Chapter 59 - In Love

Jackson returned to the lab just as Max arrived with dinner. Unlike earlier, Max seemed to be quite cheerful and chirpy.

As he laid out dinner on the table, he began to whistle and hum a tune.

Jackson walked over to his friend and looked at him suspiciously. "Did something good happen this afternoon?" he asked.

Max blushed like a little girl and replied, "I met Cleo and she helped me feed Coco. I think I'm in love..."

Jackson looked at Max confusedly. Who was Cleo and who was Coco???

Halia quickly laughed, "I see you met my neighbor."

Jackson quickly turned to Halia for an explanation.

"Cleo's my neighbor and Coco's my dog," she explained with a giggle.

Jackson nodded his head before he turned back to his friend. "How can you be in love when you only just met?" he asked.

"Love isn't measured by time. It's a feeling. When you find the right person, you will know they are the one. It cannot be explained by words nor logic," the man replied with a twinkle in his eye.

"Where did you learn that from?" Jackson asked. He had never seen Max with a girlfriend before, when did he turn into a love expert?

Max cleared his throat and answered, "I've been watching a lot of Korean dramas lately. I picked up a few things here and there."

Jackson laughed at his inexperienced friend. However, he had no explanation for love either. The only love that Jackson felt, was the love he had for his parents and siblings, but ever since he left home at 18, he had not felt love again.

At that moment, he subconsciously looked at Halia. Halia had already begun to eat the food that Max brought and she was shoving it into her mouth like she hadn't eaten in days. Jackson felt his heart warm up. Even something as simple as eating with this woman seemed to put a smile on his face. He had never felt this way about a woman before.

Max noticed this smile, so he quickly nudged Jackson. "How could you be questioning me, when you're completely in love with sister-in-law?" he teased.

Jackson looked at his friend in surprise. Sure, this woman fascinated him, he had been fascinated by her since the first day they met at the hospital. But...love?

"It can't be love," he thought to himself. It was just curiosity and attraction, right?

The first day they met at the hospital, when Halia flipped Kevin in self defence, she already piqued Jackson's interest. It was this interest that led him to follow her that night to the restaurant where she met with Eric. Jackson was actually outside when Halia walked into the restaurant and started talking to Eric in the booth behind her. It was no coincidence that Jackson ended up sitting opposite her, he deliberately did it to see how she'd react. Her movements were so odd and secretive that he knew his initial instincts were right, there was more to this woman. And when she acted like she didn't know Eric, it confirmed his suspicions even more. In fact, he began to suspect that she was a detective or a spy of some sort, he just didn't know who she worked for. Was she a private investigator, a journalist...or a police officer? Either way, he wanted to know more about her.

Jackson had always been curious like that. That's how he figured out Marcus was an undercover officer long before Marcus knew anything about who Jackson really was. In fact, Marcus would have never known who Jackson was if Jackson didn't reveal himself to him.

A few months before returning to Beijing, Jackson had actually contacted Marcus and told him who he was and what his plan was. He needed help to get set up in Beijing and Marcus was the perfect person to ask. That's why Marcus trained up some men to help Jackson and began to spread rumors about how great he was. If not for Marcus, it would have taken Jackson a lot of effort to attract Remy Durand's attention and gain a reputation in the Beijing underworld.

Jackson thought he was treating Halia the same as Marcus at first. Until the night when he carried her out of the bar and she kissed him. That night, he realized, she was very different. The only way he could explain this difference was attraction. Halia was beautiful and he was attracted to her. It was as simple as that.

But, a lot had happened since then and he grew a lot closer to Halia. They even shared a proper kiss that morning. So, Jackson began to wonder, had this simple attraction developed into something more? Now that he knew her true identity, could he let down his guard and open up his heart to her?