Chapter 144 - Find Him

AMY'S ROOM

Amy was sitting on her bed with her back resting on the head board, while Lair pulled the chair by her dressing table and sat on it in a way he could rest his head on the backrest while he stared at Amy. She looked frail and pale, most probably from all the thinking she had done last night. She had a hard time sleeping last night, and he had tried his best to coax her to sleep. She had only slept at the early hours of the morning and now was already awake and she looked horrible.

"So what are you going to do now?" Lair asked with concern.

"I don't know" Amy sighed and replied. She has thought long and hard about it, but she still didn't know what to do or how to go about the whole situation.

"You know we have to do something about this. You have to really think about things and come up with a decision. What you're going to do? Do you want to go find him? And if you do find him, what's next? What do you say? What will you do to fix all troubles our mother has brought upon on him and his family? Because of what Ethan said is true, then I guess he never had the opportunity to go to school" Lair's vein popped at the thought of that. How sinister could their mother be. He signed and continued.

"And if that is true, then he must be leading a tough life and I wonder how he and his family have been coping all these years. How do we fix that?" Lair laid all the facts before Amy. She was the one who knew the man and the one who is centered in all this, therefore she should know how to handle the matter. He can't make any decision for her, but he can only support whatever decision she makes.

He could tell what her decision would be. He knew the kind of thoughts that were going through her head at the moment, because if he were to be in her shoes he'd probably think and feel the same way...and that was the feeling of guilt.

Guilt because, if Michael hadn't been fallen in love with Amy, then he wouldn't have suffered such cruel fate from their mother, he'd probably be having things going on well for him, and he wouldn't have suffered all the pain their mother must have inflicted on him and his family.

Amy raised her knee and buried her face between them. Her shoulders slowly began to tremble, and he knew she was crying. Lair climbed onto the bed and wrapped his arm around her. With his hand slowly patting her back.

"Shh, it's okay" He consoles her as be kept stroking her back gently. Amy turned and buried her face on his chest as she sobbed harder.

Lair didn't know what to do to console her, but his veins were twitching badly, a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

His mother has outdone herself this time, and he despised her for doing this to Amy, to the family. What has the poor girl done, to deserve such cruel treatment for her? He hated to compare but he preferred Jade's mom to his. Grace would always put her children's happiness first, and not go about inflicting pain on them.

All he wanted to do to meet his mother and talk some sense into her head. It was high time somebody in the family did that. How could she be so destructive of her family, and yet she had the right to sleep peacefully at night. In as much as he wanted to barge into his mother's room and talk some sense into her, he also knew he had to calm Amy down.

"Don't worry I'll help you. You've got me" Lair said in a soft and gentle tone. While Amy nodded gently.

"Do you want me to call Jade?" Lair asked, but Amy declined by shaking her head. She didn't want to stress Jade out by involving her in all this. Jade has been the one who had consoled her when Micheal broke up with her and even when Blake rejected her. Jade has alway been with her through thick and thin.

Now, she didn't want to be an extra burden, and knowing the kind of person Jade was, she'd be truly disturbed if she got to find out.

Amy lifted her head as she slowly pulled away from her brother's embrace. She raised her gaze to him as she tried stifling her tears, she said, "Lair, I want to find him, and make things right, please help me". Lair looked down at her and gave her an understanding nod,

"I will help you."

**********

Jade and Jake were both enjoying each others company, as they stayed by the lake side, enjoying the cool breeze and scenery while engaging themselves in different forms of conversation.

Jade was surprised by how juvenile and funny Jake could be, the guy got a lot of jokes and she had laughed so much that her stomach started to hurt.

Jake stared at Jade as she threw her head back and laughed at something he just said. He was entranced by her. The way she laughed without much caution, attracted him even more. She wasn't like the other girls who'd fake a smile or laugh in a robotic manner, like their jaws would break if they laughed too much.

"You have a beautiful smile" Jake suddenly said before he could hold his words back. He felt like had said this before, he wasn't sure. But he was regretful for suddenly blurting that out.

Jade swallowed at the compliment. Her smile slowly disappeared from her face, as she blinked rapidly. She didn't know how to reply to his compliment.

"Ermm...Thank you" She muttered out in an awkward tone. The atmosphere suddenly became awkward afterwards.

"Uhm..So tell me how have you guys been enjoying ProGuard?" Jake asked, trying to make things less awkward. He thought about bring up a more comfortable conversation.

"Your software program?" Jade asked rhetorically, while Jake nodded.

"It's been great. As a matter of fact it's beyond great. Your company's software is such a master piece, it makes me wonder who could have come up with a brilliant idea. That person must be a genius. It would be an honour to see such a great mind. In fact, I'll give him or her a big hug. That was mind blowing" Jade rambled enthusiastically. She has always wondered who the brain behind that project was.

Jake who has started this conversation to engage her in a less awkward conversation after his tongue slip, and also to get an honest review from her, was now staring at her intensely. A mischievous thought dropped into mind.

"Are sure you'd give that person a hug?" Jake asked, his gaze was intent.

"Of course and I'll probably take them out on a lunch date." Jade declared without much consideration. She was too carried away thinking about the genius behind the anti-hack software, that she didn't notice the smile on Jake's face.

"Then I'll be looking forward to that" Jake said with a impish smile.

"Huh??" Jade blinked confusedly. 'What was he looking forward too'