ARRIVAL

The men including William paused and watched her heading downstairs with her white sneakers more stealthily than before till she reached the bottom floor where she stopped hiding herself as soon as she realized that the guards who had already seen her climbing down the staircase from upstairs and walked briskly to the man clad in black outfits standing at the door with his tough biceps protruding out his sleeveless black shirt, hiding behind his back.

As for the spectators especially William, they all peered at her with indignation and profound curiosity even though they never fond of their boss's children like they once did when they newly started toiling tirelessly for her father during the time she was a little kid very much younger than her brother whose facial appearance was a stark resemblance with that of his father both in manner of dressing and attitude apart from his striking resemblance with their boss.

"Miss, I know what you are about to say but I can't let you leave the mansion. Not without getting any instruction from madame or an escort",

The guard said as soon as she came to him without hesitating like he had thought she would when she saw him staring hard at her.

"My room feels a bit stuffy, so I want to go out for a walk in the garden",

She gave him a coaxial response and a tricky smile across her lips which seemed to be convincing for the guard who took a shufti glimpse of the invited guests behind her only to see the watchful eyes of the men staring at them but he remained undeterred by her earnest plea and ignored the eyes of the spectators hoping to see him let her leave the room which was soon becoming a bit uncomfortable for the two guardsman by her presence in the room. Then he resumed his conversation with the boss's daughter soon after he returned his gaze at her pretty face that was almost shrouded by the hooded outfit.

"I'm sorry, Miss Ruth. I still don't believe you and I can't disobey your mother's orders to let you leave the house",

"My legs hurt and I want to stretch them a little",

"Not this time, Miss",

"Your father is coming back today and he won't be please if he finds out that you aren't in your room",

"I told you that I'll be back, Marcus",

"That's the same excuse you gave to us before you went missing",

"I'm not lying",

She pleaded fervently in her unrelenting demand to leave the house but her response fell on deaf ears.

"I won't take long, I promise",

"You lied to us thrice and you expect us to believe you now, right?",

Marcus answered feeling a bit bothered by her incessant nagging that was affecting his focus right there.

"Honestly speaking, I swear that I'm telling both of you the truth",

She replied crossing her heart as a gesture of her taking an oath in a funny way got the men giggling profoundly .

"If you really think that thing will work on me, you are absolutely wrong",

Marcus said sneering at her but she turned towards the second guard who seemed quite a different from his comrade.

"Sir Lucas, I'll back once I feel better in the garden and as for mother, you don't have to worry about her, she won't notice that I've gone to the garden because I will be back in a jiffy",

She replied taking a step forward away from the guards but they soon caught up with her the moment she stepped her foot outside the entrance.

"We can't let you outside even if you are telling the truth",

"I'm not gonna leave the gate like last time so, let me pass or else….",

She threatened with an even more stern look and tried to evade them but the guards refused to let her through and kept blocking her way down the stairs.

"I'm afraid you have to go back inside this time around",

"I said no. You can't keep me inside like I'm some prisoners",

"Miss, try to understand us. We are only acting on your mother's orders",

"Listen to us, we aren't stopping you from leaving on our own accord",

The guards replied trying to persuade her to head back inside rather than to leave the house which would spell disaster for them if she went missing like she did the third time they got severely punished for letting her take a stroll in the garden only to find out that she had snuck out of the vicinity through the gates without them noticing anything about her unexpected disappearance.

Before she could reply, a familiar car horn resounded outside at the gate which was locked from the inside and compelled the two guards including the young girl to look spellbound at the fancy vehicle parked outside the tall gate that protected the perimeter from intruders. No sooner had the guardsman left the entrance to the gates, the little girl surreptitiously slipped out their hands and took off to the garden at the flank of the mansion without them knowing about it, as well as their boss who had seen them battling to restrain her from leaving the premises till he no longer saw her sneaking to the back after he got distracted when the driver sounded on the horn for the guards to allow him through.

The driver of the black limousine quietly drove into the broad courtyard through the marble pathway and ended up parking the vehicle in front of the mansion after sailing round an erected fountain with an angelic sculpture in the midst of four streaming pillars of water, gushing forth into air from below but ended at a height slightly above the statue.

One of the transfixed guards wasted no time in opening the door for his boss to step out of the car and paved way for him to climb up the stairs while his comrade trailed behind the returnees to the entrance of the mansion.

The men inside had heard the car horn and immediately got themselves ready to welcome the boss from his trip before standing up in unison as a sign of respect the moment they spotted the boss whose stylish black overcoat almost covered his black trousers, entering the mansion for the first time since he came back from his trip after leaving the airport.