The Wife ESCAPED!

Timmy sighed as he closed the incident log book he had been poring over. That was one of his jobs as a partner in the business. While Olly ran the day to day technical operations, he was more focused on the administrative aspect. But right now, he was one tired administrator… and a hungry one too. It was weekend, so they would surely have an early closing time, but it was still some hours away and Timmy could not endure this hunger for that long, that was why he had suspended his part of the weekend inventory.

He made his way out of the office and closed the door behind him, as usual not bothering to lock it. He went down the hall and turned at the first curve, just in time to meet a surprise.

Not fifteen feet away was his sister and the much taller Jim, both of them whispering and smiling at each other, with the former holding on to the latter. Timmy was not shocked, rather he was only mildly surprised at the speed at which they had become so close. Clearly, Tracy had not bothered to wait for him to actually make any attempt at a hook-up.

“Ahem,” he coughed as he resumed walking towards them.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

Casually, with a smile still pasted on his face, Jim turned to look at whoever had coughed. He sighted his boss and froze! The smile was gone and his eyes went wide. But it was only for a few milliseconds. He recovered quickly and immediately disengaged himself from Timmy’s sister. But just as fast as he disengaged himself, Tracy re-engaged herself, clutching his arm even tighter as they both turned to face her brother.

“Timmy, how far?”, she hailed, still holding on to the clearly uncomfortable Jim.

“I’m cool, sis. I see you’ve gotten yourself a new friend.”

“Yes o. Jim is a very sweet and good bad boy,” she giggled, poking the hapless young man in the ribs. Jim could do nothing but flash a quick stiff smile. He clearly did not know who to please.

“Okay,” Timmy sighed. “Hopefully, you’re enjoying yourselves…”

“Of course, we are,” she piped.

“Great. I’m off to go get myself some lunch. I’m guessing you guys don’t want to tag along.”

“Perfect guess. Get going please. You can’t leave fast enough.”

“Okay then. See you later.”

He walked past them and continued his journey. He turned the final curve and came in direct view of the front desk and the main entry/exit. Like a dream, he watched as a familiar figure walked in and stood for a second or two, scanning her environment. He quickly rushed over to her before she could get to the receptionist.

“Hi Karow. Nice to see you again,” he hailed, briefly forgetting that important advice about keeping a straight face. He corrected himself immediately and switched his body language to business mode, wiping all traces of an impending smile from his face.

She looked at his proferred hand with a mixture of wariness and consideration. After a moment of indecision, she responded by barely touching her hand with his and swiftly withdrawing it before he could hold it for a proper handshake. Timmy almost sighed out loud in relief. One percent of a handshake was far better than none.

“So you wanna go it alone or can I direct you to your desired destination?”, he asked, maintaining eye contact – something that Caro was yet to do.

It was another moment of indecision as she spent a few seconds mulling the question over in her head. Finally, “Let’s go,” she said or rather, ordered.

He’d have loved to walk beside her, but she gauged her steps according to the frequency of his, making sure that she was always a few steps behind. Timmy had no choice but to continue leading the way.

When they turned the first curve, the first thing they saw was Tracy and Jim, who were still together. Yikes! Timmy had forgotten about their presence!

Tracy turned to look at the intruders and was quite captivated by the sight, but she said nothing. With each step he took, Timmy hoped and prayed she would continue to keep her mouth shut. If only he could seal her mouth by just wishing it! But as they walked past her and Jim, there was no sound from either of them. Timmy was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when suddenly…

“Is this the girl?”

Timmy froze and ground his teeth. Nevertheless, he and Caro turned to regard his sister.

“What girl?”, he asked in feigned ignorance and fake serenity, even though his heart was close to his mouth. His position was so exposed that he couldn’t risk giving eye signals to his sister.

“The girl you’ve been chasing around town na,” Tracy blurted.

“What? This is a totally different person altogether,” Timmy answered with counterfeit nonchalance.

“Eh en? Okay. Anyway, let’s go, dear. Time’s running.”

Jim, whom she was now referring to, turned to his boss, but she pulled his hand before he could open his mouth to say anything.

“Let’s go, joor,” she hissed.

“But I have… there’s somet…”

“Forget about it. Let’s go,” she ordered, matching words with action as she pulled him with her. Jim tried to communicate an apology to his boss, but his lady was moving too fast and he almost tripped.

Timmy, tired of watching the drama, turned to his guest, “Sorry about that. Please come with me.”

Caro complied, at first head down and deep in thought. But she quickly squared her shoulders and raised her chin in an effort to shake off the thought. But still, she could not get it out of her head. Why on Earth was she feeling a mysterious pang over the fact that Timmy was chasing another girl apart from her? For crying out loud, it wasn’t her business! In fact, why did she even agree to come to this place, by the way?

Her mother had told her of Timmy’s remorse and repentance. She had listened in silence even as Mary encouraged her to go over to his lair. But what had made her eventually decide to do it was that it had been presented to her not as a visit aimed at begging for a job, but actually to majestically, pitifully and reluctantly accept Timmy’s desperate offer of a job. But now that she was here, she was beginning to have second thoughts.