Once Upon A Knight's Woman

CHAPTER 22

#ALVIN'S POV#

 
   
"Don't be nervous, I will be with you throughout." I tell Erica while massaging her shoulders. We are at my parents' home. She is having dinner with us. Well after the article with her, Mum has not stopped disturbing me to invite her over for dinner. She sighs loudly.
         
"If you are not yet ready for this, we can turn back, ok. So should I reverse?" I asks her and she shakes her head frantically.
     
"Then, let's do this." I get out of the car and rush over to open the door for her. She mutters a nervous thanks.
     
"Look at me." I tell her as I grip her shoulder loosely. She faces me slowly.
    
"You don't have to be nervous, I will be by your side throughout." I reassured her.
     
"What if they don't like me because I have a kid out of wedlock and at a young age?" She asked.
     
"We have talked about this a million time, Erica. They won't discriminate against you. You are a very likable person."
     
I realised that her mind was still not really at rest by that.
    
"And I have told you several times, my family always loves whatsoever or whoever I love and your case is no exception." That finally brought a smile to her face.
     
"I'm totally ready to meet my boyfriend's family." She says bravely.
     
"That is the spirit! Let's go." I cheer up. I put my hand lightly on her back as I direct her from the garage to the main entrance.
      
Ella was the one to open the door. "Hello big brother!" She suddenly jumps on me engulfing me in a full hug. I stagger a few steps back but regain my balance.
      
"I've missed you a lot. Why have you not been visiting?" She asked in that cute and cheery voice.
     
"I'm sorry. I've been really busy taking care of the article leakage." I say as I pat her back slightly.
      
"Will you forgive big brother?"
      
"Of course." She replied cheerfully as she removed her legs wrapped around my waist.
      
She turns to Erica with a smile. "You must be Erica. I've heard a lot about you from my brother. I'm..."
   
"Cinderella." I help her to complete it.
    
"Big bro!!!" She screams angrily.
     
"Yes Cinderella." I tease her but she readily ignored me.
      
"Don't mind him. I'm Ella, the only female child in the family but since you are joining that makes it two, right?" Ella says and Erica simply smiled.
     
"Can we go in now?" I ask Ella sarcastically.
    
"Of course." She makes way for us to enter the house and leads us to the dining room where the whole family gathered.
     
Mum stands up to meet us at the entrance of the room.
      
"Oh! You must me Erica. It's nice to meet you. I'm this young man's mother."
      
"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Kni..."
    
Mum cuts her off." Please call me Stacy but if you are not comfortable calling me by my name then you can call me Aunt."
    
"I guess that is better."Erica smiles warmly. "It's nice to meet you Aunt."
      
Someone cleared his throat noisily and who else could that be if not Ethan.
    
"Erhmm... Erica, meet my older brother, Ethan. Ethan, meet my girlfriend, Erica." I said as I directed Erica to the dining table.
     
She bowed her head slightly. "It's nice meeting you."
    
"The pleasure is all mine." He replied with his playboy charm making me subconsciously hiss.
     
"Meet Brahms, my friend. He is Kelvin's and Melvin's father."
    
Brahms extended his hand for an handshake and Erica returned it back.
 
"You look familiar." Erica stated.
   
"Yeah, I guess I've seen you somewhere before today too." Brahms  stated too with a puzzled expression.
     
Oh My Gosh! They met at the book signing event! God please don't let her link anything back to me! I panicked.
  
"Oh! You are Purple Me manager!" She exclaimed. "It's so nice to meet you." She fantasied.
    
"Who is Purple Me?" Ethan asked.
     
"He is a author and Brahms is his manager." Ella replied on Erica's behalf.
       
"The food is getting cold." A frail voice reminded us all. Gosh, I forgot to introduce Dad.
    
I removed his left palm from the blanket on his laps and held it softly.
     
"I'm Alvin, your second and most favorite son." I chuckled awkwardly and he smiled slightly with that same confused expression on his face.
   
"That's not true!" Ethan countered back making me laugh.
      
"My Son?" He asked.
     
"Yes dad. It's Alvin." He tilted his head slightly as if to confirm if I was really his son then his eyes widen.
   
"Oh, Alvin!"He exclaimed. I'm glad he at least remembered me today. It's been a while since he last did.
  
" Yes. And this is my girlfriend, Erica." I say as I beckon to Erica to come over.
      
"Good Evening, Sir. I am Erica." She says nicely as she crouched down to the level of his wheelchair.
    
"You are beautiful!" He praises.
    
"Thanks." She replies shyly.
    
"You look like my wife." He says with a slight chuckle.
     
"Your wife looks nothing like her." Ethan scoffs from the other side of the dining table. I quickly turn to him sending a quick but intense glare before turning back to Dad and sending him a smile.
     
"Do you still remember your wife?" I asked him calmly and he smiled.
       
"Are you sure she is not more beautiful that your wife?" I teasingly asked him in a loud voice for Mom in the kitchen to hear.
     
"I can  hear you!!" She screamed from the kitchen.
     
"I know!" I shouted back.
    
"So how is he in school? Is he a great teacher?" Mum asked Erica once we were all settled down to eat.
      
"He is ok with the students. In fact, they all love him." Erica answered with a smile. She glanced at me after saying that and I sent her a wink making her blush.
   
"What do you expect from your son, mum?" I rhetorically asked with a pout.
      
"What is his popularity rate with the female teachers?" Ella asked eagerly.
     
"Ella!" I and mum scolded simultaneously but she just shrugged.
    
Erica cleared her throat after taking a sip of the ice water. "He is actually very popular among the female teachers. There is this one in particular... What was her name again?... Ooh, Yvonne. She is so clingy!"
      
"Oh My Gosh! I can't imagine how horrible it must feel." Ella sucked her teeth in distaste.
    
"Yeah! You can't even imagine half of it." Erica said with a shrug. And some other petty talks followed till the table got silent.
       
"Do you still plan on working there? After your identity has been revealed?" Mum broke the silence.
     
I silently shrugged while still chewing.
"You obviously don't want fan girls swarming you at your school, do you?" Ethan chipped in.
      
"I plan on quitting." I said lowly. Erica turned to me with quick alacrity at my announcement and back to the food on her plate. I have not told her about my decision to quit yet. I tried to reach for her left hand under the table but she kept on pushing it out of my sight till I forcefully held it while sending her a sincere smile.
            
                          ¶¶¶¶
     
"Why do I feel you are annoyed with me?"
    
"I am." She replied shortly.
 
"Is it about my decision to quit?"
      
"Yes." She replied shortly again.
   
I went over to the sofa she was sitting on and drew her body to mine.

"Why?" I whispered softly in her ear.
      
She giggles. "That is ticklish and you know it."
     
"We won't see each other often. You would be busy with your CEO roles." She said sadly.
      
"Do you trust me?" I asked.
      
"Of course. Are we still contemplating on that?"
     
"Then listen to me carefully." She nods."No matter how busy I am and how busy I would get, I would never get too busy for you, ok?" She nods her head again but this time around with a smile plastered on her face.
       
"Where is Clarissa?" I asked her.
      
"She is sleeping."
       
"Let me leave you too so that you can go to bed early." I said as I stood up.
     
"Are you leaving already." She drawled lazily.
       
"Yes, you look tired. Thanks for been nice to my father this evening."
     
"He was nice to me too." She said with a smile plastered on her face. "Can I ask you a question?" She asked.
     
"Sure."
   
"Why was the company passed down to you not your elder brother, Ethan?"
    
"He did not want it." I quickly said.
    
"What?"
    
"He did not want the position and all the responsibilities that comes with it."
    
"So you wanted it?" She asked.
     
"No but I had to accept it. Dad's Alzheimer was getting worse, he started to forget meetings date and sometimes his employees face. He was hiding his ailment from the board of directors as he was anxious that they were going to use his ailment to change the company's power so I had to take it to lift the burden off his shoulder so he could focus on his therapy."
    
"Wow!" She exclaimed
    
"Your boyfriend is adorable right?"
    
"Yeah and he is extraordinarily cute." She said with my face in between her palms.
      
"Goodnight, call me when you get home, ok."
       
"No problem, bye."
                 
                             ¶¶¶¶¶
     
A call woke me up. It's after 8am on my alarm clock. Oh Gosh! I forgot to call Erica last night before falling asleep. I must have been really tired. I picked up my ringing phone from the nightstand. It's her calling, she must be really worried since I didn't call her yesterday night.
      
"Hello" I said as soon as I picked the call but there was no response from the other side.
     
"Hello." I repeated more louder this time.
      
"Tell me everything is gonna be alright." She said in a croak and tiny voice. I hear sniffs underneath.
    
"Are you crying?" I asked immediately but there was no response only sniffs.
     
"What happened?"
    
"He got my address... Brahms... He came here... He is saying nonsense...Clarissa believes him... She looks like Clarissa... The girl...  He keeps on saying impossible things... Clarissa believes them... Proofs? He claims to have them... He showed me but..." Her voice breaks as she breaks out in sobs.
      
"Please explain better so I can understand." I said anxiously but she kept on crying over the phone.
      
"Where are you?" I quickly asked already grabbing my car key and a coat.
   
"Home... She won't come out of her room... Clarissa... What should I do? I'm so exhausted." She keeps on mumbling.
       
"Don't go anywhere. I'm coming to you right now." I said and cut the call immediately.
        
What is wrong? Why is she crying profusely? What happened just between yesterday's night and this morning?
      
      
 

  

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