25

The next few weeks ran smoothly and Jean made an effort to avoid Jason. Electro had begun work so for now, there was no need for any sort of meeting with James. She felt quite relieved and continued her normal routine as usual.
On a Thursday morning, Peter knocked lightly on her door and poked his head inside her office.
“There’s a call for you from Avery Marcus.” He said cautiously. Jean raised an eyebrow at him, “I don’t know why she removed her marital name but I know it’s the same Avery that called the other day. Should I tell her you’re not on seat?”
Jean rested her elbows on the table and linked her fingers, putting her chin in between them. She knew she shouldn’t accept the call because Avery was going to say absolute nonsense, but her curiosity got the best of her.
“Tell her I have only five minutes to talk. If she’s okay with that, send the call over to my receiver.”
Peter slinked out of the doorway and did as he was told.
“Yes, yes, I’ll take five minutes. Even if it’s one minute, I’ll take it,” was Avery’s reply.
A few seconds later, Jean picked up her receiver and greeted in her most formal voice:
“Good morning, Mrs. Cobalt. How may I help you?”
“Hello, Jean.” Avery’s voice sounded cracked as if she had been crying. Jean refused to fall any sort of acting Avery was ready to display for her, “How have you been?”
Jean hated beating around the bush. It was not like Avery actually cared how she had been all this while. It had been six years and Avery thought she could just call at her office one day and ask her how she had ‘been’ as though they had seen last two weeks ago.
“How may I help you? My assistant has informed you that I do not have time on my hands.” She stated rather aggressively.
“Right, I see. Sorry. All I wish for is one dinner, Jean, just one dinner. Please. I really need to talk to you face to face.”
“I think a letter to my office address will suffice, Mrs. Cobalt.”
“No, that won’t do. Please, Jean, I am begging you. I really need to talk to you. I don’t think I’ll have peace of mind till I talk to you.”
“I see you have nothing important to say so I will just hang up now.”
“No, don’t-“
Jean listened to the beeping of the receiver for a few seconds before dropping the phone. She refused to think about the phone call and continued her work. A few minutes later, a mail popped up on her computer.

From: averymarcus.cobalt@yahoo.com
To: jtaylorceo@jtcompanies.org
Subject: Please just read it, Jean.
Message:
Jean, I understand why you don’t want to see or have anything to do with me in any way. But I honestly do regret it. I really hope you will reconsider and have dinner with me once. I want to pour out some things to you and I would appreciate it if you would just listen.
I got your e-mail from Google. The internet makes things so much easier.
In case you ever change your mind, I left my phone number with the security men at your house and you already know my house address.
Thank you so much for even reading this.
Love, Avery.

Jean rolled her eyes at the salutation. Did Avery really think she was that stupid? This wasn’t like secondary school where they followed each other around like puppies. Those days were gone and now, she looked onto better Avery-free days. To her, Avery-free meant stress-free. Keeping that woman out of her life mattered so much to Jean that she was beginning to count it as a problem.
She was never taught to be this hostile towards anybody; nobody at all. Her family was a lovely one with all the things they needed to live more than comfortably. Above other material things, her family had love; a love that was pure and whole. She was raised receiving and giving love, support and affection. She had never been one to hide her feelings or channel hatred towards anybody. However, situations had changed her and she wasn’t the same woman who woke up elated on her wedding day six years ago, drifting on a cloud throughout the wedding preparations. No, she was now a woman consumed by betrayal and this was a force that drove her. It drove her to work, thrive, survive, succeed. Because, no matter how much she denied it, the presence of so much hurt in her life made her try to forget; and in the process of doing this, she somehow managed to divulge herself and prove herself. To whom, she was not sure.
She knew her parents would be proud wherever they were despite the fact that she didn’t speak to them regularly. They always had the hopes that she would grow up to be a happy woman, her mother especially. When she was young, her mother would tease her and tell her that she would grow up, get married to the love of her life and have a happy family. Heck, they had even named her children already. Jean laughed aloud maniacally at this. Obviously, there was no hope of her having any children in the near future. Her mother wouldn’t be happy but she couldn’t care less as long as it kept her sanity in check.

If Jean thought she could shove Avery’s suggestion to the back of her mind throughout the day, she was deluded.
While Barbara was massaging her feet, her eyebrows knitted together as she thought of it all.
”Barbara?”
“Yes, my dear?” the elderly woman smiled down at her.
“What do you think about forgiveness?”
“What do you mean, dear?”
“I mean… forgiveness as a virtue, not just a concept.”
“Well, dear, let me see.” She thought about it for a while before speaking again, “Let me just say that forgiveness is a thing of the heart and not just the mind. It takes a lot for a person to forgive at times, in other situations, it's easy as sucking your thumb. People differ and so, forgiving is not something that can be consistent. Forgiveness means having the knowledge that a person is not perfect and will probably still make a mistake again, but still being willing to take a chance… mainly because of love and humanity.”
Jean was silent for awhile.
“How about forgiving and forgetting then?”
“Ah, my dear,” she sighed, “not to sound like a bad Christian but personally, I feel only God can forgive and forget purely. We humans, however, have lessons to learn when we forgive somebody. Mistakes we have made or the other person has made can enlighten us and teach us more about the world. It just depends on how you want to take it personally.”
Jean let out a small sob. Barbara didn’t say anything as Jean soaked her pillow with slow, quiet tears. She knew the younger woman needed to let it all out. When Jean drifted off to sleep, she helped replace her pillow, wondering what would make Jean ask her such vague questions.
But Jean knew. She knew why she cried. She shed the tears she had bottled up for years because somewhere during Barbara’s speech, she had realized that she had forgiven James and Avery a long time ago. She was just finding it hard to forget and let it all go. The lessons were meant to be the only things left but she still felt the pain. The pain was a constant reminder of the agony she went through.

When she finally woke up during the wee hours of the morning, she knew that if she wanted to live a peaceful life, then she would have to let go of all the anguish she had kept bottled up over the years. One way to do this was to honour Avery’s dinner request. She had no doubts it would be a very awkward dinner and no matter how hard she thought, she had no idea what Avery would want to talk about. She thought she knew Avery but she was proven wrong on that notion; at this point, she didn’t know what to think anymore.
While still deep in her thoughts, her phone rang in the back pockets of the pantsuits she hadn’t removed before falling asleep. She pulled it out and saw Jason’s contact on the screen. She swiped the screen and placed it on her ear.
”Jason... why are you calling now? Its…” she looked at the clock on her bedroom wall, “3:20 am.”
“But you’re not asleep.” She could hear the smile in his words.
“Whatever. Just know it’s a coincidence you managed to catch me at this time.”
“Oh please. You couldn’t resist my call,” Jean scoffed at that, “Anyhow, how are you?”
“I’m fine.”
“No you’re not. Ready to tell me the truth?”
How the hell did he figure that out?
”Honestly, Jason. I’m fine.”
“Okay, bye.”
Confused, Jean mumbled a ‘bye’ and dropped her phone on her bed before getting up to have a much-needed shower.
As she entered her bedroom again from the bathroom, she was greeted by her phone’s ringing with the same pesky caller ID.
“You’re a pest. You know that right?” she said immediately she picked.
“Insult me however you like, just tell your security men to open the gates for me so I can drive in.”
“What? You’re here?’ Jean exclaimed, shocked.
“Jean Taylor, if I was in my apartment, I wouldn’t waste my time calling you to open your gates for me now, would I?”
“You don’t have to say it like that you know…”
“Just open the damn gates.”
After disconnecting, Jean quickly called the gatehouse and asked for the gates to be opened for the car at the entrance. She flew into her closet and threw on a top and leggings she didn’t even know she owned. She made a mental note to carry out a thorough search of her huge walk-in closet before she got lost in there someday.
She met Jason at the foyer and to her disbelief, he was holding two pizza boxes and a nylon bag that contained things she didn’t even want to explore. She blinked at his megawatt smile before bursting out:
“HOW DID YOU GET PIZZA AT 4 AM?”
He took his sweet time in accessing her from the top of her kinky hair, which was held away from her face by a headband, to her bare feet where he noticed a scar on her left big toe. Her outburst made him flick his eyes back to her startled face.
“There are places open for 24 hours. And I just happen to be a regular customer of one of them.”
She was about to question him again when he stopped her.
“Such happens when you are swamped with work and you remember by 3 in the morning that you haven’t eaten since a cup of coffee at 8am the previous day.”
She silently nodded her understanding and gestured that he follow her. She took him to one of the parlours; her least favourite one with the dull drapes and cold aura. She didn’t want Jason thinking he was welcome to her house in the wee hours of the morning.
Upon entering the parlour, Jason dropped onto a couch and opened up all the goodies he had brought with the excitement of an infant on Christmas. Jean watched him from the doorway with an amused look on her face. Watching Jason act like this reminded her of her uncle back home. Fat Uncle Kora with the huge belly and huger appetite. The man's eyes always managed to light up whenever he saw food no matter how much he had eaten before. She sure hoped he hadn’t died of a stroke by now.
A jerk on her arm dragged Jean back to the present; Jasons face pink with annoyance from incessantly trying to get her attention and failing because jean had decided to visit Dreamland for a few minutes. She mumbled an apology and went to sit down on the sofa opposite where Jason had set up camp.
He offered her a Hersheys bar from his bag of goodies but she declined. She leaned back on the sofa and suddenly, her mind started feeling foggy while her limbs became heavy and difficult to move. She looked over at Jason and saw that he was unconscious.
“Oh no…” were her last words before she slipped into darkness.