THE LAST MINUTE GROOM : CHAPTERS 51 – 60
BY SIR ZACH
CHAPTER 54
The next day, Jeslyn went to the cinema with Valen. The day had no drama like yesterday. The two of them plus Pink and Blue had a great time because Jeslyn didn’t exclude them from the fun. I mean, she has the money now, so why not.
Last night, she asked Maverick about the card and he replied: “I didn’t pay your dowry.” Meaning if it was her dowry. What a lovely man.
While watching the movie, Jeslyn excused herself to use the restroom. Just when she entered the cubicle, she heard the main door slam shut. She didn’t freak out because it was the lady’s room.
THE LAST MINUTE GROOM : CHAPTERS 51 – 60
After a while, Jeslyn came out of the cubicle to wash her hands in the sink. While doing so, she raised her head to look at the mirror and was almost frightened out of her mind.
Resting lazily on a cubicle with hands folded on his chest was…Ray.
“So it’s true, you are alive.” He stood upright and started walking towards Jeslyn.
Jeslyn didn’t bother to pretend because she knew it would be futile and time-consuming. “So what if you know?” She asked as she stared daggers at him.
“I have been searching everywhere for you. I– I thought you were really gone. It drove me crazy and–”
“If I understand what you are saying, It means, you care?” Seeing him silent, Jeslyn snorted and decided it was time to leave.
As she walked past him, Ray grabbed her wrist and stopped her without looking at her. “I’m sorry, Jeslyn. I was wrong.” He confessed.
Ray waited for a while. Still not hearing her say anything, he turned and pulled her closer with a small distance between them.
“Jeslyn, I was a jerk. I deserve all your anger, punishment, and everything you can do to me. You can also hit me with a car, I won’t mind but please, don’t ignore me like this, I beg you.”
Hearing that, Jeslyn’s eyes shook for a moment before they regained calm. “Good thing you know I was the driver of that car. I’m not done with her, when I’m done, you’ll be the next. Ray, I’ll make you suffer so much that you’ll wish you were dead…”
“I know I deserve it. No matter what you want to do to me, I will endure it, but please–”
“Ray, to think you still have the audacity to come to me after all you did? If I can forgive you for hurting me, I’ll never forgive you for killing my grandfather. If you know what’s best for you, go and start making preparations for your funeral because, by the time I’m done with you all, no one will be left in your family to care about your dead body.” She flung his hand away from his hold and proceeded forward.
Ray turned sharply. With a swift move, he pressed her against the cubicle and lowered his head to kiss her. She loved his lips a lot. Ray knew that because he had seen her countless times staring at his lips. If he had known he would have kissed her then but now…
Jeslyn forcefully pushed him away and a loud resounding slap echoed in the place. “How dare you!”
Jeslyn stopped talking when the cubicle neck to theirs was opened and a girl walked out.
“Excuse me, Mr. Ray, this is the ladies’ room and you shouldn’t be here. I have texted my friends and they should be informing the security men by now. So, you should leave.”
Ray looked at Jeslyn and touched her jaw. Immediately Jeslyn slapped his hand away. “I’ll find you.” He threw the words at her before opening the door and going out.
“Are you ok, ma’am?” The lady earlier asked with concern in her voice.
“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”
“No, it’s nothing. These rich men that’s what they do. They go about making life difficult for weak young ladies.”
Jeslyn smiled faintly.
“I’m Vera, by the way.” She introduced herself.
“I’m… Rossa.” She blurted out without thinking.
“I heard him call you Jeslyn and it made me think you were the Lee’s daughter.”
“Oh… I guess he saw something in me that reminded him of Jeslyn.” She smiled awkwardly.
“That’s understandable. By the way, Rossa? Your name sounds beautiful, just like you.”
“Thank you, Vera. I need to go now, my family must be waiting for me.”
“Oh yeah, that’s nice. I came alone. I don’t have family or friends.” She smiled bitterly.
Jeslyn suddenly thought of herself and immediately understood how she felt.
“I tell you what. Let’s exchange numbers. I’ll give you a call later.” Jeslyn said and pulled out her phone from the bag.
Vera was really excited. Now she would have someone to talk to until she returns to Country Y.
Both ladies waved each other goodbyes and separated. While going back to the cinema, Jeslyn spotted Pink walking down the long passageway.
“What took you so long?” Pink looked behind Jeslyn but couldn’t find anyone.
“Nothing, It took longer than I expected. Is Valen still in?” She asked.
“The child felt bored without you and wanted to leave.”
“Ok, that’s better. I also want to leave.”
The four of them left the cinema and went to other places that Valen wanted to go.
THE LAST MINUTE GROOM : CHAPTERS 51 – 60
A week flew by in a blink of an eye. Jeslyn and Vera became good friends online. Although they hardly saw each other, they were ok with it. Besides, Valen started to feel feverish recently, so Jeslyn halted all their activities and decided to stay at home with him.
They sleep together on the same bed with Jeslyn hugging him to sleep.
But this night wasn’t going to be like every other peaceful night because Maverick got two good news.
He walked into Jeslyn’s room and saw she was petting the child to sleep.
“She’s awake.”
“Who?” Jeslyn asked but immediately connected the dots and jerked up to a sitting position. “when?”
“A few seconds ago.”
“When can I–”
“Now.”
“But what about Valen? His body is still warm.” She shifted her gaze to the child under the duvet.
“Get Pink to stay with him.”
“Ok,” Jeslyn made a call to Pink before she went to get ready. They will be returning to Country M tomorrow, so whatever she needs to do has to be done tonight. By the time she was done dressing up, Pink was already in the room.
Jeslyn left with Maverick who offered to drive her there.
Inside the car parked in the hospital’s garage, Jeslyn asked: “there are lots of CCTVs in the hospital.”
“They’ve been taken care of ” Maverick answered mindlessly before Jeslyn got down from the car. While she goes into the hospital, Maverick remains in his car.
…
THE LAST MINUTE GROOM : CHAPTERS 51 – 60
*Inside the hospital…*
Jeslyn was surprised to see a lady hand her a nurse’s uniform. She was suspicious at first but when the lady called Rex, she understood that she was one of them.
A while later, Jeslyn entered the VIP ward. She saw her stepmother lying there helplessly with nobody by her side.
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. I thought your whole family would be here taking care of you. What a sad life.” Jeslyn mocked.
Like she heard what was said, Madam Chen opened her eyes and was shocked to see Jeslyn.
“Hi, dear, it’s been a long time… no, actually it’s been a few days. How have you been?” Jeslyn shook her head. “how would you know when you have been sleeping?
Madam Chen continued to look at Jeslyn with wide eyes.
“I have been around you for some days now and guess what, I put you in this condition. Hahaha… don’t you like it? Of course, you should. I told you that I’ll make you curse that day we met at the mall but I bet you didn’t take me seriously. It wasn’t my intention to start with you but after being yourself to me on a platter of gold, you don’t expect me not to accept with a smile, right?”
“Hmmm….hmmm..ummmmmm”
“Stop making so much noise. No one is here, not even outside to save you, so save me the trouble… my mother was good to you and you decided to pay her back with evil. Once I’m done with you, your husband would be the next target…or should I say, he’s already falling into the trap. Hahaha…”
“Hmmm… hmmm…” the woman started to struggle and her machine began to beep nonstop.
Jeslyn sighed. “Even now, you are giving me trouble. I don’t have the whole day with you, my husband and son need me.” Jeslyn took out a syringe from her pocket and removed the lid before injecting it into Madam Chen’s drip. Then she pulled out another and injected her shoulder.
In no time, Madam Chen drifted to sleep before Jeslyn left the hospital.
Jeslyn got in the car in time to see Maverick putting away his black laptop.
“You had fun,” he stated before driving the car away from the parking lot.
“Not exactly but I’m pleased to know that she would be suffering for a long time.”
“Six months.”
“Huh?” Jeslyn asked in confusion.
“She will die in six months.” He replied
“Oh, that’s a short time, but it’s fine.”
“Ehm…Maverick, I’ve been thinking… Well, uhm, I wanted to ask. What happened to Valen’s mom?” She looked at his side profile. She knew they weren’t close enough to talk about these things but curiosity got the best of her.
“Why?” He asked without looking at her.
“I just… I’m wondering what would happen if she returns while we were still… you know, married.” She lowered her eyes at her wedding ring, then shifted her gaze to his fingers but there was no wedding ring on it.
This wasn’t the first time she noticed it. He doesn’t wear his wedding rings. Not that it mattered though, after all, the ring was never his size, so… but then, why was she feeling…disappointed?
Wait! Is this the feeling of disappointment? But why? It never mattered to her, so why is she suddenly feeling bad about it? This is stupid. It must have been that she’s unknowingly stressed out because of Valen’s condition, yes, that’s right. She concluded.
“She left. She won’t return…she doesn’t want to return.” He replied with his eyes still on the road. He had searched everywhere for Vera but it’s like she disappeared into thin air.
Did he just explain to her? Like, he really answered her!
Jeslyn was elated. She immediately started to test the waters with the questions she had in mind for a long time, hoping he would answer a few, if not all.
“Did you two have a fight?”
“Hmm,”
“Oh…that’s bad. But you shouldn’t have let her leave. Why didn’t you go after her?”
Maverick flattened his lips into a thin line. After a long time, he parted his lips: “I did.” He replied without much interest.
Jeslyn immediately knew at once that he didn’t want to talk about that, so she changed the topic.
“Valen missed her a lot. Although he looked tough, that child is a bunny inside, just like me.” She smiled bitterly. “He doesn’t deserve to be treated that way by the both of you.” She paused to rein in her emotions.
“Maverick, are you aware that that boy has so many traumas? He is literally like every other child that wants to cuddle up in the middle of his parents. Deep down, that boy wants to run around the compound laughing out loud with you and his mother playing with water guns. He wants to attend a regular school like every other kid out there. That child wants to wear colored clothes, and he wants to eat what every other child is allowed to eat, but Valen was forced to be reserved because of how you and that vixen raised him. And his mother too, I want to slap her across the face and say mean things to her when I see her one day.”
THE LAST MINUTE GROOM : CHAPTERS 51 – 60
After she was done ranting, that was when she realized Maverick had pulled up and was staring at her. Jeslyn coughed awkwardly and blushed due to embarrassment. She knew she had crossed the line.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have interfered in how you raise your son, but I couldn’t help it.”
“Why did I marry you?” He didn’t sound angry nor joyful.
“I’m not sure.” She replied.
“I married you so you could change him.”
“Huh?”
“I brought you in when Mulan was still there and didn’t fire her because I wanted him to see the difference between you both and make a choice on how he wanted to live his remaining days.”
Maverick took a deep breath. He didn’t believe he would start explaining his actions one day. Here he was trying to explain his reasons to this woman. Why?
Jeslyn swallowed. Was he explaining himself to her? Maverick doesn’t do that, so why? He used to ignore her when she asked personal questions. So what changed now?
“Ah? What do you mean by ‘his remaining days’?” It finally hit Jeslyn that Maverick’s words were ambiguous.
Maverick turned his gaze to the road and started the car. After a long silence, he finally spoke up. “He’s sick… the same virus as yours.”
Jeslyn got the biggest shock of her life after hearing that. “Wh– wha– what do you mean?”
He looked at her without answering and took his phone from the phone stand. With one hand on the steering, the other scrolled through his phone until he found what he was looking for. A chat between him and matt.
He threw the phone on her lap and focused on driving.
Jeslyn mindlessly picked it up and started to go through the conversation. It was all about the progress of the sickness. She stopped reading when she saw the part where Matt said the child only has between a year and two to live. He also said that the symptoms wouldn’t be frequent nor would they be serious. Sometimes it might be a mild headache, other times it might be a cold or mild fever. When those signs show up, the child should be sent to the laboratory.
“Why haven’t you sent him there?” She asked in a tearful voice.
“Matt is out of the Country.”
“Th– then? Send Valen somewhere else!” Jeslyn felt a sharp pain tearing her heart apart. She clenched her chest as she let out a heart-wrenching scream. “Why? Just why should it be Valen? Why is he being made to go through so much pain? Why?!!”
Jeslyn cried so much that in no time, she started to hiccup. Why is everyone she loves leaving her? She had just gotten comfortable with Valen only for this to be happening. “Do the gods hate me this much?”
Maverick brushed his fingers through his thick hair. “Valen will be fine.”
“H– how?” She sniffed with tears running down her cheeks.
He turned his head in her direction and said: “The research is almost complete.”
“Re– really?”
Maverick nodded. “He’ll think I made you cry.”
“Who?”
“Your son,” he replied before facing the road.
THE LAST MINUTE GROOM : CHAPTERS 51 – 60
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