Hi… Remember me? I just wanted to post an update and to declare that I am back (as of April 2021) after what seems like a lifetime (or more accurately, almost 4 years of absence)! I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 13: Gandma's Plans

14th June 2011

May tried to supress her sharp inhalation but failed. At least she managed to shut her mouth before anyone realised the look of recognition across her face. She quickly recovered and put on a pleasant smile, concealing everything that Grandma Hayden clearly remembered, judging by the look of thunder across her face aimed at May.

Grandma Hayden too convalesced with speed too, putting on a look of pride as she stepped forward and hugged Drew in a somewhat awkward and stiff display. Her crisp dress suit barely crinkled in the embrace and her shoes, a curt looking pair of Paris stilettos, stood firmly on the white rug, leaving no traces of dirt behind.

Drew planted two kisses on his grandmother, one on each cheek, then the same to his mother before he introduced the woman to his wife.

May looked directly into the woman's eyes, her gaze strong and unforgetting. Despite remembering exactly where they had crossed paths, May had no intention of bringing it up. "Nice to finally meet you, Grandma."

Grandma Hayden slowly lifted her hand out towards May's, leaving a tiny gap between them. "Wish I could say the same."

Drew tried to supress his recoil at the hostility his Grandma presented. Abigail's mouth dropped open.

"Do you know each other?" Drew asked, confused. He exchanged looks with his mother, who shrugged her shoulders.

"You could say that." May replied. "But I'm sure that's not the reason why Grandma Hayden is here."

"Of course." The older woman turned to Drew and looked at him sternly. "What shit storm have you conjured up this time."

"Now now, mother, why don't we go up to the office first and let May and Drew bring up some tea while we discuss it." Abigail ushered her mother-in-law up the stairs and out of sight. Grandma Hayden followed the prompt but not without one last scowl in May's direction.

Drew took the opportunity to drag May into the kitchen and shut the door behind him. He paced back and forth a few steps before he looked at May, annoyed at the new problem that had arisen seemingly from nowhere. His hands tussled up his hair in frustration as he turned to May, his eyes fiery and all over the place. May shook her head and sunk her head into one hand. She had anticipated a lot of trouble and difficult times but nothing had prepared her for her current predicament. Her eyes drifted past Drew and over to their wine selection – what she'd give to crack open a bottle and knock it back.

"What just happened out there?" Drew questioned surprisingly calmly though May was certain that he'd actually felt differently.

"It would appear that I have met your grandma before." May tried to sound indifferent and calm. Drew gave her a look to go on. "Your grandma was the woman who tried to stop me from graduating and ruin my chances of securing a job."

"So as a way of getting back at her you set your sights on her grandson…?" Drew looked at her with one brow raised.

May wanted to laugh at the idea but held back. It was not an appropriate time to start laughing. "I had no idea that you two were related. I mean, you don't even share the same last name." Which in May's defence was the honest truth. Grandma only went by Hayden outside of the university and work. Her business name, May gathered, must have been her maiden name.

Drew ran an aggravated hand through his hair, leaving it to reflect his flustered mind. His grandma had been one of the main contributors in scholarship funding, educational content and learning opportunities to the prestigious La Rousse Business School students and she had a habit of trying to dispose of students that she didn't like but how she decided who she didn't like, he never knew how she came to that conclusion.

That was the last thing he needed on top of the current Alyssa scandal. He snapped out of his thoughts and clicked the kettle on.

"Get Alfred to make the tea from Celadon for Grandma Hayden exactly the way she likes it. I'm going to go up and see to my grandma."

May nodded sharply as Drew walked out of the room and lifted the kettle off the port. It would be useful if Drew had actually put water in the kettle.

After almost an hour of Grandma Hayden scolding Drew on and off for creating, as she had put it, "the latest media meat shit", the woman had put on her business face and had started laying out the foundations of how to disperse the scandal whilst everyone else sat and listened, contributing little – the woman was on a roll.

May watched as Drew and Abby listened and nodded in a confirmative manner to the plan. Drew's eyes was full of focus and if she looked closely enough, she could make out some faint dark circles under his eyes and the bloodshot that laced the whites of his dry eyes from keeping track of the bright screen and dark papers. She wasn't actually sure how much sleep Drew had actually slept but looking at his reaction to the meeting and his posture, anybody else would guess that he had slept a reasonable amount.

"So until my tracker manages to find Alyssa, you two are going to stay low after work and make sure you travel in and out of places together, put on a united front on the few occasions the press will get to see you." Grandma Hayden ordered.

"I'm sure it won't take long to locate the girl." Abigail said, sitting back on her seat. "You always manage to hire the best trackers."

"Trackers will always work fast when you dangle a little incentive in front of them." And that incentive came in the form of a cheque that was coming out of Drew's inheritance. Not that he was aware that every time Grandma Hayden got involved in a problem he had created that his inheritance was getting smaller.

Now that the meeting was over, it felt like everyone could breathe normally again. The pot of tea had dwindled in volume since the start of the meeting and Alfred had been ordered not to disturb the meeting. May, sensing the quiet as a time to make a slip out of the room after such an intense hour, excused herself under the guise of refilling the pot and bringing up some nibbles to the study.

Grandma Hayden's eyes watched May closely as she got up from her seat closest to the study door, carrying the tray, her knuckles around the handle turning white.

In the kitchen, she stood with her back against the wall next to the fridge as soon as she set the tray down. She ran through the plan in her head again… She was basically to go about her day as normal mostly but no shopping, no meals out and no meeting friends out (not that she really ever did that anyway) and instead, she was to spend her time… following Drew. Not in so many words but that was effectively what she was ordered to do.

May could feel her heart race at the thought of having to be around Drew all the time. How did she really feel? She was trying to work that out while trying to calm her heart. But if her heart was reacting like so then surely… She was excited about it?

May's eyes darted at the other people at the dinner table. Grandma Hayden had taken the seat at the top of the table and on her left sat Abigail, who was happily eating her dinner of langoustine courgetti since in her world, carbs are the source of all evil. Grandma Hayden looked at her dinner the same way she looked at student papers – sceptically but open to examining its content.

To the right of Grandma Hayden sat Drew who looked the same as before the meeting, which if you didn't scrutinise too closely, is exactly the same as his normal self pre-scandal. He ate his dinner neatly, curling the strands of linguine on his fork.

Next to Drew sat May, quietly pushing the pasta around the plate. She didn't feel entirely comfortable with Grandma Hayden who never seemed to crack a smile. She had been silent for the whole of the meal too, unlike Abigail, a naturally bubbly character, who made the occasional burst of short-lived conversation.

"So how long are you planning on staying in La Rousse?" Drew asked his Grandma.

"I was planning on staying a while." She answered, "But I've changed my mind" she threw a look at May as she finished speaking.

May and Drew looked at each other.

What did you do? May could tell that's what Drew was asking with his one look.

We'll talk later. She tried to signal back.

"I've asked Alfred to prepare a room for you so it'll be ready after dinner if you want to rest after dinner." Drew said.

"No, I'll be staying with your mother."

Drew nodded and May tried not to let her sigh of relief escape.

It was late by the time Abby and Grandma Hayden left the penthouse (but not as late as it felt to May). Alfred had been relieved of his duties for the night and had returned to his quarters. May wanted to go to bed as soon as they had left but she knew Drew was going to have questions for her and she knew she would have to fight to clear her name. But she was surprised when Drew asked her into his study, calmly, and sat down on the sofa rather than his intimidating desk chair.

"I know why you've called me in here." May started but Drew interrupted her by raising his hand.

"More like I know what my Grandma is like." He said while shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, what?" May looked at Drew, surprised by what he just said.

He looked up at her. "Grandma does this thing, where she singles in on one thing, just one single quality, then makes up her mind about someone."

"What quality? Is it a physical thing? Or a trait?" May asked.

"Nobody knows what her judging criteria is." Drew said. He leaned his back on the back of the sofa and let his arm spread along the edge. "Now, how exactly do you know my grandma?"

10th November 2010

May sat outside the board room, waiting to be called in for her disciplinary meeting. Disciplinary… Her head spun at the thought of that word. She had never been called in for any sort of meeting similar in nature to the seriousness of this before. The letter had come through her letterbox a few days earlier, informing her of a breach in the university code of conduct but it was vague. She had no idea what exactly what she was being accused of.

"May Maple."

May took a deep breath and stood up. "I'm here." She said even though she was the only one sitting in the hall. The woman motioned for her to enter the room.

May nodded and proceeded and once inside the room, she was met with a single chair set up for her and a panel of six members of staff across from her. She recognised most of them; the head of university disciplinary board, her programme leader, the faculty head, two others that she didn't recognise and then there she was, Marianne Frey, the head of the scholarship committee which had chosen to give May partial funding for her master's degree in the business arts.

"Please take your seat." Said the head of the university disciplinary board.

"Okay." May tried to say but it came out more like a whisper and the moment she sat down, the onslaught proceeded, starting with the panel's opening statement, the accusation.

"It has been brought to our attention, Miss Maple that you have been submitting papers written by ghost writers. This is in direct violation of the university rules, not to mention your scholarship criteria…"

May could feel her head spin. Why was she being accused of such a misconduct. Not once had she thought about it before, especially when she knew she could produce better work.

The follow couple of hours became a heated discussion of the accusatory evidence and May's explanation and defence. By the end of the two hours, May felt that she had defended herself well, with most members of the board looking satisfied with her replies and their expressions loosening up. She had been asked to wait outside while the board settled on a verdict amongst themselves. The wait was longer than May had anticipated and the watch sitting on May's wrist, exposed to her line of vision probably didn't help.

"Miss Maple." The assistant called her. "The panel has reached a verdict."

May stood up promptly and followed her into the room and resumed her seat from the meeting earlier.

"Thank you for waiting, Miss Maple," started one member of the panel. "We are pleased to announce that we have come to the majority decision of innocent and we will be dropping all accusations against you."

May felt pleased at the decision, she really did but the majority was not what she expected to hear. Why was it a majority decision and not a unanimous decision?

"Who voted against me?" May asked before she could stop herself.

Marianne Frey stood up. "I do and I maintain that your work is all fraudulent."

May and Marianne's eyes locked and suddenly, she could sense all of the woman's heat and disbelief and anger in her eyes, she could sense how hard she had fought to prove her guilty. And just through those eyes, she could see that this woman would never want to understand May's story.

14th June 2011

"I remember her talking about it." Drew said once May had recalled her story of her first encounter with Grandma Hayden. "She was very vocal about it."

"I did nothing wrong." May maintained. "And thankfully the other heads and directors on the panel realised that it was a misunderstanding too."

It was after that incident that May ended up getting a part time job again to help her manage her bills. Her scholarship funding had funnily enough dried up shortly after her meetings, causing her to almost be evicted from her rented flat.

Drew didn't say anything but he was thinking. May wanted to know what he was thinking. Did he believe her? Or was he in the side of his grandma? Whatever his stance was, he didn't say but instead, stood up.

"It's getting late. We should get to bed." He said and then left his study.

May watched as he retreated out of the room. We should go to bed. He had never said that to her before but she liked it.

Smiling to herself, she followed him to his bedroom and shut the door behind her.

By the time May had finished her pre-bed routine of cleaning her teeth and face and going through her skincare routine, Drew was already in bed, sitting up reading a book. He had a t-shirt on, covering up his torso which would otherwise be exposed by the covers which came to his waist.

May headed straight into the dressing room from the bathroom and shut the door behind her, trying to find something appropriate to wear to bed with a husband who isn't really her husband. May headed to her pyjama and lounging section and ran a hand through the outfits, waking up the lights to the dance of the clothes. She pulled a few hangers out and tried to visualise herself in the outfits.

Even though she slept in the same room as Drew the night before, her outfit was the last thing in her mind. She had slept in the outfit that she had worn to work. May shook her head. She was aware that she was spending too much time thinking about her outfit choice and that Drew will probably make fun of her for it. Decisively, she picked up a short shirt dress that ended on her upper thigh and left the top two button undone, covering most of herself up but not feeling restricted. May took a deep breath then exited the closet, trying to walk to the far side of the bed as naturally as she could.

Drew didn't stir from his reading. He kept focused and continued to read while May fumbled about trying to get into bed and under the covers without exposing herself.

"Comfy yet?" Drew asked once May had stopped rocking the bed. "Or was that your attempt at getting my attention?" He gave a sideward glance at May with a smirk.

May flushed. "Actually, I am very much settled now, thanks for asking." She tried to sound dignified as she smoothed other covers on her legs. She really liked the way the silky texture felt whenever she ran her fingers over them.

Drew closed his book over and set it down on his bedside table then open his drawer and picked up a small velvet box. He tossed it casually in May's direction which she managed to catch with both hands.

"What's this?" She asked.

"A gift." Drew replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"For what?"

"For putting up with my grandma, for cancelling your final day of plans in Pastora City. Take it as what you want." He said then turned his lamp off and laid down with his arms folded behind his head.

May was stunned. She didn't know what to say. Instead she opened the box and what she saw stunned her into further silence.

Drew grinned to himself. It was just the reaction he was after.

XxXxX

And that's a wrap for chapter 13. I hope you enjoyed this and please let me review so I know I'm writing this for more people to read other than myself? Ahahaha… The next chapter is almost halfway written up so it won't be long before it can be posted too!

See ya next time!

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