Chapter 39

JAYDA

^THE NEXT DAY^

On Tuesday, Jayda reluctantly stood up from her bed and prepared for work. She spent the whole of yesterday crying and sulking, and she needed to catch up on so many work-related things that she’d left undone.

She cleaned up, changed into a simple but elegant dress, covered her puffy eyes with some makeup, and went to the kitchen to make herself some toast. She had no appetite but forced herself to eat half of it and washed it down with some orange juice. She took her vitamins and left for work.

Jayda stepped into her office building with a normal face when in all honesty, she was dying inside. She politely replied to the greetings of clients and staff and went to her office to bury herself in work.

Usually, Jayda would delegate her work to interns, but she chose not to see any of them today and instead did everything that needed to be done on her own. She didn’t want to cross paths with Olivia.

So caught up in her sadness and anger, Jayda lost track of time until she took a glance at her watch and saw that it was almost 3:30 p.m. She hadn’t had lunch. Truthfully, she was still not hungry, but she knew she had to eat something for the sake of her baby. She told her secretary to order a late lunch for her.

After she forced herself to eat, Jayda continued to work. She made calls to a few clients and went back to drafting and reviewing contracts.

A few minutes past 7 p.m., Jayda’s phone rang, and she reached for it immediately. A feeling of sadness washed through her when she saw it wasn’t who she was expecting.

She wondered why she was hurt that he hadn’t called or texted her all day. That was what she wanted. She wanted space, she wanted him to leave her alone, and obviously, everything backfired on her.

She had to bury herself in work just to avoid thinking about him. She tried to hate him for hurting her again, but she just couldn’t. She missed him terribly, and didn’t know how much longer she could go on without him.

“Yes, Mom,” Jayda answered the call.

“I thought your pregnancy would have made you more responsible, Jayda. It’s way past 7 p.m., and you’re still in that office.”

“There’s so much to do here, Mom. I’ll be fine. I’ll soon be leaving.”

“Be careful, but next time, please try to leave work early. You can take some work home if there’s so much to catch up on.”

“Yes, Mom, that’s what I actually planned to do, but I lost track of time,” she confessed.

“Anyway, how are you?” Before Jayda could reply to her mom, Grace added, “I ran into Lilian today, and she told me you and Seb aren’t on good terms. Oh, she said you are mad at her too,” Gloria added.

Jayda groaned.

“Wanna talk about it?” Her mom asked.

“I don’t know, Mom,” she replied in all honesty.

“But you know he didn’t cheat on you, right?”

“Sebastian didn’t cheat on me, but he refused to open up to me when he found out he had a son.”

“What was his response when you confronted him about it?” Grace asked.

Jayda held back the tears that were building up in her eyes. “He said he was scared of losing me. He was afraid if I found out, I would leave him for good.”

“Do you want to leave him for good?”

“I don’t know, Mom. All I know is that my heart is very hurt right now. I won’t lie, I would have freaked out if he told me the truth himself. But that would have been better than hearing it on some gossip channel. I can’t describe how I felt that moment, Mom. I was beyond humiliated.”

“I feel your pain, my love. I’m sorry you felt that way. Sebastian allowed his fear of losing you to get in his way of being truthful to you. I’m sure he is truly sorry for keeping the truth away from you.”

Jayda wiped away a burning tear. “He’s truly sorry. He begged me to listen to his side of the whole story, but I was too hurt to listen to a long talk. He swore that there was nothing between him and Aaron’s mom. He was only trying to make it up to Aaron for the lost time. He said he truly loves me and my baby, and that he wouldn’t be able to live without us.”

“Then you told him to stay away from you and the baby right?” Grace asked. She knew her daughter too well. She had no doubt that was what Jayda would have said to him.

Jayda slowly nodded. Remembering her mom couldn’t see her, she replied with a low, “Yes, Mom.”

“I won’t ask you if you still love him, because I know you do. I just want to know what is next for the two of you and if you’ll probably give him another chance.

“Look, my love, you are my only princess, and I’ll always have your back no matter what. But I really want you to look at things from Seb’s perspective. He’s hurting as much as you are, if not more than you.

“I pity Seb because he’s been through a lot. Lilian told me how miserable he is. He’s been wanting to reach out to you all day, but he restrained himself, remembering you asked for space,” Grace continued.

“He wasn’t there when Aaron was born, and he wasn’t there to watch him grow from an infant to a toddler. Lily said Sebastian is afraid that the same will be the case of his second child. He will never get to watch him or her grow or even be present at its birth because you’ve made it clear you want nothing to do with him.

“That’s why he did not call you or come to see you today. He is afraid you might file one of your papers against him. Sebastian loves you so much, Jayda, and I promise you that he needs you now more than ever.”

Jayda couldn’t find any words for her mother. She knew it was all the truth. But her heart hurt so much, she wasn’t sure how to handle it.

“Life is not full of fairy tales. No one has it all, and neither does anyone have the perfect relationship. Sebastian is with us today, but nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. Make things right so you won’t spend the rest of your existence in bitterness and regret.

“You’re my everything, and I won’t force you to do anything that doesn’t come from your heart. Just know that I’ll always be here for you no matter the decision you make.”

Jayda wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “Thanks, Mom. I promise to think things through.”

“Please do, my love, and drive safely. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Mom. Bye.” Jayda ended the call.

After replaying her mother’s conversation in her head for a few minutes, she rose to her feet and gathered her things.

Halfway through the drive to her apartment, Jayda pulled over.