After Lisa left her sisters in the hospital, Tiffany and Bernice sat in silence, both filled with thoughts of their own, until Bernice sighed.
"Why did you bring Jack here? How can you stand seeing us together after what we did to you?" Bernice asked in confusion.
"Jack might have his flaws, Benny, but he isn't a bad person. I know he is nothing like Ron, but I can't blame him. I'm sure Ron would have been just like Jack had he been forced to marry someone he knew nothing about…."
"I never said he was a bad person, Tiff. And now that you mentioned it, this makes me wonder why he was forced to marry you. I mean, what did his father stand to gain from the marriage?" Bernice asked, and Tiffany's eyes narrowed.
"I don't know. I never thought about it or asked mother. Do you think mother blackmailed Jack's father into making Jack marry me?" Tiffany asked with a worried frown, and Bernice shook her head.
"Those two are very close. If she blackmailed him, he doesn't look it. Not with how well they get along with each other. That is difficult to fake," Bernice pointed out, and Tiffany nodded.
"You're right. By the way, if you don't mind me asking. What was he like when you two were together? I mean the affair," Tiffany asked, and Bernice frowned.
"I don't think that is something I should be talking to you about," Bernice said with a shake of her head. It was weird enough that Tiffany wasn't pulling her hair out as she had expected her to. But wanting the details of her affair with Jack was out of it.
"Why not?" Tiffany asked.
"Why not? Why would you want to put yourself through that? Does it make any sense to you?" Bernice asked, beginning to feel upset, not for herself but for Tiffany.
"Benny, let me worry about that. I'm asking you to tell me," Tiffany insisted."Do you know how I felt seeing mother and Adam? Do you know what I thought about while trying to take my life? How much pain you would be in knowing I did that with your husband! Why would I want to hurt you more by telling you about it?"
"Was he happy? Did he make you happy, however briefly?" Tiffany asked, ignoring everything else Bernice had said.
"Tiff...."
"I need to know, Benny! He told you he is in love with you, didn't he?" Tiffany asked, and Bernice shook her head quickly.
"No, he didn't! Why would he tell me something as ridiculous as that? It was just lust! You know how Jack is, come on," Bernice rushed to assure Tiffany, and Tiffany laughed dryly.
"How many times did you meet with him?" Tiffany asked, and Bernice looked away guiltily.
"Tell me the truth, Benny. Once? Twice? A couple of times?" Tiffany asked impatiently.
"I'm sorry, Benny! I was so lonely, and...."
"Was it once or twice?" Tiffany snapped at her.
"A couple of times! A couple of times, I'm sorry. The last time I was going to tell him it was over, but...."
"Jack doesn't have sex with the same woman twice," Tiffany said flatly.
"What?" Bernice asked with wide, confused eyes.
"Jack is in love with you. He told me so himself. He said he had always been in love with you before you married Adam," Tiffany said, and Bernice turned away from her.
"It doesn't make sense. That can't be true...."
"It's true. I know, Jack. I had someone follow jack for a long time when we first got married. The fact that he told me how he feels about you and didn't bother to say a word of it to you tells me a lot," Tiffany said with a sigh.
Bernice frowned as she tried to remember if he had ever given her a hint of his feelings for her. She had always avoided visiting Tiffany's house because she had noticed how Jack always looked at her like he wanted to eat her. She had always known he desired her (chapter 401), but she had thought that was just him being his normal immoral self.Her heart skipped a beat when she remembered what he had said about her being the only lady he wanted to see (chapter 489).
Jackson was in love with her? He had always been in love with her? How? Why?
"Oh, God!" Bernice cried as she covered her face in her hands.
She had thought it was just sex. Had she known he was in love with her and it wasn't just lust, she wouldn't have gotten involved with him. Or would she?
Tiffany sighed as she looked at Bernice, "It's funny, you know? I didn't realize how much I loved Jack until he told me he was in love with you," Tiffany said as she stood up from her seat and went to sit beside Bernice.
"And the funny thing about this whole thing is that I'm not even interested in him sexually. So, why did my heart break a little when he said he was in love with you?"
"I'm so sorry, Tiff. I had no idea he felt that way about me. I would never want to hurt you this way," Bernice cried.
"You may not know this, but I'm a lesbian, Benny," Tiffany said, and Bernice's head snapped up as she looked at her sister in disbelief.
"All those girls in my home? The housekeepers? They are my partners," Tiffany said, and Bernice blinked in surprise. Bernice listened as Tiffany told her how she had struggled with her sexuality initially and how difficult it had been to open up to their mother.
"Oh, Tiffany! Is Jack aware?"
"No, he isn't. I don't think he knows. You know, at first, when we got married, I thought I was bisexual. I thought maybe I could bring myself to enjoy sex with him, but he didn't seem all that sexually attracted to me. At first, I thought maybe I had a problem, or maybe he was avoiding me because he perceived I was not sexually attracted to him or something. I also thought he probably wasn't attracted to me because he was forced to marry me, but after he told me about his feelings for you, I figured that he probably couldn't bring himself to do it with me because I was your sister," Tiffany said, and Bernice sighed.
"This is all messed up, isn't it?" Tiffany asked, and Bernice nodded.
"How did our lives become this messed up?" Bernice asked sadly.
"We both know how. Maybe if mother hadn't chosen Adam for you...."
"Her lover. How could she do that to me? How could she make me marry her lover?" Bernice asked, her heart aching at the thought.
Tiffany shrugged, "Who knows what her plan was? Anyway, maybe you would have been married to Jack had you not married Adam. Jack said he didn't have the courage to approach you until it was too late," Tiffany said, and Bernice looked at her.
"And what about you?"
"Me? Maybe if I didn't listen to mother and let her control my life, I would probably be living freely, or who knows? Maybe I would have fallen in love and been married to some wealthy lady somewhere?" Tiffany asked with a rueful smile, and Bernice sighed.
"Well, we will be fine. I'm happy Lisa is doing okay for herself. And I'm glad it's not too late for Anita to find her own path," Bernice said, and Tiffany embraced her.
"I'm sure we will find ours too. As long as we are alive, it's never too late for us either," Tiffany assured her.
"Tiff?" Bernice called softly, and Tiffany pulled away to look into her face.
"Hm?"
"Were you able to forgive me because... Because you were not sexually attracted to Jack?" Bernice asked, and Tiffany paused for a moment to consider the question.
"In a way, yes. I think I might have been more hurt if I was really in love and interested in my husband. When I saw the text, I was a bit pissed but more disappointed that you'd choose someone like Jack. I mean, I didn't know he was in love with you then. But I didn't like the idea of moving from a scum like Adam to a dog like Jackson for comfort."
Bernice sighed softly as she looked down at her hands, "I didn't think about that. I was just lonely, and all I needed was someone to remind me of how beautiful I was. I'm sorry Jack happened to be that someone," Bernice said and then met Tiffany's gaze.
"Although it was wrong, but those few days with Jack made me feel alive and desired," Bernice confessed.
Tiffany smiled sadly, "How long have you been suspicious of mother and Adam?" Tiffany asked, changing the subject. "Since I saw her wearing that diamond necklace," Bernice said, and Tiffany's eyes widened in surprise.
"The diamond was from Adam? How did you know?"
"I saw the receipt at home and went to the shop to check out the picture. Can you imagine how shocked I was to see it on mother and hear her say it was a gift from an admirer?" Bernice asked, and Tiffany reached for her hand.
"I'm sorry, Benny," Tiffany whispered.
"I don't know what to do with you, Tiff. You must love me too much, or you must not love Jack enough. You shouldn't feel sorry for me. You should tell me I deserve that for having an affair with your husband. How am I supposed to feel if you don't express any real anger?" Bernice asked, and Tiffany smiled.
"We are all full of shit, so you'd have to find a way to live with your own shit," Tiffany said, and then stood up to pick up her phone when it started ringing.
"It's Jack," she told Bernice as she received the call.
"Hey! Sorry I'm calling you. I was trying to reach Adam over the phone, but he didn't receive his call. He sent me a weird text...."
"What do you mean weird?" Tiffany asked, thinking it was weird that Jackson was telling her this.
"The text was too detailed. I mean, considering what happened between us yesterday, the text was too detailed. He wants me to meet with him somewhere, so I'm going to forward the text to you," Jack said, and Tiffany frowned.
"Why?"
"I just don't have a very good feeling about this. And you're my wife, right? So you should know, just in case anything happens...."
"If you think something is going to happen, then you shouldn't go," Tiffany said while Bernice watched her with interest wondering what was going on.
"I'm not saying anything is going to happen. I'm saying this in case anything happens," Jackson said, and Tiffany sighed.
"Alright. Just don't fight with him, okay?"
"Sure. I don't intend to. I'm about to leave to meet with him now," Jackson said before hanging up.
"What's going on?" Bernice asked when Tiffany remained where she stood, frowning down at her phone. "Jack is going to meet with Adam. Although I don't think it's necessary for him to see Adam. He says he has a bad feeling about it...." Tiffany stopped talking and frowned when she clicked on the text she had just received.
"Jack is right. Something doesn't seem right," Tiffany murmured as she read the text. Why was it necessary for Adam to state he was leaving their mother's house in the text? The tone of the text didn't sound angry as Adam had been the previous day.
For someone who had been so pissed, the text seemed more like he was keeping his friend informed on his movements. That wasn't right.
"What is wrong?" Bernice asked again.
"I have no idea," Tiffany said as she showed the text to Bernice.
"Why would Adam want to meet with Jack at the rooftop of an incomplete building? I mean, I get what he said about meeting a witness there, but that doesn't mean Jack has to meet him there, does it? Besides, he could easily return Jack's call while driving to meet with his witness. Why does he have to meet Jack? No. It's not a good idea. Call Jack and ask him not to go," Bernice said with a worried frown.
Immediately, Tiffany dialed Jack's line. Jack picked it up to receive her call, but almost immediately, his phone went off, reminding him that he had forgotten to charge it all through the previous day because he had been worried about Bernice.
"What?" Bernice asked when Tiffany frowned as she dialed the number again.
"I think his phone is off," Tiffany said, and Bernice frowned.
"Why don't you call Adam?" Bernice suggested, and Tiffany dialed Adam's line, but the call didn't connect.
"It's not connecting," Tiffany said with a worried frown.
"Why don't you call Agnes and find out what Adam's meeting with mother was about? The housekeepers would know, right? They're always eavesdropping, after all," Bernice suggested, and Tiffany nodded as she scrolled through her phone for the head housekeeper's number and dialed it.
Thankfully, Agnes received the call almost immediately, "Agnes? Was Adam in the house today? My sister's husband?" Tiffany asked, going straight to the point.
"Yes. He was in the house when I left…."
"When you left? Are you back at the house now? Who else was in the house?" Tiffany asked.
"No one. The others went grocery shopping, and madam sent me on an errand. She asked us not to come back for some time since she had an important meeting. We are not home yet," Agnes explained, and this made Tiffany narrow her eyes.
"Alright. You don't have to tell her I called, alright?" Tiffany said before hanging up.
"What did she say?" Bernice asked, and once Tiffany relayed the information to her, Bernice frowned.
"Do you think mother sent them away so she could spend time alone with Adam?" Tiffany asked, and Bernice shook her head.
"I don't know. I have no idea what is going on."
"There is no way Adam would be planning to hurt Jack, right? Besides, their families are sort of close. He wouldn't be that careless, right?" Tiffany asked with a worried frown. "I see no reason why Adam should attempt to hurt Jack. Adam is a lawyer after all. Maybe we are overthinking this. Let's relax."
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