A Naive Bride for the Sophisticated CEO

Chapter 74: Been so long.

“I’m done, Amelia. I’ll head out now. What else do you need for you and Alice? I’ll get everything.”

“When you go out, you’ll lock us in the house right?” She asked, staring at his face. Fred gulped hard and looked away.

“Yeah. I…”

“You don’t trust me to leave me alone in the house without restraint.”

“I’m sorry, Amelia. But I can’t be careless with you. Not anymore.”

Amelia chuckled and shook her head and looked at him. “You don’t have to feel so bad about it. I understand you, okay? But I have a request.”

Fred bounced his head slowly and looked at her. “What is your request?”

“Can I at least go with you? It’s been so long I took Alice on a stroll. She seems bored already. I would love to take her out today. So can we go with you to the mall? I’d be able to recollect other things I need when I see them too.”

“That is your request?” He asked, and she bounced her head excitedly.

“That’s all I’m asking. I’ll be with you and I promise I won’t try to do anything stupid. Maybe then, you’ll be able to trust me.”

“Okay. You should prepare then.” He responded, and she sprang to her feet in excitement and headed into the room where Alice laid.

*

They headed out of the house and walked down the lonely street to the busy road to board a taxi.

Amelia carried Alice in her arms, and rested her head on her shoulder. She dressed her in clothes that could shield her from the cold weather. She wore a head warmer on her head too.

Fred walked next to them and tried holding hands with Amelia. Amelia noticed this and made sure they had contact.

When he felt her hand touch his, he looked at her face and noticed she wasn’t even paying attention to him.

‘Does that mean she involuntarily made our hands touch? She doesn’t mind if I hold her hand in public?’ He thought.

He summoned courage and took her hand in his. When he held her hand, she looked at his face and grinned. She adjusted Alice and focused on her walking.

She also responded to his touch and held him too. Fred felt butterflies in his belly. His joy knew no bounds.

‘Is this real? Does she truly want us to be a thing, or she is just trying to gain my trust. I need to be very careful.’

Soon, a taxi approached them and Fred waved it down. They got into the taxi and headed to the shopping mall.

***

Penelope got back to James’ mansion feeling so tired. She got into the living room and found no one there.

“Where is everyone? Helen, are you there?! I’m back!” She called out, but got no response.

“James?!” She also called out but it was the same thing. She got to response.

“Where did they all go?” She slammed into the couch and pulled out her phone from her bag. She unlocked it and put a call across to Helen.

She placed the phone on her ear and waited for her to respond.

“Penelope. Are you back? I texted you that I’d be heading out to get groceries for dinner.”

“For real? Wow, I didn’t see the message. So you are at the mall now, right?”

“Yes. I’ll be back in twenty to twenty five minutes. We’ll prepare dinner together, okay?”

“Sure! What of James? He is nowhere to be found.”

“Oh, he went to the office. It was a very important and urgent issue, so he had to go. He’ll be back for dinner too.”

“Alright. See you soon.”

“Hold on! Charles will be there soon too. He is back from his trip and is heading straight to James’.”

Penelope’s heart sank to her belly as she listened to her. She gulped hard and nodded.

“Okay.”

“Please take care of him before I arrive. I told him not to return today but he would never listen. He can’t leave for a whole day when his son is under great pressure.”

“It’s understandable. We’ll talk later, okay?”

“Sure! Bye!”

She hung up the call and placed the phone on the table. ‘So we’ll be alone. Oh God, I need to compose myself.’

She hurriedly stood up and adjusted her dress. She began to fidget and started shaking her legs. She folded her hands and started breathing hard.

“It’s been years, why do I still feel like this? Penelope, you have Hopper now.” She mumbled to herself.

“Ding! Dong!”

The sound of the doorbell jolted Penelope out of her thoughts and she sprang to her feet. Her heart began to thump against her chest vigorously as she approached the door.

“Who is there?” She managed to find her voice.

“It’s me, Charles.”

She opened the door and a slight smile crossed her face as soon as their eyes met.

“Hey, Penelope! How are you?” Charles asked with a wide smile.

“I’m good. How are you too? How was your trip? Please come in.” She answered nervously.

“I’m so tired.” He answered, walking to the couch. He slammed into the couch and rested his head on the chair’s backrest. Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

He closed his eyes and swallowed. Penelope stared at him as his Adam’s apple rose and fell.

She gradually approached the couch too and looked away. “Are you thirsty? I’ll get you some water.”

“Yes, thank you.”

As soon as she was gone, he pulled out his phone and put a call across to Helen.

“I’m back, baby. When will you be back?”

“Soon, okay? I’m in a haste because of you.”

“Okay then. We’ll see soon. I missed you.”

“Missed me? You were gone for just a day.”

“That’s enough. I missed you even before I left.”

“Hmm… I missed you too. Talk to you later, okay?”

“See you soon. Muaahh!”

Penelope walked into the living room right before he could hang up. She let out a feeble smile and placed the cup on the table in front of him.

“Thank you so much, Penelope.”

He picked up the cup and took a sip from it.

Penelope watched him and after a few minutes, she breathed out through her mouth.

“It’s been so long.” She uttered and Charles raised his head to look at her.

“Pardon?” He responded.

“Since our first meeting. It’s been so long.”

Charles creased his brows and stared at her for a few seconds before speaking up.

“I’m lost. Our first meeting?” He inquired and she bobbed.

“Wasn’t that at the hospital? When you and Helen met for the first time.”

Penelope chuckled and shook her head. “I knew you wouldn’t remember. We have met before recently. We met about 30 years ago. We were so young, so it’s understandable if you don’t remember me.”

“Wait! 30 years ago? How do you still remember that? When was that?”

“Well, it was a wonderful meeting, I would never forget it. I bumped into you when coming out of a shopping mall here in Alabama. Specifically the biggest mall in Alabama at the moment.”

“Really? I can’t remember a thing! It’s crazy.”

“Well, it’s been so long. You haven’t changed a bit. Still as handsome as you looked back then.”

Charles chuckled and lowered his head shyly. “Don’t flatter me, Penelope.”

“I’m damn serious! You were so fine back then.”

Charles grinned and looked at her. “Thank you so much. I’m sorry I can’t recall anything from that day.”

“Oh please, don’t be worry. We didn’t even have the time to introduce ourselves. You were in a hurry. I wanted to look for you afterwards but I had to leave for Canada.”

“Oh really? Why are we just talking about this? The world is truly a small place.”

“We didn’t get the chance until now. We’ve been so busy. I haven’t even had the chance to catch up with Helen too.”

“Ding Dong!!!” The doorbell rang.

“My wife is here! I’ll get the door.” Charles said in excitement and sprang to his feet.

The smile on her face slowly faded off and she lowered her head.

Charles opened the door and Helen ran into his arms and embraced him.

“Welcome back home!” She uttered excitedly. Charles pressed his lips against her and they both chuckled.

Helen looked up and saw Penelope staring at them.

“Welcome back.” Penelope uttered with a feeble grin.