Celebration

The following days passed by, with a game of hide and seek between Alex and Margaret.

Whenever she tried to talk to him, he would make an excuse and slip away. Although they lived next to each other, the association between Margaret and the Rutherford family was just up to greet each other whenever they crossed path with one another. She only had interaction with Alex, but now she even came to their house, like a friendly next-door neighbour, but Alex did not even come out of his room to greet her.

* * *

On the fifth day after the interview, Alex was busy doing house chores as usual. He was doing the dishes after having his lunch, Mrs Flores didn't come today. As of late Mrs Flores would frequently skip coming to their house, she had to often look after her grandson.

Alex was doing the dishes when he got a call. It was an unknown number, Alex answered the phone and put it on speaker.

"Hello".

"Hello, is this Mr Alex Rutherford?"

"Yes".

"Good afternoon Mr Rutherford, I am speaking from 'Theation'".

"Ohh... yeah good afternoon".

"Mr Rutherford, if I am right you applied for the job in the PR department a few days ago?"

"Yes, I did".

"Then I would like to congratulate you on behalf of 'Theation', you have passed the interview".

"Really! thank you".

"Mr Rutherford, you will be hired as an intern for the next three months after evaluating your performance, the company will make a decision".

"Yeah, I understand".

"Then Mr Rutherford, we would like you to report on Monday. Is that fine with you?"

"Yeah, it's fine with me. Do I need to bring anything with me?"

"Nothing at all".

"Okay".

"Then see you on Monday, Mr Rutherford and once again, Congratulations".

"Thank you".

After that, the lady on the other side hung up.

Alex was on cloud nine now, he was jumping all around the house with joy. He cleaned the dishes in a hurry, and since this calls for celebration, Alex picked his wallet, grabbed his hoodie and ten minutes later...........he was standing in front of the grocery store.

Alex grabbed the ingredients, fought with aunties over fresh vegetables and finally after an hour of hard work, he got all the things he wanted.

Alex went home and began preparing a feisty meal. By the time his parents were home, the house was filled with the mouth-watering aroma.

"Alex, why did you prepare such an extravagant dinner?" George asked, gulping down the saliva in his mouth. Although he just wanted to attack the food and gobble it up to the very last bite, he refrained himself.

"Well, guess what happened today?" Alex asked, beaming with joy.

"You got a call from 'Theation', and you got selected". Martha said.

"How can you guess it on your first try?" Alex looked annoyed

"It's written all over your face". Martha said chuckling as she rubbed his hairs.

"That's not fair". Alex pouted like a baby.

"You should have told us, we could have gone out for dinner, not that I am complaining, but why did you trouble yourself," George said. If they have known they could have made the necessary preparations.

"Yeah, we could have bought something for you to congratulate you". Martha seconded George's opinion.

Alex stood silly, getting scolded by his parents[ not the harsh kind of scolding, but the caring one]

Martha saw the expressions on Alex's face and elbowed George.

"Well, but it's better this way, no one can make food as delicious as Alex". George said, throwing his arms around.

"And I will take Alex to buy something tomorrow". Martha too joined him.

"My son is the best of the best". George said.

Martha and George kept on praising Alex.

Alex, on the other hand, was smiling ear to ear. He was on cloud nine again.

Martha shook her head in amusement. It was even more easy to coax Alex compared to a child. He was too innocent for his own good, but she hoped that it will change in the near future.

Martha and George went inside and came to the dining table shortly after freshening up.

Alex too served the food. When they were about to begin the dinner, the bell rang.

Martha stood and went to open the door, the curious Alex too followed her. As they opened the door, in front of them stood Margaret.

Margaret greeted Martha and smiled towards Alex. Martha, on the other hand, was getting a bit suspicious as to why the visits from Margaret have increased exponentially. Earlier, they would just greet each other and that was it, there was no such intimacy that they would visit each other so often.

"Hello Mrs Rutherford, I got this bottle of wine today, but you see I live alone, and I am not a big fan of wines, so I thought of gifting it to you". Margaret said, taking out a bottle of 'Pinot Noir'.

"Thank you," Martha said, taking the bottle from Margaret and handing it over to Alex.

"Then, I will take my leave," Margaret said and turned around but the way she dragged herself it looked like she was reluctant to leave.

"Have you had your dinner? It doesn't look like it. Come have dinner with us" Martha said as she called her from behind.

"I don't want to to be a burden" Margaret turned around immediately and walked towards Martha.

"Don't make me say again, come inside".

"Thank you".

When Martha and Alex came along with Margaret, George was already half done with his food.

"huh...du...he..hahh...heehe...?[Who do we have here?]" George greeted her with his mouth stuffed.

"Good evening Mr Rutherford".

Martha smacked his arms, only then did George adjusted himself.

"Sorry, you have to see this" Martha said to Margaret.

"No... it's nothing"

Margaret sat down beside Alex. Alex got up and served food to Martha and Margaret first, before serving it to himself.

After serving to both of them, Alex sat beside Margaret.

"It's delicious, Mrs Rutherford you are such a splendid cook. To have such a meal after coming home would be so great. If you have some time, you can teach me a thing or two". Margaret said as she took the first bite.

Martha coughed with embarrassment, and George let out a hearty laugh which only stopped when Martha glared at him viciously.

"Alex was the one who made all the food here," Martha said.

"Uhh..." Margaret looked astonished. She looked towards Alex to confirm, but the latter didn't even look at her, he was just eating his food with his head hung so deep, that it looked like he was eating directly from the plate.

"Yup that's my boy" George, on the other hand, left no chance to praise Alex.

"Well, you are certainly a great husband material". Margaret complimented.

"I totally agree with you, but the problem is he is too shy to find himself a girlfriend, but now that he has found a job, I am sure he will find someone in the office" George got into a conversation with Margaret.

"Ohh... congratulation Alex, I am sure you will find someone worthy of you".

"We are hoping the same. I am expecting there will be a forbidden office romance, or maybe that CEO of his company Jessica will fall in love with him, Ohh....just thinking about it, I am unable to control my excitement. Alex, find yourself a girl as soon as possible and make three or four grandchildren for us". George held Alex's arm and shook him silly.

Alex wanted to bury himself somewhere, this father of his, what is he babbling about?

"So you got your job in 'Theation', that's a pretty good company".

"Yeah"

"When are you suppose to join?" Margaret asked.

"Monday next week" Alex replied.

George, Alex and Margaret were engrossed in conversation, Martha, on the other hand, was completely focused on Margaret.

After dinner, they opened the bottle of 'Pinot Noir' which Margaret brought with her.

"Nice wine, such a pleasant fragrance, not too dry but certainly not sweet. The flavours of blackberry and strawberry can be distinguished. The lingering aroma is so good. I can't possibly describe this in words". George went on praising the wine. He was a great wine lover.

"I am glad that you liked it, I would like to spend some more time here, but I should get going now," Margaret said as she stood up to leave.

"Visit us more often from now on, You might get to have a meal prepared by Alex". George said.

"Sure, Mr Rutherford".

"Alex go on, walk Margaret to her house" George nudged Alex to follow Margaret.

Alex nodded and followed Margaret outside.

"What are you trying to do?" Martha asked, looking at the suspicious behaviour of her husband.

"What do you mean?" George asked innocently.

"Inviting Margaret for dinners and all"

"Nothing, I just thought she might bring wine each time she joins us"

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think, she is interested in Alex" Martha shared her thoughts.

"That's a good thing, isn't it".

"But the rumours around her are too many".

"Well, let the nature take its course, come let's go to sleep".

Both Martha, and George went to their room...