On Friday morning.
Jasmine gushed out the door and shut it after her, and then began to stride toward the Parisian steel gate at the primary entrance.
She was wearing casual clothes, white sneakers with her sleeves rolled up. She had a white shoulder bag hung up on her left shoulder, while her right hand was carrying a little travel baggage where she had kept everything she might be needing in Paris.
“Where are you going, Jasmine?”
Hearing this voice and recognizing the owner, anger rushed up in her heart, but she wouldn't allow a dunderhead like Xavier to ruin the beautiful moment she was looking up to.
Taking two deep breaths to rein in her anger and calm herself down, her lips then curled up in a mocking and sarcastic smile as she turned around to look at him, “I'm going to meet the love of my life,”
After she said that, she blinked her eyes twice as she mentally spoke to herself, 'Was it appropriate to address Mr. Cooper as the love of my life?'
“What are you saying, Jasmine? I'm the only love of your life,” his tone was deep with a subtle sense of rejection as he left his doorstep and darted to where Jasmine was standing.
Jasmine readjusted her shoulder bag while her lips curled to a suitable arc, looking graceful and self-confident, an endless abyss along with it.
“Stay away from me, Xavier, as far away as possible,”
“That's impossible, Jasmine. I'm madly in love with you now!” Xavier screamed, ruffling his blonde hair that matches his round eyes. The pupils of his eyes were bulging outwards, his appearance was hideous as he rushed up and grabbed Jasmine's arms.
“Tell me what I have to do to make you believe me, Jasmine,” he was stubborn, like having a mental illness.
“I want you out of my life completely,” Jasmine pronounced word by word, looking at his face calmly.
Xavier stared at her face in awe, everything including the air around seemed to fall into silence.
Honk! Honk!
Jasmine bites her inner cheek, more or less knowing who the car owner was.
“Will you let go of me now?” she asked in an arctic cold voice, not liking the position Noah had met her.
It seemed Xavier was still in a state of shockwaves. He slowly let go of her arms without saying any word of grievance, only watching her receding figure slip out of the gate.
Standing before the sleek and tiny Rolce-Royce and drawing a deep breath, Jasmine regained her composure and just as she raised her hand and planned to open the backseat door, it was suddenly pushed open from inside, revealing the beaming Aurora.
“Jasmine!” she called out in a deafening scream, as though she were meeting her again after several years.
Jasmine just chuckled and went to sit beside her in the car, and then dropped her baggage at her feet.
“Good morning, sir,” she looked up at the driver's seat but soon realized that it was his driver sitting there while himself was sitting in the passenger seat, gazing coldly at Xavier through the transparent gate. Xavier couldn't see him, though, since the car window was tinted.
Noah heard Jasmine's greetings but refused to answer her. Actually, he would have responded to her if he had not seen her with Xavier just now.
Jasmine didn't take any offense at his behavior, knowing too well that he was still mad at her.
She lowered her head and pressed her lips to a thin line, “Jasmine?” Aurora's voice made her recall that she was sitting beside her.
She quickly put on a wide smile while fondling Aurora's cheek, “I've got something for you, baby,” she notified in a jovial voice, opened her bag, and then brought out wrapped stuff and then gave it out to Aurora who collected it immediately.
Aurora had a bright grin on her face as she unwrapped the item impatiently.
“Slow down, girl,” Jasmine said with a laugh in her voice.
After she was done unwrapping it, a gleam flashed across her face and her eyes dilated, “It's blueberry muffins!”
And without a moment's hesitation, she grabbed one and began to munch on it.
Smiling, Jasmine asked, “I hope you like it?”
“I totally love it,” Aurora answered with a mouthful, causing Jasmine to laugh out quietly.
All this time, Noah stayed put and felt himself being neglected thoroughly.
Thirty minutes later, the car screeched to a halt in the airfield, and they all got off the car one after the other.
Jasmine looked around her environment and discovered that it was only one Jet available with a few men and one among them dressed like a pilot standing close to the airplane.
She watched as these men carried their belongings into the plane, and she couldn't help her curiosity anymore as she slightly stooped, facing Aurora.
“What's going on, Aurora? Does your school authority organize a private plane for us?”
Aurora smiled sheepishly and shook her head sideways, “No, Jasmine. This is my daddy's private jet,” she responded and quickly moved back to the car and snatched her stuffie from the back seat. She had almost forgotten about it.
Jasmine's eyes and mouth opened in disbelief immediately as she slowly lifted her head to look at Noah, who was now speaking with those men.
She has heard many times that Noah was a multi-millionaire, but she never believed it until now. Moreover, Noah was completely different from other millionaires out there.
Everything Noah possessed was just relatively. His house, automobiles, businesses. He hated too much attention for himself and even at how his name often appeared on the business channel, it was always hard to see his image tag along with any news.
It was much more appropriate to say that he's a millionaire in disguise.
Moments later, they were found inside the plane.
Noah assisted his daughter fastened her seatbelt before he moved to sit across her, both father and daughter facing each other in the window seat.
Poor Jasmine attempted to sit next to Aurora, but the smart girl immediately positioned her stuffie on the seat and wore an apologetic expression with her cute puppy eyes.
“I'm sorry, Jasmine, but I can't hold my doll all through the journey,”
Jasmine glanced at her doll, it was just a plaything that would not weigh anything even when carried around all day.
“Oh… there you go, Jasmine, sit beside Daddy,” Aurora put in with a sparkle, ulterior motives glimmering in her eyes.
Jasmine's neck turned violently red in an instant as she swallowed over the knot of emotion in her throat and then slowly stole a glance at this divine man who was dressed in a full suit. His super black and dense hair was short on either side and full on top.
“Come on, sit already, Jasmine. The plane will take off soon,” Aurora persuaded, a childish smirk never abandoning her lips.
Noah didn't pay any heed to their interaction all this while as he continued to look out of the window.
Jasmine eventually sat down, her movement was as soft as a feather, as though she wouldn't love to make body contact with Noah.
Aurora continued to grin at her, and Jasmine couldn't help this time but glare at her playfully as she fastened her seat belt.
Just as how Aurora had predicted, the plane took off shortly after, and they were now flying in the sky.
“Next month is my birthday, isn't it, Daddy?” Aurora tries to lighten the suffocating atmosphere at the same time the stewardess approached them.
“Hello, sir. What would you like to have?” she asked politely with an elegant smile on her lips.
Without sparing her a look, Noah leaned over and grabbed his laptop bag, and retrieved it from the bag.
“I'm okay for now,” he responded while opening his laptop after putting it on his thighs.
“Do you have berries cheeses crackers?” Aurora suddenly asked, looking up at the slim-figure lady with, a tall nose and sharpened forehead.
“Yes, dear,”
“Please, I want it. Together with strawberry juice,” Aurora ordered, beaming with smiles.
“Okay, dear. How about you, ma'am?” the stewardess's gaze fell upon Jasmine and then asked.
“Water, please,” Jasmine responded promptly, and the lady left thereafter, not after a slight bow.
“Daddy, you haven't answered my question,” Aurora looked back at her father and pouted.
“Yes, Darling. Next month is your birthday,” Noah conceded immediately, knowing his daughter wouldn't stop until he replied to her words.
Grinning, “Did you hear that, Jasmine? It's on the twenty-first of September. When the time comes, I'll invite you and your family, okay?”
“Of course, baby. I'll definitely be there, but not with my family,” Jasmine told her.
“Why? Because they are in California?” Aurora blurted out her speculation, but Jasmine shook her head negatively.
“No, Aurora, it's because I don't have a family,”
Upon hearing this, Noah's slim and fair fingers that had been typing away on the keyboards came to a sudden halt.
“What about your father and mother?” Aurora pressed on inquisitively, blinking her eyes cutely.
Jasmine smiled, “I don't know them, Aurora, I grew up in an orphanage home. So, I'm an orphan,” she explained to her, and even Noah could feel his own heart tighten up in discomfort.
Tears rushed to Aurora's eyes, “So, you mean you don't have a family to call your own?” she choked up, feeling extremely bad for Jasmine.
Her teacher had told her, taught them in the class that a child who has lost both parents through death are called an orphan.
“No, no, dear. Please don't cry,” Jasmine panicked, almost unfastening her belt so that she could go and comfort Aurora.
“I have a family to call my own,” she quickly added, just to stop Aurora's tears from spilling.
“Really?” asked Aurora, a trace of a smile cropping up on her small, cute face.
“Yes, Aurora. Her name is Paisley. She's my best friend and also a sister, she has an elder brother. The three of us grew up in the orphanage home as one big family,” she clarified in a good mood and a big smile. However, she soon noticed Aurora was not satisfied with her response.
“Do you want me to start crying too?” she asked, pouting her lips and then lowering her head and pretending to be sobbing.

“No, don't cry, Jasmine. I'm sorry,” Aurora apologized and dried out her tears rapidly.
Jasmine then lifted her head with a wide grin on her face, “You tricked me!” Aurora wailed, causing Jasmine to laugh the more.
During this whole ordeal, Noah's gaze was just sweeping around Jasmine's face back and forth. He wasn't sure of how he was feeling at that moment, but he felt extremely attracted to her.
Some moments later, Noah had resumed his work for a long while, and when he decided to lift his head from his laptop to straighten out his neck a bit.
He discovered that his daughter had fallen asleep, holding her doll up in her chest while her head rested against her seat and her lips were slightly open.
The corners of his mouth curled up into a slow smile as his eyes caught her halfway, cheese on the table in their midst.
He then put up his gaze to his side and saw that even Jasmine too was already dozing off. Her head was lowered, causing her long hair to cascade forward and cover both sides of her face like a curtain.
Noah readjusted on his seat and purposely leaned his shoulder closer for her to lean on.
And it was just as if that were exactly what Jasmine had been waiting for, in an instant, her head sloped and fell on Noah's shoulder.
A triumphant smile dominated Noah's face as he reached out and wiped out the hair that was covering her face.
He twirled a stray strand of the hair in his fingers and then pinned the strand of hair behind her ear. Her face was as fair as the impeccable porcelain, it was so soft that while staring at it, he had the impulse to pinch it.