Cade was shaken by Jesse’s direct request for the land. He had worked hard to secure it and wasn’t expecting this sudden proposal.
“Jesse, this is quite sudden,” Cade couldn’t even maintain his smile.
“It’s okay, Mr. Malone can consider it carefully. I’m just presenting my idea.”
Cade shook his head with regret, “Well, if that’s the case then there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ll have to think of another way to handle this batch of goods.”
“Okay, if Mr. Malone needs anything he can find me anytime,” Jesse said as he checked the time and realized it was getting late.
Cade planned on inviting Nydia along for dinner so they headed to a Japanese restaurant. During their meal they inevitably talked about Barclay.
“Uncle Malone, you know who my sister’s baby belongs to right?” Nydia asked.
Cade looked a bit uneasy but nodded anyway.
“That’s good because she wants us to help deal with Barclay and we agreed. What do you think now?”
“You want to deal with Barclay? What did he do?” Cade asked curiously.
“He wanted to use my sister as leverage against Jasper and even hit her so…” Nydia trailed off before asking what they should do next.
Jesse smirked slightly before saying “We haven’t figured out how yet but dealing with one Barclay won’t be difficult at all. If you want though Uncle Malone you could take care of him yourself.”
“I’ll leave it up to you young folks since your generation has more experience in these matters than me,” Cade replied honestly while admitting that lately he had been too busy juggling company affairs alone without any extra help or support from others around him
“The project Jasper came in last time for discussion – are we going through with that?” Cade asked changing the subject slightly
“We’re still discussing.” Cade didn’t reveal too much information but hinted at leaning towards Jasper instead of Barclay since working together would mean mutual benefits between both families given their similar strengths; however partnering up with Ruiz family would be on an entirely different level altogether which was something else entirely
“Uncle Malone, we can’t just let what happened slide regarding my sister being abused by Barclay like that! You might be busy but please try doing something about it otherwise she’ll end up resentful when marrying into Ruiz family later on.” Nydia spoke passionately urging him not forget about her sister’s plight
Nydia’s words woke Cade up from his complacency as he realized how important taking action really was especially when someone close needed help; despite initially wanting no part in Jasper vs Barclays conflict fearing choosing sides wrongly might backfire later onBut now it seemed that he had to take a side, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to explain himself to the Ruiz family in the future.
After finishing their meal, Nydia and Jesse left.
When Cade got home, he went to see Willette. Her explanation was the same as Nydia’s, which put him at ease.
“It seems like Nydia is on our side, but I don’t know what Jesse is up to.” He thought about Jesse’s request for that piece of land and knew he couldn’t give it to him.
“Jesse is a businessman. He must have some benefit in mind before doing anything. It makes sense for him to ask Jasper for help with Acoustic Pictures.”
“Dad, Jesse actually makes us feel more at ease. Otherwise we’d always be wondering if he has something bad planned.”
“You’re right.”
Cade sighed heavily as he looked at Willette and said earnestly, “After we settle things with Barclay, you should focus on living well with Jasper. Don’t cause any more trouble. Your dad can’t handle all this stress at his age.”
Willette hung her head in shame and said,”I understand Dad. It’s my fault. I won’t do it again.”
“In the future you need to stand firm within the Ruiz family and take control of their assets – that’s what you need to do.”
At the mention of Ruiz family assets, Willette suddenly lit up like she had been given new life.
“Oh by the way,” Cade added,”Nydia resigned from her job.”
“What? Resigned? Why?” Willette asked incredulously.
“She said she was tired and wanted some time off.”
Willette immediately showed anger mixed with disdain,”She just wants Jesse to support her financially! Going out into work was just an experience for her! And now she feels tired so she goes back home?! She even talked about divorcing Jesse before but there hasn’t been any movement!”
“Jesse seems very close with her though; I didn’t get any sense they were going through a divorce.” Cade recalled how intimate they were together; there wasn’t even a hint of them wanting a divorce – instead they seemed affectionate towards each other all around.
“Did Nydia lie?” Willette became very annoyed.
“Not necessarily,” Cade replied,”Jesse’s personality changes frequently; maybe before he wanted a divorce from Nydia but then changed his mind later on.”
For Cade’s part though , he still believed in Nydia because after all these years growing up together , he knew exactly who she was . He felt that whatever storm came along, Nydia would not falter- it must be something wrong with Jesse instead . Willette thought for a moment, “Okay, let’s see how they handle the Barclay situation. If they can solve it, then we can trust them and work together in the future.”
“Okay,” Cade thought about how he could relieve some of his stress by giving Jasper the batch of goods he had been holding onto.
Meanwhile, Jasper was already looking for someone to take down Acoustic Pictures.
“Big brother, you have to help me take care of Acoustic Pictures.”
“Acoustic Pictures is being targeted by everyone right now. We don’t need to get involved.”
“Big brother, it’s obvious that there are people behind Acoustic Pictures. If we don’t act, they won’t fall.”
“Don’t we have Jesse? What are you worried about?”
Jasper gritted his teeth and said, “They have information on me and Willette. If you don’t do something about it, the consequences will be severe. They have no limits; who knows what they’ll write!”
“You little troublemaker! Are you not causing enough chaos?” Sun Tao immediately got angry.
He scolded Jasper harshly but still sent someone to deal with Acoustic Pictures.
Jasper was happy despite getting scolded because he knew that as long as his big brother intervened, Acoustic Pictures would be done within a week.
He called Jesse: “Mr. Pascall, my big brother has gone to deal with Acoustic Pictures. Can you hurry up on your end too?”
“Are you rushing me?”
“No no no! I’m just reminding you.”
“Mm-hmm,” Jesse didn’t bother talking anymore and hung up directly after their conversation ended.
After taking a shower without putting on pants afterwards–just wearing briefs–Jesse went into Nydia’s dressing room instead of putting on clothes in his own room like Nydia did after her shower.
Nydia also came into her dressing room after taking a shower so she could pick out what she would wear tomorrow when she saw almost naked Jesse which startled her.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m borrowing your full-length mirror.”
“I thought maybe you wanted to wear my clothes.”
“…”
Jesse didn’t have a full-length mirror in his own dressing room because at that time he really disliked looking at himself in mirrors but now he wanted to check out his legs so he came into Nydia’s dressing room.
Nydia tried not look around too much but only looked at his legs instead. Although she often looked at his legs, it was different to look at them up close. They were noticeably thicker now, with more scars than a normal person’s legs. They were also slightly thinner, but she knew that with proper care and attention, they would be just as thick as any other man’s within six months.
She instinctively crouched down to feel the muscles and meridians in his legs.
When she realized what she was doing, she felt extremely embarrassed. After all, he was only wearing boxer shorts right now.
She couldn’t look up!