Underestimated Heiress

CHAPTER 11 - Second thoughts

That night before dinner, Ethan knocked on Jess's door. Jess was busy doing her leadership work. "Come in.", Jess said without looking up.

"My best sis in the world, what are you doing? Are you busy?"Ethan asked.

Jess paused for a second, smiled and looked up towards her brother and asked,"What do you need? Come straight to the point, I am busy."

Ethan was a bit hesitant initially, as he analyzed his sister's mood. He said, "that's ok, if you are busy, you sure won't have time for nobody like me.", he made a sad face like an emoji and turned around to walk out of the room.

Jess calmed down and stopped him, she pointed him to sit on the couch and said,"give me 5 min."

Ethan smiled and thought, "The oldest trick in the book, always works."

After 5 min, Jess asked, "Tell me now. How can I help you?"

"Sis, I have been facing a lot of difficulties with my homework and Dad is keeping me so busy, I am afraid I won't be able to finish my homework with this schedule. Can you please talk to him and request him to reduce my classes? He always listens to you."he said

"No, he won't listen to me after what happened today. I am assuming he will be mad at me, I am afraid to face him during dinner and was thinking of making an excuse and skipping dinner.", Jess said, lost in some thought.

Ethan was confused, he didn't know anything about Colin coming to their house or Jess's cover being blown. He asked,"What happened? What did you do to make him mad?"

"That's none of your business. All I can say is I cannot help you, if there is nothing else then I need to get back to work", Jess said coldly.

Ethan understood that this was not the time to test his luck, it will only worsen things for him. So he stood up and thanked his sister before leaving her room.

After around an hour, Ethan, Eric and Jenna gathered in the dinning room for dinner. But Jess didn't join them, Ethan understood but kept quiet. At that time a maid came in and said,"Sir, madam, Miss Jess said that she is not hungry and will skip dinner and requested you to please not wait for her." Eric and Jenna looked at each other, Jenna understood through Eric's expression that something was not right. Eric said while pushing his chair back to get up,"I will be back in a bit, wait for us."

Eric was a loving and caring father, he knew he had gone a bit too far today which had upset Jess. He didn't want to wait any longer to talk to his daughter, so he walked to Jess's room. Jess was still working on her homework, she didn't expect her dad to come to her room. She heard a knock and thought it's Ethan again. She didn't look up and said,"Come in." When she heard footsteps walk into her room, she continued, "I told you Ethan I cant talk to dad and I can't tell you the reason why he is possibly upset with me."

"Who said I am upset?" Eric asked. Jess looked up, as she didn't expect her dad in the room she was a bit surprised.

"Dad! I thought it's Ethan. He has been bugging me to request you to reduce his classes.", Jess said quickly, trying to change the topic.

Eric smiled, he sat comfortably on the couch and asked Jess to sit next to him, "Ethan is always trying to find excuses, but I am here to talk to you about us." he said after Jess sat next to him. "Why did you think that I would be upset?" he asked Jess but she was quiet and didn't answer. So he continued,"Was it because you tried to threaten me?"Jess suddenly lifted her head to look at her father, she was surprised but still didn't say anything. Eric continued,"I was not upset, I was proud, not because you threatened me but because you stood for yourself even when facing your dad. I was a bit shocked and was not expecting this kind of reaction, but I was expecting you to react in some way." Eric was looking at Jess, her expressions had softened a bit, she didn't feel guilty but was eager to listen and understand what her dad was thinking. She was still quiet, so Eric continued,"You are so capable, we have never doubted you for a single day. We know there are families who want their heir to be their son, but me and your mom are not narrow minded people and want you to be the heir of this empire. We both know it's a big responsibility and there will be many challenges, more than what we both faced.", he took a long pause and sighed before saying,"I am trying my best to make things easy for you but believe it or not there are some things which are out of my control. I love you so much my princess, if it was possible I would make sure that you and your brother lived an easy and peaceful life.".

Jess was speechless, this man in front of her was the most powerful and ruthless person she had known, yet he said some things were out of his control. What were her parents hiding, she wanted to understand more. She thought to herself that she will become strong and independent enough to support her parents. She wanted to share their worries but she was not ready yet, all she could do now was try to understand her parents and not add into their problems. Jess suddenly hugged her dad, she was not the one to show her emotions often, so her actions took her dad by surprise.

Eric said calmly, "Let's go and have dinner together, your mom and that brat is waiting for us."

Jess wanted to go but she had so much work to complete on leadership, she hesitated for a while and didn't respond. Eric saw this and said to her, "your leadership work is very interesting, I saw the topics you chose, it's got potential. Maybe after dinner if you have some time I will like to give you some insights on different projects in the current market that might help your team."

Jess was very happy when she heard this, there were a lot of people who wanted her father's opinion on multiple topics and she was not different from others, but she didn't want to bother him so she never asked but he already knew what she was working on.

She said with a smile,"Dad, I know that your network of spies is very big and trustworthy, but how would they know my topics unless they went through my computer or my notes."

Eric laughed, "you are indeed smart. Yes I got all your updates from my network but don't you think that your dad makes an effort to know and understand his kids! I always check up on you and Ethan and try to keep up with your interests. And my daughter's current interest is this leadership project. I came by yesterday to talk to you about something but you were already up and had gone out for a run, that's when I saw your notes. I was impressed.", he had a proud smile.

Jess was happy and satisfied, she accompanied Eric to the dining room for dinner. They all had dinner together, there was laughter and jokes. They all had a long chat after dinner before going back to their respective rooms.

When Eric and Jenna were back into their bedroom, Eric asked, "Would you like to go for a quick swim?" They had a private swimming pool and Eric used swimming to think and collect his thoughts. Jenna knew this about Eric, after being married for so many years, Jenna knew many things about her husband, so she agreed and accompanied Eric for swimming.

Eric took a few laps before taking a break to rest, Jenna knew that he takes a break when he wants to talk to her, so she also took a break and asked, "What's been bothering you?". They were standing close to each other, it was not possible for anyone to hear their conversation.

He smiled and said,"you understand me so well. I was just thinking about our kids. Sometimes I feel I put a lot on Jess's shoulders. Did you know she threatened to disown herself, today?".

Jenna had a big and proud smile on her face, she said,"you wanted her reaction and you got one. What are you worried about? I don't think she meant it." after a long pause she asked, "are you worried about the crisis you foresee with our company? Do you think she won't be able to manage it?"

"If she wants to, it won't be difficult to manage, provided that she wants to. Today, I have realized that she might not have enough motivation towards being a heiress. She simply does that because she thinks that it's her responsibility. I don't want to push her to do something that she doesn't like." He turned to look at Jenna, took her hands in his hands and said in a low voice after looking into her eyes, "I am having second thoughts. I am training Ethan to be Jess's right hand but what if I push our kids in the wrong direction and what if there is no way back from there."

Jenna knew what he meant, she simply said, "We have time."