“We met months ago at the oak tree in Montauk, when I was talking to your mother, Mrs. Carras,” Zoe quickly said while trying to jog up her memory, hoping she would remember, “I said she told me something, but you said there was no way she might repeat it even if it was true,” she quickly added as she stared at her eagerly, seeing that Jasmine was still finding it hard to remember.
She also wanted to mention the fact that they had met before that too. That they had met the moment she gave birth to her twenty five years ago. That she had longed for her so much thinking she was dead.
“Oh!” She finally remembered, and Zoe instantly heaved a sigh of relief, finally letting go of the breath she didn’t realize she was holding, “I think I remember you now. Sorry for not realizing. I have a lot on my mind,” she quickly apologised.
“I heard your mother died. I’m sorry,” Zoe quickly offered condolences, her heart somehow breaking so much at the flash realization that Mrs. Carras, who was dead, was her real grandmother.
The woman that had shown her love when she was younger, and had fed her many times whenever they had nothing to eat was her biological grandmother. The woman she never got to spend so much time with. She was gone.
A smile sat on Jasmine’s lips when Zoe said that, and she seemed unperturbed as she shrugged slightly, “It is long overdue to be honest, even if she was still supposed to leave longer than that. However, I am happy she can go to rest now, and that I have no connection to that town again,” she muttered her last sentence coldly.
Taken aback by her stoic reaction, Zoe could not help but ask, as she struggled to pull herself together, “Why? If I may ask.”
“I would just like to forget all my memories of the place, and the people I met there too,” she responded instantly, as if she had been expecting to be questioned about that also.
‘Maybe she wanted to ask if her mother said anything else about that day?’ Jasmine reasoned to herself, suddenly wondering why Zoe of all people had even come to Montauk in the first place.
Right at that moment just after Jasmine answered her question, the waiters instantly arrived with full course dishes, and filled the table with all that was ordered, and slowly the two began to dig in without saying any further.
Just then, Zoe began to lazily cut through the layers of the steak before her while using her fork to idly stir through it, because in truth, she had no appetite at all. There was heaviness that clouded her heart so strongly, which made it almost impossible to eat.
The only thing she could do while pretending to enjoy the meal, was notice the way in which Jasmine ate elegantly, and the way the delicate features of her face struck so gorgeously.
Her eyes kept tracing the sharp slope of Jasmine’s nose, the almost perfect arch of her brows, the way her lips curved slightly were as detailed as one that she also knew. The features that felt strangely familiar. The ones she had conceitedly stared at the times she could count in years on her own face.
Her unmistakable and striking almond-shaped eyes were the most fascinating part of her face. The one that had caught her attention the last time she saw her too. The two were rich, velvety brown and were almost equally splashed with a deep blue that seemed to be made of interchanging layers of dark and light striations.
And as light reflected into her eyes, it was almost not easy to tell that her eyes were quite heterochromia until one was close to her, because the colors seemed to change with light gradients, unlike Zoe’s own, which were bold and obvious.
Zoe found herself staring for too long, until Jasmine’s eyes raised to meet hers with a soft, curious smile, “Something on my face?” she asked lightly, as she slowly picked the triangle crossed napkin from the table and dapped it against her lips.
Casting her gaze away instantly in embarrassment that she might have made her uncomfortable, Zoe shook her head instantly, “No, sorry… I was just thinking.”
Jasmine didn’t say further, and resumed eating as she suddenly began to pick apart from her dishes some condiments which Zoe noticed. She couldn’t seem to eat the oyster that was in the food, and she picked out carrots too.
The same way she had done moments earlier!
Despite growing up beside the sea and eating mostly seafood on days they could hunt for some, oysters were just out of it. She didn’t like the taste at all.
Zoe noticed that she also wrinkled her nose slightly at the overpowering aroma of the herbs, the same way she always did. Still staring in shock and being overwhelmed by that realization, Jasmine, who had been equally observing, raised her eyes.
She chuckled softly and glanced at Zoe’s plate, and stared at hers as well, “Looks like we have the same taste. I do not like oysters either. They make me sick,” she smiled.
“Oh,” Zoe’s voice trembled as her heart ached with sadness, before she quickly forced a smile, “I guess we might have a lot more in common than you think,” she muttered under her breath.
“What?” Jasmine stared at her, a little conflicted at heart about what she said because of the way she talked with a level of familiarity as if she knew her more than their shortest encounters.
“You said you didn’t want to go back to Montauk,” Zoe quickly chirped anxiously, her heart thumping so fast that she almost made things awkward with her weird talk, “Can I really know why? I grew up there, and I really think it is a nice place to stay,” she added and quickly drank from the cup before her.
“It is a nice place, yes. But I have left too many bad memories there that I do not want to revisit,” she clarified, as she stared at Zoe for a few seconds, as if wanting to telepathically decipher exactly why she had asked to see her.
“Does that include Emily?” Zoe suddenly blurted out without thinking, and instantly her eyes widened in shock because she had made a mistake while trying to be cautious all along.
“How do you know her?!” Jasmine suddenly became agitated upon hearing the name, because there was only one Emily in her life who she knew from Montauk.
With a sullen expression, Zoe answered, “I’m her daughter,” she paused in her response, and suddenly realized the lie she had just told, “Or, was her daughter?” She added coldly.
“What?! Jasmine’s heart skipped a beat when she heard, and the fork she was holding fell from her right hand instantly, causing her to rise on her feet as if she had been poked by a needle.
“I have nothing to say to you then!” She declared, and turned to leave.
‘Why on earth did the daughter of the woman she loathed with every breath of hers wanted to see her?!’
Wait! Emily’s daughter was Zoe Oliver, the CEO and owner of ZOELVA?! ANCLAIR”s former CEO?! Sinclair’s grandchild?!’ her entirety panicked the more her brain instantly put the pieces together.
‘Emily had been indeed pregnant with Fred’s child?!’