The gallery

Jeremy anxiously waited for his shirt which was the only thing stopping him from rushing out the door to Linda. The minute he got his shirt, Jeremy took off to first freshen up at his apartment, then made his way to Linda's office because he remembered Linda's grandparents reprimanding her about working on weekends. But to his surprise, the office was deserted and only the security guard could be seen roaming around,

"Sir, I am here to see Ms King?", 

"Oh no sir, madam doesn't come here on the weekend and public holidays", the middle-aged man politely answered, 

Jeremy's eyes looked worried, "Oh no! Do you know where I can find her-?",

"She's at the gallery", a voice said behind him, he turned to find Jackson walking into the building, his eyes lit up and his face flushed with hope. 

"Thank goodness Mr. Jackson, can you take me to see her?", he said excitedly, 

"Why are you so eager to see her? Have you fallen for her already?", Jackson teased folding his arms,

"What?! No sir just that I want to thank her for yesterday!", Jeremy adamantly denied forcing the two middle-aged men to raise their eyebrows.

'He didn't have to fight about it', Jackson commented in his head, he was now offended by Jeremy's rejection of Linda, and he couldn't help but respond in pettiness, "Why didn't you call her then? Or send a box of chocolates? Like a normal person..". he said with a serious look,

Jeremy was starting to get anxious and irritated, clearly, Jackson was not grasping the urgency of the situation, 'And what is with the 20 questions? I get that you are overprotective but geez', Jeremy forced the biggest smile on his face in an effort to hide his annoyance and politely said, "Sorry sir, but I am soon to be her husband, do I need to answer all these questions??", 

In all honesty, Jackson didn't care much about Jeremy's reaction, in fact the only reason he was even in at Global Tech on a Saturday was because Linda asked him to wait there in case Jeremy showed up. He recalled a conversation she had with her:

********

He was dropping Linda off at the gallery when she suddenly said, "Mr. Jackson, I need you to go to Global Tech and wait for Jeremy?". Those words caught Jackson by surprise, "Sorry little Ms, did Jeremy say he was going there?"

"No, but something tells me he will show up?", Linda replied so sure of herself, in opposite to Jackson who still harbored his doubts,

"But little Ms., what makes you think he will show up?"

"Because any good person who got drunk as a guest and embarrassed his future wife would show up to take responsibility for his actions..."

The fact that Linda kept referring to Jeremy as a good person did not sit well with Jackson, anyone associated with John didn't deserve to be called 'good', "Little Ms. Are you sure Jeremy is a good person?"

"To be honest, I am not sure, but I think he's got a 'good person' smile. You know, the kind that makes you want to protect it. Anyway, please go pick him up and bring him here"., with that Linda got off the car not wiling to listen to any word to come out of Jackson's mouth.

*********

Jackson had been sitting at the coffee shop across from Global Tech with his eyes glued on the building entrance, and just as Linda predicted, Jeremy showed up 30 minutes later. But it didn't matter to Jackson, Jeremy was still a troublemaker sent to destroy Linda and now that he was in front of him, he had no choice but to do as he was asked, 'take this traitor to little Ms.'.

Thinking about the idea of Jeremy being associated with John was enough to make Jackson burn in anger, especially having had a front-row seat to the King's family drama, 'Poor Ms. she can't catch a break', He let out a huge sigh, and said, "Well...fine, but since you wanna say thank you, I would suggest you get her breakfast along the way. The little Ms hasn't had her breakfast."

Jeremy stood frozen and speechless as he watched Jackson turn his back from him thinking he may have offended him, but Jackson looked back at him annoyed to ask, " Are you coming or what?!",

Jeremy's face was soon filled with a big smile and he jumped excitedly, "Thank you, thank you", but the smile on his face annoyed Jackson even more, 'Traitor', he said in his head.

They first went to the coffee shop across the road to get Linda a cheese sandwich and cappuccino, then soon made their way to the gallery which occupied a two-floor building that looked historical. One would expect a retro design inside, however, Jeremy was taken aback by the elegant modern interior design. The reception area was painted white, with a single pine green two-seater couch with wooden legs and a black and white picture of Linda's mother carefree and smiling in a tall grass field while reaching her hand to the camera. Jackson smiled at the young lady who was on the phone behind the white reception desk as he led the both of them towards a sensor glass door with a black frame which took them to a short hallway that soon opened up to a double storey hall. Jeremy's mouth dropped upon the view of the hall which was the complete opposite of the reception area. It was like entering a different building, the huge ground hall was partitioned by hanging wall pillars each with its different color perfectly complementing the painting hung on it while also perfectly matching with the main wall which was painted white. Jeremy's wide eyes rushed to the second floor which had a dark green wall, also covered with paintings. He continued to scan in amazement the big hall in front until his eyes landed on a very familiar painting which gave him a small sting in his heart, 'what is that painting doing here'. His gaze was cut short by Jackson who called out his name.

"Come Mr. husband, little Ms is just up the stairs."