★ THE DINNER ★
<< KING COSMETICS COMPANY>>
Max left the company, heading straight to the parking lot where he intend to smoke.
He was lighting his cigarette when two men in black approached him.
They covered his head with the hood and force him into their car before taking off.
******
“It hurts. You are hurting my hand, Jerome” Pearl said as he pulled her into his office.
“Oh! Am sorry, I didn’t realize I was holding you too tight” he said,letting her go immediately.
“It’s just that am very angry, how can they say that crap about you?”
“Most of what they said wasn’t a lie” Pearl said, moving towards the window to stare out of it.
“I h@ťě being talked about and it’s one of the reason why I didn’t want anyone knowing about our marriage cause I knew it would lead to gossips and insults and it hurts” she added in a whisper.
Immediately he heard that, Jerome gave her a hug from behind.
“Don’t listen to them. You know we never got married for money or anything,it was a contract marriage to get back at Devon and Max and then, I fell in love with you and my feelings are genuine, I mean it” he said, kissing the back of her neck.
Pearl turned to stare at him while wondering why his words gave her the comfort she needed.
“Jerome,don’t you think it’s best we get a….”
The rest of her words were muffled by his kiss and this isn’t any kind of kiss, it was a rough and deep one.
He didn’t give her space to breathe and kept kissing and nibbling the life out of her.
She was breathing heavily when the kiss ended, she looked up at him questioningly.
“The next time you try to bring that up, I won’t only kiss you,I will also make love to you” his voice came out hoarsely, causing a shiver to run down her spine.
“For the rest of today, I want you to stay here. I know you would want to go back to work but I want you here, I don’t need you listening to anymore crap from them”
“What about you?” She asked, licking her swollen lips and his eyes followed her action.
“I need to take care of something, once I return, we are going home ” he said, resisting the temptation of kissing her again.
*****
“Where is he?” Jerome asked as he walk into an abandon complex where Max had been kept.
“Who are you? What do you want with me?” Max kept yelling with the hood still on his head.
“Take off the hood” Jerome said and immediately they did that, Max eyes widen in seeing who is abductor is.
“So it’s you. Why did you bring me here?” Max asked.
“Why the hell did you make my marriage with Pearl public?” Jerome yelled at him.
“I didn’t do it”
“Liar! Apart from you and Devon, no one else knew about our marriage”
“Someone else knew and you’ve met him as well” Max countered.
“That guy at the hotel, the one Pearl was talking to on the day of your $h00t. He made it clear to me on that day that he fancied Pearl and when I went to confront him this afternoon, he did nothing to deny it” Max said quickly making Jerome rethink things.
“You have to believe me, what would I gain by making your marriage public when am also after Pearl?” He added, hoping Jerome would believe and let him go.
“Tell me what you know about this man”
*****
<< EVENING ~ JEROME’S RESIDENCE >>
“Will you like to get some sleep?” Jerome asked as he walk into the house with Pearl.
“Not yet, have you forgotten that we’ve got a dinner date with my father?” She reminded him.
“I totally forgot. It’s not too late for us to get dress, right ?” He asked and she shook her head.
A while later, they got to Pretty point, am estate where her father had bought for his use.
“Your father being here definitely tells me that he’s rich” Jerome comment and she gave him a weird look.
“Don’t get me wrong, am just saying that if your father is rich then you are also rich which doesn’t make our background different at all” Jerome added and that made her smile.
“My father’s money isn’t mine ” she said, pressing the door bell.
“Really? Does that mean you are willing to share my wealth with me for the rest of our lives?” He whispered into her ear causing that shiver again.
She didn’t get to give her reply because the door open, revealing a very excited Alexander.
After the greetings have been made, they were taken to the sitting room while that maid set up the dinner room.
“How could they? It’s none of their business if you are married or not but the idiots had to put it on net. I just saw it this evening and I wanted to give you a call but I thought that you wouldn’t like it after all Its been years and Its too late for the father role” Alexander said.
“It’s not too late dad” Pearl said calling him dad for the first time.
They were heading to the dinner room when Sebastian came down, looking smart and devilishly handsome.
“Sebastian” Pearl called on seeing him.
“Do you know my Godson” Alexander asked,acting like he knew nothing.
“We met at an hotel during a $h00t, I can’t believe he’s your godson, dad” Pearl said not being able to hide her excitement.
Knowing that she has someone who she can think of as an older brother got her feeling excited.
“It’s nice seeing you again” Sebastian said to Jerome who kept watching him in silence.
“Same here” Jerome replied and took hold of his outstretch hand.
“Now that the introduction has been made, let’s have dinner”
Dinner itself was a pleasurable one for everyone except for Jerome.
He watched Pearl attention being taken away from him by her father and Sebastian and he said nothing since he didn’t want to ruin Pearl’s moment with her family.
But, Jerome couldn’t help but to notice the way Sebastian keeps looking at her, it thwart his nerve.
“Seems like you two hit it off in a good way” Alexander began starring at Sebastian and Pearl. ” You could even be mistaken for a couple” Alexander added.
“Common, Dad” Pearl said as she stared at Jerome who seemed a little off.
Jerome didn’t know why, but he felt that Alexander said that intentionally.
“I doubt that. People tell me that Pearl and I are a perfect match whereas Sebastian is way too tall for Pearl, quite like a tall pole ” Jerome said and while he laughed at his own joke, no one joined in.
“Why do I feel that your joke is an insult?” Sebastian asked.
“Cause it’s meant to be an insult” Jerome replied, glaring at him in return.
Knowing things were getting out of hand, Pearl took hold of Jerome’s hand under the table but he payed less attention to it.
“I did my findings of the anonymous person who told the press about my marriage with Pearl and it all led back to him” Jerome said, watching Sebastian and daring him to lie.
“Sebastian told the press about us?” Pearl asked and Jerome nodded.
“I get that you were offended by my godfather remark about me and Pearl but you are going too far by putting the blame on me since I know nothing about the article” Sebastian denied.
“You do, you know it” Jerome said hotly.
“Sebastian wouldn’t do a thing to hurt me or my daughter. You must be mistaken, Jerome” Alexander butt in.
“Am not mistaken, Sebastian here is the master mind behind….”
“Stop it! I won’t let you slander my Godson under my roof” Alexander cut him off.
“Slander? Am only saying the truth or is it that you knew about it all along?” Jerome said, waiting for Alexander reply.
“The only reason why am not asking you to leave is because you are my daughter’s husband but don’t push your luck!” Alexander said and once again, Pearl took hold of Jerome’s hand.
He stared at her and tried to calm down, he then left for the rest room.
He was washing his hand in the rest room when Sebastian came in.
For Pearl’s sake, Jerome ignored him and was about to leave when Sebastian stood in his path.
“How on earth did you find out the truth, I payed a lot of money just to keep everyone involve shut” Sebastian said.
“Get out of my way ” Jerome said and push past him.
“It could only be Max doing. The idiot knew straight away that I am the one behind it, did he also tell you that am after your wife?” Sebastian asked and that made Jerome stop at the door.
“You know, I never really thought much about my godfather daughter but after seeing her picture, I got intrigue and in other to fulfil my curiosity, I came here to see her and she…she turn out to be the most gorgeous girl have ever seen” Sebastian said dreamily.
Angrily,Jerome left the door way and pulled him roughly by the shirt.
“Don’t you dare look at my wife!”
“Oops! I already did that and just like I told that foolish Max, I plan on taking her from you. I will slowly make her lose her trust In you and will win her trust till she comes to me and…” A punch landed on Sebastian face before he could complete his sentence.
“Am f-__-king going to ki|| you before I let you get close to her!” Jerome said as he continuously hit him.
The noise must have alerted Alexander and Pearl since they came running in.
“You are going to ki|| him,Jerome!” Pearl scream as she held him while her father went to a bloody Sebastian.
“Look what you did to him! That’s it, I want you out of my house” Alexander yelled at him.
“You have no idea how much I want to leave” Jerome replied and took hold of Pearl’s hand.
“You are not going with my daughter, I won’t let her stay with a barbaric man like you!” Alexander said and that got Jerome giving him a cynical smile.
“Pearl is my wife and wherever I go, she goes too!” Jerome yelled and pulled Pearl out of the house.
The drive back home was silence all through and as soon as they were in, Pearl made her way upstairs but Jerome stopped her.
“Do you intend to ignore me all night?”
“It was my first dinner with my dad and I wanted was to have it in peace but you ruined it all”
“I didn’t ruin it. Sebastian is the one who did”
“Oh, Sebastian was the one hitting you like a maniac right?”
“I only hit him because he kept on getting on my nerve and he was saying….”
“No matter what he did or said . You should have tried to hold back, you know what that dinner meant to me but still, you ruined it” Pearl attack.
“Okay, it’s my fault for being hot headed, I take the blame,don’t just get mad” Jerome said wanting to hold her but she moved away from him.
“Mad? Am more than mad. I should have known that marrying you was the wrong decision have ever made in my life” she burst out.
“I knew I shouldn’t have but I did and now I can’t help but to regret it all. I lost my colleague respect at work, I lost my friend and even now, am on the verge of losing my father!” She said as tears rolled down her cheek.
” I think…”
“Don’t say it” Jerome said but she continued to speak.
“I think it’s best we get a divorce. I want my life back and with you around me, I won’t be able to achieve it”
Jerome clench his fist before starring at her.
“From the very beginning. I never had a chance with you, right? No matter what I did to win your love, you will never get to love me in return, right?” He asked and Pearl nodded in return.
“From the very beginning, you had no chance at all” she added shattering his heart.
Picking up his car key, Jerome left without saying a thing to her and immediately he did, Pearl crouch on the floor crying her eyes out.
It took a while for her tears to end and when it did, she went to her room to take a bath.
She tried to get some sleep but sleep didn’t come and she kept thinking about Jerome, wondering where he is and what he’s doing.
It was one In the midnight and there was still no sign of him.
Getting out of bed, she picked up her phone and dialled his number.
She called him three times and there was no answer, it was on the fourth ring that he finally picked up his call.
“Jerome, I….”
“This isn’t Jerome” a female voice came down the line.
“Who are you and why are you with my husband phone?” Pearl ask in a rush.
“So, little handsome here has a wife? Well, he didn’t tell me anything about you and…..”
“Who are you?” Pearl demanded again.
“I am the wh-_-re your husband picked for the night and right now, we are headed to a hotel. Be rest assured that I will treat him right and give him all the love he deserves, good night” the wh-_-re said before ending the call….
❣️ TBC❣️