Mistakenly Eaten

88. Brotheren

Nicholas sat inside his office, going through a presentation that was sent to him by his assistant working in New York.

The door to his office flipped open and he looked up to find Salva standing by the door, with a backpack resting over his shoulders and another tiny trolley, which was more of a hand carry luggage bag, being rolled with its handle extended upwards.

“Leaving already?”

Nicholas c****d and Salva nodded.

“I realized that the sooner I leave, the quicker it would be for me to come back.”

“Whoa! Look at you talking about coming back already. Didn’t you hate this island.”

Salva shrugged, “I figured this place is better and more at peace, compared to the shenanigans that we have to follow when we are back in the city.”

“And that was the very exact reason for you to hate the island because it was dead and didn’t have any party and bling like the city does. Dude are you alright? what has gotten in to you?”

“Yesterday you said that charts are stupid and today, I said that island is a good place to be. I guess something different happened to us? Do you think what happened to us is called maturity?”

Nicholas laughed at Salva’s suggestion.

“I don’t know about maturity but there is something definitely different in the air on this island. It wasn’t like this when we first came on it. It felt so dead and pale and now it feels a bit more alive. Or I guess, our moods shifted and we have gotten better?”

Salva shrugged, “Could be. Anyways, I just came by to let you know that I will be back in a week or two. And I will always be just a phone call away. If you need anything, just text me and if you also want to know anything about Althea as well, I mean in terms of how to handle her or how we have set things up here, just call me right away, okay?”

Nicholas nodded, “I have Anthony and Martha for that. They will take care of things well.”

He got up from behind the table and walked towards Salva, “Also before you leave, if you meet Mom and Dad, do tell them that I am doing better and try and avoid the conversation about what we are doing on the island with them. I know Dad, he will get concerned about things because we have laid out a huge series of web just to keep Althea here and his paranoia would make him get anxious. I don’t want him to worry much or mom as well. Just let them know that I am doing better.”

Salva nodded and was about to leave when Nicholas held his shoulder and turned him around, pulling him in for a hug.

He tightened his hold around his cousin and Salva also hugged him back. He could tell that Nicholas’s mood and behavior had shifted on a positive spectrum and he had become mentally and physically better.

Salva could actually feel change in his body as well, as his shoulders had broadened as well and at the same time, Nicholas’s tone had gotten softer and he was talking more than he did when he first came to the island. In fact, Salva had forgotten to ever hear Nicholas talk that ling except for official meetings in which he also yelled most of the times at his assistants and managers.

It was after such a long while that he had noticed Nicholas had become less poignant and more prosed and delightful.

It was like he was turning back to the Nicholas who he was before he met Cheryl and she turned his life upside down.

He was happy, cheerful and warm, something that everyone missed about him.

He had even started dressing up like his usual self, wearing regular button downs during the day and casual t shirts during the evening. He was even shaving regularly and also hitting the gym every morning.

Salva was glad that his little hard work that he had put up for his brother, had worked out well and the outcome was already looking on Nicholas, who was healthier and more active than before.

Salva was happy that he had gotten a good idea just in time before Nicholas could have fallen deep into depression, from where he could’ve never been brought back.

But that was not the only thing that he was thankful for. He was grateful for Althea as well, whose food was curing his best friend and cousin and that’s why he planned on getting something special for Althea as well when he would return back, a gesture of his to show him that he was extremely obliged of her presence in his life. She made things easier for him when they were extremely tough.

Salva broke the hug away from Nicholas, who smiled at his buddy.

“I am glad that we both were born in the same family and that we are related, or else like would’ve sucked without you.” Nicholas spilled some words of appreciation for Salva, who chimed back at his best friend.

“Don’t worry, I will come back, I am not leaving you stranded on the island, remember? We are always supposed to be there for each other.”

Salva patted Nicholas’s shoulder and finally walked out of the room, making Nicholas smile a little as he watched Salva leave.

He was definitely going to miss him and things would feel a bit deficient at the island as well.

But he was happy at the same time, because now it wasn’t only Salva for him to interact with on the island or someone that he could talk to when he felt lonely and sorrowful. Now, there was someone else, someone new in his life that brought colors and reasons to be happy.

Althea!

Just the mere thought of her, spread his lips in a curvy smile on his face. he looked at the time and noticed that it was just ten minutes tell till nine, which meant that his breakfast would be coming to him soon and he felt extremely excited, anticipating what Althea could’ve possibly prepared in the breakfast.

Everyday it was something unique that she prepared up and presented in a wide range of colorful representations. And after last night, when Nicholas had also, had a taste of her, he only wondered if her food could entice him anymore or if his hunger had just turned entirely carnal and could only be satisfied with his mouth dug deep in between her legs.

Althea on the other hand, finally prepared scotch roasted ham, a recipe that she had learned from an old canteen lunch lady in her high school, who usually prepared it at her school but Althea decided to elevate it and took it entirely to a next level by adding tropical fruits in it and making it a perfect exotic breakfast dish.

Once done with their tasks, everyone made their way out of the kitchen and Fiona tagged along Althea.

“It is so exhausting to think of a dish every morning. It was good at first when they would ask us to prepare certain dishes but now it is just getting exhausting.”

Fiona complained to Althea, making her snort out a small laughter.

“Come on, that was the entire concept of the competition to begin with. Don’t you know why they carry out cook offs during every meal time? That’s because they want to see how would we fit in, at a cooking facility, be it a restaurant or any other such place. But a kitchen runs three times and that is the basic concept of the competition, to judge a cook’s capability within the span of three months, over how they can run a kitchen and operate it smoothly and creatively. Don’t you remember?”

She asked Fiona, who forgot that she was also supposed to be a participant in the competition and immediately cleared her throat, getting a hold of her thoughts.

“Of course, I do…” she snorted a small laughter and the two made their way towards the garden, where they decided to hang by a little.

Inside the kitchen, Martha picked up Althea’s dish and was simply amazed and impressed by how the girl was able to elevate simple dishes in to something exceptionally tropical. She did have knack for cooking and there was a reason why Nicholas was so smitten by everything that she made.

Picking up the dish, she made her way out of the kitchen but stopped in the main foyer when Serena appeared in front of her.

“I can take this to Nicholas.” She offered and even though Martha wasn’t much appeased with Serena lately, she still passed the dish down to Serena, nodding her head, allowing her to take the dish to Nicholas.

She moved to walk past Serena but stopped when Serena called her out.

“I am sorry.” She blurted abruptly, taking Martha by surprise.

“Huh?”

“I am sorry for what I said yesterday. I shouldn’t have. I got promiscuously envious of Althea and the fact that Fiona was more dependent on her than me.”

Martha softly smiled, gently keeping her hand on Serena’s shoulder.

“I get it! It is hard seeing your little girl grow up. Take it from me. I hated when Selena, my daughter started going to sleepovers and parties with her friends. She was my best friend until she was eight years old and suddenly one day she wanted to hangout with her friends at the mall. That’s how things change. Yes, you had never experienced that blossoming with Fiona because she always stayed with you at the island the options that she had for friendship were limited as well but you need to understand that these girls, when they grow up, they are not just girls anymore.

They become woman and you need to let them grow because even you were once a girl and you learned and became a woman. So, I know Fiona is just twenty two at the moment and you have always been her only solace and the way you have loved her and held her, nurturing her like your own daughter, she is also everything to you. But even with our own blood, we need to sacrifice love for their freedom. So, you need to love Fiona but at the same time, you need to give her the freedom of choice as well. That actually makes a mother daughter relationship less stressful. Because while I was focusing on my relationship with Selena, I actually forgot to focus on my relationship with Anthony and now how I wish, that I could just ignite back our spark and…”

Martha was in the middle of explaining her circumstance to Serena when a loud yell from right outside the house, startled her, making her turn to look at the door keenly.

She focused her entire attention towards the door and felt that she could hear a familiar voice coming from outside the room.

Serena heard those noises too and immediately bit her tongue inside her throat, understanding that it was too late for her to turn back on what she had ended up doing. Lifting the food plate up till her face, she rushed out of the main foyer and towards Nicholas’s office to deliver it to him, leaving Martha alone.

Martha walked out of the house, opening up the double wooden door and gasped out loud, when she saw a slightly chubby girl, her height around five foot and two, with her brown hair tied up in a loose bun and tattoos on her arms and legs and stomach visible and evident, since she wore a pair of denim shorts and a black tube top, that barely covered the girls chest.

The girl stood arguing with Althea, while Fiona held her hands spread out like a hawk between the two.

The girl spoke up once again, making herself quite evident to Martha, even though her back faced the older woman.

“Listen, I don’t care whoever the f**k you are, you need to get off this island, right now.”

Martha’s eyes widened as she immediately recognized the girl and that voice and gasped her name out loud.

“Selena?”

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Well! Here comes a new and fun character! :D

Thank you for always reading and supporting my work <3