Chapter 41: 41-My Sweet Friend Gigi
Jaguar:
It took me hours to get home.
By then, morning had arrived.
It was Sunday anyway, so I planned to rest for the entire day.
But I didn’t immediately leave Verity’s house, even after she wanted me to.
I stayed and watched from my car as her new door was installed.
Part of me wanted to add surveillance cameras.
I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was too innocent for this world and didn’t even realize it.
The only issue was that I’d been getting call after call from both Ragnar and Theodore this whole time.
The only person who hadn’t reached out to me was Gigi.
I hoped she wasn’t upset.
As for Ragnar, he sounded kind of pissed.
I reached home and had only just stepped inside when I saw what looked like a meeting in the living room.
It seemed they had already finished breakfast and were now chatting.
The mood changed at my arrival, though.
The laughter stopped, and the gossip ceased.
"Hey, good morning," I greeted, casting a quick glance around.
There was Theodore, of course, and Gigi sitting across the table from him.
Right next to Gigi was her friend.
I believed I had seen her around before.
Her name was Rochelle, but I didn’t know anything more than that.
"Morning," the friend was the only one who responded, and right then I realized I had deeply upset Gigi.
Usually, she would jump up from her seat, purr like a kitten, and greet me.
She was innocent and playful like that.
But today, she barely even acknowledged me. freewebnσvel.cøm
I walked up to her and dragged a chair to her side.
Sitting on the edge, I bent my elbow and rested my fist under my chin for support as I stared at her from up close.
That was my way of teasing her.
"What are you looking at?" Theodore grunted.
"I’m trying to read her mind. Maybe if I know how to apologize, it’ll be much easier," I mumbled, pouting when Gigi finally turned her head to acknowledge me.
She looked pale and deeply saddened.
And I was really guilty of causing her mood.
"You shouldn’t have ditched us then," Theodore continued, adding fuel to the fire.
I sighed and gave him a look, but it didn’t make him back down.
He returned the same harsh look, letting me know that nothing I did would make a difference to him.
"My friend was sick and needed me at the time. I’m really sorry, Gigi." I finally straightened my posture and apologized.
But in return, she only nodded silently.
"I’m truly sorry. Do you think I did it on purpose? Do you seriously see me as someone who would do that?"
I asked her in a much calmer tone than I would have used with anyone else.
I was only known to speak kindly to my own family.
Even then, my brothers and I fought a lot.
Theodore and I had plenty of disagreements.
Probably because Theodore was a sucker.
He always knew exactly what to say.
He was really good with words, so he would create situations that made me look bad.
We always ended up arguing because of it.
"Then you should have made it on time, as expected of you," he spoke up again.
I shot him a long glare.
When I looked back at Gigi, I realized she was watching us.
"It’s okay," she said immediately.
That was what I liked about her.
She always tried to make things easier for us.
She never wanted us to argue or fight, which was why she acted like everything was fine, even now.
I didn’t know why, but Gigi was a close friend.
Someone I could genuinely play chess with.
She was good at everything, and I liked that.
Even though my brothers and I loved each other, we didn’t spend much time laughing together.
It was mostly business, or we’d sit together in silence and share a drink.
But with Gigi, I found myself playing chess and exploring new things.
She was a good friend, to be honest.
"No, it’s okay. You don’t have to fight your emotions just because you don’t want us to fight."
As expected, Theodore spoke up again.
"Do you have any idea how much thought and effort she put into this dinner?" he muttered, shaking his head at me in disappointment.
I held up a finger to stop him.
"You know, Theodore, this is actually hurting her more," I commented, trying to make him understand that not everything had to be treated as some form of entertainment.
Thankfully, calling him out made him shut up because he cherished her just as much as I did. fгeewebnovёl.com
She was a good friend to all of us, and we’d never had a woman like her in our lives before, so we were naturally protective of her.
"Okay, guys, please just stop it," she said, pointing at both of us.
"Now, I have just one request, Jaguar. Please say you won’t deny it," she pleaded, giving me that innocent look.
"You can ask for anything," I replied.
Of course, I wanted to make up for the fuck-up from last night.
"So, I picked up Rochelle for some work at the bank, and I promised I’d drop her off afterward. But now I’m waiting for Ragnar to finish his workout so I can have coffee with him. Can you please drop her off?" she asked sweetly, her eyes squeezed shut and her lips pouted.
"Of course I will do that."
As soon as I said it, Gigi happily clapped her hands and turned to look at Rochelle.
That was when I looked at her too.
Of course, I’d seen her around before.
She was an attractive woman.
Not to the point of driving me crazy, though.
Or maybe I was just being unfair.
It was hard to compare her, or anyone else, to the goddess named Verity.
But honestly, I had expected her to ask Theodore to drop Rochelle off.