A week later...
“I think your family needs to know and even be here,” Cainan tells Neriah once they walk around the room.
Since she got back from the hospital, Cainan moved her into a penthouse he got for her, he told her he rented it for the month, but he bought it in her name because he knows how Neriah would react to him spending so much money on buying a house, he saved himself that detail. It was larger than her previous apartment, wider and much more sophisticated, and it gave Neriah the chance to move around freely and with less stress.
“I will when the time is right,” she says, with a promising tone, just like she said the last time they had the discussion.
He rubs his forehead slowly. “When would that be? We talked about it three days ago and you shoved it away, but we both know we don’t have the time. I don’t think it’s fair on them to keep what you’re going through from them,” He tells her.
Every day time gets shorter and as much as it is a gift to have her alive, it is a bargain to place the perfect time to tell your family you’re dying. It was a tough conversation to have, but it had to be done.
Neriah stops walking and Cainan has to stop as well because he can feel her breath going harsh suddenly, “I will tell them when the time is right.” She says again, bringing the conversation to an end.
Cainan doesn’t push further, it’ll only lead them to a place they both do not want to be, so instead, he nods in agreement and they continue their walk.
Just like every day in the past week, they’d taken a walk outside, trying to help strengthen Neriah’s legs. The first few days were tough on her as well as him, but the second wasn’t so much and so was the third and so on. Now Neriah can walk herself a little distance. She’d have to hold on to something after a while, but they were both used to it and prepared.
Aside from walking, Neriah has also made a few more sketches and designs and Cainan had taken it upon himself to help bring her work to light and the attention of the media. It sparked up some comments and controversy that they were dating and hiding it, but like always, they ignored it. They saved themselves the energy of trying to change people’s opinions when those people didn’t know what was even happening.
Cainan and Neriah also do not know what they are as well, because if asked, they’ll probably say they are just friends but being honest, they both know they are more than just friends now, but one thing is for sure, they love what they are. The closeness they feel when they are in each other’s company.
“Helping someone walk is as slow as watching them do it, isn’t it?” Shawn asks, pulling the window glass away from his lips.
“How did you get in?” Neriah asks, with great surprise in her voice."
He stands up, opening his arms wide with surprise as though just seeing them. “The door was open, so I couldn’t stand and watch him slave away without giving encouraging words. No offence, bro, but I’ve got to say you’re pathetic.”
“I don’t believe there's any taken.” He responds as he follows Neriah and makes sure she’s seated comfortably on the couch.
Shawn pours the red wine into two more glasses, then he walks away from the bar, towards Cainan and Neriah and offers each of them a glass, “Good, but how’s the walk coming along? Three days ago you were still holding her and now she’s walking on her own.”
He nods, tipping his glass to both of them. “Slowly, but surely, she can be a pain though, right?” He turns to Cainan, who nods quickly before Neriah can see him.
“She can hear you!” Neriah informs Shawn, who steps back like he just saw her explode and she sits down on the nearby foam chair.
“Put that energy into your walking and you’d be running next week.” Shawn teases his encouragement.
“Yeah, so I can chase you down and kill you.” She says, dropping the glass down on the table before her and getting up, but when Cainan approaches her, she puts her hand up and stops him. “I’ve got it.”
Cainan stops and watches as she pulls herself up and walks into her room, more like drags.
Once gone, Cainan walk over to Shawn’s side, “Thanks for being here; I know this must be hard for you—”
“Which part? That you are now with the woman of my dreams or that she’s falling for you?”
His eyes twitch a little and he looks up at Shawn before saying, “She isn’t falling for me. We’ve just gotten a much better understanding of each other, but we are still friends.”
Shawn empties the last wine in the glass into his mouth and drops the glass down on the table and huffs a breath. “I’m doing this for her. I still resent you, but she’s perfect and I owe it to her to be here for her.”
“Falling for her was not my choice, believe me.”
He scoffs, “Hard to believe.”
Cainan walks over to him at the counter. “You think that if I had a choice, I’d fall for a girl that’s dying and lose all control of myself and logical reasoning? I was never looking to hurt you. I wanted to hurt her, but I ended up loving her instead.”
“I still don’t like you, but we are both fools in love with a girl that we both can’t save. The only difference between you and me is I’ve let go of a happily-ever-after ending and that’s something you’re yet to do.”
Pain flashes on his face and he runs a hand through his hair. “I’m not sure I can stop myself anymore. I’m so hopeless for her.”
“You’ll have to, she’ll want you to.”
Cainan’s phone beeps and he pulls the phone out of his pocket before seeing the caller ID, which is Clara. He immediately answers it, moving away from Shawn.
“Hello?”
“I need your help, Cainan,” comes Clara’s shaky voice through the phone.
He tenses up almost immediately, “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Clara’s reply is instant and heart wrecking, “I told Hugo that I wanted a divorce, he didn’t take it so well.”
“Where are you?” Cainan asks, already going towards the door.
“I’m still home,” she responds before her voice drops as if trying to stop someone from hearing as she says “but I’m going over to where we met a week ago.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in fifteen.” he almost opens the door before realising that Shawn is still in the room. He stops and turns to him. “Tell Neriah I’ll be back.”
Shawn’s brow furrows suspiciously at him. “Where are you going?”
He pauses and sighs heavily. “You’re going to tell Neriah if I tell you, aren’t you?”
He scratches his head and then nods. “I’m going to have to. Neriah scares me these days.” He laughs nervously.
He let go of the doorknob and move a little toward Shawn. “I’m going to meet with Clara. She needs my help.”
“You’re so sure your help is what she needs? I don’t know what’s going on with you and Clara, but you’ll have me to deal with if you hurt Neriah, do you understand that?”
“I expect nothing less,” Cainan says before leaving.
Fifteen minutes later,
Cainan gets down from his car and makes his way to the Granville resort, and walks to where they were one week ago, but getting there, he sees no one there. He sits down on the vacant seat and a service boy in a white long sleeve and black trousers immediately approaches him with a notepad in his hand.
“What may I get you?” comes his polite request.
“Nothing, for now. I’ll call you soon, thanks.” He tells the waiter who nods and walks away and Cainan waits again patiently in his seat.
Ten minutes pass, and yet there’s no sign of Clara anywhere. He pulls out his phone again and scrolls through the list of contact, tapping on Clara's name and dialling it again. There is no answer on the first ring and he tries again. Still, no answer comes and after the third try and no answer comes, he gets up and walks out of the resort, into his car before driving off.
He turns his car around halfway home and takes the road that leads to Clara and Hugo’s home. He knows it’s a great risk and all his senses tell him that doing this might start a war that would take a while to finish, but the thought of Clara being in danger becomes greater than the others and if being stupid is going to save her now, then so be it.
He dials Ben’s, his head of security’s number and puts it on the loudspeaker before dropping the phone in the car phone holder. After the second ring, he picks and Cainan starts the car and drives off.
“Hello, Ben?”
“Mr Inferno?”
“I heading to the Attah’s residence, I need you to meet me there and also cal...” He stops talking when he sees an accident scene on the side of the road and someone being rolled into the ambulance before it takes off and he slows down his car. There are also two police cars at the accident scene and pictures of the scene and the car are being taken by the detectives at the scene.
“Mr Inferno, you were saying?” Ben’s voice from the other end of the phone snaps him back to reality.
He parks his car at the side of the road, “I’ll call you back.” He tells Ben before ending the call and getting out of his car.
He crosses the road to the other side and approaches the site where the accident happened.
One of the police officers sees him and approaches him. Cainan identifies the man as Tobi. He remembers him from seven years ago when some workers at the company rioted against him for firing them. Tobi was one of the police officers assigned to his watch, they have “Mr Inferno, what are you doing here?”
Cainan ignores Tobi’s question. “What happened here?” he asks, his eyes looking at the car flipped over behind Tobi.
“There was an accident,” he explains to him, pointing to the car behind him whose pictures are being taken.
Cainan nods, already figuring that part out for himself. “I get that. Who was in an accident?”
“I’m not supposed to reveal that information because I know who was involved in the accident and you’re not family to her.”
He didn’t have to say anything anymore to Cainan, not after revealing the gender of the victim because Cainan put the dots together and intentionally blurt, “Clara.” He says before he can stop himself. “Is she dead?”
“I can’t—”
Cainan grabs him by his collar. “Tell me, is she dead?”
The officer standing around grabs his gun, but Tobi holds up his hand, stopping him. “No, but we can’t assure anyone that she’ll scale through this, either. It was a fatal accident.”
Cainan lets go of his collar and adjust his uniform. “I’m sorry for this. I just lost it a little.”
Tobi raises his hand, telling him back, “You need to leave now. This is a crime scene.”
“A crime scene? Why is it a crime scene?” Curiosity gets the better of him as he asks further.
“I’m sorry, Mr Inferno, but I can’t disclose that information to you.” He tells him, “you shouldn’t be here. Please step back now,” he instructs and makes him step back with his hand.
Cainan walks away from the scene with a disoriented head. He feels pain, anger, and frustration altogether. Pain because the fragile life of his unborn child has been put at risk and Clara’s, anger because he knows Hugo is behind all this and one way or another he has to pay, and frustration because he could not protect both the mother and his unborn child.