A day with feelings as bright as the shiny sun has never been more than enough for Jasper. He woke up with a light heart and a smile on his face. The past week has gone so well for him as never before. Cassandra finally left his house. Though, following court procedures, he had to fund the Hansworts a whooping sum of twenty million dollars as requested by Grey for agreeing to the divorce. Jasper wouldn’t give out so much money for a fickle reason, but his peace of mind and sanity were so much at stake and he wanted to sacrifice whatever it would take to regain it.
Jasmine didn’t feel a bit sad about the situation as she didn’t have much affinity for her mother. In fact, after Cassandra’s leave, she felt happier as she got herself a brother and an older sister. Jasper finally completed the adoption process for gaining custody of Katrina and Drake as their legal parent. They moved in with him, and he changed their schools. Katrina got admitted into high school and she tried working hard to achieve her dreams and attain a greater height in life, while Jasmine and Drake got enrolled in a new school. A new beginning for them all.
*
*
It was a blessed and graceful Monday and the whole family set out for their respective places of engagement. Since Jasper has three children to take care of, he employed a driver to ease his tasks. Moreover, Katrina was old enough to take care of the little ones. He would take them to school in the morning and the driver would pick them up during closing hours, giving Jasper the chance to face his business squarely with a free and concentrated mind.
“Hello, daddy,” Jasmine greeted, upon entering Jasper’s office. They’ve completed school activities for the day, and the driver brought them all to the company following Jasper’s order. Whenever they arrive, Jasper taught them to pay their respects first, then they head to Jasmine’s playground to spend the rest of the time, and they all retire home for the night.
“My little angels, how was your day?” he asked, raising his head from his laptop which he was busy with.
“It was fine, daddy,” little Drake squealed in form of a giggle and Jasmine hit him on the head. Unlike his elder sister, he became so free with Jasper and Jasmine that he began to act just like Jasmine.
“You don’t have to be so childish,” she warned.
“And you don’t have to be so petty. I’m only happy! Right, daddy?” Drake counters while Katrina and Jasper laughed at their bickers.
Jasper ordered lunch for them, and they retired to the playroom while Katrina stayed back. She encountered little problems in her assignment which she attempted at school and wanted Jasper to help her with it.
“What is it, dear?” he asked when she stood beside him and she placed her book in front of him as a response. She was still a girl of few words no matter how Jasper tried to make her talk most times. However, he concluded that it was her nature.
“I don’t understand this” she stood beside Jasper pointing to the question in her textbook. Jasper picked up a pen with a smile on his face. Time to show his intellect. After all, it’s been a while since he attempted questions like that. He began answering the questions for her and she unbelievably understood it. The telephone on his desk rang and he picked it up within seconds.
“Sir, check the news please.” It was his secretary who called.
“What’s going on? I’m busy at the moment”
“I don’t know if I should say this, but…” she stuttered, finding it difficult to say what she has in mind. Immediately, Jasper knew something has gone wrong with the way she spoke on phone.
Jasper dropped the receiver and picked up his phone from the far corner of his desk where he kept it earlier, to check the news. Again, he was on the top search list on every well-used search engine.
“CEO of the Callaghan Group Of Companies divorces wife for his bastard birthed out of wedlock.”
The headline was going viral with so much criticism formed against him and the company. He didn’t need a soothsayer to tell him that it was Cassandra’s handwork. She was trying to threaten him to reverse his decision, but he was far past her little tactics. Just then, Carl barged in with furrowed brows.
“What’s wrong, buddy?” Jasper asked, but Carl cut him short.
“You won’t believe this!” he placed a tablet in front of Jasper pointing at the dynamic chart on the screen.
“Our company’s stock just dropped by ten per cent and our shares are getting more expensive with the shareholders grumbling about our morals or something. If this continues, it would affect us badly! I mean, real bad!” Carl emphasized, getting impatient.
“Calm down first, we’ve got to think things through.”
“There’s no time for that, Jasper, we need a solution. In the next one hour, we don’t know what might happen.”
“Ok, fine! The social department should gather the reporters. I’m making a broadcast about the rumours which caused it all.”
“Alright, fine.” Carl left in a jiffy. Jasper dialled Ma’am Belinda’s contact to pass some instructions to her, but before the call got connected, Katrina asked him a question with tears in her eyes.
“Is it true?” she asked.
“What do you mean? What’s wrong dear? Why are you crying?”
“Did you divorce your wife because of us?” she queries with a sad look on her face. Having read the headline earlier, she began to get confused.
“No dear, It wasn’t because of that. I’ll explain all that happened when we get home tonight, but right now, I need you to prepare yourself and your siblings. We’re appearing in front of the media.”
“What?” Katrina was scared. Her hands trembled slightly in front of her and Jasper placed his hands on her shoulders. He lifted his thumb to wipe the streaking tears away from her face. “You don’t have to be scared, baby. I’ve got your back,” he assured her and she nodded, though not totally sure of what will happen.
“Ma’am Belinda would come to dress you, your sister and Drake. You need to look your best, okay?” she nodded again and left his office for the playground. As she got to the door, Jasper stopped her with his words.
“If you need answers to stop being confused, you can ask your sister about it. She knows a little about the situation to the best of her knowledge.”
Katrina muttered an ‘Ok’ and closed the door behind her. Outside, Katrina saw a lady going toward Jasper’s office, but didn’t care about it. She was so engrossed in her thought that she paid less attention to her surrounding.
Jasper’s office door opened again and he turned around to see who it was. “Caitlyn!” his face brightened up at first, but it only lasted a while. He wasn’t expecting her and he wasn’t sure of the reason she was in his office, but one thing he knew was that he wasn’t ready to talk to her about anything. He needed to think things through about them before taking his final decision about their past relationship.
“Hhhhmmm… mm, Jasper, we need to talk,” she stated with a clear voice.
“I’ve got no time, Caitlyn. We do the talking later.”
“No, Jasper. I can only say what I have in mind now. I don’t think I will have the courage to say it later.”
“I said I’m busy, please” he headed for the door, twisting the doorknob down to open the door.
“I love you, Jasper! And I’m sorry for the words I said the last time, they were just words on impulse.” she blurted out before he made any further move.
Jasper was startled at first, but he had so much to settle at the moment. “Thank you.” the reply was curt and sharp. Offensive to the hearing, confusing on another thought.