Chapter 8 CHA 8

"A friend of yours?"

A fleeting flash of distaste crossed Lucia's eyes. "No, someone I dislike."

"Anyone you dislike can't be a good person," said the colleague, trying to pay her a compliment.

Lucia enjoyed it. "Let's not talk about it. It's a mood killer."

By the time I arrived at the restaurant, Zara was arriving as well.

Arm in arm, we walked in together.

"How was the interview?"

"It went well, but I don't know if I'm going to get the job."

"If you don't, just try another company. There are plenty of pharmaceutical companies in the city. Any company would be lucky to employ you."

"Thanks for the confidence vote, but I haven't worked in a lab for years."

Pharmaceutical research required a huge amount of experience, and aside from the three years I was in the lab for my graduate years, I didn't have much professional experience.

"Don't worry. You'll catch up in no time once you start working," Zara told me.

She knew that I was always dedicated, sometimes working tirelessly to achieve results and statistics. "Enough of that. Last night on the phone, I heard a man's voice. What is going on?" Zara flushed, not meeting my eyes. "Did you? Are you certain?"

I scowled at her. "Zara, I am not deaf. I clearly heard a man at your place last night.".

Zara's cheeks flushed. She knew she couldn't lie. "Okay, okay. My boss. We're dating."

I didn't say anything, my eyes fixed on a spot in the restaurant, my eyes reddening.

Zara's heart sank. Glancing in the direction I was looking, Zara noticed Jack sitting with a woman who was sniffling and occasionally looking at him longingly.

Zara was shocked that Jack was so brazen, openly walking his mistress to a public place. "Is that the woman he is dating?"

"Yes." I tried not to care, but seeing them together felt like a hand wrapped around my heart. It made it difficult to breathe.

"I'm going to scream at her! How can she flaunt her adultery in public!"

I clasped Zara's arm firmly. "Don't."

Fighting with them would just humiliate me more.

"How can you tolerate this." Zara was going to speak when she viewed my near-crying face and got a sharp pain in her heart. "Don't cry. He isn't worth it!"

I closed my eyes, breathed deeply. "I know."

The second time Jack cheated, he was not worth any of my feelings. But having loved him for eight years, it was impossible for me to just switch off. Eventually, I would leave him until he was a stranger.

Turning my back, I walked away.

Jack sensed someone staring at him, but when he looked up, there was no one.

Besides him, Pete continued whimpering quietly, which infuriated him more.

He smoked a cigarette and uttered in cold tones, "If you wouldn't get rid of it, I have ways of getting you not to bring it at all."

Jack took out his phone, frowning at the message with a black face. Jack and Pete had always been responsible and had used protection, so either she was lying or she had tampered with the condoms. Either, it was crossing the line for Jack.

He called her straight out. "Where are you now?"

Pete winced at the anger in his voice. "Jack, I'm pregnant. Aren't you happy at all?"

Jack gave a mocking laugh. "Are you sure it's mine?"

"Jack, I've slept with only you. Wouldn't you know whether it's yours or not?"

Her tone was accusatory, with an undertone of grievance, but Jack just felt annoyed.

"Get rid of it."

The only one he wanted to have children with was me. Women like Pete, who jumped all over him, were playthings. He never went out with them. "No, this is our child. I'm keeping it."

Jack growled in frustration. If he had known that she was a pain in the neck, he would never have laid hands on her. "I'm asking for the last time, where are you?"

Then came a moment of silence when Pete's crying voice came over the line. "Are you going to make me have an abortion?"

Jack didn't say anything, his silence saying it all.

"If you don't want the child, I'll take care of it myself. I won't let it know who its father is."

She didn't get to say any more when Jack hung up and instructed his secretary to locate her.

When I discovered his affair, he soon discovered that Pete was behind it and kicked her out of the company. He never assumed she had a plan B.

That child could not be conceived. If so, his affair with me would be over for good.

Late at night, I half-asleep listened to the car engine start up but did not care much.

The next morning.

At breakfast, the housekeeper informed us that Jack had departed in a rush yesterday evening, perhaps because something had gone wrong at work.

I kept quiet, holding my milk with a dash of mockery in my eyes.

An issue at work? More likely that he was rushing off to see that other woman.

Exiting, I sent a message to Zara asking her where we were going for lunch.

Zara replied with a message containing an address of a restaurant.

I hung up the phone, got into my car, and set the GPS.

What I didn't notice was a woman in a lab coat with light makeup staring in my direction with a slight scowl.

The woman's coworker, also in a lab coat, glanced in the direction she was staring but only noticed my car making the turn around the corner. "Lucia, what are you staring at?"

Lucia Pollard shook her head. "Nothing. I saw someone I recognized. Must have been mistaken."