"NO," James steps halted when Nadine suddenly stopped him from coming closer. She looked like just aware of what just came out from her mouth, but there was no doubt that she did not want to see him right now.
"Not now, James. I'm tired. Plus, you just arrived and I'm sure you are tired, too," she turned around and pretending to be busy by arranging the stuffs on her table. James knew that she was giving the excuse, but he did not want to force her for confrontation. James took few steps backward before he turned around to leave the room.
"Anyway, I want to tell you that it's good to see you again," he looked at her back and hoping that she would turn around to look at him. Unfortunately, Nadine just ignored him. After she heard the sound of closing door, her tense shoulders dropped as a relief sigh escaped from her throat. Three years had passed and even though she had unexpectedly met James yesterday, her heart seemed unprepared when they met again just now.
Three years seemed not enough for her to pick herself back from the pain that he had caused to her. Then how could she face James when they were going to work together for quite long period of time later? Nadine shook her head ad straightened her body.
"I can't let this thing happen. James shouldn't be here," Nadine wanted to talk with Uncle Joseph later to change the architect for this. Her father just wanted her to sop hiding from James and they had met. That was the main reason and this vacation house project was only an excuse. So, James did not have to be involved because Nadine would find other way to settle her problem with James.
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"BEST FRIEND! I'm truly sorry for hiding the truth but that is what Nadz wants. I have to respect her. I'm sorry, best friend," that was what Enrique always used to address James every time he did wrong to James. Enrique just wanted James to forgive him for the sake of their long friendship. They were having video call through James' laptop currently.
"I'm sorry too for putting you at the tough position," James had to put himself in Enrique's shoe before blaming his friend for lying to him. Enrique was not just only his, but he was also the cousin of his wife. Honestly James still had the hard time to believe what Uncle Joseph had told him about his family and his late wife, Judy Sophia. His family was against his marriage with Sophia until they found the opportunity to separate them after he involved in car accident by fabricating each other's death.
"I'm honestly thought that yesterday would be my last day alive," he then faked a cry to draw sympathy from James. He had really no idea that Uncle Joseph and Mr. Angelo had secretly planned to bring James to New York, and James also did not tell him anything about coming to this city.
"Anyway, have you informed your Dad about this?" James scoffed when Enrique mentioned about Mr. Angelo as he leaned his back against chair.
"He is avoiding my calls, but I'm very sure that he had received an update from Uncle Joseph," Enrique raised one eyebrow and smiled which James could interpret as mocking him when he still used 'Uncle' to address his father-in-law.
"Dude, he is your father-in-law," James just pulled a tight smile. Even though he was closed to Uncle Joseph before this, he did not feel entitled to address him as 'Dad' after he had hurt his daughter. He was thankful enough that Uncle Joseph was giving him the chance to correct his mistakes and fix the problem with Nadine.
"So, what is your plan now?" James was quiet as he had no answer to that. Not he had no plan, but he did not know where to begin since Nadine refused to talk to him. During dinner that night, Nadine refused to come out and wanted to have her meal inside the room.
"It's okay. Let she has her way tonight," said Uncle Joseph before started digging his foods. James just quietly had his foods while thinking he might no have a chance get Nadine back if she continuously avoiding him.
"Oh, before we go to the site tomorrow morning, let's see your presentation first," James had always confident with his proposal. Even though some of his clients disagreed or disliked his ideas, he would professionally listen their feedbacks and tried to improve his designs. However in this situation, he could not do a single small mistake as it would give Nadine a biggest chance to stop him from getting this project. That night James could not sleep and went through his proposal.
"What if she really doesn't like it?" he sighed and leaned his back against the chair. He was staring at the ceiling for quite some time until his lips cracked a small smile. Nadine was definitely going to find fault in his presentation, but it would not be a big problem to him anymore. If she decided to change new architect, he would find other ways to stick around her. James finally left his table with ease and went to sleep.
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JAMES though that he would have breakfast alone with Uncle Joseph this morning, but Nadine surprisingly decided to join them. She happily greeted Uncle Joseph by pecking his cheek before took the seat across the table. She looked fresh and energetic and of course it would not take James a minute to notice the big different on her. As was using hairband to keep her bangs away, James noticed the scar on her forehead had gone. He was not surprised that the scar had gone through cosmetic procedure, but he was intrigued to know her reason went under the knife.
"Good morning, Mr. Reid. It looks like you had a good sleep last night," Nadine formally addressed him while looking at his fresh face. As far as Nadine remembered, James liked to keep his hair slightly long but now he had short and clean-cut hair. He even grew thin layer of beard that made him looked mature and charismatic. Nadine quickly averted her gaze to prevent her from continuously admiring his new style.
"Yes, I did have a good sleep. How about you, Mrs. Reid? Had a good dream last night?" Nadine's gaze turned fierce when James purposely addressed her such way just to remind her that she was still legally his wife. Uncle Joseph glanced at his daughter and quickly changed the topic as he could sense this couple might end having a fight instead having their breakfast.
"Oh, Nadz. We will go to the site after James' presentation," Uncle Joseph informed her regarding the plan today.
"Dad, we can change to new architect if his idea and designs not satisfying, right?" James did not surprise to hear that as he had expected it since last night. It was not hard to read Nadine's mind anyway.
"I'm open to any feedbacks and critics, Mrs. Reid. But I'm hoping that our personal conflicts will not affect the way you value and interpreting my idea," James indirectly fired her back and Nadine had clearly lost in this argument. Nadine bit her inner cheeks in embarrassment because she just exposed herself and her plan to send him back to Phillippines. Before she could argue more, Natasha came and informed that Daniel had arrived.
"Oh, really? Let me get him," Nadine sounded excited and left the table to welcome the guest. Uncle Joseph glanced at James and surprisingly his face was calm and did not have any curiosity at all. A few minutes later, Nadine came with a tall handsome man and she was happily holding a big bouquet of roses.
"Oh, Dan. Please join us for breakfast," Uncle Joseph stood up to welcome him, and they hugged before Nadine pulled him to sit beside her. James just calmly smiled when his gaze met Daniel's eyes.
"Oh, he must be the architect you guys are talking about," he looked excited and formally introduced himself to James.
"Hi, I'm Daniel Matsunaga. You can call me Daniel," he offered the handshake which James politely accepted it.
"Nice to meet you, Daniel. You can just call me James," James then sat back and continued having his breakfast. Nadine secretly glanced at James' face and did not see any hint of curiosity or jealousy when she was being nice and sweet to Daniel. He just showed a poker face which it pissed her off. Daniel Kenji Matsunaga, a 6 feet tall and handsome Brazillian-Japanese-Filipino-American celebrity chef who was trying to woo Nadine for two years now. He was son of one of Uncle Joseph's close friends.
Thanks to Enrique for all the information that he had provided to him regarding his so-called-rival. When Enrique had first told him about Daniel, he was being jealous and insecure but after analyzing the whole story, Daniel was not a tough rival for James. It was because if Nadine had liked Daniel for real, she would reciprocate Daniel's feeling and ended the marriage with him immediately just to be together with Daniel. James just felt funny because Daniel had a gut to go after Nadine despite known her status as married woman.
'It seems Nadine has never showed Daniel or told him about me,' James assumed because Daniel only nodded innocently when Nadine once again emphasized that James was only the architect that Uncle Joseph brought from Phillippines. After breakfast, they went to living room but Nadine's steps halted when she saw the roses that James bought yesterday was placed inside the vase.
'Didn't I tell Natasha to throw them away?' Nadine did not know it was James who collected these flowers from the trash when he accidentally saw it while having morning walk. James pressed on the laptop and since there was no proper equipment for presentation here, he would just show them the slides while explaining the idea of his design.
"Based on the pictures of location that Mr. Gonzales had sent to me, I have to admit it is beautiful and quiet place for a family to spend a peaceful vacation there," he started the presentation and the way he addressed Uncle Joseph had changed into formality. He then showed his design which fit into modern village theme. It even had outdoor kitchen and small camping site outside the house.
"When you are on vacation, of course you want a nice and comfortable place to stay but at the end of the day, it is the people whom you spend time with matters the most which is your family," he ended the one hour presentation by the important of having quality time with family. Nadine pulled a smirk because that advice just came out from the person whom hated his own family the most.
"It seems you are really value about family, Mr. Reid," she said mockingly, but only Daniel had no idea that she was being sarcastic towards James. However, James did not look offended because he admitted how fool and arrogant he was in the past.
"God still has mercy on me. Back then I was an ungrateful and impudent child to my father. I hated him for something that he had never did but something happened to me three years ago. I did something that hurt my family. I did something that hurt my wife until she left me. If I could go back, I would definitely tell myself to appreciate the people around me and the love they had given to me," he said in regret while staring straight into her eyes.
"Oh, you are divorced?" asked Daniel but James just smiling before shaking his head. He then lifted up his hand to show Daniel his wedding ring.
"No, I'm still a married man," he then glanced at Nadine who was avoiding his eye. Daniel's mouth formed an 'O' shaped as he assumed that James had reconciled with his wife.
"Anyway, I don't like Mr. Reid's idea just now. Dad, can we just hire a new one?" Nadine asked impatiently and sounded irritatingly. She just wanted James out from her sight as soon as possible.
"I thought it was a good presentation. I might not good about designing house but his idea was great," Daniel was giving an honest feedback which Uncle Joseph instantly agreed without a doubt.
"Miss Gonzales, may I know which particular part you don't like it? I can improve it if you could tell me," James asked professionally, but Nadine was quiet. Honestly, she had no answered because James' proposal was really good and eye catching. There was nothing much to be improved or add on, but she just did not want him to stay in New York for long period of time.
"I assume there is not much things she is unhappy with your proposal. So, Mr. Reid, happy working together," Nadine's eyes widened when Uncle Joseph had officially appointed James as the architect for this project. James was smiling happily and confident that he was being hired not because of personal relationship or issues but because of his talent.
"So, let's visit the project site. Do you want to join us, Dan?" Uncle Joseph invited Daniel along but he could not join because he had to shoot the cooking program this afternoon and fly back to New York City after the show finished.
"I send you outside," said Nadine as she left the living room and accompanied Daniel to his car. Meanwhile James could not stop smiling because he finally had the chance to be around Nadine and he would use this opportunity to make up with her.
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WHILE Uncle Joseph showed James around the project site, Nadine did not join them and just stood on the deck and staring at the lake. It was cloudy and windy that afternoon, so Nadine had no problem to stand or sit here for hours rather than joined them touring the place. After a while, she heard the footsteps behind her and she had expected James to approach her. James was quiet for a moment as he took the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of nature.
"Since we met, I really got no chance to ask you this. How are you, Nadine?" James broke the silence as he shifted his gaze to Nadine who loved to pull a poker face in front of him.
"You are seeing me standing here, breathing and not yet dying. So, it means I'm doing just fine," she replied sarcastically. James knew that since he returned to Phillippines almost four years ago, he met Nadine who was no longer timid or afraid on him. She was braved and strong yet still had soft and sweet side. However, his sweet and lovely Nadine had gone and had been replaced by almost an icy queen here. And whose fault was that? James sighed and turned around to face Nadine.
"Love...," James tried to coax her but Nadine immediately burst into laugh when she heard it. She was not laughing in amuse but in sarcastic way because after what James had done to her, he still felt entitled to call her such way.
"Why am I still surprised when I had known the fact that you are thick-skinned person?" she laughed at her own silliness.
"Nadine, I know what I did to you was unforgiveable but trust me, I regretted everything since the day you left me. I was blinded by the hatred and wrath inside me. I did look for you every where but I could not even find you. Now you are here in front of me, I want to apologize for everything that I did that had hurt you," James sincerely apologized but the woman in front of him seemed did not affected by his apology.
Nadine was remained quiet as she continuously looked at the clear lake. She had known how apologetic and regretted James was from Lola Liezel and Mr. Angelo but her heart was too hard to forgive him. Her sight suddenly was blurred by tears and she quickly looked away to hide her teary eyes from James' sight. Nadine decided to leave but James quickly stopped her by gently grabbing her hand.
"I still love you," James literally punctuated every word that came out from his mouth. He finally said it and this time he was being true and sincere with his feeling. Unfortunately, Nadine just laughed while looking at him in disbelief. She then pulled a serious face after her laugh subsided.
"What a really funny joke, James. How can you still love me when from the beginning you have never loved me? Remember James, it was all lie. You were only pretended to love me and I was totally a fool for falling into your game," James' heart was shattered into pieces when all he could see in Nadine's eyes was the hatred. Nadine then walked away and this time James did not stop her anymore.
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NADINE had locked herself inside the room ever since they returned from the project site. She also refused to have dinner as the protest because Uncle Joseph ignored her request to change the architect. Probably all of them would feel happy if she just died alone inside this room. Nadine walked restlessly inside her room as she was trying to figure out how to kick James away from her life.
"Stop cracking your head, Nadine! If you really can't stand him, get your marriage annulled. Easy right?!" Nadine stopped when Bret said so. Currently they were having video call, and he had been hearing all her rants since she arrived home. Nadine finally took a seat and looking calmer than just now.
"Why are you looking so surprised? You told me the reason your father brought him there is for you guys to have a closure. So, if you really hate him, stop running away and ask him to set you free," Bret added and it triggered Nadine to make her decision now. Before she could reply, the laptop turned off as the electric was suddenly cut off. She forgot to put the battery on laptop, but that was not the main problem now. Why there was no electric in this house? Nadine turned on the phone's torchlight and tried to find the bigger torchlight inside the drawer but she found none of it.
Nadine opened the door and the outside was quite and dark. She called everyone but received no respond from any of them. Where did everybody go at this hour? Nadine then carefully walked down the stairs while kept calling from Uncle Joseph. She then headed to living room and peeked at outside. The street at outside was bright since the street lamps were still on. Suddenly Nadine felt scare because there were no other houses in this area.
"Dad, where are you? Don't play around with me," she said while trying to be braved. When she still received no response, Nadine quickly dialed her father's phone number.
"Hello, Dad! Where are you?" she sounded frantic as her eyes roamed around in darkness.
"What? You guys went to town and left me alone here?" she almost screamed in disbelief. Before she could ask him to return home immediately, the line was cut off. She tried to reach Uncle Joseph again but failed. Probably his phone had run out of battery. Then Nadine suddenly heard the sound of creaking door and she immediately went to hid behind the big sofa. All the horrified scenes she had watched in crime thriller movies were played inside her head.
Usually the crime and death scenes took place in vacation house. What if she really got killed in this house? Nadine's heart thumped faster when she saw the streak of lighting moving around and she knew that the criminal was inside her house and was looking for the preys. She tried to stay quiet but her breathing became frantic until she had to cover her mouth to muffle her cry. Then she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and Nadine knew that tonight was the end of her life.
"Nadine, are you there?" her eyes flung open as she heard familiar voice was calling out for her. She reflexively jumped out behind the sofa until it that person jumped in surprised.
"Oh my God, you are scaring me!" James yelled as he tried to calm himself down. Before he could settle down, Nadine surprisingly threw herself into his arms and she hugged him tightly until he had difficulty to breath.
"I'm glad you are here," she said in relief, but her body was still trembling in fear. James who just realized the situation, slowly wrapped his arms around her body and stroked her back to calm her down. Nadine's tensed body slowly relaxed. Even though three years had passed, James' embrace still provided her the feeling of calm and safe.
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JAMES was trying to check the main switchboard but he was distracted by Nadine's touches on his body. Even though she was standing close to him, whenever she heard the small or suspicious noises coming from around or outside the house, she would flinch in surprise and went to tug his shirt or hug his arms. Sometimes she unconsciously touched his abs and innocently looked at him with puppy eyes whenever he groaned because of her distraction. Where the cold hearted and hard headed Nadine he had met few days ago disappeared to?
"James, why are you taking so long?" she pushed him to restore the electricity quickly.
"It looks like the main fuse is broken. We have to wait for Uncle Tom and your Dad to come home so they can call someone to fix this," Nadine looked disappointed but then her reaction instantly replaced by surprise after realized that James had walked away.
"Eh, where are you going?" she tried to catch him and James stopped when Nadine once again tugged his shirt to keep him closed to her. His shirt probably ripped apart if she does it again.
"It's freezing cold here. I'm going outside to set the fire for us," said James as he moved Nadine's hand from his shirt and held it. Nadine was surprised by his action and wanted to protest, but James quickly dragged her outside and headed to the backyard. Once they arrived there, James released Nadine's hand and asked her to hold the torchlight while he loaded the logs into the fire pit to set up the bonfire.
Once the fire ignited and burnt the logs, Nadine quickly sat nearby to warm her cold hands. She then quietly watched James filled the empty kettle with water and placed it on fire to boil the water for tea. He also lighted up the oil lantern and walked towards bench table where Nadine just realized there were a lot of snacks and some foods there.
"Why there are a lot of foods here?" James heard Nadine was talking as she approached closer, and suddenly he was flustered by her question. He grabbed a can of coke and slightly moved away from Nadine while she was into the foods as her stomach was growling in hunger.
"Oh, I was here just now, planning to have some snacks here while enjoying bonfire before the light went out," James replied, but Nadine did not notice or being suspicious by his answers. Actually, all this was set up by Uncle Joseph. When he saw both of them argued near the lake this afternoon, he approached James for an update.
'I'm expecting it to be hard but it's harder than I thought. She doesn't give me a chance and try to avoid me all the time,' James sighed before drinking the beer in his hand.
'I can help you if you want to,' James looked at Uncle Joseph in grateful because he was willing to help him. That was when his idea to leave them alone in dark house came out. Since it had been planned, James cut the logs and put the snacks and foods here since Nadine not yet had her dinner.
"You can have that spaghetti if you want," said James when he saw Nadine was drooling over that food. Nadine was initially wanted to refuse his offer but since her stomach was now yelling and screaming in hunger, she had to accept it. When she refused to have dinner just now, she thought Uncle Joseph would come to coax her but it did not happen. He went out to the town with Uncle Tom without informing her and left her alone inside this house.
"Oh, I'm so full," Nadine smiled big and touched her tummy after she finished all the spaghetti. James just looked at her over the bonfire. Even though she looked fierce and confident, she still acted childishly when came to certain things. James just remembered that his wife was just 25 while he had entered 30 series. Nadine then grabbed a can of beer and sat near the bonfire. While she was enjoying the warmth of fire, she just realized that James was kept staring at her.
"Is there something on my face?" she asked while wiping her cheeks and mouth to see any leftover foods there, but nothing.
"Why you finally decided to get rid of that scar," James asked while pointing at her forehead.
"Because I want to get rid everything that reminds me of you," she replied without hiding the truth. Both of them suddenly quiet. Even though James felt hurt when Nadine said so, he could not blame her for hating him.
"When I got married to you, I promised myself to ruin your life. I tried to hurt you by insulting or verbally abuse you but it did not work. You have immune to it. That was when I decided to step up my game. I want to get your heart and then break it. But when I thought I had won the game, I actually had lost it from the beginning. Breaking and hurting your heart, I did not realize that I break mine too. It was because when you left, I just realized how madly I was in love with you. So, when I told you that I still love you, I was telling you the truth,"
Nadine looked at James when she could feel the sincerity in his confession. She had heard many times from everyone that were closed to her that her husband was truly in love with her but something had stopped her heart from believing and accepting him. All she could remember was the lie he had created in their marriage and she was deceived by his fake love.
"There is nothing could be changed if we keep digging about past. If you are truly sorry for what you had done to me, then let me go, James. Set me free. Only then you will stop hurting me and I will forgive you," Nadine then grabbed the torchlight beside her and headed back inside the house. She would rather be killed by psychotic killers inside there rather than be with James because her heart was in so much pain that she thought it could kill her whenever she was around James. The best solution to stop hurting each other was end this fake marriage.
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Hi new chapters for you guys. Hope you can leave comments after reading. Are James going to set Nadine free or fight again to get her back?