiled warmly at her as she got settled in. The bed bounced and rocked Rina’s bottom as she settled into it and it made her sigh with relief. She was going to take the day as a much-needed vacation away from her life. It had been a while since she had last slept anywhere other than her cottage.
She remembered the first two years of her marriage with Finn, and how they used to have bi-monthly vacations anywhere in the world, as long as they both were interested in it. They’d even gone to Africa to explore the rich lands and culture, and Rina had felt her life couldn’t go any better.
Finn adored her to bits, or at least, he pretended to. He was attentive to the smallest detail about her, and always tried to make life easier for them both. But after the end of the second year, Finn became different. Although it wasn’t exactly in Rina’s face, it was there, in the little things she didn’t pay attention to, like when he would go on business trips that spanned weeks, and then reappear with a smile on his face and no traveling bag.
Or that time when he’d told Rina he was only going for a quick dash to the supermarket to get a keg of milk but had ended up spending the whole day out, returning without the milk, and no excuse about why he hadn’t gotten home earlier. But Rina trusted him. She’d cooked up excuses for him in her head, that he ran into a business partner or a friend on the way and they’d ended up in a conversation that lasted hours, and by the time he’d realized it, it must have been too late to make the trip to the supermarket.
And that he hadn’t told her because he didn’t know how she was going to take it. So instead, Rina tried to show him that she was the down to earth and very approachable wife, that she didn’t care where he’d been as long as he had a rational reason for it. And the rational reasons came, along with all the care and pampering in the world that Rina thought it was a great thing she’d decided to go about it her way rather than take it out on him.
Now that she thought about it, that must have been the point of her mistake. She should have demanded to know where he was coming from after all those weeks without evidence that he’d even left the country, and where he’d really gone when he ran out each time to get milk.
Rina sighed, and Susan caught it immediately. “Bad day?” the woman asked, gently sitting beside Rina.
“No,” Rina sighed again. “I just remembered something I’d rather not think about.” She flashed a wide grin at her. “So, Zayn seems to adore you. Has he always been that way? I could have sworn that he was cocky and pompous to everyone he met.”
“He is cocky and pompous to everyone he meets,” Susan asserted. “Not to mention arrogant and broody. But all of those things make up who he is, the persona that he had worked so hard to build as a face he shows the whole world. But deep down, he is just Zayn Graham, the boy I met many years ago, scarred of nothing, yet wanting and needing to be held and loved.”
“How did he become this close to you and Williams?”
Susan shrugged. “All the other nannies that had taken care of him and Nathaniel ended up leaving because of their troubles. But when I came along, I let them know that I wasn’t going to leave or give up on them like all the others, and I kept my promise. After the first six months, which was the benchmark for all the others, Zayn started opening up slowly when he saw that I was really keeping my promise. And William used to have a problem with the kids in the area bullying him. When Zayn noticed, he fought for my boy, and since then, they have become inseparable. But my problem was Nathaniel. Have you met him before?”
“No,” Rina answered. “I’m not sure I’m ready to meet anyone from the family.”
“But you’re going to get married to him, aren’t you?” Susan geared softly. “They are really nice people, of course, apart from Nathaniel who would try to get you so angry. He’s in some kind of competition with his brother and I never understand why he never gives up seeing that Zayn isn’t even interested in fighting him in the first place.”
“But there’s still a lot of…”
“I’ve seen the way Zayn looks at you,” Susan continued, her eyes shining brightly. “And I can tell you that in my twenty-seven years of looking after Zayn since he was four, he has never had that eye for any other woman. When he was in high school, a lot of girls used to flank around him, asking for his attention and time. But Zayn hated it. I never thought I would see the day he would get married.”
It was all too much for Rina, and she felt she needed some air. Susan was a really kind woman and although, Rina understood that, she still felt that she wasn’t seeing things the way they were. It was either that, or the fact that Zayn was a really good actor, and he put it on anywhere he found himself. It proves that they would never have issues showing their fake love for each other each time they found themselves in a public place after the wedding.
Wedding.
Rina was unsure whether the thought of that scared or excited her.
“I’m just going to let you rest now,” Susan murmured, rising from the bed. “When you get up, lunch should be waiting for you. Zayn asked that you should be made really comfortable and I like you, so I’m going to do all I can to ensure you enjoy your stay here.”
“Are you the only housekeeper here?”
“I’m the only one that knows about this villa. Me and William. And now, you.”