Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 530: Mixed Feelings

The moment Mari walked into Jamal’s office, Jamal rose up from his seat and pretended to be surprised to see her.

“Mari? What are you doing here?” he asked with a frown.

Mari scowled at him, “What do you mean? What am I doing here? At this time of the day, I should be on my way to my office and not here in yours, but here I am because you chose to ghost me and not take my calls. What exactly is your problem?”

Jamal opened his mouth to respond, but Mari raised a finger before he could. “Tell me something, Jamal. Are you in love with me? You can be honest. I can take it.”

Jamal eyed her with a look of disgust in his face. “Why would you think such nonsense?”

“Why wouldn’t I? First of all, you looked like you swallowed something distasteful all through my engagement party. And then you left before everybody else. You even left your own girlfriend behind. And then you suddenly stopped taking my calls and have been avoiding me. If you were in my shoes, what would you think?” Mari asked, raising a perfectly arched brow.

Dawn, who was listening inside, nodded in agreement.

Mari’s deduction made a lot of sense, and if she didn’t know Jamal as much as she did, she’d probably wonder the same thing.

Jamal scowled at Mari. “If I were in your shoes? If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t make such ridiculous assumptions.”

“Great! Now I can relax,” she said dramatically. “So, if you’re not avoiding me because you suddenly realised you were in love with me after watching an incredible man sweep me off my feet, what then is the problem? Are you offended that I’m getting married before you?”

This time, Jamal glared at her. “Can you not make whatever is happening in my life about you? I have a lot going on, as I’m sure you’re aware. So, please do not add to my stress.”

“How can I not make it about me when the world revolves around me? I’m just like the sun, and the earth revolves around me! And you too don’t add to my stress!” Mari said dramatically as she plopped herself down on the sofa nearest to Jamal.

“Your stress?” Jamal asked, unable to believe his ears.

“Yes! I’m the one who is stressed right now, Jamal. Listen, my fiancé,” she started, raising her finger to Jamal’s face to show him her engagement ring, “is waiting in the car downstairs. I don’t want to keep him waiting. So let’s go straight to the point and keep this conversation short.”

Jamal rolled his eyes as he looked at the ring she was still holding up. “Can you take that thing off my face? I know you are engaged and I’ve seen the ring.”

“It is called flaunting, Jam. Since neither Emily nor Dawn are here and I can’t show off to them, I choose you to be the person I flaunt my ring to,” Mari said, placing her hand closer to his eyes.

This time Jamal laughed. “What happened to going straight to the point so you can meet your fiancé who is waiting downstairs?”

Mari smiled, relieved that he’d finally laughed as she had wanted him to.

“Right!” She said, then looked at him seriously again. “So, what’s up with you and your everlasting childhood sweetheart?”

“What’s up, like what?” Jamal asked innocently.

Mari scowled. “Jamal, I don’t have a lot of patience today. Please, don’t take me around in circles.”

Jamal almost laughed at that. Was this how she intended to beat some sense into him?

“Or what?” Jamal challenged.

Her scowl deepened, but she didn’t speak immediately.

She took a moment to remind herself that Jamal was upset and so was likely being deliberately annoying so that she would feel offended and leave.

“Or nothing, Jamal. I’m just worried about you. I got your text about Dawn…”

“I don’t want to talk about her,” Jamal said at once.

She reminded herself that Jax had told her to take Jamal’s side and not support Dawn.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t want to talk about her too if I were in your shoes,” Mari said, surprising not only Jamal but also Dawn, who was listening inside.

Why was Mari saying that? Was she trying to make things better or worse? Dawn wondered with a frown.

Jamal immediately glanced towards the door where Dawn was hiding.

“You wouldn’t?” Jamal asked, watching Mari closely to see if she was kidding.

“Of course not! What kind of girlfriend acts that way? Nah! You’re absolutely right to be offended. In fact, you should consider a break-up! I’m solidly behind you!”

Jamal frowned. “You are?”

Seeing the frown on his face, Mari felt encouraged, thinking that her plan was working and Jamal was getting annoyed that she was badmouthing Dawn.

She decided to go harder so that he would get pissed and rush to Dawn’s defence.

“Of course! Only God knows what she did with him behind closed doors. But then again, what do you expect? She grew up with Genevieve and maybe Genevieve rubbed off on her…”

Before Jamal could stop Mari from going further, the door opened and Dawn stepped out, glaring at Mari.

Mari blinked, startled to see Dawn. “Dawn, what are you doing here?”

“Really, Mari? Is this what you meant when you said you were going to talk some sense into Jamal?” Dawn asked angrily. “It is one thing to insult me this way, but did you have to bring Genevieve into this?”

“Calm down, Dawn,” Jamal said softly.

Mari slowly rose from her seat.

Her brows pulled together as she looked from Dawn to Jamal. “She has been here the whole time?”

Jamal nodded as he rose too.

He had no idea how to feel about the turn of things. He’d wanted them to surprise her in a good way and laugh over everything, not this.

He’d not expected Mari to say anything like that, and he was a bit taken aback because the Mari he knew never spoke ill of anyone this way.

And she wasn’t the type to be two-faced. Jamal knew if she really felt this way towards Dawn, she wouldn’t have pretended to be on Dawn’s side.

“Calm down?” Dawn asked Jamal incredulously, then turned to Mari. “So, if I hadn’t fixed things with Jamal, you would have come here to make things difficult while pretending to be trying to help? And you said we were friends?” Dawn asked with tears in her eyes now.

She was feeling both angry and hurt that the same Mari, who she had been feeling so grateful towards, had been a snake all along.

“You both already fixed things?” Mari asked in confusion, wondering why Dawn would lie to her about the state of things if they’d fixed things.

“Yes!” Dawn snapped at her. “We fixed things, thanks to you. But I guess I do not really owe you any thanks since I’m sure you’re not happy about it.”

Now Mari had mixed feelings.