Chapter 81. Jason Scolds Jacintha
Jacintha looked slightly helpless. “I’m not saying you’re lacking, you're not inferior to Raphael. But I just don’t feel a spark with you. Alright, I need to get back to work. Let’s talk another time.”
Just as she was about to hang up, Jason’s angry and frustrated voice suddenly burst through the phone. “Jacintha, don’t you have any shame? The one Raphael likes is Sharon! Why do you keep trying to come between them? What’s wrong with you? I like you, I treat you well, but you don’t want that, you’re dead set on liking Raphael…”
“Jason!” Jacintha shouted again, her voice now laced with anger. “I’ve told you, this is my personal business. I truly appreciate that you gave me the opportunity to act in this film, but that doesn’t give you the right to interfere in my private life!”
With that, Jacintha immediately hung up. Jason called back right away, but Jacintha didn’t answer. She didn’t turn off her phone either, just switched it to silent mode. After a while, perhaps realizing she wasn’t going to pick up, Jason finally stopped calling.
Unexpectedly, right after Jacintha finished shooting two scenes, a crew member suddenly clapped and announced, “Everyone take a break, our big investor just arrived!”
“Jason brought us all pastries and coffee!” another crew member cheerfully carried two large bags of treats into the studio.
The entire team erupted in excited cheers.
Jacintha looked up and saw Jason standing beside the director, his expression slightly lazy. A faint, indifferent smile played at the corners of his lips, and his eyes were fixed on her. Their gazes met for a brief moment before Jacintha looked back down and continued flipping through the script in her hands.
Just a moment later, Jason stepped in front of her. "I'm sorry, Jacintha. I shouldn't have said those things to you over the phone. You're not mad at me, are you?"
Jacintha looked up at Jason and replied coolly, "I wouldn't dare be mad at you."
Jason leaned in closer to her face, teasingly said, "You're really mad at me, aren't you? Then I guess I have to bow and apologize to you properly."
He pretended to bend over. Jacintha couldn't possibly let him go through with it, so she hurriedly stopped him, half annoyed, half amused. "Cut it out. If you dare bow and apologize to me in front of everyone, I guarantee the internet will be flooded with new scandals about me tomorrow."
Jason raised an eyebrow and draped his arm over her shoulder. "That’s not so bad. It’s one way to promote the movie, and it’ll boost your popularity too."
"Don’t just sling your arm over me like that." Jacintha pushed his hand away and went back to studying the script.
Jason kept the mood light and joked around with her for a while to cheer her up. Before leaving the studio, he asked, "Can I take you to dinner tonight? You can bring Jack along, I really like that kid. His round little face looks like a mochi, I just want to pinch his cheeks all day."
Jacintha thought to herself, If you pinch Jack’s cheeks until they swell, how could I ever dare bring him with me?
"I'm busy tonight," she said.
"Alright, maybe next time then." Disappointment was written all over Jason’s face as he turned to leave the studio. At the door, he glanced back at Jacintha one more time.
She didn’t notice and kept her head down, reading the script. She had to work until 8 PM before she was finally done. When she arrived at Evelyn’s house to pick up Jack, Evelyn said, "Auntie Jacintha, you can let Jack stay over at my place."
Jacintha smiled and asked, "Why do you want Jack to stay over?"
Evelyn answered confidently, "Because I want him to, and Jack wants to too. Jack, don’t you agree with me?"
Jack nodded, then after a moment of thought, shook his head. "But I also want to be with Mommy."
Evelyn chirped excitedly, "That’s okay! My house is really big. You and your mommy can move in together. Mm… we’ll all sleep together. I’ll share my bed and blanket with you."
Jack looked up, his eyes full of hope as he gazed at Jacintha. “Mommy…”
Jack truly didn’t want to live in the same house with that awful giant.
Jacintha was about to refuse when Carol, munching on an apple as she walked by, said, “It’s fine, you two can just move in here. My sister and her husband bought this huge house and then decided not to live in it, leaving me and Evelyn behind like two abandoned kids.”
Jacintha laughed at her analogy and shook her head. “We can’t. Jack and I moving in would only disrupt your and Evelyn’s lives.”
“It wouldn’t be a disruption at all. It’s just you and Jack, I can easily take care of that.”
Jacintha wanted to agree, but the thought of Raphael losing his temper and possibly endangering Carol and Evelyn made her continue to decline.
When Jacintha took Jack to leave, Evelyn still ran after them to the door, calling out nonstop, “Auntie Jacintha, Carol and I would really love for you and Jack to stay at our place. Please think about it.”
Jacintha crouched down and hugged Evelyn. “Okay, thank you. I’ll think about it seriously.”
It was nearly ten at night when she and Jack returned to Raphael’s house. As soon as she opened the door, she heard the soft melody of a piano drifting down from the second floor, as if someone was playing in a very good mood.
Was Raphael playing the piano upstairs? Jacintha was momentarily surprised. She had never seen Raphael play before, she only knew he liked listening to classical music. Because of that, she had once secretly tried to learn how to appreciate it, hoping to have more in common to talk about with him. Unfortunately, she had absolutely no talent for it. She spent over half a year forcing herself to listen to those pieces every day, even taking notes.
Later, Raphael happened to see the notebook she had dropped, and laughed mockingly. “Don’t force yourself to learn something that isn’t for you.”
Jacintha quietly hid the notebook away. From then on, she stopped listening to classical music. But tonight, suddenly hearing such beautiful piano music again stirred a desire in her heart to see Raphael play with her own eyes.
“Mommy, is the giant playing piano upstairs?” Jack whispered.
“Yeah,” Jacintha replied.
She held Jack’s hand and led him upstairs. But the moment she looked up, she froze.
It wasn’t Raphael who was playing. It was Sharon. Raphael sat beside her, a gentle smile on his lips, his eyes fixed tenderly on the woman he loved.