Chapter 51 Do you care now?
Throughout the night, Arthur could hardly sleep. He couldn’t get his mind off what he heard over the phone when he was talking to Anita.
He knew deep down something was wrong, but he couldn’t say what. ‘But, I am going to find out.’ He said to himself.
‘Though I have no thoughts of letting her walk into my life again, she’s a person and I can’t help but worry about her. What if her life is in danger?’
He put on his shoes, picked his briefcase and walked out of his room. Getting to the living room, he met the boys on their way out too with Theo. They were ready for school.
“Daddy! Good morning.” They all greeted, running towards him to embrace him.
“Good morning, boys. How are you this morning?” Arthur asked with a wide smile, noticing how happy the boys were.
“Great! Mummy is coming to visit us at school today. You should come with us.” Ryan uttered, and his brothers nodded in agreement.
“Really?” Arthur asked, raising his eyebrows and they bobbed again.
“Yes! We talked on our phone last night and she promised to show up. Please come with us!” Rowan added excitedly.
Arthur heaved a sigh and nodded, “Fine. I’ll come with you, but I won’t stay long, okay? I have to get to the office as soon as possible.”
“Okay!” The boys chorused again.
Arthur stood up and looked at Theo who held their lunch boxes. “Thank you, Theo. I’ll take it from here.”
He collected the lunch boxes from him and they headed out of the house.
Driving down to the boys school, he continually kept checking his phone, hoping to see Anita’s call. But he saw nothing.
They got to the school shortly and the boys made their way into the school, running and giggling in front while Arthur walked upright behind them, holding onto their lunch boxes.
As they walked down the hallway that led to their classroom, they saw Aurora, standing in front of their classroom.
“Mummy!” The boys cheered, calling the attention of other students and teachers in the hallway.
“Babies!” Aurora answered, falling on her knees and opening her arms as she prepared to embrace them.
They all ran into her arms and she embraced them tightly, breathing in hard.
“I missed you so much, babies.” She muttered, shutting her eyes tightly as seeing them again brought tears to her eyes.
“We missed you too.” They answered, taking turns to accept the kisses Aurora was showering them.
“Let’s drop your bags in your classroom, okay?” Aurora said to them as she began to remove their backpacks so she could put them in their classroom.
They followed her into the busy classroom where some students were also with their parents.
“Daddy followed us to school today. We told him you’ll be coming to see us. So he came along.” Rowan uttered, holding onto Aurora again.
“Really?” Aurora raised her head and looked at the door. There stood Arthur, staring at her with a plain smile.
“Hi.” Aurora uttered with a hearty smile.
“Hi. How are you?” He asked, walking into the classroom.
“I’m good. And you?”
“Great. Glad to see you.” He responded, and Aurora lowered her head shyly.
“Same here. I had to come and say Hi to the boys. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course, not. You’re their mother. Moreover, you promised them. I’m good with anything.” He answered with a smile, placing their lunch boxes next to their backpacks.
“Thank you,” Aurora answered.
Ryan and Riley started playing with their mates, showing them their assignments in fine arts, while Rowan just kept holding onto Aurora.
Arthur and Aurora remained silent, watching the boys as they didn’t know what to say to each other anymore.
Just then, Arthur’s phone began to vibrate in his pocket, he pulled out his phone to check who it was, and when he saw it was Anita, his eyes widened.
“Excuse me.” He said to Aurora, as he took long strides out of the classroom.
“Anita? Hey!” He said as soon as he answered the phone.
“Hey, baby. I’m standing in front of your office as we speak and you’re nowhere to be found. You’re pretty late today.”
“I’m not your baby, okay?”
“Fine. I wanted to give you more biscuits, but since you’re not in the mood, I’ll just leave…”
“No! No, don’t leave. I’m on my way, okay? Wait for me. You’ve always done that. Just wait right there, I’ll be with you shortly.” Arthur uttered, walking back to the entrance of the classroom.
“Okay baby. See you soon.” Anita answered with a chuckle and hung up afterward.
“Hey boys, I have to go now, okay? See you at night.” He waved at them and they did the same to him.
He looked at Aurora and let out a faint smile. “It was nice to see you. See you some other time.” He said to her, and she bobbed, letting out a grin.
“Of course. Have a nice day.”
“And you too.” Arthur answered on his way out. He found himself walking very fast towards his car. He couldn’t wait to see Anita and ask her what happened to her the previous night.
He got into the car and zoomed out of the school parking lot, hitting the road to his office.
Getting to the office after about thirty minutes, he looked at the chair next to his office and there was Anita, waiting for her.
Her head was lowered and her eyes were closed. She wore a red short dress and wrapped her neck with a white muffler. She wore a white Nike sneakers to match and a red bag.
“Anita.” Arthur called, causing her to open her eyes and raise her head to look in his direction.
“Arthur. You’re here.” She uttered, letting out a wide smile. She stood up and ran like a child towards him. “You kept me waiting for so long.” She sulked at him.
“I never told you to come, did I?” He asked, walking into his office and leaving the door open so she could go in.
“But you told me to wait.” She answered from behind him.
He walked past his desk and began to remove his suit. He hung it on his chair before proceeding to sit.
“Here, I brought your suit. Now you won’t have an excuse to call me.” She teased, pulling out the neatly folded suit in her big bag.
She stretched it across the table to him and when he reached to collect it, he noticed the muffler around her neck.
“Why do you have a muller around your neck? Are you cold?” He asked, reaching for it, but Anita hastily moved away, her eyes widened in terror.
“I’m not cold. I… I need it to compliment my look.” She answered, moving away from his desk.
Arthur narrowed his gaze at her, watching her body language. He knew she wasn’t herself, but he didn’t want to push it.
“Fine. Can I have the biscuits now?” He asked, stretching out his hand.
“You ate the last one?” She asked excitedly, reaching for the plate of biscuits in her bag.
“And what would you do if I said I did?”
“I’ll be the happiest person on earth.” She answered, looking into Arthur’s eyes.
He heaved a sigh and nodded. “Yes, I did. And I really enjoyed it.” He told her.
“You did?!” She asked happily. He nodded as she placed the plate in his hand.
He opened it and took a piece of the biscuit, before taking a bite, he looked at her.
“Take one too.”
“You still don’t trust me, do you?” She rolled her eyes, taking one piece.
“I just don’t like eating alone.” He responded, looking at her as they both moved the biscuits to their lips.
Arthur couldn’t take his eyes off the muffler on her neck. ‘What could she be hiding?’ He wondered as they both munched on the biscuits.
“A man visited my office yesterday when I was preparing to leave, and he warned me to stay away from you. I asked for his name but he ignored it and even threatened me.” Arthur uttered, staring at her face.
He watched the smile on her face wash off, and he saw fear glitter in her eyes.
“He wore all black and looked pretty dangerous. Who is he, Anita?” He asked, and she hastily shook her head, throwing her face to the other side.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She mumbled, her heart thumping against her chest.
Arthur let out a frustrated sigh and stood up from his chair. He walked to the front of his desk where she sat and pulled the second chair closer to her.
“Listen to me, Anita. I know something is wrong and I hate that you are keeping it from me. Please talk to me.” He uttered with worry, staring at her face.
“So you care about me now?” She asked, still keeping her face turned away from him.
“I’ve never not cared about you. Please let me know what’s going on. As much as I hate it, I’m now involved.”
Anita went mute for a minute, shutting her eyes as she pulled the muffler off her neck.
Arthur’s eyes popped wide open as he saw a large dark mark around her neck like that of a hand. It was like she was strangled very hard. There were also bite marks down to her right shoulder.
“Oh God, Anita. Did he do this to you?” He asked, slowly stretching his hand to her neck so he could touch the wound, but Anita flinched and moved back, tears rolling down her eyes uncontrollably.
“I… I have to go.” She muttered as she sprang to her feet, grabbed her bag and ran out of the office.
“Anita!”