Chapter 65 —Count Down Magic!

"Hi Uncle Matteo, " Itzel greeted hugging him when he walked into the living room. Two maids had taken Lena and Trent's belongings from the car to their room through the passage door outside the house since Matteo wanted Lena's and Trent's arrival to be a surprise to Itzel. Earlier when he and Henderson left for Oxwey they didn't tell Itzel that they were going to see Lena. "How are you?" Matteo smiled. "I'm fine, " Itzel mumbled before returning to her seat. "How did it go?" Cleo inquired standing up to her feet. Matteo put a finger on his lips gesturing Cleo to stop talking, She peered with brows furrowed in confusion. "Don't say anything yet, " Matteo said in a whisper to Cleo who had come to stand beside him. She nodded when she finally understood the message he was trying to pass across to her. "Why are you whispering?" Itzel arched a brow her gaze moving from Cleo to Matteo. "Itzel, I have a surprise for you." "A surprise? Well, I hope it's not ice cream." She was tired of being surprised with ice cream since these days she was either getting ice creams from her dad, Cleo or Matteo just so she could be in a much lighter mood but how could she when she was missing her dearest aunt Lena and Trent so much. "No, it's not." Matter chuckled before veering backwards. "You can come in now." The door screeched open and Trent strode into the room. Itzel's eyes sparkled like stars twinkling in the sky and her lips curved happily. "Trent!" She raved happily scooting to him. A wide smile that reached Trent's eyes marred his face as they hugged each other. "I never thought I would say this but I've missed you so much. I had no one else to talk about Skyway with, " Itzel mumbled after they broke the hug. Skyway was a cartoon series Itzel and Trent loved watching together but ever since Trent and Lena left she was no longer interested in it. Trent chuckled, "Don't worry we'll watch it together whenever you want." Itzel giggled, "I can't wait also I look forward to beating you in the cross puzzle game." "I've always won that game and I'll always win, " Trent bragged with a confident grin. "Where is Aunt Lena?" Itzel inquired peering at Matteo. "She'll be here soon." Henderson sat in silence as he and Lena made their way back to the mansion after a failed attempt to apologise to Brian. After Brian shut the door in their faces he didn't open it again, even though Henderson rang the doorbell until Lena had to stop. She told him they had to leave and come back again since Brian didn't want to talk to him at the moment. Staying back was only going to make things worse. Henderson hearkened and they returned to the car and then left. "Please drive to no 70 Myriad Street, Lyte Avenue," Henderson told the chauffeur. "Yes, sir." The chauffeur replied with a nod. Henderson glanced at Lena whose eyes were on him. "I have to go to Alia's place." Lena sighed, All though Henderson was yet to say a word about how he was feeling at the moment, she knew he had a lot on his mind and now that he was talking about going over to his place the outcome of things could turn out chaotic. "Don't worry, I'm not going to cause any trouble. I just need to make it very clear to her to stay away from us else I will take drastic actions which are necessary since she has refused to listen to my polite requests to mind her business." Alia was stunned to see Henderson in her house, She tried to hug him but he told her to keep her distance letting out his feelings. By the time Henderson was done talking to Alia, she broke into tears trying to put blame on Lena accusing her of being the cause of the bad blood between her and Henderson. Henderson warned her not to say such words against Lena because he wasn't going to condone any more madness from her. Alia was shell-shocked when Henderson told her he found out that she sent Kyra to ruin his relationship and because of their evil scheme he messed things up with his best friend. The last thing that sent Alia into a frenzy was when he told her that henceforth he no longer considered her family so whatever relationship they had in the past had come to an end. "I'm sorry about all of this Henderson, I wish I could do something to make things better, " Lena sighed taking Henderson's hand in hers after they got into the car. Henderson smiled raising her hands to his lips he planted a kiss on the back of her palm. "Everything is best with you by my side. I love you." Itzel paced around the room while everyone else was seated. She couldn't wait to see Lena and the time seemed to have stopped ticking making it even harder for her to be patient. "You should sit Itzel she will be here soon," Cleo mumbled to Itzel who paused when she heard Cleo's voice. "No, " Itzel shook her head. "They are taking too long, " Itzel heaved a breath. "Be patient, Mommy will be here soon." Trent beamed warmly rising to his feet he ambled to Itzel, he held her hand and pulled her with him till they got to the couch and then he made her sit on it. "Let's do a 1...2....3 count-down magic, she'll come quicker if we do, " Trent cracked a smile, and he settled on the empty space beside Itzel. Itzel scoffed and burst into laughter, " Count down magic? Who told you that?" "I watched it in a cartoon." Itzel facepalmed shaking her head, "Don't believe everything you see in cartoons, some are just not true." "Thanks but this one is true, so are you going to do it or not." Trent lifted his brows at her. "Ok, only because I will do anything to see Aunt Lena walk in right now." Trent smiled, "Good, are you ready?" Itzel nodded. "Let's go then 1...2" "No, no, no, not like that, " Trent shook his head. Itzel groaned in frustration, " What?" "You start backwards 3....2..." "Then you should have said 3..2....1 count down not 1....2...3," Itzel interrupted with a pinched expression. Cleo and Matteo chuckled exchanging glances as they watched the unfolding drama courtesy of Itzel and Trent. "Are you going to stop whining and do it so Mommy comes quicker or not?" Trent mouthed staring at Itzel. "Fine, " she puffed a breath. "3...2...1," Itzel and Trent said in unison and then looked in the direction of the door but nothing happened. Disappointment marred Itzel's face," I knew this was not going to work. I shouldn't have done it." "We should try again even in the cartoon it didn't work the first time, but it worked the second time." Itzel's face distorted in a frown, " If I agree to it and it doesn't work this time I'm sure you are going to say it would work the third time." Trent wriggled his head, "I'm sure it's going to work this time. Just give it a try and stop complaining." Itzel stared at Trent thoughtfully and then she let out a breath, "Let me just take this risk." "Good decision, let's start," Trent smiled. "3.....2......1," Trent and Itzel counted down their eyes fixed on the door. Instantaneously, at count 1 the door screeched open revealing Lena which had Itzel jumping out of the couch her heart leaping for joy. $Chapter Chapter 66 —Another Failed Attempt! "I've missed you a lot, Aunt Lena." Itzel draped her hands around Lens hugging her tightly once again. Her joy knew no bounds the moment she took in the sight of Lena as she walked into the room. "I miss you too, and I'm sorry for leaving." Lena purred stroking Itzel's shoulder soothingly. Itzel giggled, "I'm glad you are back. Why did you leave did Daddy do something wrong?" Lena shook her head, her lips pressed together. "Henderson did nothing wrong... I..." Lena stuttered trying to come up with a perfect combination as to why she left but she couldn't come up with anything reasonable. How was she going to explain to Itzel that she left because Kyra told her a lie and she foolishly believed it? "Zel, you wanted her to be back right? She's here, I fulfilled my promise. You shouldn't bombard her with questions, " Henderson chipped in calmly making the save. Itzel nodded vigorously looking at Lena with an apologetic gaze. "I'm sorry." Lena cupped Itzel's cheeks, straightening her hair with her hand and then kissed her cheeks. "See Itzel I told you the countdown magic was going to work the second time and it did." A boastful grin marred Trent's countenance. "Don't be so proud, it's probably coincidental, " Itzel shrugged. "No, it's not." Trent started firmly standing his ground. Itzel scoffed shaking her head, "Whatever, I don't blame you. You are still a kid." "We are the same age, " Trent grumbled glaring at Itzel who had an annoying smirk plastered on her way. "Even if we are, I'm still a few months older." Lena and Henderson glanced at each other as they watched Trent and Itzel argue back and forth. "Who wants some cookies?" Lena raved taking out two packets of cookies from her back and that was enough to bring an end to the protest between the two kids. "Me!" Itzel and Trent gleamed. She made the cookies before they left Oxwey. "Thank you, " Itzel smiled as Lena handed over one of the cookies to her. "You can give both of them to Itzel, " Trent shook his head when Lena stretched the cookie pack to him. Itzel's brows puckered as she glanced at Trent, "Are you sure?" Trent nodded, "Of course consider it a gift from your friend." "Thank you, that's so nice of you." Itzel beamed warming, Stepping to Trent's side she embraced him. "Guess what? Come with me, I have a gift for you." Itzel lips curved happily, and she held Trent's hand pulling him from the couch he was seated on, She pulled him gently with her and they ambled upstairs. "Cleo, this one is for you." Lena stood up and walked over to where Cleo was seated. Since she and Henderson came into the room she and Cleo were yet to say a word to each other. Cleo hugged her after she sat beside her on the couch. "I've missed you so much. We all have and I'm ecstatic that you are back." "Thank you, Cleo. How have you been?" Lena smiled after they had disengaged the hug. "I've been great, Matteo has been keeping me company since you left otherwise I don't know how I would have come and you know how much I hate having a conversation with you know who.." Cleo made a scrunched-up face glancing at Henderson whose face contorted in a frown. "The feeling is mutual for your information." Henderson retorted. Lena chuckled, " Henderson have you been getting on Cleo's nerves lately?" Surprise crossed Henderson's face and he shook his head. "It's been the other way round. You know how much of a troublemaker Cleo can be. She's a handful and I really don't know how Matteo copes with it since I've noticed they've been very close these days, "Henderson's eyes flickered with mischief as he said the last part his eyes darting from Cleo to Matteo. Cleo and Matteo traded glances, she averted her gaze from Matteo shifting her eyes back to Henderson, her brows furrowed slightly. "What are you insinuating?" "What do you think?" Henderson smirked. "I and Matteo are as close as you said only because of the project you assigned to us together, remember?" Matteo nodded in confirmation, "True, we are just working on the project." "Right?" Henderson and Lena said at the same time looking at each other and then they burst out laughing. "You both are not serious, " Matteo grumbled. Cleo shook her head, "It's not surprising hearing all of these from Henderson but Lena I'm surprised that you are believing his words." "Sorry, " Lena muttered but when she peeked at Henderson and he whispered,' It's true, ' she burst out laughing once again. "Henderson, instead of talking about me and Matteo why don't you worry about how to patch up things with your best friend Brian." Henderson's smile faded into a scowl as he watched a satisfied smile creep on Cleo's face as she gazed at him. "Are you trying to get back at me?" Henderson arched a brow at her. Cleo placed her hand on her chest feigning ignorance, "Get back at you? What are you talking about? I'm just trying to help." "I and Henderson went over there before coming over here but Brian didn't want to listen to us he shut the door...." Lena stopped not wanting to complete the rest of the statement. "When he saw me, " Henderson completed peering at Cleo with a pinched expression. "I know you want to judge me, you can go on." Cleo shook her head, her brows snapped together. "Why would I want to judge you? I wasn't going to do that, even though you can be annoying sometimes, I still care about you. Maybe we'll just try talking to him on your behalf and see if he listens?" Cleo shrugged glancing at the others to hear what they thought about the idea. "You guys don't have to. I made the mistake and I'll fix it myself, I will go over there once again and try to talk to him. We'll see how it goes after that." Henderson had an unreadable expression on his face as he spoke, he was racking his thoughts and trying to process things in his mind. Cleo, Matteo and Lena nodded and glanced at each other before nodding concurrently. "But if it doesn't go as planned we'll have to step in." Cleo stated. "Yes, " Matteo and Lena agreed. They looked over at Henderson but he didn't say anything, he was just engrossed in his thoughts. The Next Day.... "Welcome back, " Lena smiled wrapping her arms around Henderson's neck, his hands encircled her waist as they hugged each other. "Thank you, " Henderson planted a kiss on her lips after pulling away from her, he took her hand in his and together they walked to the couch and settled on it. Lena's eyes crinkled worriedly as they studied Henderson's dulled-up countenance, that was enough confirmation for Lena to know that things went amiss. "Are you okay? How did it go with Brian?" Sadness clouded Henderson's features, " I went over to his place but I wasn't allowed in. According to his security team, they said he had ordered them not to let me in if I was to show up.