Chapter 4

Arthas opened the door and allowed his client to leave the room, closing the door behind him when he left it too. He turned around and looked at his client whose facial expression hadn't changed at all. His vertically slit yellow eyes didn't reflect any form of emotion, neither did his scaly face. He appeared emotionless and bored but Arthas knew he was not emotionless. He had emotions like any other creature. He just didn't show them and refused to tell Arthas everything he knew and that was a big problem for Arthas.

It was the third meeting Arthas had with the saurok and the third time he had tried to convince him to tell him the entire truth. Without success. He had tried to make the lizard-man understand that he could only help him if he would work with him and tell him everything he knew. He could only convince the jury and the judges that the charge was not right if he would know everything.

"I cannot represent you and try to defend you if you don't tell me what really happened, Mr Greenscale. You have to be honest with me if we want to achieve the best outcome. If you don't talk to me, I have no information I can use to make the jury believe that you are not guilty. You won't get anywhere with that. I won't be able to lower your punishment with no information. I cannot help you if you refuse to talk to me."

A pleading look could be seen in Arthas' eyes, his voice was soft and soothing. He tried to appear as sympathetic as possible to make his client talk. Unfortunately, all of his attempts didn't pay off. It appeared that the saurok didn't want to talk.

Arthas exhaled loudly and ran his fingers over his closed eyes. He waited for a few moments and then opened them again, looking at Mr Greenscale. "Remember my words. You won't achieve anything if you refuse to talk to me, yourlawyer. The worst that can happen is that they put you in jail. Do you want that?"

The lizard-man didn't react at first but then he shook his head silently.

Arthas exhaled loudly, brushing a strand of hair out of his face. "I'll give you a few days to consider everything... If you still refuse to speak to me then... I don't know... I can't represent you then. I'm sorry but that's how things work. There is no way I'll win that case or at least lower your penalty. I have a reputation to maintain. The people will joke about me if I appear in the courtroom unprepared. You will get a court-appointed defence counsel if you do not want to talk to me. Trust me, you don't want to get one."

The saurok muttered something in a foreign language and turned around, walking away without saying goodbye. Arthas watched the saurok walking through the corridor, vanishing behind a corner. Arthas shook his head in disappointment, thinking about a way he could convince his client to open up to him and tell him everything he knew. Arthas couldn't do anything without knowing what really happened from his client's point of view. He needed information. He was powerless without them.

Arthas sighed and made his way back to his office, noticing that most of his employees went home already. He took a peek at his wristwatch, a silver Rolex, finding out that it was already nineteen o'clock. Originally, the appointment would have started at sixteen o'clock but his client showed up almost two hours too late. At least Arthas had been able to work in the meantime but he hadn't been as productive as he usually was. He couldn't fully concentrate on his tasks, worrying that something might have happened to his client.

Not to mention that many questions about the case had been running through his mind, distracting him more often than he would have liked. He couldn't believe that his client had done this. He knew Mr Greenscale for years, he knew that he was not a very friendly person but he would have never thought of him as a violent person. There was something off about this case but Arthas couldn't tell what it was because he had no information. He only knew of the charge.

Mr Greenscale was accused of physically harming another living being. Arthas knew the identity of the victim but not more. He didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of the jury, the judges and the public. He needed to find out more or he could not represent the saurok. He had to find a way to make him speak.

Arthas sighed as he closed the door behind him and stepped into his office, finding out that Selania was still there. She was still sitting behind her desk and typing on her computer. She blew a strand of hair out of her face the moment Arthas passed her. Her eyes lightened up, her gaze fell on her boss who approached his desk without hesitation. She turned her head, her lips formed a delightful smile. "You are back, boss. How did it go?"

Arthas dropped onto his chair, flung his briefcase onto his desk and exhaled loudly. He stretched his legs out and put his head back, closing his eyes. He took deep breaths and remained silent. He opened his eyes eventually, looking at the dark-skinned woman who was regarding him curiously.

"Are you okay, Mr Menethil?"

"Not really. I'm stressed, overworked, frustrated and much more. But you already know that."

"Is there *anything* I can do for you?" she asked. Arthas didn't miss the way she pronounced the word anything but he didn't comment on it. He didn't really want to know what she had in mind.

He shook his head slowly. "No thank you, Selania. I'm fine. I just need a small pause and then I will continue with my work."

Selania raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I could give you a massage if you want."

"Thanks for the offer but I'll pass."

"Are you sure? I'm very good at massaging people. You will feel a lot better once I kneaded your stiff, well-developed muscles. Your shoulders and your back will thank me once I'm done."

Arthas shook his head. "I'm fine." He didn't miss the disappointed look on the face of his secretary but he said nothing about it. He averted his gaze and turned his computer on, checking his mails.

"Tell me when you have changed your mind," Selania said.

"I will," Arthas replied quietly. He pulled his business phone out of his pocket once he was done reading his e-mails, checking if he got any texts from very important businessmen and women who had his number. He didn't get any in the past hour. He put the phone on his desk and checked if he got any messages on his private phone. He got indeed.

He had twenty unread messages. Seventeen were from a chat group where Uther, Falric, Marwyn, a few other friends and he were in. He skimmed through them, realising that these messages were unimportant. He returned to his chats, his gaze fell on the chat beneath the group chat.

Honey was the name of the contact who had sent him three messages. Arthas was wondering what Jaina had written to him, so he didn't hesitate to open the chat.

12.45

'I hope you are having a great day, honey. I know that you have much work to do but I hope you could come home today earlier than usual. I need to talk to you about something. It's not urgent but I would be happy if you could make it. Not only to talk to me but also spend some time with your children and me. They miss you. We miss you.'

14.47

'Now that I thought about what I wanted to talk to you about, I came to the conclusion that it's not really that important. I can solve this problem alone. You don't have to leave work because of that.'

14.51

'I still prefer it when you come home before the little ones go to bed. It is up to you, I don't want to put you under pressure. Love you.'

Arthas typed a response without hesitation, without thinking much about what words to use.

'I'll try but I cannot promise anything. There is still plenty of work to do. I'm sorry if I won't manage to get home before the little ones go to bed.'

Arthas waited for a few seconds after he had sent the message and switched off the screen, putting the phone aside.

"Any important news?" Selania asked.

Arthas shook his head. "Not really. Just my wife who texted me. I didn't receive any message from one of our clients. That's all we would have needed. Another problem we would have to solve."

"At least that. We already have so much to work on, we don't need more work to do."

"Let's hope that we don't get more e-mails we have to answer. I don't want to work until midnight."

"Me neither," responded his secretary.

Arthas said nothing in return and turned his head, his gaze fell on his screen. He checked his mails once again, sighing out in relief that none had arrived in the meantime. He minimized the window, returning his focus to the next case he had to work on.

---

Jaina reloaded the chat once again, finding out that Arthas had written nothing else since he had sent her a reply an hour ago. He had promised to return home as soon as he could but he had also written that he was not sure if he would make it in time. It looked very much like he would not make it home again before their children would go to bed. Another day where their children wouldn't see their father at all. Another day where they had to go to bed without Arthas kissing them goodnight. Another day Jaina couldn't spend time with her beloved husband.

Another day she had to take care of their children alone. In the last few weeks, she had had the impression from time to time that she was a single parent and not a married woman with a supportive husband. The only thing Arthas did was to bring their children to their schools but he didn't even do that every day. He only did it when he had the time, which was not always the case.

Often Jaina was the one who had to make them breakfast, dress them and bring them to their schools. She also had to pick them up after work and spend time with them. She had to help Uther with his homework alone and look after them. She couldn't just leave the house without them and meet with her friends or do something else. She usually had to take them with her. Sometimes, she could ask her brother, her mother or her sister-in-law to look after them but they didn't always have time. Jaina rarely got the chance to go out and spend some time for herself.

She couldn't really blame Arthas for that. She understood how important his job was and she knew how important it was to him. She knew he would do anything for his company and wouldn't hesitate to do overwork to cover up all the cases and help as many people as possible. His company belonged to the most important law firms in California. His job was to help people whenever he could.

She knew that his company wouldn't be on the top if he wouldn't work so hard. The company depended on him. Arthas had always carried great responsibility when he had joined the company and began to work with his father. Since his father's death, his responsibilities had multiplied. Because of his commitment, the company endured. Because of his strong will and his determination, the company didn't go down and the jobs of thousands of people had been secured. The company heavily depended on him.

Jaina understood how important Arthas' commitment was but she still wished he could find a balance between his work life and family life. In the past weeks, his family life had almost been non-existent while his work life had taken over. He had rarely found the time to do something with his family.

Jaina didn't need him to go with them somewhere. She would already be happy if he would show up for the evening meal and bring their children to bed. She wished that Arthas could work from home so that he was at least physically there and his children could see him. But she knew that wasn't possible because he needed to be present in the company and make sure that everything ran smoothly.

If only Arthas could come home in the late afternoon and continue working from there. That way he could at least join dinner and help her bring Uther and Jasmine to bed. Jaina had to propose this idea to him the next time she would see him. Provided that he was still awake enough to hold a conversation. She had to talk to him as soon as possible. Not about the inappropriate picture, she didn't want to bother him with something silly like that. She had to deal with that alone. Or maybe not. Maybe she could ask Vereesa for help but first, she had to confront her with the drawings.

If she would get the chance to talk to Arthas, she would talk about more important things than the drawing of an obsessed student. She would talk about his work and their family, especially their children. Maybe she should go to him and talk to him instead of waiting for a day when he would return home earlier than usual. She knew he didn't like it when she would show up unannounced but maybe it was necessary to finally achieve something. Jaina liked the idea but she didn't make a decision yet. She would think about it later and consider if she should do it or not.

A soft, angelic voice brought her back to reality and made her look up from her phone. She put it aside, her gaze wandered to her daughter who was regarding her thoughtfully. Her son was staring at his plate and toying with his food. He had not eaten much yet.

"Is something wrong, mommy?" Jasmine asked worriedly.

Jaina smiled at her daughter sweetly and gave her best to not look worried. "I'm fine, sweetheart. Don't worry about me."

"But you seemed so sad when you have looked at your phone."

"But I'm not sad. Maybe I just appeared to be sad but I'm not. Promised," Jaina replied. It was not really a lie but not the whole truth either. She wished she could tell her children the truth but she didn't want to bother them or make them think badly of their father. She had to be strong for them and she couldn't allow herself to let her guard down. She had to give them hope.

Jasmine put her fork aside and leaned over the table, putting her tiny hand on Jaina's. "I'm here for you, mommy." She didn't say more because she didn't know how to express her thoughts correctly with the words she knew but Jaina understood what she wanted to say. She would be always there for her mother. Jaina smiled at her. It was supposed to be the other way around. She had to be there for them and take care of them and not the other way around.

Nevertheless, she was glad that they would help her whenever they could. They usually didn't argue with her and followed her orders without hesitation. They didn't make her daily life more difficult than it already was. Especially Uther was very supportive. He always fulfilled the tasks she gave him and always looked after his sister when Jaina had to make dinner, clean the house or do something else. Jaina was grateful that he was such a well-behaving understanding boy. Not all children his age were like him. She was very proud of him and also of Jasmine.

Jaina looked at him, her smile didn't leave her lips as she watched him poking around in his food. "What is wrong, honey? Is something wrong with your food?"

Uther shook his head slowly. "The food is fine."

"What's wrong then? I made your favourite food for you. Spaghetti with Bolognese and sausage cubes. Why don't you want to eat?" she asked, sounding a bit worried.

Uther exhaled slowly, refusing to lift his head to look at his mother. "I don't want to eat without dad."

The smile left Jaina's lips, a comforting expression appeared on her face. She reached out and placed her hand on the one of Uther's that was not holding the fork. "I understand you, Uther. I really do but your father cannot be here today. As I told you, he is still at work. The ones who work for your father need his help. They cannot do things without him."

She noticed that Uther clenched his fist but remained calm and continued to stare at his spaghetti which threatened to get cold if he wouldn't eat them soon. "I hate father's work," he muttered to himself.

Jaina sighed. Uther had always been the more reasonable of her children because he was the oldest. He had always shown his understanding of the current situation and accepted his mother's explanations without questioning her. It seemed that he was not always as understanding as Jaina thought him to be.

"Don't say that, Uther. We don't want this kind of negativity in our household. I understand that you are sad because you miss your father. I understand because I miss him the same way you do. I wish he could be home every day at least for dinner and saying goodnight to you but that's very difficult for him these days. He has a lot of work to do but he promised me that things will get better. We will soon be able to have dinner with him again. You just have to be patient."

Uther said nothing in return. His gaze still rested on his plate and his fist was still clenched. His body was a little tense but it relaxed quickly as Jaina ran her fingers over the back of his hand. Her soft touch soothed him and caused him to calm down. Even though he was no longer upset, he still refused to eat.

"I'm not hungry," he said and stood up, beginning to walk away from the table. Jaina caught his left arm at the last moment, preventing him from getting out of her reach. "Slow down, honey. Your sister and I are not done eating yet."

There was a defiant look on Uther's face but he said nothing and merely nodded after a few moments. Jaina let go of his arm, guided him back to his chair and moved it closer to the table once he had sat down. It was obvious that he was slightly sulking.

Jaina had just praised him in her thoughts and now he just did the opposite of what she had praised. He was making things harder for her instead of easier. She didn't hold his misbehaviour against him. He was just a child after all. A child who missed his father. A child who wanted to spend time and eat dinner with both parents. Not with just one. With both. Mother and father.

She understood him perfectly, so she was lenient with him. Nevertheless, she had to make sure that he wouldn't misbehave and become impertinent. If he would do that, she would have no other choice than reprimand him and scold him. She just hoped he wouldn't make things more difficult for all of them. His reaction was another reason why she had to talk to Arthas. She had to visit him at work. Not today but as soon as she could.

"Finished," Jasmine shouted happily, causing her mother to look at her. Jaina smiled and a soft laugh escaped her lips as she looked into Jasmine's dirty face. A lot of Bolognese sauce was smeared around her mouth and there were even noodles in her hair. Jaina had no idea how her daughter had managed to do that but she found it funny for some reason.

"Looks like more sauce sticks on your face than made it into your mouth, princess. You were supposed to eat the spaghetti and not spread them all over your face."

Jasmine grinned at her mother and laughed. She said nothing in return and just watched her mother cleaning her face with a piece of kitchen paper.

"Half of your meal may have landed on your face but you cleaned your plate at least which means that you earned yourself a reward," Jaina said softly.

Jasmine stretched her arms in the air, her face reflected delight and anticipation. "PUDDIN! PUDDIN!" she screamed happily and clapped with her hands. Jaina stood up from her chair and walked over to the fridge, opening the tall door. She leaned forward, reaching one of the shelves in the middle and grabbed something. It was a small yellow plastic cup which lid showed the right arm of a cartoon figure. Together with the lids of three other cups, it made up a picture. A lion standing on two legs, wearing a tricot and carrying a basketball in his hand.

Jaina took a little spoon out of the drawer where the cutlery always was and put it and the cup in front of her cheering daughter. Jasmine's eyes lightened up, her hands grabbed the cup and tried to open it. Jasmine didn't manage to remove the lid of her favourite pudding, so Jaina had to step in and help her. She put the removed lid aside, watching her daughter picking up the spoon and beginning to eat.

It was obvious that the little girl enjoyed the dessert, the expression on her face was proof enough. Jaina watched her with a smile on her face, noticing out of the corner of her eyes that Uther picked up his fork and began to eat his spaghetti. She was not sure if he wanted to eat his meal because he was hungry or because he wanted to eat pudding too. Nevertheless, she was happy that he ate something and instead of sulking.

Jaina also ate spaghetti but not as much as she used to. She was on a diet, so she didn't eat more than half a plate. She still felt hungry but she ignored the feeling. She was sure she would eat some fruits later to satisfy her hunger, until then she had to endure. She had read much about diets but the reality was much different than the theory. The desire to eat more was strong. Her body was trying to convince her to eat more but she didn't listen to the signs it gave her. Not even a loud stomach rumble could change her opinion. She stayed strong.

The best way to stop her from thinking about eating was to do something that would demand her whole attention. Like playing with her children, watching tv or writing. Her children had to go to bed soon, so the first option wouldn't be possible. The second and third sounded promising.

Jaina handed Uther his pudding once he ate all of his spaghetti. His face looked less dirty than Jasmine's had used to look before Jaina had cleaned her. He removed the lid without help and began to eat it. Unlike his sister, he didn't devour the content in less than a minute. He ate his dessert slowly, only shoving small portions on his spoon so that he could enjoy the pudding much longer.

Jaina watched him with a smile on her lips, saying nothing at all. She wished she could sit with them at the table much longer but it was already late, so she had to make them ready for bed. It might be Friday, meaning they wouldn't have to go to school the next day, but that didn't mean they could stay up longer than twenty-one o'clock. They had to go to bed because they had to get enough sleep, especially Jasmine who was much younger than her brother.

Jaina got up and pulled Jasmine's chair out, waiting until the small girl had jumped off. She moved the chair back to the table and took Jasmine's hand, guiding her out of the dining room to the bathroom. Uther followed them and brushed his teeth without his mother reminding him to do so. Jaina helped her daughter to reach the most difficult corners of her mouth with the head of her toothbrush.

She didn't need as long as expected to bring her children to bed. They had cooperated which had saved Jaina a lot of time and Jasmine had been so tired that she had fallen asleep without demanding to hear a goodnight story. Uther hadn't fallen asleep yet when Jaina kissed him goodnight but he didn't insist on a goodnight story. His eyes rested on her, his lips were pressed together and no sound escaped them when Jaina turned around and walked towards the door. Just at the moment as Jaina reached the door, Uther spoke to her. "I really miss dad."

Jaina stopped in her movement and turned around slowly, her facial expression reflected how sorry she was. "I'll speak to your father and try to convince him to come home for dinner and do the rest of his work at home. I'll try but I cannot promise anything."

Uther merely nodded and yawned, covering his mouth with his hand too late. He muttered something which Jaina couldn't understand and then closed his eyes. He fell asleep within mere seconds, causing a small smile to appear on Jaina's lips. She watched him for several minutes before she turned off the light and closed the door quietly. She checked on Jasmine again, finding her still sleeping, before she went back to the ground floor. To the dining room to be exact.

She cleared the table and put the dirty dishes and cutlery in the dishwasher. She turned it on and closed the door, grabbing two apples and a banana from the fruit-dish in the middle of the table before she went to the living room.

She dropped onto the settee, stretched her legs out and put her head on the armrest. She closed her eyes and relaxed. She opened them after a while, a quick glance at the digital clock on the cooker told her how late it was. Almost 23 o'clock. She had napped for nearly two hours but still felt tired. The growling of her stomach reminded her to eat something. She picked up the apples and the banana, she had placed on the coffee table before she had closed her eyes, and took a bite from the red apple.

It was juicy, just the way Jaina preferred it. She ate the apples, leaving nothing but the cores behind. She peeled the banana and eat it with relish. She threw the left-overs in the trash and made her way to the bedroom. She slipped into comfortable pyjamas and pulled off her socks, discarding them on the floor. She slipped beneath the blanket and put her head on her pillow, picking up her tablet from her nightstand.

Unlike her son, she didn't use the tablet to watch videos or play some games. She used it to write. Usually, she wrote on her laptop but not in bed. In bed, she always used her tablet even though she was slower that way. The main reason was that she felt much more comfortable, especially because she didn't need to sit to write. She would have to sit in her bed to write effectively. With her tablet, she could lay comfortably and write at the same time. The only negative aspect beside the lower writing speed was the fact that the risk of her falling asleep in the middle was much higher that way.

Jaina dealt with the risk by quick-saving her document every few minutes, even in a cloud in which she could log into from any of her devices. That way, Jaina didn't need to be afraid about deleting her work by accidentally hitting a button or key because everything was saved in her cloud, not to mention that she had another back-up on a USB-stick.

She wrote the nextchapter of her book until she got too tired to continue. She had troubles keeping her eyes open and was no longer able to suppress her yawns when she saved everything and put the tablet on her bedside table. She covered her whole body with the blanket, pressing the back of her head deep into the blue comfortable pillow.

A small amount of sadness overcame her when her gaze landed on the empty left half of the bed. Her children were not the only ones who missed Arthas. Jaina missed her husband much more than she wanted to admit. She hated being alone with the children, hated eating alone with them. She hated going to bed alone and falling asleep alone. She hated that there was no one she could snuggle up against. None one she could cuddle with and exchange caresses when she felt needy. There was no comforting warmth that was radiated by a body. Nothing that could keep her warm during cold nights except for her blankets. She felt pretty lonely and she hated that feeling more than anything else.

It reminded her of the time before she had met Arthas. A time where she had not been in a relationship with anyone. A time where had slept alone during nights.

If only Arthas would make it home every day before she would go to bed. She didn't need to spend many hours with him, half an hour would be enough for her. She would love to go to bed with him and fall asleep in his arms. That was all she was asking for. She could only hope that things would become normal again. She hoped that a visit to Arthas at work would make things better. She missed her husband and her children missed their father.

Her last thoughts were about Arthas before she fell asleep.