Chapter 42: Chapter 41
After leaving the alley, Joanna Kennedy pulled her suitcase along the side of the road. It took her a moment to realize her phone was ringing. She pulled it out and saw an unknown number.
Thinking it was a telemarketer, Joanna Kennedy rejected the call. But just a few seconds later, her phone rang again. It was the same number.
’So persistent.’ This time, after rejecting the call, Joanna Kennedy casually blocked the number.
But she had barely taken two steps before she ran into the caller in person.
"Joanna Kennedy?"
Charles Jennings had changed. He wore a tailored, high-end casual suit, and his hair was shorter, dispelling the gentle, refined air he once had.
He put his phone away, his eyes lingering on the suitcase she was pulling for a few seconds before settling on her icy face. For an instant, a strange emotion flickered in his eyes,
but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Charles Jennings smiled. "I saw you just now and thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Why the cold shoulder?"
"How do you have my number?" Joanna Kennedy demanded. She didn’t feel like she and Charles Jennings had any old times to catch up on.
Unaffected by her coldness, Charles Jennings patiently explained, "Have you forgotten? I was a teacher at your school, after all. I have the numbers of every student in your class."
"So what?" Joanna Kennedy arched an eyebrow. "What is it that Young Master Jennings wants from me?"
’Joanna Kennedy didn’t believe for a second he was just passing by. This area was neither the city center nor a scenic suburb. Why would a pampered young master like Charles Jennings show up here unless he came looking for her?’
Young Master Jennings...
Charles Jennings savored those three words. He looked up, chuckled softly, and said, "I still prefer it when you call me Mr. Jennings."
"What you like has nothing to do with me."
’Psycho.’ Not wanting to waste any more time on him, Joanna Kennedy started to walk around him, but she had only taken two steps when Charles Jennings’s voice rang out from behind. "Joanna Kennedy, did you and that guy break up?"
’She must have done something terrible in a past life,’ Joanna Kennedy thought. ’Why else would everyone keep coming to twist the knife?’
"That guy went abroad for a competition. He doesn’t know you left, does he? And now you have nowhere to go."
The girl’s footsteps faltered. Charles Jennings knew he’d hit the mark. He continued, unhurried, "I can help you keep it a secret. After all, you chose to sneak away at this particular time because you don’t want to distract him."
"What do you really want?"
"Nothing much. I just want to sit down and have a chat."
"..."
At a bustling hot pot restaurant, Charles Jennings handed the menu to Joanna Kennedy. "I figure you kids probably like things like hot pot and barbecue."
’Kids?’
Joanna Kennedy ordered a pile of the most expensive items without a second thought. ’It’s not my money, after all,’ she reasoned. ’Might as well eat up. I’ll probably have to tighten my belt from now on.’
Even though she was eating on his dime, Joanna Kennedy didn’t bother being polite. "To hear you talk, you’d think you were seventy or eighty."
Charles Jennings knew she had a sharp tongue and didn’t rise to the bait.
The ingredients arrived quickly, and without a thought for whether he could handle the heat, Joanna Kennedy dumped everything straight into the spicy broth.
Charles Jennings, whose spice tolerance topped out at the level of braised beef instant noodles: "..."
He poured himself another glass of plain water.
Joanna Kennedy ate with gusto, her lips turning fiery red and slightly swollen from the spice, while Charles Jennings took one sip of water after another.
Once Joanna Kennedy had eaten her fill, she wiped her mouth with a napkin and shot Charles Jennings a look, signaling that he could finally say his piece.
"...I want to know if you’ve made up your mind," he said. "You students tend to be indecisive. The thing about breakups is, if you reconcile even once, it just leads to endless trouble down the line."
’Ha... So that’s it,’ she thought. ’How could Charles Jennings be so kind? He’s just here to make sure I’m really breaking up with Simon Lockwood. He’s afraid I’ll change my mind and go back, ruining things between Serena Sutton and Simon.’
’For a second male lead to go to such lengths for the female lead... talk about devotion. He’s really one of a kind.’
The change in Joanna Kennedy’s expression was obvious, and Charles Jennings decided to drop the pretense. "You know I see Serena as my own sister," he said bluntly. "She likes Simon Lockwood, and as her brother, I naturally have to do everything I can to help her."
’"Everything he can," huh? He’s just short of getting Simon Lockwood drunk and throwing him into Serena Sutton’s bed.’
"And what if I said we were just breaking up for fun? What would you do then?" she asked, suddenly curious to see just how far Charles Jennings was willing to go.
She leaned forward provocatively, her face framed by the simmering steam from the hot pot. She was as beautiful and out of place as a cool mountain breeze drifting through a bustling city market.
Charles Jennings was stunned for only a second before he averted his gaze, his tone turning grave. "You’ll regret it."
’The fact that he’d been able to find a flaw in the Kennedy Company’s financial chain and bankrupt the Kennedy family in such a short time was proof enough that he was no saint.’
Joanna Kennedy sat back, her expression puzzled. "I really don’t know what kind of spell Serena Sutton has on you."
’Is this the protagonist’s halo? Making people so utterly devoted to her.’
’And he came all this way to negotiate with me. Oh, wait, this isn’t a negotiation. It’s just a one-sided threat.’
"...She saved me."
Charles Jennings’s gaze grew distant for a moment. After a pause, he said, "If it weren’t for her, I would’ve died long ago. I never would have returned to the Jennings family, let alone have you call me ’Young Master Jennings’."
Was it really so easy being the illegitimate son of a wealthy family? His very birth was an original sin.
The official wife couldn’t bear children, but she wasn’t about to hand over the family fortune to an illegitimate son. Charles Jennings understood that, which was why he hadn’t wanted to return to the Jennings family.
But the problem couldn’t be solved just by his staying away. He was constantly being cornered, chased, and beaten. Then, just as he turned eighteen, he got into a car accident that seemed just a little too coincidental.
It was Serena Sutton, who was just out having fun nearby, who called 911 and saved his life.
He returned to the Jennings family to stay alive, and also to be in a better position to protect Serena Sutton.
Joanna Kennedy had only asked offhandedly; she never expected him to tell her so much.
But for all the tragedy in his story, Joanna Kennedy felt nothing. She had no interest in the suffering of people who were irrelevant to her.
Charles Jennings noticed her lack of interest and fell silent.
"Joanna Kennedy, I don’t want to have to make a move against you. All you have to do is stay far away from Serena Sutton and Simon Lockwood."
’How magnanimous,’ she thought. ’All he can do is threaten a girl like me.’
Charles Jennings said, "If you agree to my terms, I can give you a sum of money that will leave you set for the rest of your life."
"Oh? So generous?" Now Joanna Kennedy was interested. "All right. I’ll give you my account number in a minute. Just remember to mark the transfer as a ’voluntary gift’."
"...Alright."
"Then send the money now," Joanna Kennedy said, looking as if she were afraid he’d change his mind.
Swallowing his frustration, Charles Jennings took out his phone to make the transfer. Due to the bank’s transfer limit, he said, "I’ll wire the rest to your account tomorrow."
Joanna Kennedy saw the transfer notification pop up, not even bothering to check the amount. "Fine."
Having received the money, Joanna Kennedy didn’t want to stay a second longer. She left without looking back.
But Charles Jennings, the one who had initiated the negotiation, remained in his seat, motionless, for a long time.
