A Wife for the Billionaire
Chapter 92: RICHARD

Chapter 92: RICHARD

I didn’t realize that I was holding my breath until Mrs Helen smiled.

Like fucking smiled, I didn’t know which was scarier, her furious gaze or the smile that came from nowhere. And worse, her smile was kinda forced, and if I’m being honest without motive.

Without a word, she sat down, steepled her hands and said,

"You are alright, boys. My culinary skills are top notch, but you know how we do it. It’s tell time, so indulge me"

Tell time was like a tradition we began years ago from the very first day we had dined together. It was simple, all we had to do was tell Mrs Helen about any latest changes in our lives from the last time we were there.

"Why don’t we start with you, my new favorite?" Mrs Helen added, when none of us made any attempt to begin first.

"You know how it is, Mrs Helen, just living the life of the son of a billionaire, though these days most people think I don’t care or give a damn about responsibility because they feel I don’t know what ’responsibility’ entails" Aaron noted, trying his best not to look at me... the culprit.

I had thought he was over it. That we were now on the same page, but clearly, we weren’t and if Mrs Helen gets a whiff that I’m the ’most people’, I dread what she would do especially now that I’ve doomed myself by passing my position of being the favorite to him.

One time in tenth grade, we had fought. I and Aaron, it was about a particular rumor that had circulated around the school about how Aaron had wet the bed during his sleep. He had told me about it in the locker room when we thought we were alone.

It wasn’t intentional, he had been dreaming. We were all playing 21 at the court near George Park, when he got pressed and went to relieve himself by the court. It was twilight and so darkness concealed him, but unknown to him, he was also doing the act on his bed. Until he woke up, soaked in his urine.

Before lunch break that day, the news had reached every pair of ears in school, and I was the only one he had told about it. He was still planning to tell Chad when the whole school became aware of it.

I tried to convince him that I didn’t snitch on him. That I would never slip, but he was too pissed to see reason, before I could finish the sentence, he was already on me.

I could beat Aaron, but I didn’t like doing it. Had it been anywhere else than the Chargers court, and at practice with all the team watching, I had to fight back, else I would become the topic of discussion the next day. And so, I did.

We were separated before things really got intense, but at least each of us was going to be nursing a bruise on the morrow. When we were called to the principal’s office and told that our parents would have to be alerted, we opted for Mrs Helen.

Mrs Helen was our ally, she understood us and wasn’t as sentimental as our parents. But she had a weird way of settling issues. She had locked the both of us in her basement and ordered us to fight it off. We thought she was joking until she started lashing us.

"You want to fight each other, right? So, hit him. For fuck’s sake, I said hit him!" She had commanded, lashing us when we dared hesitate.

It’s not one of my proudest moments, but I remember crying a few minutes in, not because of the lashes, but having to hit someone who was like a brother to me. I guess it’s consolation that Aaron cried as well.

After that, Mrs Helen called off the fight and launched a speech about how we are supposed to have each other’s back, not throwing punches on each other’s faces. She believed me when I swore that it was me who slipped the info, and she assigned the three of us the task of fishing out the culprit and making him pay. She even gave us an ultimatum, three days.

One of the perks of being the most popular boys at school was that people feared us. So it was easy tracing the link to the very first person who began the rumor, Travis Kilt.

The fool had forgotten his training kit and was on his way to retrieve it when he overheard us talking about it.

I don’t really want to go into details about what we did to Travis, but those who went to visit him at the hospital said he had about ten stitches, a neck brace and his left leg was a mass of white tissues and bandages hanging limply from the bedpost.

Then, the both of us were guilty, who knows what she would do now that it’s just me. When it’s just me who has broken our code of brotherhood loyalty.

"But why would they think you are irresponsible?" Mrs Helen inquired, pulling me away from my reverie.

"Probably because I’m the third and last child of the Wald family." Aaron fussed, like a child complaining to his mother.

Quite keen to motherhood, Mrs Helen cupped his cheek and said,

"Don’t worry Dear, I’ve always been a good judge of character and from the time I’ve spent with you over the years, I can bet my ass that you are one of the least irresponsible people I know"

Aaron has always been a stickler for attention and it seems that fact wasn’t lost on Mrs Helen. Who showered him with it like he was the only one that mattered.

I was just glad there hasn’t been a mention of my name, but I may have spoken too soon, because Mrs Helen suddenly asked,

"Do I know these people that you speak of, perhaps they need their asses whooped to see sense and keep them in their fucking lane"

My heart began pounding so hard that I feared it might launch out of my ribcage. Suddenly my mouth felt dry, swallowing hard, I dared a peek at Aaron who was yet to answer. Perhaps he was contemplating whether to tell on my ass or...

"Nah," Aaron shrugged, "you probably won’t know them, but I think if you did, you’d be very disappointed in them, judging a book by its cover."

Sighing, I raised my glass of iced tea, which was nothing but iced now, to my lips.

"Haters them all, never mind those hypocrites. They are just jealous pricks, anyway what about you, Rich?"

I almost choked on my drink. Yes, I wanted them to drop the issue, but throwing the spotlight at me... that I didn’t anticipate.

Lying to Mrs Helen was always a bad idea, somehow she always managed to get to the bottom of things and no one wants to be on the receiving end of her fury.

But I couldn’t tell her about the selection, not yet. Not until I got the upper hand on it. Thankfully I had something else.

Calming my previously haywire nerves, I said,

"Nothing much, just the old stuff. The Elders and their conniving families, still plotting to remove us from the head family. And my long list of enemies getting longer by the day, funny how I’ve already made a few of them at Hong

Kong. And Mrs Helen, they have me at the balls, they just took away our venue for the collection launch and I’ll be traveling this weekend to sort that out"

"Boy, you’ll be traveling this weekend and I’m just hearing it now, need I remind you that I hate being kept in the dark?" Mrs Helen commented.

"Sorry ma’am, it was all last minute and hush hush, so people won’t know that our venue has been compromised and truthfully I was only made aware two days ago" I replied.

"You didn’t tell me you were traveling" Chad said, the concern clear in his tone.

Before I could respond, Mrs Helen interjected,

"In that case, I best leave you boys to it, but be careful dear. It’s already bad enough that you have a lot of enemies,

but Asians," she smacked her tongue, "they can be fiesty, and worse you aren’t fluent in Mandarin, or are you?"

"I have a translator that I trust and the man I’ve been dealing with is fluent in English, besides I know one or two things in Mandarin, so I think I’ll do just fine"

"Call me always, because you know that I will if you don’t. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me, now clear the table and bring the dishes to the kitchen"

And with that, Mrs Helen was gone leaving us to ourselves. Aaron and I exchanged glances, coming to an agreement. We would clear the table, Chad was in no way capable and besides, we are not guests... this is our second home.

But to me, I think this is the only place I’ve ever felt at home.