Chapter 101
Jojo could not bring herself to move. Not in the first ten minutes when she stood in the darkness of the night, the wind howling around her, while she asked herself one question over and over again; how did she get here? When had she moved from being a normal girl in the suburbs of Rush pack to pregnant, broke and confused?
Jojo did not speak, she only found a way to move her feet along with the solemn breeze. One step forward, another step forward, the wind carried her feet as she moved along with it. Jojo walked as though the answers to her questions hid somewhere in front of her.
Somewhere behind her, he watched and followed her in silence, keeping himself hidden with the dark wall as his camouflage. Even though he knew that she could not sense him, he did not want to risk being caught. The man had found it impossible to sleep or do anything else knowing that she was far away from him, outside the walls of her home at such an ungodly hour. He made it his point of duty to ensure her safety or he would be damned by his unending thoughts.
Jojo stopped abruptly. Something very familiar, a strange scent she recognized greeted her nostrils. Her legs remained fixed on the ground while she looked around, her eyes eagerly searching for him in the darkness.
Was he here? She could smell him, she could hear the rhythm of his heartbeat, the ragged sound of his breathing. She felt connected to him, as though he was right beside her, but she could not see him.
“Where are you?” She screamed within her. Why did he have to leave her all alone? She was trying to be strong, but it was beginning to seem much more difficult than she had planned. One swift look around told Jojo she had wandered too far from the restaurant.
She retraced her steps and began to walk back, but the more she walked, the stronger his presence around her became. She could see him looking down at her, holding her hand. By the goddess, she wished he would show up and hold her hands.
With that thought, she clutched her chest with her left hand. Pain snatched her ability to breathe, and sorrow masked her sense of reasoning. Her heart was heavy; she could taste her tears at the tip of her tongue. Finally, she gave up. Jojo surrendered herself to the pain and fell to her knees. She let out a loud and bitter cry, reeking of anguish and all the filth life had thrown at her.
His heart shrunk in his chest as he watched her cry from a distance. She pressed her forehead to the cold concrete and he sought nothing more than to rush to her, spoon her in his arms and comfort her, wipe her tears away. Despite the rejection, River yearned for her. He held himself back from rushing to her. He only allowed his heart to weep along with hers.
Until she picked herself up from the ground like the warrior she was, wiped her tears with the back of her palms, and headed back to her workplace.
The alpha continued to follow her behind, every step of the way.
*********************
TWO DAYS LATER
“Mel! Mrs. Smith needs you at the table in five, four, three…”
Mel smiled at her fifteenth customer that evening as she placed a tray on the table. She flashed the woman beside him a wide grin after noticing how the woman glared at her. Every day, Mel saw more reasons why she had to leave Rush’s pack.
She hurried over to the table where her boss and Jojo sat on. She slid into a seat beside Jojo. Emerald Smith raised a brow at the sweaty girl while staring at her from her thick lenses.
“Are you sure you covered all the tables?” Emerald asked, while her blue eyes wandered around her restaurant. Mel and Jojo chuckled amongst themselves.
They were still in the middle of planning their move to Ten. The girls had decided to take Emerald’s offer and move with her. The plan was to establish a new restaurant in Ten where she could employ Mel and Jojo along with some other needed staff.
Emerald had already reached out to real estate agents in the city to help with finding buyers for her building while she focused on establishing the building in the city of Ten. The one thing they had been working on for the past two days was a new recipe. One that would appeal to the people in Ten while maintaining the good old Rush flavor.
Jojo had personally handpicked some meals from their already existing menu, Emerald had made her choices long before she brought the discussion to the girls. It was time for Mel to bring her suggestion to the table.
Jojo pushed the tablet to her and Mel fixed her eyes on the screen. She could see the meals that had already been picked by Mrs. Smith and her best friend, Jojo, but she was yet to see the one meal she was truly curious about.
Emerald watched the eyes of the brunette girl scan the screen of her tablet before she spoke.
“Is something wrong? You do not see a dish you think would suit the new menu?”
Her boss’s question caused her to look up from the screen. Mel adjusted herself in her seat and cleared her throat.
“No ma’am. It’s just that there’s something that I believe would be excellent on this menu. I mean, I only had a spoon of the sauce from a plate you served and I was won over. It’ll make an excellent meal choice. A perfect appetizer if you ask me.”
Emerald already knew what the girl was speaking about. She knew that there was only one meal she had singlehandedly prepared, and it was only on one special occasion.Text content © NôvelDrama.Org.
“The cabbage noodles were amazing! And it…”
Emerald’s jaw stiffened immediately. She cleared her throat to cut into Mel’s statement.
“I cannot add it to the menu. I cannot bring myself to make that meal ever again.”
When she saw the girls arch their brows at her, Emerald found herself heaving a heavy sigh. Tears stung all corners of her eyelids, but she would not let them flow.
“It was the last meal I made for my son before I was forced to leave him and never return.”