Chapter 23: Enchanted
1175 Words
John set her upright, "You okay, love?"
“Um…yeah,” Jessica groaned still feeling a bit uneasy on her feet. John still had his arms around her when someone cleared their throat.
“Can you two control yourselves?" It was Roger glaring at John.
“No, I can't,” Jessica retorted. For some reason, she lost the fear she had in speaking in front of Roger. “I like handsome men,” she laughed and winked at John who burst out laughing but quickly controlled himself. It was the first time that he had met someone who deliberately spoke contrary to Roger; no one usually dared to act against him.
Roger ordered coldly, “Go to the study.”
Hearing this, John stopped and gave Jessica an apologetic look and followed Roger to the study. John had always wanted to ask this question, but he never had the courage to ask his friend. However, today, after seeing Jessica, he could not control himself.
“Roger, I have had this question in my mind for a long time.”
Roger raised his eyebrows and continued looking at the papers in front of him.
“Is there something going on between you and Jessica. It seems like you’ve known her for a long time…”
Roger’s hand stilled for only a few seconds before they continued shuffling through the papers.
John’s question was left unanswered.
"No, stop!" John spoke seriously while slamming a hand on the papers Roger was looking at. "You always do this. You never answer any of my questions even though I have known you for years. What's up, man?"
Roger frowned unhappily; he was unused to any of his friends challenging him and the fact that John was being stubborn was surprising to him; usually, he left things alone. John was his best friend but even he did not know the full story of what happened three years before.
Roger remained quiet, again ignoring John. After a while, John shook his head, stood up, and walked out. Roger did not have to strain his ears to hear him say something stupid, and no doubt provocative, to Jessica.
As soon as John stepped out of the room, he stilled and looked back at the closed hotel room door. It was as if a lightbulb had gone in his brain.
Yes! That is it! He figured it out! How could he be so oblivious as to not see it before!
Roger was in love with Jessica!
It was so obvious! The anger whenever he talked about Jessica, why she was the one specifically assigned to clean the room, it was all Roger! His friend had always been very possessive and often did not know how to show emotions. He was so awkward that he usually did the opposite of what normal people did.
John shook his head in disbelief and quickly dialed his buddy, Antony’s, phone number.
“Yo, you won't believe it.”
“What?” Antony replied in a bored tone. John often called with seemingly breaking news which ended up being the lamest update.
“Our bud Roger is in love with Jessica,” he whispered excitedly.
“Who?” Antony asked. This was interesting.
"Jessica, do you remember? The cleaner!"
Antony thought it unbelievable, “What? No way. A cleaner?”
"Yes! I'm sure she knows him from before, otherwise, Roger would never pay this much attention to her…" John mused.
“I don't know, I don't think it makes sense. Maybe Roger is deliberately paying attention to her for some reason.”
“Really? With such great efforts?” John replied doubtfully.
Both John and Antony were intrigued as Roger never acted the way he was now with Jessica Brown.
______
Roger walked out of the study, leaned on the door frame and looked at Jessica, who was busying cleaning the room. Was it really that obvious that even the most oblivious person could sense something was going on between them?
Except Roger did not know what that something was.
He sighed and wished Jessica was an easier person to deal with. Why couldn’t she be conquered easily like other women he had met in his life, which were not many? He was still lost in thought when Jessica interrupted him.
“Roger!”
“What?” He looked at her coldly, expressionless, as usual.
That too had juggled his mind. Yes, he was an emotionless person in general, but he treated others with some warmth. It took him a long time to understand the reason why he was expressionless in front of Jessica; he wanted to cover up his thoughts and his real emotions.
Looking at his face, which seemed to be concentrated on something in his mind, Jessica said with a gentle tone, “How can you make the room so messy in one night?”
Roger was still expressionless and said indifferently, “Why are you asking? Isn't this your job?”
Hearing this, Jessica did not know how to respond, so she nodded, “Yes, this is my work. But isn't it troublesome for you to make the room so messy every day?”
“No!” Roger did not explain further.
Jessica frowned at his lack of response, turned around, and muttered loudly on purpose so he would hear, “Very mature!”
What? Did she just call him immature!? He was a CEO who had built himself from the group up from nothing, so how could this woman say he was immature? Ridiculous!
No, it was preposterous!
“Jessica.” He suddenly called and strode straight towards her.
Jessica did not bother turning around, “What?”
“Come here,” Roger commanded.
Hearing his order, Jessica turned to look at him. Roger, with his hands crossing over his strong, defined chest, looked askance at her like a king. “What’s the matter?” She asked defiantly.
Roger said nothing. He hated it when someone did not listen to him and kept asking stupid questions.
Jessica rolled her eyes and turned back around. She did not have time for his blank looks. She had a room to clean, which he made messy on purpose!
She shook in surprise when she was turned around firmly. Roger’s hands felt soft as he suddenly cupped Jessica’s face in his hands, gently, while raising her chin to look up at him.
Her heart started pounding as Roger stared deeply into her eyes. There seemed to be a light in his eyes which Jessica had never seen before.
He leaned down, brushed his thumbs softly over her lips, and kissed her softly. Jessica melted into the kiss; it was the softest kiss she had ever experienced. His lips felt like soft silk on her skin, slowly meshing with hers. Jessica slowly closed her eyes as if she were enchanted by his sudden kiss, so familiar yet so different.
- Writer
