Chapter 4 Helpless!

Damien prepared for work, shadow bags under his eyes. His thoughts were occupied with the crazy girl of the night before. He found himself thinking of her. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and gaped. He smiled! For the first time, Damien smiled just because of the thought of a girl. Before he realized it, he slapped himself jolting himself back to reality. He looked back at his ringing phone as a curse left his lips. He took it to his ear as soon as he picked it up.

"Father!"

"Hey, boy! Meet me at home by noon." Mr Lincoln said before he hung up. Damien sighed, he knew what was going to happen. He got inside the car, his thoughts drifting back to Vivian. He knew he wasn't himself; if it was before, he would have laid down plans on how to deal with the person, but he isn't thinking to that extent at all. To his surprise, he met her already in the office, neatly dressed, going through some documents. He stared at her till he got to her. Still, she did not notice his presence as she was engrossed with what she was doing. One of the workers cleared her throat making Vivian look up from the documents. Damien smiled inwardly as she stood up abruptly bowing her head in greetings.

"B...boss. Good morning, sir."

"Morning. Meet me in my office right now." He said before he turned towards his office.

Vivian rubbed her shaking hands together. She came early purposefully because of her boss. At least he could be persuaded a bit if she came early to work, she thought. It was this morning that memories of the night before came back to haunt her. How she was going to face him, she still did not know. She kept sighing till she reached inside his office. He was already seated with his cold aura. She decided to take the first step to apologize. She can not afford to lose her job at this point.

"I'm sorry bo, for yesterday. I..."

"...you're sorry? Do you think sorry will solve this?" Damien was still trying to scold her but stopped when she got to her knees crying profusely. His heart melts! His legs moved him right in front of her. Before he knew it, he bent to her level, raising her eyes to his. That was when he saw it. Red marks all over her neck. The turtle neck she wore to cover it already slipped down when she knelt. His heart flew into his mouth. Something pricked his heart. Pity? Sympathy? He couldn't figure it out.

"What happened to your neck?" He blurted out, trying to touch that spot, but Vivian flinched back, covering it back.

"Hmm...nothing. I should get going." She stood up rushing out but was pulled back by a strong arm; she collided with his broad, hard chest. She couldn't hold it any longer; the tears flowed down her face, which was buried in his broad chest. Damien's hands lingered, and he hesitated before he wrapped them around her. He blinked in confusion. Something was happening to his heart. After a while, he released her enjoining her to narrate what happened. With hiccups, she narrated to him. Unconsciously, he fumed having this kind of feeling her.

"We will talk about this later." He consoled her as he recollected his father's call. Vivian, who was too flushed to talk, nodded her hand in agreement. He left her in his office as he headed to his father's house.

Vivian returned to her desk feeling a little bit better. She picked up her phone to make a call to her boyfriend. It rang for eternity but he did not pick it. For the first time, she had the feeling something was wrong somewhere th, it wasn't the time to investigate. She has a lot of things on her neck. She looked at her ringing phone, thinking it was her boyfriend, only to see her mother. Her heart skipped a bit. What's wrong?

"Hello, mum."

"Vivian. Help me! Come right now!" Her mother's broken voice sounded on the phone. Vivian's head sparkled. Without wasting time, she hung up the call, picked up her bag, and ran out of the office, stopping a passing-by cab. Inside the cab, she sent a message to her boss excusing herself. In a jiffy, she arrived at her home, and to her dismay, she met her mum's restaurant banned, cello taped with black men with sunglasses standing around. She rushed to her mother who was on the floor crying with no one to console her. Their neighbors only stood afar watching the drama unfold.

"Mother, what is it? Who are they? Why are they here?" She asked all at once.

"It's your father...hmmm... lei."

"Father? What happened?"

"He borrowed a loan..."

"A loan? So what?" She asked impatiently.

"And he used my restaurant as a collateral." Her mother dropped the bomb. Vivian froze! The restaurant? Collateral? She gaped when it all made sense.

"What? Where is his mother?" She asked as anger permitted through her whole being. Her mother could only point in the direction he was. With fur, she dashed in his direction and met him with bottles of drinks. With anger, she collected it from him, smashing it on the floor. This caught her father's attention as he looked up at her. It seemed he got his senses back.

"How dare you?" He muttered out with annoyance moving closer to Vivian.

"How dare me? How dare you father? Why would you use my mother's restaurant as collateral? Who are you to do that? What gave you the audacity to do that?" She asked hotly as tears rushed down her face. In reply, her father slapped her.

"You foolish child! You are talking to me this way? I'm your father? You must be sick."

"As of today, I disown you as my father. You've done enough already. Every money I and mum make, you snatch it forcefully from us to spend on drinks. Now, the only thing my mum depends on is to use it to pay a debt. You're not a human." She concluded as she walked back to her mother painfully leaving her father to stare foolishly. Vivian took her mother back in trying her best to console her. Work for the day is canceled. She muttered a thanksgiving prayer because her younger brother was not yet at home.to witness this. It will be devastating for the boy. What will be their lot now? Their only source of income is gone!