My Mr. Perfect, Imperfect

Chapter 39: In Out Busy Lives

Jade was on his way to a meeting, so he tried calling Sapphire's contact, but she wasn't picking.

"Why isn't she picking up?" Jade asked himself curiously.

Then, Mr. Tim called.

"That's a relief."

Although, Jade felt heartbroken too, he drove back to his hotel. It was such Abad day, indeed. Thank goodness no one died. Lost in thoughts, Jade's phone started ringing again. He picked up while his eyes focused on the road.

"Yes." He fixed his earpiece onto his ears.

"I'll be there in 5 minutes."

"Did you contact Mr. Johnson's family, too?"

"Good, look into some flights in California, so I can arrange something in case they want to come here."

"Yes." He replied and dropped his earpiece.

"f**k! This driving is driving me crazy!" He grunts to himself, adding more speed.

That night, Jade couldn't sleep. He kept on writing and researching and working without even looking at the teddy bears key-holder this time.

Till the brightness of the day. Jade was still on the work. He went to have his bath in the shower. Since he owns a hotel, Jade has an executive suite placed by his office for him. Most days, he prefers sleeping in office rather than going home.

The warm shower sprinkled down his entire body. He couldn't help but to feel emotional under the shower, which made him think of Sapphire again. It's clear that he couldn't to be able to live like this for too long either. Jade rubbed off his neck and back at were hurting like hell. He'd worked throughout the night, and he'll continue again. That's the life of a CEO. Always BUSY.

***

At Zoey's Boutique

Zoey's boutique is a tall duplex. It's named Mermaid's Change Boutique. The arrangements of her clothes are always arranged in colours, varying from white, red, orange, yellow, green to blue, purple, pink, black and any other colours in between.

It was a Sunday morning so, Sapphire decided to visit Zoey to ease off her mind.

"So, tell me. How was yesterday? Because I know you guys had big Saturday plans." Zoey joked but Sapphire couldn't say anything.

"Just tell me a little then, even if you can't tell me all." Zoey pressured.

"Nothing happened yesterday." Sapphire murmured.

Zoey who was arranging the new cloths in their lines and rolls turned back to Sapphire.

"What?! Wait, you got stood up?! That's weird." Zoey stuttered.

Sapphire helped her in packing up some clothes. Although, inevitable sadness danced all over her face. She looked so pale and bored without even saying it.

"When I saw you guys, it looked like he was really into you." Zoey admitted as they walked to her office upstairs.

She made Sapphire try some of her new, tacky clothes that Jade might buy for her.

"Does it make sense that he didn't come to me because he was busy?"

"Well, that part makes no sense. Guys make time for the girls they like no matter what." Zoey explained.

"Really?" Sapphire quirted an eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"I didn't expect that he'd like me or anything like that. He's always taking me to work related functions when we meet after all." Sapphire pointed out.

"So, does that makes you feel disappointed?" Zoey gave her a quick look.

"Well, not exactly, but I've definitely come to realize something now."

"What?" Zoey turned to her.

"Don't get it twisted just because we've just met a couple of times now. I won't fall for that arrogant CEO no matter what. Just think about this as practice for when you're dating for real." She closed her eyes talking to herself, drunkily.

"Is that an incantation?" Zoey chuckled at her bestie.

"I wish it was really an incantation, I'd have stopped this hell of a relationship that's bringing me down. I can't concentrate on school work, neither can I concentrate on myself. I'm just tired." She murmured and the vibration of her phone.

Sapphire quickly took it out of her pocket, hoping it was Jade's call. Instead, it was just an application reminder she needed to update. A disappointed look covered Sapphire's eyes as she looked that the emptiness of her phone. She let out a fake smile that almost brought tears up to her eyes again.

Zoey felt emotional too. She gave her a side hug and a mysterious look.

"Let's go and eat. I'll buy you something delicious and a drink too." She smiled.

"Awwwwn... You're the best friend ever!" Sapphire hugged Zoey with a mild smile. "I'll give you a good job stamp for that!"

"Thank you ma'am." Zoey sounded in a baby's voice. They both of the chuckled lovingly and went out.

Jade, on the other side of the dice, was still checking out some files. Fed up, he dropped it and grabbed his phone. He was about to call Fire's contact when the general manager called. And he just. Had. To. Reply. It.

Outside his office were the others. They'd been working overnight too. No one leaves when the boss is still inside his office.

"I'm so tired and hungry. I'll die of exhaustion." Miss Barbara yawned like a cat and cried.

"Me too." Mr. George muttered and stratched the back of his neck like a lazy dog. "We've been working like robots for three days now!"

"Hey, stop complaining already!" Mr. Tim butts into the conversation and handed Miss Barbara some pain relief pills.

"Here, take some of these. They'll help." Then he faced the George. "Our boss has been doing all-nighters for the past three days too, he didn't die neither did he complain. And he's doing triple the work of what we're doing." Mr. Tim encouraged others. They took blank stares at him like cats at night.

"Gosh!" Miss Barbara scoffed. "He must be a robot, a working machine that never gets tired. Does he have supernatural powers? I guess he doesn't even need sleep since he has such a nasty temper."

Just then, Jade came out of his office, his gaze, facing Miss Barbara. She just swallowed and looked away.

Startled.

"Talk to the PR team and bring up the opening of the hotel in Hawaii to the board meeting." Jade retorted immediately. "And I'm, think about the goods we'll give out as grand opening gifts, too." He added.

"Okay sir." The three of them chorused, respectively.

"I'm going to report to the chairman. And I'll only be gone for three hours. Please, hold down the fort until then." He directed.

"Yes sir. Please, get some rest today." Mr. Tim suggested. We'll report to you if anything comes up."

Jade smiled and muttered a 'thank you' before leaving the room.

Dumbfounded, Miss Barbara faced Mr. Tim.

"Why is he bringing up the hotel in Hawaii issue, now? Wasn't that supposed to be confidential?"

"Well, it's to make sure that the media doesn't get a whiff of this." Mr. Tim explained. "So we're giving them a decoy. Do you even know what that means? Amateur!"

"Did you just called me an amateur?! Are you crazy?!" Miss Barbara fired back at him. As if the work he'd bombarded her with wasn't enough, he's adding another.

"Umm... That was a joke actually, but I'm s...sorry." he apologized.

"Sorry for yourself!" She hissed and concentrated at the work on her table.

"Should I get you water or something?" Mr. Tim requested.

"Just leave me alone!" Miss Barbara hissed at him.

At The Chairman's Mansion, Jade went to visit the chairman. They were in his grade chit-chatting about business.

"It doesn't seem like that was just a simple prank." Jade reported to his grandpa.

"What's the reason for that?" Stephen asked, interestedly.

"The so-called bomb was a toy. But they put too much prep work into it for this to have been a mere prank."

"Do you have any ideas who might have been behind this? Is there anyone you're suspicious about?"

"As if, now, I just have one suspect."

"Well, who's it? Shouldn't you look into them if you have doubts? Don't you realize how risky this is and why haven't you taken care of them yet?"

Jade turned to Stephen, earnestly.

"To be sincere, you're the most likely person to have done this."

Hearing him say this made the chairman cough hard. He almost choked on the bitter lie that Jade just told.

"It's true, grandpa. Just admit it, because I know, my hotel isn't exactly huge, but it's gained more prestige from my hard work. Apart from that, you sold the hotel to me in cash. So, you're just waiting for a chance to steal it back, aren't you? And you're doing tons of snooping on someone else, hotel."

Jade's candid look turned into a smile.

"I'll report to you as soon as the report investigations are out." He walks away, making the chairman burst out into an uncontrollable laughter.

"But please, keep monitoring the status of the media." He retorted.

"Yes, bye." He ended the call and zoomed off.

***

Sapphire just came out of the bathroom when she checked her phone.

[2 Missed Calls: From The King Of Devils]

She started at the screen of her phone, hoping he would call back.

Just then, a call entered. She was excited but it wasn't Jade cling. It was Gabby.

***

Later That Day...

Sapphire went out with Gabby. She went to buy some good-looking face caps and dark shades for Gabby. It was in BB Malls so, Ace caught her. He had two guards always following him wherever he was going.

"Look into the stuff I told you about the last time." He commanded. His two guards left immediately.

Checking the caps, Ace watched her closely when he noticed she wasn't alone.

"She has another guy?" Ace quirted an eyebrow and watched the both of them closely.

They tried more caps on and then went to the buy dark shades. Later, Gabby brought out a book for Sapphire to explain.

"The value if constant m when x-1 is perpendicular and approaches that. Try to solve that." She muttered.

"Okay..." Gabby replied her as he solved the sum.

Sapphire watched how Gabby solved the questions, yet, all she could think of was Jade. She scrolled through her phone and saw a message.

[3 Missed Calls From The King of Devils]

Thinking about it, Sapphire realized that he must have called while she was picking caps for Gabby. Unsettled, she went outside to ponder on what next to do. She wasn't comfortable awaiting his calls yet, she's eagerly expecting Jade calls.

After a while, Sapphire decided to swallow her pride. She hated him for wasting her time a day before, and he deserves a severe punishment, but she missed him already. It's already three days without hearing from each other. Sapphire decided to dial his number. Calling him made Sapphire's trembling hands sweaty, but he wasn't picking. She was about to dial his number for the second time when she mistakenly bumped into a woman while Sapphire's phone crushed on the floor. She was chatting too, so, she wasn't looking straight.

"I'm so sorry ma." The lady apologized immediately.

"I'm sorry too." Sapphire apologized back as she watched the woman leave. She quickly grabbed her phone confusedly and noticed that it's screen was shattered.

'What's wrong with me?' a voice cried in her mind as her shaky hands picked up the pieces, one after another.

***

7:00 p.m

Jade came to Sapphire's apparently and knocked on the door, but there was no reply. He gently pushed and pulled the door knob, but it seems there was nobody indoor. He failed her number the tenth time, but it was switched off.

Eager to meet Sapphire, he sat at the placement next to her door. The weather was cold and misty. He needed to see her at least, to make things right.

After a while, Jade dialled her contact again, but there wasn't any reply.

"f**k!" He wailed to his wretched life.