During the ride back home from Duckstein’s villa, Jane was sulking in the car. Patrick couldn’t help but glance at her a few times and asked with concern, “What’s wrong? You’ve been acting strange since Michelle came back. Is something bothering you?”
“Let’s talk about it later,” Jane shook her head. She knew she shouldn’t be throwing a fit at this moment, even though she felt uneasy inside.
After they arrived home, Jane and Patrick took off their jackets and hung them on the coat rack. Jane sat down on the couch and took a sip of water.
Patrick walked over to her and put his arm around her shoulder with a smile. “Come on now, you can tell me what’s bothering you.”
“I think…” Jane hesitated for a moment before putting down her glass of water and looking into Patrick’s eyes. “I think Michelle likes you.”
“Huh?”
Patrick made an uncertain sound unconsciously because he didn’t understand why Jane suddenly said that or notice anything odd about Michelle…
Or maybe he just never paid attention to Michelle in that way.
“Where did you get that idea?”
Jane was taken aback by his response but remembered clearly how Michelle looked at him earlier; women always had sharp intuition.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice how she looked when I introduced you as my fiancé? Be honest with me, do you like her?”
Jane was usually calm around Patrick but rarely showed this side of herself, vulnerable like any other woman would be sometimes. After being silent for a while, Patrick chuckled softly with tenderness shining in his eyes.
“What are you thinking?” He asked gently before playfully nipping at the tip of Jane’s nose.
“I’ve always been watching out for your well-being; I don’t have time to look elsewhere.” He continued reassuringly while holding onto one of her hands tightly as if afraid she might slip away from him somehow.
“Besides,” he added after seeing how much it meant to reassure his partner completely, “you know today is actually our first time meeting each other properly right? We only exchanged some words; nothing more.”
Jane freed herself from Patrick’s embrace then sat up straighter while giving him another glance, appearing pouty yet contented all at once as if savoring honey-like sweetness within herself.
“Fine then,” she relented finally, “I’ll trust your word for now… But let me warn ya! We still have some days left here in France so don’t go sneaking off behind my back trying to see or meet up with anyone else, okay?”
Patrick smiled and shook his head as he spoke, “I’m innocent. You’re the only one in my heart. I don’t even remember what Michelle looks like anymore. I promise I won’t have any contact with her, okay?”
Jane finally laughed at his words and they spent the day together.
The next morning at 8am, Jane was up and ready to go out. Patrick was surprised to see her in the living room when he walked out of their bedroom.
“Why are you up so early? Don’t you want to sleep a little longer?”
“No,” Jane shook her head and locked her phone screen before shrugging at Patrick. “I realized it’s been a while since I visited the design studio that Nana and I opened together. I emailed Nana’s assistant to look after it for me but haven’t checked on it lately. They have professional designs and materials there, so maybe there’s something that needs my touch-ups.”
Patrick nodded.
When Jane arrived at Leo Studio, she felt nostalgic about how Nana named it after her name in the design industry before leaving for Guavo.
“I wonder if anything has changed,” she thought as she walked inside with light footsteps.
She politely knocked on the door of the main office where Camille, a French girl with freckles who had been managing things temporarily since Nana left was working hard on a drawing project.
Camille turned around upon hearing someone knocking; when she saw that it was Jane standing outside their door instead of an unexpected visitor or client, she immediately broke into a smile full of joyous surprise before running over to give Jane an enthusiastic hug.
“Jane! You’re finally back! Oh how much we’ve missed you!”
Camille had cute little freckles dotting across her face which made her eyes crinkle up like crescent moons whenever she smiled, very endearing indeed.
Jane also smiled happily as they hugged each other tightly while patting each other’s backs gently.
“I’m back now aren’t I? Camille… it’s been too long! You’re still acting like such a kid sometimes; It worries me if you can handle everything here properly.”
Camille was Nana’s assistant who had taken over management responsibilities temporarily until Nana returned from Guavo; She had always shown great interest in designing work ever since then and made some progress too along those lines..
Upon hearing Jane’s words, Camille furrowed her brows and looked displeased. “What are you talking about? Ever since you and Nana left, I’ve been managing this design studio. I even hired two great designers recently! And when did you come back? Are you not leaving again this time?”
Camille tended to talk nonstop like a little sparrow when she was happy. Jane knew her well and liked her a lot, so she just smiled helplessly without saying much.
She followed Camille inside and sat on the chair next to her desk. “I came back this time to participate in a fashion design competition that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. After the competition is over in a few days, I’ll be heading back. You still have to work hard here.”
“Ahh…” Camille’s expression immediately turned gloomy upon hearing this news as she rested her chin on her hand with an unhappy look on her face. “Why do you have to leave so soon? I thought you were coming back to continue being the backbone of our design studio after leaving with Nana. Sunny and everyone else really missed you.”
“I miss all of you too… Oh, but speaking of which, Camille, you’re really different from before,” Jane said as she looked at Camille with admiration.
Camille laughed and pretended to be serious as she patted herself on the chest. “That’s because… Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
However, just as they were talking about their former colleagues who used to work together in the design studio before they left for different reasons, some of them started returning one by one from outside!
Upon seeing Jane there unexpectedly though brought surprise expressions across their faces; they all crowded around excitedly asking how she was doing now or where exactly had been living lately or when would return again.
Jane patiently answered all the previous questions, and when Camille finally found a chance to speak, she suddenly remembered Jane mentioning a design competition. She asked, “By the way, didn’t you say you came back to participate in a design competition? Have you finished preparing your design sketches and clothes?”