“Nana Doring, look here we have a guest.

I found her wandering upstairs,” Trita called on the old woman

who had been busy chopping off some vegetables. The latter raised her head to welcome them but gasped
immediately at the sight of Simione,
“Madam!” Nana Doring exclaimed and rushed to wipe her hands before she went to approached Simione.
“Trita, why did you bring the madam here? Oh you child!”
Trita was utterly shock at Nana Doring words and reprimand. The latter was there when Simione and
Hawk arrived so she recognized the madam immediately. “Madam, apologies. Do you need anything?
Are you hungry? I’ll have dinner served for you immediately,”
“Trita, bring the madam back to her room and—”
“Not, its okay,” Simione cut her off. “Since I’m already here, can I have my meal here instead?”
“Oh no Madam I cannot allow that. I cannot let the madam of the house eat in the kitchen. This place is
only for servants,” Nana Doring dismissed Simione’s plea right away. “I can have your meal served at
your room,”
“I had been in my room the whole afternoon,” Simione reasoned. “I can’t have my meal there anymore,
its suffocating,”
“I can have the dining room prepared for you madam if you want”
“Oh no please,” Simione begged, raising and shaking her hand to dismiss the cook’s suggestion, “Its too
big for me. I’d rather eat here,”
“Well,” Nana Doring realized she cannot keep refusing Simione specially that she seemed desperate and
hungry. “How about in the nook at the back terrace? It’s a good place to eat and if its peace you need,
you’ll sure have it there. That place isn’t the most visited place in the mansion,”
“I’d like that. Thank you,”
“Surely madam,” Nana Doring was relieved. She called on Trita then who at that time was still surprised
when she realized that Simione was the Madam of the house. “Trita! Go and help me prepare the table for
the madam. Go child now,”
It was only then that Trita moved. She first put the linen she was holding in a counter nearby and escorted
Simione to the nook Nana Doring offered the latter.
“Here madam,” She pulled a chair for Simione. When the madam had settled, she bowed to her and
started apologizing. “I am so sorry for not recognizing you and for what I said about this afternoon’s
gathering—”
“Trita its okay. Its not your fault. Truth was I was really tired this afternoon and I didn’t know there was a
gathering,” Simione answered explaining her side of the story.
“But madam—”
“I said its fine. Just forget about it. Thank you for escorting me,” Simione dismissed all her apologies.
Trita could do nothing but leave it as it be and so she turned back to the kitchen but halted her steps on the
way. “About what I said with regard to Mr. and Mrs. Monsanto,”
“I believe you mistook another woman as me,” Simione forced a smile, trying to hide her ill feelings
about the fact. She didn’t feel bad about Trita truthfully, but she did feel bad about the fact that there was
another woman who tailed her husband when she was away. Surely it was a mere coincidence. It has to be
a coincidence.
“Don’t worry I don’t feel bad about it,” She lied.
“Again, Madam I apologise. I’ll be careful the next time. Please wait here for a moment, I’ll serve your
food in a while,” Trita expressed before she left Simione.
Just after a minute, Simione was left alone in that part of the mansion. It was an open place; one whose
design was a combination of the outside and inside interior and so she could clearly see the landscape
outside sponsored by the outdoor lights. She can also see from where she was the garage where all the
different automobiles were parked.
Her attention was soon glued onto the newly arrived black car. In just a moment, she saw Hawk, her
husband mounted down the car and with his usual grace or probably arrogance, walked to the other side
of it. The left back door spewed out Tabitha and Simione couldn’t help but grimaced at the sight of the
woman smiling at Hawk like it was the happiest day of her life.
“Miss Tabitha and the President were really close friends,” A voice Simione’s attention from the two. It
was Nana Doring, holding a tray of something that Simione could only guess as food. “When the
Monsanto Conglomerate was blooming again, some those who survived the tribulation were brought here.
Hawk was probably eleven when he was brought here, so was Tabitha. They both stayed here for a long
time, they practically grew up here and spend most of their teenage years here,”
“That explains why they were really close,” Simione comment on as she laid her eyes on the food that
Nana Doring brought for her. The aroma from the soup was already creeping into her nostrils, making her
crave for it. “But I wonder why I had never seen Tabitha before,”
“Well, she was sent abroad to study. Both of the actually but after a few years I’ve heard the President
came back in the country while Miss Tabitha stayed abroad,” Nana Doring continued her story. “I don’t
know what happened in between. I was surprised myself when I heard that they had not seen each other
after a long time. They seemed inseparable before,”
“They really seemed inseparable,” Simione brought her eyes back to the two—Hawk and Tabitha—was
still right before her view conversing about something she could not hear but their gestures, their smiles
and even their eyes tell her that whatever it was, they were definitely enjoying each other’s company.
“What they have is a special one,” Nana Doring continued. “But I’m sure it is nothing to what you and
the President have Madam. I never did think the President would ever get married after all these years and
yet here you are now. I am so glad he brought you here,”