“I see.” I no longer asked who Jakara was. It was something personal and I was reluctant to delve deeper into it.
He threw a glance at me with an amused smile. “Do you want to know about her?”
I stared at him with doubtful eyes and asked, “You are willing to talk to me about her?”
“Why not?” He chuckled. “Since you know a lot about my life and all the betrayals, I don’t consider it wrong if I add some more to it.”
“Okay, then. I’ll listen.”
“I met Jakara when…” Kim began, but he suddenly stopped.
I followed his eyes outside the windshield, looking at the jogger who passed by. To my surprise, it was Zed. He stopped over a bench, drops of sweat trickling down his face. I froze as I watched him bending over, placing his hands slightly wider than his shoulder’s length on both corners of the bench Then, he pushed his body forward and up in repeated cycles.
I debated whether or not I should go down and greet him, but I was afraid he would misinterpret once he’d know I was with Kim. I didn’t tell him, either, that I was with Ara to have dinner with Maezy’s family. Zed never asked me to report everything I do or wherever I go. I had all the freedom to do my ways.
“Yen, I will explain,” Kim’s voice snapped me out from my thoughts. His eyes were full of worries.
“No need. Just take me home. Perhaps, something happened to his appointment tonight. He won’t usually go home as early as now.”
Kim reached out for my hand and squeezed it. I froze for a few seconds.
“I’m sorry for causing trouble, Yen. I didn’t mean it.”
“No, you don’t.” I smiled awkwardly. I was then grateful that he didn’t turn on the light, or else he would see my facial expression.
“Thanks for being a friend.”
The awkward smile on my face quickly faded away. Never did I expect that he would give my little act of compassion a meaning.
“I’m always here to listen if you need one,” I forced myself to say it, but a voice in my mind reminded me that I shouldn’t make friends with him. He was a man, and I was a married woman. He was the man in my dreams, and I even got infatuated with him.
“I’ll count on that.”
I watched Zed doing push-up exercises as the car slowly moved away from the site. None between Kim and I dared to talk, and the three-minute ride ended so soon. We just had a turn-around the subdivision before pulling in front of our gate.
“Thanks again, Yen. See you at the office soon.”
“You’re welcome.”
As my fingers fumbled on the seatbelt, Kim suddenly leaned closer to me and planted a kiss in my temple. I stiffened, but my mind reasoned out. It was just a friendly kiss, I thought. No malice, apparently. This was the normal thing we do inside the business and family circle. He had someone in his heart, and that was Jakara Blue. I then laughed at the thought—how many people were there using the name Jakara?
“Good night, Yen!”
“Good night.”
I stepped out of the car without giving him a second glance. I didn’t want him to see me blushing with his perfunctory kiss. And most of all, I had no right to feel this way.
Just as I was about to get inside, an arm wrapped around my waist. I could feel that my heart suddenly skipped a beat. I thought it was Kim again, but to my relief, it was Zed.
“Oh, why are you in that attire? Aren’t you supposed to be doing a lecture tonight?”
Zed wiped his face with a towel before he answered. “There was a miscommunication between the organizer and the hotel receptionist. It turned out that someone else had booked the function room ahead of us. And since there were no vacant halls anymore, we canceled the meeting.”
“I see.”
I went directly to the sofa and slumped my heavy body in it. My guilt and my condition made me feel so exhausted.
“Excuse me, dear. I’m going to the bathroom.”
“Okay,” I answered lazily. I raised my legs and placed my whole body on the sofa while my back was resting on the armrest.
“By the way,” Zed’s voice suddenly floated in my ear. I looked at him and saw that he was already midway on the staircase.
“I saw you in Maezy’s house earlier. You were throwing up at the side of the road. I was about to go down, but Mr. Kim came down ahead of me. He lifted you and placed you inside the car.”
I got dumbfounded, and anger immediately flashed in my eyes. “Why didn’t you approach us? We were just there for a couple of minutes until we decided to leave the place.”
“Yes. I also saw the car in the park.”
“And?”
“I might be disturbing you, so I didn’t approach you.”
I couldn’t describe what I felt at that moment. Anger, guilt, and pity washed over me. If he got mad at me, I would have accepted it. I was at fault. But he didn’t.
“Excuse me, dear. I’ll be back in a while.”
I drew in a sigh and watched him leave. I was already expecting that that was just the calm before the storm. However, I fell asleep while I got lost in my thought. Damn it, pregnancy syndrome, again.
Zed’s gentle fingers on my right foot woke me up. He was giving me a massage. I looked up to him and adjusted my position so that I could sit upright.
“Go back to sleep. I’ll carry you to the room once you’re asleep.”
I didn’t know what made him so calm. Even if I haven’t seen him getting mad before, I was not expecting that he would just let this issue pass by without clearing it out.
“Zed, Maezy invited Ara and me to a dinner in their house. I felt bad, not just because of the food, but because I found out that Maezy has another man—Jaykee’s father. She thinks Mr. Mori doesn’t know about it, and while she presumes he is out of the country, she welcomes back Mr. Yuki and even replaces the frames in the house with his photos. Of course, that’s to make Mr. Yuki believe she has no one in her life other than him. So, you see, the photo frames in the house depend on who is around. Can you take it in your heart?"
“Oh,” was all Zed could say while he shifted his fingers to my left foot.
“Then Mr. Kim suddenly arrived. Maybe he already knew what went on. So, when he saw me, he thought I could be there to listen to him. So, he invited me for a talk. And that’s how we came to the park.”
“Yes, indeed. He needs someone to talk to. That’s so kind of you.”
I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears. I sat up and gathered my brows as I confronted him.
“Zed, are you sure you don’t feel bad about me being with Kim?”