As the clock ticked, Alice's life was getting more disorganized. Her once perfect life was now the
opposite of what it used to be. Everything was crashing before her eyes and there was little or nothing
she could do to salvage the situation. Acceptance was something that one cannot choose. And
because of this, Alice had no option but to accept Jacob's decision. Long after he left, Alice remained in
the restaurant. She was shocked by what just transpired between them.
At that moment, she felt as if Jacob had just discarded her like an old toy that he no longer needed.
Despite the fact that she had loved him, his recent actions made all the feelings she had for him
disappear within a second. Love was meant to be reciprocated by both parties involved. Of course, no
one would be that stupid to keep on loving someone who didn't love them back. Thinking about how
Jacob kept her in the sidelines now, Alice was despaired. In fact, she was in a dilemma!
Just now, when Jacob had mentioned her past, she felt like everything was all over. The man she loved
was threatening to use her past against her. That's horrifying! What love? If Jacob loved her, he
wouldn't dare to investigate her.
Now it was clear that he no longer had feelings for her. But how? How could he stop loving her?
As these thoughts ran through her mind, Alice's head began to ache. She then clutched it in pain. It
was as if hundreds of drums were playing in her head. 'Is the baby a curse or a blessing?' She smiled
bitterly with uncertainty written on her face.
'Jacob, this is your fault. You forced me. I hope you won't regret it, ' she thought.
Just then, a new wave of determination filled Alice up. The bitter smile faded from her face. The tears in
her eyes also disappeared. This battle hadn't come to an end. On the contrary, this was just the
beginning. Jacob always knew how much she loved him.
She reasoned that since he wouldn't reciprocate her love, it was about time she stopped caring about
him. Alice was not an understanding woman. She couldn't just sit and watch him be happy with another
lady.
All what Jacob had brought her was just unpleasant treatment. This could be likened to the most
painful torture in the world and the result of that was much more sorrowful than death.
Alice looked at her phone in a daze. After a few seconds, she picked it up and dialed Thompson's
number.
'Will my last ally help me? Is he still in love with Sara till today?' she pondered. All these were unknown.
Nevertheless, Alice still called Thompson. He was her last hope. He was the only person that could
connive with her regarding Sara and Jacob's matter.
When she travelled abroad, Thompson had felt sorry for her. 'Would he be happy if he finds out that I'm
back now?'
Actually, Alice had dated so many men in her lifetime. She had always thought that Jacob was the only
reliable one out of all of them.
But now, it was too late for her to come to terms with all that was happening. The man whom she
thought was reliable, now belonged to someone else. He had abandoned her for another woman. And
she could only look at him from a distance.
Although Alice wasn't faithful to Jacob, she loved him for a long time. This was probably the longest
time she had ever loved someone. Even when he was married to Sara for four years, she still waited
for him. Now she was determined to make Jacob regret.
No matter what, she vowed to make Jacob pay for using and dumping her.
She now had a purpose in her life and this meant that she was not yet doomed. As the other end of the
line continued to ring, Alice tried to comport herself and hide her emotions. This was so Thompson
wouldn't detect anything.
Although, Alice and Thompson were allies, she still remained vigilant at all times. She never let her
guard down. This was because she didn't trust him completely. She was afraid that he would betray her
someday. To her, Thompson wasn't a trustworthy person.
But in order to defeat Jacob, she kept Thompson as a back-up plan. But it was pointless to do that,
because she had nothing to hide. Everything was already in the open.
"Thompson," Alice said immediately he picked up the call. Her voice was a little hoarse. Perhaps this
was because she was trying to act calm. Or maybe because she had just cried. Regardless, there was
something wrong with her voice. It didn't sound like her normal voice which was usually pleasing to the
ears.
"What? What's wrong? Do you want to come back now?" Thompson answered the phone with all
seriousness. Actually, he had a frown on his face but Alice couldn't see that.
This acquaintance was somewhat interesting. But Alice was still too weak to defeat Jacob alone. In
fact, there was nothing she ever did that affected him. Speaking of weakness, Thompson was very
worried about this. She was too fragile for his liking.
In the beginning, he only agreed to connive with Alice because he thought she had some means.
However, he realized something after Jacob sent her abroad. She was the exact opposite of what he
thought about her.
It dawned on him that Alice's methods were fragile. Thompson reasoned that she was dispensable
since her techniques couldn't withstand a single blow. Nevertheless, it was better than nothing.
"Thompson..." Alice felt a little sad after she heard the "concern" in his voice. Currently, he was the only
one that cared about her. Every other person had abandoned her.
Or rather, she felt pathetic because Thompson cared about her so much. Alice's family was oblivious
about her present situation. She never told them about it. This was because it would only cause her
parents to worry.
Naturally, when children grew up they hardly opened up to their parents. The rate of communication
always dwindled. Despite the fact that parents gave their children life, these children had their own lives
to live. They needed to learn how to deal with the obstacles that came their way without involving their
parents.
As a result, Alice had no one to confide in. Even though she was in her late twenties, her family weren't
worried that she was still unmarried. They never pressurized her to settle down because they knew that
she had a boyfriend.
Assuming Alice didn't have a boyfriend, then she didn't know what would've happened to her. Perhaps
they would have forced her to sign a marriage contract and she would be married to some rich man.
Maybe her husband would have a mistress outside. And Alice would fight the mistress from time to
time. Staring at the blank space in front of her, many thoughts flashed through her mind. It seemed that
she had experienced many things till now which she had never thought of her whole life.
She had never thought that her life would have ended up just like it was now— desolate and boring.
Basically, Jacob was the one who had brought sunshine into her life.
Sadly, he had taken that sunshine to someone else. Alice's life was now pitch black and depressing.
She couldn't get close to him again. Now she could only watch him from afar.
"What's wrong, Alice? I can tell that you don't sound alright. You can come back if you want. Don't think
too much. If you have problem about that, I will assist you,"
Thompson said and tossed a cube sugar into the wine glass in front of him. Actually, he hated the taste
of wine. It was too acidic for his liking. So he liked adding a cube of sugar to it.
This had been his habit for so many years. But only a few people knew about it.
Until now, he still had feelings for Sara. He constantly fantasized about having her as his woman.
However, Jacob hated him so much that Thompson never dared to provoke him. He was actually
scared of incurring his wrath.
Besides, Thompson had a lot of things to deal with lately. His company was passing through a difficult
time and it was Jacob that was behind it all. Nevertheless, this didn't make much difference. This was
because, he had built his company from scratch so he wouldn't be defeated easily.
Unfortunately, Thompson had to concentrate on this. He had no choice but to solve the issues in his
business. Otherwise, it would lead to a huge setback in the future. Thompson was so troubled about
his company that he totally forgot about Alice. He had also forgotten about several other frivolities.
On the other hand, Alice didn't have many opportunities to call Thompson. Deep down in her heart, she
was a proud woman. Alice was strong-willed and she never gave in easily. She also knew that
Thompson wouldn't compromise either.
Just because he was on the same side with her, Thompson thought she was a reliable but incompetent
cohort.
"I'm back already. Where are you? I want to see you." Alice tried to hide the distress in her voice, but it
didn't take long for it to return to its original state.
She could lower her voice, but she couldn't suppress her emotions. At that instance, Alice felt so
betrayed and she wanted to cry. She was feeling a huge lump in her throat. But she refrained herself
because she was strong.
"When did you return? What's wrong?" Thompson frowned the more as he asked that question. He
wasn't pleased that time had barely passed and things were happening without his knowledge again.
He never liked to be left in the dark.
"Nothing. Let's meet and discuss. I want to speak to you about something." Alice supported her head
with her hands weakly and worry lines appeared on her forehead. She was clearly disoriented. In fact,
her mind was chaotic!
"Okay, sure. I'm at a bar. I'll send you the address." Thompson shook the wine glass in his hand. He
was sitting in a quiet private booth located in the bar.
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