"What? Did you just say that Jonathan had abused Alice during their wedding day? How could he do
that to his newly wedded wife?" She gasped.
The news caused her to suddenly sit up straight. She had no doubts on what Jacob just told her.
On the other hand, her husband cocked a brow in surprise. It was as if the woman in front of him was a
stranger.
Noticing his odd stare, she raised her own eyebrows and looked straight into his eyes.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?" She looked absolutely
clueless as she immediately touched her face and tried to wipe it.
Alice's situation had genuinely worried her. After all, Jacob was partly responsible for the woman's
misfortune.
"No, it's not that. I just thought you wouldn't care about her. After all, she had hurt you before," he
replied.
His expression immediately softened and his tone wasn't as lighthearted as before.
"What she did was indeed unforgivable. However, after such a long time, I honestly feel a little bit
grateful to her," she mused.
A sudden pause came afterwards. Jacob felt like she was bracing herself before saying her next words.
"She made me understand what kind of life I want to live. Because of her, I was able to see your true
heart," she continued to explain.
Jacob breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, perhaps I should be thanking her too. I can't do anything about
what happened to her now, though. I can't just simply go to Jonathan and meddle in their business."
Sara furrowed her brows, seriously considering what he said. "Even if you wanted to go and see him,
you need to have a good reason for doing so. Besides, that plan may not work that easy."
"Yeah. I've got nothing to do about it. I just hope that she can get out of that mess as soon as possible."
He shrugged.
Sara nodded and flashed him a small smile before resting her head on his shoulder. The pair quietly
sat on the sofa, savoring the time they had together being wrapped in one another's arms. Time had
seemed to stop around them and it was as if they were the only two beings that mattered at the
moment.
"Where did you think Uncle James go?" she suddenly asked. Her eyes roamed around the room,
realizing that she actually enjoyed a quiet moment in a space just between the two of them. Sometimes
though, she couldn't deny that she felt somewhat bored.
Jacob didn't say anything as if it was a taboo. After a few minutes of undisturbed silence, he finally
opened his mouth to speak.
"I've thought about it a lot of times. Maybe it was a good thing that Uncle James had left. Otherwise, we
won't be able to face each other when we live together. What's more, if we live happily together, what
about father then?"
Every time Jacob thought of James, his mind would drift over to Michael. Both of them were a family
that he couldn't part with. He couldn't imagine abandoning them.
"Jacob, Michael had already passed away. These things are not as difficult to face as you think," she
said.
Concern was written all over her face as she sat up straight with her legs crossed. She didn't want
Jacob to be stuck in a dilemma because of the relationship between James and Michael. After all, what
happened between them really had nothing to do with him.
"You don't have to comfort me, Sara. Many things happen in this world for no reason. We have no
choice but to just accept the inevitable," he murmured.
There was a hint of sadness in his eyes, but Sara decided not to comment about it. He only patted her
gently on the shoulder as she leaned against his once again. Not long after, she found herself caught in
a deep slumber.
Careful not to move, Jacob started to think about what his wife just said.
Her words just kept on repeating on and on in his mind. He had actually thought the same thing.
As silence enveloped the entire house, he felt that it slowly started to become deafening. It was as if
the surrounding air around the place was starting to drown him.
No one knew why he was so sad, but he was aware that Sara definitely knew what he was thinking of.
When in front of the public, Jacob had already mastered the art of putting on a fake smile for everyone.
He didn't expect that someday he would be pushing himself to do something that would hide his true
feelings.
As he continued to quietly sit there, he would occasionally glance sideways to check on Sara. Her
rhythmic breathing was the only sound that broke the silence. For some reason, it made him feel at
ease.
To be honest, the agreement that he discussed with Shawn was a bit risky. If it failed, the man would
only merely suffer a failure in the investment compared to Jacob who treated failure as everything to
him.
Suffering from that failure would mean that they would have nothing left. It would mean that those years
of learning were all worthless.
Still, he knew that it was worth taking the risk. It was not until he experienced falling down that he could
fully understand how hard it was to rise again during a desperate situation. Fixing his gaze at the
sleeping woman beside him, a soft smile appeared on his lips. He had this amazing person who had
been by his side the entire time. He wasn't alone.
He really didn't want to admit that he had felt so lonely for a long time.
When his mother passed away, he had only felt loneliness enveloping him. It was like falling into a
black hole which he found himself lost in and unable to find the way out.
Despite this, it had also been the very reason that urged him to form a habit of meditating. Since then,
he had developed a calm character.
Jacob also felt that Michael was the luckiest thing that ever happened to him. Michael cared about
Jacob so much that he hadn't developed any inferiority complex.
That type of feeling was probably everyone's worst enemy. Everyone would suffer insecurity and be
unsure of themselves at some point in their life. It was a terrible feeling that left a person struggling with
their problems even more than they were supposed to.
He assumed that he had always been very confident because of Michael's nonstop encouragement on
him since he was young. Although he was cold and aloof, as long as he spoke, he would say it with
confidence.
This was also why Jacob respected Michael. No one had the obligation to be good to anyone, but
Michael didn't care about what had happened in the past. This was one of the greatest things Jacob
was thankful for.
More than an hour seemed to have already passed. After breaking out from his thoughts, he carefully
carried Sara all the way to the bedroom. Smiling softly to himself, he was confident that everything
would get better. He didn't feel any slightest hint of doubt about it.
During the following days that passed by, Jacob and Shawn started to discuss about their partnership
in detail.
Since Jonathan had also started to become busy, Alice was finally able to move freely.
After a while of enduring such torture, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. However, Jonathan
wouldn't tell her anything about the company's current situation any longer.
She wasn't sure why. Perhaps he was already cautious of her, or maybe he just simply didn't have any
time to tell her about it. Maybe it was also because of Thompson that her husband wasn't as violent
towards her as before.
Still, it wasn't enough to ease her worries. Her walls had been up all the time and she was always on
her guard. She would never be able to forget the events from that night.
From the obvious scowl Jonathan wore on his face every time he came home, she could tell that he
wasn't in a good mood. For that reason, Alice made it a point to stay away from him as possible.
She had recently found herself avoiding him like the plague these days, not bothering to even try and
talk to him. At the same time, the man seemed to ignore her as well.
One day, however, she happened to have eavesdropped on his conversation with his assistant over the
phone about the company's affairs.
From what she heard, it sounded like a large number of employees were going to resign. He had
already reduced the number of staff as well as their salary before, but now the employees seemed to
have taken initiative to just leave.
The salaries should have increased with the growth of commodity prices. However, Jonathan had still
decided to reduce the employees' salary which resulted in a lot of dissatisfaction. In the end, most of
them had chosen to quit instead.
Of course, not everyone wanted to leave. Those who were determined to resign were able to find a
better job somewhere else. Still, the company needed talents like them.
This ordeal had caused him to be very busy recently. Aside from this, their biggest partner had chosen
to terminate their contract with them.
To be honest, he was still perplexed about it. He just told them that he wanted a little more shares in
the profit, but then their partner suddenly chose to end their contract without any hesitation.
Everything was a mess, and there wasn't anything he could do about it.
After all, it was his fault that they just lost the company's biggest partner. His brows furrowed in irritation
at the thought of it.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda