To Cherish You Forever

Chapter 9

The next day, Jacob called me first thing in the morning. He was already at the airport waiting for his flight. I quickly fixed my hair before I answered his video call.

“Good morning baby. How are you? Did you sleep well?” Said Jacob with his smiling face. I couldn’t see his eyes. He is wearing sunglasses. I checked the time. It’s still a quarter to 7. I took note of his endearment. Baby… I love that a lot.

“Hey, good morning. I slept well. What about you? Did you have your breakfast?” I casually asked him. So this is how it is when you are officially together as a couple. You check each other every now and then. I find it sweet.

“I had some coffee on my way here. I have to be in L.A. by 11 am.” He said coolly.

“You take care, baby. I will be waiting for you tomorrow.” I playfully winked at him. He just chuckled at me.

“I love how you said, baby. It is so sensual.” I immediately turned red at what he just said.

“Seriously Jacob? Please stop teasing me.” I complained. And the brute just gave me a peace sign with a big smile on his face.

“Something tells me that you are enjoying this teasing part.” His smile got wider. I rolled my eyes at him. Guess I have to deal with two big teasers now. My crazy brother and my boyfriend. Hmmm… my boyfriend. I am getting the hang of it.

Talking to Jacob over the phone was such a great start for the day. When I went to work, I was immediately sent to Mr. Nicholson’s office. I was wondering what he needs me for. We just had a meeting and closed a deal with a client last Monday. Today is Friday. I had no scheduled meeting with anyone.

I knocked at the door before I entered Mr. Nicholson’s office. It was his secretary who told me to get inside. I was wondering what the meeting is all about.

“Good morning, Alya. How are you doing?” Said Mr. Nicholson cheerfully.

“Good morning, Mr. Nicholson. I am doing great. How about you and the family?” I asked on a more personal level.

“I am all good. My family is doing good as well. How is Alden?” Mr. Nicholson has visited my brother many times in the past three years since his accident. He always asks about my brother every time we see each other.

“He is actually doing great! The last time I visited him, he can do more movements without assistance. Also, he almost regained his memories except for the past two years of his life prior to the accident.” Mr. Nicholson knew what happened to my brother. He actually became more like a family to us than my employer.

“That’s really great news! Hopefully, he will fully recover soon. Anyway, I called for a meeting with you because I want to tell you something important.” Mr. Nicholson is back to his serious, formal voice. I was waiting for what he is going to say next.

“You have been working in the company for more than 4 years now. You have never failed us… failed me.” He added.

“Now, I am expanding my business. I am opening a new marketing department in Portland. Since that is where you grew up and you know the area too well, I would like to assign you there as our branch manager. Everyone will be under your management. You will have your own secretary as well.” Wow! That is really a great opportunity for me to be closer to my family. I don’t have to keep driving for hours just going back and forth on the weekends.

However, I realized that Jacob is here in Seattle.

“I will give you time to decide. I am pretty sure you have come to love this city.” He smiled at me. I am sure he saw my hesitation for a few seconds. I have to inform Jacob about this. As much as I would like to stay close to my family, but I actually got used to my life here in Seattle.

“Thank you so much for giving me the time to decide, Mr. Nicholson.” That’s all I said to him and our brief meeting ended. I went to my office thinking of Mr. Nicholson’s offer. If he offered me to work in Portland three years ago, I could have readily accepted it without questions. I am torn between going back there and leaving my life here where I made new friends, worked with wonderful colleagues, and of course, met Jacob.

On the other hand, if I go back to Portland, I am closer to my parents and Alden. I sighed heavily. I hope I have someone to talk to right now, but unfortunately, everyone is busy in the company.

“Hello baby, good evening. How was your day?” It was Jacob’s face on my phone screen.

“Hi, baby! My day was great. Everything went well at work. What about you?” I asked casually. I don’t want to tell him right now about Mr. Nicholson’s offer. I haven’t even reached any decision yet.

I am in my room now, reading some news online. I am also having some hot chocolate.

“It was a long day. I attended three meetings with clients. It came out successful in general.” When it comes to work, I have no doubt about Jacob’s way of managing it. His father is almost semi-retired and delegated him most of the heavy work in the company. Jacob is a great businessman. He definitely knows what he is doing.

“You are great at everything you do. I wish you were here so I could cook dinner for you.” I just said out of nowhere.

“Well, why don’t you cook dinner for us tomorrow night at your place?” I was surprised at his suggestion. I thought he made some plans for us when he comes back tomorrow.

“What about your plan for us tomorrow?” I have to remind him. His suggestion is not bad anyway. I did plan to cook dinner for him before. I was already thinking of what to cook for him. I know Jacob likes to eat seafood. I want to cook him my dad’s smoked salmon recipe but I rather have dad cook it for him when we visit them soon. I am quite excited that I will be introducing him to my family as my boyfriend. They heard about him a lot but I never brought him yet to my family. Now that Alden is almost better, it would be great for him to see a new face aside from us and his therapists.

“I changed my mind, baby. We can always do my plan some other time. Tomorrow, I just want to be simply with you.” He said meaningfully.

“Sure baby! A dinner date then here in my place.” My statement gave me a bit of a chill. If judging from the passionate kiss we shared last night, I am afraid things will be out of control between us. I hope we stay sane. I can say that Jacob had a lot of intimate experiences with women. However, I have zero experience with intimacy. I will not deny that last night I felt the warmth emanating within my body. As much as possible, I want us not to go to that level of intimacy for now.

“I love that. I can’t wait to see you, baby. I do miss you so much. All-day long, my mind was full of your images.” He boyishly smiled at me. Did he just turn red?

“Really? Awww… I miss you, too baby.” Jacob is really a sweet and thoughtful guy. I never ever thought of him to go an extra mile just to persuade me to be his girl.

“You just don’t know how stressful this day was. When I finally finished what I needed to do here, I called you immediately. I can’t wait to be back. If I weren’t exhausted right now, I could have taken our private plane and immediately come to your apartment.” I felt sorry for him. He really does look exhausted. I wonder what happened during his meetings but he did mention everything was successful.

“Please take a good rest, baby. I hope you don’t skip your dinner.” But before I could go further, I already heard a slight sound from him. He just fell asleep. Poor baby. I promise to prepare a great dinner for him tomorrow. It is the weekend anyway. We have all the time for each other.

The next day, I just got back from the grocery store to prepare for our dinner tonight. After I parked the car, I took all the grocery supplies in both my arms. I had to stop when I saw someone at the door of my apartment. It’s a woman… a very beautiful, sophisticated-looking woman. Who is she? I don’t remember meeting her.

“Hi! Good morning. Are you looking for someone around here?” I immediately asked her since she is blocking my doorway.

“Hello! I am Monique. We’ve never met but I know so many things about you from Jacob.” My right eyebrow went up a little bit. What is she doing here at my apartment if she knows Jacob.

“Okay. If you are looking for Jacob, he is not here. If you’ll excuse me, I just would like to bring these stuff inside.” The grocery bags were heavy and my arms were getting tired from carrying them. I set down both bags on the ground. I was about to unlock the door to my apartment when the woman spoke again.

“I knew Jacob is not here. I met him yesterday in L.A. We spent lunch together. It was a quick one for old time’s sake. We’ve just met again after we broke up a few years ago.” I got surprised. So, Monique was Jacob’s ex and they met yesterday. So, what is her business here?

“I am sorry, but I don’t understand why you are here? Do you have anything to say to Jacob?” I waited for her answer.

“I don’t have anything to say to Jacob. I said everything what he needed to hear from me. I just want to see his new girlfriend. Jacob has always had a good taste with women. Tall, smart, beautiful…” Then, she smiled. For me, it wasn’t a friendly smile.

“Okay.” I have nothing else to say to her.

“See you around, Alya Sherwood. And I hope your twin brother would get well very soon.” Then, she started to walk away. I gasped at what she just said. I quickly ran after her.

“What did you just say? How did you know about my brother? Only very few people knew that Alden isn’t well yet.” I didn’t realize that I grabbed her arm to stop her from walking away. She looked at my hand, gripping her tightly.

“I am sorry, but how did you know my brother?” I repeated what I said. She got me more curious. I never mentioned to Jacob what happened to my brother. I just told him he was sick. How this woman learned about Alden is intriguing.

“Have you met my brother? Do you know him personally?” I continued asking her. She just smirked at me.

“I have not met your brother. Just tell Jacob when you see him that I came here. Tell him it’s Monique Lewis.” When she left, I couldn’t stop thinking of her. She seemed familiar but I am certain that we’ve just met now. I also met some of Jacob’s female friends but she’s not one of them. Why did she come to my apartment? What does she know of my brother?

When I got inside my apartment, I plan to focus solely on preparing our dinner for tonight. After I took my late lunch, I started preparing dinner. I already baked a carrot cake earlier. It just needs to cool down in the fridge. For tonight’s dinner, I made some tomato salad with iceberg lettuce, baked scallops, sautéed vegetables, and mushroom soup. For our main course, I cooked some pan-seared salmon with dill sauce.

After I cooked all the food, I still have an hour to fix the dining table and take a quick shower. It didn’t take me long to make the table arrangement. I went for a 5-minute shower. I want to look beautiful for Jacob. I put on a little bit of make-up. I put on a mid-thigh length simple white wrap dress with a tie fitted around the waistline. It has short sleeves with a plunging neckline. I tied my long wavy hair in a bun. When I looked at myself in the mirror, my outfit looks quite revealing. It shows off my heavy bossom. I felt the need to change but it was too late. I just heard the doorbell. I quickly grabbed a cardigan.

“Good evening, baby. You look so amazingly beautiful.” Came the deep, baritone voice of Jacob. He is wearing a black slim fit shirt and paired it with slightly loose jeans. He looks as handsome as ever.

“Good evening to you too, baby,” I replied to him. He came to me and kissed me on the cheek. Then, he showed me a bouquet of a variety of flowers. I saw some red roses, yellow daisies, white lilies, baby’s breath, and pink peonies.

“Thank you. They are so beautiful.” He went inside my apartment. This is actually his third time to get inside my apartment. He came here twice before. He was waiting for me to finish dressing up for our date outside. This would be the first time that he would stay longer in my place. I hope everything will turn out great tonight. I just want to spend some quality time with Jacob.