Chapter 17

"Hey, Zoe," he called out. He was with his wife, who happened to be pregnant. He had driven his wife to the same hospital for her medical checks.

Zoe squinted, but she wasn't able to recognize that face. "Sorry, have we met before?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, we have, I was the guy who offered to give you a ride to THE PUB bar, I think a month ago."

Zoe smiled "Oh, oh, I can remember now, I didn't remember to ask about your name that night."

"Thomas…my name is Thomas and this is my wife Ruth."

With a warm smile, Zoe and Ruth extended their hands, shaking firmly as they exchanged greetings.

"Are you going our way? we could give you a ride, Thomas requested.

His wife's expression turned cold as she frowned in disapproval.

"Oh, I'm actually heading to Main street." Zoe replied to Thomas without noticing the frown at his wife's face.

"Come inside the car let's drop you off, we are going in that direction." Thomas told Zoe as he snubbed his wife's frowns.

Thoma's wife was sitting at the front seat with her impressively rounded baby bump. She looks like someone who is seven months gone in her pregnancy. 

Zoe carefully opened the back seat door and settled in. "Thank you," Zoe said.

Zoe sat comfortably well in Thoma's "LAND ROVER" car, a different car from the previous one he used. not expecting any reaction from his wife, or a question of how she and her husband met. Ruth suddenly turned to Zoe and asked an unexpected question with a smile stretched across her cheek.

"How did you two meet? I mean…you and my husband." 

The question left Zoe momentarily speechless. 

"I actually meant your husband a month and a week ago. The night I was heartbroken and walking down a lonely street on that night, he approached me with his car and told me the street was a bad place to be at that time. He offered to give me a ride back home but I requested he drop me at any bar. He obliged, he took me there and left immediately after dropping me off at THE PUB bar.

"That's right, honey, she was so devastated that night and needed a bar to drink herself up.Thomas added.

"Oh, I see, but I didn't ask you," Thomas, Ruth said, rolling her eyes.

"I hope this woman is not thinking that I had anything to do with her husband, I don't even know why I agreed to join them, I would have peacefully entered a taxi " Zoe thought to herself.

"You were heartbroken by what that, Zoe" she continued asking.

Zoe's face flushed as she struggled to respond to Thomas's wife's constant question.

"I'm sorry, Ruth, but I can't disclose that." Zoe replied.

"Honey, don't you think that was unnecessary" Thomas said.

"I know what I'm doing and I know what is necessary and what is not." His wife responded in a hushed voice.

As Zoe witnessed Thomas's wife's erratic behavior, she couldn't help herself but think. "This lady is actually crazier than I thought. I need to get out of their car before it gets more serious." Zoe muttered to herself.

In the midst of their argument, Thomas's phone suddenly started ringing, it diverted Ruth's attention.

Zoe glanced at Thomas's phone screen from the back by mistake, and she saw Bernard displayed on the screen as the caller. Zoe's widened slightly at the sight of Bernard's name.

"Could that be the same Bernard that I knew from the bar, or it's just a coincidence" Zoe's mind raced with questions.

"Bernard, my man, what's up?"

Bernard and Thomas had been friends for years, Bernard considered Thomas a true friend, someone who had been by his side through thick and thin for many years.

"I hope it went well, my man?" Thomas had always refer Bernard as his man.

Bernard had gone to meet up with his clients to finalize contract details and he was heading home, so he called Thomas to tell him that it all went well, that the deal had been signed.

"Alright, I and Ruth are heading home from the hospital, she went for her medical checks. I will meet you at your mansion, after I drop her off at home, and inform Lucy, your chef, to prepare something special. We would eat and wine together to celebrate this deal. Thomas grinned as he hung up.

Zoe felt shocked hearing Lucy's name. "This is definitely the Bernard that I knew." She muttered.

Thomas turned to his wife, "honey I will be heading to Bernard's house after I drop you off, Okay?"

His wife nodded in response.

Zoe was uncomfortable, she needed to clear her curiosity, "sorry to interrupt, was that Bernard Dax?" 

It was Bernard's name that Zoe could recall with perfect clarity, even as the other direction that led to his house faded away.

"Yes, how did you know that name? Have you met him before?" Thomas asked.

"Yeah, I met him at the bar that night and we spoke about business, but I misplaced his business card that contained his phone number. Could you share his contact information with me again?" Zoe requested.

Zoe dishonestly said she had Bernard's phone number, hiding the fact they hadn't exchanged details. But she desperately needs it because she's carrying his child.

"Of course, you can have it." Thomas responded as he input his phone password, trying to get Bernard's number. "Here it is, Zoe."

"You are giving out Bernard's phone number just like that?" Ruth asked. "You know he doesn't like to be disturbed by Strangers." 

"I'm giving out his number to Zoe, because she said she has a business to talk about and Bernard doesn't joke with business."

"Yeah, right, suit yourself." Thomas's wife mumbled.

'This lady actually has a problem with everything.' Zoe thought to herself as she dialed Bernard's phone number into her phone and stored it.

She gave back the phone to Thomas, thanking him.

She got to her destination and got down from Thomas' car, thanking him and his wife for the ride.