CHAPTER 12

Upon hearing the familiar voice that called Jayce and Mae, Jayce's body tensed. He felt nervous and looked at the direction of the voice.

"Ali?!" Mae responded and immediately stood up to give her a hug. "I didn't know that you are back from vacation!" she added.

"It's so good to see you!" Alice replied, Mae could sense something bad.

"How do you know Jayce?" Mae asked, Jayce smiled but it was obvious he was uncomfortable with Alice's presence.

"I was his girlfriend before, remember?" she straightforwardly said while playing with a lock of her hair.

Jayce looked at her in disbelief, how could this woman be so shameless? He thought and looked at Mae who has no reaction whatsoever.

"Yes I remember. Well we're actually having a business meeting right now." Mae said and looked at Jayce, who's still tense.

"Business meeting?" Alice asked in sarcasm. "It doesn't look like a business meeting to me," she added and flirtatiously looked at Jayce. Jayce felt disgust.

"Oh it's about the housing project, you know the one you gave up. He actually took it," Mae calmly replied and smiled at Jayce. Jayce felt safe with Mae, but with Ali around it's like bloodshed will happen any minute.

"Oh that project, so you two met again because of me, you should be thankful" she said in a very arrogant way. Jayce felt like he wanted to throw up.

"Who said that that's the first time we met?" Mae replied and looked at Alice. "We already met 3 years ago, but like you said, you two were dating back then," she added.

Jayce felt a cold sweat run down his spine. How come Mae knows him for that long? He didn't even recognize her up until she mentioned the Evol Project.

Alice couldn't believe what she just heard, "What?" she asked surprised.

"Don't act like you don't know. I was the lead designer for the Evol Project, remember? And we met a month before that too," Mae replied and looked at Jayce, who was still agitated with Alice. Mae casually brushed her leg on Jayce's leg. Jayce looked at Mae, they had a tacit agreement and both smiled.

Alice didn't want to lose, especially with Mae. She never considered Mae a friend, rather a competition. She liked walking over Mae whenever she can, she's just so pathetic and gullible.

There was a long silence when the food arrived, Alice ordered for a glass of wine and kale salad. It seems she's not planning to leave the table. She felt jealous seeing Jayce with another woman, with Mae of all!!!

"By the way, you two were at Nipa Island?" Alice suddenly spoke, Mae was unfazed by Alice's sudden question. Jayce was trying to control himself but to no avail.

"What do you really want?" he finally spoke.

"He speaks! I just want to confirm if the both of you are really married. So don't lie to me about business Mae," Alice said and gave a furious look at Mae who was still calm as a cucumber.

"Well I'm not lying about the business meeting," Mae reluctantly replied and casually placed her left hand on her chin to show the wedding ring. It's a subtle answer that she did marry Jayce. At this point, Alice was already fuming with anger.

Jayce looked at Mae and didn't know what to do. He wanted to leave the place but it seems Mae have other plans.

Alice looked at Mae and at the wedding ring on her finger. If looks could kill, Alice would have killed Mae a thousand times already.

"How'd you know we were in Nipa Island?" Mae asked curiously.

"A friend told me," Alice said and smiled,

"Ah... Lucy?" Mae asked while playing with the brim of the wine glass. Alice didn't respond directly but Mae could see that her guess was right, it was Lucy.

"Well newlyweds have to go somewhere private, don't you think?" Mae said and smiled seductively at Jayce, which Jayce didn't expect. He looked at her and realized she just wanted to get into Alice's skin.

Which was certainly working.

"So you got married, how come I didn't even know you two were dating?" Alice asked, she's trying to catch either of them lying.

"I don't think it's necessary for the entire city to know we're dating right? I'm starting to like the privacy," Jayce spoke and looked at Mae.

Alice was taken aback with Jayce's answer. She knows Jayce always wants to be the center of attention, so this answer didn't make any sense to her.

"Private? That doesn't sound like you," Alice replied, trying to catch Jayce red handed.

"It was my request," Mae said and looked at Alice, "As much as he wants to make the relationship public, I told him not to," she added.

"You just dated and married the hottest bachelor in the city, why keep it private? Are you hiding something?" Alice asked, she suspects that something doesn't add up, but she can't put her finger on it.

Once again Jayce felt tense, if Alice finds out that this is because of business both he and Mae would be ruined!

"Well, we plan to announce the wedding once we also have the ground breaking for the housing project," Mae replied. "You don't have to worry about privacy Alice, I think you of all people should know what happens with wrong publicity right?"

Alice lost it, she knows exactly what Mae was talking about. She stood up and splashed wine on Mae. Mae calmly wiped her face. Jayce immediately removed his coat to cover Mae.

"Nice one Alice," Jayce said and looked at her furiously.

Alice smirked and looked at the couple. Jayce was like Mae's knight in shining armor. She felt angry at Mae and promised herself that she will do whatever it takes to take down Mae and get Jayce back.