Chapter 41: Chapter 41

Chapter Forty — One

Ava's POV

“We need to talk.”

That was the first thing that Jasper told me, the moment our eyes met while looking me dead in the eyes.

For a second, I was so taken aback by his tone, tight with a bark-like sound. It made me regret coming out of my room to meet him at all. But now I could not even make up an excuse about something and disappeared from here. Maria was right here, and so I cannot say that Maria had called me to meet her.

I had no option but to face him. Therefore, I steeled my spine and got ready for the consequences of my action.

There was a clear possibility that he would fire me, but not before yelling at me for a piece of his mind. Whatever it was, one thing was certain this time, I would not get away with it.

Hence, I nodded my head, giving him the answer that he was looking for.

We did need to talk about it.

After receiving a nod of acceptance, Jasper turned to Maria.

“We will be excusing ourselves, Maria. Please make sure not to disturb us until necessary.” He instructed her. Maria nodded her head once too.

“Sure, sir. Whatever you want.” She told him before walking out of the room and going back to the kitchen. Jasper pushed his hands into his sweatpants' pockets and pinned me with a stare. But soon he moved and walked past me casually, with hands still inside his pockets.

“Follow me.” He said, as he swiftly passed me. With a sigh of my own, I followed him. To whatever place he was taking me.

We walked out of the living room and straight to a closed room that I had never been into before. He opened the door and gestured for me to go inside. Even angry, he had manners.

I walked past him straight, to what appeared to be another guest bedroom that was completely vacant at the moment. Everything here seemed so untouched and hollow that I was pretty certain that this room had not been used for a long time. A bed, side table, closest and that's pretty much it.

I heard the door slammed shut behind my back and I almost jumped at the sound of it but managed to hold myself back. I swirled around to face him. Jasper was standing with his hands in his pockets and was staring at me with a blank stare.

Even before he opened his mouth to speak, I began speaking.

“Before you go crazy on me, I just want to ask what happened here in the afternoon? What was the Tax department and all of those things?” I asked him. I waited for him to reply, but when he did not, I spoke again. Furthermore, I could not restrain myself from doing so.

“I don't know what happened. But, by the way, Maria was panicking and the way she was talking to me … Look, I know that you are angry at me but, please, I just want to know what happened in the afternoon.” I told him, desperately trying to convince him.

I knew that he was angry at me. I knew that, but I deserved to know.

“It is none of your business.” He said nonchalantly, after a few seconds of silence. His casual way of denying my concern enraged me. I almost snapped at his reply, but he spoke again.

“However, since you are asking this because of Maria, I'll tell you.” He told me. Walking a little closer, he stopped.

“It was nothing but a misunderstanding. The tax department showed up here because they thought that I didn't pay a particular tax payment and therefore, they paid this house a little visit. However, everything is settled now and there is nothing to be worried about.” Jasper told me.

The information eased my overbearing nervousness. It was good. I thought there was some serious issue that had arisen, otherwise why would the Tax department pay a visit to this house.

But then my forehead creased when another question popped into my head.

I could not stop thinking. It was one of my weaknesses.

“Wait. They almost raided this house over a misunderstanding? Didn't they have to first send a warning letter first?” I asked him.

I saw Jasper's eyes narrow, and I knew that I had crossed a line just now. The things were sensitive at the moment. Therefore I needed to trade carefully with my words, but I did not. Once again. He disliked my question. Maybe it appeared as an interrogation to him.

With his jaw clenched, and his lips thinned, he spoke again.

“That is none of your business. You don't need to worry about that.” He told me, with his tight voice.

I swallowed back a reply and shut my mouth from speaking further. This was the first time that I was witnessing an angry Jasper. So, I did not know how he would react to a retort.

Plus, he was right. This was his house and his personal matter, and I should not meddle with his personal affair, but I just could not hold myself back. After all, I was living in this place too now. And whatever concerned Maria, concerned me.

“What you saw today …” Jasper spoke. His first line had me frozen. Embarrassment filled me from the inside. However, I recovered quickly.

“I would not tell anyone.” I told him, reassuring him like I had reassured Charlotte. Straightening to my length and trying to appear stronger than I was actually feeling, I told him.

When Jasper did not react to my words, I understood what he was not saying.

“And I will pack my bags. I will leave, first thing in the morning.” I told him while looking at the ground. Likewise, I took a step to get out of the room when Jasper spoke again.

“What do you mean?” He asked me, looking a little confused.

His question confused me in return.

“To leave the house.” I told him, like duh! What else was he expecting from me? I was doing what he was asking for me to do.

“Why? Since when did 'leaving the house' come into this conversation?” He questioned me.

This was not a conversation! I wanted to bark at him.

“Well, aren't you going to throw me out and fire me now that I … I — uh, I … found out about your …” I did not know how to put THAT into words. Man, this was awkward.

“Since, now that I found out about you …” I began to speak about their affair, but cut in the middle by Jasper.

“No!” He said sharply, interrupting me in the middle.

“What you saw, in my office, wasn't meant to be seen. By you or by anyone else. What Charlotte and I have is none of anyone's business, and I did not appreciate my employees just barging inside my room like that.” He raised his hand, stopping me from defending myself.

“But I can understand why you did what you did. So, I am not going to fire you for that or throw you out of this house. However, I am warning you, if you dare to tell someone or even dare to mention it to someone then you will face consequences. And a severe one. So, don't ever speak about it again, to anyone. If you did, then, I would do so much more than just to throw you out and fire you from your job.” He warned me.

I swallowed the saliva of my mouth and nodded my head. The cold expression on his face and his serious face made me want to hide away. I was unaware that this side of him existed till now. I was not particularly sure that I liked what I was seeing.

“Okay. I understand completely.” I told him. Assuring him that I was not going to rat him out to his employees or going to gossip about him at lunch with them.

My answer and my expression seemed to ease something in him a bit because he gave me a curt nod. His expressions may have eased a little, but had not disappeared from his face completely.

I began to walk and passed him to the door when his stern voice stopped me in my tracks. My hand on the knob with my back against his face.

“And you do well to remember to knock from now on. Even if it's an emergency.” He told me. I clenched my teeth from showing how much these words had pinched me.

“Yes, Sir.” I said, my words coming out cold and emphasized with sarcasm dripping with every word. WIth that, I twisted the knob and opened the door. Leaving him standing there, on his own.

The moment I was out of that room, I ran to my bedroom and closed the door. Leaning against the wood, I took in a few deep breaths before I walked over to my bed and fell face down on it. I picked up a pillow and placed it right below my head and buried my face into the soft cushion. And then I took a deep breath.

Finally, I let all my emotions go, and I cried.

Soon the quiet and calm of my room was replaced with my crying. Soft muffled sounds of sobbing and sniffing sound filled the room. My whole body trembled with my crying, and the pillow beneath my face slowly began to get wet from my tears.

Some tears even managed to pass my cheek and onto my lips. I tasted the saltiness of my own tears, and suddenly, I began to feel stupid for crying.

Why was I crying when I was the one to bring this upon myself? I was the one to just barge inside his office. I was the witness and knew about their affair. Then it was my fault.

But it was not my fault!!

I had not witnessed them intentionally. None of those things were intentional. I would not have barged into his office if I were to know what was actually going on the other side of the door. Then why did I have to bear the consequence?

*Thud *Thud

I stopped crying for a second and raised my head when I heard the knocking on my door.

“Who's there?” I asked.

“Maria here.” Maria replied from the other side of the door. I sat up and pushed all of my hair that had fallen on my face.

“Yes, Maria.” I asked her, my voice groggy and heavy from crying.

“Ava, honey, dinner is ready. Come downstairs to eat. Or it will get cold.” Maria told me. I huffed, but I replied anyway.

“In a minute.” I told her.

Right after hearing my answer, I heard Maria leaving, her footsteps fading away. I listened to the footsteps before staring into the distance.

I wanted to eat. I was hungry. Like wanting to confirm my doubt, my stomach rumbled loudly. I clutched my stomach.

I needed to eat.

I stood up,, but then a thought hit me. Jasper was going to be there too. Damn it. Maybe I could wait to eat. My stomach made a howling noise in protest. I rubbed it. Or maybe not. I had to face him anyway, then why not now?

Screw it. I was going to go downstairs and eat. Eating was the main thing at the moment.

I will face him and whatever.

Deciding that I was going to go downstairs and eat, I went into the washroom first. Washed my face and dried it.

I walked out of my bedroom and straight right into the dinning room.

There I saw Jasper already standing up from the dining table and putting the napkin down. He had already eaten and did not wait for me to arrive. He was intentionally ignoring me.

I knew that he had felt my presence and knew that I was standing in the room, but he was ignoring me. That hurt way more than it probably should.

So, things have come this far.

I walked into the room and Maria entered right after me.

“Maria, clean this table for me. I'm going to bed now. I have to wake up early tomorrow morning. There is an early morning meeting tomorrow.” He told her.

“Okay. Good night, Sir.” Maria told Jasper.

“Good night.” He replied before walking past me and disappearing from my sight, without ever wishing me goodnight or even glancing my way for one.

That hurt way more than it should have, but it did. His ignorance hurt.

That night I slept, telling myself that now all I was going to think about was me and my baby.

All of this needed to end.