As soon as Noah and his daughter took their paces into the living room, sweet and sour pork, fried spicy shrimp, and braised fish, the smell wafted out from the kitchen direction.
Aurora stood alert and looked up at her father's face, who was now grinning sheepishly as if knowing the person behind this delicious aroma.
To save himself from further discussion, “Jasmine would be staying with us from now on,” he told her.
Aurora's eyes widened in disbelief and immediately scampered in the kitchen direction, her black shoes clapping against the creamy tiled floor as she fled.
Getting into the kitchen, she saw the petite figure clad in a large charcoal-gray fabric. Furthermore, her delicate and fair thighs were exposed.
“Jasmine, is that you?” Aurora asked with a beam while strolling into the kitchen.
Jasmine turned around swiftly upon hearing Aurora's voice.
“Oh my God, baby,” Jasmine screamed in delight as she bent slightly and welcomed Aurora in her embrace.
“Daddy said you would start staying with us now,” Aurora said interrogatively after they had disengaged from the brief hug.
Jasmine smiled at her beautiful face while toying with her ponytail.
“It's just for the time being, baby,” she enunciated.
Aurora felt her heart gladden as she went to hug her once again.
In a matter of moments, the three of them were now sitting and dining the sumptuous meal in front of them.
Noah was the happiest of all, he felt really complete as he watched Jasmine shred the pork in front of Aurora.
They looked like a complete family that shared an immense love within themselves.
Noah stared at Jasmine's face and thought, inside his heart, that it was time to obtain the last maze.
He knew what he wanted, which was Jasmine.
Putting down his spoon and carried his glass of water and sipped at it.
“We should all go shop for Aurora's birthday. What do you think?” he asked them, but his gaze swept across Jasmine's face.
By then, Aurora was already squealing with excitement in her seat.
“Yes, daddy. I love the idea. My birthday is coming soon, and I'm yet to have the feeling,” she said with a gleam.
Jasmine just smiles while caressing her back. She could sense that Aurora was looking forward to that big day of hers, and she would make sure that Aurora would love this more than all the birthdays she had celebrated in the past.
“Are you planning to throw a party?” she threw the question at Noah.
“It's going to be a surprise,” he sneered and then looked over at his daughter, “Do you want to invite your classmates?”
“Of course, daddy. I already told them about it, they are only waiting for the invitation card,”
Noah's mouth opened in an 'o' shape while he nodded his head.
“So shall we?” Aurora pushed back her plate and rose from her seat, feeling inexplicably delighted.
Jasmine stared at Noah's face and also stood up.
Noah sat with his legs crossed on a Victorian chaise in the dressing room lobby, surrounded by too many mirrors and too many racks of dresses. Some costing more than bridal gowns.
He operated his cellphone and kept stealing glances at the curtain as if doing something hideous.
Right then, Jasmine and Aurora emerged from the dressing room and pads to the set of mirrors in the lobby and did a little spin.
Grinning, “How do we look, daddy?” Aurora asked her father, who seemed to be carried away with the phone in his hands.
It was his daughter's voice that pulled her out of his engrossed state. Shoving the phone into his chest pocket and looked up at his adorable daughter who was wearing a pink ball gown.
The pink color looked pure and gentle like a newborn baby which was unfamiliar with the world, tender, and cute.
“Whoa, darling, you look like a real princess from the royal family,” Noah praised with love in his eyes.
“Thanks, daddy,”
He peeled his gaze from his daughter's figure and targeted it on Jasmine, who had curled up her lips in a tight line and her eyebrows raised, waiting for his comment.
It was a velvet blue dress, the fabric cinches at the bust and hugs her slender frame perfectly.
Gradually, Noah rose to his feet, still staring at her in a daze. He had completely forgotten to breathe, and Jasmine was starting to feel uneasy from his stares.
Even Aurora couldn't take it anymore as she asked, “Daddy, don't you like Jasmine's dress?”
“I love it,” he answered absentmindedly, his eyes never discarding from Jasmine's figure one bit.
It was after hearing his remark, Jasmine could now grin. He had thought that Noah would love it before opting for it.
***
Paisley and other nurses sat in the extensive hall. It was the day of the surprising examination the chairman's son had mentioned the last time he visited.
“I hate that man so much, gosh,” Nurse Grace bemoaned at Paisley's back. Her shoulders curving forward, and her head slightly bent on her personal desk.
Paisley didn't react to her words as she continued to stare in the direction of the door.
“Is the examination going to be written or oral?” Nurse Grace leaned forward and asked Paisley.
“How do you expect me to know about that information, Grace?” Paisley asked harshly, looking at her over her shoulders.
“I thought you would know since Mr. Annoying had asked you to come with him to his office that day,” Nurse Grace said slowly and sat her ass back in her seat.
Paisley abruptly turned around properly to meet her eyes, “Tell me, Grace, is that what has been going around the hospital? That Mr. Ryder had called me into his office that day to give me a tip about the examination?” she asked harshly, her eyes glaring holes into Grace's eyes.
Instead of responding, Nurse Grace's just shrugged off, looking away from Paisley's face to the entrance.
Paisley kept staring at her face and scoffed in disdain.
“You people will never cease to amaze me with your gossips,” she mumbled to her hearing and sat properly again.
Right then, the chairman's son penetrated into the hall with two doctors right behind him holding some paper sheets.
“Hello, everyone. I want to believe you are all prepared,” he emphasized, his gaze sweeping across the nurses as if he were searching for a particular face.
“Yes, sir,” the nurses chorused.
Paisley felt even more nauseous as she stared at her palms and retreated inside herself.
It was at this moment she felt Jasmine's absence the more. During their entry examination, they were there for each other and encouraged one another, and they both passed the test with flying colors.
Thinking back to those times, tears welled up in her eyes as she muttered in a crooked voice, “Jasmine,”
“Are you sure you are ready for this test?”
This sudden raspy voice made her shrink inside like a wilted flower.
She sniffed back her tears and raised her chin to meet his gaze, one full of understanding, narrowed with empathy.
Turning her head, she realized everyone in there had their eyes on them.
“Yes, sir,” she said quickly after realizing that she hadn't replied to his question.
Without leaving immediately, Ryder kept staring at her face without minding others' gazes on him.
The charade could go to hell for what it's worth.
He finally put forward his paces and motioned to the two doctors to start sharing the plain sheets.
“You have just ten minutes to answer the question of which is… How to be a good nurse?”
Huh?
Everyone, including Paisley, exchanged an irritating glance among themselves.
Moments later, all the nurses began to troop out of the hall. They were done with the brief test, and I've submitted their answer sheets to the coordinators.
Paisley fetched her phone from her uniform pocket while going out. Staring at the screen, it was a text from Noah and just as she intended to open it, she heard her name.
One of the doctors who had organized the brief test walked over to her and said, “Mr. Ryder asked you to meet him in his office,”
Paisley almost rolled her eyeballs but soon regulated herself as to she was still standing before someone who seemed to be close to him. Mr. Annoying.
“Okay, sir. I'll head right there,” she said with a smile and turned away.
She quickened her pace to his office and went in after listening to his instruction from inside.
“You sent for me, sir,” she lowered her head and uttered.
Ryder swirled bit by bit on his seat, looking closely at her pretty cheeky face.
He had got nothing to say or ask her, he just wanted to see her face again.
During the exam inside the hall, all he could do was stare at Paisley's face, who was unaware of his constant stares as she concentrated on her exam.
“Sit,” he ordered.
Paisley pulled back one of the visitor's seats and sat down.
“So, why were you crying back in the exam hall?” he seemed to ask unintentionally. He didn't want to admit that he wasn't happy with how moist her eyes were earlier.
“Nothing, really, sir. I just remembered my best friend,” she answered honestly, still not meeting his eyes.
Ryder's brows furrowed with hardness.
“Your best friend?”
“Yes, sir. She used to work here before getting transferred to our branch in Houston,” Paisley clarified.
“Ooh,” he muttered, deliberately pulling the sound long, making it feel uncomfortable.
“So, would you mind hanging out with me?”
Paisley blinked her eyes rapidly, did she just mishear or did the chairman's son just misspoken?
She slowly looked up at his face and thought in his heart that, Ryder wasn't as attractive as Noah, he was still a diamond among ordinary people.
For a long moment, she couldn't find anything suitable to say as she continued to stare at his flawless face.
“Should I take it…as a yes?” he emphasized, his eyes longing for a positive response.
Paisley ambled to her locker room and dialed Noah's line while walking.
The line got connected at the third ring, and she smiled as she says into the phone, “Hello, Mr. Cooper,”
There was a silence at the other end of the line, and she could tell that a deep frown had etched on Noah's forehead.
“Paisley…” he grunted, causing Paisley to laugh.
“How are you doing? I saw your text. Sorry, I'm just calling back, I think I've got a little pain in my neck now,” she grouses while reaching her locker and unlocking it.
“What pain?” Noah sounded concerned.
She clicked her tongue and then spoke up, “It's our branch chairman's son. He's an annoying man, but he's asking me to hang out with him,”
“Oh my, look who has found her soul mate,” Noah teased, and Paisley just scoffed in disgust.
“Tell me, don't you like him to be your soulmate?” Noah pressed.
Paisley rolled her eyeballs now, “Come on, Noah, what do you mean soulmate?”
“I believe he's a good one, don't say no, okay?”
“Noted, Mr. Cooper. So, what's up? How's my friend? Is she there with you?”
“No, Paisley. I actually walked out on them to receive your call,” Noah conceded, and Paisley became serious at once as she closed back her locker.
“What's it?” she asked, perturbed.
“No, it's nothing serious. I just need you to help me plan a surprise,” Noah told her with a beam.
Paisley's brows creases in confusion as she repeated, “Surprise?”