Chapter 35: 35
"Um Nichole, why are you facetiming yourself?" Deven asked picking up her phone.
"That's her twin dumbass." Val smacked her cousin's head.
"Hey twinny," Nicolette said as Nichole answered her call.
"Hey you, it's been ages what have you been up to?" she asked.
"Nothing much, apart from work and then finding me a man." she winked at her.
"Okay, who's the new flavour of the week then?" she asked.
"I don't do flavours of the week again, I've gotten myself a boyfriend," she told her sister.
"That's great, who's he?" she inquired.
"It's me." Jesse stood in front of the camera.
"You're kidding, right?" she stood frozen.
"No, we aren't he's my boyfriend. I hope there's nothing wrong with that?" Nicolette asked.
He's not mine, in fact, he wasn't mine to be in the first place.
Thank God I never had sex with him.
To think that he loved me.
"Earth to Nichole." her sister broke her out from her self-induced trance.
"No, there's nothing wrong with it. I'm happy for you guys. Why did you even break up after high school and all these years after, you get back again?" she voiced out.
"I guess it's fate, who's that handsome hunk behind you?" her sister asked.
"He's Deven, we're getting to know each other better." she turned to smile at him.
"That's nice to hear, okay have fun. I would talk to you later. Bye." Nicolette ended the call.
"Are you okay?" Deven asked after a while. Her face had lost all its colour.
"I am just shocked, one minute Jesse breaks up with Nicolette, the other minute he wants me and now he's with her again." she sighed.
"He thought he would find her in you, that's why he wanted to get with you in the first place," Deven explained.
"Why toy with my feelings then, he's such a douche. Thank God I left to find myself," she admitted.
"A minute!" Jess said as she hurried to the door. She had moved into her new apartment a couple of days ago and was settling in.
"Miguel?" she said in confusion. It had been a while she heard from him. Anything concerning the saloon they talked about it via email. He had been ignoring her calls as well. So she thought he wasn't interested in her, as much as that hurt her, she was willing to pick up the pieces of her life and move on.
And now he was here.
"How did you find my new apartment? I don't remember telling you I had moved." she raised her brow.
"I asked Zed, can I come in now?" he asked.
"Of course you can." Jess opened the door wide enough for him to.
"You care for some water?" she inquired.
"No, I just need to say this quick and then get back to work." he cut straight to the chase.
"Okay." Jess sat on the coffee table eager to hear what he had to say.
"Jess, I know I started this whole mixed feelings thing, but for now I am just not in the right frame of mind for a intimate relationship. I don't think I'm ready yet to move on from the heartbreak of my wife's death. I want to take time to heal, you know baby steps. I'm so sorry if I gave you any signals that I was interested." he finished.
"I understand you, I could return the keys to the salon if you don't want me working there anymore." she bow her head.
"No need to, I brought the documents to the salon, I am giving them to you. You don't need to pay for anything. It's yours now." he handed them over to her. She sat dumbfounded for a while before speaking up.
"For real?" tears streamed down her face.
"For real." he smiled at her.
"Thank you so much, Miguel, you are a wonderful man and I hope you find the closure you need to heal and move on." she wiped her face.
"I've been transferred to Atlanta, Georgia. I hope that's a fresh start for me to get that closure," he told her.
"That's great, when are you leaving?" she urged.
"Today, my flight is at 6 p.m., and it's 4 pm so I've got to get going." he got up and opened his hands wide for a hug. Jess stood up and hugged him tightly. She was going to miss him bad.
He held her face and trailed his hands over her jaws before kissing her on the lips.
"This isn't goodbye, even as I watch you leave, this isn't goodbye, I swear I won't cry, even as tears fill my eyes, I swear I won't cry," she said.
"Is, is that Westlife's 'This isn't goodbye'?" Miguel chuckled.
"It is," she mumbled.
"Do good Velasquez, and don't wait for me. Find love, you're full of love, maybe I might find love in Atlanta as well." he walked out to his car as Jess stood at the door. As soon as he moved she waved him.
I guess this is the end of the road for Jess-Miguel love story, it ended before it could even begin. she sighed to herself as she walked into the house.
I hope I did the right thing, she deserved better. Miguel said to himself as he drove on.
"As much as it hurts losing Miguel, maybe he wasn't mine to be just as probably Freya isn't Zed's." she entered the house and headed to her room to keep the documents in a safe place.
I am a proud owner of a saloon.
Wouldn't it be best to expand the salon to include spa treatments?
Miguel said the other two shops were apart of the saloon, they had plans of adding a spa. I could make those dreams come true by joining all three shops to a spa, nail salon and the likes. She thought to herself.
"How do we keep bumping into each other?" Noah said behind Freya.
"Maybe it's fate, it's nice to meet you again." she smiled at him.
"You could say that again." he smiled.
"You waiting for someone?" he asked.
"Nope, I'm just here alone." she sipped her mocktail.
"Care if I joined?" he grinned.
"No, no I don't mind. Have a seat." Freya offered him.
"So, how come I always meet you alone? No girlfriend?" she asked.
"I do, I thought I told you about her?" she recalled.
"Oh, the bossy, rude one?" Freya remembered.
"Exactly, but lately she seems to have forgotten I exist. She's always going somewhere with a friend." Noah confessed.
"That sucks, at least you got to see her. I don't remember the last time I saw Zed. I guess we weren't meant to be after all." she chuckled.
"Ah, I know that feeling very well. It's as if they come to you when they need you. If they don't you're invincible to them, it sucks as well." he drank from his glass.
"I've decided to move on, maybe there's someone out there for me. You should try doing so by first moving out of her apartment, or house." Freya advised.
"How did you know we were living together?" he asked.
"I just guessed, and guessed right." she laughed.
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