Chapter 22: Hello stranger.
The door was pushed open slightly.
The old lady poked in her face. "Can I come in?"
"Yes," Kathe replied, sitting up from the bed.
The old lady walked in and sat on the bed.
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing, I’m fine," Kathe replied, her eyes on her fingers as she twisted them.
"Did you guys have a fight?" the old lady asked.
"Fight?" Kathe questioned back, confused.
"You and Jark," the old lady explained.
Kathe finally understood the old lady’s point, reminding her of how well the old lady seemed to observe things.
"Oh." She stayed quiet for a second, contemplating whether or not to tell the old lady. "It’s just a little disagreement, nothing serious."
In the end, she decided not to involve the old lady.
"I’m happy that it’s not serious, but your face looks dull. Are you sure everything is okay?"
"I’m fine, just missing my parents," Kathe replied, her face cast on her toes.
"It’s natural. Why don’t we invite your parents over? They should have been here at the banquet," the old lady suggested.
"No, don’t. I mean, it’s not really a big deal. My parents don’t have to come."
Knowing fully well that her marriage to Jark was something out of the world, she couldn’t help but feel nervous when the old lady mentioned inviting her parents over.
"Calm down. A while ago you seemed dull, but you seem to be sweating now." The old lady frowned as she checked Kathe’s temperature.
"Oh, I think it’s the room temperature."
"Are you sure?" The old lady couldn’t help but notice that her attitude seemed weird the moment she mentioned inviting her parents over.
"Yes."
"No, I think you need to rest. I will be heading to my room now." The old lady decided to give her space.
"Okay, thank you."
"You’re welcome. I will make sure to send breakfast over."
Kathe smiled at her in response.
The old lady stood up and approached the door, but on getting to the door, she stopped and looked at Kathe. Kathe, who was also staring at the old lady’s departing back, was startled, but the old lady gave her a reassuring smile and walked out of the room.
Kathe made sure that the old lady had left the room before releasing the breath she didn’t know she had been holding. She couldn’t help but pray that the old lady didn’t suspect anything.
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All throughout the day, Kathe had been in the room. She didn’t know why she felt hurt seeing Rhea and Jark together.
"They look good together," she thought to herself as she tossed around, unable to sleep.
She stared at the clock. It was already past 9 p.m. She sighed as she threw away the duvet from her body.
The old lady had made sure to send breakfast, lunch, and dinner to her room and also made sure to check up on her regularly.
She couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the old lady’s care.
Just as she was lost in thought, the door cracked open, not too fast, neither slow.
Without turning to look, she knew that it was Jark because his scent filled the room the moment the door was opened. She quickly shut her eyes, pretending to be fast asleep.
The moment Jark opened the door, the first thing he did was scan the room for Kathe. He found her figure lying on the bed, facing the opposite direction.
He had been expecting her call throughout the day, but she never called, which affected him at work.
He had hurried back home, thinking that she would be waiting for him at the dining room table, but he was met with a cold room.
He walked closer toward her.
Kathe herself could feel his presence getting closer. She tightened her eyes shut as her heart beat wildly for an unknown reason. Just then, she felt his weight on the bed.
After sitting on the bed, Jark stretched out his hand toward Kathe’s body. He was about to touch her, but on getting close, he suddenly stopped himself as he clenched his fist tightly.
It suddenly clicked on him that Kathe might be upset with him. He sighed softly and dropped his hand.
He stood up. As he was about to leave, he noticed that the duvet wasn’t properly covering her and the room was cold. He picked up the duvet and placed it around her softly, making sure that he didn’t disturb her sleep.
After doing that, he walked out of the room, feeling dejected.
Kathe opened her eyes the moment she heard the sound of the door being closed.
"He left again," she sneered.
She was about to pull the duvet from her body, but on touching it, she stopped. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t feel the urge to pull it away. It was like his embrace; it felt secure to her.
She forced herself to sleep and eventually fell asleep.
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"Boss, these are all the unfinished files." Thompson dropped the files on the table.
"Thank you."
After debating with himself for a while, Thompson decided to ask,
"Boss, I thought you hurried back home because you didn’t want to work again, but you are back to a pile of work."
"What can I do?" he sighed.
Thompson hadn’t seen Jark being so pitiful before. He didn’t even know how to comfort him, but he stood in silence.
"How do you apologize to an angry woman?" Jark asked Thompson as he stared at him eagerly, waiting for a response.
Thompson was troubled because he didn’t know how to appease a lady, but he got something from his boss’s question. He seemed to have had a misunderstanding with ma’am.
He shook his head in embarrassment.
"I don’t know, boss."
"I thought as much," Jark replied in frustration, indirectly calling Thompson incompetent.
Thompson was left awed by his boss’s response.
"C’mon, you wouldn’t have asked me if you knew either."
"But I think you should check the internet for things like this, boss," Thompson suggested.
"That makes more sense," he replied as he quickly carried his phone to browse, leaving Thompson to open his eyes wide in shock. He had only suggested it but didn’t expect his boss to rush into checking for it.
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The following day, Kathe was awakened by Jark’s sweet scent around the room. She couldn’t help but open her eyes.
"Looking at him a little won’t hurt, right?" she thought to herself as she turned around to look at Jark.
But the moment her eyes sighted Jark, her breath was caught midair.
He was looking so hot.
"Fuck, does he grow more handsome every day?"
"Oh, you’re awake. Good morning." Jark turned to look at Kathe with a smile, shocking her because this was the first time she had seen him smile that way.
She couldn’t help but chuckle because the smile looked funny.
"What do you want for dinner, Chinese food or French?" he offered.
"I want a job," she said with a strict face.
After five seconds of silence, Jark finally broke the silence.
"I will think about it."
"Chinese food," Kathe said as she jumped out of bed, feeling excited.
Out of excitement, she rushed to Jark, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him on the cheek.
After a while, Kathe’s face turned red after realizing what she had just done, which made Jark smirk.
"I will be leaving now."
"Okay, bye."
She pushed him out of the room in excitement as she spun around, looking happy.
Just as she was dancing around the room, she noticed Jark’s watch on the table.
.......................................
Jark walked out of the room smiling.
Thompson, who was waiting for him at the door, knew from his boss’s face that their misunderstanding had been settled. He was a little curious about what the boss did.
"Are you with all the files?" Jark asked.
"Yes, I made sure to carry everything," he replied, keeping pace with Jark, as those were the files that Jark had asked him to bring back from the office but didn’t check because he spent all night on the internet.
"Good morning, Jark."
Jark stopped in his tracks as all the smiles on his face vanished.
He stared at him.
"What’s with that look? Ain’t you happy about seeing me? Hello, Thompson."
Thompson turned slightly to look at Jark, whose aura had changed completely.
"Jark, you left your watch in the room." Kathe rushed down, panting hard.
"Hello, Kathe. What a coincidence," the stranger spoke in surprise.
Kathe stood in shock as she looked at the stranger.
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