“Jackyyy! Where you the one I just saw kissing one beautiful girl that looks like your wife?” She asked excitedly and Anna rushed to where he was and kept on shaking her head for him to say no but she doubted if Jack would ever do what she wanted him to.
“Oh, Willa, sure she’s beautiful. And yes, I’m the one. Wasn’t that the cutest thing you’ve seen in a while?” He asked and she giggled, he knew what her answer would be.
“Of course, it was. How is Anna? I hope she’s enjoying her stay with you? Mom is always on my neck, arranging a wedding that has already been done, I'm so exhausted, Jack.” She whined and he could imagine how Mom was feeling being stuck in that hospital days when all she wanted to do was go out there to shop and plan for everything about their wedding.
“Anna, she can hear you because the phone is on speaker,” he looked up at Anna and motioned for her untouched plate, “Your food is getting cold, Anna. Let’s eat before it does.” She begrudgingly nodded her head because she didn’t want Willa to ask him to give her the phone. “How are you feeling? I can only imagine how caged Mom feels in that hospital.” They laughed at the same time and Anna buried her face in her plate.
“I think they’re going to discharge her; I can’t wait for her and Aunt Daphne to take over with this preparation, Jack. I'm sure my baby is even tired as of now.” He chuckled and Anna smiled at them. She loved the kind of relationship he had with Willa, it was the most beautiful kind of sibling bond she had seen in a while, purely beautiful.
“You should take some rest, Willa, I can risk you but not my beautiful niece or nephew. Take care of yourself, please, okay?” He spoke lightly and she swooned, which made him regret saying those things to her.
“And I love you much more, Jackyy.” It was silent for a few minutes before she was back again, “Victor is back, I'll call you when I'm free. You should go and check up on Mom today, okay?” She ended the call before he spoke and he looked up at Anna that had buried herself into her plate before he smiled, even though his heart was with Willa, he wondered if she was fine because he knew so well how good she was at pretending to be happy.
“So, the famous Anna is shy? Of a kiss at that?” He spoke with a joking tone and she looked up at him with an eye roll. “What if we finally get the chance to...” She stopped him by clanking the spoon she was eating with on the plate and he threw his head back and laughed.
“When are we going to visit her in the hospital?” She asked, and he was silent for a while before he stood up, already done with his breakfast.
“What about this evening? Will you be free by then?” She nodded her head and stood up as well, taking the utensils they used to the basin as she began to rinse them.
“Mom said I won’t go back to work until after that celebration she’s so obsessed with. So, I'm always free until then.” She didn't turn back to look at while she worked and when she heard had prevailed for more than five minutes, she thought maybe Jack had gone out of the kitchen but instead, she felt as he hugged her from behind and he wrapped his hands around her waist.
She slightly gasped but a smile took over her lips, “This was the first kind of hug I've ever gotten from you, so comforting.” He could feel how she melted in his touch and she continued to work while he rested his head on her shoulder as he stared at the way she expertly rinsed the utensils.
“Are you sure you’ve never been a maid before, you work expertly, Anna.” She chuckled and when he did that too, she could feel the reverberations of his chest on her back, which was so damn sensational.
“I had to ask Mom one day about this, I hardly ever do the house chores because of my immune system but when I do, it’s always perfect.” She placed the last washed plate and turned to look at him. He wrapped his hands around her waist, and she stared warmly into his eyes. “Do you have plans for today?” She asked, she didn’t know why she had to do that, but she just had to. A part of her heart was warning her for the speed at which both her and Jack were taking themselves but there was a part of her heat that told her not to panic yet. Whatever was meant to happen will, and she had no power whatsoever to stop it from. So why not enjoy everything while it lasted?
He shook his head, “I don't, do you have a plan for us?” Us, had it already gotten to the point that Jack referred to them as us? If someone could see them now, that person would think they were deeply in love with each other to the point that they could hardly be apart, but Anna knew so well that a huge part of what was happening between them was due to the lust that was eating them up.
“It’s been boring sitting in this house alone. Why not go to a park or somewhere else? I’m just tired of staying home, maybe it’s because I'm not used to it.” She made a dull face and he chuckled. “And from there, we can go and meet Aunt Katharine, right?”
He nodded his head at her before he pinched the tip of her nose playfully. “I’ll have to go to Dad’s company, they just sent mean email. I'll be back in an hour or less than that. Will you be fine until then?”
She chuckled and shooed him away from her body, “Of course, I will. I'm not a baby, Jack.”
“Take care of yourself.” And he rushed out of the house after he had pecked her on both cheeks while Anna stood feeling sentimental in the middle of the kitchen. What was going on between them? The way they acted was as though they couldn't even wait to get married to each other.
❦
She was running so fast away from him as she laughed at the pitch of her voice, if someone had one day told her that there would be a day she would have this so much fun with Jack Roberts until she had her heart filled to the brim with so much happiness, she would never have believed that person. But today was a living testament, she was having fun with Jack in a park as she laughed so loud while she ran after her. She stood in front of bench and lifted her hands up in surrender, “I’m exhausted, Jack!” She said breathlessly and when he came to where she stood, the first thing he did was scooped her into his arms and he eased her on the bench while she panted for her breath.
“This is why I told you not to run for so long, Anna, and you promised me that you’d be healthy, didn't you?” To her much surprise, he brought something out of his breast pocket, and she was so taken aback when she saw that it was her spray. He sprayed it into her mouth until her breath liberated but her eyes were still fixed into him, she had never felt emotional over something someone had done to her but today. She had never imagined that Jack will be careful enough to carry her meds.
She took him by surprise when she leaned onto his chest and hugged him lightly, “Thank you for not forgetting, Jack.” He knew what she was talking about and he smiled when he realized this was the first time she had ever thanked him no matter what he would do to her. They stayed there for a while until she regained back her strength and they stood up.
“Mom just called, she has been discharged and we’re going home now. Can you do it, or we should wait until tomorrow?” He asked while he entwined their hands. She was aware of people’s eyes that were on them and she knew they had all realized her to be Anna Brayden. Everyone could have a partner, wasn’t it? All she prayed for was that none of them noticed their wedding rings.
“I can do it, Jack. Let’s go, are you excited already, uhm, Mommy’s boy?” She threw her head back and laughed ta the frown that had now adorned his face at the name she had referred to him as.
“Don't ever say that in front of Willa because if she hears it, I'm dead.” He smiled, already imagining the way Willa will have to annoy his life to the extent he would wish he had never known her in his entire life. “There are a lot of reasons for me to hate that woman but instead, I'm loving her.”
Anna smiled and looked up to see the smile he had on his face, “Your relationship with her makes me feel lonely sometimes when I remember that I don’t have a sibling. But then my childhood was filled with too many beautiful memories. Dad had always been there, I used to have Maya before we came back to America, there was never a dull moment.” She smiled at the bitter-sweet memories that flooded her mind and after they had gotten into the car, she recalled how much fun they had had in this park. They ate a lot of junky foods which she had to promise Jack that she would be okay after she took them before he let her. He snapped her tons and tons of picture, most of which she wasn’t aware of.
He slid his hands into hers and she smiled when she looked at their entwined hands. They got talking about childhood memories and after silence was prevailed in the car, she watched him as he absentmindedly lifted their hands and kissed her hand, that surprised her, because it looked so natural to him that it was evident he didn't even notice he did it. But to her, it was everything she had ever imagined in her life, she kept on just staring at him until they arrived at the house and when he turned and caught her staring, she quickly took her eyes off.
“What? You can’t look as if you weren’t staring at me when I've caught you red handed,” her cheeks gone red and he pushed harder, “Perhaps I'm the sexy meal you were referring to in the morning?” She immediately stared up at him and quickly shook her head.
“You know I can never call you that. And I wasn’t staring at you, it just happened that you look up when my eyes were on you.” He chuckled and slowly let go of her hand, which forced them to feel each other’s absence.
He got out of the car and she did as well, matching her steps, they walked into the house while Jack continued to jest about how she couldn’t even take her eyes off him. She kept on denying until they were in his Mother’s living room but something else got his attention. Someone walked into the kitchen and he didn't have to ask to know that that someone was Clara. His heart lost a beat, and he knew he had a lot of work to do. If he would be truthful, he will say that he had totally forgotten about her. All he knew was that he had tried calling her line a few times before the wedding, but her phone wasn’t going through but since the day the priest pronounced him and Anna as husband and wife, he hadn’t tried calling her again.
He turned to look at Anna with a composed smile on his face, “Can you go in first? I'm thirsty.” She nodded her head and he asked one of the maids to take her to his Mother’s room and he tentatively walked toward the kitchen. He didn’t know how he was going to face her, but he knew he should.