Chapter 769 - You’ve got Eve (1)

~ Los Angeles, Mediterranean Villa ~

Earlier that evening…

Jeff, JoAnna, Felix, Sophia, Aiden and Sarah are in the living room.

Jeff and JoAnna are great hosts, and the long table is filled with variety of snacks, and each of the people present has a drink in front. Sofas are extremely comfortable, and the company is great. They could spend the whole night here, but Sarah sees that Sophia is yawning, and it is getting late… and they are here for a reason. Five of them know what the reason is, only Jeff is in the dark. It is time for a big reveal… to let Jeff know that they have a permanent house guest (or a guardian): Eve.

They all agreed that Sarah should do the reveal, and she asked Aiden to help her out if needed. Of course, he will help her out even if she didn't ask in advance.

It's up to Sarah to start, and she is actually nervous about this!

Sarah cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "Last night, there was some story-sharing about our future bride and groom. I wanted to share few stories, but I found them inappropriate for outside of our small circle. Is it OK if I speak now?"

Jeff shrugged, while others nodded excitedly in agreement.

Sarah grinned and started her practiced speech: "I must admit that I was probably the last one out of everyone present to find out that Jeff is after JoAnna, in a romantic way. And that is probably a good thing, because if I found out earlier, Jeff would not have a chance to get close to my sister."

Sarah glanced at Aiden. "Aiden was Jeff's accomplice in keeping it a secret from me, and I still don't know how to get back at him for that. But back to the topic... No matter how much I blame Aiden or anyone else from keeping it as a secret from me, it is my fault that I missed number of obvious signs which were right in front of my face. At that time, I didn't see it, but when I think about it now… it makes sense… I remember when Jeff came to our apartment in Fairfield with a goal to get information related to JoAnna. To butter me up, he brought a big bouquet of flowers which is absolutely uncharacteristic for him." Sarah smiled and raised her voice. "Eve, show on the living room TV evidence number one."

Big TV screen behind Sarah showed photo of Jeff inside hallway with a large bouquet of flowers.

Everyone turned to Jeff who was looking at the TV intently. He was slightly frowning, but no one could guess what is on his mind.

Sarah continued: "If I thought a bit about his sudden flower-giving, I would catch that he wants something unusual from me… Next thing I missed is when we had a conference call. He asked me to talk to JoAnna and thanks to a misunderstanding, everyone here except for Felix ended up joining that call. At that time, Jeff was sitting right next to me and I missed that he was absolutely smitten with Anna. I still remember that Aiden scolded me saying that I'm smart, yet I fail to see what is in front of me."

Sarah raised her voice again. "Eve, show us evidence number two."

TV screen behind Sarah showed a photo of Sarah sitting in Aiden's lap in front of the laptop, and next to them is Jeff staring like possessed at the laptop screen.

Sarah continued talking while pointing at the TV screen. "Look at Jeff's face. I have no idea how come I didn't see that drool at the corner of his mouth. He was in a state which can be described as almost-catatonic, sitting right next to me for more than half an hour… and I didn't notice."

Sarah turned to Jeff who was staring at the TV screen.

Everyone looked at Jeff, waiting for his reaction. Anything… there was nothing.

Sarah exhaled. "While on the topic of being non-responsive… Jeff, do you have something to say?"

JoAnna nudged Jeff and he was pulled out of his daze.

Jeff frowned while his eyes didn't leave big TV screen. "How did you get Eve to show things on our TV?"

After few seconds, Jeff narrowed his eyes at Sarah. "I thought I was clear that I don't like you hacking into my private network."

Sarah sighed and looked at Aiden. "I need your help. He is off the mark, and if I try to explain he will not believe me."

Aiden understood that Sarah is giving up on subtle hints and that Jeff misunderstood. He thinks that Sarah used Eve to hack into his house!

"It's not hacking if Eve is already here.", Aiden told Jeff.

"Already here?", Jeff repeated suspiciously.

By now he understood that Sarah and Aiden are telling him that Eve MIGHT be in the house. But how is that possible? Considering his previous experiences, he does not dare make rash assumptions.

"What does that mean?" Jeff did his best to look (and sound) cool.

JoAnna could not let these people make fun of her future husband by dragging this any longer. "Silly, they gave us Eve in our home as a wedding present."

"How?" Jeff has difficulty believing it. He wants Eve for such a long time, and Sarah is refusing… and now Eve is here because he is getting married to JoAnna?

JoAnna smiled seeing how slowly Jeff's doubt is turning into glee while she spoke: "Sarah and Aiden spent hours here setting up everything needed for Eve while you were at work."

Jeff's face lit up. In two steps he was in front of Sarah and he gave her a big hug while chanting excitedly: "Thank you, thank you, thank you…"

Jeff held Sarah so tightly, that his hand was hurting. It took him a second to realize that his hand is hurting because Aiden was holding onto his wrist, pressing some pressure points he does not understand, but it made his whole arm prickly painful and numb.

"Five seconds is enough.", Aiden squeezed through his teeth.

Jeff let go of Sarah and fumed at his brother: "How can you be so… violent!?? It's just a 'thank you' hug! And I am your brother!" Jeff was shaking his half-numb arm, happy that numbness is disappearing quickly.

Aiden looked sternly at Jeff. "First of all, since when are you a hugger? Second, because you are my brother I gave you five seconds! If you feel the need to hug someone there is Anna… or you can hug me. But not Sar…"

Aiden's words were cut off when he found himself trapped in Jeff's tight hug.