Tammy hated noise, but she was the one who made the noise when she suddenly got up from her chair and accidentally pushed the chair until it fell to the floor with a loud thud. Even the noisy girls at the office stopped gossiping because Tammy's voice was louder than theirs, and now they looked at the short-haired woman with eyes full of curiosity. Tammy was still stunned by the information she had just received, but then she realized what she had done as she immediately pulled the chair from the floor and returned it to its original position next to Jessica. “Sorry,” the bespectacled woman even shyly uttered an apology to her colleagues. “I got a little dizzy, and almost fell to the floor. Thankfully, I was still able to balance myself, and only my chair fell to the floor.” It was obviously a lie, but one of her colleagues still replied, “You should ask for a day off if you don't feel well.” It sounded like concern, but Tammy just smiled awkwardly before replying, “I can't abando
Jessica just made another confession, and this time, Tammy didn't reply right away. It seemed like she was trying to digest the information she had just obtained, and her brows even kept furrowing as she tried to analyze the situation. After almost a minute had passed, she finally opened her mouth to ask, “Just now you said ‘at first’ to describe what Tyler did when you tried to kiss him, right? Does that mean… he only tried to resist at first but decided to give up in the end?” Tammy was quite sharp in her analysis, and Jessica was silent for a moment instead of immediately confirming it to the younger woman. Once again, she let out a tired sigh as she looked away from the younger woman. “You were right that he decided to give in at that time, and he even kissed me back. However, he only did that because I threatened him,” she answered finally. “How did you know that he did that just because you threatened him?” Tammy immediately responded this time. “He's your husband's boyfriend
Before moving to this place—her newly rented apartment, she lived with Noah, and Noah's place was closer to her work than this place. At that time, she only needed to drive seven to eight minutes from Noah's place, but now she needed to drive almost twenty minutes before reaching her new place from work. The new apartment she rented also couldn't be compared to Noah's place. It was the micro-unit apartment building that nestled among high-rises in Brooklyn, and that was the reason why the rent was cheap. However, even if it was small, that place did not feel cramped because special considerations were made to ensure that more than enough light and air reach each micro-apartment. In each unit, the ceilings were nearly ten feet, and her unit even featured a Juliet balcony. For Jessica, that place was her perfect sanctuary. She had punched in her unit's security code, and she took off her shoes before placing them on the shoe rack. The muscles in her neck felt stiff after a day's work,
Jessica didn't even see Tyler during the fashion show session at the launch event. She came to the livestream late, and that was why she only saw one model on the stage before the host took over the stage again. The host said that the main star of the show would be giving a special performance, and as Tammy told her earlier today, it was Tyler who would be giving the special performance. Jessica gaped in surprise before quietly admitting that the man's appearance was indeed different tonight. Tyler wore all black. His long legs were hugged tightly by tight leather pants, while his body was covered in a black see-through mesh cropped top. However, it might not be accurate to say that his toned body was completely covered because the crop top only covered his chest and didn't even cover his stomach. Even the mesh fabric wouldn't be enough to hide every inch of his skin. The surprise didn't stop there, Jessica was even more shocked when she saw how her husband's boyfriend started to m
When it came to cars, Jessica and Noah always had different opinions. Jessica had always liked compact SUVs that looked tough and spacious, but her husband liked sedans the most. The man always said that sedans reflected elegance, and Jessica used to support her husband's opinion even though she didn't completely agree with it. In the past, she never complained every time she had to sit in the passenger seat next to her husband in his car. On the contrary, she always felt happy every time her husband came to pick her up and invited her to sit in the passenger seat. However, the situation looked different today as her face was covered in dark clouds as she sat in the passenger seat next to her husband. That seat was no longer special to her, knowing that someone else was her husband's regular passenger more often than her. "We should have met at the hospital," Noah, who was sitting in the driver's seat, broke the uncomfortable silence in the car. Hearing that statement, Jessica sne
It was as if Jessica's soul was pulled out of her body after she heard her mother's unilateral decision, and even after her mother hung up the phone call, she blankly stared at the void in front of her as her hand tightly gripped her phone. "What is it?" Finally, the silence in the car was broken by a deep voice. The voice was too familiar to Jessica's ears, and there were only the two of them in the car, that's why she didn't need to turn to look at her husband while voicing an answer, "My mom won't come with us to the hospital. She has other plans for today.” She answered her husband honestly, but her husband seemed dissatisfied as he replied, “That's not the thing that managed to shock you, right? What did your mother say besides the sudden change of plans today?” This time, Noah was quite sensitive to changes in Jessica's mood, and that was actually a rare occurrence because usually, the brown-haired man was too cold to understand her mood. However, Jessica was not happy even
It felt like someone poured a bucket of ice over her head on a cold day. It felt like someone sprinkled salt right on a fresh wound in her heart. Jessica didn't want to appear dramatic and didn't want to be influenced anymore by her husband and his boyfriend's relationship. However, she still felt unhappy when her husband continued to show how much he loved his boyfriend when he was with her. 'In his eyes, I'm not his wife and just an insignificant passerby. Why should he care about my feelings?' She could only lament to herself when she realized her position. She didn't even respond to her husband in the end, and luckily, it didn't take them long to get to the hospital after Noah's car turned away from the direction of her parents' house. The hospital was on the periphery of Brooklyn, quite close to her parents' house, and that was why her father stayed there not long ago. Maybe that was the reason her mother made an appointment with a doctor at that hospital. They had already m
“If you're not satisfied with the results, we can do a blood test, Mrs. Brooks. However, the test will take longer to find out the results, and you will have to wait. But I need to tell you that both urine and blood tests have the same purpose of checking HCG in your body. For your information, HCG is a hormone produced during pregnancy and appears in the blood and urine of pregnant women as early as 10 days after conception. In conclusion, the two tests have the same purpose, and it's okay if you only choose one," once again the doctor explained, and Jessica immediately shook her head in response. "I think a urine test is enough, Doctor," Jessica answered verbally. “For some reason, I'm sure I'm not pregnant, so another test isn't necessary at this time.” The doctor smiled slightly before replying, “If that is your decision, I will not oppose it. After all, women's instincts are something we can't ignore, and if you don't think you're pregnant, chances are you're not actually pregn
“Mom, are we really going to stay overnight at Grandma's house today?” Glancing in the rearview mirror to look into the back seat, Jessica could see how her son kept swinging his legs while asking the question. His cute movements only showed that the blonde boy was very excited to hear his mother's answer. But, this wasn't even the first time Shane had asked that question, and Jessica actually had answered the same question before. Thankfully, Jessica didn't get tired of hearing her son's excitement, and she smiled while shaking her head helplessly before answering, "We're going to have a sleepover at Grandma's house for real, but why are you so excited about that, Shane?" Jessica could keep glancing at the boy because she didn't need to focus on driving. But, the answer to her question came not from her son but from her daughter, "That's because Grandma promised us that she would tell us more stories about Grandpa, Mommy! We wonder if Grandpa is more like me or Shane!" "Of cou
“What is 'proposing,' Mommy? Why do you keep saying that word?” Impatiently, Shane continued to pull the side of Jessica's shirt while asking the question. It was indeed the little boy who responded to Jessica even though the question was directed at Noah. But, that didn't upset the woman, and instead, she looked satisfied as she smiled at the boy before answering, “You'll have to ask your favorite Daddy about that word, Shane. He would know more than me about that word.” Jessica did direct her answer to her son, but her eyes glanced at Noah when she said her last sentence. Noah looked cornered, he even tried to look away from the mother and son pair. The artificial light around the area reflected on the man's forehead after he took off the cat head, and it looked glistening with sweat, either because of his cat costume or because of his nervousness. Jessica didn't know the reason, but that didn't stop her from staring intently at the man while waiting for his answer. "Proposin
“So, where is your Daddy now? Did he run away after giving my son a stup—a funny task?” Gritting her teeth to suppress her annoyance, Jessica questioned her son, almost failing to restrain herself from uttering the word "stupid." However, it was not her son who responded. Instead, it was her daughter who suddenly tugged on her sleeve, causing her to turn towards the little girl. “Daddy didn't run away, Mom,” the little girl said, and Jessica thought she would continue to say something. That's why Jessica remained silent waiting for her daughter to explain what she had just said, but the little girl didn't say anything and just moved her little hands towards the pink backpack hanging on her back. Jessica didn't know what the girl was doing, but she could see how the girl unzipped her backpack before taking something out of it. To Jessica's surprise, the thing the girl had just taken out of her backpack was a camera. To be pr
In the end, Jessica decided to give Noah a second chance. Yes, a second chance to be closer to her children.The reason behind her decision was that her children really liked Noah since the first time they met at the mall ice cream shop when she accompanied Tammy to buy a birthday present for her husband. It could be said that the ice cream succeeded in buying the kids' love, and they really liked spending time with the person who bought them the ice cream.Actually, that was not a bad thing, but Jessica was quite annoyed by the stubbornness of her children who kept calling Noah "daddy." It was clearly Noah's fault for casually confirming that he was indeed the twins' father, and Jessica continued to curse the man in her heart from that day on.She didn't even realize that a week had passed since her mother left the hospital and started living again in Noah's old apartment. Due to her mother's pleading, she ended up staying in that apartment as well rather
“That… that's too cheesy! Aren't we going to buy food for my mother and children? We better leave now or they will eat us alive if they get too hungry," Jessica tried to change the topic of their conversation when she started to feel nervous because of what Noah had just said to her. She even averted her gaze to look at anything as long as it wasn't Noah's face, and that was why she didn't notice the hopeful expression on the man's face. "You just said that what I said was too cheesy, but you didn't say that you didn't believe what I said," Noah replied, ignoring the fact that Jessica was trying to change the topic of their conversation. Finally, Jessica could no longer avoid the man's face, and she once again looked at him with her pair of blue eyes. At this moment, she could finally see a glimmer of hope in the man's eyes. "To be honest, Tammy has told me everything related to you," Jessica finally said the truth.
“Why didn't you remarry after we divorced five years ago?” Jessica's voice was finally heard in the car. "Is it because you still can't get over Tyler?"Suddenly, Noah sneered before replying, “Do you think I love that man so much that I can't replace him with someone else? I don't know if this information is useful for you or not, but the truth is that I didn't really love him when we were together.""You didn't really love him but you still wanted to be with him even though it meant betraying our marriage," Jessica answered sarcastically, and Noah looked stunned by her answer.For a moment, Noah could only stare at the blonde without being able to utter a word with his mouth, but then he took a deep breath before saying, “I believe love and guilt are two different things, and I differentiated them clearly when I was still with him. I betrayed our marriage because of my feelings of guilt, not because of my love for him.”Jessica was the one who d
Jessica didn't know what to say after hearing Noah just say what was on his mind and heart, but for some reason, she felt familiar with the situation. The familiar feeling she felt in her heart made her anxious, her hands even moved to grip her jeans tightly as if asking for support from the blue fabric.“You probably think that my situation is similar to your children's situation, right?”Jessica felt her heart stop beating for a moment after hearing what Noah had just asked. It was actually impossible for her heart to stop beating while she was still alive, but she was truly surprised by the question. She finally understood why she felt anxious about Noah's story. That was because the story reminded her of her children.“I am the illegitimate child of that billionaire, and your children are the same even if their father is not a billionaire. They are very young now, but their lives are probably as full of drama as mine. Their lives will be full of lies a
After everything that happened to her five years ago, Jessica really didn't like surprises. Back then, many unexpected things happened to her, and none of them were pleasant surprises. That was why she felt traumatized by unexpected things, but today, she kept getting unexpected things since she came to the hospital to see her mother.First, a surprise came in the form of Noah, and second, it was in the form of the fact that her mother ended up living in Noah's old apartment. As if that wasn't enough, Noah then told her that he wanted to discuss a matter with her alone, and in the end, Jessica could only follow the man's lead.They were once again in Noah's car, and Jessica had fastened her seat belt. She prepared to look for something for her mother and her children's lunch, but she was puzzled because Noah did not start the car immediately.“Did you forget your wallet?” Confused, Jessica asked the man while looking at him.Her thinking was indee
In fact, Jessica had no plans at all to get into her ex-husband's car. Even her ex-husband's appearance at the hospital was not her plan at all, but in the end, she could only surrender and agree to get into the vehicle.Her mother first sat in the second row of seats with the twins, and she had no choice but to take the passenger seat next to the driver's seat. On the way to her mother's house, Noah, her mother, and the twins continued to chat happily about everything, but Jessica remained silent. None of those people seemed to notice her, and that was why she was lost in thought during the journey.She was actually drowned by the fact that she was passing through a route that she used to travel in the past. She didn't know her mother's new address, but she was sure that every street the car took was familiar to her eyes. It brought a feeling of nostalgia that both warmed and chilled her heart.At first, she ignored the familiarity she felt, assuming that