Chapter 67: Chapter 67

Chapter Sixty - Seven

Ava's POV

We were sitting on the opposite side of each other. Trying to find words and a starting of the sentence to begin the discussion, we were here to talk about in the first place. But really how could any of us start a conversation about something like That?

Although half of my mind was still on Daniel and our interaction in the restaurant but now that Jasper was here, the focus shifted towards him slowly by slowly. And among Daniel and Jasper, I just came to realise that I did not really feel anything towards Daniel. Well, except for hurt and a tiny feeling of abandonment. I did not want to feel anything like that but could not help myself. It was like my body had a mind of its own. It decides who I will hurt towards, who I will be infatuated with.

I wish I could control it to my fit.

"You know that last night was consensual? That I did not force anything on you?" Jasper asked, bursting the bubble of my thoughts.

At first, I could not comprehend what he was saying as my thoughts haze shifted and I realised what he was implying. My eyes widened at his question and I looked at him in disbelief. Did he just say what I think he said?

"What do you mean? Last night was very much consensual. Did you think that you forced yourself on m - me?" I asked him in utter disbelief.

Maybe Jasper saw something because he shook his head frantically.

"That was not what I was implying. Anyway, it's good, now that it's clear, let's move on to the real discussion -" He tried to speak but I interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. Not caring if I were being rude or not.

"You cheated on your girlfriend with me." I blurted out before I could stop myself. Even though I blurted it out like that and it did not supposed to come out like that, I would have said. I would certainly mention it later. Now that it was out of the way, I felt a little lighter. The guilt of doing something so wrong was driving me against the wall, all the time I had to carry on my shoulders.

Because as much as I would like to ignore it, it was a horrible thing to do to someone. Especially after you know that the person you are doing this with was already in a relationship with somebody else.

"I never cheated on anyone with you, Ava." Jasper said, calmly and slowly.

My eyes widened and my brows shot up into my forehead in surprise and then in confusion. What did he mean by that?

"Wait, but we did cheat on your girlfriend. Charlotte would certainly disagree with that." I said, puzzled by his frank and blunt answer.

"Charlotte is not my girlfriend. We are not in a relationship." He explained. Now, my mind is frantic. What did it mean? What was he saying? If they were not in a relationship then what was that about when I caught them kissing in their office. What was it about?

Jasper took one look at my face and he let out a sigh. Most likely that he understood that I was having a conversation with myself internally. He straightened in his seat and then leaned forward. It gave me deja vu. Daniel had done the same thing not so long ago. In the very exact manner. I had to shake myself internally to bring myself back to reality.

"After a few years of working for me, Charlotte and I agreed on an agreement. Due to my work and heavy schedule, I was unable to date anyone or even think about relationships. Same on Charlotte's end. She wanted to focus on her career and did not want to get into a relationship. Our needs were the same. Some companionship and sex. Well, mainly sex." Jasper explained, letting out a sigh. He stared at the far side of the distance as he explained further.

"We agreed that none of us would want anything more than what it was. We were not in a relationship. We had needs that were met by each other. But that was what it was. Just sex. Nothing more." He said, finally tearing his eyes from where he was staring and meeting my eyes.

I searched his face for anything that could tell me that he was lying or twisting the situation so he did not appear to be a jerk. However, all I found on his face was honesty and genuine truth written all over. Which was bad because now I could feel a shameful hope growing in me. Or maybe, we will become something in the future. Something more that I wish leads to more than a physical relationship. In the last few weeks, my crush on him just increased at a concerning range. Which was bordering on like. And I hated the fact that I did not want to change it one bit.

His personality, his behaviour, his charming smiles were growing on me. The more and more I was getting to know him, I was liking him more and more. It was becoming harder and harder to ignore the feeling within me.

This hope would be the death of me. I knew that, but I was already long gone. I liked him. But I was holding myself back, knowing that he was with someone else, knowing that he belonged to somebody else. But now I knew that he was never really hers, it gave me more hope than I should let myself allow.

"So, you both are not really together?" I asked him cautiously. For some reason worried sick, that if I asked him for more enthusiasm that was necessary than he would find out what I feel for him. Or worse he would straight out change his answer.

"Yes, we are not really together. However it surprises me that you thought that lowly of me. That I would cheat on someone that I had committed myself to." He said. His accusatory tone did not go unnoticed.

"Well, could you really blame me? I saw you guys making out in your office." I countered back.

He shrugged.

"Maybe you are right. I think eat first then we could go on with this conversation." He suggested, right as our waiter returned with our freshly made food. He served us before walking off. Without further words we dug into our separate food and started chewing. I almost growled from the delicious taste. That was how heaven tasted. Anything would taste if you were as hungry as I was at the moment. I stuffed my mouth with a whole bunch before eating.

I heard a chuckle. I raised my head to find Jasper was shaking his head at me while chuckling to himself. I guess I would have looked funny with my mouth filled with food, more than I could eat.

I thought about saying something but then I just ignored him and focused on my eating. It was when I had almost finished all the food on the plate when another person joined us.

Charlotte.

I almost jumped in my seat when a chair scraped and she sat down. I had been so engrossed in my studies that I did not even notice her coming. Where in the world did she come from?

"Am I disturbing anything?" She asked us while she settled down on her seat.

There was a heavy awkward silence when she looked from Jasper to me to back to Jasper. It was then I realised that the mouth was half opened with some food left in it.

Ew. Gross.

Feeling embarrassed, I chewed the last food in my mouth and swallowed it all down my throat. I gave her what could be considered as a polite smile.

"No, nothing." I hurried up to say it. Trying to set an awkward mood that had been set up by all us people.

"What are you doing here, Charlotte?" Jasper asked her, his voice devoid of any emotion. His tone cut - the - bullshit - now. Charlotte looked at him, like she had been struck. I could not blame her though, I was shocked by his tone too. I never saw him talk to someone in this tone.

"Jasper ..." I said, cautioning him about his tone. However, without batting an eye to me, he turned to Charlotte.

"Can't you see that Ava and I were having some important discussion?" He asked her coldly. It made me take a second look at the person who was talking to me so softly a few minutes ago. There was no sign of warmth or even a bit of calm in his voice. Did I just talk to this person a few minutes ago? Also, it made me wonder what made him work this up? Did something happen between these two?

Charlotte was staring at Jasper with disbelief and then I saw her purse her lips. She was angry. The whole tension shifted when Jasper's phone started ringing. He cursed under his breath. With a final look at both of us, he stood up and left the table to pick up the call. I stared in his direction, watching him disappear.

"Don't even think about it." I heard from my side. I tore my eyes from the far distant figure and focused on the person sitting beside me.

"He's mine." She said, watching me with a pensive look.

When I did not say anything, she continued.

"We are in a relationship. Been in a relationship for a long time. And if we were not in a relationship, even then you have no chance with him. You are not his type. Not at all. Not from any angle. And even if you were his type then you should not forget that you are pregnant with someone else's baby. He would not want to take care of somebody else's baby." She said, coldly. Throwing a bucket of cold water on my body.

Then she threw her head back and let out a humorless chuckle.

"Nobody would want to take another's kid. No one." She turned to me with a mocking smirk displaying on her face.

"Can you believe a man accepting somebody else's baby? Hell, even women would hesitate to take someone else's baby. Let alone a man who is capable enough to have any girl on the planet without a blink of an eye. Why would he take up a job like that?" She asked.

Her words were like punches to my gut, which she delivered over and over again with more power each time. Because I knew that she was right. Her words hit the mark. She had a point.

"But he would not do that. He would not look for another girl. He could not look for another girl. Because he could not stay away from me. He is addicted to me. No matter how many girls he had, he always came back to me." She said, her voice filled with what I could only assume as pride.

"So, I'm doing you a favor by telling you this, that you should forget about him. Take my advice. Or else you would end up like all those women in the past who thought they had him but didn't." She said, And with that she got up and left the place.

And after a few seconds, I threw some bills that covered my meal and I left too.