Jayden's POV

The silent ride home gives me enough time to think about everything that is happening and what just happened between Mother and me before she went home with her driver.

I haven't said a single word to Jude since I climbed into the car and he began to drive me home. But I have to tell him to wait for me to take a quick shower and change into something light so he can drive me to where Gabriel and I will be meeting.

I have been avoiding Isabella and sometimes I sleep in my office while other times, I sleep on the sofa.

Things have been really awkward between us ever since that day. I have been trying not to let it get into the way of our new friendship but it is getting in the way. I can't just pretend the kiss didn't happen.

I find it very hard to sleep on the same bed with her too, for fear that I would lose my cool and act on impulse. I had no idea what came over me that day. Maybe it was because she looked like Helena that day and she reminded me of Helena, the way she was dancing all around in my shirt and nothing else but a bum short.

It felt familiar. And surprisingly I was happy. It was just as if Helena was there. Right there and I was fucking happy like I haven't been in two years.

Maybe that was why I kissed her. I was out of my senses.

Isabella tried to bring it up but I stopped her. She tried to strike up a conversation with me on our way back but I enjoyed the silence better so I ignored her till we got home.

She has been playing a great part in ignoring me too and it hurts like hell. I don't know what she thinks of me now. I already promised to do everything within my power not to hurt or mistreat but here I am ignoring her like a piece of shit.

I can't just help it. I don't want to do something I would regret. Isabella deserves someone better. Not a broken man like me who doesn't know what he wants and who is incapable of loving a woman.

She deserves a man who can't love her with everything in him. Passionately and purely.

I am not the one for her and she knows it. I just don't know why she didn't push me away when I kissed her. If she had pushed me away then we would have tagged everything as a mistake but she didn't push me away. It seems she enjoyed it too just like I did.

F**k! I groan inwardly as the car comes to a stop in front of the gate which opens automatically before he drives in.

He parks the car in the driveway and climbs down to open the car for me.

"Wait up, I will be out in a jiffy", I say to him as I get down from the car with my briefcase. He nods so I stroll to the front door.

Gabriel must be waiting for me already. He said he doesn't want us to be out for too long so he could get home right on time for Sabrina to be done with the outing with her friends.

I rush towards the staircase when I am inside, thinking of what casual wear to put on, even though it is based on a business outing.

We might have dinner out too so I won't take dinner before leaving. I get to the door and knock before entering.

I am in a haste to even realize I haven't knocked in days. I just entered because Isabella and I don't talk to each other and I see no reason why I should knock because it feels like I will be trying to talk to her if I knock on the door before entering.

To me, it was too much of a courtesy.

But today, I knocked and I still don't have the intention of going along with her. I need time. Time to get rid of that kiss out of my head.

I figure the whole thing is still very much present in my head because it isn't up to a week. By the time it is up to a week, I must have myself buried in work already to think of any fu**ing kiss.

Just like I predicted, Isabella is sitting up in bed but with her back to me. All this while, she is usually in bed whenever I arrive but with a book in her hand which she was always reading, pretending not to know that I am home and she isn't the only one in the room.

She doesn't even spare me a glance but I sometimes find myself peeking to catch the name of the book she is reading.

She loves romance books too much and I guess that's why she has a strong conviction of pure love and probably the real reason why she wants to go to Italy to find love.

It's absurd.

Going to another country to find love. It is cliche and stupid but I will allow her to go. That is the least I can do for her.

You don't need to go anywhere to find love. It finds you wherever you are but I can't tell her that because she might think I don't want her to go or because I don't want to sponsor the trip as promised.

The thought of having her around Alejandro all through the trip is disturbing as well. He is a charmer.

I drop the briefcase on the floor beside the bed and pull the suit off my body before dumping it on the bed. When I turn to see if Isabella is watching, I see her folding clothes, and my breathing hitched in my throat.

She is packing? Why is she folding her clothes like someone who is packing up to leave? Is it because of what happened between us? Is she tired of me giving her cold shoulders?

I sigh and walk around to grab my towel from the closet so it can allow me to see what she is actually doing.

There is a small handbag on the floor beside her suitcase and she is folding the clothes and dropping them carefully in the suitcase.

My eyes grow large and I am tempted to ask her what she is doing and where she is going.

Why the hell will she keep threatening to leave when there is a contract binding us together? She can't leave until after a year. Can't she get that?

I hiss loudly and dash to the bathroom. My heart is pounding wildly in my rib cage and I can't figure out if this is a result of the fear that she would leave eventually and I will have to face my mother and the public tomorrow.

What excuse can I give my mother?

I know I was able to convince her that Isabella is here to stay and she isn't after my money.

What if she leaves now and mother gets to hear about it, won't she go back to her belief of Isabella being a gold digger? Won't I be an object of ridicule to the public for being unable to keep my wife for a few more months? How can our marriage be over in just one month?

Unable to peel my clothes off my body to take a shower, I throw the door open and come out with the towel still in my hand firmly.

I walk towards her and stop right in front of her. She ignores me for a while as I try to calm my breathing, then she looks up.

Her eyes are swollen like she has been crying. Her hair is disheveled like she hasn't taken a bath in days.

I look past the appearance and the tug at my heart. "Where are you going?"

"Excuse me?" She furrows her brows as if she can't understand what I am talking about.

Can't she stop pretending for once? Wait, was she trying to sneak away before I came back from work? Now that I am back she wants to pretend as if she wasn't planning to leave.

"Did you read the contract well?" I ask her again and she looks confused for a while before nodding her head. "It was stated there that if any one of us goes against the contract, then the default will have to pay the sum of…." I trail off, remembering that the price listed there was a million dollars and it won't scare her if I tell her it is a million dollars.

I know she didn't read the contract well. She only glanced through and quickly signed it in fear that I would change my mind and she won't get the money I promised to pay her immediately for her Grandma's surgery.

A million dollars is what my mother is offering her to leave me. If I tell her it is a million dollars, then it won't be a problem because she can easily contact my mother to accept her offer and get the million dollars to pay me off before leaving.

No!

She can't leave.

I shift uncomfortably, her puzzled eyes staring intensely at me. She must be really surprised that I am talking to her and of all things to say, I am talking about the contract.

I clear my throat and continue. "If you leave, you will be asked to pay the sum of two million dollars for going against the contract", I say to her.

"I never knew it was that much", she replies nonchalantly, even though she seems surprised by the large amount of money.

I nod. "So it's better you don't leave."

"What makes you think I was leaving?" She continues to fold her clothes.

"You are packing your things", I say, pointing to the clothes all around her. "Aren't you leaving?"

"No!" She responds sharply. My mouth drops open and the towel leaves my hand. She chuckles. "I wasn't leaving but I had plans to go out tonight, though. I was just thinking of how to tell you."

"Going out? Where?" I can't believe her. She must be kidding me. First, she was packing and now she is telling me she wants to go out.

"To Sabrina's place. I'm bored", she complains and I suddenly feel bad for her.

"Sabrina?" I ask her. If it is Sabrina's place then that isn't a problem. She wasn't really leaving then. All I need to do is take her there myself since Gabriel and I will be leaving, then after the meeting with Gabriel, we will go straight to his place so I can pick Isabella up from there and we can come home afterward.

Great idea!

"Yes, can I?" She questions with a skeptical look on her face.

"Sure, you can go", I say, picking up the towel from the floor.

"Really?" Her eyes beam with happiness and I find myself smiling. "Thank you."

"Yes but you are going with me…"

"What?" Her smile vanishes into thin air almost immediately. "Going with you? Why?"

I smirk and turn back to go to the bathroom. "Gabriel and I are meeting tonight so I will drop you off at his place..."

I open the bathroom door and enter. When I am inside, after making sure that the door is locked, I finish up the incomplete statement to myself

"...That way, you won't be able to leave even if you have the intention of leaving. You are stuck with me for one f***ing YEAR!"

****

Now, Jayden is becoming something else. What exactly does he want from our dear Isabella?

If you are in Isabella's shoes, what will you do?

Air your views and don't forget to vote.

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