Chapter 205 Jesse Fishes for Information
“What were you discussing with the Murphys today?” Daphne probed further.
Mark paused and pushed up his glasses, "You could ask in a more roundabout way." That was too direct. It was hard for him to answer.
Daphne was stumped. Wasn't her question subtle enough?
"What can you tell me?" She rephrased her question.
"Charles told me not to say anything if you came asking," Mark betrayed Charles but made his stance clear, "If you really want to know, you should ask Charles directly."
"Does it have something to do with me?" Daphne was setting a trap.
"I don't know," Mark continued with his mild attitude.
"A partnership?" she probed further.
"Not so clear," Mark replied.
"A merger?" she added.
"You should ask Charles," Mark remarked. He replied with vague answers to several questions in a row.
Daphne understood she wasn't going to get anything out of him and ended the conversation with an offhand remark before hanging up.
She returned to Frontier Capital Group.
Jesse had just finished discussing a partnership and, noticing her troubled expression, approached her to ask, "What's wrong?"
"Are you close with Mark?" Daphne eyed the cool and reserved Jesse, suddenly getting an idea.
"Yes," Jesse answered.
"Can you get information out of him?" Daphne asked in anticipation.
"I can," Jessie confirmed.
"That certain?" she doubted.
"He can't outdrink me, and he trusts me," Jesse said earnestly.
Daphne didn't know how to respond.
Jesse, knowing Daphne well, directly asked, "What do you want to know?"
"I want to know what he discussed with Charles and Murphy today." Although the meeting wasn't about a merger, Charles's comment upon exiting the car made it hard not to be curious.
It was all somewhat baffling.
Jesse promised, "I’ll have an answer for you tomorrow."
After Daphne told him not to strain himself, she felt at ease. With Jesse around, it seemed to her that everything would be taken care of. Even before she began managing their affairs, he had already solved the most troublesome issues for her.
"Charles," Jesse suddenly called her.
Daphne looked up.
Jesse pulled out a blank check that was tucked inside a book and handed it to her.
Daphne accepted it, looking puzzled. "What's this about?"
"The person who tried to buy me off before contacted me again," Jesse felt that Charles was taking it too lightly, "They told me to fill it out as I wished."
"Is the request the same as before?" Daphne handed back the blank check and asked casually.
"No," he simply replied.
"What is it then?" she asked, bewildered.
After Daphne's question, Jesse just stood there, motionless. His ears were tinged with red, his typically cool face now slightly awkward, and his whole demeanor was clearly off.
Daphne had never seen him like this before. "Why aren't you saying anything?" she asked.
"It's complicated," responded Jesse, his tone still cool.
Daphne was puzzled, ‘Was this just about a bribe request?’
She looked him over several times, and when her gaze landed on his clearly uncomfortable expression and the red tips of his ears, an idea struck her. "Are they expecting something to happen between us?"
"Yep," Jesse nodded.
Daphne thought Jesse was rather naive. "What did you tell them?"
"I didn't say anything." Jesse knew the more he said, the more likely he’d mess up. This time, the stakes were higher, and he needed to discuss it with Daphne. "After they handed me the check, they told me to think it over well, mentioning chances to get both money and pleasure don’t always come around."
"Did they set a deadline for your answer?" she asked
"One week to decide." Jesse was almost always ready to answer Daphne's questions.
Spinning her pen in her hands, Daphne finally concluded. "In a couple of days, fill out the check, tell them you agree, and see what their plan is."
Jesse frowned in disagreement and objected, "That won't work."
"Why not?" Daphne didn't understand.
"A woman's reputation is important," Jesse said, looking straight at Daphne with clear eyes. "You can't just take such risks frivolously."
Daphne put down her pen. "I know what I'm doing. Don't worry about it."
Seeing her so confident, Jesse agreed. As he was leaving, he turned back to Daphne, saying seriously, "Don't trust people so easily, especially other men."
Daphne was amused by his words and told him she understood before sending him off to take care of his business.
For the rest of the day, Daphne was busy working. Frontier Capital Group hadn't expanded any partnerships or business for a couple of years, so there was a significant increase in workload now that Jesse had started negotiating several partnerships upon her return.
That evening, Daphne was working late when Jesse informed her that he had an arrangement with Mark. Daphne told him to go ahead and didn't think much of it.
An hour later, at the bar, Mark and Jesse had arranged to meet, both dressed smartly in suits, looking handsome and easily drawing attention.
Mark was still in a daze, trying to figure out what seemed odd. "This isn't like you. When you're upset, you normally ask me to go to the gym or for a run. Why the bar tonight?"
Jesse wasn't one for drinking, something Mark was quite aware of.
Jesse's eyes shifted slightly as he concocted a reason, "It's different this time."
"What do you mean?" Mark asked.
"I've been through a breakup," Jessie replied, yet his tone was still calm and cool.
Mark was completely shocked and incredulous. A breakup? His friend Jesse? That seemed impossible!
"When did you start dating? How come I didn't know?" Mark bombarded him with a rapid-fire series of questions, genuinely shocked, "And who is this woman?"
Jesse's face remained cool and detached, giving nothing away, "I don't want to talk about it."
Mark was momentarily speechless with frustration. ‘You might not want to talk’, he thought, ‘but I sure want to know!’
"Drink." Jesse offered a glass of liquor to him, his usually chilly eyes shaded with suppressed emotions.
It was that look that pierced straight through to Mark's heart, extinguishing his burning curiosity with a sudden concern for his friend. The guy wasn't much for talking, and he didn't have many friends.
He had to join him in drinking.
"All right," Mark accepted the glass, "Tonight, we drink until we drop."
Jesse's expression stayed the same as when he clinked glasses with Mark, "Hmm."
Mark wasn't drunk yet. Having hung around Charles for years, he knew how to hold his liquor well.
The bar flickered with colorful lights, and the deafening music drowned out everything else in the vicinity.
After another round with Jesse, who seemed a little tipsy, Mark began to probe, "Tell me about what's going on with you and her. Sometimes, it's easier to talk about things."
Mark had been waiting for just this moment, to draw words out of his reticent friend. And to think that Jesse, of all people, managed to beat him to being in a relationship.
‘This isn't fair!’, Mark thought.
"I don't want to talk," Jesse muttered, furrowing his brow slightly as he continued his pretend-drunk journey.
Mark was clueless to the fact that he was being deceived. Jesse's progressive descent into feigned inebriation was convincing, given his usual silence, making his performance all the more noticeable.
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