"Why was I not informed?" Daniel thundered. His anger was visible as he looked at the housemaid.
The lady responded shakily. She had never seen her Boss this angry.
"I, we, didn't want to disturb you or Mrs. Clay, Senior Sir. We thought you knew." She pleaded
Daniel was agitated; he turned away from the maid as he dialed Natalie's number, but the call didn't go through. He hissed irritably. He went back into his study to fetch his spare mobile phone, which he kept for his philandering.
This spare phone was the reason why Natalie had never been able to get hold of his cheating escapades to their full extent. If only she knew…
But she had seen him at the café. He groaned.
That was an honest miscalculation on his part; who would have thought Natalie would be there at the time she was?
It had been easy to lie through his teeth back then when she questioned all those photos taken by the paparazzi, the escapades that somehow got leaked to the press, and aired on the TV stations.
He wasn't going to admit he had been unfaithful to her, never. When he saw her outside the café, his world stopped. It had taken a lot of confidence in that moment to downplay what she had seen, and maybe play on her intelligence so she could feel stupid and assume she got it all wrong.
He had avoided her then, and he still avoided her when she accosted him this morning.
He was always confident of his ability to make her believe him anyway, but why did he feel uneasy?
He dialed her number on the new phone, but she could not be reached. After two more rings, it went straight to voicemail.
Frustrated, he called her best friend Kayla.
"Hello," Kayla's voice rang out in the background. She sounded somewhat excited.
"Hi Kay, it's been a while. Hope it's not a bad time?" he replied.
"Not at all, Daniel. I just finished up with my morning run." She replied, her breathing sharp. "So, what's up?" she asked.
"I can't seem to get a hold of Natalie. Has she called you?" Daniel asked.
"Not at all. I could try her number, though, and drop in a message. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." She replied
"Okay, thanks, Kay." He ended the call and moved his left hand through his hair irritably.
He walked out to see the rest of the guests off when he saw his mum walk up to him.
The perfectly plastered smile she had on her face a while ago, as she said her goodbyes to one of the guests, suddenly turned into a frown.
"I have had it up to here with that silly wife of yours. She is so ill-mannered. How could she stay up all day and not come to entertain my guests?"
"She's not here, Mum."
"What do you mean by she's not here?" she frowned.
"I don't know. I can't get a hold of her. I've called Kayla-" He trailed off as he dialed his assistant.
"Find out where Natalie is." He spoke to his assistant, James, on the phone, then ended the call.
"What is wrong with her this time?" His mum asked dejectedly. "She made me look bad in front of my guests. How could my daughter-in-law be missing from my party? People are blessed with homey daughters, and I'm stuck with some child who needs to be taught daily."
"Mum," Daniel butts in dejectedly. His mum was never a fan of Natalie. Nothing she did was ever good enough for her,
"You could have gotten a girl from one of these prestigious families, but no, you decide to bring home a nobody." She continued vexed.
"Mum! That nobody saved my life." He replied exasperatedly. He had lost count of the number of times he had to let her know.
"That doesn't change a thing. You could have rewarded her well for it. Anything but marriage." She responded snarkily.
"She is my wife, Mum." He sighed.
Mrs. Clay Senior wasn't having it, though.
She scoffed and walked over to lounge on a chair.
"You can always have another." She mumbled.
"Look, you could always marry someone befitting of your status and have her somewhere else. The Mullers' only daughter is back in Q City. Rumor has it she is back for good to join her elder brother in the company. Now, that is wife material."
"Mum_"
"She's from a respected home, wealthy, almost on par with ours, not to mention beautiful." She added, cutting him off.
"I don't love her." He replied angrily
"And you love Natalie?" She scoffed
"I love my wife." He shouted in anger.
She looked at him, dazed. He had never raised his voice at her for anything or anybody in the world.
"Daniel." She called out cautiously.
"I can take whatever you say, Mum, but don't you say, I do not love my wife." He responded.
His phone ringing just at that moment was enough to break the tense atmosphere.
James, his assistant, was calling back.
"Mr. Clay, the young madam booked a business class to NYC. The plane left some thirty minutes ago." He said, waiting patiently for his Boss's response.
"Fine, get the jet ready, we are flying there tonight." He responded
"Okay, Sir, but there is the thing with the rail project, and you have a meeting scheduled with Mr. Osborne. How do I proceed?"
"Dammit. Okay. Put a hold on the trip. Any news on the issue with the project?"
"At the moment, we know a new contender for the project is in the works. I'm working with our connections to get a name."
"Alright. Keep me updated." He sighed as he ended the call.
He needed a drink.
He walked to the bar and picked up a bottle of scotch with his phone in hand.
She left without a word to him.
Was she playing hard to get his attention?
He just needed to do one of those elaborate dinners or purchases and apologize a little to get her to let go of the café incident. He was sure he could lie his way through any other enquiry of hers.