Contract Marriage; Fated Love

“Jess?”

“Yeah. That’s me.”

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“Jess! Jess! Jess please don’t leave. We can sort things out. I know you didn’t mean it.”

“I meant it and could have done worse, get that into your head.”

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“Noah!” Jessy called when he saw Noah was absent minded. Noah jolted back to reality and stared at him coldly.

“Jess, what do you want?”

“You really haven’t changed.”

“Get out of my way, Jessy. Move!”

“This isn’t time to yell. You should be happy to see me after all these years.”

“Happy!” Noah snorted with annoyance.

“Yes. Happy.”

“And why on earth should I be happy to see you? After what you did? Move, Jess. You are obstructing my movement,” Noah finished and made to walk away. But Jessy stopped him.

“Not so fast, man.”

“Don’t force me to push you out of the way.”

Jessy looked at him and smiled oddly.

Noah was obviously taller, bigger and more muscular than he was. A single push from Noah was enough to send him flying in the air and he knew that too well. But he wasn’t disturbed. He placed his hands on Noah’s shoulders and smiled saying,

“You wouldn’t do that, would you? You can’t bear to, right?”

Noah took a deep breath and a sigh escaped his firm and sexy lips.

“Move,” he said, taking Jessy’s hands off his shoulder. When Jessy didn’t move out, Noah carefully pushed him aside and made way for himself to pass. Jessy didn’t stop him, he just watched him walk away until there was no trace of him.

Noah got to the underground car park and went straight to his car.

“Jessy?” he murmured.

Meeting Jessy, whom he least expected to see and whom he thought he wasn’t ever going to meet in his lifetime; brought to mind what he had forgotten years back.

Jessy and Noah were very good friends while their fathers were worst enemies. Jessy played with Noah every other day and they were inseparable. They played together in the Harper family garden. It was always Jessy, Noah and sometimes, a girl called Mabel. Noah and Jessy didn’t let their fathers differences ruin their relationship. They loved each other to a fault and no one would bear to hurt the other or see him hurt. Their parents tried to break the bond between the boys, but all their efforts proved abortive.

Noah and Jessy attended the same primary school and high school. Their parents didn’t want them to attend the same school but none wanted to take their child out of the prestigious school because of the other. They fought for supremacy and none wanted to be the weaker one.

Noah exhaled deeply and looked at his upper arm where the scar was supposed to be. It was no longer there, all thanks to Dr. Alex’s medical knowledge and expertise.

Jessy stabbed him ten years ago.

That evening, he just got out of the meeting room. His father was preparing to hand over the business to him and was taking him along for business meetings. The business wasn’t as grand as it is now.

“Hey guy!” Jessy greeted.

“Ahhhh! Jess! Jess!! I haven’t seen you for some days now. I hope you are good.”

“Of course. I am, and you?”

“Never better.”

“Why are you smiling so broadly?”

“That’s because I’m happy that I’m almost there.”

Jessy stared at him blankly.

“There? Where is ‘there’, please?”

“The company. Dad is making the final plans to let me take over. We just rounded up a meeting. I’m famished and all that’s in my head now is food.”

“Let’s go home.”

“No. I need to eat. I will have the servants fix me something before I do anything else.”

“Common Noah. You can still eat at my place. It’s a good evening to hang out.”

Noah thought for a moment and accepted.

“Alright. But whatever happens, it’s food first, deal?”

“Hungry boy. Deal.”

And they both laughed and went out.

They sat on the balcony of the second floor after eating.

“The food was delicious. I enjoyed it.”

“Anyone who looks at you won’t believe how much food you eat.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“Oh no! I don’t.”

“Yes, you do. You ate everything on your plate.”

After their laughter died down, Noah took out his phone and began operating it.

“Where do we go this evening?”

There was no response from Jessy for twenty seconds.

“Jess?”

Still no response. Noah was forced to turn. Jess was standing behind him with a penknife.

“Jessy? What’s the knife for?”

“Ahhh!” he screamed as Jessy pushed the knife into his stomach. Fortunately, he was putting on a protective outfit and the knife only gave him a small cut. He didn’t have time to take it off after wrestling practice earlier that evening. He just rushed off to the meeting in the company.

“Jessy?”

Jessy flashed the knife dangerously at him and stabbed him on his shoulder. Noah screamed as blood gushed from his shoulder. He held Jessy and they struggled with the knife. Noah was stronger and could have pushed Jessy down the balcony but his heart wouldn’t let him. He loved Jessy even at that point. He knew Jessy wouldn’t survive a push down the balcony because he knew Jessy’s strengths and weaknesses like the back of his palm. Noah then jumped down from the second floor. He landed successfully on his feet and struggled to his car. He drove off groaning in pain as blood poured uncontrollably out of his wound.

Jessy came to see him at the hospital the following day. There was no trace of regret or apology in his eyes. He stared blankly at his friend for a while and turned to go.

“Jess! Jess!! Jess! Please don’t leave. We can sort things out. I know you didn’t mean it,” Noah called out to him.

“I meant it and could have done worse if you hadn’t escaped! Get that into your head. I wanted you dead.”

“Dead? Why? What is my offence? Where did I go wrong?”