“Where is she?” Tristan asked when he got inside the car and noticed that Belle was not with them.
“She already left, thanks to you,” Jacob responded.
“What do you mean she already left?”
“She left! Resigned! Bye! Adios! Ciao!”
Tristan glared at him but Jacob didn’t back down. He’s furious because of Belle. He can’t believe that Tristan could do that to her.
Despite the absence of his memories, he never thought he could actually do it with Joyce. The worst is that Belle saw them. She witnessed it with her own eyes.
“Can you please calm down and tell me what’s going on?”
Jacob rolled his eyes and smirked before looking at his boss through the rearview mirror. “Belle saw what she was not supposed to see,” he informed him.
Tristan’s body stiffened after hearing what his assistant said. Joyce indeed tempted him, they kissed and were a bit intimate, but that was it. Nothing else happened after that.
What he didn’t expect was that Belle saw it. She may or may not have seen everything, but she still saw something inappropriate and it was making him feel uneasy.
Tristan remained quiet for the rest of their trip. Even when they reached the office, he didn’t say a single word.
Jacob knew something was eating his friend and he was happy about that. It’s a joy for him to know that Tristan’s feeling guilty because of Belle.
Unfortunately, the assistant’s mood was ruined even more when they got inside the CEO’s office. There they saw Joyce lounging on the couch while looking at her phone.
The woman immediately stood up when Tristan came in. She then snaked her arms around his neck and attempted to plant a kiss on the man’s lips. But Tristan was quick to avoid her and lightly pushed her away.
“What’s wrong?” the woman asked, but Tristan just shrugged at her as he sat on his chair. “I suspect you’re not feeling well and if that’s the case, I better get going. I’ll see you tonight!” Then the woman turned on her heel.
Jacob hurried to follow Joyce out but he stopped when Tristan raised a hand at him. “Stay,” said the CEO, so the man had no choice but to go back.
Tristan stood up, took out his cigarette case, and lit up a stick. Facing the window and looking at the outside view, he kept letting out sighs.
Jacob cleared his throat to get his boss’ attention, “Do you need anything?” he asked.
The young CEO slowly turned to face his assistant. Stubbing the cigarette, he sighed for the last time before looking straight into the assistant’s eyes. “Belle’s not just my executive secretary, right?” he asked straight out. Jacob half-smiled after hearing his question. “She’s my girlfriend.”
“When did you find out?”
“When I saw you looking at her while she was in her cartoon underwear,” Jacob’s eyes widened in shock. He opened his mouth to say something but Tristan raised a hand again to shut him up. “Seriously speaking, something flashed back to me when I saw her in that outfit. Then a few more flashed back after she left the hotel earlier.”
“What exactly do you remember?”
“I remember the auction, the fire in Natalie’s neighborhood, her kidnapping, the incident at the hospital where I slapped her…” Tristan enumerated. “I’m not sure if those are–”
“Yes, those are real memories.” Jacob cut him off, then he started giving him the details of the memories that flashed back to him.
“So, they’re real…” Tristan sighed. “There’s one more thing though…” Jacob raised an eyebrow at him and he continued, “I also recalled that it was Joyce, Esme, and Vernice who were scheming against her, against us.”
Jacob nodded to confirm what Tristan said. Again, he gave him the details to clarify the memories he recalled.
“I have to talk to Belle. We need to plan things out. Joyce can’t know that some of my recent memories have returned or it will be dangerous for Belle,” Tristan stated.
His assistant tapped his shoulder to send a signal that he understood what he was trying to say and that he’d help him out. “I’ll try to contact her and ask her to go to the villa. Maybe we can huddle there.”
Tristan nodded at his assistant before he strode out of the office. He, on the other hand, went back to his table, picked up his phone, and dialed his grandfather’s number.
Jacob, on the other hand, managed to contact Belle. He did ask her to go to the villa without letting her know that Tristan would be there.
When Belle arrived, Frederick and John were already waiting for her. Chatting on the couch, both men broke into a smile because of her presence.
“What’s going on? Jacob asked me to come here, he said it was urgent.”
The men exchanged glances before Frederick gestured for Belle to sit next to him. “He said there’s something important we need to talk about,” the old man informed her.
Belle nodded and smiled faintly at them before asking what they were talking about and the conversation continued. Minutes later, Jacob showed up with Tristan right behind him.
The woman creased her forehead, looking at Jacob, Frederick, and John. But not one of them said anything.
Jacob was about to say something but he wasn’t able to utter a word when Tristan stormed past him and went straight to Belle. He hugged the woman with all his might as if he’d never seen her for years.
Belle’s body stiffened as she wasn’t expecting such action from the man. She lightly pushed him away and looked at him confused. “What is going on?”
“I remember love, I remember some things…” he told her excitedly.
Belle looked at Jacob, brows creased. “It’s true, he got back some of his recent memories. They’re just fragments, so I still had to fill him in on the details.”
“How?” Belle asked, looking at Tristan for answers.
The man slowly shook his head, bowing down with his elbows resting on his knees. “It started flashing back at me after seeing you in your undies. I suddenly felt like I’d seen someone in that outfit before, but I’m not sure where or when. Then I suddenly recalled the time we were on a business trip to Dale. I saw someone wearing cartoon undies then too. So I asked Jacob to check in case it happened to be you and I was right. It’s indeed you! After knowing that, more memories started coming to me and, as Jacob said, he filled me in on the details as they’re just parts and I can’t recall the rest.”
Everyone sighed in relief after hearing Tristan’s explanation. Everyone’s happy to know that he’s slowly getting his memories back.
In the middle of the silence, Jacob took something out of his suit pocket. It was the flash drive that contained Joyce’s recording.
“Since you already got parts of your memories back, I guess it’s time for you guys to hear this.” Jacob then opened the laptop on the coffee table and inserted the drive into it.
Tristan and Belle were just watching him, waiting for what he had that he wanted to show them. After a few clicks, the audio recording started playing.
Sitting side by side, Tristan noticed Belle’s hands shaking while listening to the recording Jacob played for them. He reached out for her hand, giving it a light squeeze to calm the woman down.
“I’d kill them…”