34 Trouble
Athena was talking to a patient when her door was rudely kicked
open.
Her patient, whom she was counseling, shouted apprehensively, startled out of his bones.
He was an aged man, about sixty five years old.
The tension on his face caused Athena great discomfort.
She hated her patients being disturbed in her space, especially when she was talking to them or treating them.
Every time, she made sure they were comfortable, yet Ewan and his stupid fiancée had broken that streak now.
Athena flexed her fists while apologizing to the old man who kept staring at Ewan.
“I’m sorry for the intrusion, sir. You can take your leave now. We’ll discuss more in our next meeting.
“Will you be okay?” The patient asked, darting glances between the intruders and his doctor.
“Should I send in the security guards? I don’t want you to be hurt.”
Sandro was amused, yet pleased about Athena’s reputation among her patients.
It spoke of her goodness, never mind Fiona’s cheeks.
If Athena slapped Fiona, then the latter deserved it!
“I’ll be fine, old man.” Athena giggled playfully, tapped the patient’s arm, and dropped a kiss on the man’s wrinkled cheeks.
“You don’t have to worry about me.”
The old man smiled as if he had won a lottery, bobbing his head intermittently.
Ewan was unsettled.
The imagery before him was disintegrating fast, the motion that Athena was wicked.
Nevertheless, he has come too far to return home without demanding an apology.
As the patient walked toward the open door, he glared at Ewan and Sandro.
Sandro still found it funny.
“If you touch her, I will make sure you regret it.”
Ewan didn’t know when he nodded. The fierce look on the old man’s face was terribly serious like an aristocrat!
He looked at the old man’s clothes. It was simple.
And for that, he discounted the latter, and wondered why he had been so affected in the first
34 Trouble
Immediately the patient left and shut the door behind him, Athena drew back her shoulders, and lifted her chin and nose like an annoyed Queen.
“How dare you come in here, Ewan?”
She paused, and looked at Sandro, as if noticing him for the first time. “Good morning Sandro…”
A little smile adorned her lips.
“Good morning. Athena. It’s been a while.”
Ewan’s mouth quaked with annoyance at the informal greeting, void of tension.
He turned and glared at his friend, but the latter was too smitten with Athena’s grace to notice
him.
Ewan didn’t understand how every male around him was hoodwinked by the female.
Was she using charms?!
He shook his head, not believing himself.
Since when did he start entertaining superstitious nonsense in his head?
His mind gave an uncomfortable answer. Since Athena!
He watched in annoyance at Athena’s demeanor shift, as she asked Sandro how he had been all this while.
He inhaled sharply as Sandro released a flirty laugh before answering.
When Sandro inquired about Athena’s well–being and work, Ewan couldn’t take it any longer.
“Will you both stop chattering like monkeys?! You both can continue flirting in my absence!”
Athena snickered at the rebuke.
“You’re in my office, Ewan. You have no audacity demanding what should be done or not done here. Do you understand?”
Ewan kept quiet, but maintained the heated glare–never mind that Athena wasn’t moved at all, by it.
He had almost forgotten how easily this new Athena could unsettle and humiliate him, just with her words.
So he didn’t bother answering the question, rather he pulled a sulking Fiona forward.
“Why did you slap her? Why are her knees bruised? When we made a deal this morning, I thought we agreed to be civil to each other? So..
“You are not the same as Fiona. You both aren’t married yet. The deal didn’t cut her in. And after
he would have minded her business, she wouldn’t have been in this mess…”
Athena’s eyes roamed the entirety of Fiona’s body, glistening with amusement at the re–creation the latter had done in order to bring Ewan here to make trouble.
24
- Trouble
She was amused at Ewan’s stupidity too.
He still hasn’t changed. He still hadn’t learnt the power of investigation when it came to Fiona. He was still under her thumb and whims.
For Ewan, he couldn’t believe that Athena had admitted causing harm to Fiona.
If he had known she would be this open, he would have brought a recorder!
He looked at Sandro, to tell him I told you so, but his friend was smiling and walking to one of the seats in the office.
He would deal with Sandro later. Ewan concluded, before returning his attention to Athena, a smirking Athena.
Trouble. He thought.
That’s what she looked like now. Trouble.
“Athena, hurting Fiona is like hurting me. And I don’t like that. The truce we made earlier covered Fiona and her family. But I will let this slide if you apologize to her. You don’t have to pay for damages, for the injuries.”
Athena raised an eyebrow before laughing boisterously.
She laughed until a tear slipped from her left eye.
Sandro was embarrassed on behalf of his friend.
“She told you I slapped her?”
Ewan nodded curtly.
“What if I say I didn’t? Will you believe me?”
Ewan ignored the restlessness in his chest. “Stop with the games, Athena, and apologize.”
Athena scoffed. It was still the same as six to nine years ago.
Fiona will misbehave, but she will be the one to apologize for the misbehavior.
Once, when Fiona had tried cooking for him, she had burnt the kitchen in the process, almost burning the house too.
However, when he came back, the witch had lied, claiming that the culprit was her.
He had believed Fiona over her, not minding that she had left earlier in the day for a meeting
with her mother.
To punish her, he hadn’t given her money or food for a week.
And because she had a cold father, she had to rely on Gianna for help.
Athena chuckled snidely. It was playing out again.
“I should stop my games, and apologize right?”
<
34 Trouble
Athena smiled thinly, before walking up slowly to Fiona, who was brimming with excitement at the prospect of Athena apologizing to her.
Yet, when Athena stood before Fiona, she smirked.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Ewan cut her off.
“You have to kneel too.” He stated, hating and needing to wipe off the smirk on Athena’s lips.
He raised Fiona’s skirt, past her knee. “See what you did to her knees? Kneel and apologize to her.”
Fiona shook her head meekly. “No, Ewan. Stop, please. I think that’s overboard.”
Ewan looked at Fiona gently, pleased at her benevolence.
‘No, it isn’t overboard. I think it is the perfect way to solve this issue.”
