Chapter 8- The punishment

• The ringtone of the phone sounded loud in the quiet room, and Charles groaned in annoyance. It was Saturday, and he had no intention to wake up early. He pressed his ears with the pillow and kept sleeping, totally avoiding the phone call. He didn’t even check the caller. The phone stopped ringing after a while, only to ring again. Charles’s irritation piqued, and he thought about scolding the person. He reached out to take the phone from the side table and looked at the caller ID, only to see Aidan’s number.
• Charles’s eyes grew wide, and he sat upon the bed frantically. He didn’t have time to think of anything and answered the call, “Hello.”
• “Someone is hospitalized because of you, and you are sleeping peacefully! Come to the Lifecare hospital right now.”
• The moment he answered the call, he heard Aidan’s roar from the other end of the phone. Before he could respond, the call disconnected. He pulled out the phone from his ear and looked down at the screen, dumbfounded. Who was hospitalized? This was the first question that surfaced in his mind. Judging by the furious tone of Aidan, Charles was certain something very bad was about to happen to him.
• He jumped out of the bed and rushed to the washroom. After washing up quickly, he stepped out of the bathroom and changed into grey trousers and a black shirt. Grabbing the car key and the wallet, he rushed out of the apartment.
• Half an hour later, Charles was standing inside the executive ward, hanging down his head. Aidan was daggering his cold glare at him, sitting on the sofa like a king. Abigail’s timid gaze wandered between Charles and Aidan. She was feeling sad, thinking that because of her willful wish, she implicated Charles. She wanted to tell Aidan not to scold him, but she was afraid to see his sullen face and couldn’t summon her courage to open her mouth.
• The ward was awfully quiet. After a long time, Aidan finally broke the silence, “Why didn’t you stop her from going to that restaurant and eating that unhygienic food? I told you to look after her. Is that how you take care of her?”
• “Aidan... it’s my fault. He was telling me to not…”
• “Keep your mouth shut.” Aidan snapped before she could finish speaking and glared at her. “I am talking to him, right? Don’t interrupt me while I speak.”
• Abigail felt wronged to hear his infuriated tone. He actually scolded her in front of someone else and didn’t give her a face. She looked at him with disbelief. She felt humiliated. Tears began to collect inside her eyes. But Aidan didn’t bother at all. His eyes moved to Charles and stated fiercely, “Since you failed to take care of her properly, you will be punished. And your punishment is that you will not receive this month’s salary.”
• “What…” Charles lifted his head and looked at him, completely stunned.
• “Aidan…” Abigail was also shocked. It was indeed her fault, but Charles got the punishment. She really felt bad. But Aidan didn’t allow them to speak. “Now get out of my sight,” He roared.
• Charles was enraged, but he could say nothing. He only clenched and unclenched his jaws to suppress the brewing anger inside him. Glancing at her coldly, he stormed out of the ward.
• Abigail stared at his retreating back helplessly and then looked back at Aidan. She said, “You are too much. Why did you cut his salary? I have told you it was my fault, then why did you punish him?” She couldn’t control herself anymore and lashed out her frustration.
• “Don’t think that you will escape from punishment. Your punishment is that you can’t contact me for the entire week. During this time, you atone your mistake and try not to repeat it. Is that clear?”
• Astounded, Abigail just stared at him blankly and forgot to respond. She never saw this shrewd side of Aidan. Her heart trembled to see the cold glare of him.
• “You didn’t answer me.” His cold, emotionless voice snatched her out of her trance. She nodded and said in a shaky voice, “I understand.”
• “Good.”
• Then he got up from the sofa and walked up to her. Abigail was looking at him skeptically. She wondered what else he was going to tell her. She saw him sitting on the edge of the sickbed beside her. He reached out to touch her head, and said gently, “Sorry… I shouldn’t shout at you.” He caressed her cheek and added, “I got scared when I heard that you are hospitalized.” The coldness in his gaze was gone by now, and it was replaced by concern. “Baby, you know how much I love you. I could never forgive myself if something serious happened to you.” He cupped her face and continued saying, rubbing her cheeks with his thumbs, “Promise me you will never do anything like this.”
• Abigail was utterly shocked to see the quick change of his appearance. She simply nodded in trance. He pulled her into his embrace and said again, “It is going to be hard for me to stay away from you, my love. You may think that I punished you, but in the reality, this punishment is for me as well for not being able to accompany you. Abi, will you forgive me?”
• “Aidan, please, don’t apologize to me. I was wrong, and I should apologize.”
• He released her from his embrace and patted her head, saying, “Alright. Don’t say anything. You are still weak. Rest for a while. I will go and check with the doctor.”
• She nodded, and he smiled. Then he walked out of the ward while Abigail laid on the sickbed.
• On the other end, Charles came back to his apartment and threw down his phone and wallet on the bed angrily. Then he sat on the bed dejectedly, clasping the edge of the mattress and rocking back and forth. He was so angry that his face turned red. After a while, he looked up at his mother’s smiling photo, hanging on the opposite wall, and started saying word by word, “That crazy woman… because of her, the boss had cut my entire month’s salary. I told her to not eat there, but no… she didn’t listen to me. She is such a stubborn and arrogant woman that she would do whatever she likes. She would never listen to anyone. She buys things crazily, runs around without caring for anything, and eats like a pig. You know, Mom, I hate her. I really hate her. I don’t want to see her face, but my boss has assigned me to accompany her. Sometimes I really think to resign from this job. My life was going smoothly and happily, but ever since I met her, my bad luck started following me like a shadow. I don’t know what else I have to face more…”
• He kept on complaining against Abigail to his mother. Sometimes his voice became louder, and sometimes low. Sometimes he rolled his eyes, swinging his hands up in the air, and sometimes sighed in dismay. This continued for half an hour. Then he suddenly stopped talking and stared at his mother’s photograph, his expression perplexed. After a span of silence, he said, “Wait...what am I doing? Why am I speaking about her? I shouldn’t think about her.” As he said, he stood up and went to the washroom.
• ………
• After staying for two days at the hospital, Abigail recovered completely and came back home. But Robert Mills and Aidan strictly forbade her to go outside for a few days, and she got sucked by staying at home, doing nothing.
• After three days of boredom, she finally had a chance to go out when Rebeca called her. They were friends since school. Rebeca urged her to meet her, and Abigail agreed happily. She requested her father to let her go out, and this time, Robert didn’t stop her. Abigail was overjoyed and went out to meet her old friend.
• She reached a fancy restaurant and met Rebeca. They giggled like teenage girls and hugged each other. Rebeca started saying, “It’s been two years since I have seen you. When did you come back and why didn’t you call me?”
• Abigail smiled and replied, “It’s been over a week. I wanted to spend some time with Aidan, so...”
• “You and your Aidan.” Rebeca rolled her eyes and interrupted her before Abigail could finish her sentence. “With me, you are not allowed to talk about Aidan.” She wrapped her hand in her arms and added, “Let’s go inside.”
• They laughed and went inside the restaurant. Rebeca already booked a table, and they went straight there. They sat on the sofa face to face, and Rebeca again spoke, “We are having a get-together party this weekend. All our schoolmates are coming to that party. You have to come and don’t make an excuse of Aidan.”
• Abigail laughed softly and said, “Alright, I will be there.”
• “Really?” Rebeca exclaimed excitedly and forgot that they were not alone in the restaurant. She earned many stern glares and scowls.
• Abigail shushed her and whispered, looking around her surroundings, “Why are you yelling?”
• “Oops…” Rebeca placed her fingers on her lips and giggled.
• Abigail smiled and shook her head helplessly, muttering something under her breath, but the smile on Rebeca’s face froze while looking at something ahead. Her eyes also grew wider, her expression pensive.
• Abigail was stupefied and opened her mouth to ask her what she was staring at, but before that, Rebeca started asking, “Isn’t she the famous model Erica Barrett? What is she doing with Aidan?”