LOVE YOU, UNCLE

“Ghe, how much longer are you going to wait here?”

Denisa and Joshua seemed to be getting bored. Almost an hour past the scheduled departure time, the two of them appeared to be accompanying Ghea, who had been sitting and waiting in the lobby of the Akasia building.

As previously instructed, Ghea chose to faithfully wait for her husband, who was still in a meeting outside the office with a client. He had asked her not to go home early so they could return together.

“I’ll wait for another thirty minutes,” Ghea replied, glancing at the watch on her wrist. “If you two want to go home now, go ahead. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Denisa asked again, concerned about leaving Ghea alone in the office lobby, even though at this hour, the employees were still bustling around.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. If Randy hasn’t returned yet, I can ask the driver to take me home. So, it’s safe.”

Joshua and Denisa exchanged glances for a moment. Convinced that Ghea would be fine, they agreed to leave.

“Well, then, the two of us will head home first,” Joshua said before leaving. “But if you suddenly need anything, just call, Ghe. I’ll come back right away.”

“No need, Josh. I’m really okay on my own. It’s better if you and Denisa go home quickly.”

“Okay, in that case, Denis and I will say goodbye first. See you again tomorrow in the office.”

Ghea waved to her friends, watching them until their shadows disappeared from view.

As she had promised Denisa and Joshua, Ghea chose to wait for another 30 minutes. Just as she was about to contact Randy to inquire about his whereabouts, she realized her phone had run out of battery. Her frustration deepened.

Now, if she wanted to be picked up by the driver, how would she contact him? She didn’t even know the phone numbers of the employees living in her husband’s house.

After waiting for thirty minutes and with no sign of Randy’s arrival, Ghea decided to go home immediately using a taxi.

Upon reaching home, with a frown, Ghea went straight to her room. She ignored the greetings from the household assistants. Even when Sandra approached her room to offer dinner, Ghea refused. Instead, she chose to keep busy, finishing the work she had brought home from the office.

Exactly forty minutes later, it was Randy’s turn to arrive home. Striding purposefully, he entered the house, intending to meet his wife.

“San, is Ghea home?” Randy asked when he crossed paths with Sandra, who had just come down from the first floor.

“She’s been home for a while, sir,” Sandra replied softly. “It seems like Miss Ghea is quite upset. Her face looks clearly distressed. I offered her dinner, but she refused and asked me to leave quickly.”

Randy nodded understandingly. He was sure his wife was angry because she had to wait a long time for his delayed arrival.

Not wanting to prolong the issue, Randy continued his steps. Once he reached and entered the room, he could see Ghea, who appeared focused on something on the table near the sofa.

“Ghea…” Randy called softly. He walked closer and sat beside his wife. “Are you mad at me?”

Randy knew his question was quite ridiculous. It was already certain that Ghea was very angry with him. However, he was too confused about how to start a conversation with his wife.

“Ghe… for God’s sake, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to lie, let alone disappoint you intentionally.”

Ghea remained silent, unmoving for a moment before sharply staring back at Randy.

“If you’re busy, why bother telling me to wait?”

“Please, just listen to my explanation, Ghe. I—”

“Enough, Uncle. You don’t need to defend yourself too much. Just so you know, I haven’t eaten all day, and it’s all because of you, Uncle Randy!”

“Me?” Randy asked, pointing to himself in confusion. What was the correlation between arriving late to pick her up and her not eating all day? Did he ask her not to eat anything?

“Yes,” Ghea nodded, sighing. “Just so you know, during the lunch break, I deliberately went to your office to invite you for lunch together. But what? Before I could even say anything, you went out. Then, without any guilt, you asked me to wait, claiming you wanted to go home and have dinner together. And what happened? After struggling to suppress hunger from noon until evening, you broke your promise. Instead of hurrying home and picking me up, you were out there having a good time with Stella, the room freshener!”

Seeing how furious Ghea looked right now, Randy was convinced that his wife was currently burning with anger. Well, what else could he do? He didn’t even have the slightest intention of intentionally arriving late to pick up Ghea, who had been waiting for him for a long time. If only Stella hadn’t taken so long at the pharmacy, maybe he wouldn’t have been late like this.

“Again, I apologize, Ghea. I really didn’t know that you wanted to have lunch with me since this afternoon. Besides, as soon as the meeting was over, I quickly asked the driver to take me back to the office. It’s just that when accompanying Stella to one of the pharmacies, the medicine she was looking for took a long time to be packaged. And this caused me to be a little late.”

Ghea immediately squinted. Now she knew what caused her husband to be late to pick her up and made her wait for so long.

“There, see,” Ghea scoffed. “Turns out, Uncle was late to pick me up because he was accompanying Stella Orange first. I suspected it, that you two might have a special relationship. You’re so considerate, accompanying her and making me wait, sacrificing me.”

Randy felt conflicted. His intention was to be honest, but now he was being accused of all sorts of things.

“For God’s sake, I have no special relationship or anything with Stella, Ghe.”

“Even if you have a relationship, it’s fine. I don’t care!” Ghea replied, her tone emphasizing that she was upset seeing her husband leave with another woman.

“Are you jealous?”

Randy teased for a moment. But honestly, he was pleased to see his wife’s expression clearly showing her displeasure.

“Ugh, don’t even say I’m jealous! Don’t go too far, Om. I’m not jealous. But I don’t like it because you broke your promise.”

“But you should know that Stella and I are nothing more than work partners,” Randy clarified. Whether this explanation was important or not, he just wanted his wife not to misunderstand him. “Since we got married, I intentionally keep my distance from any woman, without exception. Moreover, this afternoon I tried calling and sending so many text messages just to give updates. But it was in vain after I found out your phone was completely off.”Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Ghea then reached for her work bag that she had placed on the sofa. Taking out her phone, she checked what Randy had protested about earlier.

And when checked, it was true. Her phone was completely dead. It might have run out of battery because she deliberately didn’t charge it.

“See, what did I say. Your phone really is dead, right? Even though I tried to contact you several times to give updates. Try calling Denisa and Joshua; it turns out they’ve gone home early.”

Ghea sighed. Even though Randy was right, she was still upset. It’s easy for him; he made her wait for so long, even to the point of hunger. How inconsiderate!

“Ah, I’m still upset,” Ghea concluded. Then she stood up from her seat. “Anyway, I won’t forgive you!”

“Don’t be angry all the time, Ghea. I really apologize, and I promise an incident like this won’t happen again in the future.”

“No forgiveness. Uncle has been too frequent in making me angry.”

Randy took a deep breath. Instead of trying to defend himself or apologize again, he reached for Ghea’s wrist, then stopped her from moving even an inch.

“What else do you want?” Ghea said sharply. “Anyway, no matter how much you apologize, Ghea won’t forgive. Anyway—”

Before that sentence could be finished, Ghea unexpectedly found herself lifted by Randy. Then, in a flash, he carried her, then took her out of the room.

“What, why carry me like this? Put me down, okay?!” Ghea ordered as she squirmed in Randy’s arms.

“Enough, Ghe. Just stay still. If you keep moving, you might fall.”

“Why carry me like this? It’s embarrassing to be seen by all the household staff. Besides, where are you taking me?” Ghea wondered when Randy carried her from the room, then went down the stairs, and now even walked outside.

“I’m taking you on a date,” Randy replied casually.

“A date?” Ghea responded with wide eyes.

“Yes. So you won’t keep complaining.”

“But—”

“Sssttsss,” he hissed. Making Ghea swallow back the words she wanted to say. “Just be quiet. You’ll find out where I’m taking you after this.”

Then Randy took Ghea to the car. Gently placing her in the passenger seat, then taking her away to a place he believed would make his wife happy and then forgive the mistake he had made earlier.