✯Twenty-Nine✯ - Clarity

✷Chapter Twenty-Nine✷

"I'm sorry I took so much time." Gideon's familiar voice spoke out from above her, capturing her entire attention. She lifted her gaze at him from beside her, before he helped himself with a chair, but not before pecking the top of her hair in greetings.

Teresa is currently seated outside a coffee shop, in one of their four seater chairs with a round table in the middle, and a huge wide umbrella above their head.

She had texted Gideon for a quick meeting last night after Jacob had fallen asleep. He was quick to reply with a positive response.

Teresa was grateful for him wanting to meet her, even in short notice, though he knows nothing about the reason for their meeting. She only hopes the result of this is positive.

Her fear heightened when she had gone into the closet to get the paper, only to realize there was another paper attached behind it. A newer one, just three months old.

A new contract betting contract.

She could only read the first clause to be aware of what it was. Fear prevented her from reading further. Somehow she withheld herself from bursting out in tears when she spoke to Jacob about her leaving to meet Gideon, in exchange for work.

Now here she was sitting outside, under a morning dew, both her hands clamped together in her lap, worries of the unaware running through her thoughts. She was one step away from having a meltdown.

"It doesn't matter you're here now." She responded in a small voice, forcing a smile on her face.

Gideon on the other hand smiles at her genuinely in return. "I plan on picking Alexa from the airport after our meeting." He shrugged. "What's it you wanted to speak to me about?" He asked, still keeping his smile on.

Teresa stared at him for a while, before taking a deep breath, reaching for her handbag then pulling out the papers. She held it close on her laps, not yet handing it to him. "Gideon," she said, averting her gaze away from the paper to haze at him. "I want nothing but the truth. No more lying, no more secrets. Can you do that for me?"

Gideon sensed the vulnerability in her voice, quickly his happy smile evaporated from his face. "What's wrong?"

She sighs again, taking a moment to gather herself, before giving him the first paper she had seen last night, while she held the professional one in her hands, only one step from destroying it in her tight fist.

Gideon hesitatingly took the paper and glanced at it. A flash of recognition passed through his eyes at the sight of what was written on it. He shifted his gaze back at Teresa, a look of apology in his eyes. "I guess you saw this at Jacob's place?" He asked, but she gave no response, only staring at him. "Teresa it was just nothing but a childish contact that wasn't valid till we all hit teenagers. I didn't take it seriously, genuinely I had a crush on you back when we were little, but soon I grew out of it. But Jacob on the other hand had a strong interest in you even though you rejected him from time to time. At a time I feared it might be due to his pursuit to win the bet, but I soon realized he genuinely liked you."

Her brow arched at his word, as she gazed at him skeptically. "Really? And when did you know he genuinely liked me?"

"Two years before you moved to New York." He responded, not hesitating for a second.

"And that's all?" Teresa asked wanting to know more, but Gideon looked lost, he opened his mouth to speak more, but decided to keep shut, he looked conflicted. "Gideon I swear if you dare hide any other thing from me, you won't like the me you see." She threatened, meaning every word. She might appear strong, but deep down she was breaking in pieces for the unknown.

He gulped, removing his green eyes away from her to whatever was behind her. "That was all." He finally spoke. The paper in her hands squeezed a little at how hard she held it in rage. "Please don't let a thing decades ago formed by two ignorant children ruin whatever relationship we all have. I'm sorry for even doing such a thing in the first place, I'm sure Jacob feels the same way too, that's probably why he didn't speak to you about this." He leaned towards the table to touch her shoulder, but she flinched back in retreat. A look of pain appeared in his eyes at her gesture. "Please don't ruin our friendship because of this. It's childish contact."

She snapped her gaze away from his to get a better look of the paper in her hands. Her eyes scroll through some few words, breaking her heart even more that she could not deny. "It's obvious you don't value our friendship the way I did then." She gritted her teeth in anger as she spoke. Her body was boiling in rage.

Teresa hadn't wanted herself to react this way, but the more he kept pretending to be ignorant, irks her a lot. Gideon was still lying, and keeping the important part from her.

He looked startled by her harsh response. "What do you mean?"

She couldn't help herself from throwing the paper at him in anger and in disappointment. "I think it's better you explain this." She snarled at him, with a look of disgust at his direction.

Slowly he leaned down to pick the paper from where it had dropped on the floor by his feet. His face gave everything away as his eyes skimmed through every line of the paper. A look of confusion and doubt clouded his face. "But this doesn't exist anymore. You weren't supposed to see this." He shook his head as he spoke.

"Oh! So that's it then. Poor dear Teresa is better left in the dark. Because she's stupid enough not to know what we planned on her." She spoke sarcastically, now glaring at him where he sat.

Gideon shook his head, guilt and confusion plastered in his face. "You know that's not true."

"Then what's true? The fact you still try to hide the main truth from me!" She yelled this time, totally ignoring the passersby questioning gaze.

"There was nothing to explain-" he countered, but she cut his word short.

"Then I must be so blind that I can't recognize your signature." She taunted him, biting her inner lips from lashing out further.

"Please I beg you to give me a chance to explain." He pleaded, guilt filling his whole face. "This particular contract wasn't supposed to exist. Jacob told me himself he had destroyed it. About my signature there in the first place. The very day Jacob came to New York three months ago, I came visiting him at the place he was staying. The security guard on duty asked me to sign a paper. I was careless enough not to know what the paper was about. I had thought it was a visitor list, but it turned out to be otherwise. Jacob wanted to keep the bet going, but I wanted nothing to do with it-"

He stopped speaking when a young lady served the coffees she had ordered a while ago, before Gideon had arrived. She quickly served, not saying a word, probably sensing the tension between them, before disappearing in a flash.

The short moments give them both time to calm down a bit. But only a little for her, she was still boiling in pure rage.

"I wanted nothing to do with the contract. I thought he wasn't going with the bet again, even when he had come to see me at my house and told me about blunting out your name the moment he received news about grandpa's health. I thought he was done, but I was wrong when the truth about him forging Daniel's health came to light, it was then I realized he wasn't giving up on the bet. That was why I wanted us both to leave Lakewood, after ordering him not to see you again." He paused to take a deep breath. "When he returned to New York two weeks later, I confronted him, but he confessed about truly wanting you. I believed it, because he had torn this very paper in my hand in front of me."

"If you claim he tore the paper, then can you explain why that very paper is still in your hands?" She asked, still not removing her glare at him.

"That's the thing. I don't understand why he still has this."

She lips pressed together in a tight line. "Since you don't know, let me tell you then. It's obvious he isn't letting go."

Gideon shook his head again in denial. "The Jacob I had met that night was very sincere." He still defended his brother.

At this point Teresa was done speaking to him. The main person behind all this, should be the one doing the explaining more. She stood on her feet quickly grabbing her handbag. "I guess we're done here. You've explained enough, every other thing we're saying is just going in circles."

Gideon also stood up from the chair, he walked around the table to move next to her. He gripped her elbow preventing her from moving further. "Teresa please. I need you to understand."

She snatched her elbow away from his hold. "There's nothing else to understand apart from the fact you lied and hid a huge thing for me. I'm not angry at you Gideon. I'm disappointed. It's obvious you never took our friendship as serious as I took it. And this is where it ends, I want nothing to do with you ever again. You've lied to me time and time. I can't even begin counting, and each time I forgive you. But not this time. As far as I know, you're dead to me. You hear me? Dead!"

Tears were already spilling out from her eyes as she spoke. Deep down she knew she was overreacting, but the pain she felt made her unable to control her words.

The thought of losing Gideon hurt a lot. But the betrayal pierced every corner of her heart, she almost felt numb and tired.

Gideon gave her a pleading look, his sad expression almost breaking her heart even further. "Teresa, please don't say that. I beg you."

"I expected Jacob to be the sort of person to betray, but from you?" She sobbed, shaking her head in disappointment. "Expect my resignation letter soon. I'm done with you." She snatched the papers from the table, and placed them in her bag.

She strides off from the cafeteria, leaving her coffee untouched. Even though her sight was blurry, she managed to walk through the familiar road leading to Jacob's apartment.

Teresa could hear Gideon calling out her name, but she ignored it. She wanted nothing more to do with him. At least not yet. She was still very much disappointed at him for keeping such a thing from her.

She feared his betrayal hurt more than Jacob's betrayal. Or maybe she wasn't being completely honest with herself. Both betrayals hurt a lot, that she found it hard to breathe even as she hastened her steps.

Thankfully she asked Gideon to meet her in a close cafeteria not too far from Jacob's place. Even as she entered the elevator leading to his room, the tears in her eyes weren't something she could control.

The elevator dinged open reviewing Jacob with another woman in his living-room suite. He lifted his gaze at the sound of the elevator opening. An alarming look appeared in his eyes at her messed up state.

"Teresa." He muttered in shock.

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