Jacob in Jersey

Back in London, Jackson was watching the news when his phone rang beside the documents he had recently abandoned. When he saw that the caller was his mother, he groaned slightly before picking up.

“If this is about any meeting or parties, count me out of it.”

“No, it isn’t.” Rosa’s voice over the phone was poise but there was a hint of emptiness in them. “Were you able to contact Jacob? I haven't spoken to him for 50 months. Has he completely gone crazy and abandoned everyone? Can I get his call line?”

Her motherly emotion crippled her loyalty to her husband, and she had no choice but to find ways to contact her other son.

Jackson had no words to say to his mother because she was also the one that has been calling and matchmaking him with Rebecca Cameron over the years. He couldn’t believe that she now wanted him to give her Jacob’s contact. That's impossible.

“Mother, Jacob doesn't want to be found. I can’t give you his contact.”

“What do you mean you can’t give me his contact information? I am his mother. Are you implying that you want him to hide from me too?”

“He chose to hide, mother. You should have expected this when your husband took Anna from us.” Jackson retorted coldly, he was slowly getting annoyed, and he didn’t want to remember those terrible nights when he had to be greatly intoxicated before he could sleep.

“Anyhow, fine. Just let him know the next time that he should call me. He should also be thinking of getting married.”

Jackson scoffed upon listening to his mother’s words. He felt like she still didn’t know how much Anna meant to them.

“Mother, you should stop this. I'm not getting married to any other woman except Anna, and Jacob also wouldn’t. He is touring the world in search of Anna, while I still stay here to keep this goddamn family business running, and it was only because he had promised to come back with her. Do not waste that old fart’s daughter’s time. I would never marry her.”

“Jackson! Are you out of your mind? Do you also want to go against your father? How did I give birth to only two children and they are both unfilial?

“Mother, you are-

“Rebecca Cameron already agreed to get married to you and still lay with Jacob. What else do you want?”

“Mother, I have to go, bye.” Jackson hug up abruptly when he couldn’t contain his rage any longer.

“Fuck!” He groaned before hitting his palm on the desk to offload his anger.

Also, around this time, Jacob, who had been in Jersey for a week, decided to check one of their popular art galleries to cool his mind.

Coincidentally, he chose the art gallery where Anna had her works for exhibition. As he stood before the painting, he felt his heart pulling towards it like a magnet. His cold eyes slowly trailed over it and he carefully studied and appreciated each of them one after the other.

“How much is all of this?” He asked the attendant, who had been assigned to give him a tour of the building.

“Uhm…” The man in a dark suit, and freshly trimmed hair scratched his head as he didn’t know how to put out the words. He was aware that the guest before him was an influential person whom he could offend, but there was also something about him that made him tremble in fear.

“What? You don’t know?” Jacob frowned at him, slightly getting angry at his hesitation.

“It's not for sale, sir. The artist only sells through the auction house, and any of her items here aren’t for sale.”

“She?” Jacob’s eyes trailed to the painting again as he asked. “What auction house? And when will that be?” He tried to be reasonable and not let the attendant irritate him.

“Uhm- I don't know.”

“How about the artist's name? Do you know that?”

Anna and Marcelo were fully dressed, and on their way to get some steaks when she received a call from the Art gallery director of Jersey Arts center.

Curious as to why he was calling her, she reluctantly picked up the call. “Hello, Mr. Joseph.”

“Hello, ma’am. How have you been?” Mr. Joseph’s voice rang through the phone, and when Anna couldn't notice any strangeness in it, she felt relieved and replied to him.

“I'm good, how can I help you?” She asked as she gently held Marcelo’s little hand and walked toward her car, a Mazda CX3.

“Mommy, can we get ice cream too?” Marcelo requested in a faint voice when he saw that his mother was on call.

Anna nodded instantly to his request as she waited for Mr. Joseph’s reply. “Hello? Are you there?”

“Yes, yes, I am. Actually, a very important guest came to our Art gallery today. He requested your personal information after he saw your exhibition, but since it wasn’t for sale and you are determined to keep your identity hidden, we didn’t sell them or disclose your identity to him.” Mr. Joseph let out a breath with the hope that after saying this to Anna, she would like to know who the person was.

“Alright, that's good,” Anna said to Mr. Joseph before helping Marcelo to the front seat, then putting on his seat belt.

“You don’t want to know who came?” The Art Gallery had no choice but to ask this directly as Anna wasn’t taking the bait.

Anna frowned as she listened to him, on her way to the driver’s seat. She said to Mr. Joseph. “If your guest is interested in buying, they can wait till I have a new item, then contact the auction house.”

Mr. Joseph chuckled awkwardly when he saw that he must have slightly annoyed his favorite artist. “Oh, yes, yes. It's just that the guest is from London and-

“From London?” Anna abruptly stopped in her tracks after listening to Mr. Joseph’s words. Telling herself not to get paranoid anytime she heard that someone from London was looking for her, she swallowed and casually asked.

“Who is the guest?”