Chapter 13: Play the role

"MOM, why do I need to wear this crap?" Jennelyn complained as her fingers fiddled with her clothes.

"Just bear with it, okay?" Jackie seemed to be running out of patience with her daughter's complaints.

They stayed abroad for a long time, so her daughter became more liberated in her behavior and clothing.

Jennelyn looked at herself in the big mirror again. She looked like an old woman in old-fashioned clothes. "This sucks!" she complained, looking like she was disgusted.

"Stop complaining!" Jackie was irritated with her daughter's whining. "You have to do what your father asks you to do if you don't want us to suffer forever!"

Jennelyn grew up getting everything she wanted in a foreign country. She's very conscious about her fashion. But from this day on, she had to break her rule of not wearing any outdated garment. She did not understand whether she would attend a baptism or enter the convent. "What a f*cking life!"

"If you don't play your role as Jennifer well, you won't have money to spend on your luxuries!" Jackie threatened her daughter.

"Whatever!" She rolled her eyes. She was not pleased even a little as she looked at herself in front of the large mirror.

"Honey, you're not going to pretend to be your cousin forever." Jackie coaxed her, hoping she would stop whining.

"Mom, what if the real Jenny comes back? What are we going to do?" She asked with a frown. She was aware of all the plans of her parents. She even knew about their illegal activities, but she didn't care about it at all. What's important to her was money and being able to do everything she wanted in life.

"Let's not think about that yet. The important thing now is to study Jennifer Garcia's character carefully so that we don't get busted. You understand?"

Jennelyn raised her brow. "Do I have any other options?" She rolled her eyes again.

"None, so behave yourself! Our future depends on your acting." She widened her eyes.

"Fine!" Jennelyn bounced back to sitting on her own bed.

Jackie just shook her head and watched her daughter stomp away.

"IS HE the one?" Jennelyn nervously whispered to her mother. She was nervous because the man was handsome. She thought they would meet an old lawyer today.

"Who?" Jackie asked in confusion because she was busy checking messages on her phone while walking slowly.

"The man I'm going to marry," Jennelyn whispered again as they neared the table where a man was waiting.

"No." Jackie answered quickly when she saw the man her daughter was pointing to.

"How disappointing! You know he's my type!" Jennelyn said irritatedly. The man was handsome.

"Wait until you see your soon-to-be groom. Yazed is much better than him."

The mother-and-daughter stopped whispering when they got close to where Dexter was.

"Hi," greeted the man who shook hands with the two. "Please, sit down."

While the two occupied the seat, Dexter did not take his eyes off Jackie's companion.

"By the way, this is my niece, Jennifer Garcia." Jackie introduced her daughter as her niece.

"Hello," Jennelyn greeted gently. She purposely softened her voice to seem shy. "Nice meeting you."

Dexter studied the woman carefully. "Do you have any proof that she is the daughter of the Garcia couple?"

"Do we look untrustworthy?" Jackie asked sarcastically. She was annoyed, even though she knew that the process was like that.

"I'm a lawyer. I need to make sure that my decision won't tarnish my profession." Dexter politely explained.

Jackie took out some documents and handed them to the man.

"We've been looking for Jenny for a long time," said Dexter as he flipped through the papers he was holding. "And it puzzles me why she only appears now after a long time passed."

"I need to protect her. I lost my daughter as a result of hiding my niece." Jackie explained to him.

The man stopped reading and looked up. "What do you mean?"

"I have one child. She’s the same age as Jenny." She glanced at Jennelyn who held her head down, seemingly coy. "It was some days after the massacre when we were ambushed."

Dexter frowned. No such information reached him during his secret investigation.

"The criminals thought Jennifer and Jennelyn were one and the same. I was afraid that I'll also lose my niece, so I held my daughter's funeral quietly." Jackie acted like she was about to cry while remembering the past.

"Sorry to hear that." Dexter said apologetically.

Jackie wiped the tears that ran down her cheeks. "To save my niece, I sacrificed my own daughter. And yet, you doubt my sincerity."

"I didn't mean to offend you. I just want to make sure. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?" Dexter felt sorry for her as he saw the sadness in her eyes. When he looked at Jenny, she remained looking down while wiping her eyes with a tissue.

"All I want is for Jenny to be safe from any threat of danger. I don't want my daughter's death to not have a good cause." This time, Jackie began to cry.

Jennelyn quickly approached her mother and comforted her. She looked at the man asking for understanding for her mother who was pretending to be her aunt now.

Dexter put the papers back inside the envelope. "Don't worry. Marrying Yazed will ensure her safety." He looked at the woman, who was also looking at him now. "He's a good man." He smiled at her to put her at ease.

Jennelyn just smiled. All she wanted at that very moment was to rest her neck and body. Playing the role of Jennifer is such a sore.

"Do you believe now that she is the true heiress of my late sister?" Jackie asked the lawyer. She knew him, he was still a teenager the last time she saw him. She knew he was the son of the deceased lawyer of her sister’s family.

"Yes and sorry if I offended you earlier." He politely answered the lady.

"I understand that you are just doing your job. Please excuse me if I was too emotional. It still hurts to remember what happened to my only child." Jackie's face remained sad.

Dexter stared at Jennifer again, or as they used to call her by her nickname, Jenny. He remembered the smiley girl when his father took him to their house. Even though they were young when he last saw her, he can still tell the similarities. Like her face shape, nose and skin color. But the eyes…?

Dexter quickly dismissed the rest of his recollections.

"I'm sorry if she is a bit aloof. She doesn't just make friends or trust other people because of what happened to her family." Jackie snatched the lawyer's attention when she noticed his scrutinizing look at her daughter.

"I understand," Dexter smiled at the two before calling the waiter to serve the food he had prepared for them.

They ate first and talked about the company before agreeing to visit Yazed's mother.

"Is it really okay for me to go there?" Jennelyn asked her mother and the lawyer. She still kept her head down to look aloof to everyone.

Dexter smiled before answering. "They have been looking for you for a long time, especially Yazed, so don't be shy. Yazed's mother was released from the hospital today. And their family hopes that you will help in the recovery of Yazed's mother."

"Amber and I are not close, but I am saddened by what happened to her. We also owe a lot to her family because without them, the business left by my sister might have disappeared a long time ago."

Dexter smiled at the lady again. Edwin helped the Garcias' company a lot. But his father contributed more. Even his life was taken as a consequence. To this day, he did not believe that what happened to his father was unrelated to the case of the Garcias. This was one of the reasons why he did not abandon the company and took his father's job.

"Sorry, I forgot that your family also played a big role in the company." Jackie said when she noticed the lawyer's facial expression. She knew what happened to his father.

"It's fine, let's just talk about the other details of the will left by the deceased Garcia couple."

Jackie nodded sympathetically at the lawyer. While on the way to Edwin's house, she told him about Jenny's life abroad.