763 FATEFUL ENCOUNTER

Monday came and Cayenne went back to school since her leave of absence was only approved for one week. She has to resume her study and make sure that she won’t fail. It was her last year and she needed to make a lot of projects and take a lot of exams, and she has to get higher grades than her classmates to make up for her absences.

Truth be told, she didn’t have to do this because Stefan could take care of her for the rest of his life. But Stefan, knowing his wife, he insisted to let her finish her degree. He was worried that her insecurities would act up again and caused another bouth of depression. He didn’t want that. Who cares if he spoils her so much? He’s spending his money anyway.

Even so, with all her class schedule and foundation works, Cayenne was able to balance everything with the help of her brother and Stefan. Whenever Kyle didn’t have review classes, he would help her with the foundation; organizing events and live selling schedule. To make it even more productive, the live selling was done by Kath, his girlfriend. This way, he could help his sister and have have a date with his girlfriend. Hitting two birds with one stone as they say.

With the help of this couple, Cayenne’s bank account received more and more money since Kath was known by many people as the sister of tha famous director Kai. Her identity was really a blessing in disguise.

Noah greeted Cayenne as soon as she came inside and even used his arms to guard her from bumping anyone. As a friend, he wanted to help even in the smallest way possible. “Yen, I received some emails from good samaritans about people who needs help. I cannot really investigate them on my own so, I gave them to Tristan. He said he’ll give you the list once he finalized everything,” he said after they got to their seats and sat down. Faith was already there waiting for them.

“I was worried when your husband asked for a leave of absence on your behalf. How are you? Is the baby okay?”

“Sorry for worrying.” Cayenne muttered and pinched Faith’s cheek. “But I am okay. I just suffered from mental shock when I heard what happened to my friend.”

“Is this about Monet Lhuillier?”

“Yeah. I didn’t know what happened to her and it was only two days later after her accident that I found the truth. Currently, Stefan has been keeping in touch with Monet’s parents because Thomas was really having a hard time. We’re planning to visit them this weekend if nothing goes wrong.”

.....

The three of them chatted while waiting for the rest of their classmates and the teacher. Today, they’ll have a long test and thankfully, she was able to review with Kyle’s help

During lunch break, Stefan came to pick her up which was no longer new to the students and they could only look at them with envious gazes. They also wanted a man like him but Stefan was one and only in the whole wide world. They won’t be able to find someone like him.

In the afternoon, Stefan went to work and entrusted Cayenne to Kyle because he has an important meeting to attend. As much as he wanted to spend more time with his wife, there were still some instances that he needed to be away. If Kyle wasn’t around, he’d never attend the meeting for Cayenne’s sake.

After class, Kyle came and pick up his sister along with his girlfriend. Being the only man inside the car, he could only listen to the women’s endless chatter about stuff that he has nothing to do with.

They talked about having a foot massage one of these days if Cayenne isn’t busy and Kyle thought, it would most likely be a home service. There was no way that Stefan would allow his wife to leave the house for a foot massage.

In front of them, the vehicle that the bodyguards used came to a halt and Kyle tried to see what was going on. He would never forget the time when his sister got kidnapped and when strange things like this happens, a sudden stop even with the go signal, he couldn’t feel but be worried.

“Kyle, can you press the #3 button on that electronic dashboard?”

“Sure.” Kyle did what he was told to do and soon, a man answered the call. “What’s happening? Why are you stopping? We’re already causing traffic.”

“Sir, we didn’t mean to jump but a woman suddenly jumped down from a car ahead of us and we almost ran over her. Rudolf is currently checking on the woman.”

“Was she kidnapped?” Cayenne inquired with an impassive expression. If it was before, she’d be getting worried about it and panic.

“She’s not saying anything, madam.”

“Take her to the closest police station first. I’ll just send Stefan a message that we’d be delay in a bit. I can’t really go without you guys with me. I’d be scolded and you’d lose your job. We’re in this together.”

“We got it, madam. We’ll take her in.”

The honking sounds behind them was blaring that Cayenne could already hear them even when she was inside the car. When other cars passed by them, they had their windows open and raised their middle fingers. They were pissed off but Cayenne could do nothing about it. Right now, what was important to her was to offer a little help.

Ten minutes later, Cayenne and Kath was outside the police station, waiting on the car for Kyle. She already sent Stefan a message about what happened and told him not to worry since she was fine, and that he has to trust her with this matter.

Trust her? Yeah. But she was just actually sitting there for everyone to come back.

Around her car, the other bodyguards surrounded her and were always in full alert should something happened. They could not allow anyone to hurt their madam anymore.

“Hey! Hey! Are you filming a movie?” One of the passersby asked the bodyguard who had a poker face. He was looking around but could not find any cameras for filming. “What is wrong with you guys? Are you statues? Come and talk to me. I really need someone to talk to.”

“Kiddo. This isn’t a place for you. If you don’t want me to send you over to that place, ” the bodyguard said while pointing his finger to the police station, “you better leave and go home.”

“No one wants me home,” The boy said. Looking at how tall he was, he should be around Justin’s age or younger. Cayenne and Kath could see the boy talking to the bodyguard but they could not hear what he was saying. They could only see the distress on his face. “My parents always fight. I came here to tell the police officers that my father beats my mother daily. Then, I got cold feet. My mother loves my father so much which is why she couldn’t leave him. If he goes to jail, she’ll hate me.”

“Kid, you are young and there are things that only adults can do. Why don’t you try telling the police? If you don’t, your mother will be hurt for the rest of her life.”

“And if she’ll hate me?”

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“Why would she hate the person who cares about her the most?”

The boy looked bothered with what the bodyguard said but they could see that he was giving it a thought. After a few seconds, with so much hesitation, he still took the first step and went inside the station. Step after step, his slow walk suddenly turned to a jog, then to a run. He run to the station and told the police what he was concerned about incoherrently.

The officer was blown away at how fast the boy talked and he could barely understand what he was saying. “Slow down. Slow down. I will listen. Just slow down and tell me what happened.”

“Yohan?”

The boy shifted her attention where the voice came from and saw his mother standing there inside the station. She had a cut on her lips and her right eye was red with bruises surrounding it. It was the first time he saw how unsightly her face was because his father used to hit her mother on the arms and legs which could be hidden by a coat and a jean.

“Yohan? What are you doing here?”

“Ma? Have you finally thought it through? How did you get here? I thought he locked you away again.”

The woman burst into tears from her son’s words and she fell on the floor sobbing. “Yohan. Yohan.”

“Ma, it’s okay. You don’t have to endure it for me. I know you don’t want me to be fatherless but I’d rather grow with no father than see you get beaten up every day. You were always hurt because of me.”

With the testimony of the bodyguards as well as the son, the woman finally said the truth to the police officers. Every day, her husband would come home drunk from work. Then, he would beat up his wife and lock her inside their closet, starving her until their son finds her in the afternoon from school. This happened repeatedly but the woman didn’t say anything because she still hope that their family will be patched up together.

Then this afternoon, her husband lost his job and vented his anger on her. He put her inside the car trunk and no one knew what he was planning to do. Thankfully, the trunk wasn’t fully closed and she was able to jump out of it.

That’s what brings her to meet the bodyguards as well as her encounter with her son in the police station.