22. Putting On a Show

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Song : Just Us 2 - EXO SC ft Gaeko
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My breath caught and my heart beat momentarily sped up as I stared at him.

He towered over us, his presence imposing and he wore a grey hoodie and a black bomber jacket over it. A nondescript black cap was pulled down low over his head and the hood of the hoodie was pulled up over his cap. And surprisingly, he wore a black mask.

However, despite all of that I recognized him easily.

He had pulled the mask down to his chin, his face lit up with a shy smile. His amber brown eyes watched me with a stare that made me feel like he was piercing into my mind and reading my every thought.

Jordan Wolfe's lips tugged further upwards, and a huge smile appeared on his face. The same smile that had many girls all over the world screaming out their 'undying love' for him.

The very smile that I had come to detest in the last seven months.

The silence was suffocating and to make matters worse, Jace was staring at me too. He would've recognized Jordan from earlier today. His gaze was burning into me and I felt the blood rush to my face at the sudden attention that was pinned on me.

To make matters even more awkward for me. Both guys had rejected me.

The first and most painful one sat across from me and I had no choice but to face him for the foreseeable future.

Whilst the other one, stood beside me, disguised in the most pathetic excuse of a disguise in the history of celebrities going undercover.

I cast a quick look around the café, wondering if someone had noticed that a celebrity was in their midst and poorly disguised. Honestly, one look at him and one would realize that he was someone famous trying to keep a low profile. I was surprised there wasn't already a crowd of screaming fans following after him.

"Long time no see, Lipa," Jordan said, his voice was husky, but it had a slightly nervous edge to it, something that Jordan Wolfe wasn't known for. He was always sure and confident as he spoke, almost to the point that he could be considered arrogant.

The shock slowly faded from my face, replaced by a frown.

"Jordan," I replied, my voice laced with the irritation I felt at seeing him, especially after I had tried to avoid him earlier in school.

He didn't look fazed by my tone, neither was the smile on his face. "You look be-...great," he said with a light chuckle.

"I can't say the same for you," I arched a brow at him, even though I knew it was a bold-faced lie. His body had filled out since I last saw him, his muscles more accentuated and obvious even through the layer of clothing he wore. "I'm sorry, Jordan," I continued, my voice clearly denoting that I was the furthest thing from apologetic, "just refresh my memory for me, the last time we met, I remember you saying you never wanted to see me again. Did you get bitten by a bug in South America and lose all your memory?"

The smile finally slipped from his lips as he pursed in indecision. "I regret everything Lipa," he finally said after a couple of seconds of profound silence. "I want yo-"

I held up a hand, stopping his words. "I don't want you back," I spat out, pushing back the urge to stick my tongue out at him. "You made your bed seven months ago, well it's time you slept on it." After a quick, not very well thought out decision, I added, "I've moved on already."

Jordan brows lifted up in shock. "What? Last I checked you're still single," his tone held a mixture of confusion and disbelief.

Trying not to feel elation that he had been keeping tabs on me, I smiled, "I don't believe you've met him yet."

Jordan's frown deepened.

Throwing away any thoughts of the repercussions that would follow my action, I turned away from Jordan and faced Jace, who had been watching our interaction with a perceptive gaze.

Jace frowned in confusion at me. I widened my eyes in a way I hoped got across my plea to play along.

Fortunately, he noticed and understood exactly what I was about to do.

Then I turned back to Jordan who was now looking over at Jace in confusion as if he hadn't even noticed him til then.

An amused smile formed on my lips before I said the words I knew would come back to haunt me later, "Jordan, meet my boyfriend Jace. Jace, this is Jordan, my ex."

Both of them stared at each for what felt like too long a time. Both of them mirrored each other's expression, brows furrowed together, their eyes narrowed and lips pressed tightly together.

If the situation was different and less confusing, I would've taken a photo because of how funny they were being.

After it felt like they would continue the stare off into the next century, Jordan arched one brow up before he turned his gaze on me.

"Jace?" he asked, his tone shocked. "Is he the same guy that..." he didn't finish his words because he knew I knew what he was trying to say.

I had told him about Jace one night during a beach party. I had had too much to drink and he had been pestering me to go out with him for over a week already. I'd ended up telling him I don't do relationships and Jace came up during my drunk rant.

That was the one and only time we talked about Jace. He never once mentioned him and I actually believed he was also too far gone to have remembered my drunken words.

Jordan took my silence to be a confirmation to thoughts. Instantly, he frowned.

"You forgive him and yet you won't give me a chance to explain?" Instead of sounding angry, he sounded broken and hurt.

"Explain what?" I snapped, my voice raised. "How you suddenly said you wanted to break up with me out of the blue and that you only dated me because of who my father was?" Instantly I knew I did the wrong thing because I felt a multitude of gazes hone in on our table.

I bit my lip instantly, to keep myself from saying anymore, knowing that people were very curious of what was developing at our table.

Instead of noticing the audience we'd gathered, or he might've not cared enough at that point, Jordan bent down over our table so that we were eye level. His sudden close proximity elicited a blush on my face, which I had no control over. "Lipa, give me another chance. I'll explain everything. Please."

His eyes were pleading and filled with sadness.

I almost felt a degree of pity wash over me.

However, before I could respond to his words, Jordan was pulled back til he was standing at least four feet from me.

"What's your problem?" Jordan snapped, his voice echoed in the café when he noticed Jace with his right hand on Jordan's shoulder.

I was shocked too to see Jace being the one to pull Jordan back, especially when it was obvious Jordan wasn't a threat. Add to that was my surprise that Jordan didn't care about the growing audience, witnessing everything.

For the first time since Jordan's appearance, Jace spoke, "You're too close to my girl. " His voice was low yet taut.

Jordan scoffed, before he chuckled darkly. Then he did something I didn't expect him to do.

He pulled down his hood and took off his cap, tossing it to the ground.

The quick murmur echoed in the cafe and I distinctly heard a few mention his name. Jordan Wolfe quickly spread around like wildfire and before I knew it, people had their phones out and focused it on us.

Just as quickly as it spread, a quick hush dawned on the café.

"What?" Jordan's voice thundered in the café. "Worried she'd come back to me once she hears what I have to say?"

Before I could retort and say that I would never go back to him, Jace beat me.

"I'm not worried," Jace replied back.

Because we're obviously not dating, the back of my mind stated the fact.

"Funny thing for you to say. You tore her heart right out of her chest and stomped on it," Jordan stated matter of factly.

As if caught off-guard by Jordan's words, Jace looked over at me.

"What ?" Jordan laughed. "Surprised she told me?"

"Jord-" I began, but stopped as Jace turned back to my ex.

"That's a mistake I will make up for for the rest of my life. I will never ask for her forgiveness," Jace began before he pinned me with another gaze, stopping my breathing momentarily, "because it's something I don't deserve. Instead, I'll prove to her over and over again that I'm truly sorry."

I didn't know how to react or what to say to his words. Instead I stared at him, my face devoid of emotion, frozen as I contemplated his words.

Somehow the fact that people were watching us faded into the back of my mind, so did the fact that Jordan Wolfe was there. Instead, I studied Jace, wondering just how much of his words he meant.

Was he truly sorry for what he said years ago? Was he here right now because he was trying to make it up to me? Or was it all an act for Jordan?

Then Jace tore his eyes from mine and turned nack to face Jordan. "Now if you'll excuse us, Phil and I have somewhere to be."

Before I could register his words or react to them, Jace was before me, grabbing my hand in his and pulling me after him.

I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to Georgia and Krystal who were both watching us with shell-shocked expressions.

Everyone continued to watch us as we left, some even catching my face in their videos before I had the chance to react and hide it.

"Where are we going?" I asked once we exited the café and he was walking in a general direction.

He finally stopped walking, however his hands were tightly around mine. "Where'd you park your car?" he asked.

I nodded to where it was.

Without another word, he headed in the direction. He didn't stop til we were standing by it.

"Keys."

I dug through my bag and held it up once I found it.

Jace took it from my hands, unlocked the car and said, "Get in," whilst opening the passenger door.

"Where's yours?" I asked, not moving, expecting him to have dropped me off at my car before leaving to get his.

His eyes were devoid of any emoion as he spoke, "I didn't bring it."

"What? Why?"

"Let's talk once you're in the car, Phillipa. I want to be far away from here in case the blackmailer returns."

Frowning at him, I nodded before I did as he said and got into the car. He shut the door for me and instead of walking the driver's seat, he pulled out his phone and called someone.

He moved away from the car, casting a hesitant look in my direction every now and then in case something happened.

Throwing a glare his way for keeping me waiting despite his earlier impatience, I slid into my seat, trying to get comfortable.

After a couple of long, dragged out minutes, Jace finally hung up his phone and walked towards the driver's door. He got into the car after casting a hesitant look to the area around us.

I didn't say a word til he had pulled out of the carpark and we were driving for at least a minute.

"Why didn't you bring your car?" I asked.

Keeping his eyes firmly on the road, Jace replied, "I was in the training room when we were messaging. I figured it would be faster if I left as soon as possible."

I looked over at him, confused. "Isn't the training area-"

He nodded, answering my question.

"You ran to the café?!" I screamed, my voice echoing in the car.

The training room was more of a training field. It was at least a couple of miles away from the main house in our big estate that spanned at least thirty acres.

It also acted as the training ground for all the security personnel of Holden Securities and since security was tight, many preferred to leave their cars in the main property before running the way to the training room.

Jace nodded curtly.

The shock on my face didn't disappear easily and I dwelled in silence, wondering why he had done so.

He could've gone back for his car and driven to the café. Granted it was closer from the training room to the café since it was more accessible to the road from there, but that was still at least eight miles from the café.

He ran eight miles to get to the café.

My eyes settled on him. Despite mostly having dried, he was still covered in sweat. The hasty rise and fall of his chest evidenced that he had still yet to recover from the run.

I felt the need to say something, thank him or apologize to him for having put him through that. But the words refused to slip out of my lips.

"It's okay," Jace's voice echoed in the car.

"What?" I asked.

"I chose to run instead of driving my car," he replied. "It was the best conclusion I came to given the situation."

Biting my lower lip, I nodded despite knowing he was wrong.

We settled into silence as he drove us to our destination. Both of us deeply immersed in our thoughts.

"We're here," Jace said after a while, waking me up from the light slumber I had slipped into.

I sat up straighter in my seat before taking in our surroundings.

"Jace, where are we?" I asked even though I recognized the towering house before us. Even in the dark, the old villa by the lake was familiar, the memories of my childhood spent there racing back into my mind.

"The Lake," he replied, saying the name that was almost synonymous with the Frost's vacation house.

"And why are we here?" I glanced over at him, my eyes narrowing as I tried to process everything.

"We're spending a couple of days here. Just until Bruce and your dad feels it's safe to go back," he replied, his gaze meeting mine.

"Just us two?" I felt the need to ask, dread taking ahold of me.

Jace pursed his lips before he nodded, his eyes unreadable. "Just us two."

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