Hempston Breed was resting on the king-size bed in his furnished bedroom when the bell rang. He was annoyed with the continuous ringing that was starting to distract his peace. He picked his phone that was on the bedside table and dialed a number.
"Where are you?" he spoke.
The one on the other end of the phone could be heard, "I'm at the supermarket, will be there in five minutes."
Hempston finalized, "You'd better hurry before..." He ended the call. He got under the pillows and covered himself whole to try and avoid listening to the noises of the door bell.
It's at that moment that he started regretting setting the sound of the bell so high, if it weren't for his half deaf aunt, he would adjust it to the lowest.
Nothing could distract him from the noise, he remembered his headphones, but unfortunately, he didn't have them right there.
He climbed down and walked over to the door and looked through the CCTV surveillance system that was on the left side near the door.
He saw two figures; a young woman and a young boy. The young man was continuously pressing the bell button while the woman tried to stop him, without success. Hempston wished he was there to put some sense into that brat's brain. He went downstairs and grabbed a remote control.
He checked himself, he then realized he was not wearing any shirt. He only wore shorts, he did not like walking around half naked. He grabbed a woolen scarf and draped it on himself covering his abs.
He opened the gates standing at the main door to the house. Immediately the gates opened, a young lad, probably fifteen, dashed in.
How imprudent! Hempston thought.
The young woman behind him tried to grab him, "Don't dash in like that, Bradly, it's impolite."
Bradly spoke, " How long have we been standing there? It's almost been half an hour."
Bradly, on seeing Hempston, rushed over and extended his hand for a handshake. Hempston, whose hands held onto the scarf and did not bother letting go. He stared at Bradly as if he was trying to read his mind and Bradly did the same.
Bradly noted Hempston was not wearing anything beneath the scarf, he figured he might be shy of exposing his body.
The young woman stepped forward and introduced themselves, "Good afternoon, sir. I'm Shirloy Shemites, and he's my brother, Bradly. We're the house cleaners." Hempston muttered an oh and went back inside, not welcoming them.
The impatient Bradly wasted no time, he suggested to his sister, "Let's welcome ourselves then, it seems no one will."
"Let's wait here until they do. We can't welcome ourselves." Shirloy reasoned. Bradly did not argue on the topic anymore. He looked around at the vast compound, "How comes there are no bodyguards in the compound of the 'best actor' as you referred to him. Or is he broke?"
Shirloy looked at him and laughed slightly, "Of course he can't be broke. There are bodyguards, it's just that you can't see them."
Bradly asked, "What's the need of them hiding? Does he talk to people?"
"He does, mostly to his fans during fan meetings. Although I heard he's not much of a talker in person, that'd explain his actions earlier." Shirloy explained.
"Why didn't he welcome us?" Bradly asked.
"I don't know." Shirloy answered.
The gates opened and a black Toyota corolla drove in. Two gentlemen in black suits exited and came over to offer greetings. One was a man in his early thirties and the other a middle aged man.
The younger man introduced themselves, "I'm Mike Henry, and this is Charles. You must be miss Shemites, you look more beautiful in person."
"Thank you." Shirloy said. Mike looked in Bradly's direction and asked, "And this must be...?"
Bradly retorted, "I'm Bradly, Shirloy' s brother."
Mike said, "I figured. You look alike. Anyway, nice to meet you two. Let's get inside. This way, please."
"Charles, you can take the car for service, see you later." he added as he led them inside. Charles did as he was told and left the compound in the Toyota corolla.
"Everything you need for cleaning is in the store room over there." Mike pointed to a door on the left side. " If you need anything else, lemme know. You got my number."
Shirloy and Bradly got themselves busy with cleaning the magnificent house.
. . .
Hempston rested on the rooftop bare-chested, his athletic build on display. He sat with his legs crossed and looked at the distant sky. Mike muttered as he approached him, "He works so hard for that body."
Mike was a bit chubby and never bothered to work out. He was lazy to even think about working out. He wished to have a build like Hempston' s but it came at a prize of working out. He would rather not, too tiresome.
Mike started, "What's stressing you, my handsome boss?" He sat next to him and leaned on the wall. "Thinking about the lady downstairs?"
Hempston looked at him indifferently and said nothing. The blabbermouth Mike continued despite being shown an attitude.
"Think about it, your parents wants you to find a girlfriend or get together with that Hannah Chills. This time around, they've got you in a tight spot, you can't bail out. The lady downstairs could make a good girlfriend, she's so gorgeous, definitely your type. What do you say?"
Hempston adjusted himself to a more relaxed position, " Where's she?"
"Who, lady Shirloy?"
"Hannah."
Mike answered, "Oh! She's outside the country right now, a holiday vacation or so I heard."
"Any idea as to when she's coming back?" Hempston asked.
Mike assured, "A month. Wait, why're you asking about her, you've never been interested in her whereabouts."
"I just got interested."
Mike continued, "Back to the main topic, miss Shirloy is a perfect lady, you can..."
"Ok." Hempston responded.
Mike was taken aback, "What, just like that?"
Hempston asked, "How did you want it to be?" Mike chuckled, "Well, the Hem I know would tell me to fuck off and shut up anytime I mention about relationship interests. Aren't you gonna do that, today?"
Hempston only said, "Not today."
Mike's jaw dropped but finally agreed, "Okay." and made a sign with his fingers.
He continued after a while, "If Damian saw that boy, I doubt he would leave him alone. He once described his ideal type; someone slender, pale, cute face, younger, doesn't care about personality, said he'd tolerate them."
Hempston frowned and stood up, Mike did the same. He said dryly, "Don't talk about him." and left the confused Mike alone.
Bradly was busy cleaning around the hearth as he arranged the few items placed on top of it. He dropped an item on the floor and bent down to pick it, before he could get up, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to look at whoever it was. He was met with a handsome smiling face. This person was not like Hempston, who looked like he never smiled.
The handsome man pointed at Bradly and joyfully stated, "Wow, what a lovely waist you've got there."
Bradly checked himself and noticed his waist was exposed. He immediately straightened and adjusted his clothes tucking them in completely. There was a weirdo he had to deal with.
The man walked over to the surprised Bradly and introduced himself, "Hello! I'm Damian, and you are?"
Bradly thought for a while before answering, "Bradly."
Damian extended his hand for a handshake, "Nice to meet you, Bradly." He then noticed Bradly's hands were engaged, he had gloves on and held a dust brush and a towel. He lowered his hands and smiled at Bradly.
Damian continued, "Are you the new house cleaner?"
Bradly ignored him and continued with his job. He decided he was not going to say a word to this person.
"Hey, why're you ignoring me, talk to me." Damian commanded the not bothering Bradly.
Damian don't like being ignored, and this boy just gave him the cold shoulder. It bothered him to the maximum. He grabbed Bradly's hand and yanked him towards himself. Now they stood face to face.
Damian was taller, so Bradly raised his head to look him in the eyes, "Let go off me. You're hurting me." he lamented.
Damian grabbed at Bradly's waist and pressed him unto him, the position was so intimate and made Bradly so uncomfortable. He tried to struggle free but he was no match to Damian, the man was strong.
Damian spoke with ease, "I just want to get to know you. Why're you resisting? I won't harm you a..."
"Let go of him, right now!" They turned to look at the enraged Hempston climbing down the stairs.
Damian let go of the frightened Bradly and addressed Hempston, "Hi, cousin. Long time no see. You always don't bother with whoever I play around with, what's it now? Do you know him? I was just offering my greetings when he ignored me and you know how I dislike it when I'm ignored."
"He's a minor. This is my house, take that rule to yours." Hempston told him. He looked at the shocked Bradly and ordered him, "Go clean the study room upstairs."
Bradly looked shock stricken, he did not move but instead he started whimpering accompanied by sniffling, he was shaking uncontrollably. Fortunately, Mike came and understood the situation and immediately called Shirloy.
Shirloy guided her brother to a seat nearby and hugged him tightly as she spoke to him, "Calm down, he's gone. He's not here anymore, calm down."
It took a while for him to calm down. Shirloy started questioning them continuously,
"What happened to my little brother? Who was that man and where's he? How could he do that to him? Is he ok? I need to see him, right now."
Mike looked at Hempston, who was silently sitting with his legs crossed, he looked like he was not bothered with the current situation. But why was he cracking his knuckles? Where had he seen him doing that? He couldn't remember.
Mike explained to Shirloy, "Sorry about that. That man is..." he looked at Hempston for clarity before continuing but he received no sign. Shit! How was he going to refer to that man? He continued, " We'll sent him away but we'll make sure he pays for what he did. Be assured. We apologize for the inconvenience. Is there anything we can do for you to show you how apologetic we are?"
Shirloy answered, "Nothing, just make sure he pays for what he did. My brother is a minor. I think..."
"I wanna go home." That's the only statement Bradly said after composing himself and they left.
Mike assured them as they left, "We'll transfer you the money."
Shirloy explained to him, "Just half of it, we didn't do the whole work." Mike was about to add something but they had already left.
. . .
Shirloy and Bradly boarded a bus to their place. On the way, they talked about random things until Bradly brought up a sensitive topic.
"That man, Damian, is he like that person?" he asked.
Shirloy inhaled deeply before answering, "I can't tell, he looked like a gentleman but we can never judge a book by it's cover. He's a freak."
"Are there many people like that, in the city? I wish to never come across them." Bradly said angrily. Shirloy shook her head as she looked at her angry brother.
How was he going to survive in this big city in this state? The city if full of vipers of all kinds. If he only he had someone to stay with in the village, but since the death of the only guardian, their grandfather, who used to stay with him, she had no choice than to bring him to the city.
"I won't lie to you. You'll meet people like that but who are not bad, who don't mistreat others. Most of them respect themselves and cause no harm to anyone." Shirloy explained.
Bradly said, "I can't bring myself to think that there are good homosexual people, I never wish to associate myself with them. All the cases I've heard from the village related to them are all bad cases."
"That's bad luck, not all are bad. But don't worry, I'll make sure no one bothers you. You know we only have ourselves to take care of. If anything happens to you then I won't forgive myself." Shirloy assured.
"Does Mr. Hempston have a wife?" Bradly asked.
"No. Why do you ask?"
"First, he looks old enough, second, he looks like he could wife up anyone he wants, and the third and the worst, I wonder how he approached any woman with that aloof look he always has. No wonder he doesn't have one." Bradly explained.
Shirloy added, "He's thirty five, rich and good looking. The reason he's not married might be because he's not met the love of his life. It's not about looks and riches."
"Just like you, you're already twenty nine and still haven't met the love of your life. What opinion do you have on Mr. Hempston?" Bradly asked his sister. Shirloy blushed shyly and looked the other way, "He's fine, but he won't ever look my side."
Bradly retorted, "Who told you that? What's wrong with you? I see nothing wrong, what? You think you don't stand a chance? He might be the one who doesn't."
Shirloy chuckled, "That's not it. We're from two different worlds. He's a a billionaire while I'm just a person who doesn't even have a permanent job. He deserves someone better."
"Who always says love is all about matters of the heart, what does money have to do with it. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend him for you. With that personality, you'll only have a face and figure to brag about." Bradly spoke his mind. Shirloy was quite for a while.
"People warm up to those they love. He can't show that side to the one he loves. Besides, who said he'll date me? You started this. Let's forget about it. I'll be leaving today, will you be okay on your own for a week?" Shirloy asked
Bradly answered, "Oh! Had forgotten about that. Yeah, I'll be fine, don't worry, I'm not a kid."
Shirloy smiled at his brother and offered him a hug. "I know, my little brother is now all grown up and can stay on his own. That's great." They hugged each other for the rest of the journey like lovebirds.
. . .
Hempston and Mike sat silently in the back seats of the black Porsche. Mike propped his head to talk to the driver, "Charles, how far are we still at?" He looked outside through the slightly open window, "This place is a mess. Woah, the road is even a mess. Look at the buildings, do people live in those? They're looking at us in a creepy way also. Damn this place. I..."
Hempston rebuked him, "Will shutting your mouth for a second hurt you?"
Mike stayed silent but his brain ran a flashback. An hour ago; Hempston had received a call from his father, Callman Breed, requesting him to go home next week on Monday. Today was on Sunday, he had only two days to go. It was his father's birthday celebration and he wanted him there with no excuse of absence.
With Mr. Callman's temperament, they would doubt what would happen if Hempston turned down the order. What was worst was that he even told him to show up with a girlfriend, or he would have to agree to the arranged married married between him and Hannah Chills.
Whenever Hempston heard her name, he would frown and kick whatever was ahead of him. He wonders how that woman convinced his parents that she was the 'decent lady' they thought she was. Only him and Mike new her better.
Hempston would rather look for a fake girlfriend than agree to the marriage.
Today's mission was to get Hempston someone that would impose as his girlfriend. That was the reason they headed to the ghetto. He was going to find himself a girlfriend from the ghetto, if his fans would hear that he would be in trouble for sure.
Their idol was getting himself a girlfriend from the ghetto. Who wouldn't talk about that?
Bradly had decided to grab something from the shop outside. Hardly had he stepped a step outside when he was greeted with two faces covered with black masks at the door step. He was shocked and stepped back intending to shut himself in, but one of them grabbed him, "It's us, Mike and Hempston"
What were they doing at his place that late?