Chapter 4

Jazmine's eyes couldn't stop looking at the photos on the screen of her computer. Her mind went wild. Then, the photo of Liam with a pregnant woman crushed her to the end. Her hands clenched and unclenched numerous times. Jazmine wanted to control her emotions, but she couldn’t.

“Five years, Jaz. It has been five years. Of course, he’s married. Look, he’s happy and everything,” Jazmine said to herself to convince herself that everything was okay.

Granted, she only met Liam once, but from that one meeting, many things happened to her. She didn’t dare to tell Anita anything about it. Looking at the photo like now, Jazmine realized she was nothing compared to Liam's wife.

That woman—she was gorgeous.

Jazmine slapped her own forehead. How could she still feel something for a married man? That was certainly the wrong thing to do. Liam was married, and he was out of her league completely. She shouldn’t harbor any feelings for him. Jazmine quickly shrugged her thoughts away and closed the web browser before her feeling turned into an ill intention.

Rowan knocked on the door of her office before opening it. “Hey, Jaz. Mrs. Ferdinand just called to come early. Is that okay with you?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jazmine replied. “She can come in thirty minutes.”

“Alright.”

Jazmine reviewed the final design Mrs. Ferdinand wanted. It didn’t take long for Jazmine to create several designs that she knew would satisfy her client’s request. Mrs. Ferdinand was a meticulous woman. She knew exactly what she wanted, and she got a designer who could create it.

All that was left was for Jazmine to represent the portfolios to Mrs. Ferdinand later, letting her client choose one. Then, Jazmine would send the final portfolio to the designing team assigned to make the design a reality in Mrs. Ferdinand’s home.

Jazmine went to the meeting room and had everything ready before her client came. This wasn’t her first rodeo. In fact, she handled every VIP customer of the company. It wasn’t like they had a long list of VIP customers, but Jazmine’s designs were one reason why the company made its name in the industry.

Two hours later, her client had chosen one design to finalize the contract. Jazmine passed the portfolio to Rowan after Mrs. Ferdinand had left. Jazmine returned to her office to prepare for another client of hers.

Her workday was completed without any embarrassing mistakes. Jazmine gathered her stuff and went to the parking lot. She didn’t want to bump into Jay Bernard at all. Now, she was escaping him as a criminal escaped from the cops, except that she didn’t do anything breaking the laws. She was polite.

Jazmine scanned through the parking lot, and his car was still parked at the usual spot. Quickly getting into her own car, she left the building as if she had planted a bomb inside. Jazmine tried to start her car several times, and nothing happened. Jazmine groaned before calling Anita’s number.

“Hey, can you pick me up?” Jazmine said as soon as Anita answered.

“Sure thing. Be there in ten minutes,” Anita replied.

The call was cut. Jazmine rested her head against the headrest of the seat and spotted Jay Bernard was walking towards her. She rolled her eyes as she didn’t want to talk to him at all.

“Does it make a problem again?” Jay said as he gestured to her car. “Come on. I can send you home.”

“No, thank you,” Jazmine replied politely. “My friend is on her way.”

“Jazmine, are you mad about the gifts?” He eyed her.

Jazmine got out of the car and slammed the door shut. “Mr. Bernard, you know I couldn’t accept any gift from my boss. It’s really unprofessional and inappropriate.”

“Come on, Jazmine. A dinner between two friends. I promise I'll send you home after that.”

A dinner between friends? She didn’t recall being friends with him. The only friend she had in the workplace was Rowan because he didn’t annoy the hell out of her. Jay Bernard annoyed her from the very first day.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Bernard. I’m not interested in having a friendly dinner either,” Jazmine said.

“Jazmine, stop with the formal name-calling. Everyone here calls me Jay.”

Jazmine wanted to answer him when she heard a roar of a motorbike. She looked at the main gate and saw a motorbike and its biker talking to the guard. The guard gestured to the parking lot. Jazmine’s eyes couldn’t look away because she recognized the biker. The motorbike was approaching the parking lot slowly before it stopped next to her car.

“Your car broke down?” The biker took off the helmet, and Jazmine’s eyes widened.

“Liam?” Jazmine said softly.

“I was passing by when Anita called. Who’s this?” He gestured to Jay Bernard.

“I’m Jay Bernard, her boss,” Jay said, extending his hand for a handshake.

“Excuse me,” Liam said, ignoring Jay’s handshake, and went to Jazmine’s car and opened the door to the driver’s seat.

He unlocked the hood and went to check the engine. Jazmine couldn’t say anything else as she didn’t know what to say. She watched his side profile and realized he had more tattoos than before. His arms were covered in tattoos. Liam reached for something in the engine and began to work on it.

“You should leave,” Jazmine said to her boss.

“What if he bothers you when you’re alone?” Jay said.

Jazmine rolled her eyes. “Seven p.m.”

Jay beamed a smile when he understood her answer. “That’s good enough for me. I’d see you later.” he smiled again before leaving her alone.

Jazmine resisted rolling her eyes at his enthusiasm. This dinner better not do anything more than a dinner. She hoped that her name wouldn’t make it into Jay’s list of women he had slept with. In a workplace like this, gossip traveled like wildfire. Everyone here knew he was pursuing her. He looked so desperate, though. She considered this as a charity case.

“Try to start the car,” Liam said, cleaning his hands on his dark jeans.

“Uh? Oh...right...” Jazmine rushed to the driver’s side and turned the key.

The car roared to life once more. Liam went to his bike without saying anything else. He started his bike.

“Word of advice,” Liam said. “Don’t accept dinner invites if you’re not comfortable with it.”

Just like that, he left. Jazmine could only watch him leaving like before. She sighed as she knew she shouldn’t feel anything for him. She kept reminding herself that Liam was married and expecting a kid.

She went home, still couldn’t forget anything about Liam. Jazmine decided to give herself time to forget him because it wouldn’t be easy. For five years, she harbored a feeling for him. Now, she knew he was married. There were no more reasons to keep those feelings.

Jazmine checked her watch and saw she had two hours to get ready. There was enough time for her to soak in the hot bath, trying to get rid of the frustration in her. She stripped out of her clothes in her room and entered the bathroom, running a hot bath. While waiting for that, she removed her makeup. Jazmine didn’t consider herself as beautiful. It was hard for a nerd or an outcast like her to consider themselves beautiful.

She lowered herself into the bathtub and sighed in content. The warmth of the water seeped into her skin pores. She soaked in the hot bath for about one hour. There was enough time to prepare, and I waited for Jay to come. She was fixing her makeup when the front doorbell rang. Jazmine checked her watch. There was no way Jay came this early to pick her up. Maybe Anita forgot her keys again.

Speaking of Anita, Jazmine wanted to confront her later on. Why would she send Liam to go there? And why would Liam be in the same town as them?

Running down the stairs in a bathrobe, she headed to the door and opened it. Her breath hitched at the back of her throat when she saw it wasn’t Jay or Anita who stood there. It was Liam. He looked handsome in a black jacket, grey shirt, and black jeans with combat boots, unlike earlier.

Liam’s handheld a small box and showed it to her. “I got the new starter relay for your car. Where’s your key?”

“Why didn’t you mention it earlier?” Jazmine asked him.

Liam shrugged. “Where’s the key?”

Jazmine grunted as she grabbed her car key and gave it to him. Liam left like he was never there. She ran to her room and quickly dressed for dinner. But, she wanted to check on Liam and her car. Jazmine picked her purse and ran to the elevator. She went to the basement parking lot and saw Liam had just popped open the hood.

He took off his jacket and threw it onto his motorbike. Jazmine just realized his motorbike was parked next to her car. She continued to look at him, although she knew she shouldn’t.

“Did I pass your inspection?” Liam asked while he was busy unboxing the new starter relay. “Or do you still need to inspect some more?”

“Liam, what are you doing here?” Jazmine asked. “You never showed up after Anita’s party. Why now?”

“Oh, I’m joining Anita’s summer vacation,” He replied casually.

“What?!” Jazmine shrieked.

Then, she remembered Anita called her this morning. Was that why Anita called her and said they were going for a summer vacation and asked if she wanted to invite anyone?

But Liam was married. Why would he join a summer vacation with two girls? Well, one of the girls was his sister, so that didn’t count. But, Jazmine had no blood relation with Liam. Wouldn’t his wife feel jealous seeing her husband on vacation with another woman and his sister?

“She didn’t tell you?” Liam scanned her from head to toe. “I’d guess you still agreed to the dinner invitation.”

“You didn’t even know it was a dinner invitation,” Jazmine said.

“It was written all over his face.”

Jazmine ignored his statement as she watched Liam replacing the old starter relay with the new one. So, the photos of him fixing cars and motorbikes on his social media weren’t just a bluff.

“Congratulations,” Jazmine said, remembering Liam was expecting a child.

Liam wiped his hands with a rag inside a toolbox he brought with him. “For what?”

She wanted to reply when she saw Jay’s car approaching her in the basement parking. There was something unreadable on Liam’s face. His lips were tight, and his jaw clenched. Jay came out from his car and approached them.

“We’ve met again. Are you living here?” Jay said.

“Liam Blake. Jazmine’s friend’s brother. Yes, I’m living here,” Liam replied after a minute of silence.

Jazmine wanted to protest about Liam living in the same building, but then she remembered he bought the penthouse for Anita. Although he gave Anita a gift as a gift, the penthouse was still under his name because when Anita received the penthouse, the management was skeptical about changing the ownership.

Liam turned to Jazmine and gave a business card to her. “Send your car to this workshop tomorrow. The owner will service your car.”

Without a further word, Liam grabbed the toolbox and a bag from his motorbike and went to the elevator. Jazmine blinked blankly at Liam’s action.

“He’s not much of a talker, isn’t he?” Jay said.

“This isn’t a date,” Jazmine reminded him. “A dinner between two friends.”

Jay was her boss. And that was it—one professional line between an employee and a boss.