Chapter 5

The sudden ringing of Charlotte's phone broke the silence that had lingered between them for so long. It was a call from Melvin's mother asking if they had gotten home. Charlotte made sure to be polite yet brief in her conversation with her; though Melvin said nothing, she could tell from the look on his face that he wasn't comfortable with the call. When the call ended, Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's your mom," she mumbled the moment she ended the call. but Melvin said nothing.

After a while of silence, Melvin finally spoke up. "Have you been speaking to my mother without my consent?"

Charlotte wondered why he was suddenly asking about that now; she had ended the call with his mother a while ago.

"She only called to ask if we were at home already," she replied.

"That is not my question. Do you talk to my mother without my..."

"I do not," she replied.

"If you haven't been speaking to her, why did she call you?"

"She might have called out of courtesy, don't you think?"

"Courtesy?" Melvin scoffed. "I do not think so."

Charlotte wondered why he thought she might be speaking with his mother without his knowledge; there wasn't anything suspicious about her conversation with her.

"Why would you say that?" She asked but he ignored her question.

"I do not want you to have any meeting with my mother in my absence" he answered. "And do not try to call her. When she calls you, make sure you find a good reason not to pick up her calls."

Charlotte stared at him. She never had any intention of speaking or getting close to any of his family members; she had made that obvious.

Why would he think she would meet with his mom without his knowledge?

"And what if there wasn't any good reason not to pick up her calls, do you think I should ignore it?"

"I do not care if there is a good reason or not. Just make sure you don't speak to her if I don't ask you to. You can't meet with her either."

"I will never do that. I have no plans..."

"I do not think so," Melvin answered, cutting her short.

Charlotte furrowed her brows. What does he mean by that?

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Charlotte regretted ever asking him that question because he kept ranting about a lot of things. Charlotte said nothing to him; she had nothing to say; even if she had something to say, he did not give her the chance to say it.

With a heavy heart, Charlotte decided to close her eyes and hope that they get to the house as soon as possible but the journey seemed longer than she had hoped; maybe that was because she was eager to get away from Melvin's nagging. So when the car finally stopped in front of the mansion, she stepped out of it quickly; Melvin had stopped nagging a while ago.

She was welcomed by the familiar yet so unfriendly atmosphere. She felt unwelcome and out of place in what she should have called a home. Standing in front of the door with lots of thoughts running through her mind, she wondered if she should go in or not and did not notice Melvin was beside her until he tapped her.

"Are you not going in? If you are not, you should move aside and stop staring like a dumbass. It's called a door and not a mirror."

Charlotte slowly moved aside without saying a word. Melvin's words in the car had already weakened her spirit and rendered her speechless; and now he called her a dumbass, she has nothing to say. She watched him go in and she sighed. She knew she could not remain outside for so long and would have to go in but she wasn't ready yet. She decided to take a stroll around the house for a while. She returned to the door after a while and was about to go in when she saw Hannah.

"Welcome, ma'am. I thought you would not be returning home today." Hannah said.

Charlotte could tell that Hannah did not know she had returned with her husband so she decided to play along.

She smiled slightly. "I changed my mind. Where is my husband? Is he back?"

"Mr Melvin got back a few minutes ago. I saw him going into his study with some documents."

"Thanks," she mumbled before heading inside.

Charlotte wondered how important the documents were for Melvin to work on them at that time of the day. She decided to peep into his study room. Since Melvin doesn't lock the door and will not notice if she opens it because it's soundproof, she has nothing to worry about. When she got to his study room, she opened the door carefully and peeped in. Melvin was busy on the phone. She could hear him speaking to someone about the documents she had worked on.

Charlotte realized the documents he was working on could be the same ones she had worked on during the week which she had handed over to the general manager through Bella. She was also certain that the person he was speaking with over the phone was the general manager. He was bluntly blaming him for trusting her with such important documents. Melvin's words showing how much he doesn't trust her and his lack of confidence in her, shattered her heart completely.

Is he always going through every document she works on or he only did that today? She wondered.

She began to reflect on the words he had said to her in the car. She could remember he had accused her of trying to win over his mother by manipulating her affection for her gain. He had also warned her to stay away from his family and not try to meet them in his absence. He also said something about her always taking advantage of others for her gain.

Seeing how he went through her work, Charlotte realized he must have thought she took advantage of the general manager to get those documents and she didn't deserve to work on them.

Her eyes were heavy from the tears that had gathered up. She ran to her room before breaking down in tears. Not only did she feel pained and alone, but was also disappointed in herself for breaking down. Though She has always tried her best at everything she does and yet no matter how much effort she put in, things never went her way, she had remained strong and never broke down but she did now. She also needed to clear not just her mind but also her head, she sat down on her bed to weep. It did not last for a long time though; she knew that her emotions should not get the best of her and she couldn't be down for so long, she wiped her tears.

Not only does she need to get herself together for tomorrow's work so as not to show her vulnerability at work, but she also cannot let Melvin see this part of her.