Crossing Paths

chapter 2

First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes the… nasty divorce. Jessabelle Jones thought she married her soul mate. She thought she had her happily ever after. But two years into Jessabelle’s marriage, she realized that her husband was not what she wanted. He was selfish, he was oblivious, and he didn't love her anymore. Maybe she didn’t love him anymore, either. Divorce was the only option if either of them wanted to find happiness. Jessabelle and Alberto thought they knew what they wanted, but neither was prepared for the heartache that separating would bring them. The journey they embark on is not the freedom they wished for but a painful look at the people they’ve become.

Everyone has their way of dealing with their ex when a relationship ends – for some, it's easy to slide back into the friendship that preceded the romance, while for others, it's healthier to cut off contact completely, extolling the virtues of the 'no-contact rule.' There may come a point, however – maybe years later – when you feel like sitting back and reflecting on the relationship: what your former partner taught you, what you learned about love, and the nuggets of self-knowledge you gleaned along the way.

No one wakes up in the morning and says, "I want to sabotage my marriage or have an affair." These things happen after a series of increasing compromises. What started as a small compromise for Jessabelle became a slightly larger compromise, which became a greater compromise over time.

It had been nine months since her divorce, and she still couldn’t get Alberto out of her mind. Some nights were tougher than she ever thought. She started having panic and anxiety attacks, but she didn’t stop herself from evolving. After every passing day, she became a better human, a stronger woman. She went through a plethora of confusing emotions, sometimes all at once. But, later down the road, she learned that she needed to cut herself some slack, and there was no such thing as a perfect wife, and it takes two people to make a marriage work.

It was another boring day of her life, and all she wanted was to skip work, stay at home, and sleep the entire day. She decided against the deceiving thoughts and got up to get ready for work. Taking out her favorite purple blazer, she paired it up with the white jumpsuit her mother gifted her on her 23rd birthday. She always felt nice after dressing up, but today was different. Even after wearing her favorite attire, she wasn’t feeling herself; it was like a dark cloud looming above her head like a ticking bomb. Something was wrong that day, and she could feel it. She pushed the thought away and stepped out of the house, and decided to walk to the nearest coffee shop to get her favorite caramel cappuccino. She was walking, lost in her thoughts when we felt someone tap her shoulders. “Miss, I don’t know if you have noticed, but your bag is open, and you have dropped quite a lot of stuff. If you want to throw them away, the dustbin is right across the corner, but… um… I don’t know if it’s important,” the guy in front of her said while scratching the back of his head. Jessabelle had seen this handsome man somewhere; she just couldn’t remember. But there was something about his aura that she couldn’t stop staring at him with her big green eyes. “I have seen you…” she tried to say when she got interrupted, “Yes, you are the woman who fainted, and because of whom I had missed my flight and had to spend another awful day in the heat of Columbia,” the guy said.

He was Yousseff. The guy whose cold touch didn’t let her sleep for three straight nights. Amidst the chaos of her divorce, she almost forgot about him. “Miss! Hello! Are you even listening to me? All your stuff fell off your bag. It was opened,” the guy waved his hand in front of her face and tried to grab her attention. This brought Jessabelle back from her deep thought. “Yes…umm… my bag… yeah…” she just stumbled over her words.

“Do you want me to help you with it? Because with experience with you, I don’t think you are capable of taking care of yourself or your stuff,” he said with a smirk.

“I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself and my stuff.”

“No, you are not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Nope, you aren’t.”

“This is never going to end. Never mind. I’ll pick it up,” she said with frustration and crouched down to pick up her things. It was quick, and before any of them could stop themselves, they had their hands touched again as both were in the position at the same time. And boom! Sparks were there again. Jessabelle felt like an electric bolt shooting through her veins, and she immediately pulled her hands back. Yousseff looked at her as if she were an animal going extinct as if she would disappear at any given moment if left out of his sight. He watched her eyes with his eyes wide open and lips parted in amazement as she tried to get a hold of herself. He smiled when she messed up her stuff and made it fall again. He smiled at the way she would curse under her breath before looking around in fear to see if he had heard. He was in awe of the eccentric young woman who was about to steal his heart.

Jessabelle was lost in her thoughts, trying to pick her things up while still not getting over the electric touch of Yousseff. “What is about this stupid f*****g guy that I get on with? Why does it feel so good every time we touch? Why the f**k?” she thought to herself and started cursing beneath her breath. Little did she know that someone’s focus had been entirely shifted to her cursing and messed up hair. It was a few more moments before she realized how late she was for her work. “f**k, I have to go,” she murmured. She picked up her stuff in a hurry and left without giving another glance to Yousseff, who was sitting there like a dumbfounded fool.

As she thought, she was late for work, and her boss wasn’t going to be easy on her this time. It was her fifth late in the past four weeks. “Jessabelle, can you please come to my office? We have to discuss something on the Executive Project,” she heard her boss, Mr. Kimber, as soon as she entered the building. “Shoot! He’ll murder me today,” she murmured to herself, dumped her stuff messily on her table, and rushed to his office. It was entirely covered with glass walls, and the view outside his window was extraordinarily beautiful. Every part of the background was distracting Jessabelle today, and with a loud hump, she bumped into the glass door. “I thought it was open,” she said while hiding her embarrassment. “Are you okay?” a man asked from behind. He wasn’t a male model, but he should have been. The lush, mother lode-gold hair he groomed so carefully had a rippling quality, a sign of his rude health. His only blemish was that he was beetle-browed, and they were, at the moment, knitted in frustration. The aquiline nose he sported complemented his prominent cheekbones. Handsome in an understated way, his basalt jaw and Spartan shoulders spoke of strength. He possessed a latent, leonine power and was walking toward Jessabelle with purpose and authority.

Jessabelle couldn’t stop staring at him. He opened the door for her. “After you, miss,” he said with a grin.

“I can open the door myself, thank you very much,” Jessabelle said. Then she deliberately opened the other door and walked through. She didn’t care what he thought of her, she was already in a lot of trouble, and a little more wouldn’t hurt her. As soon as she entered, Mr. Kimber welcomed her warmly.

“Have I done something good? Or is he drunk? Why is being so nice to me?” she thought to herself. Just when she was taking a seat, a man entered the room. The same man whom she insulted just a few seconds ago. She couldn’t sit. She was gawking at him with her mouth open. “Welcome, Mr. Alex, please come and have a seat,” Mr. Kimber said.

Alex took his seat beside Jessabelle with a grin on his face. “We meet again,” he said in a slow voice so only Jessabelle could hear him. She ignored him as if nothing had happened and focused her attention on her boss. “Jessabelle, I wanted you to meet Alex, my younger cousin’s brother,” Mr. Kimber continued, “He lives in Italy and is here for some work. There was something he wanted to offer you.” Jessabelle looked at both men with dire confusion. She couldn’t comprehend what they both were up to.

“So, Jessabelle, right? I have heard a lot about you

“Mhmm… You did?” Jessabelle asked in a not-so-surprising tone. She was not at all interested in meeting this hot spoiled cousin of her boss. She started looking around the office. If under a different circumstance, Jessabelle would have taken time to admire the beautiful interior decoration as it was a mixture of black, grey, and a little golden hint here and there. The office was surely a sight to behold.

“What do you want from me, sir?” she asked.

“I have a proposal for you if you are interested?” he asked in a quirky way.

“Ermm… what kind of proposal?”

“A contract marriage. I need you to marry me in two weeks,”

“YOU NEED WHAT?” Jessabelle almost screamed, surprised.

"American citizenship?" Alex asked.

"Why and who wants to know?" Jessabelle replied rudely. She didn’t care what her boss had to say.

"Listen, love, I'm in a bit of a pickle. Seems like I have gotten a green card problem, and I need to find myself an American wife". He picked up her hand and looked deeply into her eyes.

"Sorry, I'm Chinese." So much for someone being interested in her as a person. “Oh, I get it that’s your cheeky American sense of humor. Don’t you know who I am?" He seemed incredulous.

"Sorry, I have no idea who you are." She pressed her lips together and shook her head. "I can offer you money. Lots of money, more money than you could ever use, Love," Alex said in a mysterious tone. Wow, that probably would have worked on most. Poor Bad Boy had found the one person in the world that could have laughed at that.

"You just have to sign a pre-nuptial and stay married for two years. In that time, I will give you two million upfront and five hundred thousand for every year we stay married. For an additional five years after that, a further hundred thousand a year." Alex had the naiveté to look smug.

"Very generous," Jessabelle said. She could wipe her nose with that much money and still not even dent what she was worth. "So, who are you?"

"Alex Berkeley. Of the Berkeley Traders."

"How unfortunate. That can't be your real name."

"You have never heard of the Berkeley Traders?"

"I could Google you if it made you feel any better." Her father had always loved that saying, considering he owned a large chunk of Google. "Is Berkeley at least your real middle name?" Oddly she did want to know.

He smiled. "Alex Berkeley Minnesota." He extended his hand toward her.

"You thought Berkeley was a better last name than Minnesota?"

Jessabelle was surprised, confused, and startled at the same time. She was trying to make sense of the words that were coming out of his mouth. Marriage? Jessabelle had no plans of getting married, not now, at least. Maybe next year. And when she did, she planned on getting married to the love of her life, to a man that loved her and cherished her. She wanted to have a happy home, a home full of love and happiness like her parents.

She had always admired how her parents loved each other to the extent that they left everything for each other. That was the kind of marriage she wanted to be in. A contract marriage had never been in Jessabelle’s plans. Hell no, if he hadn’t mentioned it, she wouldn’t have imagined it ever till the day she died. She never wanted to be in a contract marriage. Besides, she had read books about them, and the marriage was never a pleasant one to be in, no love, nothing. The thought of it was horrible, and to top her concerns, she didn’t even know the man.

Why her? Was the next question that came to her mind. Of course, the boss had so many women at his beck and call. He was always on the news with different women, models, actresses, career-oriented women, and women with class and power. So, why her? She had never seen her boss up close in person since she started working at this company. So definitely, his cousin had never seen her except maybe the day she made a presentation that brought about her promotion. Besides that, they had never crossed paths, so why her?

“Yes, Jessabelle, you heard me well. You will get married to me in two weeks. I have already drafted out the contract… Here is your copy….” He said, handing her a piece of paper.

“The details of the contract are stated there, everything you need to know. All you would do right now is sign them, but we must wait for my lawyer and our witnesses to get here.”

“I…I…I don’t understand, why me? God! Why a contract marriage to begin with, and you are sounding like I don’t have a choice in this,” Jessabelle’s frustrated voice could be heard loud and clear in the entire room.

“What if I say no?”

“Why would you? What sensible person would do that,” he asked, raising a brow at her. At this point, he was standing right in front of her. He was so close that she could hear his breath. It was a mixture of peppermint and fresh cigar. She was lost in his cologne when she heard him say, “Just read how much you would be receiving in and even after the marriage till you get married to someone else. What else? You would be receiving an allowance every month. This should be all.”

Jessabelle stood up and left the office with papers in her hands. She walked past her work colleagues, who gave her a questioning look, but she ignored them. She wasn’t interested in having any conversation right now. She pressed the button of the elevator to her office floor.

Jessabelle sighed as she didn’t know how or what to make of the situation when the elevator opened on her floor. She half ran to her office; she shut the door of her office and exhaled the breath she had been holding. Jessabelle sat on her chair and wore her glasses so she could read the contract properly. After going through it, she wondered, ‘Why a contract marriage?’ Since it wasn’t stated in the contract, she just dropped the paperback on her desk, took off her glasses and rested on the chair, and started spinning. The sound of her office phone brought Jessabelle back from her train of thoughts, startling her in the process.

“Hello! Jessabelle Jones on the line, how may I help you?” she said on the phone.

“Jessabelle, someone would be bringing you a dress right about now. I need you to get into them as we are going on a date to the world but really, we would be signing the contract in the presence of my lawyers, your mother if you want, and others.”

And the phone went dead.

Jessabelle was speechless, and before she could even think, there was a knock on her office door, which she went to answer. To her surprise, it was a delivery boy with a big box in his hands, Jessabelle asked to help him, but he refused and went straight to drop it on the sofa in her office. “From Mr. Alex, ma’am,” the boy said and left the office. Jessabelle opened the box and was greeted with a beautiful skirt and an armless turtleneck tank top. The top was golden, and the skirt a rose gold with matching stilettoes and purse. She was sure it cost a fortune.

She went into the toilet of her office to quickly put herself in order, then put on the dress. She did a little makeup and packed her hair in a bun. Looking at herself one more time in the mirror, she stepped out.

“It took you an hour,” Alex said, sitting in her chair, startling Jessabelle, which made her drop her purse accidentally.

“You startled me! Don’t f*****g do that ever again,” Jessabelle said after recollecting herself and picking the purse off the floor.

“I gave you a dress didn’t say you should turn into a Queen,” Alex said and ran his fingers through his hair. With the way he was looking at her, you could see the lust in his eyes, but after a while, it disappeared, and he went back to his normal self. “You’re ready?” He asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Jessabelle said, blushing a little. They stepped out of the office, and Alex immediately took her hands in his. “We need to sell the story.”

“I haven’t agreed to anything yet, sir,” Jessabelle said, slightly pissed.

“You would. Once you see your mother’s new salon and thousands of dollars in your bank account, you definitely would,” he whispered into her ears. Jessabelle could feel shocks running down her body. She was not ready for such proximity, but she was enjoying it. When they got to the lobby, eyes of everyone were on them. Some looked surprised, some angry, and some just overlooked. Jessabelle was embarrassed by the situation; how was she even going to explain this to her mother and brother? How was she going to explain this to anyone when she didn’t know what was happening? Alex, on the other hand, wasn’t bothered. He walked with all authority, not minding or even bothering to look at the people’s reactions.

When they got to the car, he opened the door for Jessabelle, and she got in. He entered right behind her, asking the driver to start the car, and off they went to a destination only he and Alex knew. The car ride was not relaxing, Jessabelle was tensed throughout. She couldn’t even relax one bit. Meanwhile, Alex was making several calls and speaking in different languages Jessabelle couldn’t understand.

Is themoney worth it?

Were Jessabelle’s thoughts all through the ride.

When the car stopped, indicating that they had arrived, Jessabelle exhaled for the tenth time since she had been in the car with Alex, who never bothered to have a conversation with her even when he got off the phone minutes ago,

Jessabelle’s door was pulled open by the man who was the driver. She muttered a little thank you to him and stepped out of the car, that was when she realized that the sun had gone down, but it wasn’t completely dark yet. They had stopped in front of a restaurant that had an Italian name, so Jessabelle didn’t bother reading it. Alex came and took Jessabelle’s arms in his, which made Jessabelle hold her breath, not because he took her unaware whatsoever but because she couldn’t believe the mighty Alex Berkely, whom she had only heard about in the news or seen his pictures in magazines was asking her to marry him. He never asked, but the thought of this man being her husband was worth holding her breath for. “Shall we? And please smile,” Alex said into Jessabelle’s ears. When they entered the restaurant, she and Alex were welcomed by the manager of the restaurant, she could tell by the name tag on his neatly ironed suit. Everything in that place screamed, ‘I am for rich alone, poor people keep off.’ If not for the dress and jewelry Alex had sent her, Jessabelle would have felt out of place. The guests, the food, the music, the decorations, Jessabelle couldn’t imagine herself ever coming to a place like this or having things like these at this point of her life, maybe in the future, but not now.

They were led through another door, away from the first gathering of people. This time around, the people in this other place were few and looked wealthier than the first set of people they saw when they came in when Jessabelle thought she had seen it all. They were once again led through another door, and his time, there was no one there, just a table for ten. It looked like it was only for the high and mightiest of society. Alex pulled out a chair for her, which she took and muttered a silent thank you to him. A few minutes later, after they were served their wines, a lady in an oxblood red gown that showed whatever cleavage she had to show and heavy makeup walked into the room. She scanned the place, looking for someone when her eyes landed on Alex, which instantly made her smile. She walked toward the table and took the seat beside Alex, ignoring Jessabelle, who had greeted her when she came in.

“Alex, love, you came much earlier, and I thought we agreed on you coming to pick me up,” she said in the most flirting manner Jessabelle had ever seen. Alex, on the other hand, didn’t bother to look at her. Since she came in, he was on his phone typing away. A minute later, two men in black suits came in, with a mature woman who looked exactly like Alex. Her face was a bit wrinkled due to her age, but the resemblance was striking. They also came two other women, one Jessabelle could tell was Alex’s sister. Apart from the resemblance, she had seen her in the office once or twice. She was followed by two other women and a mature man. They all took their seat around the table. Finally, the one for whom Jessabelle had been waiting ever since Alex mentioned her in the afternoon came in, her dearest mother. She greeted everyone and took her seat beside Jessabelle, smiled at her, and gave her a reassuring look, which made Jessabelle smile.

After everyone was settled and done exchanging pleasantries, one of the men stood up with papers in his hands/ he cleared his throat, gaining the attention of everyone. “Good evening, everyone! I am sure we are all aware of the reason why we are gathered here. Without beating around the bush, I will go straight to what we must do. This is a contract between Sir Alex Berkely and Madam Jessabelle Jones on the 23rd of September, stating that they would get married in two weeks, and everyone gathered here today are witness to this contract. I am sure we all have a copy of the contract. Madam Jessabelle Jones, you are advised to go through it thoroughly and say whatever you want to be removed or included in the contract, thank you.”

After going through the contract one more time, Jessabelle had something to say. She stood up and cleared her throat, gaining their attention, including Alex, who finally looked up for the first time since they had been seated here, which made her hold her breath for a second. “I would like to exclude the child-bearing clause of this contract. I don’t want to have children anytime during the contract, and Mr. Alex would bare the costs of all the medical expenses for the birth control process,” Jessabelle said, looking into everyone’s eyes except Alex’s.

It was a silent eye battle between the two for a few minutes, and nobody bothered breaking the silence until the lady who first came, whom Jessabelle had later discovered that her name was Shantel during the discussion between her and Alex’s sister Amanda, stood up and said she is not in support of what Jessabelle said, which made Jessabelle roll her eyes at her. “You said I should go through the contract and say what I want to be removed or added from or to it, and this is what I want,” Jessabelle said to the man who had spoken earlier on, which she guessed was Alex’s lawyer. “Fine. No kids. But take away the privilege of dating whoever she pleases during the duration of the contract. She would not be permitted to see anyone unless I approve of the man,” Alex said, his eyes still on Jessabelle.

“NO! I DO NOT AGREE WITH THAT!” Jessabelle said, half screaming.

“Then what? You want to eat your cake and have it all, Jessabelle?” Alex said with a smirk.

“Fine! Have it your way as long as you don’t make me a baby-making machine,” Jessabelle said, taking her seat once again.

“Well, then, let’s sign the contract.”

A few minutes later, the new contract stating that Jessabelle would not have any children and, of course, that Alex must approve of whatever man Jessabelle would go out with was ready to be signed. Jessabelle and Alex signed the contract, they took pictures, and everything was done and over with. Alex’s mother hugged Jessabelle and welcomed her to the family, and so did Alex’s sister Amanda and they took their leave. While Jessabelle was still going through the new contract, Shantel came to meet her when everyone else was busy talking.

“Hey, Jessabelle, let me make something clear to you right now. You are getting married to my to-be husband. We are definitely not friends and never would be, so stay off my lane and don’t ever think that you can meddle in our business. Understand, or else you would regret ever existing.”

And with that, she left Jessabelle, who was startled and speechless. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. “Cupcake, don’t mind whatever that girl said, okay? She’s just jealous of you, that’s all,” her mother continued, “C’mon, let’s go home. I know I have some explaining to do.” Elizabeth said with a little smile on her face as she knew Jessabelle would want the answers she needed, it wasn’t going to be easy, but she had to.

When they all stepped outside the restaurant, Alex took Jessabelle’s arm in his and opened the door for her to get in. He had not said anything to her since they signed the contract, and it bothered Jessabelle a lot. The ride to her house was a very silent one. Alex was busy making calls in different languages, which made Jessabelle wonder about how many he could speak. The driver played slow music which made Jessabelle yawn every few minutes. She hated slow music because it made her feel sleepy, no matter what time. When the car stopped, Alex expected Jessabelle to get out since they had arrived at her place, but only to find a sleeping Jessabelle, her head bent on one side.

For a few minutes, he stared at her. She was beautiful, of course. She made many men fall for her without her even knowing. She didn’t need to apply heavy makeup to look beautiful, and she looked innocent in every way. The heck, he didn’t even deserve to have her, he thought to himself and looked at the fragile, beautiful person that needed to be handled with care. Why he chose Jessabelle for this contract because he trusted her which was very strange since he hardly trusted anyone, but everything about her screamed, ‘You can trust me,’ the very first day he laid eyes on her in that board room. He came down from the car, went over to Jessabelle’s side, and touched her to see if she would wake up, but to no avail, she was far gone. Alex carried her bridal style into her penthouse.