Chapter 9
Sated, Jasper opened the car door. He waved outward, hinting at Nadine, who was still buttoning her shirt, to get off.
Pursing her lips, Nadine glared at him. She bent down for another kiss.
Glancing at the time on the car display screen, Jasper turned his head to the side to dodge her kiss. In a languid tone, he said, “Stop.”
“Sweetie, we still have time.”
Jasper cut her off. He sounded domineering. “From the start, I’ve told you we only have one month to be together. Now, time’s up, and it’s time to end this.”
Seeing how cold he was, Nadine got out of the car reluctantly.
Jasper let down the window and stepped on the accelerator. The lingering scent of passion in the car disappeared with the wind. Looking at the GPS, he smiled as he drew nearer to home.
He parked in the basement of Hitherton Hotel. Instead of going to the lobby, he headed upstairs.
After the passionate moment he had in the afternoon, his clothes were now wrinkled. He had to get a change of clothes.
Before going into the shower, he called his friends and told them what to do.
They snickered.
“Don’t worry, Jasper. We’ve already thought of a good explanation.”
“Yeah. You should worry instead about how you’re going to keep up the act. This is going to be tough.”
“This act has gone on long enough, and nothing has gone wrong so far. What are you guys worried about? Holly is deeply in love with Jasper She won’t doubt a thing.”
Jasper didn’t want to listen to their jest. He chided them with a smile and cast his phone on the couch.
Half an hour later, he walked out of the shower wiping his hair, dry. He heard the incessant ringing of his phone.
Unlocking the screen, he saw there were 20–odd missed calls. His heart started pounding rapidly
Suppressing his anxiety, he answered the call. “You guys left me so many missed calls. Did something happen?”
“Jasper, Holly is… She’s missing!”
His friend’s words shook him. Stunned, he felt his blood run cold.
He suddenly remembered the silhouette he saw at the airport, the one he thought greatly resembled Holly. A thought formed in his mind.
Running more than a dozen red lights, he sped all the way to the rental apartment. It took him less than ten minutes.
His friends searched every nook and cranny yet still couldn’t find anything related to Holly When they saw him, they hurried up to him.
“Jasper, there’s absolutely nothing here! We have no idea where Holly went!”
“I sent someone to look into it, and she wasn’t among those who’d left Danvir in the past
month.”
Bad news hit Jasper one after another, and his heart sank.
Flustered, he picked up his phone to call Holly, but all he heard was the robotic voice indicating her phone was turned off.
All the messages he sent were undelivered. The single check marks behind his him diz
messages.
Trembling, Jasper entered the apartment, imagining that he’d see Holly there. Everything his friends told him was bound to be lies. How could Holly leave him?
However, the apartment was empty. He felt a tightness in his chest and had difficulty breathing. Finding it all hard to believe, he walked in.
The window was wide open, and the curtains fluttered in the breeze. The sun was radiant, shining brightly into the apartment. However, the person he wanted to see was missing.
Why? Why would she leave?
The photos they took together, the gifts he gave her, and all traces of her having lived there before were all gone!
Slowly, he felt the sore aching of his heart, as though someone had stuck it on a bed of nails. In a frenzy, he turned the room upside down, wanting to find anything that could prove her love for him. He left no corners unsearched.
Their engagement rings, the anniversary gifts, and the birthday gifts…
Jasper knew Holly had always treasured the gifts he gave her, even if it was something he bought without giving it much thought. As long as it was from him, she would be ecstatic and keep them safe.
chau
But now, he found nothing.
Looking around at the vacant room, fear made its way into his heart. His eyes reddened. He couldn’t figure out why his heart ached so much,
It wasn’t until Jasper saw the divorce certificate on the table that he felt a stabbing pain in his chest. After some time, he felt suffocated.
A thought occurred in his mind–Holly might’ve found out the relationship between him and
Nadine.
He had believed he had done a good job in hiding everything and that he could juggle his relationships with both Holly and Nadine.
He thought he was careful enough. Nadine was just someone to pass time with. He would never let her appear before Holly as his mistress and neither would he ever let Holly learn of their relationship.
However, Holly found out anyway.
When did she find out? To think she could be ruthless enough to disappear entirely from his. world using their divorce as a means…
His eyes teared up, and his vision blurred.
He had been so sure that everything was within his control. However, he forgot that Holly was never someone who’d compromise.
Holly knew him well. She was aware that if he’d known she was leaving, he would never have let her go. By hook or by crook, he’d make her stay. So, she abandoned everything and vanished from his sight.
As Jasper slowly realized all that, he could no longer suppress the indignance within him. “Holly, I would never let you go!”
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