#THE_SACRIFICE
EPISODE 92
©Sir Zach
Jade had a gleam look as she walked into the sitting room. Her two eager family members were both looking at her as she beelined herself to the dinning table.
“Good morning family” Jade greeted as she took her seat at the table. She looked at the table and it was a simple breakfast of toasted bre-ad, omelette and h0t choco.
She put some bre-ad and eggs on her plate. The sight of the eggs reminded her of Jake’s egg, and she couldn’t help but smile broadly.
“Okay that’s it Jade, what is wrong? Why all the giddiness?” Grace couldn’t stay quiet anymore. Jade has been behaving funny since last night. She had returned home smiling and hopping, and she had heard her giggling to herself or maybe with someone over the phone, she isn’t sure.
“Yeah sister, what’s wrong? You’re acting strange like you know, koko” Kelvin said gesturing with hand that she was behaving like she has gone mental.
Jade looked at the both of them, they were both shooting her some strange looks.
“What I’m fine. I’m just…” Her words trailed off like she was thinking about the right word to use. “Happy” She finally said as she took a bite of the eggs.
It’s definitely not as great as Jake’s egg, but she couldn’t tell her mother that.
“Happy about what?” Grace asked. It wasn’t wrong to see her daughter happy, of course she wanted her children to be happy, they were her bundle of joy, but Jade was acting out of it. Smiling to herself for no just cause, it felt….weird.
“Happy about life” She shrugged as she stuffed her mouth with a spoon full of egg.
Grace maintained her gaze on her, she could tell that Jade wasn’t telling her something…..something was going on in daughter’s life and she knows nothing about it. She watched as Jade’s face lit up when her phone chimed. She continued to look at her as she typed away on her phone, obviously replying to a text.
“You’re d@t!ngsomeone aren’t you?” Grace surprisingly asked, her gaze was intense on Jade.
Jade turned to look at her, and with herl-ips pursed and a smile on her face she bobbe-d her head up and down.
“Aha i knew it” Kelvin yelped cl@pping his hands together.
“Sist is that rich dude right?” Kelvin asked, while Jade turned to him and replied with a single nod.
“But his name is not rich dude, his name his Jake” She corrected him.
“Way to go sist” Kelvin raised his hand up and gave Jade a high five.
“That’s a big upgrade from sleazy Cale. I knew you were gonna make this family proud” He praised, nodding his head with a smile planted on his face, while Grace glared at him.
“What?” He shrugged innocently when he observed his mother’s gaze on him., He avoided her gaze and shrunk back in his seat.
Jade looked at Grace who was now staring at her.
“Are you sure this is what you want? Honey you know how cale betrayal affected you, are you sure you’re up for this?” She paused and leaned forward on the table, “Are you really sure?” She asked with concern.
Jade stood up from her seat and moved to seat closer to her mom. She lowered herself on the seat next to her mom.
“Mom I’m sure. I know I want to do this. I know what Cale did was terrible but mum, Jake isn’t Cale. I know he has his own flaws, but you taught me to never give up on anything simply because I got a bad break right. You’ve always said, ‘Jade like because, and love despite. Mom I love Jake. I love him despite all I’ve been throu-gh in the hands of Cale, despite his own flaws. I love him even more than I want to and even more than I ever did Cale. Mom he makes him happy, and I’m more than sure I want to do this” Jade said in an as-suring tone.
“But does he love you? Honey I’m not trying to interfer in you life but I just don’t want to see you hurt again” Grace said.
“Mum, Jake’s loves me and I want to believe he does even more than I love him…I don’t know. But I want to believe in the love I grown to have for him. You don’t have to be so worried, I know what I’m getting into”
Grace looked at her as she sighed de-eply. “Honey I don’t know, I’m just scared for you. I know I should be happy that you’ve chos£n to give your heart to someb©dy but….”
Jade reached for her hand and held it firmly.
“Mom plea-se, come on, don’t be like that. You don’t have to be worried” Jade said, ma-king Grace sigh again.
“Okay fine. Is not like you nee-d my permission anyway, you’ve alre-ady said yes to him, and you’re an adult, and as your mother I’m going to support you in want ever decision you make, as long as you’re happy” Grace said, she ru-bbe-d her hand on Jade’s hair and slowly ran it down her cheek, her eyes filled with motherly love.
“I’m happy mom, and Jake also make me happy” Jade was convinced in her heart that was a better man than Cale would ever be. In the few times they’ve spent together he has never given any reason to think otherwise, and for some unknown reason she was madly in love with him, even though he doesn’t know that yet.
Jade pu-ll-ed her mom in for a hvg, and Grace happily hvgged her back. She was happy for her daughter. Grace turned to Kevin who was staring at them and said, “Wanna join?”
“So you guys can mess up my hair?” He c0cked a brow at them. “Not a chance, I’ll pas-s” He said before returning his attention to his food, ma-king Jade and Grace chuckle.
“It’s okay, You can go eat now, you’ll be late for work” Grace said breaking from Jade’s hvg.
“Okay”
“And oh, I’ll be going out for a p@rty later, I’ll be back late” Jade informed Grace as she returned back to seat.
“Okay” Grace nodded.
“Sist are you going with your b©yfri£nd?” Kelvin asked, while Jade nodded.
“That means he will be coming over right?” Kevin asked, ma-king Jade look at him with suspicion.
“Yes why?”
“Nothing” He shrugged, but Jade didn’t believe him. This little br@t was always up to no good. She didn’t think it was nothing.
“Kelvin?” Jade called in a threatening tone.
“I said it’s nothing. I was just curious that’s all.” He shrugged.
“Well that better be the case, if you try something funny I’ll kill you” Jade warned with a mock frown.
“whatever”
….
Jade strolled into her office and for some reason the atmosphere seemed weird and stiff. Jade looked around and every one tend to have some sullen look on their face. She had noticed that everyone seems to be on edge even as she walked into the company.
“What’s going on?” Jade asked Sara in a quiet tone when she approached her desk.
“I don’t know exactly, but it seems like something it’s going on up there” Sara pointing up with her f!ngers, silently gesturing to the higher ups.
“Why do you think so?” Jade asked inquisitively.
“I don’t really know anything Jade. All I know is that the president is back and they’ve asked all dep@rtmental heads to produce….” Sara was still talking when a strange looking man walked to their desk.
“I Jade Peterson, you’ve been requested to come to the board room” The man said. Jade looked up at him and she felt a chill run throu-gh her spine. She was sure she had never seen this man before. And why was she been called to the board room? She had no business there, she didn’t have a good feeling about it.
“Okay” Jade nodded, as she immediately rose to her feet.
Sara who was equally surprised by the sudden summon pu-ll-ed on Jade’s sleeve, with a questioning look on her face, but Jade simply shrugged indicating she had no Idea what was going on.
Jade followed the man behind till they arrived the board room. She was surprised when she saw the person standing at the door…it was bit-ch Stephanie, who had a spooky smile on her face.
“Let’s see how you get out of this” She said to Jade’s hearing. Jade didn’t like the words she just said neither did she like the look on Stephanie’s face. What kind of trouble was she in? What had she done?
She slowly walked inside the board room and she could feel her heart race. She didn’t know why she was being summoned, but the moment she met with the grim look on the faces of the people sitted around the table, Jade suddenly felt the urge to pee. Her palms turned sweaty and she broke out in a cold sweat, even though the room temperature was really low right now.
Sitting across the table was the president which she could swear she has never seen before, the vice president- Mrs Tracy Lin, some intense looking men and women, and also Cale who was standing at the side of the room, with a terrified look on his face.
“Good morning Sir’, Good morning ma’ ” Jade greeted politely.
“Ms Jade I’m sure you’re not familiar with the faces sitted across this table, but that’s okay. We’ve only called you hear to answer a few questions” The president in a very calmly, but his tone was cold and scary.
“Okay sir” She replied. What kind of questions were they going to ask her? And why were they looking at her like that? Jade’s heart was thumping so ha-rd and she could feel her sternum hurt.
“Can you tell me who made all these designs and pres£ntations” The President asked strewning a bunch of do¢v-ments and files across the table. Jade slowly reached for them and picked them up. Her hands slowly quivered when she saw the contents of the do¢v-ments.
She was so dead!
Slowly she lifted her head up to look at the people sitting directly opposite her, before her gaze to move to Cale who was standing right there with his head lowered. She returned gaze to look at the people who were impatiently waiting for her reply.. Although her reaction had alre-ady given them the answer they both nee-ded.
“I’m sorry” Was all she could say. She didn’t know what else to say at the moment. She couldn’t lie, since she was sure they alre-ady had their answer before they called her. Lying would make things worse so she opted for the truth. She didn’t even know what this meant for her? Was she going to lose her job now?
Just when things were finally looking good for her, something like this happens now?
“I didn’t ask you to apologize Ms Peterson, I asked you a question. Who made those designs and everything written in those paper?” The president asked in a deadpan tone.
Jade lowered her head in fear and answered, “I did sir”
Seconds of silence followed right after her answer.
“Do you know what your actions means? I know this isn’t against the law, I mean people help people, there’s nothing wrong with that. But this….this is fraud, which you and Mr Stuart here carried out” He snapped.
“Do you know why people get promoted?” He asked Jade, but he continued without waiting for her answer.
“Because they deserve it. Because they’ve shown great prospects and have shown that they’re more than capable in handling the task that would be awarded to them. But you from your tiny internsh!pdesk, you deceived this company into promoting an incompetent man, not once but twice, depriving others from the opportunity which they truly deserved. What do you have to say to this?” The man asked lividly.
Jade lowered her head on embarras-sment. She didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t think of it this way at the time. She had only thought she was helping her man, but didn’t see as though she was depriving someone from getting what they truly deserved. Right now she felt like she had aided Cale in commiting a big crime, one she had committed out of cheer stupidity.
“I’m sorry sir” Jade’s eyes were slowly becoming red, but she wasn’t going to cry. She shouldn’t cry right now, because tears wasn’t going to get her out of this.
“I truly didn’t mean to deceive the company. I know I shouldn’t have done that, and I’m sorry for the deceit.. I didn’t know better. I’m sorry and I’ll take whatever punishment you deem fit”
Jade has never been this afraid in her entire life. All the peering eyes on her right now made her want to run short of breath. Her eyes glanced at Mrs Lin and she could see the disappointment in her eyes. Her gaze also met that of her former supervisor, Mr Alan, he shook his head slightly when their gaze met, she didn’t know what he meant by that. Jade felt a heavy pang in her che-st. She lowered her eyes, she was too ashamed to look at anyb©dy.
Her heart skipped beats when she caught sight of Mrs Lin whispering something in the Presidents ears. And so where the other staffs sitted across the table. They were all whispering to themselves, only God knows what.
Their silent delibr@tions was scaring the $h!t out of Jade. She stiffened when the president returned his gaze back to her. And as if on cue all the people sitted across the table kept quiet.
“Ms Peterson and Mr Stuart can you both wait outside” He said gesturing at the door.
Jade looked at the door behind and for some reason she felt like the moment she walked out that door, that was it for her. She was definitely going to lose her job, as much as the urge to kneel and plead for her to keep her job c@m£ pressing too ha-rd on her, she still nodded her head and walked out of the room.
She wouldn’t know what to do if she lost her job. How was she going to take care of her family? Jake was going to be disappointed in her right? Though he didn’t d@t£ because she had a job, well he was actually rich and he owned his own company, she still didn’t want to disappoint him by being a jobless girlfriend. Didn’t guys like independent women.
But most importantly she was going to be disappointed in herself.This was her dream job, this was the company she has always dreamt to work with. She had worked her as-s off just to get an internsh!poffer here. Even her dad would be disappointed in her if she lost this job.
Still standing outside the door with her ears pressed against it was Stephanie. She had almost fallen in when Jade opened the door.
She rolled her eyes and scoffed as soon as Jade walked out of the office, with Cale tailing behind her.
“Don’t get your hopes up you’re both going to get fired” She scoffed as she glared daggers at them especially at Jade. Jade ignored her and just leaned her back against the wall. She didn’t have the time to talk to meaningless people who couldn’t fix her situation right now.
“This was all your doing you bit-ch!” Cale cussed at Stephanie angrily. His hands were balled into fists and his eyes were red with so much anger, as he glared at her.
“Oh plea-se, I didn’t tell you both to fight at your workplace with your doors open. Maybe next time you want to have such heated argument, maybe you can keep your doors closed” She said as she eyed him. “But oh,I guess there will be no next time. Since you’re both getting sacked” She snarled.
She turned to Jade who was standing so quietly, not paying any attention to what they were both saying.
“And believe me Jade there’s more where this c@m£ from” She sneered. ‘Your new man will be the next thing I take from you’ She said in her mind.
Well what she said was p@rtially true. Yes she might have pla-yed a role in all this, but the president had mistakenly heard their exchange during his surprise return yesterday. So no one could say she was entirely at fault. She only added fuel to the alre-ady blazing fire, but that fire was supposed to consume just Jade, she had extra plans for Cale. He was just a pawn in her game after all.
Jade turned to look at her, but she didn’t hear a word she just said. Her mind was too preoccu-pied with the issue at hand. She wondered what decision they’d make inside. The wait was killing her.
Cale turned to look at Jade looking all pale and scared, he walked over and stood right in front of her.
“Jade it’s okay, I promise we’ll get throu-gh this. We just have to stick together. This is all her fault” He turned to glare at Stephanie, who was in turn glaring at them.
“She just want to see us down, don’t let her do that to us” He said in a calm and soothing manner.
Jade and lifted up her gaze to him, and let out an awkward round of laughter. ‘This guy is insane’ she cussed in her mind.
“This is all your fault. St©p pushing blames to people every time and just accept it that it’s all your fault. And there is no US” She snapped.
Cale stood surprised at her outbur-st. Why was she directing her anger to him?How was this his fault. Couldn’t she see that Stephanie was the one behind it all? If Stephanie hadn’t stepped in and ruined their relationsh!p, things wouldn’t have escalated like this. So how was he at fault?
“This isn’t my fault and you know that” He declared.
Jade looked at him and hissed, this guy was unrepentant and would never man up to own his mistakes. Damn her for d@t!ngsuch a man.
She walked past him and moved to the opposite side. She wasn’t interested in having any interaction with him.Today was supposed to be a good day for her, as a matter of fact the weekend was supposed to be a splendid one, so how was she going to smile or laugh if she lost her job?
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 93