41 When I Say Goodbye

Jia watched him as he ate. She cut the chicken meat and put it on his plate. She didn't take a single bite; she just lost her appetite.

"Where's Jian?" he said, breaking the silence between them.

"At the playroom."

He nodded. "You should send Ate Nita here as soon as possible."

"Let her spend more time with her family until Jian starts schooling."

"Okay. I have hired house cleaners already. They would come to the house tomorrow."

"No need. I will do it."

"No!" he said, pausing for a while to chew and swallow his food, then added, "this is my rule, and you should not object."

"What will I do? Jian doesn't need me all the time."

"Come here every day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner!"

"Are you sure I won't be disturbing?"

She said it in a low voice while casting a sharp look at Dr. Grace, who had been observing them. To her surprise, Jim laughed.

"You make me love you more if you do that."

Seemed overjoyed, he turned to Dr. Grace and said. "Dr. Grace, is my wife very pretty? And isn't she prettier when she gets upset?"

Dr. Grace looked up and forced a smile. Yet, she was already boiling in anger deep inside. In what ways did this woman surpass her? She was already hunting Jim down for many years, only to get rejection.

Beauty? She had it? Intelligence? She's a consistent recipient of the highest honors in all her school days. Wealth? Her family partially owned a group of companies. What about Jia? She definitely would find it out.

"Stop that romance in front of me!" she pretended to be kidding, but deep inside, her emotions were flaming.

"Get used to it from now on," Jim replied, shifting his eyes between Jia and Grace.

"I feel threatened," she laughed, fooling her audience but not her heart.

However, Jia knew that she meant it. And she expected intense moves from Grace from then on.

"Dr. Jim and Miss Wayne, please excuse me," Dr. Grace said, deciding to spare herself from annoyance. Yet, she swore to plan for better shows in the future.

Jia poured an iced tea into his glass as soon as he put down his spoon and fork. And despite her annoyance against Dr. Grace, she smiled. Jim was in a good mood indeed. And it's because of her presence.

Amused at the thought, Jia stared at him. Then, for a moment, she got mesmerized and murmured to herself, "How can this man be both so handsome and kind?"

Soon, some doctors came in. They looked pretty surprised about his sudden revelation as Jim introduced her to them. Even if they didn't ask, their looks showed they wondered when he got married or got a girlfriend.

"Miss Wayne is so pretty, Dr. Jim!" Almost all of them repeated this same line as they all smiled politely at her, acknowledging her presence.

Jia hurriedly bathed Jian back home as her son was already tired and sleepy after running around the playroom. And after tucking him to bed, she picked up her phone and checked on the messages.

There were many unread messages from Anthon. He even posted a photo of a plane in the sky with the caption, "Missing you both so badly! "

And there were a hundred comments from their class itself, wondering who he meant. Anthon hadn't married yet, and his classmates and friends wondered why. Of course, he's good-looking and already financially well-off, so there's no reason why he hadn't found someone to marry yet.

That message made Jia's heart went out for Anthon again. She perfectly understood what he meant. There was even a comment from Giselle that stirred a long exchange of comments.

"Why don't you follow them? This world isn't too big!"

Jia also commented. "If you love them, set them free."

Giselle replied. "What is this supposed to mean? Didn't I witness a romance back then?"

She hurriedly deleted her comments and signed out from her Facebook account. She also sent a message to their class chatroom, "Permission to leave the group."

Soon, she received lots of private messages. She ignored them all except Jay's and Giselle's. She simply replied, "I'll talk when I'm ready."

The rest of the class did not know about their love story, but her reply created a commotion, creating some suspicions. They all concluded that there must be something between her and Anthon.

However, she sent Anthon a separate message.

"I'm sorry, Anthon. I'm going to repeat this for the last time. I did love you, but my life is not mine anymore. I wish you happiness. Don't worry about Jian. He'll always treat you as his biological father. Someday, he will understand us. And I will make him understand. Goodbye."

After this, she blocked him from his Facebook and Messenger accounts, including her mobile phone. She also customized her Facebook settings and clicked on "Friends" as the option being allowed to see her future posts. And her list of friends was limited to only a few people from her high school class.

As she had sworn to herself that his memories would not go beyond the runways of Atlanta, she definitely would now fulfill it accordingly.

She would start a new life, leaving all painful memories behind.

"When I say goodbye, there's no more turning back," she muttered loudly, forcing herself to listen and remember.