Miss Secretary Takes Charge Chapter 44

Recap

     When Julie knocked one of his pawns, she raised her hand for a hi-five, the boy stared at her cluelessly.
“You just have to hit my palms to share my excitement” she taught him to do a hi-five.
He was still reluctant, so she cautiously took his tender hands and clapped with her when they heard a thunderous voice screaming,

“What the hell is happening here?”

    
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     Both Julie and the boy were startled at the intimidating voice. They stood up on seeing Mr.Ross, fuming figure. Julie pulled the boy behind her defensively.
“How dare you talk to strangers you ill-fated rotten little thing?” he spit venom through his words. Julie was taken aback by Mr. Ross’ behaviour and choice of words. She held the child tightly.
“I would whack you with all my might if you ever come out of your room” he yelled.

     The little boy pushed the chessboard vigourously and rushed to his room and locked it. Julie felt outrageous and distressed about the whole incident.
“Sir, the b..”
“Shut up and get the hell out of here”
Julie was angered but did not talk back. There stood a woman in her attorney’s vest quietly. Julie guessed she must be Mrs Eliza Ross, she had gone near her,
“Don’t you know, it’s an offence to neglect a child? Do you think he deserves this ill-treatment? It’s a CHILD ABUSE. Mam, I am sorry to interfere in your family affairs, but my heart goes out to the poor little child. I can’t do anything about this, but You Can, think about it”
Julie became emotional and her eyes glistened. She left the document on the table and walked out.

     Julie came to her apartment and was totally disturbed by the incident. She felt guilty for talking to the kid, he was punished for doing nothing and minding his own business. It was Julie who initiated the conversation with him.

     Eva came to meet Julie, who was sitting with a sad face. Julie told her everything when Eva asked what’s wrong.
Eva said, “what if he had physically abused the kid?”
“No Eva, Mr. Ross is in a good position, would care much about his image, so he wouldn’t dare touch the boy”
“How to help the kid?”
“until we know their story we cannot get involved, lets wait”
“Right, did you make any dinner?” Julie shook her head. “I have made sandwich, would you like to taste it?” Julie smiled cheekily, “You are…”
“The sandwich has enough cheese, so stop saying one, eat” Eva took a magazine and flipped its pages while she was eating.

***

     Julie was working in her laptop when Mr.Ross received calls repeatedly, but he ignored them. The office phone rang then, Julie received it. It was Mrs Eliza Ross, her voice was very anxious. “Mr.Ross, the boy..”
“What happened to the boy?” Julie asked nervously.
Mr.Ross yanked the receiver and shouted, “What?”
His face turned red and he tried to cover up his anxiety, listening to what his wife was saying.
“Okay, I am coming” he quickly took his bag when Julie asked, “Sir is he okay?”
“None of your business”
“It is MY business” Julie raised her voice.
“The boy was innocent, I approached him and talked with him, if anyone was to blame, it was me, he was ruthlessly treated and punished for my mistake, I am coming with you” Mr. Ross did not say anything.

     Once they reached his house, Julie rushed inside. She held Mrs.Eliza Ross’ hand, “He did not come out since you left yesterday, no food, no movement” she sobbed.
“Please tell about him” Julie asked.
Mrs Ross hesitantly looked at her husband, who was sitting with an unreadable expression, lost in thoughts.

    “Our daughter Lily was living with Mr Ross when I was working abroad for few years. When she was 15, she had complained about serious stomach pain, that’s when the doctors found that she was 24 weeks pregnant. Both daughter and father decided to keep this news from me and once the baby is born, they have planned to give it for adoption as it was an unplanned teen pregnancy also abortion was not possible. But she got admitted on emergency by eight months and delivered a preterm baby. Unfortunately, Lily’ young body couldn’t cope up, her condition got deteriorated and she could not make it. We..we have lost..her” Mrs Ross broke into tears, Julie hugged her.

     “I stopped him from giving the baby for adoption by accepting to all his conditions: He would provide for the baby, but the boy should be kept hidden from the society, not allowed to leave the house or talk with anyone. He had always blamed the boy for Lily’s death. The boy was not properly cared from the beginning. Mr Ross, wouldn’t allow me to take care of him too, now the boy had grown used to be in isolation. But this time, I feel something is wrong, he wouldn’t generally lock himself up for this long.”

     Julie took a deep breath, “What are his interests?” She asked Mrs Ross.
“He would be playing video games mostly, seen him scribbling on the walls.”

     Julie walked into his place where he was playing yesterday, checked the collections of the games he had and books on the shelf. There were many sudoku books, maths puzzles, there was one worn out sketchbook among the others, she opened it to find the feelings and emotions of a lonely little child. Every page had some drawing but one thing was common in all of them, it was the picture of a small boy standing alone. Julie could not control her choking emotions as she understood his pain and suffering. She immediately remembered Henry who had similar traumatic past.

     She dialled the Doctor’ number who treated Henry and asked for his guidance. He said, “First, make sure he is conscious, because in many cases, the patient’s blood pressure fluctuates erratically when they undergo extreme emotions. Then try to provoke him by mentioning about his favourites, they would get excited. Usually neglected kids tend to keep themselves protected in their own shell to cope with the loneliness, it takes time and effort to make them interact and engage in activities. Treating them itself is a challenge as they wouldn’t cooperate. They wouldn’t trust anyone, chances of going violent if you get into their territory are more. Patience is the key to make them open up, never push their buttons. Safe environment, fresh air, physical and fun activities would greatly help them”
“Thank you so much, Dr” said Julie.

     Julie processed all the facts and thought for a while. To check his status, she took a sudoku puzzle, filled half and took the paper near his door. She knelt down and seen through the door gap, there was no movement. She slid half of the paper inside and placed a paper weight on the other half that was outside. Mrs Ross asked what was she doing. Julie motioned her to be quiet.

     After few minutes, the paper was yanked inside. Julie was so relieved and happy that he was doing okay.

     Now she switched on his game, it was paused since yesterday. She continued to play the chess, she increased the volume and made all wrong moves. The wrong buzzer kept blaring, which was annoying. Julie was anxiously waiting for some movement. In the next few minutes, Julie heard the sound of the door clicking open.

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*I think some of you have thought it was Henry who yelled at the end of last chapter, sorry for disappointing you but the story has to take this plot to reach the place where it has to, so kindly wait till Henry and Julie meet.. hopefully soon🤞🏻