Chapter 269 A Drop in the Ocean
After all, it was already past seven in the evening, and dinner time had long passed.
Keegan looked at her calm expression. "Have you eaten yet? This restaurant has pretty good food. You should give it a try."
Jessica glanced at him but didn't say much. When the waiter came over with the electronic menu, she ordered some pasta and hot cocoa and nothing more.
Keegan then took the menu and ordered a bit more. Jessica didn't care what he ordered since she couldn't eat that much anyway.
After the waiter left with the menu, Keegan kept looking at her.
Jessica took a sip of the lemon water on the table, put down the glass, and said, "Mr. Chloe, if you have something to say, just say it. I'm not here just to keep you company and be looked at."
Keegan looked at her for a moment before saying, "The sharpness you used to hide in your bones is no longer hidden. The Jenner family indeed wronged you, and I wronged you, too."
Jessica thought she was very calm now. Where was the sharpness?
But she knew Keegan understood her. Even if he didn't know how she had lived these past five years, he knew about her life in the Jenner family and her silent struggles with Ms. Jenner.
"If you called me out just to apologize, there's really no need." Jessica's eyes showed clear detachment. "Nothing happened between us. We just had a phase when we were young. We didn't get married, and we just broke up. No one owes anyone anything, and there's no need for apologies."
Keegan stared at her face for a while. "Five years ago, the night before Trinity injured her leg, she was scolded by the director at the set of "Red Cavalry" for her poor acting and stiff movements. She was in a bad mood, drank some alcohol, and went to the company to cry to her agent. I was at the company that day. She drank too much and was in a bad emotional state. I intended to take her back to the Jenner family, but she ran outside the company, crying in the rain. To prevent her emotional state from affecting my uncle and aunt, I took her back there."
He continued to look at her, his voice slightly hoarse. "That day, at Grain Villa, you saw it, didn't you?"
Keegan had lived alone for many years. His residence was originally in a secluded wealthy area in Xyleria. Later, he got busy with company affairs and bought a villa near Four Seas Entertainment, naming it "Grain."
Grain, as in the grain of the sea, represented Keegan and Jessica.
He said all the decorations and furnishings in that villa were things she liked. He would marry her when she reached the legal age, and that was the house he had prepared for her early on.
Jessica had once taken advantage of rare breaks during dance rehearsals to plant dozens of roses at Grain Villa, personally selected beautiful crystal lamps, and even the tiles and carpets in the villa were chosen by her during trips to the renovation market. Every inch of that place was her envisioned future.
Five years ago, she thought that if she waited just one more year until she turned twenty, she could leave the Jenner family completely and live the peaceful life she wanted with Keegan.
But everything was shattered on that day five years ago.
That day, she had just gotten out of a cab. The rain seemed endless. She held an umbrella in one hand and carefully protected two beautiful succulents in the other. In the pouring rain, she saw Keegan's car suddenly stop across from the villa. She saw him get out holding Trinity, who was clinging tightly to him, her face pressed against his chest, her hand wrapped around his neck. Despite the heavy rain and the distance, Jessica clearly saw Trinity give Keegan a careful kiss on the chin before he carried her into the villa.
Jessica didn't remember how long she stood in the rain. She only remembered that her legs went numb, the umbrella couldn't shield her from the downpour, and the succulents in her arms were drenched and lifeless. She saw the lights in the villa go out after a short while. Time passed minute by minute, and Trinity didn't leave the villa all night.
She couldn't remember how she left there or how she got back to the Jenner family.
She only remembered that the next afternoon, when Trinity returned to the Jenner family, she had changed her clothes and said she wasn't feeling well and had taken leave from the director. As she walked past Jessica, Jessica saw the hickey on her neck.
Jessica was standing at the top of the stairs on the second floor of the Jenner family house, feeling like she might fall at any moment. She asked, "Are the roses in the living room at Grain Villa wilting? Did you change the water for them before you left today?"
Trinity looked at her meaningfully and deliberately asked, "Did you see me with Keegan last night?"
Jessica couldn't remember much of what happened next. She only remembered Trinity suddenly screaming in front of her, like a scene from a TV drama, and then inexplicably falling down the stairs.
Stories were rooted in reality, and such outrageous lies could indeed happen in real life.
The Jenner family servants screamed and gathered around. In front of Eugene and Linda, who rushed over, they all said in unison that Jessica had pushed Trinity.
Keegan had been invited by Eugene to dine at the Jenner family that night. When he walked in and saw the scene, he quickly went over, picked up Trinity, and told the servants to call an ambulance. Trinity, trembling and crying in his arms, said she had only gone to his place because she was drunk and that Jessica had suddenly gotten very angry with her.
Jessica just stood there, coldly watching everything, until Keegan frowned, turned to her, and asked, "Jessica, why aren't you saying anything?"
Trinity's leg injury was severe. The "Red Cavalry" crew was pressing hard, and Trinity was the artist Four Seas Entertainment was promoting at the time. They couldn't afford any mistakes, so they temporarily concealed the leg injury and took a few days off.
During those days, Keegan was overwhelmed with company matters. The hospital said that while Trinity's leg wouldn't affect her ability to walk in the future, she definitely couldn't perform any dance moves.
As the crew's urgency increased, Keegan suddenly looked at Jessica, who had been silently waiting in the hospital corridor. He said, "Jessica, Trinity's leg injury won't heal anytime soon. The movie needs to continue filming. There are two dance scenes coming up. Can you dance for her?"
Keegan knew Jessica's face was actually very suitable for the entertainment industry. She was even more spiritual than Trinity, but he hadn't wanted Jessica to enter that circle.
After Trinity became an artist at Four Seas Entertainment, the companyd focused on promoting her that year. In such a critical moment, he had no choice but to let Jessica dance in her place.
Because Jessica wouldn't betray any of them.
And because Jessica danced really well.
Fortunately, she only needed to dance behind a veil without being seen by anyone.
