Chapter Twelve.

"I'm going to continue, but promise me you will not interrupt me this time." Mr. Woods had a very serious look on his face.

Riisa noticed the change in his facial expressions and tone of voice and was sure she had annoyed the great Mr. Woods. She had to learn to keep her mouth shut. She told herself.

"Don't get mad please. But before I promise, can we please eat, I'm starving. Also I cannot continue to drink this delicious wine on an empty stomach." She told him.

"Of course. Let's eat. I Know the Chef was going to serve some delicious lunch and that is what I asked them to pack for the picnic. Can I make you a plate?" He asked her.

"No am okay . I can serve myself unless you want me to make you a plate. You know with the pandemic going around, most people just do self service." She told him while looking into the various baskets of food before her.

"Yes I rarely eat out since the pandemic started. I would rather the Chef make it ,that way am sure of the quality and no contamination since all my staff get tested every morning before they start their duties. " He told her.

"What!" she exclaimed. "Daily is a bit much even for you Mr. Woods. Why not weekly?"

"That is because most of them are my house staff and that is the protocol if they want to keep working. Also almost all of them stay in the compound, so am just being cautious even more now that my parents and sister are flying down from Arius to visit. I have not seen them in a while."

" Well I cannot afford to test my staff every day but they will be tested every week, and that is after they got tested yesterday before we officially opened." She told him giving him an already served sumptuous plate.

Making her plate with a few pieces of everything she asked him " will you be coming by to the parlor anytime soon for a massage?"

"maybe. But I have to first ensure that your COVID protocols are air tight. " He answered.

"Don't worry. They are airtight . I even added a screening room to screen all the clients coming in." Riisa sternly told him.

Sitting down with a plate on her hand and a fresh glass of chilled wine in the other, she told him to continue with the story.

" Interesting that your great grandmother was a chiropractor especially during those times. It was hard getting a woman with a formal profession." Riisa kick started the story.

"It was one of the things that attracted my great grandfather to her. She was a woman with substance just like you." He told her smiling.

He watched her smile back satisfied with what he had just said. He ate a mouthful of his food from his plate before putting it aside to continue with his story. He told her how his great-grandfather had struggled to convince his father in-law to be to let him marry his daughter. He told her that one of the promises his great-grandfather made was to make his Moringa seeds a success story and that he would make sure his wife continued practicing as a chiropractor.

Shortly after his great-grandfather had married his beloved wife, she gave birth to twins ,a girl and a boy and as fate would have it , those were the only two children they would have because she died during childbirth. This devastated his great grandfather and it derailed the plans he had for his beloved wife and family.

Riisa was devastated to hear how his great grandfather had lost his wife at such a young age and this prompted her to ask him

" so who took care of the newborns?"

"Well my great grandma had a huge family who stepped in to take care of the babies, while my great-grandfather was out in the field manning his Moringa trees.

Four years after the tragedy, he started selling the Moringa pods and leaves in large scale. And it happened to be the time that the cosmetic industry was coming into bloom. Many cosmetic companies caught wind of his large scale production and came in with millions of offers. Since Moringa can be harvested as much as seven times a year, he had no problem with taking many orders throughout the year. He also bought more and more farms from the neighbors who were willing to sell, and turned them into an estate full of Moringa trees."

Riisa was puzzled. She could not believe that something as native as a Moringa tree would turn somebody into a multi billionaire. And she also did not know that Moringa tree would be harvested as many times as seven times in a year. Though she did not study cosmetology as a major, she knew that Moringa oil is used in various ways but mostly as a base for most cosmetics. Now she was beginning to connect the dots to how the name Woods was such a major player in the cosmetic industry. They had major stakes in the cosmetic industry and owned about half of the production companies, and the ones they did not own, they were either shareholders or board members.

Mr. Woods noticed that she was absent minded . He blew a kiss towards her and that startled her from her analysis of the Woods wealth. He wanted to touch her face and brush the messy hair that was hanging from the side of her face. He wanted to feel the texture of her beautiful face against the cool breeze that was blowing all around them.

That is why he loved to come up to the property and just relax. The pine trees he had planted all around the property brought in a breeze he could not get , except for when he was in his Villa. That made him love this property as much as he loved his Villa.

He continued to just stare at her, restraining himself from touching her face. He had much more pressing issues with her and did not want to send mixed signals. Touching that delicate beautiful face would have to wait.