BROKEN PIECES OF HIM.

CHAPTER 10 | Stranger

“ I don't care what you say, I will never accept her as my sister, ever!”
“ Omar! You take that back right now!” my mother shouts at him. The guards walk in.
“ Why? I don't know you both and I don't owe you any loyalty. My aunt is the only mother I have ever known and will always know. You and your daughter are just strangers to me and she isn't part of my family. She should go back wherever she comes from”

My sister charges at Omar, my mother runs to them and I just take my handbag and walk out. I hear the screams, the shouting and something breaking. I don't look back.
“ Miss Amara, miss Amara” I ignored him, open the door that led outside. “ Miss Amara!” He pulls my hand then immediately lets go. I stop walking then look at him. He opens the umbrella for me.
“ Where would you like me to take you?”
“ Somewhere I can drink”
“ You're not 21 yet, you're not allowed to pubs and you don't drink alcohol”

“ Maybe I'll start now since my brother is making my life hard…” I take a deep breath. He gives me his handkerchief. “ Can you please just take me somewhere that I won't see Omar, please”
“ Come”
I follow him to the car, he opens the backseat door for me as always but I open the front door passenger seat. I close it then wear my seat belt. I press my forehead on the cold window and let my tears fall. My brother blames me for our aunt's death. He's the only one who cried at her funeral. I don't know how she died but we were told she had a bad accident and she was unrecognisable.

Her casket was closed and we didn't see her body and I wouldn't have seen it even if she was fine. Omar's Haye for me got worse when he heard about her death because as he said, she was the only mother he knew. I saw the look on my mother's face and she was hurt when he said that. I want Omar to stay away from me because everyone I'm around him my anxiety gets worse. and he reminds me of everything bad that was said to me. I always have to watch myself when he's around because my sight makes him feel nauseous.

I wouldn't be dealing with all of this if I was still in Joburg with Kwame, Addea and Inga. I hope she will be here for my 21st birthday party. I sent her two tickets to bring a plus one then Msizi's girlfriend too. I wiped my tears again with his handkerchief. I look at him and he is focusing on the road but I can see how tightly he is gripping the steering wheel.

Otto was one of my father's trusted bodyguards. He was assigned to me the moment my feet touched the Hadid premises. My father said he trusted Otto with my life and he knew he would protect me like how he protected him. For two years he has been my bodyguard, he goes everywhere I go and has seen me at my lowest. I can safely say that I trust Otto with my life. He looks at me for a moment then back at the road again.

He can see that I am staring at him but he doesn't say anything and I don't know if it's because he doesn't care or what. We get stuck in traffic for 10 minutes then we move again. He drives for 30 minutes then parks the car in front of this restaurant. He climbs out then opens my door with an umbrella already waiting for me then I climb out. He locks the door.
“ Let's go inside”
I walk in front of him then he flows. When I step inside I'm greeted by this warm warmth and delicious smell. My mouth waters.

He closes the umbrella then a short white woman approaches us. “ Otto, how lovely to see you again”
She beamed at him.
He kisses both her cheeks. “ Maria, how are you?”
“ Happy now that I have seen my favourite person in the whole wide world. Who is this beautiful young lady with you?”
I like her aura. She seems nice and welcoming.
“ This is Amara Hadid. Amara, please meet Mrs Maria Wolfgang”
“ It's nice to meet you Mrs Wolfgang”
“ Please call me Maria.” She embraces me with a hug instead of taking my hand and shaking it.

“ You are very beautiful Amara. Come, I have the best table for you two and I hope you have some to eat my famous shepherds pie”
“ I can't wait to try it.” She laughs, then takes my hand and leads us to our  table.
Otto takes off my jacket and hangs it with his on a coat rack then opens the chair for me and I sit.
“ I will bring you two some soup to sip on while you wait for my famous pie.”
“ Thank you Maria,” Otto thanked her and I can hear the fondness and love that he has for Maria.

It looks like they know each other very well. I wonder if he would tell me if I asked because I know nothing about this man and I would like to know more about him. I look around this cosy and beautiful restaurant and I just love it. There are only 6 tables and four of them are occupied including us. This place feels like more of a home than a restaurant and I love it.

I wonder why he brought me here because I wanted to go somewhere I could drink and this place doesn't look like it sells alcohol. I look at Otto and he's looking outside the window. The windows are steamed because of the warmth from the inside.

“ You're staring again,” he says, then looks at me. Our eyes locked.
“ Why did you decide to bring me here?”
“ You asked me to take you somewhere where you won't see your brother and I did”
“ Does Maria have wine?”
“ No.” That answer sounded like don't ask me about alcohol again.
“ Maria seems like a sweet woman”
“ She is”
“ How do you know her?”
“ Her son and I were friends.”
“ Where is her son now?”
“ He died” I hear his pain as he says that.
My hand automatically touched him gently. “ I'm sorry” He looked at it.

I pulled it away. “ How did he die?”
“ Maria makes the best of everything including her famous cottage pie. You're going to enjoy it” He changed the subject and that means I mustn't ask questions about his friend I how he died.
“ Otto, thank you for bringing me here,” he gently nodded.
“ How are you feeling now?”
“ Better” I always feel better when I'm around him. “ You always make me feel better”
“ My job is to just protect you”
“ You do, do that but you also make me feel better and…” 

Maria walks towards us and I stop saying what I was going to say.