CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
TALKING WITH MICHELLE
Michael was staring out of the large window in his room. The rain was still falling very heavily. Walking back to sit on his bed, he dialed a number that answered on its first ring.
"Hello, Max!" He paused. He could hear the sounds of music coming from the other side. "I'm really sorry I can't attend tonight's party" he paused again. "I'll attend the next one" he paused. "Mmmm! Nope, I think my doctors are extending it. Okay. Thanks for understanding, Max. Goodnight. Please extend my apologies to others" he paused. "Okay, bye" and then he hung up.
Sighing, he opened his message app to see if Michelle had replied to him. He was disappointed. She hasn't replied to him yet. He threw the phone on the bed and darted his eyes to the wall clock. It was ten already.
"Should I call her? What if she's asleep?" He quickly stretched his hand, picked up the phone, and dialed her number.
****
Michelle was just walking out of the bathroom. She's been in front of the TV since she woke up earlier. When she started feeling sleepy, she came back to her room to have a bath and sleep. As she was drying her hair with a hand towel, she heard her phone ring. It was on her reading table so she walked up to it and froze on seeing the caller.
"Michael's calling me!!"
She quickly covered the distance between her and the phone and answered the call.
"Hello!" She said softly and very calmly.
"Michelle!" Michael also matched her calmness. "How are you?!"
"I'm fine, Michael. What about you?" She walked over to the bed and sat with one leg crossed.
"I'm fine too. You didn't reply to the text I sent to you earlier"
"About that...um! I'm sorry. I drifted off to sleep earlier and when I woke up, I went downstairs. I didn't even check my phone because I was occupied by one of my favorite movies showing on TV. I just came back to my room not too long ago"
"Mmmm! That's quite a very busy schedule you've got there"
Michael said that elicited laughter from both of them.
"What did you say in your text?" She asked.
"I was very bored earlier. I tried reaching Kelvin and Sylvester but it was to no avail. And that was when I texted you. Are you busy now?"
"Noo! We can still talk—if you want to" she smiled.
"Okay," Michael paused.
"When you couldn't reach us, what did you do?"
"I went to my dad's office at the company. I even had a party to attend tonight but I can't because of the continuous rainfall. I just called the guys to apologize for not attending".
"Ow! Maxwell and others, right?"
"Yeah! They wanted a party thing before my surgery" Michael said. "So what's the movie you were seeing?"
"It's Titanic," Michelle said, adjusting herself properly on the bed.
"Titanic! Wow. I also love the movie. But not very much. I hate that Jack dies in the end. I love happy endings" Michael said.
"That's true" Michelle answered quietly. "The reviews are good tho. Like people are in love with the fact that he died or just their love story entirely"
"The plot, the characters, and the whole romance thing was very cool. Just that the idea of dying in the sea kinda creeps me out"
"You've been on a yacht before, right?" Michelle asked, looking at her fingernails.
"Yeah! But we don't sail. Dad knows I'm seasick"
Michelle chuckles. "I love Rose. She's beautiful. One of the reasons I keep my eyes glued on the 1997 movie" she said.
Michael paused and said after a while, "You're more beautiful" Michelle paused. No, she froze again.
"You could have gone to the party, you know" she quickly changed the topic.
Michael smiled, he knew what she was doing.
"Yeah! But it's gonna be cold outside. I'm not very good at cold places. Apart from the semester party that happened last time, are there any other extra activities in our school?" He asked.
"Our school's intersports are coming up very soon," she said, quite excited.
"You sound so excited," Michael noticed.
"Yeah, I am. I love winter sports. I participate in all the race competitions. Kelvin and Sylvester are in different houses, and we also get to compete, but I always beat them every time," she giggled softly.
"You guys are all in different houses and yet best friends?"
"Don't mind us. After sports, we celebrate as best friends would. You'll be in my sports group, Michael. We are the winning team"
Michael laughed, "Okay. That's cool. I love winning teams. What else do you do?"
"I danced for my team...but I didn't do the last winter sports. I was very busy"
"You do have a lot of busy activities...that's a lot of energy you have there, Michelle" he heard her laugh. "So what's it like, being the school's head girl? Is it hard?"
"Not really. I'm enjoying it. At first, it was hard. Thank God for Vin and Vester. They help a lot. I also love the popularity and all, you know"
She said that made Michael laugh. It was so good to hear him laugh and she smiled.
"I don't think I will be in school tomorrow," he said.
"Why?" Her voice was so small.
"I would be traveling out to meet a few business partners. I made a proposal to my Dad one time for a new subsidiary company, to grow an income increase. He pitched it for me and some board members bought the idea. But my dad says I have to follow him to meet with the new interested investors" he explained.
"You say I'm busy. But I guess, a lot comes with being a Watts, right?" She asked.
Michael chuckled, "I have to finish what I started".
Both laughs. Michael looks at the wall clock.
"It's almost midnight. You have to sleep now".
"What about you? You're not sleeping yet?" She asked, adjusting herself inside the blue-colored duvet.
"I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" He said.
Michelle smiled, "Okay. Goodnight"
"Mmmh!" Michael replied and hung up. Keeping the phone beside the lampstand. He got up, unbuttoning the shirt he wore. He had a small smile dancing on his face.
Michelle, on her own,, was smiling like she won a lottery. The discussions she just had with Michael kept repeating in her head.
"He's so calm. Like how does he do that till the end?" She asked herself. She took up her phone and began to read about the WattsHouse Group of Companies. There was nothing about Michael on the Internet, but it was mentioned that his trillionaire father has a son who is believed to be the sole heir of the company and also in possession of the largest share in the company. She also read media articles concerning Michael. Some say he's mysterious. Some said it may be a lie that Michael isn't his son. Some were asking questions about why there was no solid information about Michael. She even read that the whole heir thing could be a rumor and maybe Alfred Watts has no son.
"A son he adores like his own life" she scoffed when she read that.
She read a lot about the company and some of its subsidiaries. All she could keep muttering was 'wow!'. Even her aunt won't believe that she just spoke with Michael. WattsHouse heir. With the phone light still on, she kept it very close to her chest and drifted off to sleep.