Chapter 37

“Some pancakes for you, ma'am,” He retrieved the plate from his back and I could swear that it was hot hence his wincing when he came in.

I heaved a sigh of relief and smiled at him.

He went straight to the side table and gently shifted the flower bouquet and then slowly kept it.

He came over to the bed and sat beside me. He cupped my hands in his and stared at me with affection in his eyes.

“How are you feeling this morning?”

“Uhmmm. Not bad. I feel a lot better than yesterday.”

“Good. The doctor said you will be on your feet in no time,” he adjusted himself and bent forward to bring the saucer filled with pancakes that he came into the room with.

“You would like some, won't you?” He asked while making a familiar face that got me laughing.

I once asked him to make me some pancakes before and after he did so, I devoured it without thinking about whether he would eat or not.

When I was filling my mouth with the last piece that was I caught him staring hard at me, a smirk on his face. I was flustered and didn't know when I blurted out almost ashamed.

“You would like some, won't you?”

He burst out with laughter immediately and laughed like one that inhaled grade 9 laughing gas. I watched his mouth move in one direction, his hands on the kitchen island, the apron still on his body and his chest heaving up and down as he laughed.

When I asked him later on why he had to laugh so much at such an innocent question that he didn't even answer, he said it was how my face was almost drooling off my body like a 2-year-old child who was denied his most prized possession and about to cry soon.

I didn't know why I found it funny but, I laughed alongside him because his description was funny and whether it was really how my face was or not, it didn't really matter now.

“It doesn't matter!” He said to console me. And it really didn't.

Remembering that made me laugh and he understood!

“Yes. I would,”

Right there, he fed me as much as I could eat and was careful not to stuff me with too many pancakes since I wasn't strong.

When he was done, he cleaned my mouth, went in and brought a glass of water and gently helped the water to trickle down my throat.

***************

Mum would always make pancakes on Sunday evening and she would make me sit down in the kitchen island to watch her mix the flour, sugar, milk and roll the dough and then, she would flatten it out before finally setting it for frying in the fry pan or in the oven if she didn't want to fry it.

She would always give me the first pancake to have a taste. Relishing the taste was one thing I did and somehow, my taste buds wanted to savor my mum's pancakes.

I hadn't told Damien this story so he is yet to understand my affinity with pancakes and why I would stuff them in my mouth so hurriedly as if they were on the run. But, he always made me some.

A gentle rap on the door jerked me off my litany of thoughts and my eyes went straight to the door as the person

The maid came in and walked over to my side table and dropped a brown envelope that housed the parcel as usual.

When she left and closed the door behind her. I emptied the contents in my lap and was eager to see another shocking information. Instead, I saw a written note that reads;

“Get well soon! There's a lot for you to do.”

Shit!

He knows that I have been sick and why did he make so much effort just to deliver the brown envelope.

Who is this anonymous being and is he stalking and monitoring me?

Who is he? Does he live in this mansion too? Where is he getting all his information from?

Fuck!

Damien came in and sat on the bed and immediately his eyes perched on the envelope and the piece of paper in my hands.

I explained my fears to him and while he took it lightly, I told him about the dream and that was when he got all serious.

What if this anonymous being is my stepmother or someone working for her and she is entrapping me?

What if this is a setup and I am already falling for it unknowingly? Seeing my face and how bad I looked, Damien smiled to light me up.

“So, what would you do now? What should we do?

For the first time in my quest for vengeance, I was clueless about my next action and what I would do to uncover the anonymous being.

**************

By evening, I was back to my old self and done with the drip and the cannula removed from my hand.

I quickly made to go to my room but, was rushed by Damien.

“Easy tiger! Not so fast. Wouldn't you like to stay a few times with me at least?”

He was facing me and so much closer to me that our faces almost met. He stared at me so hungrily that I began to think how good his lips would taste in my mouth. He knew the effect of it and he looked more at me.

He slipped his hands around my waist and brought me closer to him. I get helpless as I keep staring at him He then encircled his hands around me in a tight hug.

It felt like home and I relaxed.

Just as we got carried away, someone knocked at the door but, Damien pulled me closer and didn't say anything to whoever it was that was knocking.

It felt like when Dad would carry me up so high when I was just 8 that he would catch me. I trusted him to and he always did it effortlessly. Once I landed in his hands, it always felt like home, not until the appearance of my stepmother and Audrey.