Chapter four

Jasmin£

“You never loved me.”                                              “I hate you”                                                        “Loose girl.” He regarded me with disgust.

I turned and tossed but the voices wouldn't stop.

He glared at me.....he hated me....I clutched  his arms again and again but he pushed me away.

He thought I had betrayed him. He believed the scandal.

His words rang out again in my senses.

"Two faced two - timer and lying cheating whore....unworthy of love..." 

"Nooooooo" It came out a harsh whisper as I jerked up, startling myself out of my nightmare. 

"Nooo"  I muttered again to myself as I realized all of it had been a dream. My hand flew to my chest where I clutched with desperation as my heart hurt badly.

In the dark room, my nightmare seemed to be looming over me once again, sucking me once again into torture and pain from the past and the realization made me crack out a sob. 

After what felt like a long moment, I cast my eyes to the ceiling hoping to keep the tears at Bay, whispering to myself, "get it together...you got this...I got this...it's over now."

It took minutes for me to get it back together.

I sniffled and reached for the lamp switch, flipping it on. The warm orange light illuminated the room and I grabbed the water bottle, to quench my thirst.

I checked the time, it was still four am, early morning.

I sighed as I glanced around my room.

I don't remember how I got back in here.

All I remember was getting myself drunk.

Chloe must have dropped me off. 

I was still in my outfit of the day, except the shoe and accessories were gone. I found them placed on my dressing table, and my shoes arranged at a corner in my room.

I surely wasn't the one who did that.

I made a mental note to thank Chloe for this later.

I got out of bed and strolled to my tall window. 

Pulling the curtains aside,  the dimly lit city of skyscrapers came into view.

The morning sun was still rising, casting a warm glow over the landscape. It was eerily quiet except the gentle wisp of the wind which added a more calm serenity to the environs of my private property.

I sighed and just reveled in the view, hugging myself.

Sometimes it was really moments like this that helped calm my inner demons.

I let out a relieved breath.

I don't know why I had a dream about my past. It was a phase of my life I had worked so hard to keep away from the limelight. It was a closed chapter now and it's a story I had only told through music.

My gaze found my award, positioned on my award racks. It was the only award on the stand yet.

My first biggest achievement.

I couldn't help but smile. My hardwork and relentlessness had brought me this far.

I felt a stray tear trickiing down my eye and I wiped it off.

After having a bitter past, I had moved away from Belgium, my homeland, a place which held all the bitter memories, and stigma. I moved to the states  and instantly picked it up from there. I had never been one to give up when things got shaky, so I took the time to build myself over the years to become this strong independent woman, making history in music.

Now I was living my dream life, coupled with love from everyone around me and I can say I am very content with where I am today.

I was Jasmine now, a famous artist signed under a record label four years ago after my freestyle went viral, my music was going places, topping charts and Thomas, my producer, had never been prouder than me.

I always loved making music and I find it thrilling what my hobby has brought me today. 

I had achieved a lot for both myself and Rebel records,my voice was bagging cash for the label and myself , granting me more fame and achievements, it had granted me an honorary citizenship in the states and many more wins and I was still winning more.

My award tonight was my first step into claiming greater milestones.

Talking about my awards,an unwanted image resurfaced in my mind.

The image of him, the man who looked like my ex.

Quite an enthralling gentleman who had every fetching feature in place, except the actuality that he resembled my jerk of an ex big time.

My eyes landed on my awards sitting strong on the shelf I had built for my awards and I strolled towards it. I grasped the precious trophy for the night and petted it.

Ace Linton. They called him.

He was supposed to hand it to me tonight, but he didn't.

Said he was busy with work.

Work.

A snippet of our meeting conversation erupted in my head.

“Ace Linton, CEO and Overall president of Ace Jewellers.” 

He runs a jewelling business.

I stopped as a significant memory registered.

He said he runs a jewelling business.

I dropped my award to the table sharply as a stinging realization settled in.

Goosebumps erupted all over my skin and I developed a gut feeling in my belly.

My ex, Michael. He also once told me that…..

He told me…..

My mind went hazy as I tried to recall the past.

Suddenly my knees buckled as the memories connected in my head.

“No” I gave a slight unsure shake of my head and slowly sank to my feet, but the scary unwanted memory kept gathering in my mind.

“Oh my gosh” I sobbed and clamped down my hands on my lips as our conversation from seven years ago resurfaced.

$--------------------------------------$

SEVEN YEARS Earlier

He grasped my waist and pulled me onto the countertop in the kitchen, causing light giggles to escape me.

He leaned closer so our noses touched and stared deeply into my eyes. His eyes dropped to my boobs for a minute and back to my eyes. 

I knew what he wanted, and if we went down that path now, we might never stop,so I was quick to look for a distraction.

"So...." I began in a singsong voice, "you never told me what your father does for a living?" I shrugged off the question and circled my arms around his neck.

I knew His father was some hotshot billionaire abroad and this lavish home we were currently in was a testament to that, everyone at school knew that but no one really knew what he did for a living.

"Really?" He asked, slight surprise edged over his face.

"Yap" I popped a finger on his nose bridge playfully.

He gave me a crooked grin.

"He runs our family business...... we're jewelers...."

My eyes gleamed in excitement, "uhhhh...that must be fun"

"I guess..." He raised a shoulder, and grasped my jaw, planting an affectionate kiss.

"And you know what?" He added, tucking a loose hair strand behind my ears and leaned closer to my ear.

"One day, I'll take over from him, and…”

I COMPLETELY zoned out, unwilling to go further in the remembrance.

His words resoundeded in my head.

“He runs our family business…….”

“One day I'll take over from him”

He said he'll……

” noo” I gasped for air and held my hair back with my palms. I wiped my jaw frantically trying to get rid of the kiss he gave me all those years ago. My skin itches me as I remembered how many times I let him touch me.

I curled into myself.

Michael said he'll take over.

Ace Linton runs a jewelling business.

The same honey eyes.                              The same stitch braids.

I frantically shook my head and wiped stray tears I didn't know had been rolling down.

This must all be some weird coincidences.

I may be overthinking.

I needed answers. I wanted to do research.

Without thinking, I hastily got up and scrambled towards my laptop on the table.

I sank into the seat before it and wiped the relentless tears more.

Stop it Jasmine, this might all be some coincidence.

I hope so.

With shaky hands, I lifted the cover and powered on my laptop.

My heart thudded loudly in my chest, the whole process. My own breath picked up in speed every minute.

Tonight, I would be indulging in what I forbade myself from doing since the last seven years.

Stalking my ex. 

I just desperately needed some answers.

Needed to know where he was in life now, to make sure he really wasn't Ace.

I logged into my I*******m and finally summoned courage to type in the name that I dreaded.

Michnel.

I remember his social details. It was a combination of his names. Michael Chanel.

It used to be his gram account back then in school and we followed each other then before the scandal happened, and I deleted all my old socials.

I held my breath as I waited for answers to show up.

“There are no results for this search.”

I stared at the screen, too stunned.

I'm very sure that was his gram account, unless it was deleted.

I decided to check Mr. Linton's page.

I put the possible username in the search bar.

The results showed.

Ace Linton.                                                        Chief Chanel Linton.                                                Armani Linton.

All three were verified on the gram.

Father and sons.

I tapped on Ace Linton.

His profile showed up with over four hundred million followers. He was really popular. I don't know why I was just finding out about him now.

He followed no one on the gram.

I scrolled down his page and a dreary feeling settled again in the pit of my stomach as the resemblance kicked in. 

I spent minutes scrolling down his page. I don't know what exactly I was looking for but I know I saw more similarities of him to my ex as I viewed his photos.

Eventually, I scrolled down to his very first post.

It was four years ago.

A picture of his graduation from Princeton University.

He looked younger then, and looked so much like Michael in the photos.

My mind kept telling me they might be the same people but I shook it off.

I got off his page. There was really nothing that boldly spelled out he was the same person as Michael, on his page.

So I settled for googling about him instead.

I clicked on his biography.

Name :Ace Linton.

Born and bred in New York.                        I inhaled sharply.                                            His date of birth was the same with Michael's.  A coincidence, I hope.

Relationship status : He is currently in a public relationship with only daughter of American Senator, Noah Primer. Veronica primer is rumored to be pregnant for him.

I gulped and scrolled down.

Early life. I tapped on it and more information about him popped up.

I read about his birth parents and how popular his family was. 

My insides quivered and I held my breath as I tapped on his education details.

Attended high school in his grandfather's birth land,Belgium at  Brentwood high.

My breath hitched.

It can't be possible.

My head racked up in confusion.

Fear gnawed at my skin.

I ..

How?

I did not know any Ace Linton in school.

Willing to dig more I scrolled down a bit, I skipped his achievements tab and clicked on the heading that said Former names.

This might be the last clue I need to really put all the pieces together.

I read the information displayed.

“Ace Linton formerly known as Michael Chanel”

My heartbeat picked pace and a flush of adrenaline tingled through my whole body.

“Got his former names, Michael being his middle name and Chanel being his father's name. In the year, following his graduation from high school, he adopted his family's original historic last name, Linton and was awarded the name title, Ace in memory of his great-grandfather, Ace Linton, the founder of Ace Jewellers.”

“Today, he goes by the general name, Ace Michael Linton.”

I felt a chill in my nerves and and tears pooled at my eyelids and I clamped down my palms on my lips.

My instincts had been right all along. The tears cascaded down my cheeks profusely.

He had been here all along, doing fine and good, living his best life after he ruined me….

Ace Linton and Michael Channel was the same person.

He was my ex.