Hide and seek

Back in the hospital ....

Meanwhile 

Nimi and Jenna chatted and laughed about random things, she couldn't help but occasionally steal glances at him as they talked, he seemed like a fun guy and she couldn't believe she missed that when they first met, she was glad she came around him this early, in this midst of all the ruckus and bickering going on in her life right now, she atleast needed someone to make her laugh.

The door creaked open interrupting their conversation, revealing Jeremy's familiar figure. Nimi immediately stood up from Jenna's bedside clearing his throat noisily.

He immediately walked back to the entrance and resumed his position as her bodyguard.

Jeremy took a step forward towards Jenna, really not concerned or bothered by Nimi's presence, or how close they were to each other before he walked in.

Concern seemed go etch on his face as he placed his hands on her head.

"I rushed over as soon as I heard about what happened" he said, Jenna scoffed bitterly, not hiding her resentment, a reaction he knew too well.

"If you hadn't been such a jerk, maybe I wouldn't have run away and ended up getting shot," she retorted, her voice surprisingly calm, she had done a lot of shouting throughout the week and honestly she was tired of it.

"Well, it's good to know I still make you feel on edge!" He replied a small smirk forming at the corner of his lips, her face wrinkled up in disgust as she stared at him.

"Seriously?! Why exactly are you here?! To keep on battering me?!"

"Oh come on, batter?! That's quite extreme you know I wouldn't do that!"

"I'm not a violent kind of guy," He said, she rolled her eyes at him with a small scoff, 

"If violence was a person!" She murmured quite audibly.

Two, three years ago she used to absolutely adore Jeremy, she had always thought he was her happy ending, although the signs were there but she chose to ignore them because she loved him.

And he was right, she loved him to a point of obsession. At that time Quinn tried to warn her how unhalthy it was for her, but to her Jeremy seemed worthy to risk it all for.

Jeremy had betrayed her trust when he cheated on her, it actually didn't happen once, it happened continuously, he would come up with a story and then she would forgive him, the straw that broke the Carmel's back was when he cheated on her with someone she truly despised, in her own apartment.

The image was still quite vivid in her head, she had walked into her room that day and there he was, her beloved happy ending on her bed with another woman, another woman whose guts she couldn't bear to stand!.

The lady reluctantly stood up from the bed and called her a cheap whore, incapable of keeping a man.

She was expecting a very sorry Jeremy as usual, but this time around he shocked her.

"You're too clingy, I can't deal with it, everyone will eventually get tired of you!" Were the exact word he said to there that fateful day before following after the lady.

At that moment her walls came crumbling down, she watched as all the dreams she had about her happily ever after with Jeremy got washed away and the most painful thing was that she couldn't do anything about it.

And that was the end of their relationship, they didn't exactly call things off, but that was the last of Jeremy she saw, until recently when her dad just had to go ahead and bring back her painful past she tried so much to bury.

Her heartbreak from that incident lingered for months, leaving scars that were not easily healed, from that moment onward she built strong walls around herself, walls that Nimi seem to have began to break down.

she wiped her tears away, as she recounted the hurt she passed through at that time, she made up her mind never to be in tears again because of Jeremy, he didn't deserve her tears.

 "I don't fancy you anymore, Jeremy," she declared, her voice clearer, steady and more confident.

 "Nothing you do or say will change that. We can never be friends, no matter how much you try."

Jeremy attempted to explain himself, but his words lacked genuine remorse, and his arrogance remained intact. 

"It's past Jenna, you should move on already!" He said instead after few seconds of stuttering and thinking of what to say.

"Bold of you to say that to me!"

"Get lost Jeremy, very far away from me!" She said, and he smirked leaning in really close to her.

"You being this way, just fuels my desire more to want you as my girlfriend again!" He proclaimed arrogantly.

"And actually, I'll do it! I'll do what I have to do even if it means playing dirty!"

"Get out of here Jeremy," Jenna replied, her jaw ticked, her face contorted in a frown, he slowly moved away from her and released a deep rumbling sinister laugh.

"There's no need to be forceful, I'll leave my love! But I'll be back for you!" He said, turned around and walked out of the room. 

With a heavy heart, Jenna watched him leave the room. As the door closed behind him, she took a deep breath, trying to steady her emotions. 

Nimi gently walked up to her side and looked down at her where she lay.

"Are you sure you're fine?!" He asked, she nodded slowly and repeatedly.

"I am," she whispered.

In actually sense she wasn't, she knew Jeremy too well, he was manipulative and he was damn well good at it, he knew her weak spot and she knew his first call is to definitely take advantage of it, plus her father wasn't even making the situation better for her.

At this point it seemed life was so against her. She could actually use a moment of distraction.

"Kiss me," she whispered as her eyes met Nimi's, she watched as his eyes went wide in shock,

"Jenna, we shouldn't be ..." 

"Kiss me!" She interrupted immediately, her voice urgent and impatient, and that was all the confirmation Nimi needed, without wasting time he bent and took her lips in his.

As their lips met, a spark ignited between them. Nimi's heart raced, not just from the suddenness of the moment but also from the realization that he had began to feel funny about Jenna, which was very bad for the both of them, especially him. 

The kiss was tender yet passionate, as if they were both trying to escape from the burdens of both their past and present. In that moment, the world around them seemed to fade away, leaving only the very sudden but genuine connection they shared. Nimi wrapped his arms gently around Jenna, pulling her closer, he deepened the kiss.

Their intimate moment was abruptly interrupted when the door swung open, revealing Quinn standing at the entrance, frozen in shock at the sight before her. Jenna and Nimi quickly pulled away from each other, their faces flushed with embarrassment and surprise, Jenna especially.

"Quinn, it's really not what you think," Jenna stammered as Quinn walked in and slammed the door behind her.

Thatcher's Corp headquarters....

"Thank you for breakfast today Franco, I looked forward to more of that," Bob, Jeremy's father said to Franco over the phone, he laughed as he reclined in his seat and adjusted his tie, swirling in his chair.

"Oh we'll definitely do that more often, now that you're a friend of mine!" Franco replied, with a small smile.

"Oh definitely, definitely!" 

"After dinner today, I thought, since our children got along so easily, why not pair them together,"

"Atleast to strengthen our bond!" Bob said, finally letting out the words franco very much wanted to hear from him when he began this hide and seek mission.

He fist bumped the air, feeling proud of his achievement in the last few days and how he had been able to get all what he wanted.

Except one tiny little person though, Aiden , but he knew his recent progress would very soon eliminate Aiden, if he keeps up at that rate.

"What do you think about it?!" Bob's voice came again at the other end of the phone.

"I think it's a perfect idea!"