57

Jacob has spent a while thinking about Emily's words. Mia has been avoiding him for weeks and he can not continue acting as though he does not notice her attitude whenever they cross paths. She tenses up whenever they make any form of body contact and he knows she is not so happy about it either.

He follows her around as Rodriguez has commanded but this time, there is nothing more to it. No conversation, no side glances, no facial communication, nothing. He feels lonely. He did not feel lonely while he was moving from place to place, trying to hide from the authorities who were on his tail. He did not feel lonely when everyone including his wife turned their backs against him. He was only angry and disappointed. Now, he feels lonely. Maybe it is because he now knows how it feels to have someone in your corner. He lost this someone and now he feels bare. He wants to confront her, explain himself maybe or ask why she is avoiding him if his ego gets in the way. She has a strict schedule anyway. She goes to work at dawn, stays in her work building throughout the day and does not bother to step out for a lunch break or anything. Then she appears at the end of the day with exhaustion drawing dark circles below her eyes. She would step into the care and maintain a strong barrier of silence and a face that says she was not in the mood for chit chatting. He understood how tedious the job could get. So, he is always very cautious about the actions he takes at this time.

Now, he knows better than to let her continue blocking him out. They could at least talk things out and go back to being friends. After the incident with Amber, he wanted so badly to speak to someone about his situation. He had felt excited in that moment. Someone is finally going to liberate him and clear his name. Doctor Richard has been on the loose for so long. It is finally time he got locked up. But all his excitement ended with Manuel and Linda. Today, he has duties of sending Mia to the mall and back. He hopes he gets an opening to air his feelings or at least ask some questions. He is waiting for her at the car and is going over things to say in his head. Mia comes over while he is lost in thought.

"Come on, we will not be doing any shopping if you stay here daydreaming… estupendo." Mia says with a blunt tone while Jacob jerks back to attention.

"Sorry, Mia. I just tune out a bit." He apologizes for his actions, Mia is not fazed.

"Ma'am. You mean to say ma'am right? Remember the employee-employer standards, don't you?" She asks, asserting her position on the power scale. Jacob gets the message loud and clear.

"Sorry, ma'am." He mutters under his breath and raises his eyes to take a look at Mia through the mirror. Their eyes meet and Mia takes away her gaze. He starts the car and they drive off to the mall in silence. Jacob itches at his neck. When he gets nervous, he starts itching. He does not know that Mia has noticed this.

Mia sees him itching and smiles to herself. He should be as uncomfortable as he makes her. It is only fair.

They get to the mall and she gets out to go in. He parks the car and steps out too. She notices him walking behind her and turns to give him a questioning look. He always stays in the car to wait for her, keeping an eye out on whoever walks in. Now, she looks at him waiting for an explanation.

"Just following orders… ma'am." He says with a blank face. His poker face has always driven Emily crazy. He barely showed emotions when things were going off. He would not share his pain or even show that he was in pain. It made her wonder what lay beneath everything.

"Alright, then. Since you are going with me, you might as well grab a basket." They step in together and Jacob grabs a basket for her shopping. They walk around while Mia throws in items into the basket. People stare at them and assume they are a young couple. An old white woman with a gray hair walks over to them and introduces herself.

"Hello, this is Jacob and i am Mia." Mia introduces themselves in response. The old woman beams widely. Her wrinkles make beautiful patterns around her eyes and mouth.

"Oh darlings, you both look beautiful and so in love. I love to see young couples but I have never seen you two around here that much. Are you new to town?" She asks. She does not consider that she might be interrupting them or wasting their time. They go along with it regardless.

"We just do not step outside as much. We are like home buddies. If you would excuse us, we would love to continue shopping around, please." Mia politely dismisses the old lady and she walks back to a woman who looks like the younger version of the old lady.

"Why did you not correct the old lady? Considering how much you hate me right now, I would assume that you would scream if anyone mistakenly referred to us as a thing." Jacob says after the little run-in with the old lady. Mia barely glances his way and continues walking down the aisle they were on before.

"You are not an ogre, I could never hate you." She replies him. He smiles to himself. This is the opening he has been looking for, he thinks.

"Oh, so if I was an ogre you would not give me a chance?" He asks playfully, hoping to all the gods that she would take the bait. Instead she turns to face him with the basket between them. Her face does not look like she took the joke too well.

"Uh oh, I know that face. Look, forget I said anything. We need to talk Mia. You have been avoiding me and I want to know what's up with that" Jacob is trying to fix up his mess but Mia is not having it this time. Jacob mentally hits himself on the face multiple times, his ego took the front seat today.