- Jemaya’s POV
One minute passed, then two.
I knew because I was counting the numbers in my head like a fucking psychopath.
The smell of delicious food in front of me and the occasional grumbling of my stomach did nothing to whet my appetite.
It was all gone.
And my mind was about to follow suit thanks to my oblivious stepdad. I needed an explanation.
After another five minutes, my cutlery slipped directly onto the table.
“Okay, this is awkward…” I banged my palm to get more of a reaction before saying, “I can’t keep it bottled inside
anymore.’
”
What I witnessed that afternoon was eating at me. It was impossible to digest anything.
“Why are you restless, Jemaya?” he spoke up. Finally!
At least he didn’t ignore my constantly tapping legs or the glances I kept stealing at him.
“Why am I restless?” I puffed out air and fanned my face with my fingers, my lashes blinking rapidly.
He knew the answer, so why was he still asking?
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- Jemaya’s POV
Was he trying to feign innocence?
“… I’ll tell you. First, you need to answer one question.”
“Sure.” He stopped chewing, but his cutlery still dangled between his fingers. “Anything.”
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How could he have such a calm expression after everything that went down this afternoon? Between us. After us!
I just couldn’t with this man. His ability to feign innocence would make me explode if I continued to hold it in.
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“Look… I can explain,” he started as he dropped his cutlery and reached for my hand, which I was quick to snap out of his
hold. “But you wouldn’t understand,” he continued as I dropped my hands onto my lap.
My jaw dropped.
“Oh, why not? Because I’m a kid? It’s just two adults fucking.”
What did he mean I wouldn’t understand? I wasn’t dumb!
“Jemaya, manners!” I scoffed and crossed my arms.
“You’re one to talk about manners after fucking someone who isn’t your wife?”
“Fiancée.” I almost didn’t catch it.
“What?”
“She’s my fiancée. We’re not married yet,” he said, and even though I didn’t see the angle he was coming from, it still sounded weird.
Was that a plausible excuse?
“And you think I’m scared of Miracle finding out that I fucked a maid? I got hard for her sexy daughter, so what?” I could see the veins pop in his head as he gripped the edge of the table.
“Sexy, who?”
Did he just call me sexy?
My face reddened, and I had to pinch my arms to focus.
‘That’s beside the point, Jemaya,’ I reminded myself.
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- Jemaya’s POV
“A maid? Which maid?”
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“You don’t need to know. She got fired.” He said it so calmly that if not for the whitening of his knuckles, I would have thought all was well.
But all wasn’t. This was a huge cultural shock for me.
“You fired her after screwing her? Like a one-night stand?” This man was full of surprises. “What would you do if I told Mom?”
“I don’t do well with threats, sweetie.”
His tone was cold and directed at me. I felt a shiver run down
my spine when his gray eyes met mine.
The way his voice took a new low made me so scared that I had to grip the edge of the chair.
He took one glance at me and continued.
“What would she do if she knew that I fucked a maid after you tried to seduce me? Huh?”
“I didn’t… I—”
“Will she call you a slut, or will she move out?”
“She would…” I lowered my head and took deep breaths.
It was my fault that he got hard and fucked a maid, truly.
If I decided to tell my mom what happened, I’d have to mention the tension I felt, or he might even tell on me.
I felt smaller considering the bigger picture.
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“I’ll tell you what will happen if she does the latter,” he had gained the upper hand, and he didn’t hesitate to put me in my place.
“You’ll end up on the streets.”
I didn’t need to be reminded about the eviction notice the landlord had given for the wack one-bedroom apartment we’d moved from.
The silence was so loud that when my cutlery fell and hit the tiles, I didn’t hear it.
He’d calmed down after a while-two seconds, I think-and was just about to pick his cutlery up when I asked,
“Don’t you feel guilty about cheating?” My voice was low, almost a whisper. I was convinced he didn’t hear me for a second.
“I’m strongly against cheating.”
“…That’s a weird thing to say.” I gathered the courage to look at him.
“I’m not married yet, and a one-night stand doesn’t count. Plus, I paid the maid and sent her away, so it’s over.”
“What if she comes back… what if she’s pregnant and wants more from you?”
The shock and boldness I’d experienced earlier had transformed into shame.
I heard a deep growl when he planted his fist on the glass table. “This is what I meant when I said you wouldn’t understand.”
- Jemaya’s POV
“Oh,” I nodded and pouted my lips because, truly, I was finding it hard to digest all this.
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“One thousand dollars was enough. She wouldn’t dare,” he
said.
“You paid her that much? I see.” I sighed.
“Now, can we finish our meal?” he asked, and I nodded, but my appetite was gone, so I reached for a glass of water and suddenly stopped when I brought it to my lips.
“I’m still curious, though…”
“About?”
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“Why you held back.” If he was so attracted to me, then why did he do it with someone else?
After all, it wouldn’t be cheating in his book.
“Because I won’t be able to stop, and…” his answer jolted me in ways I didn’t realize I could feel.
“I wouldn’t want you to,” I shrugged and breathed into the cup. “Let it all out?”
“You’re too young. Life doesn’t work that way, Jemaya,” he said, his tone back to being serious.
And somehow, him scolding me about this situation made me feel sad, like he’d dug a well in my heart.
He could have said something else, but he decided to remind me that I was two weeks away from my birthday. How cruel.
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- Jemaya’s POV
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the table, and watched as the water spilled. But he didn’t have a reaction until I pushed my chair back and got to my feet.
“You can hate me all you want. But you don’t have to walk out on me… I’ll leave,” he said and got up too.
He was now standing in front of me, and suddenly, all my senses were eroded by his cologne.
I felt weak for a moment, but my hate overrode that.
“Are you trying to prove your manners now? With pride too?”
Was this how all adults behaved?
Was everyone’s goal to make me feel like shit today?!
I needed to scream my head off because I was going insane.
“I just want you to eat. You didn’t have lunch, so you must be hungry,” he put his hand in his pocket and took his gaze away from mine for a minute.
“So?” I asked, only to be betrayed by the grumbling of my stomach.
Our eyes met.
“Here,” he said as he stretched out a box.
“What’s that?” I asked, refusing to take it, but he placed it in my hand and curved my fingers around it… making me wonder, how could someone be so fierce one minute and tender the next?
“It’s something I should have gotten you earlier.”
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- Jemaya’s POV
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“I don’t want it,” I said and tried to shove it back, but he clamped my hands over it and looked me dead in the eyes, so the rest of my words-“I don’t want anything”-died in my mouth.
“You need it, and I made a promise.”
“What promise?” I asked, my eyebrows raised.
“That you won’t lack anything.”
That caught me off guard, and I only snapped back to the present after he had left.
I settled back in my seat and unboxed his present.
My heart skipped two beats as I dropped the contents onto the table. It landed on the droplets of water I spilled from my cup, but I couldn’t pick it up.
I was so shocked that my hands were still shaking.
“The latest iPhone from the most expensive flagship. The pouch was custom-made too…”
There was Jemaya signed in the cutest font at the back of the phone and pouch.
Not to mention the color.
“Grey, my favorite color!”
When did he have the time to prepare all this if I had just told him about the bullying today?
My mind was in several places as I happily picked up the phone, smiling as I wiped the water from it.
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I had just turned it on.
I cocked my head to the side as the screen lit up, and I saw a notification and a text message on it.
Weird, because I didn’t even have a SIM, yet I was getting a message and already had a number saved.
This is my number. I hope you forgive me for this afternoon.
The text read, and all my anger and frustration melted.
“Aww, he’s so sweet,” I mumbled to myself, blushing as I read the message again.
I was in the middle of hugging the phone to my chest when I suddenly paused and opened my eyes in realization.
Wait.
“Did he just try to bribe me?”
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