'Sweet Jealousy'
Philip was raised at an orphanage? How possible was that?
I stared at him in disbelief as he watched the ripples on the water's surface.
"You're kidding right?"
One good look at him was enough to fathom the seriousness of his statement.
"I grew up in an orphanage, specifically the one we visited a while ago. My real parents were in a ghastly motor accident together and they died on the spot. I had no one but then so the only option was to send me to an orphanage. It was at the age of fifteen I got adopted by my foster parents." He ended his speech with a deep breath and bent his head in sorrow.
I placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's so sad to hear you lost your parents at a young age."
I finally pieced the puzzle together. I finally figured out why he behaved like a jerk to everyone around him before we got closer and no wonder he flamed up when Stephan mentioned something about the less privileged at the meeting. I rejoiced at knowing that my entry into Philip's life brought transformation. I was just like salt that added flavor to a food, I was his salt.
"I'm grateful you found your way to me, Florence." He touched my cheeks lightly and as I glanced at him, he produced a smile, this time it was genuine.
"You give me purpose." He whispered. I smiled and entwined our fingers as I recalled a song by Justin Bieber I listened to yesterday. Purpose.
I felt my hips for the bulge of my phone. It wasn't there. Maybe I left it in Philip's room.
Philip noticed my restlessness. "What's missing?" He enquired.
"My phone, I think I left it in your room." I made to stand up but he restrained me and stood up instead.
"I'll help you get it, wait here."
I nodded and watched him leave. I observed his muscles dance as he walked back to the mansion soaring high in the sky.
While Philip was gone, my mind strayed to other things like my mother's condition which the Doctor Michelle said wasn't getting better at all. Mom was diagnosed with diabetes to our dismay, and she never even got out of coma for us to know the progress she was making with the treatment given to her.
Mom's situation put Tamara into further anxiety. I sympathized with my sister knowing the tasks she carried on her shoulders. She had developed the initial nervousness every bride faces before her wedding and even though I couldn't be with her all the time due to my new relationship status, I was glad Michael and the girls were there to cheer her up.
The wedding was coming in a less than a week and as Philip reappeared, I concluded my thoughts with wondering how my sister would cope with the wedding.
"You look tensed, what's wrong?" He handed my phone to me.
I felt guilty in a way for not telling him that my mom was hospitalized. Someone was bound to tell him anyways but it would be bad if he heard the news from someone else as he has told me several times never to hide anything from him.
"I'm nervous." I blurted out my words.
Philip surveyed me with his eyes. "Why? What's the matter?"
I stared into his beautiful eyes and heaved. "My mom was hospitalized last week after she collapsed in her office."
Philip's mouth formed an ' O ' shape. "That's...that's a sad news. But why didn't you tell me?" He placed a hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry for not telling you in the first place."
Philip nodded. "Can we go see her?"
"I can go alone later."
"Florence, please, let's go together." He pleaded and squeezed my shoulder.
After I consented to Philip accompanying me to the hospital, he went back in to change into decent clothes while I waited in his car, the one he recently purchased.
When we got to the hospital it was past visiting time but the hospital security guard still allowed us in. That's where I finally convinced myself that affluence, fame and power has the power to obstruct people's sense of judgement.
I had a scowl on my face when we passed the gate and even a greater one when some of the nurses tried to flirt with my boyfriend right under my nose. They only stopped when Philip wrapped his hand around my waist in an intimate manner.
After our visit to the hospital, we left with the good news that mom's health is improving. With smiles on our face, Philip and I walked to his car parked outside the hospital only to be greeted by the paparazzi.
Philip groaned as they started approaching us with their weapons and obnoxious smiles.
"We're stuck in this together babe." I muttered under my breath praying he heard me.
Creases formed on his forehead as the first reporter started shooting random questions at us.
"Mr Philip, is she your girlfriend?"
He answered with a nod.
The next reporter picked up the pace.
"When did you two start dating?"
And a final question threw me off-guard.
"Is she pregnant?"
I could feel my cheeks heat up in response as everyone's eyes fell on me.
Philip sensed my discomfort and told them off.
"That was really something." Philip huffed as he drove out of the hospital's premises.
"They can be so annoying at times." I grumbled and stared at the steering wheel which turned here and there at intervals..
"And nosy too, I'm sorry you had to experience that."
"There's no need to apologize."
Philip placed his right hand on my thigh, making me fear the car would swerve off the road.
"My place or yours?" He demanded.
"Yours." I replied and pushed his hand away from my thigh. "Concentrate on your driving, will you?" I scolded as he attempted to return his hands to my thighs again.
"I can't keep my hands off you. You're so tempting."
💭💭💭
"Wow!" This place is amazing." I gushed, staring at the beautiful scene before me.
Philip's house was quite simple. It looked like any other bungalow around but it was quite larger, like the size of ten bungalows drove put together.
There were guards stationed at the front gate and as my boyfriend drove through, they saluted him.
When we got to the entrance to his garage, he pressed his thumb on something fixed to the wall and the huge door began sliding upwards.
I gasped as the sparkle of so many cars reached my eyes. Different car models were parked in a straight line and the lights hanging above them did the whole job of making them glimmer.
As Philip parked the car close to a BMW car model, I stepped out of it and took an entranced gaze at the vehicles.
My boyfriend's breath tickled my cheek. "Do you like them?"
I nodded. "They're so beautiful." I praised, stepping away from him to touch one of the cars, a metallic grey Honda.
"Which one's your favorite?" I spun around to meet Philip's eyes burning into my skin like he was going to consume me whole.
"I'll tell you when it's time. Come on, let me take you inside." He smiled and extended his hand towards me.
Not wanting to waste much time, I took his hand and allowed him to lead me inside the main house.
Inside, my lips fell apart at the glorious scenery. I had never seen a place like this before. It was just like a little paradise on its own.
Where we were standing was covered with a transparent glass and underneath, I could see the gleam of water that glittered due to the light bulbs hanging above our head.
The glass floor spanned a couple of feet to our left and right and where it ended, some low trees, although fake, took over.
"This is the most beautiful place I've been to." I confessed and stared up at Philip who was observing everything with less excitement.
Why would he share in my excitement? After all, he owned everything and have seen all the beauty a hundred times. Me, however, haven't seen anything in this fashion, so I deserved the right to gush.
"It's yours too." Philip spoke and caressed the top of my hand which he never let go of.
I ignored his statement because there were no words to send back in reply.
"You have such a beautiful place."
He nodded and we continued walking to a glass transparent door which had a shiny substance in it that bounced around.
When we got inside, I glanced around the large rectangular space that had doors at different points. Inwardly, I imagined what might be behind them.
Then, a pleasant sound arrived at my ears. The bark of a dog. With a smile on my face, I crouched to welcome the adorable Corgi. I wrapped my arms around her and despite her shrug weight, I rose to my full height.
"She's adorable." I laughed as the animal tried to lick my nose.
"You wish." Philip mumbled. When I turned to him, I noticed he had moved away and had a frown on his handsome face.
As if she sensed my boyfriend's frown, the dog started growling and baring her canines at him. He cursed under his breath and gave the dog a glare.
I laughed at the exchange. "She hates you right?" I patted the Corgi on her head.
"Hate is too little to describe how that creature feels about me. She hated me right from day one."
The Corgi ignored Philip and continued amusing herself with my face.
"Then, why did you adopt her? She's adopted right?"
Philip started moving to one of the doors and I trailed behind him. "Among all the animals at the shelter, she was the sweetest. But when I brought her home, she turned on me. The treacherous bitch she is." My boyfriend complained and ran a finger down his chin.
"Aww." I cooed and Philip gave me an odd look while he his hovered his palm over a scanner next to the door. A blue, horizontal light traveled up and down and finally turned green, allowing us entrance into the other side which was equally as beautiful as the area we just left.
Then, I took notice of the human activity going on around me.
"This, is where I receive guests."
My boyfriend reached out to hold me but when Corgi protested with a growl and narrowed eyes, he stopped his hand movement and sighed.
"The feeling's mutual." He gave me an amused look and I shook my head.
My eyes fell away from Philip as a young lady approached us. I surveyed her shamelessly. She was really beautiful and although her body was covered with a grey T-shirt, it didn't hold back her beauty.
"Florence, this is Carol, the housekeeper."
I gave her a faint smile and patted Corgi's head. "Hi Carol, how do you do?"
Carol bowed her head in response. "Florence, I've heard so much about you from Phil here."
My eyebrow arched in response. I watched Philip who wasn't uncomfortable with what Carol called him. Well, if he want uncomfortable, I was. The familiarity existing between them was too disturbing.
"Yes, you should have." I murmured, not failing to catch the look of concern my on my boyfriend's face.
"So, what would like to eat?" Carol demanded.
"Prepare whatever is on the menu for tonight for the two of us, and make it really tasty." Philip sent a smile to Carol at the end of his speech.
"Sure thing. Hey Audrey." Carol reached out to pat the dog on her head.
Audrey let out a bark and struggled to get away from between my arms and my body.
"I don't think I'll be staying for dinner." I let Audrey down and she skipped to meet Carol with another bark.
"Dinner for one then." Philip referred to Carol who smiled at him in response and strode away with Audrey by her side.
I was filled with so much jealousy that I felt sick.
I had never been this jealous in my life.
Aw, Florence sees Carol as a threat.
Have you ever been jealous of something or someone so badly that it hurts? Well, I have and it wasn't a pleasant feeling, I can assure you.
I hope you like the direction the story is going, any suggestions?
As always, I'm grateful to you for reading this chapter, for not losing interest in this book.
Thanks to the following persons:
jenalee28 ManishaValecha ladyyazza sammy123Ar leckeeree THE_X-PHILER donnaf1828 QU_Precious. MsLeemongirl TahiyaBae ShannonWhaley1
Your Crazy Writer.