Forever

| Chapter Nine ~ Richelle? ~ |

Noah's Pov
I soon arrived at the party with my parents. I couldn't wait to wee Richelle. I still acted as though I didn't want to be there around my parents; I didn't want them getting suspicious that something was going on. I doubt they would've guessed that Richelle and I were secretly dating though.

We stepped out of the car, its clean body shining in the sun, and headed towards the garden. That's where the party was being held; the garden. I much preferred it to being stuck inside the house. Besides, it was a warm, sunny day. I bet Richelle looked beautiful in whatever she was wearing. I wondered if she would be performing for us again? She always told me how much she hated it, but she did look incredible doing it. I wouldn't want her to do something that her heart wasn't in, but she seemed to be stunning when she did ballet. She made out as though she were awful at it, but I thought she was the best ballerina I'd ever seen.

I felt the grass beneath crunch beneath my feet as we opened a small gate and wandered through. The garden was huge. At the front, people were gathering; women dressed in bright summer dresses and men in un-colourful tuxedos. I wasn't exactly loving what I was wearing. My parents had made me wear an awful white tuxedo. Well, at least it wasn't blue. Yikes.

My eyes scanned my surroundings. I saw a large pond in the back of the garden. It had a small waterfall made of rocks with water quickly trickling into it. There must've some fish in that pond, it was huge!

My eye was suddenly caught by someone; Elizabeth, the second oldest child in the Nolet family. Richelle must've been around somewhere, but I couldn't quite see her. It was weird, especially since when I looked back at Elizabeth, her face was pale and her eyes, puffy. It looked as though she had been crying. Had she?

Although, I'd never spoken to her or any of Richelle's siblings, I felt as though I should've looked out for them. Richelle did love them, she told me, even though they were treated as part of the family properly. I didn't know whether to go up and ask her if she was okay or not. I mean, we'd never met, Richelle hadn't told anyone about us and she most likely didn't know who I was. I think Richelle told me that she was thirteen or something.

She didn't really look like Richelle. She resembled her father more; she had short brunette hair that only just came down past her shoulders. It was straight, unlike Richelle's gorgeous golden locks that practically reached her waist. Her eyes were also brown, like hazelnuts.

I couldn't get one thing out of my mind though. Where was Richelle? I looked around one more time to see if I had missed her, but how could I have not spotted such a beautiful person?

Before I had time to question it anymore, I was interrupted by a loud voice.

"Greetings everybody!" Richelle's father spoke loudly into a microphone. "I'm so delighted that you could all make this afternoon, I hope everyone has a great time! Before we begin, I must say how deeply sad I am to say that our eldest daughter has fallen ill and will not be joining us today. None the less, she will be absolutely fine within a few days! Now, let's all just enjoy this party and hold a glass up for Richelle. Cheers!"

Everyone held up a glass of some sort of expensive wine and they all joined him. I scowled at him. Something wasn't right. There was no way Richelle was ill. No way. He spoke as if he cared about her. It made my blood boil. I felt like shouting at him and telling everyone that he abused Richelle, but they'd never believe me.

But what had he done to her? I questioned myself, scratching the back of my neck, nervous. A sudden feeling of fear had overcome me. She wasn't okay. I needed to find her. How would I get inside the house? I guessed I could just sneak in while no one was looking.

I was about to do so when I felt a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from leaving.

"Noah!" My father exclaimed, twisting me around to face him. "There you are my boy! This is Alan, but you'll call him Mr Nolet."

I felt my insides twisting in anger. He held his hand out to me with a great grin. I shook it and smiled back.

"Hello, Mr Nolet," I kindly replied with a smile, trying my hardest to keep my anger inside.

"You'll be perfect," he smiled, nodding his head as he looked at my father, who was also gleaming with joy.

Perfect for what? What on earth could he be on about?

"I'm so sorry," I began, "but I think I've missed something here. Perfect for what may I ask?"

He and my father chuckled.

"Perfect for joining the company," my father answered. "You're eighteen now, Noah, and once you've been off to Business school next month, you'll be joining our partnership of our oil company."

"Oh," is all I could manage to get out.

I was shocked. didn't want that. I couldn't do it. No. I had made up my mind.

"Oh indeed!" Alan started. "We'd get you to join right now, but you must have some sort of qualification. After all, this is a private company. You can't just jump in and buy shares from the public stock market."

I just nodded my head. I looked to my father, almost in disbelief. He smiled and mouthed 'say thank you'.

"Thank you," I told Alan, fake smiling. "I can't wait."

"Great! Just about two years and-"

"Two years?" I interrupted Alan. "Two years at school?"

"Well, yes," my father chimed in. "Noah we've been over this. Two years staying at Business school. You'll get to visit in parts of the summer and winter of course."

I couldn't think of anything worse. I hated the idea of going to Business school. Being stuck with a bunch of wannabe entrepreneurs and kids like me. Kids who were forced to be in a family business. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, but going two years without seeing Richelle was not something I intended on doing.

"Right," I said, unpersuaded. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Mr Nolet. Thank you so much for this opportunity."

I shook his hand goodbye and waited until they had turned their backs before sneakily strolling out of the garden towards the house. At this moment, I didn't care about my future. I just needed to see Richelle. I wanted to make sure she was okay. I hated talking to her father, trying to pretend that he didn't abuse his own child. I hated him.