Novel Squares
Chapter 3
At that moment, he was clad in a pale gray pajama set, hand brushing through his hair that was neither dry nor wet, leaving the collar casually open to bare his chiseled chest.
Jason rubbed his hair nonchalantly as he said with a poker face, “Don’t bother, even in your birthday suit, it’s pointless.”
Jason’s dismissive tone slightly dimmed the sparkle in Estrella’s eyes. She slowly lifted the sheer fabric, her voice steady as she said, “Jason, just cooperate and let’s get this task done. After that, you can do whatever you want. I won’t intrude on your life.”
Then she added, with a twist in her tone, “If you’re really not into it, we could consider artificial insemination.”
After Estrella finished, Jason tossed the towel angrily onto the floor, held her chin with a smirk, and asked, “Estrella, what do you take me for, a sperm bank on legs?”
Sperm bank on legs?
Forced to meet Jason’s gaze, Estrella was at a loss for words.
Their eyes locked, and as she saw her reflection in his eyes, Jason suddenly leaned closer, so close their lips were almost touching.
At Jason’s advance, Estrella instinctively struggled. That was when Jason seemed to snap out of it and straightened up, his voice icy as he said, “Estrella, dreaming of climbing the social ladder through having my child?”
He paused before adding, “You’re hardly qualified.”
Estrella felt the sting of those words.
He didn’t like her, their marriage was arranged by their parents, and their two families wanted to join forces, so Jason didn’t like her in any way.
Then, he raised his right hand to the back of her neck, pulled her close again, and reminded her while looking into her eyes, “Estrella, you have one year. If you can’t make me father a child with you in that time, pack your bags and leave.”
With that, he turned and walked to the wardrobe, picked out a dark suit, put on his gold-rimmed glasses, and slammed the door behind him.
Bang! The door shut with a violent force, leaving Estrella to collapse weakly onto the bed, her right hand cradling her forehead.
She didn’t know about Jason’s affection for Serene. If she had known earlier, she would never have agreed to the marriage proposal from Jason’s father Landon, even if it meant never having children and never becoming a mother.
After sitting on the edge of the bed for a while, Estrella got up, went to the wardrobe, and
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pulled out another set of pajamas.
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Customed to the rejection, Estrella felt defeated as a woman each time Jason turned her away. She had done everything, yet Jason never touched her. There was nothing more she could do.
The next morning, she was awakened by a call from Kristin. “Hi Kristin.”
“Estrella, how did it go with Jason last night? Did you two make up?”
Kristin’s inquiry left Estrella feeling helpless. For two years, Kristin’s pressure for a grandchild had driven her to the brink of insanity. She thought if Kristin had wanted grandchildren so badly, she should have had more children, not pinned all her hopes on
Jason.
After a
er a long silence, Estrella replied with resignation, “He left shortly after he came back.”
Hearing that they had not “succeeded” last night, and that she had missed another chance to become a grandmother, Kristin felt a chill in her heart. She advised, “Estrella, you still need to be more proactive with Jason.”
Estrella thought to herself that she was almost begging Jason to take pity on her and sleep with her. How much more proactive could she be?
Frowning in thought and unsure what to say, Kristin added from the other end, “You see, you just don’t take enough initiative with Jason. Go to the office and bring him lunch. You need to be more present, or others will think you’re a pushover.”
The “others” Kristin referred to were Serene, who was Jason’s secretary at the company.
Despite a hundred reservations, Estrella couldn’t refuse after Kristin had called and given her advice. So, she got ready, grabbed the lunch the maid prepared, and drove to Nelson
International.
“Jason, do you think this revision works? If we adjust this…”
Outside Jason’s office, Estrella hadn’t even knocked when she heard Serene’s delicate
voice inside.
The office door was ajar, and Estrella peeked in to see Jason with a file in hand, speak to a leaning Serene, “These figures don’t make sense, and it could lead to safety issues the project.”
“And this placement in sector D,” Jason continued, abruptly changing the subject, “Pull up a chair and sit.”
At Jason’s care, Serene smiled and pulled a chair next to him to sit down.
Outside the door, Estrella rolled her eyes discreetly. Right then, Estrella wasn’t sure if
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Jason and Serene’s interaction was normal, or if it was typical for a secretary to sit so close to her supervisor, but Estrella knew one thing: since marrying Jason, he had never spoken to her with such gentleness. He never cared whether she stood or sat, knelt or lay down, lived or died.
Last year, she had a minor car accident, and when the doctor asked for a family member to sign the papers, Jason had hung up on her call. She spent several days in the hospital, and to this day, Jason remained unaware of the incident.
After waiting at the door for a while and seeing that their discussion was far from over, Estrella turned and left with the lunchbox.
When she wandered around the ground floor and passed a pharmacy, she remembered Kristin’s instructions and headed back to the company.
Indeed. Regardless of Jason’s acknowledgment, she was his lawful wife. Why should she hide? She had done nothing wrong.
Thus, returning to Jason’s office, Estrella didn’t think twice before pushing open the door. Inside the office, Jason and Serene, hearing the sound, looked up towards the door,