Chapter 78 Chapter 39 (ii)
FAE
True.
I touched his chest, my eyes searching his face. “I’m sorry, I was startled. It hurts to see him looking at us like that.”
“I perfectly get it’s not easy for you. But I told you he’d react this way.”
I laughed, softly and without amusement. “So he did. But it’s not like we did this to hurt him.”
“He probably saw what’s spreading on social media and came here to ask. Then he saw… this.”
I blinked, then took a deep breath. “Fuck.”
“Your mouth,” he said, but laughed in surprise.
“Sorry. Can you make them leave?” I was feeling a lot right now, but mostly, I didn’t want Carl here. I didn’t want to see his confusion. I especially didn’t want Sarah here, watching our happiness with her invasive, snake eyes. I felt almost nothing for my former friend except a desire for her to quietly disappear from my life. We were done, and the final period was at their wedding on the island. I didn’t want her here at all.
But I was mad at Carl again. It felt unfair that after everything, it’s like Jigo and I were the ones doing something wrong based on his accusing eyes as he stood there staring at us. How dare he make us feel the guilty party here?
“I’ll go and make them leave. Stay here, okay?”
I nodded as I settled into the recliner. "Okay." I glanced at the newcomers and couldn't help but throw them a dirty look. Carl seemed startled by my glare from across the distance. I sighed. I hated drama. It wasn’t like looks could really kill. How sensitive could he be?
Jigo squeezed my cheek, drawing my attention back to him. He stood up and nodded at my three friends, as if entrusting me to them, then strode confidently toward the two unwelcome visitors, his walk a stark contrast to Carl's nervous pacing across the pond.
My husband was sizzling hot, I thought with a smile as I watched the muscles move in his back. But annoyance bubbled up when I saw Sarah watching him, too, her eyes practically bulging out and gobbling him up despite just getting married to her own husband. How dare she?!
"Baby!" I called out suddenly, making Jigo stop and turn back to me. Carl also halted, seemingly angrier at the way I addressed my husband. Sarah's eyes widened.
Oops. Knee-jerk reaction. I was used to calling Jigo that. And we were in our own home. Why should I adjust?
"Will you please put your shirt on?" I said in a scolding tone. I had already grabbed his T-shirt from the vacant recliner where we left our clothes before showering. I rolled it up and threw it to him, and he caught it easily.
I rolled my eyes because I saw him grinning. The rascal liked my possessiveness.
"Why did you make him put on a shirt? You should've let her be jealous," Pam chided, now standing beside me. Joana and Kacey were there, too.
"Jigo is so sexy," Kacey said from the side, making cat-clawing motions in the air. "Rawr."
Joana laughed. "True."
"Should I go there, too?" I asked, suddenly worried.
"No. Let them talk. And don't mind Sarah. We'll handle her if she causes trouble," Joana said. "The frog."
"Team Fae, yay!" Kacey whispered.
I smiled, especially when I saw the venomous look Sarah threw our way. I was surprised to find that the pity I once felt for her was gone. Many times in the past, I defended her. But now, I was laughing with everyone else. I knew her true colors, and I didn’t plan to be her victim again.
I turned away to pick up my wine glass from the table.
"The gall!" Pam suddenly exclaimed.
"Ay. How dare?" Kacey added.
"Is she really coming over here?" Joana asked.
I looked back. Sure enough, Sarah had left the two men talking and was walking toward us.
"Just say the word and I'll gouge out that frog fart's eyeballs," Pam said. "And I won't even need a scalpel."
"Frog fart?" I asked, snorting.
Joana's shoulders shook with laughter. "Leave her eyes on her face. It's not like they help her looks."
It was an ongoing joke, Sarah's eyes. They were big and bulging, making her look constantly surprised. Back in school, annoyed classmates who believed she was taking advantage of me would call her 'frog eyes'. They weren’t bad people. In fact, many of them helped find side jobs for broke classmates at their family businesses. Many worked at those businesses themselves as part of their training. It was an old money tradition.
They said my pity for Sarah was misplaced. They never used the word, but they implied I was an 'enabler.'
I winced.
I had believed Sarah needed help. I thought she was the pitiful one between us, coming from an extremely poor family while I had more than enough to spend. So I helped her.
But in the end, when she was about to leave, I began to wonder if I had been an enabler. She had questionable actions that I found hard to justify, and she hadn’t even spoken to or visited her family in the province despite my willingness to pay for her fare.
That she hated me and stole Carl after everything, I decided not to understand any further. I was just done. The fact that 'frog fart' didn’t stir any pity in me now, unlike before when people belittled her, proved it. She was still coming. Carl hadn’t noticed his wife had left his side because he was obviously arguing with Jigo.
But Jigo was always watching out for me, even when he was busy, like now. He was standing there facing us. And he had half of his attention on us. Carl was turned away, so he didn’t see Sarah walking away from him.