213

213
"Is everything alright? Did you see anything wrong? Someone you don't know?" Gordon queried as I dropped the curtains.

"No, it was just Henson. He caught me eavesdropping on his conversation. I think I made him mad," I replied as I sat on the bed, eyeing the window like he was going to crawl up it.

"Did you hear what he said?"

"Um... a little bit. It seems like he was working for someone, and they were trying to force him to take another job. Someone rich—"

Bang, bang, bang.

"Open up," Henson yelled from the other side of my door, and I jumped off the bed.

"He's outside my door," I whispered as my heart raced. "What am I going to do?"

Bang bang.

"Iris! I know you're in there! Open up! We need to talk!"

"Don't open the door," Gordon commanded.

"But... but if I don't answer, won't he suspect I heard something?" I squeaked, flinching at the banging, and my hands trembled.

I shouldn't be scared. It didn't make sense why I was. Eavesdropping was bad, but it wasn't something an apology from me and a disgusted look from him couldn't fix. But yet...

Bang bang.

I covered my ears and stumbled backward.

Why was he so aggressive?

"Come—"

"What the hell are you doing?" August yelled, and I let out a deep shaky breath.

"August is here now. I think it's safe," I whispered.

"Good. Let him handle it." Gordon said, and I flinched at the loud voices of August and Henson.

"But if I don't, it will make me seem guilty of what he thinks I did. I have to clear the air." I said, already walking to the door.

"But—"

"Don't worry, August will protect me; and I won't end the call so you can hear our conversation." I assured him and threw open it.

They stopped arguing and turned to me. August's eyes held worry while Henson glowered at me.

"Um... is—"

"Did you hear my conversation?" He growled.

"Um... what conversation?" I blinked, tilting my head to the side.

"My phone call. Did you hear anything? Don—"

"You were harassing her because of a damn call?" August barked.

"She was eavesdropping on a personal matter."

"I promise that I didn't hear anything. I was on my own call too," I said, showing him my phone.

"Then why did you run away when I saw you?" He growled.

"Um... it's um... because I saw you smoking. You know Jeffrey has a no-smoking rule in the house because of me and Blair, so I was afraid you'd be mad that I caught you because you'd think I'd report you to August or Jeffrey." I blurted, avoiding his harsh gaze.

"I thought we warned you about smoking? You know that shit isn't good for pregnant women!" August snapped.

"I wasn't in the damn house. I was outside," Henson argued.

"Yet you were close enough to her window that you thought she was eavesdropping. We can't be trying to protect her and her child yet loading their system with narcotics."

"It was one cigarette. What's the harm? Besides, we'll be out of this shit hole by tomorrow or next. There's no amount of cigarettes I will smoke in forty-eight hours that will hurt her and her child."

"What's going on?" Leah asked, poking her head out of her room, and frowned at us. "Why are you guys yelling so late in the night? Don't you know people are sleeping?"

"It's nothing. We're sorry for the noise. I was just trying to correct Henson. You can go to bed," he said to her.

"It's my fault, Leah. I caused the misunderstanding. Sorry for waking you up," I apologised, rubbing my arm, and her face softened.

"I understand. Go to bed too. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow," she said.

"I will immediately when we're done here," I assured her, and she shut her door.

"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, guys. It's my fault for acting skittish. I've been really nervous because of tomorrow," I apologised to August and Henson.

"It's alright. I would feel the same if I were you. You can go to bed now. Henson and I will finish our conversation somewhere other than your." August smiled at me, patting my shoulder.

"Can't you let him go? We've already cleared the misunderstanding. I don't want him to be scold—"

"Go into your room and save your damn pretentious sympathy for someone who cares," Henson grunted.

"But—ah!" I gasped as he shoved me into the room and slammed the door shut.

"Do you want to hurt her?" August hissed, and I pressed my ear to the door.

Sure, it was eavesdropping that got me into this, but the worst had happened.

"She'll be fine. Now go on with your scolding so I'll be done with this shit."

"You're coming with me."

I pressed my ear closer to the door, and my lips curved to a frown.

Why did they have to leave?

"Are you there? Iris?" Gordon called out to me from my phone, and I quickly pressed it against my ear.

"Sorry. August let me return to my room, so I was trying to listen to the rest of their conversation."

"Has that Henson guy always been an asshole to you?" He frowned.

"Eh... more or less. I think he has a thing against rich people, so he hates when Blair and I even breathe." I shrugged as I stretched on my bed. "But we have never had a reason to talk. He just gives me dirty looks from across the room and walks out when I walk in. I was sure I'd leave here without having a single problem with him until a few minutes ago."

"You should have told me from the start. I'll tell Jeffrey to kick his ass out of the house tomorrow morning."

"And risk messing up everything? No way. Tomorrow is way too important to suddenly kick someone off the team. It might ruin the plan, and we can't risk any slip-ups now that we're so close to the end. I can survive another twenty-four hours with him."

"Fine, but I'll tell August to keep a very close eye on him," he sighed. "So how are you feeling about tomorrow?"

"I don't know... Tensed? Relieved? Afraid? Months and years of hard work are finally coming to an end, and there are so many emotions in me that I don't know which is which." I confessed as I stared up at the ceiling.

"I understand. But one thing I'm sure of is that I missed you so dearly. I fear I'll have run mad before you return."

"Says the man that wants to ship me to another country for my ‘protection’," I joked, but my stomach churned.

This was probably the worst time to say this, but it had been eating me alive. Especially since I had boasted to Blair that Gordon and I were going to start a family.

"Being alone has given me enough time to ponder on that thought for long, and I wondered... Will you let me be selfish for once?"