She must be going through something that is hard for her to talk about, but seeing her standing next to Harold made him incredibly angry and sad.
“That day in the hospital, you left me for him?”
“James, it’s not like that, that day a lot of things happened, please let me explain!”
“Why have you not contacted me all these days? Do you have any idea how worried I was? And did you know your mother was taken? No one knows who and where!” He slowly walked towards her, he wanted to hear her say what happened, what made her be with Harold. She was dressed so elegantly, but she was not holding his arm, standing by his side.
The more James thought about it, the madder he got. He wanted to know what happened.
Jenny felt James squeezing her hand harder and harder, it started to hurt her, so she shook off his grip. But James grabbed her wrist again and pulled her towards the exit.
“Mr. Yard, where are you taking my girlfriend?” Harold stood in front of them, his eyes laid on Jenny, who could feel the cool in his gaze. He thought that Jenny was still thinking about James, so she wanted to leave with him.
“Since when is Jenny your girlfriend? I didn’t even know?” James had a smile on his face, it showed not a single emotion, only his tight grip around Jenny’s wrist gave him away.
Harold looked at James’ hands, he wanted to pull them away from Jenny. Harold’s gaze got even colder than it already was. Has it already come this far between them?
“Mr. Yard, tell me then, what is your relationship with my girlfriend?”
James felt so much pain in his ears, hearing the word “girlfriend” again and again. But the man in front of him was so flawless, so perfect, he showed no weakness whatsoever.
He had to listen to Harold call Jenny his girlfriend, but now he even gets questioned his relationship with Jenny? Did Harold not know that she had decided to be with James, and not him?
Harold couldn’t stand it anymore that Jenny was holding hands with James, so he puller her to his side.
But Jenny tried to get away, there were still misunderstandings that needed to be cleared out.
Harold buried her head in his chest and whispered in her ears, “Don’t forget that I have your mother. If you want her to be treated right, then listen to me and do as I say!”
Jenny never thought Harold would use her mother to blackmail her. She felt her heart sink. All her doubts finally got an answer.
“I told you not to run around, what if you get kidnapped again? I am still going to come for you and rescue you. And please, tell this gentleman what we are.” Harold tightened his grip on Jenny’s shoulder, pressuring her with it.
“I…” Jenny was staring at James, but she could not talk, she was so indecisive.
“Hm?” Harold’s deep voice immediately helped her to decide for that to do. If she wanted to keep her mom safe, she could not allow herself not to listen to him. But James…
“James, I haven’t had a chance yet to introduce him to you, this is my boyfriend, Harold Quarrington.”
James never thought that what she wanted to explain to him was that she was dating Harold now!
“Harold, this is my good friend, James Yard.” Jenny said against her own gut.
“Oh, so you are friends, I am sorry, I know Jenny is very popular, I thought you wanted something from her, and wanted to take her away.” Harold smiled, softened his grip on Jenny’s shoulder, and stroke her hair lovingly.
“So this is what you wanted to tell me?”
Jenny’s head was blank. If she missed this chance to explain things to him, he would misunderstand her and Harold, and there will never be a chance to explain things to him again.
“James…” Jenny’s voice started to panic.
Harold fixed his eyes on Jenny, cold as ice. Jenny looked at him, as if she knew something changed. But his gaze softened immediately, he patted her head softly, as if he was petting his favorite dog.
This was the kind of gesture that almost made James’ heart stop. “Is that true?”
Harold stiffened when he heard James’ question, his eyes still fixed on Jenny. Jenny was startled, and answered as a reflex, “Yes, that is my boyfriend, we haven’t been dating long yet.”
Harold was satisfied, his face revealed a smile, and took his hand back
“Mr. Yard, Jenny and I haven’t been dating for long, so she might have not had a chance yet to tell you. We are sorry that we surprised you with this.”
James squinched his eyes and looked at those two who were talking in the same tone, as if they are really dating. Why did Jenny change? What happened that day? James felt like he was going crazy
“Mr. Quarrington must have misunderstood, I am just a long time friend of Jenny’s. I haven’t seen her for so long, so I wanted to talk to her, nothing more. I don’t want to disturb you any longer, there is somewhere I gotta be, I will leave now.”
“Of course, if you get a chance, come to our house for some coffee.”
“Sure.” James turned around and left, but he felt the doubt rising in him.
Jenny on the other hand felt like ants were crawling up on her, so numb but so ticklish, so uncomfortable. “Excuse me, I need the bathroom.” She didn’t even wait for Harold to reply and left. She was replaying the scene over and over. How could she have told James she was Harold’s girlfriend? What could she have done when he was blackmailing her? Jenny ran all the way to the bathroom, her arms and her shoulder were hurting her from both Harold’s and James’ grips.
Jenny held herself on the sink, her tears running down the cheeks, blurring out her sight. She looked at the big mirror in front of her, the tears blocking her from seeing herself. Her tears filled the mirror with steam.
Jenny reached for the mirror, she did not wipe the steam away, not wanting to see herself. She lost track of time, not knowing how long she hasn’t taken a proper look at hreself, not knowing how she has become the person she was today.
She has been pushed around by two men, not allowing her to face her own feelings, she couldn’t believe that the man she loved so dearly, would be so despicable to her.