Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Suzan walked into Jane’s office quickly as if expecting to see something.

“Hey,” she said, sounding a little irritated. “I saw Marcus leaving your office. Is there a problem?”

“No, he is just trying to get on my nerves; I do not know what I will do with him.” She said in a cheery voice. “I suppose it's lunchtime now, don’t you think?”

“No,” Suzan replied, taking her seat opposite Jane. “We have an hour to go.”

“Urhhhh,” Jane grumbled, causing Suzan to chuckle. “Here, take some water,” Jane said, pushing the bottle of water Marcus gave her to Suzan.

Suzan was skeptical. “Is that not the water I gave you?” She asked.

“What do you mean? I drowned half of the one you brought.” Jane replied, showing her a half-empty container. “Marcus brought this one; he said he thought I would be thirsty.”

Suzan chuckled and reached for the water. “Savants these days…” she muttered, taking from the water.

Jane only nodded. She felt her stomach fold and she crouched in her chair. Suzan walked quickly to where Jane was in concern. “Jane, are you okay?”

“No…my tummy is trying to kill me.”

Marcus barged into the office and quickly made his way to Jane’s side. “Did you drink the water I asked you not to drink?”

“How did you get here so fast?” Jane asked, still wrapping her arms tight around her stomach.

“Answer me, Jane.” His eyes were filled with the same concern he had when he barged into her office earlier.

“Of course not,” She mumbled, closing her eyes. “I gave it to Suzan.”

Marcus and Jane watched as Suzan’s face went pale. “What did you say?” her voice was low, barely a whisper.

Jane shrugged.

“What the hell did you just say?!” Suzan barked.

Jane glanced from Suzan to Marcus still not sure what was going on. “Marcus asked me to have you drink from the water you brought earlier.”

Mr. Robert was in the office immediately shouting. “Jane, Jane, are you okay? Somebody called the ambulance!” He came to a stop when he saw Suzan crying while Jane and Marcus stared at her—Jane is skeptical of the whole thing, Marcus with a satisfying smirk on his face.

“What is going on here?” The excitement from his voice dropped.

“Su?” He called and walked to where Suzan had folded on the floor. He was about to take her in his arms when he noticed the office window and door were crowded with every other person who worked in the company.

Suzan had stopped talking and was having a seizure, Two men jogged in with a sketcher and quickly took Suzan away.

Mr. Robert stared at Jane and Marcus, his eyes tense and angry. He walked slowly towards them. Marcus shoved Jane behind him.

“This is not over,” Mr. Robert said in a hard, husky voice.

“What are you going to do?” Jane asked, making her way past Marcus to face her boss.

“Quiet now, Bella. Don’t push him,” Marcus cautioned in her ear.

Mr. Robert glared at Jane, his eyes critical. “Work has been dismissed, we resume tomorrow.” He announced not taking his angry eyes off Jane. He was quivering with anger as he made his way out.

Every living being in the company was waiting, whispering as Jane and Marcus made their way out of the building. She could feel their stares boring into her back.

“So if I got this right, Suzan tried to poison me, yeah?” Jane asked when they were safely seated in the back of her Suv.

“Correct.” Marcus nodded with his usual crooked smile Jane had come to like.

“And you made me feed it to her,”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Wow,” Jane sighed in disbelief, blinking her eyes severally as if she wasn’t sure if it was reality or a dream.

“Are you okay, Jane?” Marcus asked maternally.

“Suzan is the devil.” Jane Mouthed.

“Don’t blame her,” Marcus muttered softly.

“Then who should I blame?” Jane retorted.

“It was not her fault,” Marcus replied. He raised his hand, hesitant, conflict raging in his eyes, and then swiftly brushed the length of Jane’s cheekbone with his fingertips. The trail his fingers left on her skin was alarmingly warm — like she’d been burned, but in a good way.

Jane tried not to focus on the conflict his touch had sent her body into.

“Then who should I blame?” Jane repeated mechanically.

“Isn’t it obvious?” He asked dropping his hand from her face

“Mr. Robert,” Jane said in a voice so low Marcus wasn’t sure it was meant for him to hear.

“I like the work you do Jane…” Marcus said in a guarded voice. “I like the work and passion you put into restoring your father’s company, his name…”

Jane stared at him. His eyes were distant, it was like he was talking about something else.

“I wish I can do the same thing with what Brian and I started.” His voice held bitter regret.

Jane cringed. She had no idea what to say or do.

Marcus snapped out of his thoughts and glanced at Jane. “Sorry ma’am,” His voice had gone back to being formal, it made Jane miffed.

"Would you like to go home or do you have another intention?” The driver’s voice interrupted the tense atmosphere between Jane and Marcus.

“I am going to celebrate with Marcus for saving my life.

Marcus twisted uncomfortably, and the movement caught Jane’s attention. “Is something wrong, Marcus?”

“I just think it will be safer if you are home. Mr. Robert did not look happy and I could tell his threats are not empty, You have to be careful.”

“Fine,” Jane replied, trying to be cheerful even though she was disappointed. “We will celebrate at home.”

* * *

Jane was getting paranoid about Marcus' behaviour. One moment he was looking at her as though he could not control his longing anymore the next minute he was ignoring her being all professional. She knew she had asked him to keep it all professional from the beginning, but these past two weeks had not been the best thing to happen to her. Her parents and Sophia made time to call her now and then but they were all too engrossed in their own activities to be consumed by the drama in her life at the moment. The only person that could relate to how she feels was Marcus but he had decided to give her the space she had been asking for.

The pool party was going nothing close to what she had imagined. Marcus had made a point of putting a clear distance between them. He was still sipping on his first glass of champagne quietly. While she was drowning her 5—10 glasses maybe. It was hard to believe this was the same person who saved her life that morning or the person who had touched her face in the car.

“Emilia's siblings called, and they said to thank you for your compassion. They are thrilled about the apartment you got for them here in Berlin,” Marcus said, firmly but his voice and eyes fortified.

Jane glanced at him relieved she was starting to think he was going to let her die in the awkward atmosphere. “That’s nothing, I was just being helpful,” Jane replied, her enthusiasm more pronounced than she wanted it to be.

Marcus noticed her unusual tone.

“Are you okay?” he asked slowly, scrutinizing her face as he asked it. “You are acting a little strange.”

Jane thought about what he said, she did feel a little strange, the wine was already intoxicating her, but she didn’t feel drunk, not yet. “Why is it wrong for your boss to want to celebrate?”

Marcus nodded sagely. “Yes Jane, it is very unusual.”

Jane looked at him from beneath her lashes and with a seductive smile. “Well, I resolved to be who I was before I met the bastard Cletus.” She finished her fingers folded in a small fist.

Marcus muffled a snicker.

Jane noticed and giggled. “What, ain’t he a bastard?”

Marcus bit his lower lips, raised his eyebrows, and nodded. “He is a bastard I agree.”

Jane smiled warmly, happy Marcus was not now in the mood to talk to her, she decided to make the most of it and ask a lot of questions before he snapped back to his formal persona but he beat her to it. “So what brought about these resolutions?” He asked.

Jane dropped the glass of wine she was holding and stroked her chin dramatically. “I think it was when you told me I couldn’t murder Suzan.” She replied.

Marcus coughed to plaster a laugh. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah… I thought about how I wanted to become a murderer because of Suzan’s ill behaviour.” Jane’s face became serious. “I should not have to change who I am because of someone else's mistake.” She beamed at the end of her sentence making Marcus' heart skip two beats.

He replayed her words. It made sense, more sense than he wanted from it. In a way, he was just like her. He had started to become grumpy towards her because of her ill attitude towards him and every other person around her. But she was right; he should not change because she was not treating him well. He must not always try to convince himself not to like her the way he did, he liked her, he did not go looking for feelings for her, it came to him and he wasn’t going to hide it anymore