“Good morning,” he greeted her.
“It’s six in the morning,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you. You told me you have an early start, so I made sure I would catch you before you go,” he replied.
“Why?”
“I told you last night, we needed to talk, remember?”
“I’m busy,” she muttered. “I need to do something for the whole weekend.”
Without warning, he took the bag she was carrying away from her.
“Hey!” she protested. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going with you,” he replied.
“No!”
“Why not? Is it an ‘invitation only’ event?”
“No. But I planned to do this by myself. And I don’t need you to talk me out of it or convince me to stay here!”
“Who said I was going to do that?”
&
Jin and Julianne finished their shopping and reached the counter to pay for her purchases.“We have some items for delivery. We’d like them to be delivered within the day,” Jin instructed the guy on the counter.“Sure, you can arrange that on the way out once I give you the bill. There might be a premium for rush delivery.”Julianne was about to say it’s okay to have them delivered the next day, but Jin was quick to say, “No problem. We want them today.”Yeah, I forgot. He’s rich. I’m not!The cashier finished punching all the items and told them the total. Jin took his wallet from his pocket, but Julianne gave him a warning look, “Don’t even think about it!” she hissed. “This is my stuff.”He held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, fine.”She handed the cashier her debit card and she tried it on their machine. Julianne turned
She realized what she just said and immediately she regretted the last words that came out of her mouth. She shook her head. “No. That’s not what I meant. I’m sorry.”“I can’t say I blame you or the others who say I don’t have a heart,” he murmured. “Looking back at the last six years of my life… I probably would say the same.”She sighed sadly. She didn’t know if she was the reason for that. If Jin really did love her in the past, then she left him broken and vulnerable. And his way of fighting back, of protecting himself from the pain was to become guarded and untrusting… careful of feeling emotions, but careless of others’ feelings.“Where do you want to start?” she asked, changing the subject.“The wall. Let’s paint it before the delivery arrives,” he replied. “Let me get the plastics and the tools to cover the edges.”
Julianne spent the rest of the afternoon washing the curtains and beddings so she could dry them and use them immediately. The delivery came around three in the afternoon and Jin paid the delivery guys extra so they could assemble and install the shelves, tables and chairs.Julianne cooked pesto pasta and baked éclair squares. Then she prepared a blend of fruit juice. She brought the tray out in the backyard for Jin.She found him talking on the phone, with his back towards her.“Gatwick, just get it done,” he was saying to the other person on the line. “I will give you the address and phone number by email. Tell the guy that money is not a problem. Pay him a premium. Double the price if needed. Then I want works to commence immediately after you close the deal.” He paused to listen to the other guy. Then he added. “No. Dad will not question this because I will not use Starck Corp’s resources. It’s my personal pro
Julianne woke up in the middle of the night. She could hear the rain pitter-pattering on the rooftop. It was dark in the room. She could feel Jin’s arms around her, encaging her in his warm embrace.She fidgeted slightly and immediately, she felt him move beside her.“Are you okay, Arabella?” he asked.“You’re a light sleeper.”“Now, I am,” he said. “If I slept like this seven years ago, I would have woken up when you were sneaking out of my apartment. And you wouldn’t have gotten away.”“And my father would have come for me, making your life a miserable hell.”“He wouldn’t do that,”“Ha! My father is full of shocking revelations,” she muttered.He drew his brows together and then he stared at her for a long moment, studying her face.“What?”He shook his head. “What does your father do exc
Jin and Julianne set out to return to the Adams Mansion, Monday morning. Jin wanted to make sure she made it to the mansion safely before he went to the airport. He had to be in Paris and then Greece and Maldives for the soft opening of two of their hotels.He stopped by a supermarket, a few blocks away from the mansion.“I hate it that I would leave you so soon,” he told her. He pulled her to him and kissed her lips.“But you need to go,” she said. “This is your life. This is important.”He kissed her again. Then he leaned his forehead against hers and said, “You are important too. So, do whatever it is you need to do so we won’t have to hide this and we can make a plan about our schedules.”She nodded. “Okay. We’ll talk when you get back.”“Three weeks is going to be too long,” he said. “Promise you’re not going to disappear this time?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.” But she knew they wouldn’t buy it. “It’s just… just a joke I read.”“Seriously. What joke?” Justin asked, raising a challenging brow at her.Shit! She had to make up a joke really quickly.She cleared her throat. “N-not all men are annoying. Some are dead.” She faked an angelic smile on her face.“Ha-ha. That’s really funny,” Justin said, faking a laugh. Then in a more serious tone he said, “You know, technically speaking, it’s office hours. But don’t think of me as your boss. Think of me as your cousin—who could fire you.”She gave him a stoic face. Then in a very bored expression, she said, “Oh my God. I am very, very scared.”Adrienne laughed
Julianne brought Jared home the following Friday evening. The first thing he asked for was his room. And when Julianne showed it to her, he was ecstatic. She videotaped the whole thing because Jin wanted to see Jared’s reaction.“Mommy, this is so beautiful!” he beamed happily. “You got me a Rubik’s cube room. The painting is so beautiful! Did you do it Mommy?”“Umm… no. I’m not that good at painting. But Mommy’s very good friend is a painter. He did this especially for you. I told him you wanted a Rubik’s cube inspired room.”“Mommy, your friend is a good painter. I wish I could paint like that.”“Someday, you will, sweetheart,” she told him. “It’s in your blood.”She thought of the day when she could finally tell Jared that the one who painted his room was his father. And that someday, he would be as good as him.“I want
Vanessa looked around her house, scrutinizing it. Julianne had a few ideas about what’s going on in her mind and she’s guessing none of them were good.“Why are you here?” Julianne asked.Vanessa raised a brow at her. She looked at her from head to feet, unashamedly scrutinizing her look.“Miss Bernard, please. Can you get down to business? I have places to go.”“Of course, you have,” she said in a heavy French accent. “You’re working extra hard to support your son, aren’t you?”“Excuse me. I don’t see why that’s any of your business.”“You made it my business when you started seducing my fiancé!”Julianne blinked back at her. “Excuse me? What are you talking about?”“You know well what I’m talking about, Miss Sanders,” she said. “You’re my fiancé’s other woman