One Wild Night

How could he say he would end whatever was between them if she showed up at his date with Aurora? Did that make any sense? How could his meeting with Aurora be more important than what they shared? Jade mused as she lay on her bed belly-down with her chin resting on both hands as she stared at the basket of flowers he had sent.

Wasn't Harry being too harsh with her? Besides, he had been there when she suggested a double date, so it wasn't supposed to be a big deal, was it? Why did Harry have to be so stubborn and controlling?

Her gaze shifted to the door when a knock sounded on it, and she raised a brow, but before she could speak, she heard her mom's voice, "Are you still in here, Jady?" Evelyn asked, and Jade sat up.

"Yes. You can come in," she said with a sigh, knowing that her mother was there to talk about Harry.

Evelyn opened the door and walked in, "That's not the look that should be on the face of a young lady that just received flowers from a dashing young man. You are not busy, are you?"

"I'm not. I thought you were busy with Janet?" Jade asked, and Evelyn nodded.

"Yes, I was. But I wanted to spend some time with you. I don't get to have you around as often as I want, so I have to make the best use of the time whenever I see you," Evelyn said as she joined Jade on the bed.

"Now that I will be working at I-Global, you'll get to see me as often as you want," Jade assured her.

"Yeah. I'm counting on that. I'm still so excited that the three of you are working together now," Evelyn said, and then she smiled.

"So about that..." she said, pointing to the basket of flowers.

"I take it things are going smoothly with Harry, yeah?"

"When he is not being annoying and controlling, yeah," Jade said, and Evelyn raised a brow.

"Controlling?"

"Yes! Can you believe Harry threatened to end things with me if I showed up on his date? Like, who does that? I mean, we are interested in each other, yet he expects me to be comfortable about him going out with someone else behind me," Jade said, and Evelyn frowned.

"Harry said that? He plans to go out with someone else aside from you?" she asked in confusion. Harry did not strike her like the two-timing kind, and he wasn't the type of person to be controlling either, at least to the best of her knowledge.

"Yes, he said so," Jade said angrily.

"Who is this other person? Are you sure she is not just a friend?" Evelyn asked, unwilling to believe that Harry was what Jade was painting him to be. That was something her late boyfriend would do, not Harry.

"Well, she is my friend...."

"Your friend?" Evelyn asked, and then she listened as Jade told her how she had tried to hook up Aurora and Harry.

"Ouch! What did you do that for?" Jade cried when her mother slapped her hard on the back.

"You are very silly for trying to paint Harry in a bad light when you are the one at fault!"

"Mom!"

"I knew it was a bad idea when your dad and brothers spoilt you silly by always letting you have your way, but I thought you would know better. I can't understand this childishness and silliness you are exhibiting now. I can't believe a grown woman like you can act like a spoilt six-year-old," Evelyn hissed, and Jade glared at her.

"What did I do that is so wrong?"

"You are acting like a brat! And you are lucky Harry is being so patient with you. If you know what is best for you, you better not show up on their date. Let him handle what needs to be done," Evelyn warned and took Jade's hands in her own when she sighed sadly.

"But..."

"Listen to me, okay? Harry is a thoughtful young man, and you'd be silly to lose him over useless insecurities or by making unnecessary comparisons. Harry is not Todd...."

"What do you mean?" Jade asked, wondering why her mother had to bring Todd into the conversation that way.

"It might not be a conscious effort on your part, but I think a part of you has not healed from your relationship with Todd. Although you've always been a brat...."

"Mom!"

"I was just kidding," Evelyn said with a grin.

"We both know you weren't this way when you were with Todd. Don't you think you're behaving this way with Harry because you are mistaking him to be Todd..."

"No, I'm not! They're two very different people. Todd could never be half the man Harry is!" Jade said passionately, and Evelyn nodded.

"That is very true. And I believe the smart and reasonable part of your brain knows that. But there is also a not-so-smart part of your brain that doesn't entirely believe that or seems to so conveniently forget it at the least signal of insecurity. I was like that too," Evelyn confided, and Jade looked at her in confusion.

"Like how?" Jade asked as she couldn't imagine her mother being anything other than the sweet wife she was to her father.

Evelyn sighed, "In the earlier years of my relationship and marriage with your father, it was tough letting go of my past. You know, when you were a kid, I wouldn't let him change your diapers or see you naked," Evelyn confided, and Jade was silent for a while, and then her eyes rounded when she understood what her mother was saying.

"But he never gave you any reason...."

"Yes. He never gave me any reason to feel that he was like my father, but that didn't mean I wasn't scared. It wasn't something I did consciously. Sometimes I could be in the kitchen fixing dinner, and it would occur to me I left him alone with the kids, and I would sneak up on him to see what he was doing. Of course, each time I did that, he knew. And he understood," Evelyn said with a small smile.

"Thinking about it now, I realize it must not have been easy on him. But he never once complained. He even took courses in psychology for my sake. I'm blessed to be married to a man like your father. Now what I'm trying to say is that, like me, you could be doing the same thing in your relationship with Harry. Maybe you regret letting Todd have his way, and now that part of you just wants to be rebellious regardless of whether or not you know Harry is right," Evelyn said, and Jade frowned.

Was that true? Was that what she was doing?

"Do you honestly think Harry is controlling, as you said earlier?" Evelyn asked, and Jade was silent for a moment as she thought about it.

"He said he wasn't going to let me always have my way...."

"And as the smart lawyer you are, does that mean the same as being controlling?" Evelyn asked, and without waiting for her to respond, Evelyn continued, "Besides, Is he supposed to let you always have your way? Will you always let him have his way? What sort of relationship would you both have if he always let you do whatever you want?" Evelyn asked, and seeing things from her mother's point of view, Jade scowled.

"It's just that Aurora really likes him, and Harry doesn't really have experience with ladies...."

"Does he seem naive to you? Harry is handsome and wealthy. Do you have any idea how many women must be throwing themselves at him? Are you the one who has been helping him keep them away this whole time?" Evelyn asked, and Jade raised a brow.

"Why do you trust Harry so much? If I didn't know better, I'd think he was your son," Jade said, and Evelyn laughed.

"Of course, I consider him a son. Trust me when I say Harry can handle himself. He won't cheat on you like Todd did," Evelyn said, and Jade frowned.

"How did you know Todd cheated? I never told you that," Jade said, and Evelyn looked at her incredulously.

"You were aware? Yet you remained with him?" Evelyn asked in disbelief.

"I found out only after he died. So how could you have known? Don't tell me Tom told you about it?" She asked, seething angrily.

"Tom knows too? Well, he didn't have to tell me. After you brought him home, I did a background search...."

"You did what?" Jade asked, feeling both angry and betrayed.

"I didn't like him. Your father didn't like him either. Your father likes everyone, and if he doesn't like someone, then something must be wrong. I had to look into him. Unfortunately, he was involved in the accident before the private investigator could give me any information on him. The private investigator told me about Todd's relationship with the lady who was in the car with him at the time of the accident," Evelyn said with a shrug.

"Why didn't you say anything this whole time?" Jade asked, feeling betrayed that her mother had kept that away from her this whole time.

"Because we thought you knew, and your father and I agreed that even if you didn't know, it wasn't our place to tell you something like that when he was dead. You'd either not believe us, or you'd be even more heartbroken than you were. I'm sorry we didn't tell you," Evelyn said softly, and Jade sighed.

"You are not going to do a background search on Harry now, are you?"

"Your grandfather did that when Tom took Harry to him before they started the business together," Evelyn said, and Jade's eyes widened.

"He did? So did he know about Harry's mom?" Jade asked, and Evelyn shook her head.

"Of course not! We were told his mother was late, and he was raised by his single dad, the chairman of HAJ photography studio. That was a secret between only Aaron and her, so there was no way anyone else could have known about it seeing how he relocated and changed everything," Evelyn said reasonably.

"What about Sonia and Lucy? Did you look into them? Or is it just the men I like you get to look into?" Jade asked dryly, and Evelyn laughed.

"What's there to look into? I only found out about Lucy's identity because of the scandal, and what other secret could she be hiding that could be deeper than that? I also met her and her parents. As for Sonia, I was going to look into her, but the scandal also told us about her background," Evelyn said with a shrug.

"Fine. Whatever. I won't show up at Harry's date if that's what he wants," Jade grumbled, and Evelyn laughed softly.

"I can't believe you are still so immature," Evelyn said as she patted Jade's hair fondly, and Jade rested her head on her mother's shoulder.

"So, what's your plan for the day? Are you going to visit him today?" Evelyn asked, and Jade shook her head.

"No, I'm not. I don't want to see him until the end of the anniversary when he is done with his date," Jade said, and Evelyn raised a brow.

"Why not?"

"There is no reason to. He is not my boyfriend yet," Jade said simply, and Evelyn smiled.

"If you say so. Since you're not busy, how about we spend the day together? Let's go shopping or get our hair and nails done. Or have a mother-and-daughter date," Evelyn suggested, and Jade's eyes lit up.

The last time they had done that was that same holiday when she had brought Todd home and met Harry for the first time. It would be nice to do that today.

Spending the day with her mother would help her take her mind off Harry for some time. She needed to be relaxed to think about all her mother had said and see if it was true that she was letting her experience with Todd affect her relationship with Harry.

She really didn't want to always be at loggerheads with him, so she wanted to take a step back now and look at things critically and analyze herself. She needed to be whole before going into a relationship with Harry. Hurting people hurt others, and she didn't want to carry her past hurt into her relationship with Harry and ruin his first relationship experience.

"Yes, let's do that. It's been forever since we did that together," Jade said, and Evelyn nodded happily.

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