My Darling, My Dearest

Hearing the tone of Lea's voice, Rachel sighed. Deep inside, she understood her feeling of surprise of anger. "Really, it was nothing serious. I was about to tell you, but then Jack suddenly showed up," Rachel said, trying to assure her, Lea clutched her phone tightly as she recalled the moment Rachel mentioned feeling sick and wanting to leave the bar. She heaved a heavy sigh and felt her anger gear towards herself. 'How could I be so careless and did not notice that anything was wrong with her?'

She had thought Rachel wanted to go home because she was not comfortable with the environment there in the bar. As a matter of fact, when she was gone to the dance floor, Rachel was even abducted. Thinking about all these just fueled Lea's rage and fear. If Eric hadn't gone back to grab something to eat, then they would not have realized that Rachel was already gone from their spot.

In the meantime, she felt even more remorseful. She knew that if something bad did happen to Rachel that night, she would regret it for the rest of her life, and she would be always in debt of what should not have happened. Then again, she was grateful that the worse did not come.

"I am really, really sorry, Rachel. I'm sorry that even though I knew you wouldn't like it, I still took you to a bar. Fortunately, nothing happened to you. Otherwise, I honestly don't know what to do," Lea■3 said softly, pulling her hair ruefully with worry.

Rachel sighed, "Please, stop blaming yourself. It was not your fault. You absolutely have nothing to do with it." As she said those words, Rachel grabbed a pillow with her free hand and hugged it tight in her arms. "Besides, it was nothing serious. I immediately came out when Jack got there, but, you know, the air was not entirely fresh."

Rachel found telling Lea about the fear and panic she had felt completely unnecessary and would only make Lea worry even more. Worse, blame herself even more because of it.

Lea inhaled a hard breath and said in a voice full of remorse, "Rachel, I promise. We won't go to that kind of place ever again."

Rachel could not help but smile, and before she could reply, Lea spoke again. "Did you hear me? That's a promise, and it applies not to just the both of us going there together but I alone as well." Rachel felt bad and at the same time warmth in her heart. She knew that Lea fancied the lively atmosphere of bars very much, so giving up those trips there would be quite a big deal. On the other hand, Rachel still felt touched with the gesture, because her friend was willing to sacrifice that for her. Moreover, she believed in Lea's words. After all, Lea was that kind of person who would never go back on her words.

As Rachel reflected on her life, after all these years, the biggest blessing that she received so far was having a friend like Lea. With this thought in mind, she could not hold back the smile on her face. ■3 Feeling tired and a little bit better, Rachel decided to lie on her back, and with a smile, she replied, "Lea, I appreciate the gesture, I really do, but swearing on that is completely unnecessary, especially the part when you too will give up going to bars. Again, this matter has absolutely nothing to do with you."

At the other end of the line, Rachel could hear Lea's deep sigh and waited for her to reply. When silence enveloped them for a short while, Rachel continued, "When you go to bars in the future, please don't forget to be careful amidst all the fun. Do you hear me?"

Lea let out a smile and said, "Yes, Mom." Her sarcastic remark made both of them giggle. As their giggles faded down, Lea turned serious for a moment and asked, "Kidding aside, how did this matter have anything to do with Jack? I mean, as far as I know, you two haven't contacted each other, have you?"

Hearing Jack's name made the humor on Rachel's face fade away. She did not know how all these strange things started. She guessed that they had started from the day that Jack brought Celine to her hospital.

"Well, we haven't, but I promise I will tell you all about it later."

Lea took this as a sign that Rachel did not want to talk more about this matter. Without inquiring more about what happened between her and Jack, she opened her mouth to change the topic, but Rachel suddenly spoke, taking Lea aback for a moment. "I heard Lucas will be back the day after ■3

tomorrow."

Rachel was quiet, always there on the sidelines with her poker face on as if she did not want to be approached by anyone. However, her vibrant and lively side was only released when she was with Lea. Ever since they were young, they had been by each other's side in almost every important matter or even just casual hangouts. Although they were quite different in many aspects — appearance, characteristics, and hobbies - they were best friends, sharing everything from their thoughts to their feelings.

Since Lea knew almost everything about Rachel, she knew all about Rachel's unrequited crush on a boy in high school, and before Rachel could even learn to experience the feeling of love, she had been forced into an arranged marriage.

The man Rachel had a crush on was Lucas.

Like Lea, Lucas and Rachel had known each other for a long time, and at first, Lea did not think about Rachel's feelings towards him. She always saw them as just good friends.

It was only until the night when Rachel got drunk that Lea confirmed Rachel's feelings. Rachel rested on Lea's shoulder and called out only one name. She kept calling for Lucas, and Lea immediately guessed what was going on Rachel's mind.

After all, earlier that day, Rachel had been registered for marriage with Jack, and because Rachel did not say or complain anything about it, ■3

Lea had nothing to say about it as well.

As the sun came up the day after she got legally married, Rachel woke up without another word about what had happened that night, and so, Lea, not wanting to pry on her friend's feelings, pretended that nothing worth talking about happened as well. In fact, Rachel acted as if nothing changed in her life and went to work in the same hospital as Lucas back then.

Recalling that night made Lea think about the thoughts she had buried in the back on her mind. If Rachel and Lucas did have some sort of relationship even more than that of friends, then their relationship should have already been broken off because of Rachel's sudden marriage with another man.

However, right now, as she heard Rachel's voice speak about Lucas, Lea felt that Rachel still thought about him every now and then if not often. Still, she could not guess what Rachel was thinking about at tha very moment, so she decided to take the seriousness out and said playfully, "You know, Lucas has been single for so many years now. As his good friend, I could not bear see him age alone. Oh, Rachel, could you do me and your other friend a favor and make him your man?"

With a bright smile on Rachel's face, she replied, "Don't worry, I got you." They let out another fit of giggles before they realized that it was late, and that they should go get some rest.

As soon as she hung up the phone, Rachel placed the phone on the coffee table and lied down on her side on the sofa. Her mind wandered off, and Lucas' face flashed on her mind. She wondered if she still had feelings for him.

Moreover, of all the guys Rachel knew, Lucas was the one she was the most fond of, and it was true that he was also close to being suitable if not ideal lover to her. However, she was not certain for sure whether he had feelings for her or not.

It was also true that Lucas had always treated her nicely, but Rachel knew that the kindness he portrayed her was not because he had a thing for her. She didn't dare to ask or say something about it for confirmation.

Rachel had only a few friends, so she was not going to do anything to lose her friendship with Lucas. She was afraid that their friendship would be destroyed if she told him her feelings for him. With that, she decided to speak none of it, stay conservative, and keep getting along with him as they always used to.

As the sun came up the next morning, Rachel woke up and realized that she had fallen asleep on the sofa. Then, she sneezed and felt her nose a little stuffy. Not wanting to get even sicker, she stood and freshened up before preparing herself a bowl of hot ginger soup. Then, she walked around her home to stretch and work out her body for ten minutes, feeling the heat all over her body. As soon as her fingertips begin to warm up, she checked the time and realized she barely have time to take a bath, so she decided to just change into her work clothes and got ready for work.

As she was changing her shoes, her cellphone started to ring inside her bag. She stopped what ■3

she was doing and took her phone out. As she looked at the familiar number, she stared at it for a moment and hesitated.

She just stared at the screen without answering it, clutching her phone tighter than normal. As soon as the phone stopped ringing, Rachel realized she was holding her breath and could now sigh in relief. She placed the phone back inside her bag and continued to change her shoes, trying to forget that the person tried to call her.

As soon as she finished with her shoes, she grabbed her bag to zip it close, but before she could, her phone started to ring again. She paused for a moment and thought that it was someone else, so she took i out. However, it was the same number again, so after hesitating once more, without even waiting for the phone to stop ringing, she placed the phone back to her bag and pretended to not hear anything. When she reached the last step of the flight of stairs, the ringing stopped. Rachel stopped as well and stood there, confused and wondering why he was calling her early in the morning.

After all, what happened last night was nothing serious and should not really be treated as a big deal. Moreover, Rachel wanted to have a clean break with him. That was why she did not answer the calls. She started to walk and as soon as she opened the door to the building, her phone started to ring again. She took her phone out and pressed decline. Then, she decided to turn her phone to silent mode, but before she could, she felt a presence in front of ■3

her. Rachel raised her head from her phone and immediately made eye contact with dark eyes, staring at her. The man stood tall with strong, lean, and broad shoulders that was very familiar to her. She noticed the man's hand, holding a phone near his ear.

Jack frowned at her and moved his gaze towards her hand. Then, he slowly put down the hand that was holding the phone. Realizing what just happened, Rachel felt embarrassment flow all over her body. After all, Jack caught her not answering his calls on purpose. Seeing the look on Rachel's face, he heaved a deep sigh and looked at her intently without saying anything.

Rachel blinked twice and placed her phone back in her bag unnaturally. "What are you doing here?"

Ignoring her question, he replied back with another question, "Why didn't you pick up the phone?"

Rachel opened her mouth to say something, but she was caught tongue tied and could not find the words to answer Jack's question.

Then, she realized that she was not obliged to answer that. She crossed her arms on her chest and replied, "I asked you first. What are you doing here?"

Jack looked at her and did not buy any of it. "You do realize that I called you three times, but you did not answer any of them, so I thought someone had barged into your house or something." ■3 Rachel's eyebrows furrowed deep. She finally found the reason why she did not answer the phone. "I did not answer the phone, because it was an unregistered number. Who knows who might that be? There are so many sales calls these days, don't you know that?" Whether or not Rachel accepted that as the truth, it was still an obvious bad attempt for an excuse.

With just one glance at her, Jack immediately knew that what she said was a lame lie. Not wanting to pry even more, in a casual tone, he said, "Then, just save it."

Without another word, Jack kept his position and his stare at Rachel, waiting for her to do it in front of him. She realized this, so under his gaze, she reached for her phone and saved the number under the name Jack Fu.

She breathed a sigh of relief under her breath. 'Are you happy now?' she thought, not having the guts to say it out loud.

Still, she relaxed as well as she placed the phone back into her bag. She looked at her wrist watch and said, "So, why are you here? If you don't have anything important or urgent to say, then I will take my leave now."

"Then, let's go. Since this is a special case, I will call you these days, so you better pick up the phone."

Rachel's eyebrows furrowed, confused. 'Let's go? What does he mean?'

She then nodded at him as farewell and said, "Well then, I will leave now." She was about to walk further, but Jack was blocking her way. "I'll drive you there," he offered.

Stunned by his words, she blinked twice and could not maintain the polite and distant composure she was trying to maintain in front of Jack. The corners of her mouth gradually moved downwards, forming a frown. With discontentment, she asked, "What do you think you are trying to do?"

"I will just drive you to work, so don't think too much about it." Noticing the guard she had now placed between them, Jack frowned and immediately despised the way she acted in front of him, as if he was a complete stranger to her. "Like I said, this is a special situation. If anything happens to you because of that, then I honestly don't know how to explain that to my father, so don't overthink about this." 'What the hell did he just say? I really don't want to have anything to do with him!'

Rachel thought with a frown on her face. Her frown deepened as she realized the possibility that all these happenings recently were staged and well-arranged, since they were being pushed together on the same page desperately.

"No need to drive me to work. You said you can arrange two bodyguards for me."

"What if something bad happens?"

Rachel was left speechless at all this guy was telling her. She bit her lower lip in anger and said, "What? Is Hiram that bold?"

Jack sneered, and in a very low voice, he said, "Well, I don't know either." He raised his hand to look at the time at his watch and continued, "We better go. or you'll be late for work."

As someone who take professional ethics highly, late was never a word that appeared on her dictionary. Seeing that Jack wasn't going to give in, she knew she would be late for work if she continued to argue with him.