ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW
"Also I need your phone for several minutes," Mary continued.
Olivia was surprised but passed her phone to Mary none the less. Mary took out Olivia's SIM card and inserted her own, the old one which Daniel told her not to use anymore. She turned on the phone and found the blacklist of this SIM card, there was only one number in and it was Jim's. She saved it in Olivia's contacts and deleted it from the blacklist.
When Olivia saw the name under which Mary saved the number her jaw dropped.
"I have Jim Scott's personal mobile number in my phone!" She exclaimed.
"Don't make me regret giving it to you…" Mary joked making Olivia laugh.
Then she pressed the Call button and waited for Jim to answer.
When he saw who was calling him, his first feeling was disbelief; he even prepared himself that it was not Mary but Daniel instead. But he heard Mary's voice from the receiver.
"Whoah! You call me yourself… My heart has just skipped several beats."
"Do you need time to recover?" Mary teased him.
"No… Keep on talking, your voice is getting me high…"
For some reason Mary blushed when she heard it and Olivia noticed the change in her cheeks color. She grabbed the phone and turned on the loud speaker refusing to give the phone back to Mary. She also deserved to hear this conversation!
"I'm calling to ask you for a favor…" Mary sounded unsure, she felt uncomfortable now that Olivia also heard his answers. But if she asked her for help, it was only fair to let her know the actual state of affairs.
"Well…" Jim was intrigued. "And what might that be?"
"Khm…" Mary cleared her throat; she needed to gather her courage before she could continue. "I want you to give me some personal information about Gabriella Wilson as well as some information about her company business deals."
Jim was speechless. Anything, he was ready to do anything for her, but why did it have to be something about his childhood friend?
Mary waited for his answer, but he was silent. "Jim, are you there?"
"Why?" was all he asked.
"Because I need it." Mary said simply.
"My guess is the information you need should be her dirty linen, am I right?" He sounded grim.
"You are…" For some reason when she talked to him she felt ashamed of her wish to revenge Gabriella who kept on spoiling her life. But why should she be ashamed?!
"You're not this kind of person, Mary."
"How do you know?" Mary wished he would stop trying to change her mind.
"Because I love you…" There was pleading in his voice.
Olivia almost fell off her chair when she heard it. There was a silent question on her face and Mary showed her with gestures that she would explain it to her later.
"Will you or will you not help me?" Mary asked him pushing away any bad feelings about what she was going to do.
"She's my childhood friend…"
"Yes, and you were in love with her for years…" Mary pressed the question of love and felt very bad about it, but she needed him to agree. There was no one else who could help her.
"It has nothing to do with that!" His voice got louder; then he breathed out trying to calm down a little. "I will help you but I want something in return…"
"What?" Mary tensed dreading the answer.
"You will come to my place today and also you will tell me why you need this information." Mary's heart fell. How could she go to his place when Marcus was waiting for her outside and when Daniel soon would be waiting for her at home?
"Jim, please… You're asking for something impossible!"
"And you are not?!" He had no intension of changing his conditions.
"I need time to think, I'll call you back."
She hung up and covered her face with her hands.
"Wow… You got yourself into a love triangle…" Olivia commented in disbelief.
"Technically it's more like a rectangle," Mary corrected her.
"Double "wow" then! What are you gonna do?"
"Right now I'm gonna lie to a man I love and go to a man who loves me in order to fight back a woman who loves nobody and who is trying to turn my life into a living hell."
Mary called Daniel and it took a very long time to explain to him why she would not return to his house that night, she lied that her mother was coming to her place and that she would need to spend the night in her own home.
He believed her at last and asked Marcus to take her to her house that day and back from it the next. Already at home she watched at the window how Marcus's car left and then ordered a taxi to Jim's place (she asked his address while she was still with Olivia).
"What am I doing here?" she whispered when she was already in front of his door. If Daniel found out about it he would never believe that there was nothing going on between her and Jim.
"Meeting me," Jim smiled when he opened the door. He had a camera showing the visitors and he heard her question.
When she entered she felt the smell of roasted chicken and grilled vegetables.
"You cooked supper?" she was surprised.
"Yes, I guessed you would be hungry," he took her to the dining room where a romantic supper table was waiting for her. There were two glasses of wine and a burning candle standing on the table beside the plates.
"Jim, I'm really flattered, but it's not a date. You understand it, right?" She suddenly felt an urge to run away.
"You came to meet me in secret in the middle of the night running away from your boyfriend. How is it not a date?" He chuckled and offered her to take a seat.
Mary's heart made a somersault; if you put it like that it would really resemble a secret date if only she didn't come here to use this man who was so kind to her. Her urge to run away became even stronger.
He put the chicken and vegetables on her plate and raised his glass, "Cheers!"
"What are we drinking to?" Mary asked jokingly.
"To a jobless life of yours, of course…" he said it and watched her reaction.
Mary turned pale, "How do you know?" Could it be that a man taking her photo in the park was not just her imagination?
Jim took a sip from his glass, smiled nonchalantly and gave his answer at last, "The world is a small place, Mary."
Her heart was pounding rapidly. Running away? She did not think so, it was too late, and she probably had no chance now. She was afraid to drink the wine; there might be something in it.
"You won't drink?" there was amusement in his voice.
"No, I don't feel like it." Mary put down the glass.
He laughed at her, "Oh, come on! Don't make such a serious face… You stop answering your phone and think that I would not make an inquiry or two about your wellbeing? I was worried, Mary. It's forgivable to be worried, is it not?" He came up to her and took a gulp of wine from her glass. "See, there is no poison in it… You can drink it. You look like you need it now."
She took the glass and emptied it in one go. He re-filled her glass not needing any hints from her, "Should I taste this one as well?"
"No need," she answered a bit shakily.
"I think know why you want to shake up Gabriella Wilson's empire," he said calmly.
"Then why did you call me here?!" Mary felt anger rising in her heart as well as distant fear. This man became her curse, he followed her around like a shadow and she had no clue how to shake him off.
"It's your price!" He sounded offended. "For my help…"
"And how exactly do you know my reasons to shake up Gabriella?"
"Today I received a strange call. It was from Daniel's mother who accused me of keeping the information about you from her. It seems someone paid her a visit and showed your relationship with Daniel in a very bad light. You won't believe what she asked of me…" he stopped and was not going to continue.
"Oh, and what was it?" Mary was starting to lose her patience.
"She asked me to help her cause your and Daniel's break up…" he smiled painfully. "And it's such a temptation!.. I'm starting to consider it for real."
"No! Not you too!" Mary lowered her head almost in despair.
"Mary, my door has no key and doesn't open without a password and an eye scanning. And I'm not planning to leave the apartment any time soon. They say that absence makes the heart grow. I suggest we wait here and see how big Daniel's heart will become."
Mary turned even paler now…