Where my Heart Lies

Devastated

"Liam, I..."

"Let's talk when we reach home." Jessica wanted to talk, right there and then. She was afraid of the misunderstandings that would arise out of what happened at dinner and wanted to clarify things with him as soon as possible. But Liam was quick to shut her up, which only strengthened her fear.

And Jessica wondered if wherever they were going could be called home, now that things turned out like this, with a minor yet huge deviation from the set path.

Way back home, the night was filled with silence, and the only sound in the car was that of the radio. Maybe this was the last time she and Liam were going home, as a couple. Would he give us up? No. That can't be. But then she doubted that if Liam stayed, it might be more because of the business. She had seen him for days, working too hard, as if this was the final lottery he could ever win. It meant a lot to him, maybe even more than them being together did. They had been together for quite some time, and Jessica was still unsure if they were of any value to Liam. And how much was he willing to give up for her. And at this point, she was starting to regret it again. She did not want to be heartbroken, again, by the same guy. She doubted her decision, and the way she rushed with things with Liam. 

Liam, on the other hand felt agitated. He had done his best with Mr. McCallum. But the old man had gone too far, in his opinion. He doubted Jessica's ability in the business world, there was no lie to the fact. But it was not the only reason he did not want her to be the face, in Mr. McCallum's words, of the entire ordeal. He had been in the world of companies and buying and selling and profits and lies and deception for too many years. He had been in media, in the fickle-minded opinions of the public and the rest of the human race, for all those years Jessica was in a shell, in college, and she had never experienced any of it before. And as of him, even though he had achieved significantly much in those years, he was still a rookie compared to the others who lived in the same world as him. More so, she was a woman. And he knew what his world treated woman like, in all honesty. Only a few survive, and Jessica did not check even one of the boxes for the qualities of those who survived. The position she'd hold with major shares in the company would be that of a shareholder. To decide for objectives and face all of the unfamiliar things with faces who had been doing the same for the entire lives! He was afraid of her naivety, and really agreed Mr. McCallum had gone nuts. He did give her all that he could, but he could not let her dig a hole and then push her into it. That was too cruel. He did not want to break her heart by deeming her incapable of managing a business and wondered how he would explain all of it. To his fiancée, to his girlfriend, to his Jessica...

********************************************************************

"Can you not be an asshole!?" Larry gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"Me?" Ryan laughed. "I'm being an asshole?" He shook his head in disbelief as he was pushed back by the speeding impact of the car. "Can you drive properly!?"

"No. Fuck no. I can't" And Larry sped the car even more. "Not when I find about this. Right before our marriage."

"Really, we can talk this through. It happened too long ago." Ryan tried to calm him down, but that did not seem to work. If anything, that fueled his anger even more. Larry pulled over to the side as he got off the driver's seat and asked Ryan to come out too. Ryan was nervous, upset and most of all, guilty.

"Let's talk here. Right here."

"Look-"

"No. I ask the question, you answer." He raked his hand through his hair in frustration. "After all it was me who was in the dark." He talked to himself.

"Okay. Go ahead." Ryan didn't argue. He did not want to screw this up any further needlessly.

Larry sighed.