Chapter 224 - WV Steakhouse (2)

Seeing that Jeff has no intention to explain the 'Jeff-Jeff' nickname, Aiden spoke. "When mom wants us to do something, she uses a special nickname. Based on how she calls us, we have a good guess of her mood and intentions. When mom uses Jeff-Jeff, it means that he needs to do something he will probably not like, and he does not have an option to refuse."

Sarah felt like laughing, but seeing how Jeff is in a bad mood, she suppressed it.

She looked at Aiden. "You are talking not only about Jeff, right? What is your no-option-to-refuse nickname?" Her lips curved up into a mischievous smile.

Aiden felt that Sarah is ready to tease him, and didn't respond, pretending that he didn't hear her question.

"Den-Den...", Jeff spoke while smirking at Aiden. "Mom calls him Den-Den." Since Aiden ratted out on him, he will not lose the opportunity to get back at him.

Pfft! Sarah could not hold back her laughter, seeing the why-are-you-embarrassing-me-on-purpose face Aiden made when Jeff revealed this obviously sensitive information.

Aiden frowned at Sarah. "You think it's funny?"

"Not the nickname... Den-Den is rather cute... but your face is hilarious... Den-Den..." Sarah teased.

Aiden sighed. "You have no idea how many stressful memories that nickname carries for me."

Sarah thought for few seconds before leaning in towards Aiden. "Maybe I will call you Den-Den and help you create nice memories that will overshadow the stressful ones."

Aiden's face showed his approval, and he started leaning in toward Sarah, obviously going in for a kiss, when Jeff's grouchy voice was heard. "Hey, you two... keep in mind that you are not alone..." After saying that, Jeff wondered, why was he so upset seeing Sarah and Aiden flirt with each other? He never cared about those things before, but now it made him feel… lonely.

At that time Isabella arrived. A young man in a black suit, obviously a bodyguard, followed her closely behind.

"I hope I'm not very late." Isabella smiled while looking at Sarah.

"Not at all, we just arrived. Come, sit here... Jeff, let her sit next to me." Sarah made Jeff move so that Isabella can sit next to Sarah on the inside while Jeff and Aiden sat at the edges of the half circle shaped booth. Isabella's bodyguard took a seat at a bar which has a good view of their booth.

They ordered drinks and food and enjoyed the show while chefs prepared food in front of their table. Seeing how Isabella and Sarah chatted, Jeff was very happy with his idea to invite two of them to join.

While they ate, Sarah and Isabella talked about ancient Greece and Isabella's upcoming exhibition, while Aiden and Jeff were quietly contemplating.

Aiden was thinking about the fact that Ed knows details about Sarah while she is on campus. He believes that someone close to Sarah is working with Ed as an informant... and there is only one suspect that would know all the information about Sarah that Ed revealed... and that is Vivian. Sarah is convinced that he has some camera in her room, but Aiden thinks that does not make sense. With camera, he would see much more of what she is doing, her activities as Sigma, and even when she is changing... this made Aiden frown and he fought to suppress his anger of the idea that someone is watching Sarah. But if Ed knew about that because of camera, why would he bring up something so innocent as playing games. The only reasonable explanation is that there is no camera. And Ed does not know details about Sarah's activities as Sigma or anything riskier, because Sarah didn't reveal that to Vivian. If it is Vivian, it will break Sarah's heart. She is hard to open up to people, and she trusts Vivian. Aiden does not want to share his suspicion with Sarah, not without evidence... he needs to find a way to get undeniable evidence that Vivian is working with Ed first.

Jeff is thinking about Isabella and how did he get into this situation... His father thinks this is a good deal, he gets a company that will merge with White corp. and also a daughter in law. His mom was always pouring herself into the family selflessly, and she supports this because she does not want him to stay single, and since he never voiced any objections, she assumes that he agrees with the arrangement.

What will happen if he tells Oscar and Elanor that he does not want to proceed with this? Oscar will be a problem... business is business. Unless he has something of equal or better value in exchange, it will be difficult to convince Oscar. But Elanor... she might support him, as long as he can show her that his other choice will bring him happiness.

What is his other choice? JoAnna? How does he feel about her? He feels something, but he himself can't define it. What is this obsession with her that he is not able to shake off? He can't get her out of his mind… and when he thinks about her, his whole body is trembling from desire to see her, to be close to her, to touch her… Is that love? Can he even be certain that it's real? Does JoAnna feel anything about him? Probably not... but maybe, in time, she will... But for that he needs to have time and to be with her. And how to get woman to love him? He never did anything like seducing a woman... he does not know where to start. He raised his head and looked at Aiden. 'Yes! My brother got Sarah! He can give me pointers... and Sarah is JoAnna's sister. Even without knowing JoAnna's contact information, if I stick close to Sarah, eventually I will find out more about JoAnna, and maybe even get to meet her. And I don't need to become stalker.'

Jeff started polishing his plans of getting closer to JoAnna and seducing her, while completely forgetting the fact that next to him is a woman who is supposed to become his wife in near future.