But Cristelle had never romantically engaged with him.
“No, it’s only because of my children. Besides, I don’t think I owe you any explanations,” Cristelle frowned, “I told you a long time ago, Jasper. You and I will never be together. Things just won’t work out between us. You should move on.”
With that, Cristelle turned around and walked away.
Jasper was frozen on the spot. He recalled the days when they were both young. 6 years ago, he had tried to take care of her. But Cristelle hadn’t even shown any signs that she wanted to be with him back then.
She hadn’t even been moved once after everything he had done for her.
Had she no heart?
Jasper slumped into his chair, and his fingers dug into his hair. All those efforts… all those things he did to get this woman were wasted.
No! He couldn’t accept that.
He refused to accept that.
If he couldn’t be with Cristelle, someone needed to pay. Cristelle Friesley also needed to pay!
She knew what her words did to him.
She knew saying those cruel things to him was basically killing him. But she still blurted them out. If she refuses him, she can’t walk away easily.
She left him to rot. Then he would make her live in hell for the rest of her life. “Get Cody and Candace Bradley’s location right now!” Jasper hissed to the phone, “Don’t ask any fucking questions. I need to know where they are RIGHT NOW!”
****
When Cristelle drove down the road, she received Fritzi’s call.
Fritzi begged her to go to the company. She said she needed Cristelle’s help. Cristelle didn’t have any plans yet. So she agreed on the phone and drove toward the company.
“You’re finally here! I’ve been waiting for you!” Fritzi ran over the moment Cristelle went into her office.
Cristelle was holding two paper bags of food because Fritzi said she hadn’t had any lunch yet on the phone, “Oh, Fritzi. Are you trying to kill me?”
Fritzi took the bags of food and hugged Cristelle, “You’re the best. You haven’t eaten anything as well, have you? Why don’t you join me? I’ve got some really nice beer in the fridge.”
They enjoyed their meal while drinking the beer. Fritzi seemed like she was worried about something. Cristelle wanted to ask what happened. But Fritzi suddenly decided to go to the bathroom. When she was away, Donny suddenly came in, sending a file to Fritzi’s office and saying that the file needed to be signed by Linford.
Cristelle stood up from the chair and took the file from Donny directly, “I’ll go to Linford’s office.”
Donny knew Cristelle’s relationship with Linford too well. So she smiled, “Thank you so much then, Cristelle.”
“You’re welcome,” Cristelle walked out of the office. She was a bit dizzy after drinking so much beer. But she was sure that she could handle her liquor.
The door of Linford’s office was cracked open. Cristelle was so dizzy from the alcohol that she forgot to knock on it. Pushing the door open, Cristelle saw Lana standing by the table.
Lana and Linford were clearly having lunch as well.
Lana was holding a fork, trying to feed some beef into Linford’s mouth, “I’m not lying. Mine tastes so well. You should try…”
Linford was focusing on his laptop. He didn’t even seem to notice what Lana was trying to do.
“Cristelle!” Lana exclaimed as she put the fork down, deliberately trying to make Cristelle misunderstand the whole situation.
A big smile showed up on Linford’s lips when he looked up and saw Cristelle, “Cristelle, you’re here.”
He stood up from his chair and walked over, pulling Cristelle into a big hug. And then, he frowned a bit, “You’re drunk?”
Cristelle’s eyes skimmed across Linford’s face and Lana’s. Lana seemed extremely disappointed immediately. She thus pretended that she didn’t notice that.
Cristelle cleared her throat, “Just a bit of beer. Fritzi’s away. She sent me to give the file to you. She said she needed your signature.”
Linford opened the file and took a quick look, “Fritzi is getting lazier and lazier.”
“Cristelle, did you eat anything? Why don’t you join us? The food we just ordered is pretty good,” Lana cleared her throat. She didn’t like to be ignored.
Linford frowned and grabbed her by her shoulder, pushing her out of his office, “I didn’t hire you to eat lunch in my office, Lana White. It’s time to go to work.”
“But… I haven’t eaten anything.”
“I let you in because you said the food arrived, and you only wanted to send food. I’ve never asked you to stay and have lunch in my office. It smells. Now, leave.”
“But…”
Linford slammed the door in her face.
“She’s just a kid. Can be quite annoying sometimes. I hope you wouldn’t mind,” Linford smiled at Cristelle.
“Why will I ever mind? She’s a childhood friend, isn’t she? I don’t mind if you guys are close,” Cristelle said matter-of-factly.
“You’re not jealous at all?” Linford frowned, staring at Cristelle’s blushed face.
“Why? Should I?” Cristelle arched an eyebrow, “There are tons of women throwing themselves at you daily. I would never be able to take any break if I wanted to be jealous.”
A big smile broke Linford’s handsome face as he pulled Cristelle in again, “Admit it, Cristelle. You are being jealous right now.”
Cristelle tried to pull away, “Come on, Linford. Let me go.”
Linford refused to, “Why? The babies are not here?”
Cristelle slammed his hands away, “I don’t want to break Cody’s heart again. I can only do this when the boy officially accepts you. What happened last time really scared me.”
Linford sighed. Cody was indeed a problem.
Come to think of it, Linford realized he was also not treating his father very well. Did Cody inherit this from him?
But Linford believed he was not as much a jerk as Darwin.
Could Cody tell?
“He can feel it if you treat him better,” Cristelle said.
“He won’t get used to it if you become too kind to him,” Linford said flatly.
“How would you know that without even trying?” Cristelle shook her head.