✷Chapter Seven✷

"What are you both talking about?—" Rachel Kim's voice interrupted whatever Teresa was about to say next. She stared at the mixed race lady, who looked worn out and tried, probably from lack of sleep. "—do you think I might be able to get any food? I'm so hungry." Rachel moaned, her straight out of bed hair, made her appear more appealing in the eyes. Even though tried she looked breathtakingly beautiful, something Teresa could never have if just getting out of bed.

"There might be something in the fridge. Let me go check." Gideon mumbled, probably trying to look for a way to escape whatever discussion they both had a moment ago.

At the mention of food, her stomach rumbled, but she played ignorant to the sound, fixing her glare towards Gideon who was trying to walk away from the little space left between her and the staircase.

"I believe we are not done with our conversation." She clarified, resisting the urge from putting him backwards. 

There was no way they were both done from this.

Teresa noticed from her line of sight Rachel's startled and oblivious gaze, as her eyes moved to her and Gideon. "Is something wrong?" She asked, the concern clearly audible in her voice.

Gideon chose to wave it off. "It's nothing. Teresa here is just being sensitive." He responded nonchalantly, like she'd only been talking about how good the weather was this morning.

His attitude towards their earlier discussion blinded Teresa with rage, as she clenched her teeth in annoyance, matching up to his face almost close to slamming his head with her. "Don't you dare ignore this." She spat at his face, shooting him one of her intense glares. "If you know what's good for you don't you dare try to stop me." She said, without waiting for a response, she immediately turned her back to him, making sure not to give him a chance to stop her. She heard him call her name, which she ignored.

Teresa was glad he didn't chase her along the stairs. 

Running down the stairs in heists steps, she went in search of Grandpa Daniel. She went first to the living-room which turned up empty. She'd almost concluded that maybe he was still in bed, a fact that she had completely slipped her mind while on her quest to reveal the whole truth to the old man.

The next place she checked was the kitchen, located right underneath the staircase. She couldn't help but notice how spacious it was. She wondered how someone like Daniel would need such a large kitchen.

Shaking her head from any further thoughts, and distraction, Teresa inhales a deep breath having come to a conclusion that he might not be in the house.

At the silence of the house, she heard the sound of something smashing, the sound was so hard that she would have passed it to be something else but a tree leaves touching each other due to the wind.

Teresa noticed a door at the right corner of the kitchen. Not hesitating a second she walked towards it, finding it up. As she got closer so did the sound.

There immediately she saw Grandpa Daniel sitting on one of the sofas in what Teresa believes to be the house porch. In the middle lay a small wooden table with a mug on top of it. She realized this happened to be the back of the house.

It was now or never.

Taking a wide step to where the older man sat, the morning sun immediately touched her body, fighting a battle with the coldness of the wind. As she got closer she noticed he had a phone to his ear talking to whoever he spoke to while she chose to make her presence known.

Teresa halted as the word coming from Grandpa Daniel's mouth reached her ear.

"—Harry, You should see how I couldn't stop smiling. I felt so happy. I assure you it won't be long before a baby enters our family." He said with much joy evident in his voice. He paused to listen to the other man on the line, whatever the other man said made Daniel laugh so hard and long. "I'm proud of them."

Those words from him pierced Teresa straight in her heart punching the air out of her gut that she found it hard to stand, she leaned her hand on the door frame to support herself.

Guilt. She felt guilty, not only for lying but also for what she was going to do a while ago. She felt like the devil, like she was about to snatch the happiness from the older man. 

Whatever courage she'd muster disappeared into the thin air. She took a deep breath to clear her head, knowing now she would never reveal whatever pretense was told to the whole family.

In Fact she felt stranded, on one hand she wanted to open up her mouth to reveal the whole truth, which would break the man's heart. On the other hand she felt she could still continue playing along till the week ends, but again the result will also break the poor man's heart. And she has no one to blame but herself. No one forced her into this act, she'd willingly agreed to this, even if there was a twist to the whole thing.

Taking a minute to gather herself, she sensed she wasn't alone, just a few steps behind her, Gideon stood with his hand resting on the island in the center of the kitchen, he had a pleading look in his eyes.

Sighing she lowered her eyes in defeat. But immediately her spine straightened when she heard a familiar voice calling her name outside the house.

Teresa's eye magnetically connected to that of a very sweaty Jacob who had a huge smile on his face, with a look she couldn't explain.

Contentment? Happiness? 

She found herself unconsciously paying attention to other details, as her brown eyes took in the six feet inches of his height. One thing stood out from him. 

He was shirtless. 

Trails of sweat slide down his perfectly sculptured, ripped body, instantly making Teresa's mouth water. She didn't fail to take note of his abs and his impossibly flat stomach.

She gulped at the way her body reacted at just the sight of him nude from the top, as her eyes didn't fail to track the v-line of his waistline of his faded crazy jeans hanging incredibly low on his waist.

She wanted nothing more than to curse out as her gaze returned to his green eyes watching as they shimmer in amazement, and again arrogantly. Teresa mentally cautioned herself for openly gawking at him, knowing that will only boost his ego.

She took note of a huge cracked branch laying on stony ground, with a couple of wooden pieces not too far from it. On his right hand was a large axe he leaned on with his hand on it.

"Teresa dear." Grandpa Daniel's voice snapped her analyzing gaze away from Jacob. She shifted it to the man presently facing her, with a smile on his face, and a reading glass resting on his nose, "come have a seat with me, if you don't mind?" He invited her by pointing his finger to the seat by his right side.

Teresa let out a forced smile, sparing Jacob a brief glance, before walking towards the vacant seat. "Yes. Thank you." She muttered, biting her inner lips from blunting any stupid thing out. She was thankful for the large canopy over their head, shading them from the sun.

Her stomach chose at that moment to grumble again. Teresa gave Daniel a sheepish look as he laughed in complete amazement, before turning to look behind him. "Gideon be kind to also help Teresa here with a meal, since you're stuffing Rachel there with food."

He got an okay back in response. Making Daniel smile in gratification. Teresa on the other hand found her gaze shifting towards Jacob as he slammed the axe on the branch really hard, producing more pieces of wood.

"Jacob!" Daniel called out to him, bringing a complete stop to what he was doing. "I think that's about enough. Go wash up really quick and join us for breakfast."

Taking a deep breath, he stopped his task. Before dragging the axe along with him, as he walked he kept his gaze on Teresa who stared back at him, as she found it too hard to look away from his gaze.

Each step he took closer, so did she find it hard to breathe. Closer, she could see the front of his hair plastered on his forehead due to the sweat.

Clearly her throat she moved her eyes away from him, to stare at Gideon as he offered her a plate filled with two toast bread, and three probably reheated bacon.

She started a conversation with Daniel, trying to ignore the presence of Jacob as he walked inside the house, with Gideon following on his trail. "If you don't mind me asking. Who makes your meals, and keeps the house clean?" She inquired, while taking a bite from her plate.

"Glenda. She comes every afternoon to help keep the house together." He answered.

Staring at him as he took a sip from the mug on his hand. "Glenda?"

He nodded his head, "she's a very nice young lady, a granddaughter of one of my friends in town. She volunteered to help me out, but with the way she does a lot in this house I insisted on paying her every week to show my appreciation. Though I tell you it wasn't easy getting her to agree." He chuckled at his word, as he stared into space to probably remember the moment.

Teresa smiled in return. "She seems like a really kind lady." He nodded as he smiled back at her, drinking again yet again from his cup.

Rachel walked into the porch reclining to a seat opposite them both, with a plate on her hand. Her black hair bonded to a ponytail, as she dived in hunger with the remaining food left on her bowl.

Throughout the silence Teresa kept to herself from spilling everything. Then again it proved she was once again running. She'd hate to see the disappointed expression on his face when he finds out it was all a lie. She chose the part of not being the one to tell him, not being present when he receives the news of a fake breakup.

Trying to distract herself from the stress about building, she broke the silence, after having a huge gulp of orange juice from her glass. "Grandpa Dan, I was thinking if it was possible I could get an extra bedsheet?"

The old man paused his reading from the iPad in his hand. Teresa had tried to know what he could be doing, and soon realized he was reading some headlines of the day.

He pulled off his reading glass to stare at her in confusion. "Why do you need an extra sheet?"

Teresa found his question strangely hard to answer. She opened her mouth to answer only to shut it yet again, almost looking like a drowning fish.

Fortunately, Rachel pitched in to help her after seeing her distress. But her answer made Teresa want to drown into the ground. "It must probably be dirty from the late night section with Jacob." Rachel raised her brow, "right?"

Teresa felt her face burn in embarrassment, finding herself unable to form a word. She wanted nothing more but to disappear away from the surface of the world.

Thankfully, Daniel smiled at Rachel's cooked up story. "Hah!" He exclaimed, making Teresa blush even harder, with the way he stared at her. "Glenda keeps the sheets. When she arrives this afternoon she will show you where to get some."

"I'm sure she will." Jacob's warm breath caressed her ear as he spoke unexpectedly behind her, taking her by surprise as she almost fell off the sofa. He stretched his hand taking a toast from her plate, while plastering his warm lips by the side of her cheek. "Red fits you." He whispered, bringing his face to her line of sight.

Teresa won't deny what his lips did to her, as she gasped at the sensation his bare lips brought to her, as she found her legs clenching together, as she blushed even harder from his statement concerning her red face.

"Come let go somewhere private to talk." He stretched his hand after walking around to stand opposite her. 

Teresa raised her eyes to stare at him in bewilderment. "Talk about what?" She asked, before shifting to look at Grandpa Daniel, Rachel, and Gideon who had helped himself with a seat next to his grandfather with a distant expression on his face. She looked back at Jacob again. "Whatever you want to say, can be said right here, right now." She stubbornly said, refusing to give the old man any further impression.

Jacob smirked in return, as his eyes sparkled mischievously. "Trust me they don't want to hear what I'm telling you." He insisted, with his hand still offered to her.

Shaking her head to speak, she dropped her place on the table behind him, while still seated. "Jacob I'm not—" 

He cut her short as determination appeared written boldly on his face. "Okay then, I'm carrying you." Not giving her a second. He scooped her into his arms, in a bridal style, asking for an excuse from Daniel who only smiled too brightly, as Jacob walked out from their mist taking Teresa into the thick bushes.

"Jacob where the hell are you taking me?" She asked in annoyance as she hated the way he carried her as if she weighed nothing. "Let me down Jacob!" She yelled continually, as he ignored her even more, still she started fidgeting in his arms.

Finally he spoke, through gritted teeth like he was trying to restrain himself from doing something. "Stay calm, if you don't want me kissing the hell out of you."

Hearing him pretty clearly, she froze at his word, as he quietly led her deep into the forest.

She only hope he wouldn't do anything stupid to her.

********

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