Chapter 42


    Serene felt the bright warm light touch her face. Her hand felt the space beside her. It was empty but


    still warm. Her eyes immediately opened to confirm what her hand felt. Indeed, she’s alone on the bed.


    Her eyeszily explored the room in search of him.


    Unable to see him anywhere, she sat up, rested her head on the headboard, then looked nkly at the


    space in front of her.


    Justinzily looked at her. His arms across his chest, his body resting on the bathroom’s jamb, one of


    his feet crossed in front of the other. A smirk formed on his lips as he watched her dazed look on her


    face.


    He peeled himself away from the doorjamb; then hezily walked towards her. He gave her pouting lips


    a quick kiss, then shuffled the hair on top of her head. “Good morning, sleepyhead”.


    “Where did you go?” her husky voice sounded sexy, Justin felt a change in his body.


    “I was just in the bathroom. Get up, let’s have brunch.” He pulled her arms to separate her from the


    bed. Shezily lifted herself and got out of the bed.


    She took a quick shower and in less than fifteen minutes got out wrapped in a bathrobe. She cannot


    help but smile when she saw clothes lined up on the bed.


    She approached Justin and wrapped her arms around his neck, then gave his lips a quick peck.


    “Thanks for preparing these”.


    She put on the clothes he picked. He chose a simple wrap around dress. It fell just a couple of inches


    above her knee. She put on a light makeup and curled the ends of her hair.


    “Let’s go?” she asked Justin soon as she finished. He’s watching financial news while working on his


    iPad. Hearing her, he turned off the television then set aside hisptop.


    She never failed to take his breath away. He wanted to forget about lunch and would rather gobble her


    up again. The dressplemented her body, hugging her in the right ces. She showed just enough


    cleavage.


    “Are you okay to have Chester and Bryan join us?” he questions her tentatively. He knew the tension


    among them, and he did not want to put her to a situation where she’d feel ufortable.


    “It’s fine,” she smiled at him. “It’s bound to happen eventually, so why dy?” she extended her hand to


    him which he took then they walked out of his suite.


    They drove to a small restaurant outside the business district. The restaurant sits at the top of a cliff


    overlooking the bay.


    When they arrived, Bryan and Chester already sat on a table with an unobstructed view of the clear


    blue sky and water. From a distance, they seem to be happily chatting with each other.


    Chester caught sight of them first. He beamed at them, which made Bryan turn around. He gave them


    a quick smile before turning his attention back to Chester.


    Justin pulled the chair directly across from Chester. Serene took a seat and smiled at him. He then sat


    beside her.


    The restaurant served French cuisine. She ordered lobster thermidor while he stuck with his usual


    steak.


    “I heard you’re working for Rain International again,” Chester broke the silence.


    “Working with,” she smiled at him. “But yes, I’m helping implement their expense management


    software.” Serene knew that he just wanted to have something to talk about, given that the air in their


    table was tense. So she willingly indulged him.


    “I heard Mary finally opened her clothing line,” it’s Bryan.


    “Yeah, finally,” she smiled, her eyes glistened with pride for Mary’s achievement.


    “It’s surprising that you did not join her. Wasn’t that your n before?”


    It escaped her eyes when Justin’s mouth twitched from Bryan’s question. Although he knew he was


    just trying to carry out a conversation, bringing up intimate knowledge about her stabbed his heart.


    “It was. But then, I really don’t have a knack for fashion. That’s all Mary. I can support her in other


    aspects, but venturing on a business with her… I will probably just drag her down”.


    Their conversation got interrupted when the server brought their orders. Her mouth watered at the sight


    of her gorgeous lobster. From out of the blue, Bryan handed her a bottle of medicine. The twins’ brows


    knit in confusion from Bryan’s action.


    “Thanks, I got mine.” Serene took out a bottle of the same medicine from her pouch. She did not miss


    the look of confusion from the other people on the table. “I am allergic to seafood,” she exined. She


    specifically looked at Justin with pleading eyes and added, “But I really love them. As long as I take an


    antihistamine before eating seafood, I’ll be okay.”


    “En,” he answered and gave her a quick nod. He tried his best to hide his irritation from not knowing


    these details about her.


    She took a tablet from her medicine bottle, popped it in her mouth and drank water. After waiting for a


    couple of minutes, she happily dug in her lobster.


    Justin knew  Serene eats for pleasure. They’ve shared several meals together already, but he’s still


    amused by the facial expression she makes when eating. Her eyes brighten when she’s  fond of a dish.


    “Shen, baby!” there’s no need to guess who the neer was. The mboyant voice definitely


    belonged to Dn.


    She stood up from her chair and epted his hug. “Looking good, Kurosawa,” she smiled at him.


    “Ditto,” he gave her a wink before taking the empty chair on Chester’s left side, and opposite Justin’s.


    “Hello folks,” he greeted the rest.


    Seeing an addition to their group, the server promptly approached Dn to take his order.


    Serene put her utensils to the side of her te. She cocked her head to look intently at Dn’s tie. Her


    actions caught Justin’s eyes which made him give Dn the death stare, to which he just responded a


    questioning frown.


    “Mary gifted that tie to you,” Serene suddenly blurted out, surprising the rest of the table.


    “Are you asking me if she gave this to me?” Dn asked, looking confused. How the hell did she


    know?


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    “I know  Mary gifted that tie to you,” she smiled confidently at him. Her answer further added to Dn’s


    confusion. The wrinkles on his brows deepened.


    “I hand painted that fabric,” Serene dered. Dn’s eyes widened in surprise. He lifted his tie,


    switching his gaze from Serene to the essory he’s holding.


    Even Justin got shocked by her statement. He never had an inkling that Serene had an inclination to


    arts.


    Besides Bryan, the rest of the table looked at her with mouths wide open. Was it really hard to believe


    that she could paint?


    “Mary and I loved Diane von Furstenberg. A long time ago, we thought of opening a clothing line,


    where she makes the dresses and I paint the fabric,” she exined to them.


    “Wait, you painted this?” Dn still cannot get over from his disbelief.


    “She already said, she did, right?” Justin said amused.


    “I know… I know,” he hurriedly said to Justin, waving his hand to dismiss him. His brows furrowed once


    again and looked Serene straight to the eyes. “If you painted this, did you also write these words?” He


    removed the tie from around his neck and gave it to her.


    She did not need to look at the tie because she knew exactly what he meant, but she epted it. She


    flipped the necktie over. A string of words written in a script lined at the edge.


    “Yes, I wrote that too,” she answered, then pushed the necktie back to Dn.


    Chester’s curiosity got the better of him. When She saw him pick up the necktie, she reached out for


    Justin’s hand from under the table and squeezed it.


    She met his puzzled eyes with a smile. While everyone watched Chester. His expression changed from


    curiosity to confusion.


    He looked at Serene, then shifted his attention to Bryan.


    “Bry, look at this,” he handed over the necktie to Bryan, who did what he was told. The more Bryan


    stared at the painted words, the more the color on his face drained. He cannot help but dart a quick


    look at Serene, then wet his lips with his tongue.


    Serene continued to hold on to Justin’s hand. Her fingers inteced with his.


    “Aren’t those your vows on our wedding day?” Chester questioned him, then made a quick look at


    Serene, “Why is Serene saying she wrote those?”


    He grabbed the ss of water in front of him and took a sip. Bullets of sweat formed on his forehead.


    He cleared his throat, then looked at Chester, “Yes, she wrote it.”


    Hearing the confirmation, Chester immediately stood and walked away not bothering to say goodbye.


    Bryan followed him. While she continued to hold Justin’s hand tightly, afraid that he would also bolt out


    and leave her.


    She bravely craned her neck to look at him. She bit her bottom lip, her eyes looked at with


    apprehension. She could not read any expression from his face which made her heart pound in her


    chest. Is he angry?