Hm. Jace being polite to me. He was definitely not himself.
I knew him well enough to know if he didn’t want to talk about something, he wouldn’t. So, I let it be for now.
Grabbing him by the jacket, we started walking back to the party. But we stopped when we bumped into Marta.
She was making a phone call and appeared shocked when she saw us.
It took me a moment to realize she wasn’t being shocked at me, but the man beside me.
“Karen?” Jace called, squinting his eyes like he couldn’t believe it.
My brows furrowed in surprise. What was he saying? “That’s not… Karen.”
Jace looked at me like I’d just told him the moon was pink.
Marta lowered the phone from her ear, but I wasn’t even sure she’d ended the call. I’d never seen her this pale before. It was the exact way she looked when she had seen him in the bar.
“She is. I know her, Lyric. Do you know her?” Jace asked, having the tone of someone that had just met an old acquaintance.
“You don’t know me,” Marta spoke up, her voice a little shaky. She cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, she sounded more like herself. “I don’t know you either. She’s right. I’m not Karen.”
She clicked something on her phone, probably ending her call and turned to leave.
“What’re you saying? Don’t you remember me?” Jace chuckled. “It’s me, Jace. I know it’s been years but we met in-“
“I said I don’t know you!” Her voice was near a shout, her eyes blazing fire.
Her mask slipped. She wasn’t just furious. She was scared.
Time seemed to stretch between the two. Marta glared at me, then at Jace, and walked away.
“What was that about?” I turned to Jace as soon as we were alone. “How’s she Karen to you? That’s Marte Monroe Jang baby mama.”
Jace’s eyes rounded, disbelief glinting in them.
“She’s the mother of the twins?”
“Yes. The very bitch I’ve been telling you about.”
Jace shook his head, his eyes on the floor.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I touched his arm.
His forehead was creased. “Hold on, did you say the kids’ birthday is in three weeks?”
“Yes?”
“What year were they born?”
“2020.” His questions were putting me on the edge. “Talk to me, Jace. What’s going on?”
“That means…” he shook his head. “It’s not possible.”
“What isn’t possible?”
“She being their mother, Lyric!” He darted his gaze at me. “I met Karen…or Marta in 2020, just around this time. And when t did meet her, she wasn’t pregnant.”
LYRIC
Time went still for a long while.
My head spun from the revelation.
I shook my head, looking in the direction Marta had just taken.
“I-I think you’re mistaken, Jace. Maybe you’re mistaking the month or-“
“I can forget anything, but not Karen or what we shared in that brief moment. We met on the thirteen of June. Does that sound too precise for you?”
He took a deep breath, running his fingers through his hair. “While I was overseas, I met her in Oryndor. We happened to be in the same hotel. I was in the lounge area, drinking when she came up to me. She started the conversation, and well, I was bored and played along. Next thing, we both end up in my room.”
I gasped, lifting a hand to my mouth. “Y-You had sex!?”
“Well, we wouldn’t be reading in my room, Lyric. So, yes.” 1
Goodness!
“She told me she’d simply been horny and wanted it to be a one-time stuff. But the next day, we had more sex. Look, what happened between us isn’t the point here. The point is, Marta was never pregnant. She should have been eight months pregnant when I met her right? I touched that belly. And trust me when I say there were no twins in it.”
“Oh, gods.” My hand was on my chest. I feared I might have a panic attack. I looked at my best friend with all seriousness. “Please, tell me you’re not mistaken. What if it’s just someone that looks like her?”
“Come on, Ly. Wouldn’t this explain why she has been scared around me? We met in a very far country. We both didn’t know each other and didn’t expect we’d find ourselves here. That’s the reason she’s shocked. I’m thinking she must have traveled under the guise of birthing the kids outside the country. She must’ve been so desperate for Jaris’ attention that she’d set up something like this to give him kids.”
“Jace!” I squealed. This was no small revelation. My fingers were practically shaking. “If Marta wasn’t pregnant… does this mean Xyla and Xylon do not belong to Jaris!?”
He shrugged, but I could see the sadness in his eyes too. “That’s the bitter truth, Lyric. Jaris has been taking care of another man’s kids.”
*********+
MARTA
Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking on the wheel. Her face was streaked with tears, she considered it a miracle she didn’t run into a car the entire drive.
She parked carelessly in the middle of the compound, jumped out of the car and ran into the house.
She’s always hated her family home and only came when she was repeatedly summoned. But today, she came of her own accord. She was losing her mind and needed their help.
She barged into the living room and found her narcissistic sister kissing a man on the couch. One of their guards.
They quickly disengaged at her abrupt entrance, shocked.
“What the hell, Marta!?”
“Where’s everyone? Where’s grandma?” She panted.
“Grandma is upstairs. And why are you looking like your life is about to end?”
Any other day, Marta would’ve had a good time replying her sister. But not tonight.
She ran up the stairs and barged into her grandmother’s room without knocking.
The woman had been sitting by the bed and looked around in fright.
“Marta Monroe. Have you finally lost it?” She rasped. She hated such abrupt entrance.
“Grandma please,” Marta fell on her knees, fresh tears running down her cheeks. “I’m in trouble. I’m in trouble. I don’t-I don’t know what to do.”
Her grandmother regarded her with a cold expression. But since she hadn’t yelled at her, Marta figured she must be interested in what she had to say.
“Now what trouble have you gotten yourself into?” Her voice was less scolding.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.