CHAPTER 12 _ "I thought we came here for the food.”

KENDALL

I drive into the parking lot of the restaurant Jayla had sent to me. It looks new, and it's no surprise considering the kind of person she is. I smile as I think about how extravagant Jayla has always been. 

My eyes catch a gorgeous baby sitting pretty in the parking lot. Whoever owns that is one lucky mundane. I walk inside the restaurant breaking the hypnosis – this thing I have for cars is crazy.

The smile on my face falters as I catch a glimpse of Jayla. Right beside her is the reason for our outburst. 

Alain seems to have a questioning look on his face as his eyes meet mine across the room. I heave a sigh and walk towards them.

"Hey," I say, forcing a smile at Jayla who finally notices my presence.

"Hiii, baby girl." She says with excitement which throws me quite off for a bit but I sit anyway.

"I thought this was supposed to be OUR thing." I say emphasizing with a quotation sign.

"Well, I decided to bring a distraction." 

My eyes meet Alains' again but I blink away.

"Look," she calls out grabbing my attention again, "I know where all of this started, and I want to fix it from the beginning."

I stare at our hands locked in on the table then back at her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about us." Her eyes move to Alain and mine follows. He has a blank expression on his face as he stares back at her. "It happened really fast, and you were outside the country. Everytime you called, you were excited about something and kept sharing your experiences with me. I didn't want to take that away from you."

"Take what away?"

"The feeling of being able to share everything that was happening to you. I didn't want to cut that short. And I should have told you when you got back, I guess I wanted you to settle first. I don't know. I'm sorry, Ken." 

I nod continuously, staring at her already teary eyes. This girl right here is all that I have in Paris. I break away from our stare to keep my tears locked in.

"Still, you should have told me. You know why. You know, Jayla."

"I should have. But can you not dwell in that? Please? I know it'll be hard but please let me have this one thing this one time, Ken. Please."

I almost scoffed but the confused expression on Alains' face forced me to do otherwise. I break from her hold and put my hair in place, behind my ears.

"Okay then. I guess we're good." I take in a deep breath, and try to ease myself from whatever I'm feeling right now.

"Are we?" She has this hopeful look on her face, and I can't help the smile that forms in mine.

"Yes, Jay."

"You don't know how badly I've wanted to hear that." She goes all giggly. "Okay. So, I'll make this formal." She turns to Alain, and my heart skips a beat.

"I know you two have met, and are probably going to be working together soon. But I'd still like to formally introduce my best friend to my boyfriend." She places a kiss on his face, and I take in my upper lip.

Boyfriend. Maybe I had clinged to that part of my heart that refused to believe they were together because those words seem to drive a stake through my heart. I am bleeding, hurting badly and now I have to act happy for her.

"I thought we came here for the food." Alains' hoarse voice distracts Jayla, taking her attention away from me, like he knows that I'm just a few seconds but breaking down completely.

His eyes linger on my face for a while then his brows knit together in obvious confusion. Like he is trying to decipher why I'm hurting.

"Excuse me." I say before rushing off to the restroom.

Immediately the door slammed shut, a rush of emotions engulfed me, and I burst into tears. With my hands fisted I hit on my chest continuously.

"Why do you have to hurt so bad? You don't even know him that well, this should be easy, Ken."

I walk to the sink. Taking a handful of water, I splash on my face to reduce the redness on my face, and cool the heat. I have to go back there looking as happy as ever.

The reflection of myself staring back at me looks almost normal, so I take a towel to dap my face.

With a deep breath, I walk out of the bathroom, only to come face to face with him. 

"Alain." I say subconsciously, mentally scolding myself when I realized.

His stare is almost invasive, but he looks away before I could comment on it.

"You don't have to feign it. Whatever it is you're trying to put away is almost obvious, I don't know why she can't see it." His eyes travel down the path leading back to the heart of the restaurant.

"Well, if you know as much as you think you do, you shouldn't have come here with her."

"We were both led here in oblivion. Don't play that card." He takes in a breath, "I don't know what you think this is, but Jayla didn't come for me. I did." 

'He wants me' Jayla's words echo in my head. 

"Good for you."  I hold a strong gaze then walk away immediately I break from it.

Perfect words for my hurting heart. Just perfect.

I walk back to find Jayla on the phone, her eyes fly to my direction and right back to the table in front of her and she drops the call. Weird.

"You're back. We should order, Alain wouldn't mind." She says with a smile, her fingers roaming the waitress call bell. "What would you have?"

"I'll have stir fried pasta with spicy wings." Jayla orders.

"Steak and some veggies." I say not lifting my eyes from the menu in my hand.

Alain walks back as the waitress takes our orders.

"You didn't ask for it to be well cooked." He added blandly, and a shameless part of my heart warms up to the fact that he knew that.

Get yourself together, Ken!

Jayla gives me a weird look, obviously not liking whatever just happened.

"Well cooked steak, please." My eyes did a test run on Alains' face, and yet again, I found him perfect – He's like a god that I would not hesitate to worship.

I clear my throat trying to get myself back to the reality of things. He is Jayla's man now.

"I placed an order for you, baby. Plain pasta with spicy sauce. Remember how much you liked it when I made it at home?" Jayla suddenly says, going all touchy with him.

If I'm being honest, I'd say Alain is definitely looking uncomfortable with all that expressivity, but it might just be my jealous self seeing what it wants to see to feel better.

"Thank you." Alain says courtly, taking hold of her hand and putting it back on her laps.

I may not be blind, after all.

The table is oddly quiet after that act, and the waitress walks in just in time with the food.

Bless her, I was almost starving. At least something in me is finally getting what it wants today.

I block all emotions because I need this appetite.

Jayla's food is barely touched, Alain and I on the other hand are almost halfway through.

"You okay?" I sound a bit more worried than I should but I know better. Jayla doesn't play with her food.

"Yeah, just nauseous. I feel sick, kind of."

"Need some air?" Alain cuts in.

"Yeah. I think that might do."

And with that, they both walk out of the restaurant.

I continue eating till my plate and face have a thing in common – a blank stare

They both walk back in as I gulp down a glass of water, and dap my mouth with the serviette.

"I should get back to work." I say immediately they sit.

"Really? You can't spare more minutes?" 

"No, Jay. Riley's been doing a lot lately. I need to cover up for the month off."

"Then you shouldn't have taken the month off." Alain cuts in.

"Huh?"

"If you have to work to cover up for the days you were absent then you shouldn't have been absent." He states, and I give Jayla a blank stare.

"Doesn't change anything right now. Have a nice day, darling." I place a kiss on her cheek before walking out.

The cold breeze hits my face as I step into the outside world.

"You did good."

The walk towards my car seems to be a thousand miles but my frustrations gets cut short when I catch sight of the luxurious car again.

Somehow, this time I can easily guess who owns it.

Alain.