Chapter 252 - A Feeling That Began To Grow

Because Viona was sleeping, Fernando finally decided to go down to the first floor with William. He then went to his study room to find the files of his old house that he had stored in the safe.

"What are you doing?" asked William curiously.

"I'm looking for the blueprints and documents of this house," Fernando replied quickly as he continued to take out important letters from the safe.

"Should I help?" William asked. He knew that Fernando did not like to be disturbed when he was working.

"No. I can do it alone, you just sit there on the chair," Fernando replied, refusing William's help.

William then sat in the chair according to Fernando's orders. He just stared at how Fernando was busy with important documents in his safe. Fernando's desk turned into a mountain of documents as there were many papers piled on top of it. William did not dare to touch it, fearing that it would anger Fernando, because his friend didn't like anyone touching his important documents without his permission, so William just sat in his chair, enjoying the red wine in his hand, staring at Fernando. 

After struggling with documents for almost half an hour, Fernando finally returned the documents he had removed, back into the safe, one by one again, very neatly. William shook his head slowly when he saw Fernando's very neat and tidy work.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" William asked quietly, as he handed a drink to the tired Fernando.

"No," Fernando replied softly.

"What are you looking for?" asked William, confused.

"I'm looking for the old files of this house, Will. I'm curious about the history of the underground passage. I'm sure the passage was made by the previous owner of this place," Fernando replied seriously.

"Didn't you build this place from scratch? So how could you not know about the secret passage?" William asked in confusion.

"I built this mansion, but not the wine cellar. When I bought this land, the cellar had already existed even though the initial size was not as big as it is now," Fernando replied quickly.

William shook his head slowly because he did not understand the point of Fernando's words, so that Fernando finally explained the meaning of what he said. William seemed very focused on listening to Fernando's explanation, word for word. A smile finally appeared on William's face when Fernando ended his story. He was very proud of his friend who had built a mansion this big without the help of his father at all. He used all his father's inheritance to run a business after he divided it in half with his younger brother, Franklin.

"Maybe the tunnel was used by the natives during war times in the past," said William, trying to calm him.

"That's my guess too, Will. It's just that, my big question is, how can my wife know that there is a secret passage, while I don't even know about it. Viona has only lived here for the last few months, even when Zeze was still here, she only lived for two months, so I wonder how she found out about that secret route, Will," Fernando replied softly.

"Yes, yes, if you think about it, it's a bit strange. How could your wife find out, when it seems that everyone here doesn't even know about it, right?" William chirped in on Fernando's words.

"So that's what makes me curious, Will, I actually wanted to ask her, but she was asleep. I couldn't bear to wake her," Fernando replied honestly.

"Well, just wait. When she wakes up, talk to her nicely, without any emotion or high tone, just remember your child when you want to lash your anger," said William with a smile.

Fernando nodded his head slowly. He then invited William to go to the dining table for lunch, because the food had been prepared by the maids. The two of them then enjoyed the afternoon together, because Viona was sleeping, and he didn't want to disturb Viona's nap.

"Teddy, call Bruno to come here," Fernando said softly, as he put the salad in his mouth.

"Yes, Sir," Teddy replied obediently. He then went to the front to call Bruno as instructed by Fernando.

Soon, Teddy was back at the table with Bruno.

"Ready at your service, Sir," said Bruno softly as he lowered his head slowly.

"I ask you to help shut down the secret passage and make sure this news doesn't leak out," Fernando said, glaring intently at Bruno who was staring at him.

"Yes, sir, I will immediately carry it out," Bruno answered quickly.

Fernando nodded his head slowly in response to the words of the bodyguard. Bruno then returned to his workplace, leaving the dining room, because he had heard Fernando's orders. Teddy also appeared to be following Bruno to make sure that the bodyguards were doing their job well.

"Are you sure you're closing it?" William asked Fernando quietly.

"Yes." Fernando replied quickly.

"Why? Don't you want to find out first the secret behind the secret passage?" asked William again.

"Let the secret of the secret passage be a secret, Will. I don't want to find out anymore. I am afraid that I will open old wounds if the secret passage is exposed to the public. Let the secret become part of history," Fernando replied with a smile.

Clap

Clap

Clap

William clapped when he heard Fernando. He was amazed with his friend's mind. Actually, Fernando was curious, but he didn't want to find out any further. Right now, his priority was Viona and the child she was carrying. Fernando didn't want to find any more trouble by finding out the secret behind the passage which he only knew today.

Not long after that, Fernando and William had finished their lunch. They then walked to Fernando's wine cellar, which had all the contents taken out. Fernando ordered Teddy to move all his liquor collection into the mansion and asked him to destroy the cellar after closing the secret passage with cement and stone. He really wanted to block the secret passage.

"Let history remain as it should be," Fernando said to himself, smiling faintly when he saw his bodyguards starting to pour cement into the secret passage which was about ten meters long.

Teddy then asked Fernando to come in because the heavy equipment he had contacted to destroy the warehouse had arrived. He did not want Fernando to get dusted if he stayed there. Fernando finally returned to the mansion together with William. They planned to oversee the process from inside the house.

* * *

<THE GLOBAL BROS HOSPITAL>

Since the arrival of Doctor Robert, Professor Franklin's attitude was more rigid and reserved. He was even more likely to walk alone or sit alone while eating at the dinner table, like this afternoon, where he preferred to sit alone in the cafeteria enjoying his lunch. The other doctors who knew him, seemed embarrassed when they see the number one professor in the hospital eating alone. Many of them asked permission to eat near Frank, but all of them were refused by Frank.

"Forget her, Frank, that woman is just a lowly whore," Frank said to himself when he saw Louisa came to the cafeteria with Robert and Chloe.

Louisa, who realized the presence of Frank, became awkward. She walked slowly behind Robert when she was going to the food stall, until she finally stepped on the feet of Chloe, who was behind her.

"Ouch sorry, Chloe, my bad," said Louisa, who was shocked when she heard Chloe's scream when she stepped on her foot.

"It's okay, Doc. It doesn't actually hurt, I was just shocked earlier," Nurse Chloe replied with a flushed face. She was embarrassed because she had become the center of attention.

Seeing the commotion behind him, Robert then approached Louisa and Chloe. He then ordered the two women to go ahead to get food. At first, Louisa refused, but she finally agreed because Robert insisted. With slow steps, Louisa walked towards the place where the food was, together with Chloe, while Robert was behind them.

Frank, who saw all the events, was amused, his chest burned. He wanted to pull Louisa out of the cafeteria and give her a punishment, but he couldn't do that because his reputation would be ruined if he did that.

Bang!

The sound of the table being hit hard startled everyone in the cafeteria. They all tried to find the source of the sound and it turned out that the sound came from Professor Franklin's table who was eating alone. 

"Sorry if I startled you, I was trying to catch a fly that was flying in front of me," Frank said softly while showing a dead fly on the table as soon as he raised his hand.

"Professor .... your hand," A nurse's squeak at Frank quietly, she saw a drop of blood coming out of his hand, who had just hit the table very hard.

Everyone looked at Frank's bleeding hand, including Louisa, who looked worried.

"It's okay, I'm fine. It's just a small cut. Isn't it better this way than having the flies keep on flying around, isn't it," Frank said softly, smiling broadly.

"It takes a small sacrifice for something big," Frank added, staring intently at Louisa, who was still looking at him with sad eyes.

Shortly afterwards, Frank left the cafeteria. He was not allowed to lift the tray containing his dirty dishes, because the cafeteria attendant acted quickly. They felt guilty for not being able to maintain the condition of the cafeteria so that there were flies. After apologizing to everyone who came, the cafeteria attendants then tidied up the table where Professor Frank was eating, where there was a blood stain on the table.

"To me, you are just like that fly, Louisa ..." Frank said to himself as he continued walking away from the cafeteria to his office to treat the wound in his hand.

To be Continued