One Wild Night



"I can't understand. This is all so sudden. He didn't look so frail last week when we all had dinner together. How could he die just like that?" Jade asked Bryan in disbelief as tears rolled down her cheeks while Bryan just sat where he was staring straight ahead of them.

His last conversation with his grandfather had been just the previous day when his grandfather called to congratulate him and Sonia, and to ask what they wanted for their wedding gift.

Before that he had called the moment he heard about Sonia's pregnancy to express his joy over expecting his first great grand child.

Who would have thought he would die so soon? Bryan mused as he blinked back his tears.

"Have you called mom or dad?" Bryan asked, since he had been unable to bring himself to do that since he heard the news from Tom.

"I tried calling dad but he didn't pick up. I haven't called mom yet. She must be so devastated. You know how close they were," Jade said, and Bryan nodded.

"What about you? Have you spoken with either of them?" Jade asked and Bryan shook his head.

"Can't. Don't know what to say to them," Bryan confessed, and Jade nodded as tears pooled in her eyes again.

"I wonder how dad is taking the news," Jade said, and Sonia who had just woken up and had walked into the living room looked from Bryan to Jade.

"What's going on? What news?" Sonia asked, not missing the grief on their faces.

Bryan rose when he saw her, "How are you feeling now?" He asked with concern.

"I feel much better. What's the problem?" Sonia repeated as she watched Jade brush her tears off.

"Our grandfather is dead," Bryan said, and Sonia gasped in surprise.

"What? How? When?" She asked in disbelief and Bryan told her what he had gotten from the news, since it was all over the place now.

"Oh, my God!" Sonia exclaimed softly as she lowered herself to one of the chairs.

"Will you be able to travel with us? We have to fly down to be with our parents," Bryan said, and Sonia nodded.

"Sure. That can't be helped," Sonia said, feeling saddened by the news.

Even if she had not been very close to the man and had only met him just a week ago, she felt sorry to hear he was gone. He had sounded so happy at the prospect of having his first great-grand child and now he was no more.

They all looked up when the door opened and Harry walked in. Immediately Jade saw him, she rose from her seat and walked into his embrace.

"Oh, Harry!" She cried as she broke into a sob once again.

Harry said nothing as he held her closely and patted her back as she cried while Bryan and Sonia excused themselves to go pack their bags upstairs.

"Everything will be alright, sugar," Harry said after a while.

"It's all just so sudden…"

"Death usually happens that way, love. And nothing ever really prepares you for it," Harry cut in as he kissed her forehead.

"Why are you here?" She asked as she looked up at him through her wet eye lids.

"Why do you think I'm here?" Harry asked and she sniffled.

"Thanks for coming. I'm sure you had stuff to do at the office," she said and Harry nodded.

"Yeah, I did. But none of them was as important as comforting you. I will get back to work after I see you off. Have you packed your stuff for the trip? Tom will be here soon," Harry said and Jade shook her head.

"I haven't. I can't bring myself to do anything," Jade said with a sniffle.

"Come on, I will help you pack so you can be ready before he gets here," Harry said as he took her hand to lead her upstairs.

Jade was still too grief-stricken to realize that Harry was going upstairs to her bedroom.

It wasn't until they stopped in front of her bedroom door and Harry turned the knob, that it suddenly occurred to her what was going on, and immediately she snapped out of her daze and stepped in front of him to block his path.

"What?" Harry asked in confusion.

"You can't come inside," Jade said, and he raised a brow.

"Why not?" He asked, wondering why she had allowed him come all the way upstairs only to block his path now.

"Because I don't want you inside my bedroom," Jade said, and Harry looked at her for a moment before giving her a nod.

"Alright. I will wait downstairs," he said and turned to leave, but that only made Jade feel guilty so she stopped him.

"It's because I didn't clean up my room before leaving," she blurted out, and Harry turned to look at her with a slightly raised brow.

"Is your bedroom in a worse state than I met your apartment when I visited you?" Harry asked, and Jade's lips twitched involuntarily as she shook her head.

"Not exactly."

"So, what's new? I've seen you look your worst and I've seen your apartment in a terrible state, not forgetting that we lived together in the hotel suite and I saw first how you take care of your room. Or should I say how you don't take care of your room?" Harry asked, and a blush stained her cheeks.

"Are you calling me dirty?" She asked, and Harry raised a brow.

"Are you dirty? Don't worry, even if you are, I'm neat enough for two and can clean up after you. I'm also rich enough to employ people to clean up after you," Harry said and she grinned.

"I don't know whether to be annoyed or pleased," she said and Harry grinned.

"Can I come in now?" Harry asked, and Jade looked behind her at her door before looking at Harry.

"Give me a minute," she said as she dashed into her bedroom and locked the door behind her while Harry shook his head in amusement as he stood outside the door waiting for her.

Once inside her bedroom, Jade scowled when she realized that her bedroom had been cleaned already and nothing was out of place.

Did she just embarrass herself for nothing? She mused as she opened the door to let Harry in.

"Surprise!" She said, and Harry chuckled as he walked into her bedroom.

"I'm not surprised. I know Tom's cleaners do a good job. They clean the bedrooms three times a week. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays," he said as he looked around her bedroom.

"You could have just said that earlier. Besides, you don't even live here, how do you know that when I don't?" Jade asked with a scowl.

"What should we pack first? Your undies?" Harry asked as he headed for her closet, and Jade ran to her closet immediately to block his path, making him chuckle.

"Don't pack anything. Just sit down while I pack," Jade ordered and Harry gave her a nod as he went to sit on the bed.

He wouldn't have gone close to her undies drawer anyway. He had only wanted to get a reaction out of her.

He knew that his presence was momentarily distracting her from her grief, and that was what he wanted. To be able to cheer her up no matter how little before she left.

Harry watched as she took a bag from the top of the closet and he shook his head when he saw how she was just picking stuff from her closet and shoving them into the bag.

"Are you not going to fold those?" He asked, wondering how someone as organized as he was could have fallen for someone as disorganized as Jade.

"There is no time. Tom will be here soon and I don't want to keep him waiting," she reminded him without turning to look at him.

"You either fold those neatly or I'm going to help you do that," Harry said, and Jade turned to look at him over her shoulder.

Seeing the seriousness on his face, she scowled, "Maybe you should go wait downstairs. I will join you when I'm done."

"Do it now, esquire, or I will help you," Harry repeated, and she grumbled as she did as she was told.

"You're a bully," Jade muttered grudgingly when she was done packing her bag.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Harry asked as he rose from the bed.

"I hope you're not forgetting anything? By the way, were you able to reschedule your meeting with the chief judge?" Harry asked and Jade nodded.

"He saw the news before I called. As much as he would have liked to prosecute her quickly, he doesn't mind allowing her stay that way for a while before she is taken to court," Jade explained as she looked around her bedroom.

"That sounds good," Harry said as he watched her reach for her laptop and chargers.

They both turned to the door when a knock sounded on it and Jade walked over to open it.

Tom who had knocked on the door was not very surprised to see Harry standing behind Jade inside the bedroom since he had seen Harry's car downstairs so he knew Harry was with Jade.

Of course, Harry was her boyfriend and it was expected that he would be there to comfort his girlfriend.

"You're back," Jade said as she embraced Tom.

"Yeah. Lucy is packing our bags. Will you get ready to leave in thirty minutes?" Tom asked and she nodded.

"Alright. Let's meet downstairs when you're done," Tom said, and then gave Harry a nod before walking away to go join Lucy pack his bag.

"At times like this I wish you were not working for Tom," Jade said, and Harry raised a brow, wondering where that was coming from.

"Why?"

"Sonia and Lucy are coming. I know you can't come with me because you have to look after the company in Tom's absence," Jade explained with a sigh.

"I won't miss the funeral, don't worry," Harry promised as he hugged her.

There was no need to tell her he planned to visit and spend the weekend with her. He would prefer to just show up and surprise her.

"You had better not miss it. You have to be there," Jade warned as she held on to him.

She hated funerals, and she hated this one even more because it was her grandfather's. She didn't want to watch him being buried. And she didn't want to have to remember the last funeral she had been to as she watched them bury her grandfather.

The last funeral she had been to was that of her late ex-boyfriend. That had been the same day she found out the bastard had been cheating on her.

How do you transition from mourning a lover in one moment to weeping from a broken heart? The betrayal had hurt a lot worse than it would ordinarily have because he was dead and she couldn't even vent or confront him. It still stung.

She had avoided funerals like a plague since then, but unfortunately she couldn't avoid this one. She needed Harry's presence there to help her go through it without breaking down.

Even if she the wound was still very sore and she could still feel the heaviness in her heart, having Harry around had brightened her up a little, and had taken her mind of things. She wished he could be with her all through.

Jade sighed after a moment when she remembered that she wouldn't be able to spend the weekend with him as planned, "Sorry I have to rain check on our weekend arrangement…"

"That is hardly important right now. We have lots of weekends ahead of us," Harry assured her, and she nodded as she took in a deep breath.

"Thanks for coming," Jade said and Harry smiled at her.

"Aren't you lucky to have such a caring boyfriend?" He asked and she smiled. 

"You are so full of yourself," she said with a shake of her head.

"I beg to differ. I think I'm full with love for you. Let's go downstairs and find you something to munch on before you leave. I doubt you've had anything else to eat apart from the popcorn you kept chewing on the show," Harry said wanting to make her smile but Jade sighed when she remembered the show.

"That seems like it happened ages ago. And I don't think I can eat anything right now," Jade said and Harry nodded.

"Yeah, that's more reason I want you to eat now. You're going to need energy to cry as I know you would when you get home. I also know you're most likely not going to eat anything when you get home and everyone else will be too sad themselves to care about that. So, you should eat something now before you leave. I want to see you eat something," Harry said as he took her bags from her and headed for the door.

Once they got downstairs, Harry headed for the kitchen to find Samantha, and as she quickly fixed sandwiches for Jade and the others, Harry took some fruits from the refrigerator and blended them into a smoothie.

"Here. Take this with you. You can't let my effort go to waste so try to take it when you can," he said to Jade as he handed her the bottle of smoothie before setting a plate of sandwich in front of her.

"Thanks," Jade said as she took the smoothie from him, and Harry sat down to watch her eat.

Forty minutes later, Harry stood beside his car, and watched as the jet took off.

He sighed as he got into his car after the jet disappeared from view and returned to the office.