#THE_SACRIFICE
EPISODE 7
©Sir Zach
Jake was unhappy about Hillary’s return. He kept pondering on what her motive for returning might be. This was all his father’s fault. He didn’t just die but he left alot of problems behind for him to fix, and Hillary was one of those problems.
He got himself re-ady and left for work. Today will be his first day to officially resume his office as the new CEO. He had alot of things planned out for the day, from board meetings to project reviews and also the initiation of his new security software project. He had to come up with a flawless plan to convince the board of directors to go with his idea, since this was a little bit off the chart.
Jake had only arrived the company, but was yet to alight his car when he received a call from his grandfather’s butler, ma-king him frown. Hasn’t he just left the house, why was he calling now?
“Sir, you have to hurry back. Something just happened to your grandfather” The butler hurriedly said over the phone, ma-king Jake’s heart skip a beat.
“What?” Jake asked in shock and surprise. What could have happened in 20 minutes?
“Have you called the ambulance?” Jake asked as he signalled the driver to turn the car around. He didn’t nee-d a psychic to tell him what the butler had meant.
“Yes. He’s being taken to the Hospital” The butler replied in a worried tone.
“What happened to him?” Jake had seen him taking his pills and checking his blood pressure this morning, so what could have happened in such a little time? He had given specific orders to the staff not to trigger his grandfather into having a rel@pse, so what the fv¢k had happened now!? This was the reason why his grandfather had resigned.
“It was Madam Hillary. She had come over and they both had a fight just after you left” He explained while Jake clenched his hand into a fist.
Hillary was really asking for it. Why has she decided to plaque the Beau family with her pres£nce. Wasn’t she a widow with a hand full of shares alre-ady, then what was her fv¢king problem?
He was going to ‘take care’ of her. Enough of his grandfather keeping him at bay in all this.
Jake jumped out of the car as soon as he arrived the hospital. He hoped nothing serious happened to his grandfather because he’d kill that hateful stepmother of his. Hurting his grandfather or his brother was his bo-ttomline and Hillary just dared him.
He hurried to the emergency room in long strides where he saw his grandfather lying still on the be-d with a drip line. His heart ached at the sight of his parchedl-ips and pale face. He wasn’t used to seeing his grandfather like this. He took a seat by the be-d as he carefully observed his face and held his free hand in his.
He turned when he felt someone coming behind him. He sighed when he saw it just the doctor. For a moment there, he wished it had been Hillary, he’d love to throw her down a flight of stairs.
“He’s stable” The doctor as-sured him when he saw Jake’s worried look. “He had an heart attack but thankfully he wasn’t too serious. I advice he should be kept away from things that may stress him out. Having congestive heart failure and angina in one heart is a big mix. So he has to be careful. Make sure he doesn’t get worked up, both physically and emotionally” The doctor adviced as Jake simply nodded.
Jake watched as they wheeled his grandfather to a pri-vate room. It was only then he remembered he had to inform his brother, Blake, about this and also ask his secretary to reschedule his meetings for the day.
Jake frowned when he couldn’t find his phone. He sighed when he realized that it might be in the car and he walked out to the car to go get it, since his driver was still waiting in the car.
He had only taken a few steps back into the lobby of the hospital when a slender b©dy bu-mped into him. He was startled and his phone almost sli-pped off his hands, but he had good reflex as he gr!pp£dhis phone ti-ghtly and also held her steady when she staggered back.
Jake was taken aback when he raised his gaze and saw the familiar dainty figure, that he was yet to take out of his mind….the same lady he had spent a night with. He had never expected to see her again, but even if he did, he didn’t expect it to be so soon. She looked extremely sad and distressed.
He saw herl-ips quiver as she apologized, “I’m sorry” with her head lowered before sprinting out of the hospital.
His eyes were fixed on her as she hurried out of sight. Something about her didn’t feel right. Nothing about this didn’t feel right. He couldn’t help but follow behind. And why? He didn’t know.
Jake watched as Jade hopped into a cab. He had almost sma-cked himself for impulsively following her, but he suddenly notice the cab st©pped and Jade stepped out.
Something in his heart gr!pp£dhim ti-ghtly when he saw her pounding on her che-st ha-rd ly like she was suffocating.
Earlier when she had bu-mped into him, he had noticed her red starked eyes and quaveringl-ips.
He felt a pang in his heart and the de-sire to hvg and console. He didn’t know why she was hurting so badly and he could feel his heart hurt too.
He watched all her reactions from where he stood at the entrance of the hospital.
Jake was tem-pted to go pu-ll her to shelter when it started raining and to his surprise she suddenly took to her heels. He frowned when she started running like her life depended on it. Why is she running un-der the rain? Whatever was bothering her couldn’t be that serious that she’d neglect her health right?
Jake didn’t like this at all. Why was he so bothered about this woman, when he had spent several nights with other women. He didn’t know why he kept feeling this way towards her, and these feelings were pissing him off but he couldn’t help it.
He contemplated going back to his grandfather when he suddenly found himself walking towards the car.
“Get down” He said to his driver before hopping into the driver’s seat as he drove in Jade’s direction and slowly followed her behind. His frown de-epened when she finally crouched down by a lonely and isolated path before screaming her lungs out as tears glided down her face.
Jake stared sadly at Jade as she cried her heart out. Several thoughts ran throu-gh his mind as he stared at her from his car.
‘Did she lose a loved one? Had she sle-pt with him because she nee-ded money to save a family member? He felt guilty at the thought of that.
He remembered she had received a call last night before requesting for the money. Could she had given up her innocence to him because she had no other way out? If that was the case, then he’d hate himself for being ins-en-sitive.
Jake had always been s-en-sitive and reciprocative towards people and their feelings, but had he behaved differently last night. He hissed frustratedly at all his thoughts. He looked at the back seat and found an umbrella, which he picked up before stepping out of his car. He couldn’t sit and watch her cry helplessly un-der the rain.
*********
Jade couldn’t control her emotions as she continued to cry. Cale had broken her heart so bad that it felt she had died a thousand times over.
What hurt her the most was not the years she had slaved away in trying to be a befitting girlfriend to him, but the fact that he had made her do favours for his ‘supposed cousin’ who he had been planning to get married to.
Maybe it would have hurt less if he had just broken up with her…. or maybe not.
The memories of what happened at the hospital kept haunting her. She remembered her mother’s words to her this morning ‘I hope he’s worth it’. Tears streamed down her cheeks when she thought about how she had sold herself to a stranger just to save that ungrateful bastard. The pain was too ha-rd to bear.
Jade continued to sob when suddenly she observed she could no longer feel the drops of rain on her head anymore. She slowly raised her head up and saw an umbrella over her head. She lowered her head and turned to see who it was.
She was taken aback when she saw Jake. Her heart missed a beat at the sight of him. She had not expected him to be here. As a matter of factly he was the last person she had expected or wanted to see.
Wasn’t this a reminder of her shameful act, her betrayal? Why was the heaven punishing her in such a way? Beads of tears fell down as she looked up at Jake silently. She wish she could just disappear.
Jake’s heart clenched ti-ghtly as her tears sli-pped down. He noticed her chappedl-ips and the goosebu-mps on her arm, which was due to the weather. ‘Why is she wearing so little?’ Jake frowned slightly before dra-pping his suit jacket over her.
Jade looked at his jacket over her shoulders and she felt like taking it off her and giving it back to him, but the looks from Jake’s eyes kept her still.
Jake kept looking at her, she looked too broken and crushed. Her gaze was empty, more like lifeless. He wanted to comfort her and tell her everything would be fine but he also knew he couldn’t. He really wanted to say something to her but he was short of words. He pondered why he was always acting out of character when she was around him. He hated this so much. He hated emotions that were not within his control. He didn’t know if what he felt was guilt or pity. But he shouldn’t be feeling guilty right?
He sighed in relief when he saw a taxi approaching and he flagged it down before looking at Jade who was staring intensely at him. He returned her gaze when he thought she had something to say, but she kept looking at him with an unre-adable expression. Jade wondered why this man…this stranger was the one showing her a bit of kindness, when the man she had loved had shattered her heart with finesse.
He sighed inwardly before pu-lling her into the taxi, “Take her to wherever she’s going” He said to the taxi driver before paying him off.
Jake looked at Jade who sat quietly in a daze in the taxi before signaling the driver to drive off.
He kept staring at the taxi till it disappeared out of sight, and he felt his emotion fli-cker. He hated this effect she had on him. But what he hated most was her dead eyes which spoke nothing but hurt.
He hopes she gets past whatever her problem has.
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 8