Chapter 4. Grandma Calling

The morning rays hit Diva’s pale face, which caused her to roll over the bed in annoyance, mumbling some incoherent words in her sleepy state. All of a sudden, her eyes flung open at the shrill ringing of her cellphone.

Diva jolted up from the bed, a terrified look on her face. She knew that customized ringtone very well – and the cherry on top was that it was a video call. It was the person she loved the most, as well as feared the most. She hurriedly put on her slippers and dashed out of her new room in Hudson Mansion, her throat itching to scream her worries to someone.

As soon as she noticed Blaze sitting in the living room with a cup in his hand, she went over to him and leaped over the sofa, startling Blaze, causing him to drop the cup of coffee. He could have sworn his heart skipped a beat when the sofa dipped down beside him.

“Grandma is calling! Grandma is calling! System alert! Red light! Grandma is calling!” Diva hollered, jumping on the cream-colored sofa as if it were a trampoline.

Blaze scrunched up in his nose in disgust. He hated disorganized people and messy people. Unfortunately, Diva seemed like that type of person. Diva was wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top, clearly, her pajamas, and her hair was a mess, yet she was shamelessly jumping on the sofa with her slippers on. However, the thing that was annoying him the most was her blaring voice so early in the morning.

“Blaze, what should I do? Grandma is calling! How should I tell her I married you? She will kill me for sure. Oh, my gosh! What if she already knows about our wedding and wants to confront me? That would be so horrible! Did Vyan spare my life only so Grandma could do the honor herself?” Diva continued hopping and crying out loud.

Blaze frowned and curtly stated, “Get down.”

Diva paid no heed to him and continued panicking, “Blaze, tell me what to do. How should I get out of this situation? She is calling. What should I do?”

Her phone was still ringing which was bothering Blaze. He liked his mornings to be quiet and peaceful, unlike today. “Pick it up then,” Blaze answered and put his hands in his pockets, motioning the maid to clean the mess he created by dropping the cup of coffee.

He realized there was no point in trying to knock sense into that nutcracker. Also, he couldn’t care less about how she dealt with her grandmother.

Diva bounced down from the sofa and started following him like a lost puppy. “Blaze,” she called out his name in a helpless tone from behind, only to be ignored by him.

Her shoulder slumped down in defeat as she released a sigh and went back to her designated room. She closed the doors behind her and dialed her grandma’s number since it had already stopped ringing by then.

“Good morning, Grandma!” Diva chirped, sounding as happy as usual.

“Good morning, Diva,” the gruff voice of her grandma, who was her only guardian, came out from the other side.

“Did you have some business with me? It’s too early for you to call.” Diva sat on the edge of the bed and started twirling a piece of hair around her finger absent-mindedly.

“Why? Can’t I call my granddaughter anytime I want?”

“Oh, no. That’s not what I meant. You can call me anytime you want. It’s just unusual for you to call at this time,” Diva’s voice was different from her usual one. She wasn’t acting anything like the way she usually does around others because the only person around whom Diva kept her mouth shut was Emerald Adler, her paternal grandmother.

“It’s nothing important, actually. I just wanted to check up on you,” she answered. Diva hummed in response. “Hey, switch it to video screening. I want to see your face.”

Diva’s eyebrows rose in surprise as she started sweating profusely. An idea popped in her mind as she ran over to the window and pulled over the curtain before switching it to video screening.

Emerald Adler’s face popped up on the phone screen, her usual stoic expression on display. “That’s better,” she asserted. “Diva, did you change the curtains? They seem unfamiliar.”

“Oh, yeah, I did that recently. How are they?”

Diva diverted the topic to the curtains. She didn’t want her grandma to know about her wedding so suddenly. She needed her own time to adjust before letting her know. That’s why she chose to stand near the curtains which wouldn’t arouse too much suspicion. Even so, she felt horrible for lying to her grandmother.

“They’re very unlike you,” replied Emerald.

A smile evolved on Diva’s face. Her grandma knew her so well. To be honest, Diana didn’t like the room she was given. Blaze didn’t even ask what kind of bedroom she would like to have – rather imposed a dull room with neutral colors all around on her.

“Are you doing your work properly?”

Diva replied hesitantly, “Of course.”

“If I find out you’re skipping it, I’ll hunt you down,” Emerald threatened, making Diva chuckle nervously. 

Diva often skipped the office and did her work from home, which she couldn’t let her guardian find out. Emerald was very strict about work, and if she found that Diva was being lazy during work hours, she would give her an earful. According to Emerald, working from home made a person lazy, and she didn’t want her granddaughter to be like that. 

“I would never,” Diva lied.

“How is your daily life? Anything new happened?” Similarly, her grandma kept asking her random questions, inquiring about her life, and updating herself.

Diva’s grandmother was a very sophisticated and well-cultured lady. She was usually very strict and stoic, but also genuinely caring. She might seem scary at first, yet she was very kind-hearted. She held her ideals and beliefs close to her heart.

After Diva hung up with her grandmother, she let out a sigh, glad that she was able to hide her marriage from Emerald Adler.

Diva stood up and stretched her body while her stomach growled in hunger. “I should probably get some breakfast,” she muttered to herself before going to the bathroom to freshen up.

Just as she exited her bedroom after her morning duties, her gaze fell on the big wall clock in front of her which read ten past eight. Her eyes opened wide as realization started sinking in.

“Office,” she uttered slowly, letting her brain process the familiar word. “Oh, my God! I have to get to the office!” she let out a gasp and dashed back to her room.

Diva quickly threw in a pair of tight jeans and a light pink off-shoulder top and grabbed her office bag. She sprinted toward the dining hall, hoping to have a quick breakfast with her husband, only to find his seat empty and her breakfast plate sitting cold.

Diva gulped the lump in her throat, her hunger fading off. She absolutely detested eating her meals alone. Thus, she just grabbed a glass of orange juice and chugged it down before making her way toward the parking lot.

She hoped desperately to find Blaze in the parking lot so that he could drop her to the office since she was already running late. Her work day started at nine, and it was already 8:35. She had an important presentation as well. She couldn’t miss it at any cost.

Her distress turned into relief when she found Blaze just about to get in his car.

“Blaze, wait!” Diva screamed out.

A frown creased Blaze’s face as he looked over his shoulder at Diva.

She caught up to him and started panting. “I have an important presentation today at nine. I need to get there on time; otherwise, I might lose my job. As you can see, it’s already-”

“What’s it to me?” he sharply cut in.

Diva paused for a bit, at a loss of words. She shook her head immediately and continued, “Can you drop me to my office? It would be a great help.”

“I have my own office to attend to,” Blaze responded.

“But my office is along the way,” she reasoned out. “You don’t have to go out of your way for me. It won’t even cost you extra fuel or time. Please, understand that I need to reach on time today,” her voice was filled with a sense of urgency and sincerity.

“Not my problem,” he said, rolling his eyes and getting in the car.

Diva watched him with a slight open jaw, her eyes finding it hard to believe. How could a person be that cruel? It was beyond her comprehension.

Diva watched his black car disappear from her eyesight, only hopelessness crawling into her heart. “Now how am I supposed to get to work?” she murmured.

It wouldn’t have cost Blaze more than an extra minute from his schedule to drop off Diva at her office. Couldn’t he spare a single minute for her sake? Even if she wasn’t his wife, she was still a human.

The dreams Diva built up until now about her future husband started crumbling down. That was not how she imagined her husband to be – so cold and unkind. Standing in the barren parking lot, Diva felt completely hopeless. She looked around at the many cars, but none had drivers – and she couldn’t drive.

“What have I done to deserve all this?”