Chapter 384 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

If it weren’t so late in the night, she probably would have given him a call. She still had to clear up that little lie before leaving if she didn’t want it to fester and cause unnecessary problems. She was worried enough already about developing feelings for him and being scared that the feeling might not be entirely mutual.

Yes, the feeling might not be mutual. Because if he really liked her as everyone else seemed to believe, he wouldn’t be so comfortable with being away from her.

She sighed as she turned again on her side. Yeah, she knew that her thoughts were going around in circles, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Unable to help it anymore, she sat up and picked up her phone from the nightstand. Even if she couldn’t call him because he was likely asleep, she could at least send him a text. That way, her message would be the first thing he sees when he picks up his phone in the morning, and then he would likely give her a call.

What simple text could she send that wouldn’t make her feel like she was bugging him at this time of the night? She needed to send a natural and light text that he wouldn’t read too much meaning to

She tapped her right forefinger against the tip of her nose thoughtfully until her eyes lit up with an idea. Yes! That was it, she thought as she started composing the text.

Away from there, Harry, who had just stepped out of the shower with a sky blue towel wrapped around his waist, preparing to go to bed, glanced at his phone when it beeped with a message notification, and then his gaze moved to the wall clock.

Why was someone texting him by one in the morning? Who could be texting him? He wondered as he went to pick up his phone, which he had left beside his pillow.

He blinked in surprise when he saw that it was a WhatsApp text from ‘Esquire’, and he clicked on it without thinking twice.

“Hey! I’m sure you must be asleep by now. Congratulations on your promotion. I guess you went to celebrate on your own and forgot my invitation to dad’s birthday. Here are some photos of what you missed,” Jade had texted, and attached to it were pictures of the hors d’oeuvres, the cocktails and wines, the cake, the meal, and then a picture of everyone around the table, and then a goofy selfie photo of herself.

Harry felt his lips curve with a smile, and then he snapped out of it when he saw that she was now typing another message. He decided to respond to the first text, “Thanks. And I’m sorry I couldn’t make it. My dad came visiting, so I had to spend time with him,” he texted back as he sat on the bed.

Jade grinned as she read his response. He was awake, that was good. “Yeah, Benne mentioned it. I thought you would be asleep by now.” Jade texted again.

“I was just about to go to bed. We spent a lot of time watching the news and talking that we didn’t realize it was this late,” Harry responded before remembering to ask, “What about you? Why are you awake? Did you just finish partying?”

Jade lay belly down on the bed with her elbows propped on both sides of her pillow as she texted back, “No. I just couldn’t sleep.”

Harry’s brows pulled together in concern, “Why? Are you worried about the case? Were you able to talk to Candace?” He asked curiously.

Instead of responding, Jade decided to give him a call since she preferred to hear his voice than chat with him.

Harry was surprised to see her call, so he adjusted on his bed so that his back was resting on the headboard of the bed, with both legs on the bed now and the towel slightly loosened.

“Hey!” He said awkwardly when he received the call.

“I spoke with Candace. She agreed to go with me to meet Jero, but she wants to leave her son behind,” Jade informed him, just wanting to talk to him about anything as long as he was on the line.

“Who is she leaving him with? Benne said your parents are going back tomorrow, and Celsie’s parents too,” Harry asked in concern, thinking that was probably what was keeping her awake.

“I’m sure Samantha and the others here will care for him. Besides, Benne and Celsie can check in on him daily. How hard can it be?” Jade asked lightly.

“I take it Benne agreed to this?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Cool.”

“So how is your dad?” Jade asked, changing the subject.

“He’s fine. He’s asleep now,” Harry said as he tried to figure out what next to say, “I saw the pictures you sent. That looked more fun than Benne made me believe you guys were having,” he said, and Jade laughed.

“Well, at first, it wasn’t. But then we had to make it count for dad’s sake. And I was looking forward to seeing you,” Jade said, and Harry felt his heart skip a beat.

“Oh!” Wasn’t that supposed to be a feminine reaction? Why did his heart keep acting funny?

Hearing the surprise in his voice, Jade almost smiled, and then she bit her lower lip when she remembered that she had to confess to him.

Deciding to go with the blunt and straightforward approach he usually used, to see his reaction, she blurted, “Harry, I know I kissed you last night.”

This time Harry’s stomach did a flip flop and he got off the bed. She remembered? When did she remember? What exactly did she remember? Why was she bringing it up now? If she remembered, then she had to have had a reason for kissing him, right?

There were a lot of questions he wanted to ask, but he was scared that he might not like some of the answers, and even if he ended up liking the answers, he might not accept them, so it was probably best for both their sakes that he dismisses it as nothing.

“Two nights ago,” Harry said instead.

“What?” Jade asked in confusion.

“I mean, it was two nights ago. It’s past one in the morning already,” Harry said as he paced the bedroom, while Jade blinked back her surprise.

That was the last thing she had been expecting him to say. She just confessed to having kissed him, and this was the only thing he could say? She had at least expected him to ask her why or something, even if she had no intention of stating the exact reason. From his response, it seemed like the kiss didn’t affect him as much as she had assumed after all.

“Oh, yeah. It was two nights ago. Why didn’t you talk about it yesterday?” She asked curiously.

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