THE MISER, THE RISER AND THE WISER

Chapter 3:Havoc

“Ahh boss. You are late.” She picked up a coffee for me.” “So, Lor, what’s new?” I had only uttered the words before she began shouting, “Did you see Uma and Dan in the Office like I did?” I was haphazardly listening to her. “Maybe,” I whispered so that she couldn’t hear. But oh, she heard me and then threw mugs and papers and files here and there as if I had cheated her. “Ok, Lor, calm down and please tell me what’s happening?” “Yes. Last week, Dan warned me he would call Uma back if I didn’t sell one car.” “So?” I interrupted her. “Uma is my sibling with a niche for changing men-like clothes anytime. She is a big tramp. She ruined my little sister Harriet’s life by being intimate with her husband and now she is doing that with me.” “Ahh…Harriet, I heard she got divorced some months ago.” “Yes, thanks to Uma, and now she wants Dan.” “Why don’t you let him go? If he chooses someone over you, why do you want to be with him? He has ruined your career already and now your life, it seems.” “I can’t Benny. I just… can.” She became nervous and had a breakdown as she fell to the floor unconscious. Some minutes later I sprinkled water to wake her up. I knew her like the priest knew God. Yet, she didn’t want to open her eyes. She stayed on the floor, motionless, thinking about the things she would do with Dan or Uma. And how did I know that? Like I said, I know her like the priest knows god himself or herself. She once kicked a girl at college for abusing her. The girl who was a junior had abused her for no reason and Lor kicked her so hard in her stomach that she remembers the pain still. Yes, that girl and I still meet. And her name is Uma! And now she was cheating on Lor’s fiancé. I had only met her a month ago at a party where she was seen hanging with my lusty friends who I hated, at least to say. Like Lor, I had problems with Uma but that was the past and here she was being a medium for me Lor to be together or even ruining the new friendship that we have. Lor already is heartbroken and on the floor sobbing and god knows what Uma is doing with Dan right now. I didn’t trust Uma, but Dan I never thought him to be a scoundrel with women, as he was with money. If he wasn’t, what was he doing with Uma and if he was, is this my chance to console Lor and be with her once again? This Love triangle between the miser, the wiser, and the riser needed to go in a direction that would end the triangle once and for all. And it was going well until Uma came. Now what do I do? I had so many questions in my head. Suddenly, I saw Lor wake up from her emotional sleep and blabber about what to do next. I thought about confronting Dan and at least giving him a nudge in his head about what was to come, seeing Lor blabber with air. “A…n I can’t see him now. I can’t.” “So you’ll leave him?” “I…am not sure. But to go away out of town for a week should be good.” “What! You are giving him space, Lor!” I shouted, listening to her. “Then please advise me, Benny. I can’t live without him. And that is the only way to stay away from them.” “Hmm…you know why not let them marry and have kids and stay away for months? Shall we?” I mocked her. “You think he will marry her if I leave? Then I shouldn’t leave, should I?” “You know you being gone for a month with me would be better, and why don’t we make sure Dan knows we are together?” “Is that a plan to get us back together or leave him Benny?” “Ahh… I don’t know. But I think you are way too much giving him room. Why not make him realize he is a fool to cheat on you?” I had only said those words that Lor slapped me. “I am sorry Lor.” I said, yet she didn’t answer. She was thinking hard. After a few minutes, she began gasping, “You know, back at college when we were together for maybe some months… “It was three weeks Lor and you made me squeal like a pig after breaking up.” “Did I?” “Yes, you did, and I asked you not to leave me and we dated again and again for 3 weeks and again you left me.” “Ah…yes I remembered you flirted with Vanessa…” “No, she was flirting with me.” “Oh… maybe I was wrong. Why did I leave you the first time?” “I don’t know. Maybe I was boring or something.” “Ahh..it’s not boring it was Uma, I saw you with Uma.” “You did?” “Yes, weren’t you?” “Well, she was our junior remember so you must have seen us I don’t know maybe just staring at each other.” “Are you that boring not to be stared at Benny?” “Well, I don’t know. But the way you talk, I think I do.” “Why weren’t you a tramp, Benny? I used examples of you to make him feel jealous. Maybe that’s why he cheated on me.” “You did?” “Yes, for nearly 11 years since I dated him.” “He dated you because of me?” “Maybe, but he never asked about meeting you! Yes, I don’t know why?” “So you want me to meet him?” No, I want him to want to meet you.” “What is that supposed to mean?” “Well, I am not selling cars to be with him and neither am leaving him.” “You’re not? So what then?” “I don’t know, be killed, by Uma.” “Yes, let's do that shall we?” I joked. She didn’t say a word. I saw the look on her face. As humorous as it sounded, her face looked as if she was looking to go look for a knife. “Maybe you can talk to him.” I consoled her after some minutes. I knew she wouldn’t leave him. She was a woman who would fight for her man. But why did Warren Cheat? That was a big question for me. I knew Dan like an owner knows his pet. I never heard him go out with a woman except for Lor ever in his life. So why is Uma with him? Does she want money? Could be? Although she earns 50 grands a year so maybe not. She is a chief server at the Brooklyn Star Hotel, as I remember now. One of my Italian friends, Giovinco, took me there a month ago. It was all coming up to me. She noticed me and then used me to take Giovinco home. Yes, I remember. I was drunk and walked to her. “Thinking about Uma?” interrupted Lor from behind. “I was. I remember how she ditched me to be with one of my Italian friends.” No sooner had those words slipped from my mouth than I got struck by her elbow in my abdomen in no time. That hurt. Next time I am not gonna talk about Uma. No…never. And not to Lor. Why would I compare a tramp with a woman like Lor unless... Yes, now I was up to something. Now why would a serious guy like Dan fall for a woman like Uma in no time? Yes, must be Lor who had done something. It can’t be the cars. Those cars she bought some 5 years ago, so why punish her now for the cars? Could be because she had done a thing like Uma to Dan so that he cheated or something like that. I tried to ask Lor gently so that I wouldn’t get hit in my abdomen again. “Hey Lor, I hope you never knew what Dan or Uma did to you. Did you?” She understood what I asked and immediately replied.” Listen, Benny, can you hold a secret!.” A secret? No, what could that be? Though I did politely ask her mistook it. “Yes, Lor I can. Please tell me.” She whispered something in my ear. I barely understood the full sentence other than maybe. “Maybe!” “I don’t know. I was with other men some months after Dan fired me from the CEO's job.” “Hmmm… weren’t you engaged after that? And he didn’t fire you. You left as I see.” “Well, I don’t know. Maybe I mistake as Dan did. It must be that what happened today.” I looked at her with a strange misbelief as if whether to help the two or leave them be. And what I did next will make you want to say “What!”

Yes, what I did next was bizarre. I took Lor with me and bought two sets of binoculars and we reached my home and watched what was happening in Dan’s cabin from my terrace.

“Are you sure this is worth watching?”

“Yes, Lor, we need to. It could be something else.”

“I hope so.” She replied in a snobby tone and gazed through the binoculars. He was still with Uma. His cabin window was so clean that we could see every object in his room, including the sofa and the desks. They were sitting on his sofa. They weren’t being naughty as they were in the morning. “Why aren’t they doing anything?” Lor fumed.

“Yes, they are like drinking coffee.”

“Oh, there is that Burn who I left the job to. That sycophant does follow Dan everywhere.”

“Well, he is a renowned man even if he is a sycophant. Burn Hidds, I wish he was in my company.”

“Yes, you would want him if you want to throw some million on trash staff.” Lor mocked me.

“You do hate him then?” “No, he is a lackey. But I have to admit, I gave him the job.” “So I was right. You weren’t fired, but you left.” “Yes, but I was forced to leave.” “That was Dan’s doing, not Burn’s.” “Look, Burn is taking something out of his pocket.” “Yes, a scarf. But why he is taking out a scarf?” “Maybe he’s got cold.” “You know it’s a scarf, not a hanky Benny.” “We are man's woman. We do that.” “OK, so what else do you men do? Goof around with your sibling.” Lor punched me in my abdomen again. “Well, Dan is the one doing it.” “So, why isn’t he doing it now? Wait, has he been informed about us or anything!” “Could be. It looks like Burn’s entry has aided you after all. They are being polite in front of him.” Suddenly Dan looks at us. “What? He is looking at us.” “No, he can’t see us.” “Wait, he is taking out his phone.” Lor’s phone rings. “Goss, he knows. What do I do?” “I don’t know. Maybe you will answer.”