An Interview with Mr. Ex

Chapter 12: His Masterplan

Chapter 12 : His Masterplan

(present - Jared and Tom talking about Jared's insane plans)

(Jared)

Tom looked at his best friend, his eyes wide with disbelief. His mouth was stuck in a strange state of limbo, making him look funny. He looked like he was asphyxiating on his own spit. Jared shook his head with a frown as he looked at his friend, wondering what had happened to him.

"Can you tell that to me again? Exactly what you said, word by word, without changing anything." Tom asked when he finally could talk.

"I - I am going to ask her to leave her husband." Jared explained, his eyes direct and unflinching. Of course, it almost sounded as absurd as it sounded when he said it inside his head, but he didn't care.

"An inspired idea, even for you, Jar-head. And what comes next?" Tom scratched his forehead, as he looked enquiringly at Jared.

"She will leave him and come back to me?" Jared looked down at his fingers. It almost made him feel guilty when he said it out loud, but what else could he do? This was not easy for him, either, but he didn't know what else to do after he realized how much he still longed for her, her body, her touch.

Of course he didn't love her anymore, as he had once done. He didn't have a place for love in his life, but he did have a place for her. His body yearned... just one look at her, one look from her soft blue eyes and he was ready to break all his rules and policies and follow her. Wherever, whenever.

It is not love, but it is not just lust, either.

"You accused her of cheating on you. You pushed her out of your life because you thought she was seeing Nate—let's not forget he was her friend, behind your back and you almost forgot her... or so you have lied to me and yourself, for four long years. And just few days ago, you told me you hated her. Didn't you? So why would you suddenly want her back? What changed in the thirty-eight hours? What did I miss? Did she not cheat on you? Did you find any new information about that day when you told me that you saw her with Nate in the hotel or about the photographs? Were they doctored? Have you talked with Kenna and discovered she had been lying as I had told you once?"

"I don't know. She cheated. She did not. I still don't know anything about that." He shrugged. "And I don't even know whether Kenna is alive or dead." He shrugged.

"Of course, she is alive. Witches don't die. They have an absurdly long life just so they can make someone's life miserable." Tom said, thinking about Kenna Lane, Jared's high school girlfriend and Tom had never liked her. He had always had doubts when Kenna was suddenly so concerned for Jared's welfare.

But Jared had promised he hadn't just acted blindly on Kenna's evidence. He had promised Tom that he had seen Nate and Jade in a hotel and that was why he was breaking up with Jade.

"Forget Kenna. She isn't important. I saw Jade with Nate and then I saw him proposing to her... so Kenna didn't really lie. Or I hallucinated. Whatever. I don't even know whether she was married to Nate or whether it is a different man." Jared stopped and then looked at Tom with a thoughtful look. "But you know... you have photographs."

"I do have photographs, but his face is not clear in them." Tom said with a sigh. "And Jare, my head is pounding just from hearing your insane theories and ideas."

"I don't care who he is, nope. I just want her back. I always thought I hated her for doing it to me, for breaking us, but when I saw her... it is as if no time had passed. It wasn't for me. I was stuck. Right where she had left me. So..." He said with a flippant shrug. "So maybe we couldn't love like we once did, but we can-"

"You can what?"

"I want her and I can even forget her past transgressions and-"

Tom waved his hands up and down and Jared stopped talking. "So you decided to be magnanimous for once in your life and forgive her and pick it up right where it ended four years ago?" Tom looked at him like he was ridiculous. "Is that your plan?"

"I don't know whether I can forgive her or not, but I want her back. I need to have her here. It is so empty, this house and she- she fills it up. I have money and I can give her everything she wants. She wouldn't need anyone else..."

"So you think Jade is a gold-digger and she left you back then, cheated on you because you had no money, then. And now that you had money, enough to buy a small island or two, you think she would leave her husband for you? Am I getting the gist of it?" Tom looked at him, his eyes filled with derision.

"She is not a gold-digger. I didn't say that. You are just twisting my words." He looked offended. "I just said- you are just trying to make it into something it is not."

"You just said that, Jar-head. You said that because you had money, because you had enough money to buy anything, she would come back to you when you asked. She wouldn't need anyone else, like her husband, because she would be so blinded by your money, right? She would leave her old life behind and just walk back to you like a grateful dog, wagging her tail, because you are going to throw her a diamond bone. That was what you said, right?" Tom said with a empty smile.

"You are making it sound so much worse than I intended. I just said I want her back."

"The way you talk, it sounds to me like you don't even respect her a bit. So why do you want someone like that, Jare? Someone you don't even like, someone who will be coming only because you have a billion dollars and some in your bank account? Why?"

Jared looked everywhere but at Tom and his accusing eyes.

"I never said I didn't respect her, Tom. I respect her. She is amazing, strong, confident, independent, smart. Have you ever seen her interview someone? There is a spark in her that is... She is not rich like me, but she is doing good in her life, in her job. Of course, I admire her. She has guts, she has..."

"So you respect her. At least there is that! And you had been secretly watching her interviews." Tom put a hand on his chest and sighed dramatically. "You told me never to send any videos of her, or you would kill me and then..."

"Stop. I just- I didn't watch it secretly. It is not a dirty video. I just-"

"Okay, let us leave that. We will circle back to it later." Tom stopped him. "Now tell me, this strong, amazing, independent woman -your words, not mine- do you think she would leave her life for you? Just like that?"

"I am going to convince her. It won't really be easy." Jared was sure he could convince her. Of course, she would not accept it easily, of course she would fight him, but he knew... he saw her and he knew she was attracted to him, as well.

Their fire was almost all-consuming. He was sure it was the same for her.

It is not going to be easy, but then my life has never been easy. I am not the kind of person who gives up on anything... I am not going to give up on her.

"She has a son, you know. What will we do about him?"

"I can take her son in. I can take in anyone she wants me to. I just want her to come to me."

"What if she asks to come with her son and her husband, Jared?" Tom's eyes were laughing at him, at his plight. It made Jared angry. He gritted his teeth as he shook his head.

"Stop. Do you think this is funny?" Jared's voice was hostile.

"Do I look like I am laughing?" Tom asked. His eyes were hard, and his ever smiling lips were pressed together in a tight frown. Jared had never actually seen Tom like this -so serious and severe.

Jared glared at his friend. He didn't know why he was so antagonizing and irritating.

"You are my friend. If I want your help, you should help me. Not question me."

"With what? If Jade says no, are we k********g her? Do you want my help with that? We can give her some sleeping pills and take her from her home." Tom's voice was full of derision. It grated on Jared's nerve endings. He shouldn't have told him anything, even when he had prodded him. He should just have kept quiet.

"No. I am not going to kidnap her. That is just ridiculous. I am not-"

"Are you hearing yourself right now, Jared? You must have hit your head so hard when you were just a baby, I think. Should I give your mom a call and ask her about it? And I should just tell her about these plans you are concocting right now."

"Don't you dare..." Jared warned.

His mom had yelled, like a whole week, when he had married Jade, just after college, even without telling her about it. And then she yelled for a month, when he had divorced Jade, again, without telling her anything about it. If Tom called her now, she would book a flight and come all the way here, just to hit him with her slippers. He was not ready for that.

"Please, Jare... Just stop this, okay. Don't hurt her anymore. And don't hurt yourself in the process." Now there was no laughter, no taunting in his voice. It was just pure sincerity.

"I don't want to hurt her. I just- I am so tired, Tom." For the first time in his life, Jared looked at his friend, his face tired and worn out and vulnerable, and Tom felt a twist in his heart. Jared was someone who never showed any emotions. Tom had been his best friend for years now, and today was the first time Jared had talked about how he actually felt.

"Jared..."

"I- I had always felt this big emptiness in this big, big house, Tom. I have everything I had once wanted, except her. I told her once that she would be the queen of my palace, and without her, there was always something missing. Missing and empty and I just didn't know... and the moment she came in, she filled that emptiness. With her light. It was so bright and then she left again and I was overwhelmed by this darkness. I don't want that."

"I- I am sorry you felt like that, you have never told me."

"How could I? I am my father's son. But that doesn't mean I don't feel it. I just don't know how to tell what I feel." Jared said as he closed his eyes with a sigh. "I feel more than anyone else, and it is all buried deep inside because I am so unable to say it out loud."

"I am sorry, but... even now, I don't think what you are thinking is impossible, impractical. Jade had always been about values and honesty and self-esteem, Jared. You remember what I told you when you told me about Jade and how she was cheating on you?"

"You told me, 'Not Jade. If she wants to leave you, she will just tell you that. Directly. Without being glib', and you might be right." Jared sighed. "I didn't believe you, then, but I am starting to doubt myself, but I saw her. Saw her with him, It wasn't just a product of my overactive imagination."

"So you still think she had cheated?" Tom asked. "The Jade I knew, she was all things beautiful in your life. And you destroyed it."

"I don't know what to believe. I believed she had cheated on me, but after she left, I had this constant nagging at the back of my head... that I was wrong. But how could I have been wrong... I saw him proposing... how could it have been wrong."

"I don't know. You could have asked all these questions to her four years ago, you know."

"I was too blinded by my rage to even look at her. How could I have talked with her."

Tom sighed.

"After seeing her again... after talking about all this, I don't know what to believe anymore. It is all a jumbled mess in my head. I am so confused about that, but even in this confusion, I know I want her back." Jared said as he pressed a finger against his pounding head. It felt as if someone was sitting inside it and hammering a sharp nail inside.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Are you saying you are going to help me?" Jared asked with a befuddled look.

"I still think you are insane, but you are my friend and I don't have any other option. I don't like to see you sad. You have never been this sad, except the day when your father died and the day Jade left."

"I have to woo her." Jared said with a brilliant smile on his face. He actually looked like he was enjoying it, the idea of wooing Jade.

Now that his friend had agreed to help him -not that he needed any actual help, he just needed Tom for emotional support- he was already planning about how to go about it.

"I have never actually wooed Jade, you know. I am going to surprise her and she is going to-"

Tom subtly closed his mouth so that his friend wouldn't see the smirk on his lips. It all sounded so crazy assed, but he didn't know what else to do except help his friend steal another man's wife.

"It wouldn't be easy. But she was mine, first."

"She was not yours. She was not something you can acquire or possess. This is not a business merger, or an acquisition, Jared."

"I just meant... she was my wife, first. I am her first love. I was her only love for so long. Could she have forgotten it all?"

"I just hope you will be intact after this fiasco. And I will help you, but if Jade's husband wants to tear you from limb to limb and break your every bone, I am not standing in the middle. I love my life, and I haven't even started living yet. I had to marry my girl, live a long long life."

"Stop being so dramatic. Tomorrow Jade is coming to shadow me. You know, for that interview. Tell me what I should do? I want to win her back and I am me. I have no idea how to go about this."

"Why not just pull her inside the elevator and kiss her and pay her after!" Tom said sarcastically, but when he saw the smile on Jared's face, the glint on his eyes, the big smile on his lips, To, groaned inside. "I mean, you guys, even back then were weird."

"Yes, we were. She was. She was unique. And maybe I should pay her five bucks and see how she reacts." Jared said with a smile.

"Please God, I don't want to die." Tom begged.

"She would love that." Jared smirked.

"No, are you an idi*t? She won't love that. You hurt her, Jared. She doesn't look like the forgiving type, not anymore. She is not the Jade we knew from college, not at all."

"And it was hot." Jared said with a glazed look in his eyes. His smile was giddy, and he looked drugged. Jade had always had the power to making him feel high.

"Stop. Stop dreaming. The probability of what you want happening is less 0.00001. So please, please, I don't want you to get hurt. Even though I don't like you much-"

"You like me, alright." Jared interrupted.

"Don't interrupt me. Like I said, even though I don't like you much, you are still my friend. So..."

"I will woo her back, Tom. You just wait and watch."

"That is the problem, I don't want to watch you getting hurt, again."

"I am not going to get hurt. If she says no, I can take it. I am not going to crumble after that. But I have to try first."

"God, crazily enough, you make sense. But she is someone else's wife. She is a mother and I almost feel guilty talking about destroying her life." Tom looked at him with worried eyes.

"I won't do that. I just want to know whether I still have a chance."

"Okay. I love you. And if you die, I will probably say I told you so to you in your funeral." Tom said.

Jared sighed. He could not stop thinking about her after she had left his home. He could almost smell her in every nook and corner of his once lonely house and it suddenly didn't feel too lonely.

Jared had met her eight years ago, when his life was going in a very neat track, and then she had bumped into him, and his life had turned and became everything amazing and confusing.

He closed his eyes as the memories of their touches, their kisses flashed behind his eyes, making him sigh.

"I won't die."

"We will see."

"She will come back to me, Tom, because we can't resist each other. Far away, we can pretend anything, but when we come closer... we will always collide together and burn."

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