Rent A Wife!!!

Chapter 19: To reply or not to reply?

Chapter 19: To reply or not to reply?

Recap:
I realized my fingers were shaking as I pressed the view button. I looked around to see that everyone was still busy in their own conversation and what I saw on the display made my heart stop, “I still miss you-Steph”

Jude’s P.O.V:

I stared at my phone display for a real long time and only looked up when Sean called out to me. My heart was still racing and all I kept thinking of was ‘Should I reply?’ I got up from my seat to see what Sean wanted.

“Jude my man, Natasha was just telling us how she slapped you the first time she saw you. Is that true?” asked Sean in mock horror. I looked at Natasha to see her smilig at me impishly and felt my cheeks go red.

“It was a misunderstanding!”

“aww what did you do to earn a slap?” Sean asked again raising one perfectly shaped eyebrow.

“Nothing! Natasha tell them!”

“Guys it was a misunderstanding”

“Yes Natasha we believe you” said Sean doubling over with laughter. I stomped my foot and walked out the door. I went to my favorite place in my home. I went to the swimming pool kicked off my shoes and sat by the edge dipping my feet in the cool water. As I sat there I thought about the text Stephanie sent to me. Why now? All of a sudden she suddenly realizes she misses me? Seriously? Did she want to get back together now? After I had taken Natasha to meet my family and told them we are getting married, couldn’t she have said anything earlier? Wait a minute! What if she had said this earlier? Would I have gotten back together with her? No way! Even if I wanted to my father would kill me. He had been so upset over what Stephanie had done. My parents hated her. They had seen me break over her and it broke their hearts to see me that way.

*Flashback*

I just found out my girlfriend cheated on me with my best friend. What was I going to do now? What will I say to all the people? How humiliating is this going to get now that everyone would know that our engagement was off. What would I tell my parents? My parents! Oh God they would be devastated! They had accepted Stephanie and made her  part of the family. My mother was so eager for our wedding, she had been planning it for months now!

I went to the bar and downed a couple of whiskey shots all the while crying and making the poor bartender Paul listen to my tragedy. He was sympathetic but well all bartenders are! They get hundreds of sad customers every week. I got up and hugged Paul for listening to me and staggered to my feet. I was in no condition to drive but I still drove all the way to my parents’ home.

When my butler opened the door he was flabbergasted. I was reeking of alcohol and my eyes were bloodshot from all the crying. He rushed up to my parent’s bedroom while I crashed on the couch.

“Jude!” my mom yelled, “Honey what’s wrong?”

I pulled my mother into a hug and sobbed into her shoulders, “She’s gone! Mom she left me. She left me for Nick!” I spat his name out.

“Honey I don’t understand what you are saying!”

“Here drink this” I looked up to see my father handing me a bottle of water. I drank thirstily. As I finished gulping down the bottle my father spoke up, “Now tell us what happened.”

I started sobbing again as I related the whole incident. “And do you know what she was bothered about dad? In the end she was bothered about the clothes I threw out” I said yelling the last part. My mom was crying with me. She stroked my head as I lay with my head on her lap. I could feel her teardrops falling on my face. Then she wiped my tears firmly and said, “Jude stop crying. Don’t waste your tears over that woman!”

My father got up and started pacing the living room. He looked really tensed, his face was pale. Suddenly he stopped and turned to me, “Jude, do you think you can still make this work?” I looked up at him and said “Dad I don’t WANT to make this work!” My father nodded and asked once again, “Are you sure? This is it then?” I nodded and my dad finally sat down. My mother spoke up suddenly, “I never liked that girl! She was so superficial. So fake always!”

I looked at my mother in shock. My mom was a gentle, sweet and kind woman. She never bad mouthed anyone but right now she looked really agitated. She was shaking with suppressed rage. She took my cell phone and called Stephanie. Stephanie answered sleepily, “Jude is this the time to call someone?” My mother looked at me in disbelief. “It’s me” my mom said. Stephanie’s voice could be heard on the other end crystal clear as the house was dead quiet. “Mrs. Smith!” said Stephanie sounding more alert now. “Yes, I just wanted to tell you that you are the dumbest woman on this earth and that you lost a gem of a person. I don’t want to see you anywhere near my son bitch!”  
 
“Now wait just a min-” but my mom disconnected before Stephanie could say anything. She sat there panting and smiled at me while I looked at her with a shocked expression. What had got into my mother today? My dad cleared his throat and said, “Jude your mother is like a protective lioness. If she sees her cub hurt she will attack.” Then he got up and said, “Stephanie is a despicable woman, I don’t think you should give her a second thought. I don’t want to hear that woman’s name ever again.”

I went up to my room and crashed on my bed and fell asleep immediately. I woke up next day as the sunlight hit my face. I winced as I felt the throbbing pain in my head. I took a long shower and when I came out my mother was there with a breakfast tray. I smiled as I saw a huge glass of lemon juice. I took it gratefully hoping it would ease my pounding headache.

“Are you feeling better honey?”

“yeah I just have a headache”

“I meant emotionally”

“Mom we were together for 3 years and it just does not go away like that! I feel hurt and betrayed. In one night I lost my best friend and the love of my life. How am I supposed to deal with that?”

Mom nodded sympathetically and said, “I understand. But you need to make an effort to move on ok?”

“Yeah mom I will”

“Promise?”

“I promise!”

True to my promise I kept my word. My way of moving on was to move on from one relationship to another. My parents watched me change in front of their eyes and that’s when they decided to take matters into their own hands and ‘tame’ me. Which is why I was now in a fake engagement with Natasha.

*Flashback ends*

“Jude!” I looked up to see Natasha standing next to me. She must’ve seen something on my face because she sat down next to me and asked “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing”

“Tell me”

“Really Natasha everything is fine”

“Are you sure because you look weird”

“Really? You mean weirder than you?” I said jokingly. She glared at me and said ‘Jude Smith spit it out whatever it is. You look like a 5 year old who has been given the choice to pick between a lollipop and candy and you don’t know what to choose!” I stared at her, wondering how did she guess that I was undergoing an inner turmoil? I sighed and showed her the text from Stephanie.

She read it once and then read it again and her eyes grew wide. “That bitch!” I shrugged at her.

“Well did you tell her to get lost or not?”

“No I was wondering whether I should reply”

“Of course you should! Tell her go to hell biyatch!”

“What? No! I am not doing that!”

“Wait a minute! Jude do you still have feelings for her?” I looked at Natasha and saw that she seemed kinda nervous but maybe I was just reading her expressions too much. She didn’t have anything to be nervous about!

“Oh my God! You do have feelings for her!”

“I do not!”

“Yes you do!”

“I don’t!”

“Yeah stop lying to yourself!”

“Natasha stop annoying me!”

“Ok I will but you tell me what are you planning to do? Are you going to reply?”

A/N: Sorry it’s a short chapter and ends on a cliffhanger but I wanted to put something up!! I will try and upload some more soon. Thank you guys for your lovely comments, they make my day ? So do you think Jude should take Natasha’s advice and tell Stephanie to go to hell or should he not reply at all? Does he still have feelings for her? Let me know what do you guys think ? As usual lend your support to me, comment, vote and fan ? Oh and the chapter is dedicated to Raffiya my fan :D and an awesome person ;)