#THE_SACRIFICE
EPISODE 74
©Sir Zach
It’s been days since Jade last saw Jake. Since the day he dropped her off at Amy’s place, she hasn’t seen him or gotten a call from him. Not that he usually called, but it was unlike him not have shown his face or pla-yed one of his antics.
Don’t get her wrong, she was not missing the lies.
Jade didn’t know why, but she was beginning to feel uncomfortable. It was more like her eyes were longing to see his face or rather she was missing those funny moments with him.
Jade sat on her desk staring at the deskt©p in front of her, but her mind was anywhere else but there. She didn’t know if she should call him. Maybe she should, of maybe she shouldn’t….she didn’t know.
She scratched on her head as she kept trying to come with a decision. But if she calls him what would she say? That she missed him (like hell she didn’t)…or ask why she hasn’t seen him in days.
What if he’s busy? Jade you’ve got to take a chill pill. Don’t forget he’s a CEO of a mutinational conglomerate. He might just be busy’ She tried convincing herself with the ten thousand reasons why she couldn’t call him.
But what if something happened to him? He might be sick you know? Stress from work and all.
What kind of friend would she be if she couldn’t call to check up on her friends. This past few days she has been spending a lot of time with Amy and Lair since the search for Michael began, and that has completely occu-pied her mind till she suddenly remembered she also had another friend Jake Beau. And she couldn’t help the feeling of wanting to call him.
Jade sighed as she picked up her phone and scrollled throu-gh her contact list to find Jake’s number. She gave it a long ha-rd stare before finally dialling his number.
With every ring, she felt her thump and her hand sweat, so much that she was almost tem-pted to end the call before he could answer it.
Her heart continued to increase in pace when she thought about what to say when he asks her why she had called.
Just as she was about picking the call, she heard his voice which left her startled.
“Hello” c@m£ Jake’s voice from over the phone.
“H..hi” Jade stutterred the moment she heard his de-ep and rich voice. It suddenly made her remember his face when he talked. There was a way his mouth moved when he spoke.
“I’m surprised you called” Jake said with a happy smile on his face. He was stunned when he saw it was Jade calling. He was having a meeting in his office when his phone started ringing. He had been nonchalant towards looking at his phone, but his eyes suddenly caught the name of the caller and he instantly dismissed the meeting to be adjourned for later. A smile broke on his face when he saw it was Jade calling him.
“I..i”
“You were just calling to check up on me right?” Jake said wriggling his brows pla-yfully, as his cheek flu-shed the moment he said that. It would be nice if Jade did that. He couldn’t help the way he was feeling just by hearing Jade’s voice.
“I’m sorry if I disturbe-d you. You should go back to…”
“What? Who said you’re disturbing me, if anything, I’m grateful for this lovely distraction” He said hurriedly, ma-king Jade’sl-ips twitch. She could hear the excitement in his voice.
“Okay. So how’s work?” Jade asked.
“Work? Work is fine. Nothing special going on, just the same old thing. What about you?” Jake said as he lolled back in his seat. If only that was true. Work has been tough lately, because this past few days he had so many angry shareholders and board members to pacify. He couldn’t tell what was going on, but the work load kept increasing.
“Work is good too” Jade replied.
“So tell me why you called? You missed hanging out with me didn’t you?” Jake tea-sed her, as he smiled to himself.
“Uhh?” She didn’t know how to respond to that. Was she missing him? Hell no!
Even if she did, would she be bold enough to tell him that she did miss him? Miss his jokes, his talks, the way he does things or the way he smiled that made him look more beautiful than the most girls out there?
Jade Peterson! She called in her head. She has been seeing alot of Jake’s beauty recently, most especially when they hanged out.
‘Whats wrong with you?” She chided herself, closing her eyes due to the embarras-sment she was feeling due to her own thoughts.
“I know I’m a right company to have. So I’m sure you miss going out with me. Want to pl@ya game tonight? I’m re-ady to get your as-s whooped”
Jade closed her eyes ti-ghtly. How did she not know that he was this conceited. Jade went silent and didn’t reply.
“What you’re running away, because you know I’m going to beat you and get my revenge? Someone is scared” Jake tea-sed her more.
“I’m not scared. I can beat you again and even ten times more” Jade declared f0rç£fully, ma-king Jake’sl-ips curl up.
“Someone is being c0cky”He scoffed.
“I’m not being c0cky, it’s just a fact and you know it” Jade replied confidently.
“I alright Jadey, no nee-d to bite my ears off, you’ve got yourself a game tonight.” Jake announced. God, how he has missed her. He has been refraining himself from calling her, he didn’t want to impose too much on her, coupled with the fact that he has been busy, but it seems even the heavens knew he missed her, and they had prompted her to call him first.
“Alright” There was the sort of giddiness that was about bubbling inside of Jade. She was truly looking forward towards meeting Jake tonight. She didn’t know if it was because of the game which she so wanted to beat him at, or if it was because it has been a while since she last saw him.
“So you’re sure you didn’t miss your friend because I’m sure I missed mine” Jake tea-sed one more time.
“As the CEO of a multinational company, you have a lot of time on your hand”
“Says the busy woman who called me at work. Tch, what a friend.”
“That’s why I’m hanging up. It was nice talking to you” Jade said.
“See you tonight Jade” Jake replied with a happy smile etched on his face.
Now all he wanted was the day to end fast.
~~~~
*XENOX CONFERENCE ROOM*
Different executives were seated around the hvge conference table with Cale standing at the front of the room where he was pres£nting a pitch for the new game idea that has been developed by his team.
The faces of the people sitted around the table were full of frowns and dissappointment. It was obvious Cale had not met up to their expectations. Distant whispers could be heard among the executives seated at the table, confusion clearly written on their face on how poor Cale performed during the pres£ntation.
It was so unlike the Cale Stuart the company had come to know as a brilliant and efficient man.
“Mr Stuart, I guess we are not gathered here just to simply hear the trash you had just soiled our ears with in the last twenty minutes. It’s that what you call a pres£ntation” The vice president, Mrs Tracy Lin, snapped. A de-ep scowl was plastered on her face, as she looked at Cale with both shock and surprise.
“Even an high school student would do so much better when collating data for a science project. An intern would do way better than what you just did” She said seethingly. The last thing she expected from any of her staffs was incompetence and a total waste of her time.
Time was ess£ntial to her, so she didn’t expect anyone to waste it and most especially not a manager in the company.
“I’m sorry ma” Cale apologized, lowering his head down in embarras-sment.
“Sorry?” She scoffed, “I bet you are” She added.
She turned her head to the side to listen to what one of the executives was whispering to her.
She sighed and turned back to Cale, “You have until Friday to get your information right and do this again. I hope by then you’ll give us a good use of our time and not make us sit throu-gh another 20 minutes of earpiercing trash all in the name of a pres£ntation. You’ve been good at your work, so I’ll let this slide and expect nothing but perfection by friday” She said to Cale, her gaze piercing and menancing, s£nding shivers down Cale’s spin.
“Thank you ma” Cale said with a slight bow.
That was Tracy Lin for you, she was a typical iron lady that commanded great authority. She’d make even the coldest of men lose their whim with her gaze and words. She was never going to tolerate incompetent and lazy staffs in the company. Giving Cale another chance was her being at her meekest level.
She romaed her eyes around the room, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll have to do this again by Friday. Have a nice day” She said before walking out of the room, but not before giving Cale another deadpan look, ma-king him instinctively lower his head in trepidation.
He lowered his head in embarras-sment as every other executive members walked out of the room after the vice president. All except one.
“Tsk, Tsk poor boy” Stephanie said as she walked closer to Cale. His face cringed when he heard her voice. He has been avoiding her gaze all throu-gh the pres£ntation. As a matter of fact he has been avoiding since that h0t moment in his car.
“It seems you’re about to hit rock bottom” She said smiling mockingly. She placed her hand on his che-st and fiddled with his bu-tton. “I guess this is the end of your glorious shine. How sad!” She shook her head in mock pity.
“It would have been fun if Jade stepped in to save you, and then I’d enjoy taking you from her again. But it seems you can’t even pique her interest at this rate. What a shame.”
Cale clenched his teeth ti-ghtly, his hands balled into a fist. He was almost at the verge of gripping Stephanie by the n£¢k but he bottled his anger, he was still at work, he wouldn’t want to get in too more trouble because of her. And he had better things to do than waste his time on someone like Stephanie.
“I guess the shameless one here is you. You should stay away from me and Jade and just so you know, you’re way beneath my Jade. You’re just a piece of meat with a hole I used in satisfying my urge. Jade may be mad at me for now, but I can as-sure you she’ll forgive me and be mine again. MINE” He said emphasizing on the words ‘My Jade’ and ‘Mine’.
He picked up his stuffs and pushed past Stephanie, who was face red with anger. The vein on her head was about to bur-st with anger. Cale has just said the forbidden word.
‘How dare he compare her to Jade? Jade is the one beneath her and she’ll continue to prove it to her, to everyone of them. She would never be un-der in Jade’s shadow. NEVER!!’
Jade was anxiously waiting for the close of work. She hurried out of the company with a nervous smile on her face as soon as she closed for the day. She paused when she heard someone call her name out loudly.
Jade cringed at the sound of her name from that mouth. ‘What the hell was wrong with this guy?’ Jade screamed again. Twice in one day? What did she do to deserve this?
“Jade” Cale called out softly when he approached her.
“What?” She spoke with cold eyes.
“Are you going home? I can take you” Cale offered but Jade only looked at him with disbelief and scorn. ‘This as-s-hole now has a car, and just a two months ago she had given herself away to save him…Animal’
“Thanks but no thanks” Jade said with stink eyes, as she tried to walk away, but a hand held her firm.
“Jade plea-se”
“Let go of me!” Jade warned as she tried pu-lling her hands away from him, but his grip over her hand was too strong.
“Jade I just want to talk, plea-se hear me out and help me” Cale pleaded with desperate eyes, not letting go off her hand. He knew she would dash off the moment he let go.
“Help you with what? Work? Did you ever go to school? Cale you’re just being lazy in helping yourself. You don’t want to do anything for yourself and you like depending on people, you want others to do everything for you while you take the glory, but that’s a awful character. Go help yourself. Now let go” Jade spoke in anger as she yanked her hand away, but the next second Cale gr!pp£dher hand again.
“Cale!” Jade yelled, fear slowly creeping in.
“Let go of her hand” A menancing voice suddenly c@m£ from behind them.
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 75