Published: Nov. 19, 2019---Sept. 30, 2020

He missed this woman in his arms; if she knows how his heart aches to be near her this past week without interaction, she will indeed be surprised.

He thought that his estrangement from her would help her realize her feelings towards him, but he was wrong. For it was him who had found out that for her, everything was just normal. She didn't even think that his pride was already trampled by her telling him of her real feelings.

Women just come into his life; he doesn't need to court them with flowers or sweet words. But it seems to her, he is nothing but just easily forgotten. Her behavior these past weeks speaks volumes.

If he doesn't initiate the conversation, she will never talk to him.

He went to some business trip lonely as he wanted to spend time with her, and he comes back home tired only to see her looking happy not because of him but of her spending time with Meme. Frustration in her made him lashed out on anyone that made a minor mistake.

He felt isolated from the two important women in his life, his Meme, and his wife. He started to tell himself that his stubbornness will get him nowhere, especially to his wife's heart. It will only alienate her further from him.

The only consolation is that his wife still has no idea that he is already a slave to her heart.

He will dance to any song that she wanted as long as she is the partner and even become a poet to compose poems that only praise her beauty.

She looked at him now feels like he had a glimpse of the sun after a long time of being inside a dark cave that all he can hear was his breathing. So this is what everyone in love feels after days of torment.

He has never been like this before, acting crazy over a woman who never loves him. Just a small glimpse of hope is already enough to give him courage and go forward in achieving her love.

The knock on the door made his wife panic as she struggled to be free from his embrace, but instead of freeing her, he tightened his hold, knowing it is only Mark.

His PA has a distinct way of knocking that only he knows, so he let him in.

He heard the door open and close, but he spares no glance on it to make sure who come in but rather hold his wife chin to raise her head." You can go out with your friends, have dinner with them but expect me to call you later on so we can go home together."

She looks at him with puzzled eyes but without asking or contradiction, she nods her agreement.

As much as he likes her being in his arms, he told himself to have the self-control to step forward one at a time. This time his aim is to woe his wife as he had never done to any woman relentlessly.

He loosened his hold on her; she turned around and walked towards the door without looking back.

When she was out of the room, he walked to the waiting Mark whose busy looking at the folder in his hands.

"Mark, call the security agency and tell them to have permanent securities for Mrs. Steele. Make sure it will be the same people and remind them that as usual, they should keep their distance unless necessary."

After he told his PA, Jared took the folder his PA handed to him. He opens it and then read while sitting on the couch.

On the other hand, confusion reigns in Katelyn's mind as she sits down on her table. She thought that Jared seems odd. She cannot pinpoint it, but she is sure of it. He looked at her tenderly earlier as if she is his most cherished person.

"Oh, don't be assuming, Katelyn. He was behaving differently because of a misunderstanding between him and his girlfriend," she chided herself.

As much as she wanted to have him to herself, being a scapegoat is not on her agenda.

But she noticed her body has no sense of uprightness because it just melts with just one touch from him.

"Hey, what happened to you? Did Mr. Steele get angry or what?

"Ah, I'm sorry my mind was elsewhere. What did you ask again?"

"You sound as if Mr. Steele had reprimanded you. Now you got me scared. Mr. Miller told me that I have to do overtime again, with what just happened, surely Mr. Steele will find faults in whatever I will be doing." Michelle told her while making small movements of her hands as if that action can ease her worries.

"He did not get angry with me. I was thinking of something else. So don't worry, go inside and do your best." She finally told Michelle as a pity to the latter overcomes her.

After being assured, Michelle took a deep breath and then walks to the office.

Left alone, she removes her phone from her drawer. She calls Tess only to hear that her friend has a dinner engagement with her mother. Nicole, on the other hand, is with her boyfriend. So Katelyn has no choice but to explore the mall in solitude.

After window shopping in the different luxury shops of bags and shoes empty-handed, Katelyn entered into male clothing. Though she knows for a fact that her husband's clothes are mostly bespoke, but then she thought that "there is no harm in checking out there styles," hence she proceeded.

"Blimey! Is that you, Kate?" An ecstatic voice asked her.

With her eyes on the shirt she was holding, she turned her face to where the voice was and saw her friend Elizabeth's wide smile. Instead of being jubilant, Katelyn only feels the horror. She knows that her pale skin must have turned paperwhite as she felt the blood drain from her face for the moment's unexpectedness.

But Elizabeth must not have noticed her reaction as she hugged her tightly.

"I can't believe that I will see you here, Kate," Elizabeth told her after the hug, and then the former took a step forward and looked at her up and down." I think the U.S. suits you; you have this glow that was not there back in England. I am sure Eddy will be ecstatic to see you. I can't wait to tell him that we've met here."

"How can she tell Liz not to tell her brother of her whereabouts without her asking for a reason?"

To avoid more questions and transmit a signal of her apprehensions in meeting her friend unexpectedly, Katelyn decided to change the topic by asking," Are you on holiday here?"

"Sort of, but it's more of getting to know the family of my mom's friends. How about you, are you on holiday too?"

"No, I am working here."

"Ahh! No wonder that Eddy tried to call your phone, but you are not answering. You know that you are always welcome to work in our company; in fact, it was the reason that he was trying to contact you."

She knew Eddy would find a way to help her, they had been friends since their secondary school days, but she doesn't want to impose on him, especially that his mother doesn't like her.

Though Lizzy was her classmate since primary school, she is closer to her older brother, Edward.

They were both a member of the Math Club and the activities that they always joined together to help them form a good friendship. Later on, he joined the dance club where she was in, too, to his mother's dismay.

As the future Earl of Knighton and the head of their family business, his mother wanted that he only pursue matters concerning its betterment.

"Which companies are you connected with?"

Lizzy questions returned her thoughts to the present, but before she can answer, a woman in her fifties, with regal bearing walked towards them, followed by the two saleswomen, carrying a shirt and the other neckties."

"Lizzy darling, do you think this will be good for this shirt?" the older woman raised the necktie near the shirt while asking Lizzy and got her friend's attention, leaving Katelyn to notice the shirt that she still holds.

She put it back in the display rack while hearing Lizzy tell the older woman which one is her choice.

Katelyn then turned to her friend to bid her goodbye, but then the older woman looked at her, and Lizzy noticed it too and immediately introduced her to the older woman.

"Why should it be the mother of Blake, of all the people to meet?"

"Why don't you come and have dinner with us so you and Lizzy can talk?" Mrs. Baker asked her.

Lizzy immediately turned to her and added, "Yes, Kate, you know I don't have any friends here yet, and we still have a lot of catching up."

"Thank you, Mrs. Baker, for the invitation, but I am sorry, maybe next time?" She asked the last few words to her friend.

"Ah, Kate, how I wish that you can eat with us, so we will have time to chat."

She missed her friend and wanted to reminiscence about their past, but now, her life is different. Besides, she doesn't wish Lizzy to know yet her reason for being here in New York.

"Darling, maybe your friend has some prior engagement, so she can't come with us."

Mrs. Baker told Lizzy, and then she looked at Katelyn, smiled, and then said, "Elizabeth will be staying with us for a month, and as you are her friend," the older woman then looked at her friend with fondness in her eyes before continuing, "and she is like a daughter to me, you are welcome to my house anytime that you can."

After giving her an invitation, Mrs. Baker then turned to Lizzy and added," you talk a bit with your friend while I settle for the bill."

Once Mrs. Baker is a few meters away from them, Lizzy turned to her," Can I not change your mind and go with us?" As if the latter know that she had already made up her mind not to go with them, she did not insist anymore but rather open her bag and took out her phone.

"Before I forget to get your number, give it to me."

Katelyn took the phone that Lizzy gave, typed her contact details, and returned the phone once finished. It was also the time that Mrs. Bakers had finished with her purchase.

She went out of the shops together with them with the saleswoman carrying Mrs. Baker's purchased. Two men in the black suit took each bag that the saleswoman had. Their gesture made Katelyn realized that they are the personal guards of the older woman.

Seeing those two bodyguards is the first time she realized the reality of what her life will become if it will be made known her being the wife of the CEO of the Steele Group of Companies. She will also have constant securities.

She dreaded that time to come as she like her freedom the most, but then she thought of her husband. He has his bodyguard, but she only sees them when they go out of the company or their apartment premises, and they only follow them in another car. She had not seen them that close like Mrs. Bakers does, so maybe she will not feel restrained like Jared.

She looked at her friend, bid her goodbye and Mrs. Bakers with that thought in mind. She then walked in the opposite direction from them.

The growling of her stomach reminded her that it's time to eat, and she directly went to a fast-food restaurant to grab a sandwich. She had just finished the last bite on it when her phone rings and seeing Jared's name as the caller; she immediately answers the phone.

He did what he said earlier, call her once they are already going home. She grabbed her bag, stands up from her chair, and then walked out to meet him in the car park.

To her surprise, there was only Jared on the driver's seat, and once inside the car, curiosity made her ask," Where are Mark and Mr. Martin?"

"I let them go home first," he answered while she fastened her seat belt.

"Did you have fun with your friends?"

"No, we did not meet as they have prior engagement already," more of a disappointment than a complaint in her voice as she told him at the same time settling comfortably on the chair.

"So, this entire time, you were just inside the mall alone?"

She immediately turned to look at him to tell him about her friend. The light on the post made her see the concern in his eyes and halted her from saying anything. She savors the moment of being worried by the man that everyone thought not capable of having that emotion.

She wanted to touch those knitted brows, and only Jared's voice made her realize that she had done it.

"Oh, sorry, I just don't want you to have wrinkles on your head, so I did that." She explained while sitting straight on her seat and then castrated herself from acting into her imagination.

But Jared hands catching hers made her eyes widen, and turned back to look at him again.

He raised her hands and put it on to where it was before while she looked at him as he said, "I don't mind you doing this. I think you should learn how to do massage."

"Blimey! What are you thinking?" she hastily withdraws her hand and sits up straight while his laughter envelops the car.

It seems like he will not stop laughing and afraid that it will attract anyone's attention; she covers his mouth with her hands, surprising him and herself with her action.

Eyes full of wonder looked into each other, and then she slowly removed her hands as the realization hit her, she again touched him.

It seems like she is now starting to seduce her husband, unintentionally.

But before her hand can be away from his mouth, he holds it and then asked, "Is my wife trying to seduce me?"

"Ye...Oh no, of course not," she answered without looking at his eyes else hers would betray what is in her mind.

"What if I tell my wife that I want her to tempt me too?"

The suggestive words and his flirtatious voice made Katelyn feel that the room became hotter, and the heat all centered on her face. This time she loses her tongue as no words came out from her mouth for a retort, leaving her only with a gaping mouth.

As if it was enough for an answer, Jared's mouth covers her in a second. Unprepared for the sudden invasion of his mouth to hers, she was left wide eyes only for a fleeting time.

His kisses are like a stimulus that gone wayward and send multiple signals to her body, making her senses overreacting.

She forgets that they were in a car, as what's on her mind is to let out this overpowering sensation that she feels, else she will burst from it.

They were both unaware of whoever unfasten their seat belt or when did they do that. It was only the loud thud that made Jared and Katelyn realized where they are.

They immediately sat on their chair and settled their breath. Katelyn then looked down and saw the culprit, his cellphone. She picked it up and gave it back to him without looking at his face.

Ashamed of her wantonness made her shy to look at Jared, but he raised her face as if he knows what is tormenting her. He said, "I am not sorry it happened. I needed it."

Speechless, she then felt him fasten her seat belt.

"Let's get out of here," the words he said and the urgency on it made her nods for agreement.

END OF PART 22

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