The servants are back in the house? I asked myself as well.
As we walked down the entrance hall ahead, I saw more servants running up and down the house. When did they get here? What were they doing here? What was going on.?
As we walked my attention was caught by some shopping bags that were all over the floor. They were all from designer brands shopping bags. My confusion only grew as I wondered where they came from. Diana what were you doing?
Then we went to the living room where we found a group of people standing. Expecting to find Diana so I could confront he I looked among the people. However, I saw they were only men. Four of them wore simple black suits and stood around the room like guards. There was one other man who stood out from the bodyguards. He wore a different finer suit and was casually moving around.
My eyes widened in horror as I recognized the person. This stature, this posture, the dark hair… t was… Keith. A sight just as horrible as if Diana was the one standing there, if not worse. He was looking at the pictures of Tony and I that were on the wall.
What the hell was he of all people doing here? In my past life he had NEVER once set foot in this house. Was this about the thing this morning? I thought he was going to reschedule or send an email I never actually expected him to come himself. Was what he had to say to me that serious?
He turned around to face me once as I approached. At this point in time, in my past life it wouldn't have been long since I'd seen him but in this life it had been it had been years since I'd seen him. As my eyes met his piercing blue eyes, all sorts of painful memories came to mind. The divorce, the legal battle that followed afterwards.
"Jasmine," he said my name pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Keith," I said as I met his eyes. I felt a surge of rage course through my body. I fought the urge to punch him for everything he had done to me and Tony in the past. Technically he hadn't done all those things yet, but he was soon going to. Whether it was the future or the past it was still the same Keith.
"Dad?" Tony then said.
"Hello, Anthony," Keith curtly greeted him as his eyes briefly glanced at him.
I suddenly remembered Tony was beside me. I looked down at him and saw a sad longing look in his eyes as he looked at Keith. I felt the anger I was trying to supress course through me again. Tony was obviously happy to see Keith, but Keith wasn't even here for him. Just to yell at me about something no doubt. I then knelt so I was eye level with Tony.
"Tony why don't you go and wash up and get started on your homework. I'll get dinner ready soon," I told him.
If Keith was here to pick a fight with me then I didn't want Tony to see me argue with him.
"But mum if the servants are back does that mean you won't make dinner tonight," he asked me.
"Don't worry about that. I won't be long with your father," I told him. "Okay?"
His sad eyes met mine and he slowly nodded accepting my order. He then turned away and left the living room. Then my ears heard his footsteps go up the stairs to his room.
I then stood up and turned to Keith who had been watching my interaction with Tony. He didn't say anything as he stared at me intently. It seemed he was waiting for me to go first.
"What have I done?" I asked Keith breaking the silence.
"What do you mean?" he asked me.
"Why else would you be here? You've never set foot in this house before," I asked him. "So go on tell me."
I wanted to get this over and done with so I could get back to doing anything else but interacting with him.
"You refused to see me this morning, so I decided to come see you myself," he started as he began to casually walk around the room with his hands in his trouser pockets.
I watched him as he paced back and forth with my eyes narrowed.
"You know, I found your refusal quite interesting considering how desperately you've been trying to meet with me every day for the past few months," he commented.
"I had to go to work," I simply replied. He had obviously expected me to leave everything to see him, considering how the past me acted at this time.
"Right…" he said as he rolled his eyes. Judging from his reaction it seems he was aware I was working and second, he didn't take the fact I was working seriously.
"And why didn't you come to the event on Saturday?" he asked me.
"I'm surprised you even noticed I wasn't there," I commented. "Attendance wasn't mandatory, was it? So, I took Tony to the beach."
"I can see you two had fun," Keith commented, as he looked at the pictures on the wall.
"Keith, what's this about?" Surely, he didn't care that much that I hadn't attended the Acland party. "And what's all this?" I asked as I pointed to the shopping bags around the room.
He chuckled in disbelief. "I was hoping you could tell me, Jasmine, since you're the one who bought them."
"What?" I asked him in confusion.
"What do you mean what? There's no need to hide it, Jasmine. I know everything," he told and then stared at me expectantly.
It seems he was expecting me to 'confess' but I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Alright then, you finished your monthly allowance buying all this stuff for yourself and you're afraid to ask for more money, so you resorted to working in a restaurant as a waitress, right?" he told me in a disappointed tone.
What he'd said sounded so absurd I wasn't sure if I'd heard right. I could only blink at him stunned.
"I'm just trying to understand is why you would make so many irresponsible purchases in the first place? And why that would make you resort to waitressing?" he asked in disbelief as he looked at me like I was crazy.
My eyes widened as I finally pieced together what was going on. The reason the servants were back in the house, the reason the driver came to pick Tony and I when I went to pick him up from school was because of Diana. She knew Keith was coming to my house and didn't want him to know what she was doing to me. And she also made all these expensive purchases to make it look like I had finished my allowance from reckless spending and not due to her keeping it from me. Clearly that was the story she'd told him.