Danica walked into the living room with a tray in her hands and lowered it to the tea-table right in front of her mother.
“Dinner is ready, mom,” she notified, but Mrs. Antonio wouldn't say anything as she continued to stare into the void with a stony face all the time.
Danica pushed back the strands of her hair while she sank with a whoosh beside her mother on the settee.
She couldn't understand her mother's mood since afternoon, and she had been asking her what went wrong in the office, but she wouldn't answer.
Or could it be that Mr. Cooper had managed to find out about what her mother did to Jasmine at the party?
Thinking at the prospect of this, her round eyes bulge outwards, and she quickly sat upright to query her mother.
“Tell me, Mom. Has Mr. Cooper by chance learnt that you were the reason he lost the great deal, and he has probably fired you?” Danica blurted out in a quiet voice.
Mrs. Antonio scoffed in disdain and slowly looked over at her daughter's face, “Is that what you wish for me, Danica?” her voice was low but murky.
“No, no, no, mom. I would never wish that for you, but your silence is killing me already, in case you don't know, mom. What could have gone wrong in the office that made your mood be like this?”
“Just when I had thought Mr. Cooper would never wish to meet the girl again, Danica,” Mrs. Antonio began, clenching her fist harder, causing her nails to cut into the flesh of her palm.
“But instead, he fell in love with her, or should I say they both fell in love with each other. You need to see how he was grinning from ear to ear like a jolly panda throughout today. In all my years working as his assistant, today was the first time I would see him smiling childishly like an idiot,”
Mrs. Antonio bubbled with a fierce look glimmering in her eyes. However, Danica was only smiling as the story seems interesting to her.
She thought that this was definitely the power of love, turning a person of high IQ into a fool.
“I'm so happy for him, mommy, and you should be happy for him too,” she voiced out her sincere words with a delightful smile radiating around her face, but with one cold and firm glance her mother shot her, the smile on her face could no longer continue.
Mrs. Antonio readjusted on the seat, her face distorting with anger. She knew for some fact that her daughter was naive, but she never thought she could be utterly brainless.
“Explain to me why you're happy for him, Danica,” she demanded harshly, inducing Danica to shift in discomfort.
“You couldn't seduce him to his bed, and you have the mouth to say you're happy for him? Danica, why are you so dumb, for crying out loud? Do you know you've lost him forever? All the fortune I've planned for you, another lady would have all that, do you know that?” she had lost her temper and exploded with rage?
Danica planted a determined and confident smile on her face and said solemnly, “I don't care, mom. From tomorrow, I'll seek a favorable job and also attain all that fortune, just like you want. Don't worry,”
After listening to Danica's words, Mrs. Antonio erupted in maniacal laughter and slowly stood up from the seat.
“I dread the day I gave birth to you, Danica as it just dawned on me that, you'll remain stupid for the rest of your life”
Upon hearing this, Danica felt a bitter taste in her mouth and also felt a stab of dissatisfaction in her heart.
“Just help me by clearing yourself out of my sight this instant,” she said through gritted teeth.
Danica swallowed hard and nodded her head twice. She stood up and walked away afterward.
Watching her daughter's receding figure, “Foolish girl,” Mrs. Antonio muttered and looked away promptly, resting her cold gaze on the vase at the corner of the room.
“Your togetherness will not work out, Mr. Cooper. I'll make sure of that, no matter how much it cost me,” she mumbled determinedly to herself, her nails piercing into her flesh deeper, but it seemed she was oblivious of the pain.
In Jasmine's apartment.
“I'm just so happy for you, Jasmine. You're indeed lucky,” Paisley's beaming tone met Jasmine's ear, and she couldn't help her smile too while crawling into her bed.
“So, does it mean you're getting married soon?” she further inquired, and Jasmine felt her heart miss a bit.
“Come on, Paisley. I don't think I'm ready for that now,” she told her with an eye roll while adjusting the pillow beneath her head.
“Why? His daughter expects you two to get married soon. Moreover, you claim to love him, so why aren't you ready to settle with him?” Paisley questioned in a soothing voice.
Sighing, “I love Noah so much, Paisley, but don't you think we should take things slowly? Marriage is a long-time commitment and I wouldn't wish to regret my action in the future,” Jasmine responded, the fear squeezing out of her throat.
Paisley sucked in a quick deep breath at the other end of the line. She was also lying on her back on the bed with her cellphone held up to her right ear.
Seemingly, she understood the fear in Jasmine's voice.
“Follow your heart, Jasmine. Just because his gender has hurt you in the past, doesn't mean he's going to do the same In the future,” she advised, and her words seemed to soothe Jasmine's heart, and her mouth slowly twisted in a half-smile.
“And yeah, please, I would like to have his contact,” Paisley spoke up again before Jasmine could come up with her next words.
“Alright, dear. I'll forward it to you now,” Jasmine answered back and after a few more words, the call ended.
The following day.
Noah smoothed out his collar which was not wrinkled at all while staring at his new tutor sitting right in front of him.
A skinny lady with an oval-shaped face. Her curly blonde hair was short and sprawling around the back of her neck. She was wearing a pale pinkish dress that gave emphasis to her fair skin.
“So, what's your name, Miss?” Noah asked formerly with a friendly smile.
“My name is Alicia, sir,” the lady responded, her voice was a bit tiny.
Noah nodded, “Since I'm the student while you're the teacher, I want no formality, just call me Noah, okay?”
Alicia bounced her head twice in agreement, thinking in her heart that, what could make a handsome millionaire like him to be striving to become a chef when he could effortlessly get as many as he wanted at his beck?
“And if the payment Mrs. Antonio negotiated with isn't fair enough, please tell me, I'll add to it,” Noah began again, but Alicia shook her head directly.
“It's more than okay, sir. When would you like to start?” she asked gently and cautiously.
“Today, If it's fine by you,”
“Of course, it's fine, sir,” Alicia retorted with a smile.
“Okay, so do you know what you're going to do now?” as Noah ask, he opened one of the drawers and snatched his business card from it, and then extended it to Alicia.
“I'll deposit some cash into your account now. I want you to get every foodstuff you think I should have in my kitchen. By the time you're done, I'll be home by then and here's my home address,” he scribbled his address on a paper and gave it to her.
“When you get there, you call me. Is that okay?”
Alicia opened her mouth to react, but the ringing tone of Noah's phone on the desk interrupted her.
Noah picked up the phone and stared at the caller ID in silence. It was a strange number.
After ten seconds of contemplation, he pressed the screen and held the phone to his ear.
“Hello,” he spoke first.
“Hi, sir. Am I on to Mr. Cooper?” the feminine voice transmitted into his ear?
“Yes, please, who's this?”
“I'm Paisley, Jasmine's best friend,” Paisley introduced herself in a good nature mood.
Upon hearing this, Noah's face lit up immediately, and he quickly readjusted on his seat while gesturing at Alicia to get to work with a single movement of his head.
Alicia understood his signal within a second. She stood up from the visitor's chair and walked out of the office.
“Hi, Paisley. How are you doing? I'm so sorry you've to be the one to call me first, pardon me, dear” Noah said apologetically while rising to his feet and walking to the French windows and putting his free hand in his pocket.
Paisley beamed at the other end of the line, Noah's reaction had taken her by surprise. She had heard a lot about the rich folks, and what she had heard was actually far from Noah's attitude.
She heard that they were always arrogant, proud, nonchalant, and would never say sorry to the inferior, but Noah was extremely different.
He sounded as if they had talked many times before, and even apologized.
Whoa!
Indeed, Jasmine had met the right man this time, and she hoped that nothing shall go wrong.
“Can I switch it to video call?” Paisley requested.
“Sure, sure,” Noah scurried back to his seat and connected the call with his laptop while he dusted his collar, trying to clean the dust that didn't exist.
Soon, the video call connected and Paisley couldn't help but stare at this gorgeous man displaying on her phone screen at that moment, not knowing that her mouth had fallen agape.
A tall nose, sexy thin lips, and deep penetrating eyes that made him look charming. His smile was as bright as starlight, it attracted all her attention and to be honest, she was absolutely obsessed with how handsome he looked.
All this time, Noah tried to suppress his lips to a line, but he could not. The way Paisley was staring at him seemed she was going to swallow him soon.
“Hey, Paisley,” he decided to voice out first.
His voice pulled Paisley out of her thoughts, she hurriedly lower her head and tossed the strains of her hair behind an ear, concealing her embarrassing attitude just now.
“I apologize, sir, but permit me to say this, you're so handsome,” she praised, smiling and revealing her white teeth.
Noah quickly covered his face with his hands and said dramatically, “I'm blushing right now, Paisley, stop it,”
Paisley laughed out of her control as she watches this man with amusing eyes.
“You're so funny, Mr. Cooper,” she said amidst laughter.
Noah removed his hands from his face and said seriously, “I'm not Mr. Cooper, but Noah. Why would you choose to call me Mr. Cooper? It's embarrassing, you know,” he corrected, still having a smile on his face.
“Forgive me. I won't do that again,” Paisley smiled back.
Noah swept her feature, she had a fat face, and her curly hair with big waves was combed to hang on one of her shoulders. Furthermore, she looked so smart and beautiful in her nurse outfit.
“You look beautiful too,” Noah acknowledged, and Paisley twitched her lips immediately.
“Stop trying to flatter me when you know too well that Jasmine is more beautiful,”
Noah pursued his lips in an attempt to stop himself from conceding to the blatant fact.
It was true that Jasmine was more pretty, but he wouldn't say it.
“I like you already, Noah, but this is exactly how I liked Xavier in the beginning before he turned out to be a jerk,” Paisley proceeded, her smile fading away gradually.
“Please, I beg of you. Don't hurt my friend, don't hurt Jasmine,” as she spoke, tears kept circling her eyes and Noah felt more attracted to her.
What a friend indeed!