CHAPTER 34
Jason sat in his office, staring blankly at the file on his table. His team waited tensely for his approval. But though he kept looking at the file, he saw nothing. The team leads each stared at their boss, perplexed. After what seemed like ages, James, who had been standing by watching the hilarious scene before he stepped in. coughing slightly, was able to get his boss back to the room. He had been that way since they got back from Evan's. "Should we reconvene?" he asked his boss, who now was looking at the file. Something might have caught his attention after all.
"Yes. I think I'll take a deeper look into this. How about we meet tomorrow, same time here?" Everyone nodded and stood to leave. It wasn't like they had any choice in the matter, actually. When the last person had left, James went to close the door. Then he stepped back into the room, watching Jason closely.
Though slightly older than his boss, he had come to respect him for his intelligent moves and concentration. But now, more than ever, when he needed him alert, his boss was slacking. He had come to work for Jason Valdez when he was barely young enough to cater for himself. His father, Thomas Valdez, was always on a business trip and needed a buddy security detail for his only son. His own father being the security head, then had picked him. Like Jason, he had required a companion too. His mother had just passed away while giving birth to the brother he never met. It had been a stillbirth, and his mother had passed away from the backbreaking labor.
He was angry with the world and everyone then. Meeting Jason Valdez had for a while taken away his anger as he watched him. He couldn't understand how someone with a mother feels so alone. His mother wasn't always around. She was always planning parties and travelling with her husband. The poor boy barely knew his mother. Though rich with everything available for him, he was still a lonely boy. It wasn't hard to believe they were both the same. Kids with no motherly love.
The first time they were introduced, his father made sure that James had no mom. It was then that Jason looked their way briefly before turning back to his laptop. When his father left, Jason turned to him instantly. "What happened to your mom?" He was very curious then as he still is.
"She died." He replied rudely. He hated talking about his mother. Though it was a year now, he still felt sad. Sometimes he caught his father staring at her photo on the standing and crying. His mother had been a laughing, happy woman always cheering on her family.
Sighing, he remembered adding that, "She died while giving birth to the tiny weasel." Jason then had patted down a seat beside him, asking him to sit. And he did sit. "If the weasel had survived, I'd have hated him." He told him.
"No, you'd probably just feel bad for him." Jason told him plainly. He was doing something on his laptop, and though it didn't make sense to him, Jason was bent on tweaking something.
"Why would I feel bad for him?" He asked. The boy stopped pressing his laptop and looked at him. His eyes were blue and sad. He had never seen anyone so rich and unfortunate before.
"Because you have these shared moments with your mother while he didn't get a chance. He will have to live with stories you tell him about his mother who died giving birth to him."
And though he was bent over the laptop again, James realized he might have been older than Jason, but the little boy was wiser. Life had forced him to grow up. And had the boy looked at him, he would have seen the pure admiration in his eyes. "You're right." He agreed. "He would feel guilty all his life too."
"Yes." Jason said both in response to James and whatever he had been doing on the laptop. He turned it off, set it aside and went to get two bottled drink from the fridge. He offered James one.
"So, do you get to see your mom often?" James asked, trying to swallow bitter bile stuck to his throat at the mention of 'mom'.
"No. She's on a trip presently. I haven't seen her in 45days." He replied and shrugged.
"45 days? Wow. I see... saw mine every day."
"Lucky you. At least now, you have good memories of her." He drank and sighed. "I barely know my mom's face. And she has this sister who looks so much like her. Sometimes I see their pictures and can't pick out mine."
He had felt so sad to hear the boy talk. But that was it. The moment they got distracted from mom talks, Jason was a cool kid to be with. He had lots of gadgets and loved coding. The computer was his friend. He understood the computer more than he did his parents. When he spoke about his laptop, his face glowed, and his blue eyes were lighted so brightly the color seems to fade out to a clear sky blue. They became good friends afterwards
Jason stood up now and started pacing the room. Shaking his head, James spoke to his boss without being spoken to. He hardly initiated talks, but now wasn't time to play protocol. "You okay, boss?" he asked simply.
"No. I think we should get Mrs. Swiss to meet again." He told his head security detail. And even as he said it, he wasn't sure why he was doing it. What he should be dealing with was this growing attraction he was having for his surrogate, Evangeline, not meeting her mother. But he needed to be distracted. He didn't want to think about Evan now. He still feels pretty shaken up about last night. If that call hadn't come in, he'd have slept with the woman barely months after Ellen's death. Guilt washed over him. He sat down again, lost in thought.
"She may not want to meet, like before." James told his boss.
"Still, let's try."
"How about the inventory the developers brought? They were really excited about it" he tried to distract Jason.
"I'll check in later. Call the woman." He said, took his car keys and started walking out.
"There's something."
"Can it wait?" He said without a backward glance. He was gone before he could tell him what he had been noticing for a while now. He immediately called Sam, the driver, with his two other security. "Hey Sam, is Tobin with you?" He listened to while he watched through the glass as Jason dismissed Sam and sat in the driver's seat.
"Take Tobin and two other men, follow him." Jason was driving away already. "Don't lose him at all. Some men have been tailing us. Need I tell you how important this is?" He watched as the men got into the car and zoomed after the boss. "Good."
Disconnecting the call, he pulled a call through to the Swiss as Jason had instructed.
Mrs. Swiss was with her husband when the call came in. she stared at the phone. "You're saying Jason Valdez is an ally we can count on?"
"Yes." Robert said as he picked the call then handed it over to his wife. "Which is why you must meet him." He whispered.
"Hello again." Mrs. Swiss replied. "Let him know I'll be free this weekend." She listened to what the other person was saying. "The Shades sounds fine to me. Alright." She shook her head as she ended the call. "I can't believe you made me pick his call. The man impregnated my daughter without..."
"Your permission?" He completed for her. "It's the 21st-century wife. More so, it is not the kind of impregnate in that sense.."
"We are the ones who know. Does anyone? I'm guessing that you're all not going to know what I'm talking about now. Wait till the press starts spreading this." She smiled at the man. It's only a woman that seems to be bothered by all these.
"It's the 21st century, relax. Nobody really cares." He patted her on the back. "I have to go lie down."
"Well, it appears I'm meeting him at The Shades this weekend." She called after him.
