Tell Me Again, My Love

But his thought was proven wrong when the person who came out from the black Mercedes was Ryn.

Instead of following the butler into the building, Ryn approached him."h.e.l.lo.  How"s are you, Jacob?" she asked and added before Jacob could answer the first question, "Visiting Jeremy?"

"h.e.l.lo, Miss Catherine. I am fine, thank you. Is Jeremy here, I mean available?" Jacob quickly corrected himself.

He walked with her toward the house, gave a slight nod to the butler who was patiently waiting for them.

"How is Jeremy?" instead of answering the question, Ryn asked the question to the butler. As she just arrived here, clearly she could not answer the question on behalf of Jeremy. She looked at the elder man expectedly.

"Young Master has taken his lunch and pills for the afternoon. In about an hour or so, the dinner will be served," the butler reported politely, treating Ryn as if she was the Mistress of the house.

Jacob"s brows lifted at the treatment but he did not comment upon that.

It seemed like his boss has managed to make Ryn his girlfriend. Maybe soon he would be busy preparing for the engagement and then wedding.

"Is it okay for Jacob to see him?" Ryn rephrased her question when the butler gave the wrong answer. She knew what Jacob was thinking but too lazy to correct the man"s mindset.

"I will ask him now."

Both watched as the butler walked up the stair to Jeremy"s room. Then, Ryn invited Jacob to sit in the living room, acting as a hostess when she could not see or hear Mika anywhere. Mika must be still at the office and with her fiance, Jason. 

"How are you feeling now?" Jacob asked, looking at Ryn, concern was full in his voice when he saw the bandages still on her.

"I feel better," she replied shortly. She should expect this kind of question but it still made her uneasy and the experience kept bombarding into her mind. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself.

Jacob turned panic when he saw that. Great. Had he made her mad or sad or something?

The scene that welcomed Jeremy when he entered the living room area was of Ryn sitting so still with her eyes closed tight and her face grimaced, and Jacob with panic eyes looking at Ryn wordlessly. Jeremy sighed, could actually guess what happened. He noticed each time they ask Ryn about her condition while looking at her wounds, she turned like this.

"Jacob," he broke their silence with his voice and took the seat beside Ryn. Without a word, he wrapped an arm around her, comforting her. Her body was so stiff and tense.

"Relax. Go have rest in your room. They will call you for dinner," he whispered gently.

She quickly stood up and if she was being chased by a wild animal, she ran up the stairs. 

Jeremy and Jacob watched until they could no longer hear her footsteps, then looked at each other. Jeremy waved his hand when Jacob inquired about his health. As they all could see, he was no longer under any pain. He was just plain resting at home.

"Sir, about the press conference," Jacob started after he was done reporting what happened to the company and handed reports to his boss.

"Has the date been chosen? What about the investigation?" Jeremy asked, his face no longer has the smile he had when Ryn was still here. Although just now he looked serious, right now coldness seeped out from his body to the living room.

Jacob s.h.i.+vered unconsciously. He tried not to hug himself. So cold and scary!

"About... about the investigation, they found that the man was really the kidnapper. But... but they are still in puzzle on why the body was like that. They had no clue who did that but do not reject the idea it was by someone who was closed to the previous victims or someone who was trying to save a new victim from him," Jacob recalled what the police in charge told him.

"Hmm..." Jeremy looked afar, deep in his thought. Something did smell funny somewhere but he could not find what it was.

"Sir?"

"The press conference?" Jeremy asked again.

"According to them, it would be held tomorrow morning at their office. My team will go there as well to observe. Miss Mei Li would be there as well," Jacob reported.

"Hmm..."

Jacob was actually nervous seeing how quiet Jeremy was. He knew his boss was thinking of something. Hopefully, it would not be too hard in a short period of time to be done.

"Is that all?" Jeremy finally asked after about 2 long minutes.

"There is nothing else for me to report, sir," Jacob replied.

"Then, you can leave. Good job," Jeremy stood up and walked to the stairs. But as he neared the huge white stairs, he stopped and turned to look at Jacob.

"Finish the snack," Jeremy ordered.

Jacob looked at the plate of chocolate moist cake and a small bowl of strawberry jelly. He gulped. Finish all?

Jeremy stopped in front of Ryn"s room. It was, as he predicted it, closed tight. Jeremy leaned his back against the door and closed his eyes. From the silence in the room, Ryn must be already sleeping. 

They were so close yet so far. He thought it would make it easier to make her his but his plan could not go forward when she being her serious mood. She would take care of him as if he was a child but once she saw hin slowly getting better, she only gave a slight attention, just making sure he ate his meal and medicine and not to work too hard, focussing on giving his body a lot of rest.

But he told himself it was better than her giving him a cold shoulder.

He sighed after a while and started to move to his own room. He closed the door and went straight to the sofa. He sat on it, staring at the wall quietly. 

"Young Master."

He looked at the butler who came in. "What is it?"

"Miss Catherine just informed me she will not join you for dinner," the butler told politely.

"I understand. You can go now."

The butler nodded his head politely and excused himself. He did not even forget to lock the door on the way out of the room.l

Jeremy leaned his head against the cus.h.i.+on and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath to stay calm. 

It seemed like Ryn was still unable to control her emotion. She tried hard not to show it but each time someone asked her about her condition, she could no longer hold onto the poker face or the smiling mask on her face. It was as if she was trying hard not to show her emotion but it was eating her inside.

What could he do to help her?

*~*~*~*

Ryn looked at her naked body silently. Instead of wrapping herself in the bathrobe after the shower, she stared at herself in the mirror in her most natural state. She even took off all the bandages, revealing all the wounds that were healing up. 

The price of being safe.

Was she truly safe?

She finally put on the bathrobe and walked slowly toward her bed. Instead of putting on her clothes and prepared herself for dinner, she just lied on the bed, curling herself, and closed her eyes tightly.

When would this nightmare go away?

Was this a sign for her to make up her mind?

But the worry of being in pain like two years ago made her heart unwilling to enter the same state again.

She reached for her phone and looked for a name. It did not take long before her call went through.

"h.e.l.lo, sweetheart. Are you alright?"

"Mom?"

It seemed like she kept calling her mother for advice every other day. Luckily her mother always answered the call and was not even mad despite the weird time she needed to talk with her mother.

"Yes, darling. I am here."

"What... What if I move in with you?"

There was a pause.

"Why do you want to do that?" her mother asked carefully. Ryn never once asked to follow them before. She would rather live alone than moving from one place to another. And Ryn also never liked when she knew it was hard to eat her favourite meat and junk food when she was with them. That was why they also deliberately living apart from their daughter for quite some time, just to give Ryn some s.p.a.ce to be herself.

"I"m not sure," Ryn murmured frustratedly. The thought of living with her parents suddenly popped into her mind while she was waiting for her mother to answer the call. It felt like it was the best choice.

But she still had a lot of commitments to do and could not live far from where she was right now!