Samantha shook her head, leaning softly against the closed door as Gabriel’s cries welcomed her into the connecting room. This made her quicken her pace to her distressed brother,
"Mike? How is he?" Samantha asked,
Mike was one of the male workers in the estate and had since been allocated to handle Gabriel’s daily living tasks. Mike was good at his job but preferred to stay in the background.
Seeing Gabriel in that state broke his heart.
"Thank the heavens that you’re here, Miss Samantha; I don’t know what’s wrong with the young master! He is inconsolable, but I can’t understand a word of what he is distressed about. His speech is incoherent, and I am helpless in this!"
Since he had been assigned Gabriel as his primary task, Mike had been more than diligent. He had seen different sides of Gabriel, from the naughty, happy, playful, etc, but never this one; seeing his ward, the little angel as he was popularly known as, crying so miserably and uncontrollably, Mike shifted awkwardly on his knees by the bed.
The sound of Gabriel’s wrenching sobs filled the room, each one tugging at something deep within him, but he was at a loss for what to do. Comforting wasn’t his strong suit.
Tentatively, he reached out and clumsily patted Gabriel’s back, his large hand hesitant and unsure, as though afraid it might break him instead of soothing him.
"It’s... it’s going to be okay," he mumbled, though even he wasn’t sure if he believed it.
Gabriel didn’t respond, his little body wracked with grief, tears spilling in a torrent that seemed endless.
Mike glanced away, his jaw tightening as he tried to bury his own feelings. Tears pricked at the corner of his eyes as he made way for Samantha.
The weight of Albert’s death pressed heavily on his chest, a sorrow he couldn’t allow himself to fully feel in that moment. He quickly blinked back the threatening tears. Work came first—always. That was the mantra drilled into him for years. As a personal servant, he had the times that he could grieve. However, Gabriel’s tears seemed to call out to him as well.
Notwithstanding this, at this moment, it didn’t seem to matter. Gabriel was just a child and his cries pierced through the professional detachment he prided himself on, leaving him feeling raw and helpless. He rubbed the back of his neck, wishing he had the right words or even the faintest idea of how to help.
"Gabriel?" Samantha called out softly,
"S- s-am?" He hiccupped and raised his tear-stained eyes,
"Did Mama really leave me?"
"What do you think?" Samantha asked quietly as she reached for a tissue and wiped Gabriel’s tears and snot.
Was Samatha trying to help or make matters worse?
Gabriel sat up and looked at Samantha through fresh tears, "I-"
"I wonder how Mum will be so sad to know that you did not have any trust in her, s-"
"SAM!!!! Please don’t tell Mama!" Gabriel beseeched, getting flustered at the thought that Samantha might really tell on him.
"I thought you were sad because she had left you....."
Gabriel stood up on the bed and threw his arms at Samantha, "I was wrong! Mama promised, and I believe her!"
"So, why is this gentleman crying?"
Gabriel’s lips turned down, and he sagged back onto the bed,
"I was sad, Sam. I- I know that Mama will not leave me, but why-"
Why, indeed, had Aliya come in there to taunt him? It was childish, and Samantha did not know what she had aimed to achieve by doing that!
Mike looked at the turn of events and couldn’t mask his shock.
’What just happened? Wasn’t the young master uncontrollable? How?’
Gabriel did not have to complete his sentence for Samantha to understand.
"What happened, Miss?" Mike couldn’t help but ask,
"It’s just some silly words that woman said."
Mike and the rest of the people around understood who ’that woman’ was, and they did not need to ask,
"Gabriel is going to be okay."
Samantha said to both men and then pulled Gabriel for a side hug.
"You may leave now. I’ll take care of Gabriel."
"Yes, Miss Samantha." Mike did not bother asking any more questions and left the room quietly. Like him, most of the workers stayed clear of Aliya. The thought of the fact that she had caused her own son to cry this much was too much, and Mike was a little angry, but he knew that he had no say in how the masters did their tasks and went about their day.
"What did you say?" Aliya shot across, both surprised and furious. In that split moment, she did not eve n have time to mask her features, making Ingrid smirk.
Ingrid’s gaze lingered on Aliya’s rosy cheek, and her brows furrowed.
’How was that even possible? she wondered. Just hours ago, her mother had been pale as a ghost, her skin almost translucent from weeks of looking frail and sickly. In short, Aliya looked more like death in the past to Ingrid.
This was a fact that very few people knew, and this was also because Aliya hid this through makeup. There was only so much that makeup could do, though. Yet, now, here she was, her complexion unnaturally flushed, as though she had been revived by some mysterious force. This was the only explanation that young Ingrid could think of.
Her small hands clenched into fists by her sides. Ingrid’s mind swirled with unanswered questions, but she pushed them aside, unwilling to waste her thoughts on someone so loathsome.
Ingrid detested her mother and made no move to hide that fact. She did not understand how someone could be that despicable in her means.
’I don’t care what’s changed, she told herself firmly. I don’t want her in my room!’
Ingrid’s eyes narrowed further, her gaze sharp and accusing as she glared at Aliya, the unspoken disdain radiating from her small frame. Every fibre of her being bristled with contempt, the mere sight of her mother stirring a mix of disgust and anger she couldn’t fully understand.
’Let her rosy cheeks glow all they want,’ Ingrid thought bitterly, turning her face away with a defiant huff. ’She still doesn’t belong here.’
Ingrid turned her back to Aliya and folded her arms.
Aliya could only stare in surprise before she exited the room.
She stood outside Ingrid’s room, and a thoughtful expression crossed her. She was surprisingly calm in her anger, though.
The kids had indeed changed too much for her liking. Was this all possible within just two years? Aliya thought to herself, but she definitely had no idea that the change that she saw in the children was from mere months and not years.
Ingrid walked up to the door and turned the lock on it. She only relaxed when the lock slipped in place. As for the reason, she was unsure.
Ingrid walked up the length of her room a few times before she headed for Gabriel’s room.