The Billionaire Student's Secret.

17

Jade spent the night holding unto her mother's hand and closely examining the woman's breathing, as she was scared of Mary dying. Sometime in the middle of the night, Jade fell into an uneasy sleep.

She stirred when she felt a hand clench hers.

Jade gave a gasp of joy when she saw Mary's eyes were open.

Her mother looked weary and faint, but Jade didn't mind in the least, “Mother! I'm so glad you're awake!”

Mary tried to return the smile, and winced.

“Don't stress yourself, mother.” Jade advised, “I'm here.”

Mary nodded but still said in a raspy voice, “I'm thirsty.”

“Don't worry,” Jade assured and ran out of the room, returning with a paper cup filled with water from a dispenser in the hallway.

She helped Mary sit up and gently held the cup for her to drink.

When Mary was done, Jade dropped the cup and wiped off some of the water drops that ran down the side of her mother's mouth.

“Thank you,” Mary voiced, and Jade was shocked to note that her mother was crying.

Jade's alarm was evident in her questions, “Mother, what's wrong? Are you in pains? Should I call for the doctor?”

“No,” Mary replied vehemently, “that's not the problem.”

“Then what's wrong?” Jade queried, concerned.

After a while, Mary replied quietly, “I'm ashamed of myself.”

“Mother, there's n—”

“Allow me talk,” Mary chided, and Jade kept mute.

“Yes, I'm ashamed of what I have become.” Mary reiterated, “when your father was alive, you were practically my best friend and my daughter rolled in one. We were basically inseparable. Then he died, and you became too engrossed in your studies. That's every parent's dream, but I resented you for it.”

Mary paused and shook her head bitterly before she continued, “I went looking elsewhere for the attention, and it led me to Drew.”

“That bastard!” Jade hissed heatedly, “he took advantage of you!”

“Only because I let him,” Mary countered, “do you know how I got in here?”

Before Jade could reply, Mary continued, “Drew borrowed from a ruthless loan shark, and couldn't repay his debts. He fled without telling me, and the loan shark sent his leg breakers to my house. They didn't find Drew, so I became their target.”

Jade gripped her mother's hand tenderly, “I'm sorry, mother.”

“No,” Mary returned Jade's squeeze, “I'm sorry, now, you'll have to see your mother end up in jail for drug use.”

“The doctor said he kept that out of his report,” Jade rushed to say.

The relief on Mary's face was as plain as day, “Really? Oh my God!”

“Yes,” Jade smiled, “mother, don't worry, you'll get out of here, and everything will be alright, I promise.”

“I wish,” Mary sighed, “I have no money to pay for my bills. Drew squandered all my money.”

Jade ground her molars, feeling helpless and hating that feeling. Not wanting to crush her mother's hopes, she put on a smile on her face, “Don't worry, I'll take care of everything.”

Mary seemed to believe her, because in the next moment, she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

* * *

Jade stared at her screen as her brain worked overtime, trying to decide what decision to take. It was simple really, Jade considered, all she had to do was apply for the dominatrix job, at least, and see if the employers would give her another job when she confessed that she knew nothing about 'dominatrixing'.

But what if they didn't have other job offers open? How was she supposed to pull off the role of the self-assured dom? She wasn't a femme fatale like Darin, and she was clumsy to boot. Acting sexy was the last thing she was good at, but she seriously needed money for her tuition and accommodation, not to speak of her mother's hospital bills which would surely cost a fortune.

Jade was pulled out of her desolate thoughts by someone who tapped the side of her desk.

She looked up and saw Black's deep black eyes staring at her intently, “Hey, class was over about forty-five minutes ago, and since then, you've been here, staring at your phone screen. Is everything alright?”

Jade was startled out of her mind. Why was Charles being nice to her? After the day he'd saved her from Leroy, he'd not spoken one word to her until now. When she did not answer quickly enough, Charles pressed on, “Is it Leroy, is he still bothering you?”

“No, no, no,” Jade replied hastily, “he hasn't bothered me ever since.”

“Then what's your problem?” Charles probed gently yet firmly.

Jade was torn between actually telling him her problems and telling him to mind his business, when someone behind Charles cleared his throat.

They both turned to find Harry glaring at Charles as he addressed Jade, “Any problem, Jade?”

“Um, no.” Jade stuttered, “Charles was just leaving.”

The said Charles didn't budge an inch. Instead, the side of his mouth quirked up in a smirk, “I was? That's news to me.”

Tenzin's glare got worse, “Stop bothering her.”

“Harry!” Jade snapped angrily, “he wasn't bothering me.”

Jade felt her face redden as she apologized to Charles, “I'm sorry, but you have to leave. There's no problem with me at all, I'm fine, thanks for asking.”

Charles replied unhurriedly, “I don't believe you, but I'll take my leave.”

Jade sighed with relief, and Charles added, “For now. We'll continue this discussion later.”

“No, you won't,” Harry interjected.

Charles ignored him, nodded at Jade and strode off confidently.

When Charles was out of earshot, Harry huffed, “douchebag! What did he want?”

“I don't know,” Jade shrugged, still shocked that Charles had approached her, and spoken nicely to her.

“I don't like him coming around you,” Harry added, “there's something not right about him.”

Jade rolled her eyes, “Harry, Charles saved me from Leroy and another perv. What exactly is wrong with him?”

Harry adjusted his glasses, “He could have planned the whole thing with Leroy just to look like a hero.”

Jade silently prayed for patience, “Harry, you've been watching a lot of badly scripted movies.”

“Whatever,” Harry persisted, “the issue is that you should avoid Charles.”

Jade nodded, “Yes, I will. I don't know why, it feels weird when he isn't attacking me for coming late to classes.”

Jade saw Tenzin's face light up with joy, “That's good.”

As they left the classroom, Jade could not get Black's intent gaze out of her mind. What was that stare for? Was he still pitying her? Jade wondered with disgust.

Well, what else could it be? Charles Black had saved her from being molested just once, and he thought her to be a weakling who needed a strong man to lean on.

That made Jade's mind up for her. Taking out her phone, she immediately applied for the position of a dominatrix at Pleasure Palace. She'd show him what she could do.