Chapter 16: Best friend help

Her whole ride to the airport was a sobbing mess. She willed herself to calm down but it was futile. She could see the taxi driver throwing his looks all the time but she didn't care. Why was she even crying? She knew the past days were just a lie, but still, deep down in her heart she always hoped there was a sliver of truth and their marriage life would make a turn for the best. But it seemed like that was too much to ask for. Maddie didn't care about her and he dares to cheat her second time around.

Her phone started vibrating in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw Maddie's name flashed on the screen. Jiaye declined it with a shaky finger and put it beside her. She slowly wiped away her tears as she began to slowly calm down and called Jayden.

He took some time before he answered groggily.

"Oh, I'm s-s-sorry. If-forgot a-about the t-t-time difference." She said in a broken voice between sobs. She bit her lip to keep from crying again.

"What did he do baby girl? You sound distressed." Jayden concerned voice from the other side

He cheated again. It was even harder to remove than she thought. She felt her throat clog up as she tried saying it out loud. No words come out of her mouth.

"You know what, don't even tell me what is the reason you're crying, I think the reason is your husband. Where exactly are you?"

" I'm going to catch the next flight to fetch you." She could hear the movement's on his side. Tears filled her eyes again. What would she do without him?

"No need. I'm catching the next flight out of here. I'm coming back home." she replied

"Okay. I'll be waiting for you at the airport. Try not to stress too much okay? I know it's hard and you're probably heartbroken but just think of all the good things in life. Or a simpler solution, drink all your sorrows away and sleep through the entire plane ride." He added lightly at the end hoping to light up her mood. It brought a little smile to her face.

"See you," She said softly as she hangs up. Her heart still felt heavy, but she guesses a little better after her chat with Jayden. She looked at her reflection on the phone and she could see her eyes were red and puffy. She dug around in her small bucket bag and pulled out her sunglasses. Which was a wise move because once she stepped out of the car and began pulling her luggage, she spotted a certain celebrity magazine's photographer. He was probably here for someone else but she was sure there were more somewhere, and with their hawk eyes, they'd spotted her. She ignored those photographers who think she's what they are waiting for. Moving faster and pulling her luggage she manage to went smoothly and directly bought a ticket for the next flight out. She supposedly scheduled for 9 p.m flight but she didn't wait for it anymore. She wanted to leave this place and escape away from this bad memory today.

As promised, four hours later, she found Jayden waiting for her, his arms wide open ready for a hug. She thought her emotions were in the stable until she saw him. Jiaye dropped all her luggage and rushed into his embraced and buried her face in his shoulder. His hold tightened as he rubbed soothing circles on her back not saying a word.

"Let's go back to my place?" he said and she nodded in his chest.

He pushed her back gently and stared at her for some time then backed away and grabbed her bags and suitcase.

A few minutes into the drive he suddenly broke the silence, "I'll be going back to Paris soon..." his voice drifted off as the music continued to fill the silence. Her heart lurched at the prospect of being alone again. She feels sad as her best friend will going to leave this country.

"You want to come with me?" He threw a glance at her then focused his eyes back on the road.

She looked at him shocked. She'd never really thought about leaving but now as she sat there in silence, she couldn't figure out why. Deep down she knew somehow she'd be abandoning her parents, but she could get a job abroad, she could be wiring them some cash if worse came to worst on their side. But her father was a sly person. She was sure he'd find a way to squeeze some money out of Maddie sooner than later. Anyway, she needed to start living her life alone after his betrayal. All this drama wasn't worth it.

"You can work for me? Heck if you're up to it we could fool my parents into thinking you are my girlfriend so that they hand over the reins faster. They have that condition to me and they asked me to get married after they've found out I'm gay."

She noticed the trace of humor in his voice but his jaw also ticked, which meant he was actually serious about it.

" Can I think about it? I really appreciate having you in my life right now." She reached out and squeezed his knee a bit to assure him.

He nodded and returned his focus back to the road.

"Where are we going?" She broke the silence a bit later noticing they had taken an unfamiliar route.

"I'm kidnapping you. You'd bring in a healthy sum for ransom." He flashed a smile and did an evil laugh afterward.

She rolled her eyes and hit his arm. "I'm serious."

"Hey!! Do not distract the driver! Do you want to die?! anyway, my house is on the edge of town." he said that came as a surprise to her. She didn't know he had a house in this country because he knew he was living often in Europe but, when she took a moment to think about it, it would be illogical for him to not have a house in their home country.

"Bitch, I can feel you're surprised all the way from here. You thought I would be living in hotel rooms? Come on!" he said

"Yes! I'm sorry!" She laughed a bit at the whole thing, "I just never actually thought about it. But it makes sense."

"I ought to kick you out of my car this instant. But, I'm a nice guy, mama raised me right. First thing tomorrow you're living." he said like she's a burden to him.

"Please, you're stuck with me and you know it." he chuckled a bit and a naughty smile broke into his handsome face then let them fall back into silence.

She must have fallen asleep in the middle of the ride, when she woke up she was in a comfy bed with the night light on. She slowly got up and found herself in the same clothes she'd worn when she left in Bangkok. She remembered she didn't even get the chance to shower before she traveled. She was filthy, rummaged through her clothes for a while to look for a book in the very least. She just wanted to shower then have a nice good soak, as she thought about what her next move after she caught her husband.

She managed to find a thriller book that she hadn't ever even thought of reading. Oh well, she gives it a shot while thinking of soaking herself later on in the bathtub. She turned on the lights after a couple of solid minutes of looking around for the switch only to find it in the most obvious place. She facepalmed and switched them on, looked around and did a little dance when she saw a door on the far left of the room. She crossed her fingers hoping that was the bathroom and not an adjoining door to another room. She pressed her ear against it first to listen in for any noises.

That was actually a good move on her part. She heard someone mumbling something lowly in the other room, man, this door was thick, she could barely make out anything. After a couple more minutes of her futile eavesdropping, she backed away and went back to survey her room. Is she actually that blind or is there no bathroom in this room. She even opted to actually go round the room feeling the walls to check whether there's a door she missed or something. Nothing.

She went back to the adjoining door and rapped softly before pushing it open. She poked her head in first and saw Jayden concentrated on his phone call by the window, from the way he'd fisted his hands she automatically assumed he didn't want to be disturbed.

"What do you want, Jiaye?" His voice sounded cold and distant it actually made her feel like a little girl being admonished for bad behavior.

Her throat suddenly felt clogged. She swallowed some saliva and in a tiny voice managed to let out, "Bathroom."

He brusquely pointed to his left and went back to his phone call. She went back to her room grabbed her towel and went to freshen up herself. She was positive she come up with a solution to her puzzle by the time she was done.