WHEN I FALL EPISODE 17

BY RUTHIE LEE

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I moved back a bit and touched her shoulder letting her know we should be disengaging the hug.

Kathleen let’s go of me and without saying a word and left for her room without looking at me in the eye or pausing for a bit.
I sighed and left for my room too.
Weird.
Worried that Mary hadn’t eaten before sleeping, I fell asleep too with that in my mind. Well i was ready to feed her any time she wakes me up.
:
I woke up suddenly not knowing why, I turned to my side and I couldn’t find Mary, somehow I didn’t panic. I checked the time to see it was just 2am in the morning.
As I walked to the living room, I saw that the lights were on…
Getting there I found my baby on Kathleen’s thigh and Kathleen gently feeding her “supposed to be dinner” meal.

“Sir, Joseph!” Kathleen called and looked up and so did Mary.
I glanced at her and then at Mary and Mary smiled.
“she woke up crying, you didn’t hear her, well you should have, but I took her out of the bed in no time so she wouldn’t disturb your sleep!” Kathleen explained.
“You took her immediately she started crying?” I asked and she nodded.
“Wouldn’t you have been asleep by that time?” I was surprised.
“Well… When I sleep, with any little noise, close or faraway, I hear them, I am very sensitive when I sleep!” she expound.

I nodded and breathed out a smile. “well thank you Kathleen, I’ll take over now, give Mary to me!” I stated walking over there to take Mary.
Kathleen shook her head. “Sir, Joseph I didn’t complain about anything, just let me do this, and this is not something we should share, Mary’s not a toy, so maybe I should just keep feeding her and also prepare all her foods!”.
“And where does that leaves me with her, I’m supposed to be the father to Mary” I stated calmly.
“I know, you don’t have to do anything like that for Mary to see you’re her father, she’ll have that in her head.” Kathleen smiled.
Since when did she become smart?

“Well I really appreciate your effort, but it’s okay, go get some sleep now and I’ll take care of Mary!” I said.

“We’re almost done and sir, Joseph I’m living here now, just let me do some things by myself okay!” she stated.
I sighed.
So stubborn.

“You should get some sleep and I’ll take care of Mary and I’m not going to listen to next word you say!” she stated not looking at me but busy with Mary.
Seriously, when did she become so stern.
I sighed and gave up. “Make sure to turn off the lights when you leave the living room!”
“I know that!” she smiled.
I looked away and walked into my room.
Getting on my bed I sighed in a relieved way, I’m a bit glad Kathleen lives with me. I’m not just a bit glad, I’m gratefully glad.
Now she wants to be the one to perform the Mary’s normal routine for the day, the routine I call stress, is what she actually wants to do for Mary every day, and she also seem to enjoy every bits of it.
I closed my eyes and before I knew it, I was fast asleep again.
.-.
The next morning I was woken up by a call from Martins, my assistant from work.
Lowering the brightness on my phone so I could look at my phone clearly,
I picked the call and the conversation started.

“Hello Martins!” I started.
“Hey… Hello” Martins replied and laughed nervously.
“Martins?” I called. “is everything okay?”
My voice was low, well because I was just waking up.
“Every thing is fine.” he breathed out.
“Are you sure, by the way you’re talking I can tell you’re lying! I’ve known you for six years Martins”.
“Okay good for me!” Martins sighed. “Joseph you’ll probably want to strangle me for what I’m about to tell you!” Martins stated.
“You haven’t tell me anything but I want to strangle you all of a sudden!” I added and Martins laughed.
“You’re not that kind of person!” he laughed out loud again.
“I could be!” I stated and he stopped laughing.
I cleared my throat. “So tell me, what did you do this time?”

“Uh… So about Mr. Gilbert, you know you guys had dinner the last time, talked about business and he said he would collab with your firm for business, and well after that day, his secretary has been reaching out to us through the office and she couldn’t stop on how Gilbert liked you, you know, you’re so young and yet so successful and just everything a woman could dream for days about…
“Martins get to the point!” I interrupted him.

“W..well you see, Mr. Gilbert has a daughter, she might be around twenty three to four, I’m not so sure, and I think I might have, sort of, tell Mr. Gilbert, you’re single and ready for a fresh start!” Martins explained.
“Fresh start?” I yelled… “Martins are you crazy!”.
“I don’t know Joseph, maybe I am!” he sighed.
“Do you think this is funny, just because my wife left me doesn’t mean I’m single, I have a child for christ sake and we didn’t even file a divorce, so how could you be sure about me being single, she could come back one day you know!” I said through gritted teeth.
“Oh please, Joseph, Suzanne is not coming back!” I could feel him rolling his eyes. He’s very fond of that attitude.

“You never know!” I breathed out.

“And don’t worry, Mr. Gilbert knows you have a child, but still he didn’t mind wanting to introduce his daughter to you!” Martins tried to sound cheerful.
“You’re crazy Martins!” I sighed.
“I am!” Martins laughed.
“And I don’t need or want a fresh start!”
“I understand but… But…
“But what?” I sighed.
“Mr. Gilbert called again last night to have dinner today with you, you know that kind of business dinner but with a little kind of hey Mr. Joseph this is my daughter!” Martins laughed.
“And you agreed to that dinner?” I asked.
“of course, I couldn’t say no, Mr. Gilbert will be a business partner soon and we don’t want to take any chances!” Martins expound.
He has a point but he’s kind of selling me too.
“And why didn’t you call me when all this calls and conversations were happening?” I asked.
“Because I wanted to prove to you that I’m the best assistant in the world. And can handle everything on my own without my boss’s interference.”
“well congratulations. You just earned a badge of being the worst assistant, so you’re basically telling me to have dinner with Mr. Gilbert’s daughter to make him partner up even more with my firm?” I scoffed.
“I’m not telling you to have dinner with her. Mr. Gilbert will be the one you’re having dinner with, he will just bring his daughter along, and it’s not about his daughter it’s about business too!” Martins blurted.

“When is the dinner?” I asked.
“Tonight as 6pm, i will text you the address!” Martins voice sounded more cheerful. “You can bring Mary along if you need to prove–
“of course my Mary will be there, I will be at the dinner just for business and if he thinks I need a fresh start, I’m all set to prove him wrong. The one who needs a fresh start is you, good day Martins!” I said and hung up.
Just as I was dropping my phone, a message from Martins came in and it was the address we will be having dinner tonight.
Realising Mary wasn’t on the bed with me I walked out of my room and head to Kathleen’s room.
I knocked lightly on the door and heard Kathleen’s soft voice say “yes?”.
I opened the door and walked into see her seated on the bed and staring out the window. Mary was fast asleep beside her on the bed.
Just like I expected.

“Good morning sir, Joseph!” Kathleen smiled at me.
“Good morning!” I replied and walked out of her room.

Just came to see if Mary was there that was all.

I walked into the bathroom and grabbed my toothbrush, turned the faucet on the sink, place my toothbrush under the running water and grabbed the toothpaste.
–
Brushing my teeth, I bent down to pour the remains in my mouth down the sink, as I raised my head up I flinched when I saw Kathleen’s reflection in the mirror in front of me.
Geez. When did she walk in.

“Goodness, you scared the living day lights out of me!” I stated.
“Sorry!” she giggled.
“Where’s Mary?” I asked.
“She’s still asleep!” she replied.
“Next time when you walk in a room, be it the bathroom or kitchen, you knock!” I explained…
“The door was opened.” she added.
“Still, you knock with an open door.!” I expound and she nodded.

“What are you doing in here anyways?” I asked.
“I’m here to brush my teeth!” she smiled.
“Oh!” I said. Silly me, didn’t think she’d…
I paused.
Rinsed my mouth and turned to her.
“You’ve always brushed your teeth right?” I asked.
“Yes, I live as a human now, and I do have morning breaths so why wouldn’t I?” she smiled.
“But you didn’t bring a single of your personal belongings here, so what have you used?” I asked.
She couldn’t possibly…
“I’ve always used a toothbrush!” she replied.
“The last time I checked you don’t have a toothbrush!” I stated.
“Yeah, but still I brush my teeth with the toothbrush in your hand!” Kathleen stated my hand released the toothbrush on its own and the brush dropped into the sink.

I blinked rapidly. “So you’re trying to tell me, we’ve been sharing the same toothbrush?”
“Yes, wh.. What’s wrong? Is anything bad about sharing a toothbrush?” she asked, walking passed me picking the brush from the sink, and placing tooth paste on it.
She doesn’t even care!!!!!.

“People don’t share toothbrushes!!” I half yelled.
“Well I don’t care about sharing one with you!” she said placing the brush in her mouth and standing in front of the sink and mirror.
“You care, you don’t care, it’s bad!” I elaborated.
“How bad?” she rolled her eyes.
“I could contaminate your disease!” I yelled.
She gasped and turned to me. “my disease! I don’t have any disease!”. She glared at me.
“Or you could contaminate my disease!” I tried to make her understand, but she smiled… “contaminating your disease? That wouldn’t be so bad!”
Is she kidding me right now.
“I’ll go down the super mart this afternoon and I will be getting two new brushes. One for you and one for me, and we’ll be disposing this one!” I stated.
“But i want to keep using the one!” she whined.
“You can’t. Not on my watch!” I scoffed.
I’ve always been the first to brush my teeth, that’s why I never noticed. If she had been the first my brush would have always been wet.
What the hell.
And to think she wants to contaminate my disease, Kathleen is something else.

“Can I come with you to get our toothbrushes?” Kathleen asked as she rinsed her mouth under the sink.
“No, it’ will be day time and you can’t walk under the sun remember?” I stated and she laughed.
“Oh yeah, I remember how silly of me to forget!”.
I shook my head Negatively.

“Anyways, what do you think about coming to a business dinner tonight with Mary and I?” I asked.
“A business dinner, I don’t know how that works, but I’ll go anywhere you and Mary goes!” she grinned.
Perfect.
“Okay then we’ll leave here by six on the dot.” I smiled.
.
T. B. C
BY RUTHIE LEE 🌸 🌸
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