The Scandal (7)

Jimmy was having lunch when he saw Marge calling him. It was unusual for her to do so, and he worried if there were some complications. Excusing himself from his companions, he stepped away and answered the call.

"Are you all right? Did something happen to the baby?"

"Bah, of course he's fine. What are you thinking?" She dismissed him without care, shifting the topic to what she wanted to talk about instead. "Have you seen the news?"

"What news?"

Jimmy thought about it, but couldn't recall anything that would interest Marge. She usually didn't care too much about stuff that didn't involve her personally. The falling out of Gale and Kyro had been a shock to her and she'd badgered him about what had happened, but that was an old story. It was unlikely that she would call him about it.

"That Kyro is a womanizer, of course!"

"You're kidding right? Why would you believe such nonsense?"

"I didn't think so…" Marge sounded unsure of herself. "But the photos are really incriminating. He actually even brought an unconscious woman into his house. I don't know anymore…" Her voice died out for a moment. "That's why I called you! As his friend, what do you say? Is there any truth to it?"

"No chance," Jimmy answered without even thinking. Anyone who had been with Kyro in university knew that he was a total bore. He never bothered to go to parties, drinking and having fun with the many beautiful women their age having come there for exactly the same purpose.

At first the guy was too studious, and then he was too hung up on Jane leaving him for that kind of reason. After that, he hadn't glanced at another woman once, let alone got himself into a company of many.

Yet once Marge sent him the link and he saw the photos, he couldn't deny them making a real case for the opposite side. "The first few are nothing, the one with the two ladies might be a set up since the photographer couldn't even get a shot of him sitting, but the last one… I've not idea what in the world he could have been doing there."

"Ask him. I wanna know!"

"Marge… Do you really want to be a widow that bad? You could just say you want a divorce instead of sending me to die…"

---

A few hours after lunch, Jessica was reading manga when her phone made a noise. She didn't pick it up right away, wishing to end the chapter first. It seemed like the two leads were about to end up forced to stay the night together in a cave!

Her phone beeped again , and she glanced over at it with annoyance. Who was so impatient? There were only a few pages left, almost nothing. Yet the moment she returned to her reading, admiring as the human pushed the gnome deeper into the cave while suffering the acidic rain himself, her phone beeped three times in a row.

"Can't you just answer it?" Fred asked, lifting his head from some war book or another.

"Fine!" Jessica pouted and picked her phone, ready to send a million complains to the one who had interrupted her at such a moment. The story was just getting good!

On the screen, she saw Melany having sent her a link and four messages asking if she'd read it and if it's true. Jessica then clicked on the link, and her eyes almost popped out of their sockets. The photos were so damning she threw the phone away as if burned.

"Jess?" Fred asked, but she couldn't yet collect herself.

Her breaths came in short gasps as she thought about what she'd seen. It was impossible, slander, total nonsense. No journalist would say anything good about a popular figure without reason, so the whole article had to be fiction.

Yet those photos… Jessica didn't trust her eyes. She crawled to the back of the bed and picked her phone back, cradling it next to her chest like a baby.

"Do I want to know what you saw? Or is it another of the unmentionables?"

"No, this, you'll want to see it."

Jessica extended her trembling hands and passed the phone to Fred. He gave her a look that said she was acting crazy and unlocked the screen. His humor evaporated once he saw the first photo, though. The more he scrolled, the colder his expression became.

But once he reached the very end, he stopped and looked. For a minute, then two and three. The end didn't seem in sight, so Jessica grabbed the phone back and took another look at the offending sight.

"How did we not know of it?" she asked while throwing her phone down again and rushing off to the living room where she'd left her tablet. Once it was in her hand, she ran back and plopped on the bed while locating the article again.

Her finger moved straight to the last photo and enlarged it to the point that it became in quadrangles. "Why is the quality so bad? I want to see her! I need to see her! He never tells us anything!"

"Calm down, and zoom out, I don't need to see her organs. Let's see her face."

"But the quality is so bad!" Jessica still did as asked though, and the two of them examined the woman in the photo. "Her hair looks like straw, so unattractive."

"You can't even see it. She looks quite pretty. Young, though."

"What are you saying? Of course I can see! Her hair just looks bad! And you're right, so young! Is she even of legal age? I hope Kyro didn't get seduced by some—"

"Do you think he'd ever let that happen?'

"Of course not, I taught him better, but… What if she doesn't treat him well? I don't want him to suffer from a spoiled rich mistress. He needs…" Tears welled up in Jessica's eyes. She lowered the tablet and looked over at Fred. "Why does he never tell us anything? Is she even the one?"

Fred pulled her close, hugging her to his side. "Our son has grown up. Once he finds the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with, I'm certain he'll tell us. Maybe he just isn't certain for now."

"Maybe." Jessica sniveled, raising the tablet back up and looking at the photo of the sleeping woman. "But he brought her home, and he never does that."

Instead of agreeing, Fred kissed her on the forehead. "Let's leave them to it and hope for the best."

His words jolted Jessica back to her senses. Leave it up to them? From what she knew about her son, he was gonna mess it up without a doubt! There was a reason he had only had one relationship with the opposite sex and it ended badly for everyone. 'I can't let him mess this one up, too! I need to do something!'

Although Jessica stayed quiet, not refusing her husband's words, a resolution was born in her heart. Whatever the cost, she had to make sure this ship sailed!