After Escaping From Wedding Night

Chapter 22: “Stay Away!”

Jessica had a long tiring shift at work that day. She guessed her melancholic mood was a contributing factor to her despair. She was tiredly treading through her day, negative thoughts swimming in her head. Jessica regretted ever getting involved with Roger in the first place. Every time she thought about this, Jessica felt like banging her head against the wall. She loved to blame Roger for everything but deep down she knew that she was just as much at fault, if not more.     

She knew that her heart desired Roger to forgive all her misgivings and to accept her and her son. She yearned to live together as a family, her, Evan, and Roger. And this was the reason why she went back again and again to Roger Richard even though he treated her like s**t and was hell bent on extracting revenge against her.   

Jessica again thought back to this morning. The caring way he had asked if she had eaten breakfast, how he had motioned for her to eat, and ensured she tried everything on the trolley.

Ugh! Jessica, you are going back into the rabbit hole! She shook herself out of her thoughts and tiredly changed out of her uniform and into her regular clothes.  

She was glad she had asked Aaron to pick her up today, knowing she was too tired to take the bus.

"Hey! Sweetheart, are you okay?" Aaron's joyful voice greeted her. He was standing in front of the hotel driveway, leaning against his car. She admired her handsome friend, wistfully. If only she was not stuck on Roger Richard, she could give Aaron a chance, but her heart did not allow it. And the fact that she was still technically married to Roger!     

"I'm good, Aaron, how are you?” Jessica beamed at him happily. His booming voice and boisterous smile always uplifted her mood.

Aaron nodded and grabbed her bags off her shoulder and put them in the back seat. He then walked her over to the passenger side, opened the door, and bowed.

“My lady, your carriage awaits!” Aaron said in a ridiculously Medieval voice.

Jessica burst out laughing, blushing at the attention. Shaking her head in amusement, she walked forwards and was about to get in when a shadow overcame behind her.

“Your friend is quite the charmer,” a familiar voice spoke from behind her.

Jessica turned around in shock and was startled to see Roger standing behind her. Her heart started beating faster and as the familiar sense of longing and adrenaline rushed through her – the same feeling whenever she met his cold eyes.

“Um…yes… he is!” Jessica stuttered out feeling out of tune at his sudden appearance.

Roger glanced over at Aaron with an indescribable look on his face. She did not miss the slight narrowing of his eyes as he seemed to size up her buff friend.

“Oh! Aaron, this is Roger, my boss.” Jessica hurriedly spoke trying to break the awkwardness of their meeting.

Aaron’s face had lost the jolliness, as well. He was returning Roger’s indifferent and cold expression. Jessica was surprised – she had never seen Aaron look anything other than happy and joyful.

  There was no response from either Roger or Aaron at Jessica’s introduction. She found the atmosphere was becoming tenser. Why was Roger glaring at Aaron angrily and Aaron was returning the favor! It would be funny if both men were competing for her.

“You dropped something in the lobby,” Roger suddenly spoke turning towards Jessica. He motioned towards the hotel, “It’s in the middle of the lobby near the front desk.”

"Oh! Um…okay…" Jessica replied, confused. Did she drop anything? Jessica looked at Aaron and gave him a sorry glance. "Sorry, I'll just be a minute."

"Yeah, no worries, Jess. Take your time," Aaron replied kindly while placing a hand on her back.

Jessica turned around and started walking towards the doors of the hotel. She had a bad feeling in her gut on leaving these two men alone.

Once Jessica was out of earshot, Aaron’s expression turned into a hateful glare. “Stay away from Jessica,” he warned to Roger.

Hearing his warning, Roger sneered and looked at Aaron indifferently. He then replied coldly, “Maybe you can ask her which of us should stay away from her.”

Roger’s inborn aggressiveness made Aaron angry and he breathed in deeply to stop his anger from emitting. He was naturally a happy person; however, once he got angry, he exploded like a volcano. Aaron knew what Roger wanted to say. Aaron cared for Jessica deeply and he loved Evan like his own child. And from what Jessica had told him, Roger was making both their lives difficult which he did not like.

Roger smirked one last time and turned back around towards the hotel just as Jessica was leaving. She watched the way Aaron glared at Roger’s back and Roger’s smirk. He nodded at Jessica and disappeared inside the hotel.

“What happened?” Jessica asked Aaron as she sat inside the car.

“Nothing,” Aaron quickly shook his head and started driving. “Did you find what you dropped?”

“No,” Jessica shook her head. “It’s weird but I don’t think I dropped anything. I looked everywhere and even asked at the desk…nothing.”

Aaron nodded in understanding, “I bet…” he muttered under his breath. Roger just wanted Aaron alone so he could say what he wanted without Jessica hearing anything.

"Hmm? Did you say anything?" Jessica asked while she rummaged through her bag.

“No…nothing. Forget it.”  

_______

The next day, Jessica again got assigned the duty of cleaning the penthouse suite. She wondered if it was a coincidence that she was the only cleaner assigned to the room, though she did not mind it at all. The more she got to see Roger, the more elated she was despite her brain telling her the opposite.

She opened the door and gasped in surprise. Did someone rob this room last night? She had immaculately cleaned it last night and now, just a day later, it was a huge mess. What happened?!

Jessica had reason to suspect that Roger did this deliberately. But she had no choice but to clean it up. She sighed, pulled up her sleeve, grabbed a rag, and started with the mess on the floor.

She did not even flinch when the door opened, and someone walked in. She knew who it was by the scent that engulfed her sense. She only slightly hesitated in her cleaning when the person did not say anything, but she did not turn around.  

“Roger, you don’t have to make the room extra messy every day. It seems like you want me to spend more time in your room.” She joked hoping he would not take offense. She had never joked like this with him before.

Suddenly, she heard loud laughter come from behind her which was not Roger’s. She sharply turned on her foot and lurched around; however, she forgot the trolley was right beside her. Her side bumped into the handle of the cleaning trolley hard.

“Ow!” She groaned while clutching her side and toppled over all her cleaning buckets.

She closed her eyes and braced for the fall when a pair of arms caught her. The arms were strong, like Roger’s, but they did not feel right. She opened her eyes and gasped in surprise when she saw it was John, not Roger!