Jayden's POV

"Isabella? What about her?" I question with furrowed brows, my heart racing.

Did something happen to her? Is she ok? Did she attempt to take her life for what I did?

Gabriel's expression is blank for a while and I am tempted to move closer, jerk him so he will tell me what it is before my heart bursts out of my chest.

"Gabriel?" I call out. "Did something happen to Isabella?"

"No!" He answers sharply.

"No?" I don't know whether to be relieved or not. That came out fast and I don't know what to think.

"Don't you think it is high time you guys sort yourselves out?" He asks and I roll my eyes and turn my back to him again.

"Is that why you are here?" I thought he came here to apologize. I see he is still bent on making me date Isabella and make all of this real.

"Yes, and also to apologize for how I spoke to you the other time. I was just pissed…"

"Pissed?" I twirl back abruptly to face him again. "Pissed that I am doing the right thing?"

"The right thing?" He scoffs. "Did you just say the right thing? Tell me what is right about all of this. I won't be pissed if you hadn't had sex with her. What does sex in marriage signify to you?"

"Says a man who is unfaithful to his wife", I retort back at him and he went silent. "How can you of all people lecture me about what's right in marriage? How long have you been married? How long have you been cheating on Sabrina?"

"This isn't about me, Jayden", he grits his teeth, his face turning red in anger.

I have hit that spot. His anger spot.

"If this isn't about you, then is it about me? You can't lecture me on what is right when you aren't even doing what is right to your own real wife. Isabella and I aren't real so…"

"Shut the f*** up, Jackass!" He snaps at me, then takes three long strides towards me. "Don't you dare bring up my wife and me into your conversations ever again."

"Why?" I raise a shoulder. "Do you feel guilty for always cheating on her?"

"What the hell is wrong with you? I stopped", he shouts but I am not shaken. "I already stopped a long time ago."

"Well, I don't think you have."

"How could you know if I have stopped or not? Have you ever seen me in the club…"

"Don't ask me bullshit. You know I won't go to that club unless we want to meet so how am I supposed to know?"

Silence creeps in slowly as his jaws clench and his breathing becomes heavy.

Why are we even talking about him? This is about Isabella, right?

He shakes his head, facepalms himself, and chuckles deeply to himself before looking up.

"This is enough to make me stop being friends with you, Jayden but I won't be doing this if you don't mean a lot to me. Isabella is a good woman and everyone can see it. If you let her go, you will never find a woman like her ever again. The mistake is done already, why not go with the flow? Why do you have to ruin the beautiful thing springing up between you two? Can't you be selfless for once in your life?!"

The last statement gets to me. He has been making a lot of sense until the last statement.

I point a finger at him, feeling my uprising anger. "This is the most selfless decision ever. I can't ruin her. That girl has a beautiful soul in and out. How can I let her in..."

"This is still about Helena, right?" He interrupts me from going further, his eyes boring into mine to find an answer to his question.

"This is about your past, right? Have you ever thought of seeing Helena smile down at you from the heavens for not only making the right choice by giving the relationship a chance again but also because you've got yourself the most beautiful woman ever who is just like a replica of her? What if this is meant to be? What if you and Isabella are meant to be? Don't you ever notice the similarities between her and Helena? Helena would want you to be happy, Jayden and I believe Isabella is the woman for you."

Helena would want you to be happy, it rings a bell in my head.

Isabella once said that to me.

But Helena isn't happy. She isn't smiling down at me. She isn't even crying and it troubles my heart. I want to know what she feels so desperately.

"The longer you keep holding onto the past, the more distance you are going to create between you and Isabella. You might lose her eventually to another man."

"Another man?"

That gets my attention. Did Gabriel see any man with Isabella? Has Romeo come to New York?

Instead of replying to me, he touches my left shoulder and says, "I'm really glad things didn't work out between you and Eunice. I'm glad you got married to Isabella instead."

Then he turns back to leave.

"What do you mean by another man?" This is my major concern.

He shrugs nonchalantly and I am thinking he won't answer. I am about to shout at him to tell me what he means when he stops by the doorway.

"Who knows? Isabella might meet another man at the party tonight and that…"

"Party? What party?" I demand hastily, my hands balling into a fist.

"She went to a party with Sabrina and Eunice. They insisted on hooking her up with a man tonight", he replies, flashing me a smile before going out.

I watch him go as the word process slowly in my head.

"Shit!" I curse out loudly before grabbing my car keys and my phone.

Running to take the exit out, I curse again beneath my breath.

****

Is Jayden scared that Isabella will meet a good-looking dude at the party?😅😂

Why is he running to take the exit out? Is he done playing the cold-hearted man?

Air your views and don't forget to VOTE.

There will be no other update today, sorry. I will be very busy because today is a very important day for me. I am graduating from culinary school today and I am excited about it.

I will be among the chefs for today's event. We are going to be cooking for our guests and serving them ourselves and we will be given our certificates after the whole program is done.

Wish me luck.

💓