STRANGE NEIGHBOUR
EPISODE NINE
“Nigel is my father’s biological son. I am adopted”
It finally occurred to me that Micheal had told me the truth.
Nigel had died twelve years ago.
It softened my heart.
Nigel was connected to Raymond Smith.
“Did you ever meet him? Nigel?”.
He avoided my eyes. “Do you still love him?”
“He is dead. I er…moved on”.
“You moved on? Nigel will be so hurt if he hears that. Come to the kitchen. I was making pancakes before you came in”. He walked into his big kitchen and I followed him in.
I cleared my throat as I watched him serve me pancakes in a flat plate. “Thanks”. I said good-naturedly and sliced through the pancakes in halves. I dipped a portion into my mouth and munched.
He chuckled as he watched me. “Are you kidding me right now? Relax okay?”
I rolled my eyes. “It is the first time I am visiting you. It is normal for me to not be so comfortable since it is the first day”
He chuckled again. “Are you sure that you are thirty years old? You still behave like you did when you were sixteen”.
“Sixteen? You didn’t even know me when I was sixteen”.
He poured a kettle of tea into a cup and stretched it to me. I accepted it and sipped.
“How did it go with Michael? Lemme guess, Softie accepted him back”. He said with a mischievous grin.
“I didn’t accept him back. I told them that I was not accepting anyone”.
He met my eyes. “Why?”.
“Michael does not love me enough”.
He sipped his tea from a tea cup and stared at me without saying anything.
“So, you draw too? That portrait over there is a recent one about me, so you were definitely the one that drew it”.
He nodded. “I studied my brother’s life and everything I do till date is because of him”.
I nodded thoughtfully and ate another slice of pancake.
“Are you insinuating that you actually knew him before he died?”.
“Nigel was my best friend. I was an orphan. His parents were so fond of me because I had known Nigel all my life so it was quite easy for me to replace him”.
“Did Nigel ever tell you about me?”.
“Nigel was always talking about you. In the bathroom, toilet, room, everywhere, he was always thinking about you. Even till now, Nigel loves you more than his own life”.
“Since he is dead, he has forgotten me”.
“Why don’t you completely take Michael off your heart so that the right people will come?”.
“I have done that long since. When I told him that it was completely over, it didn’t hurt like it used to before”. I cleared my throat. “I heard my dad say something about Night walker. My dad is truly strange”.
“Why don’t you ask your dad outrightly about Nigel?”.
“Nigel? why?”.
“Tell him that you want to do a research on the fire that had killed Nigel twelve years ago”.
“Why? Was Nigel murdered?”.
“That is for you to find out yourself”.
There was an awkward silence between us and I shyly buried my face into my plate of pancakes.
“Your hair has dropped into your plate”. He said with humour in his eyes as he removed the strand of my hair that had fallen into my plate back into my head.
I flinched and watched him.
He met my eyes. “Are you alright, Laura?”.
“I am fine”. I rose up. “I think my mum wants me to help her do something tonight”.
He watched me closely. “Why do you always feel so awkward around me?”.
“It is because it is the first time that I am visiting”.
He nodded thoughtfully, though he didn’t look convinced. “Stay with me for a while, Laura”.
I was surprised to hear him say that.
He sighed. “Alright I understand that it is getting late, er…”.
“Are you lonely because you stay alone?”.
“I love being alone, but alone with Laura”. He avoided my eyes.
I laughed because I felt that he was joking.
I walked towards the door. “See you tomorrow”.
He watched me leave the house.
When I got to work, I prepared his files on his desk.
He walked in and smiled at me. “Good morning, Laura”.
“Good morning boss”.
“Continue with the Ray you have been calling me before, please. I am not your boss, I am your friend”.
It felt good that he considered me as his friend.
I walked out of the office and jumped into Michael Cole at the doorway.
He looked like he hadn’t slept in a while.
I waved. “Good morning”. I rushed on before he could say a word to me.
I had left the office early that day because I didn’t want Raymond’s driving me home to become a routine.
I walked past chief Harry’s house and I heard footsteps from behind.
I turned.
I recognized her.
It was Raymond Smith’s mother.
Nigel’s mother.
I trembled.
Cassandra Smith.
She knocked on Chief Harry’s big black gate and a security guard came out.
She gave him an identity card. “I am the doctor Sophia that chief Harry had been expecting since morning”.
“Welcome, doctor Sophia”.
She was wearing a pair of recommended glasses and corporate wears.
I gasped as I watched her walk into the house.
Raymond Smith was not the only spy.
His mother was.
My phone rang.
It was an unfamiliar number.
I connected the line. “Hello?”.
“This is Joseph Smith Cole, Raymond Smith’s father”.
I gasped.
The president of Delight company.
“How may I help you sir?”.
“I heard that you are making things difficult for Annabelle at the company. Are you aware that it can never be possible between you and Raymond Smith? You know the reason? Your father had a hand in the death of my son, Nigel”…
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