Thirty One

Chapter Thirty One

“Whoa that was crazy!” Charlie exclaimed as they rushed out of the very chaotic library building, laughing hard at how dramatic their exit was.

“And also shitty.” Jennifer said. They had gone to the library for a book reading. Well, they went for the cake.

“What that dude said was not okay at all.” Jennifer frowned disapprovingly, killing the laughter.

“Who says fuck you in the asshole to anyone?” Charlie exclaimed, a bit angry at the statement he had just said.

“Even gay people don’t tell themselves that.” Jennifer nodded in agreement.

She shuddered. “The statement is making me cringe. That woman had better check her relationship with the guy, whatever it is.”

During the interactive section of the reading, a lady shouted ‘fuck you’ to the man she came with because she got angry at something he said and the man replied her with, well…the cringing statement. And that got the woman more angry and a couple other women and thus the chaos in the library.

“Too bad we couldn’t get some tea.”

“We got to eat a lot of cakes though.” She replied him, smiling as she remembered their sneaky movements as they went to the back many times to get some more cake.

“I am still hungry though. Are you?”

“Not really. But I will be soon. You will be cooking right?”

He gave a cocky smile. “Why, do you miss my cooking that much.”

“Oh please, I just want to help. Maybe learn some things. Besides I feel lending a hand will be a nice way to repay the fun I have experienced in the last few days.”

“You call that fun? We haven’t gone paint balling, laser tagging, the fun is just about to begin. Oops, I spilled a bit. But then, you can definitely help, if you want to.”

She clutched his arm happily. “Nice. So where are we go…”

Returning his intense stare that she could not evade due to the proximity of their faces, her eyes went to his lips and then his eyes. As if trying to initiate a cycle, he did the same, his stare deeper as he leaned in slowly, leaving Jennifer a bit perplexed. She had no idea what to do. If it were Mark…

Jennifer shook her head frantically at the thought of Mark. She wondered why he was in her thoughts for quite a while since she left his place. But Charlie took her head movements as a refusal, so he cleared his throat, looking away for a second.

“Uh…” Jennifer wanted to explain why she shook her head, but she stopped herself as she felt she wasn’t ready for something like that.

“We should go to the park. Stay there for some minutes to get some air.” Jennifer nodded removing her arm.

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“Do we know that guy?” Mike asked as both of them watched them talk happily, a scratchy noise coming from the back seat.

“Did you really have to bring the puppy?” Mark asked, looking back to see if it had made any mess, but it was still, staring back at him with unbothered eyes. Ben on the other hand was sleeping peacefully.

“He is my gift to Jennifer. He goes wherever we go until he is in Jennifer’s arms.” Mark shook his head at him and looked back at Jennifer and the mystery guy. Ben was right , the city was not so large, so finding her wouldn’t take up to a week. They had been searching for her for four days and thankfully that day, due to Ben’s sharp sight, they saw her run out of the library happily with a stranger.

‘She looks happy.’ Mark thought and he smiled unconsciously.

“Is the fact that they are about to kiss amusing you?”

Mark immediately diverted his eyes there watching the intense moment between the duo. He unconsciously sighed in relief when she shook her head.

“Did you just… sigh?”

“What? No!”

“I heard you sigh man. The fact that she was about to kiss that dude affected you, didn’t it?” Mike insisted.

“I am telling you, I did not sigh.”

“Bro, I heard you sigh.” A sleepy murmur came from the back.

Mark looked from the front mirror. “Aren’t you meant to be sleeping?”

“Well your one minute display of affection for the lady woke me up.”

“I. Did. Not. Sigh.”

“Whatever man. Let’s follow them before they walk out of sight.” Mike said.

“You make us sound like stalkers.” Ben mumbled from the back.

“Just go to sleep man.”

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“I love the breeze here, it is so calming.” Jennifer commented as they sat down on a bench, facing a empty, well mowed green grass.

“It sure is.”

Jennifer did not know what to say, so she started tapping her knees, partially thinking about anything to say. The awkwardness was weird.

“What do you think of laser tagging?” Charlie said, obviously trying kill the awkwardness.

“Well, I can’t wait to defeat you with some lasers.” She smiled.

"Ms Lewis!” She frowned for a second, the voice sounded familiar.

When she was called by that name again, Jennifer immediately turned her head to the direction of the voice.

"Mr Beaunavista!"

She stood up abruptly, sort of happy to see him, but yet confused. And with the look on his face, he was clearly confused as well.

"What are you doing here, Ms Lewis?"

"I could ask you the same. But since you asked," She took a brief pause.

"... I don't know."

Mr Beaunavista arched a brown and looked towards Charlie direction who shrugged.

"Oh, I am so sorry. I am Richard." He extended his hand to Charlie who took his hand and introduced himself.

"Tell me, Ms Lewis, what are you doing here? I mean, as far as I know, JK does not have a branch here."

"I know. I don't even know how to explain this. So, um... let me just say I had an accident."

"What?" Mr Beaunavista frowned.

“Someone tried to drown me. So I ended up miraculously alive on the shore of the ocean here. But unfortunately I don’t remember how I even got any step close to the ocean.”

He couldn’t close his mouth for some minutes, he was that much surprised.

"B… but, has nobody called to ask for you? What has your husband done about it? There should be at least a missing person flier out there somehow."

"I haven't being able to contact him. I… I am afraid he might have a hand in my accident." Jennifer folded her arms over her chest, the statement she just uttered causing a stab in her chest.

"Wow. This is quite crazy."

A brief silence befell them, each one of them staring into the air.

"Let's talk about you Mr B. What has happened in your life so far? I mean, you are in Hamesia. And if I remember quite well, it is almost a month and half months now since you resigned."

"You remember that?"

Jennifer bit her lower lip slightly.

"I remember everything, but how I got into the ocean."

"Wow. Anyway I do web designs here. And I can say I am proud of what I have achieved so far."

As he completed his statement, his phone beeped. He looked at it and nodded slowly.

"So... ah... Ms Lewis. It was very nice meeting you. Let me give you my phone number, so you can contact me anytime. Or you know what? Just take this card. It has my details on it. It was really nice meeting you. Take care of yourself."

"I will. And please call me Jennifer, we are not in the office anymore."

He smiled a bit sadly. "Sure. So I will be seeing you some other time. Where do you stay?"

"At my friend’s house." She turned to Charlie. “His actually.”

" Well if it is fine by him, just call me, I will come visiting anytime. Bye."

"Bye."

"Mr Charlie, bye."

"Yeah," He cleared his voice. " Richard, bye."

Jennifer and Charlie watched as his back bounced away.

"I am so sorry for that." Jennifer went back to sit.

"For what?"

"For ignoring you. You were sort of like a third wheel."

"Are you kidding me? I am actually happy for you. You finally got to meet someone you know. That might help trigger your memory somehow. Then, you can really figure out who is behind all these.

Jennifer smiled, a genuine smile, he had a way of making her happy. She sat properly to look around the park. It was still deserted, but still looked beautiful. Especially with the fountain that stood in the center of the park.

She looked back at Charlie who was into his phone.

"Charlie?"

"Hmm?" He raised his head from his phone.

“About earlier…”

He smiled slyly. “I am sorry, I shouldn’t have…”

She interrupted him. “I don’t think I am exactly ready for that. So, if you could just slow it down a bit…”

“Sure. I am sorry. I was just caught up in the moment.”

“It is fine. I am actually happy I have you in my life. Friends?” She offered to hug him.

“Friends.” He accepted the hug and they stayed that way for a while, Jennifer staring into the busy road just across the park. That was when she noticed a set of familiar eyes looking straight at her.

Shaking her head again, she immediately chastised herself for thinking about him or even picturing he was just few metres from her. So she leaned closer into Charlie’s hug, enjoying the bliss that came with it.