Chapter Twenty-Five
Mimi was placing some files in her file cabinet when the door opened. She was waiting for Conrad to come to her office, he was still on punishment but he had a science project with a partner due so she had allowed them out to collect some supplies. When she looked up though she saw that it was Jason and not Conrad.
"Jason what are you doing here?" She asked somewhat surprised to see him after all this time. She hadn't seen him since the incident at her house weeks ago.
"I came to apologize actually. You know … about what happened … at your house." He replied coming around the desk to stand in front of her.
"Jason you don't need to apologize to me for what happened. If anything, I should be apologizing to you for Brady's rude behavior. It was absolutely unforgivable. I don't know what's got into him lately."
"You're sure?" Jason questioned again just to make sure they were on the same page with him.
She nodded. "Yes of course. Brady has been a little off lately. He even tried to convince me that you were in love with me or something." She laughed at the thought of Jason being in love with her expecting him to join her. "I really don't know where his delusions came from. " She was so busy laughing that she didn't notice the change in Jason's demeanor. Instead of his normal self-assured grin or even a cocky laugh he was quiet and seemingly pensive.
It was then that Mimi noticed, he hadn't said a word. She stopped laughing and looked into his green eyes. They were vivid with a certain clarity that Mimi could only describe as being loving. "Jason," she didn't know what else to say. "I-I don't know what to say. But, surely you can't love me."
"But, I do Mimi. And I think that you share the same feeling. It may not be love yet, but you do care about me. I know you do." Mimi backed away walking toward her chair, though she was not afraid of him, just wary of his expression of feeling.
"Jason, I do care about you––," she was stumbled to an abrupt silence as Jason's mouth came down on hers. He pushed the chair out of his way and pulled her fully into his arms. His mouth took possession of hers, plunging his tongue into her mouth.
It was in those brief seconds of initial shock, where Mimi was motionless, her hands by her sides that Conrad walked in the doorway. His eyes filled with tears of anger as saw his mother kissing another man. He turned and ran out the room, as silently as he walked in, he realized his mother was having an affair.
The moment he left the room, Mimi was snapped out of her shock and she shoved Jason away from her with all her might. When he tried to approach her again she placed the chair between them and would not let him near her. Wiping her mouth, she stared at Jason accusingly, "What the hell is wrong with you Jason!"
"Mimi, you don't have to pretend with me anymore. I know your real feelings – you just admitted you cared about me." He tried to come toward her again, but Mimi made sure to keep the chair between them.
"NO, No Jason I said I cared about you but only, only as a friend, nothing more. I'm married for god sakes, happily married what were you thinking?" A red flush came over Jason as he realized what she was telling him. Mimi wasn't in love with him; he was just a friend to her nothing more. Looking into her accusing green eyes, flushed with complete embarrassment, he moved away from the chair and walked across the room to sit down.
"Oh my God, I'm so-sorry. I thought, I thought … I don't know what I was thinking. I'm just so sorry." Mimi watched as Jason sat there looking so dejected that even she felt sorry for him.
"Jason it's okay you made a mistake. Don't beat yourself up about this. It's not that bad … it's not everyday I get kissed so passionately by someone other than Brady." Mimi efforts were awarded with a sad smile. She didn't want to make him feel any worse than she was sure he already did. But, she had to know why. "Jason why did you kiss me? I know you said it's because you think you're in love with me. But, why?"
Jason was wondering the same thing himself. When had his innocent friendship with Mimi changed into something more. He glanced up at Mimi, staring at her emerald green eyes, which revealed a sense of pity. As he looked at her, the features started to change … no longer was he looking into her green eyes full of pity, they had changed from a greenish hazel to a dark brown, the shortened auburn hair lengthen, curled, and changed into a dark brown. He was staring a Jan not Mimi ... Jan.
Mimi was somewhat startled by the way Jason was staring at her. It was like he was looking straight past her. "Jason … Jason a-are you okay?"
He snapped out his vision. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." He brought his hand to his face and wiped his eyes to make sure he was seeing clearly. He couldn't believe it after all these years and everything he had been through with Jan he was still in love with her.
"Jason are you sure you're alright? Is there something you want to talk about, something I can do for you?" Mimi was very concerned; she'd never seen him like this before.
"No, no there's nothing wrong. I just need to leave we can talk later." He got out of the seat and practically ran out of the room.
"Jason wait," by the time Mimi had said anything he was already gone. She sat back in her chair and thought about what had just took place within the last couple of minutes. "I have to tell Brady."
~*~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~*~
Jarod was finishing some homework when someone knocked on the door. "Come in," the door opened, he replied figuring that it was either his brother or one of his sisters. "What do you want?"
"Wow, is that the way you treat all your guests Kiriakis?" Conrad asked closing the door.
Jarod smiled, put his pencil down and he turned toward the door. "Man what are you doing here? I thought you were on punishment for like two months."
Conrad moved to sit on the bed. "I was, I mean am, and I'm still grounded. But, I had a science project to do with Sam Reynolds so we were supposed to get the supplies and go back to my Mom's office."
"Oh so why aren't you at your Mom's then?" Conrad got up and began to walk around the room examining the posters on the wall as if he had never seen them before.
"I did go but she-she," he paused. "She was … she wasn't there." He just couldn't get the words out. Conrad knew what he saw and he couldn't even bring himself to admit what he had seen to his best friend.
"Hey Conrad are you okay? What's wrong? Is it something about your mom?" Jarod knew something was wrong, he had never seen Conrad so anxious. "Look you can tell me whatever it is. I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. It's not like you can get grounded anymore than you already are." Jarod said jokingly.
"It's not about me!" Conrad said turning around to face Jarod, his eyes clearly distressed. "I- I can't talk about it okay. Not yet. Could I just stay here for a while, not the whole night or anything. I-I just don't want to go home yet."
"Of course you can. You could even spend the whole night if you want. I can ask my Mom––"
"No, that's okay, I'm only going to stay for a little while. That's all and then I'll go home later."
"Okay, that's cool." Jarod knew then that whatever had happened was serious. He just hoped that after a while Conrad was able to tell him what was wrong.
~*~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~*~
Philip sat at his desk in his office at Titan Industries when Victor walked in.
"Back to burning the midnight oil?" He questioned walking into his son's office and taking a seat.
"Something like that. What are you doing here Dad? I would have thought that you were visiting your grandson." He leaned back in his chair to look at his father slightly amused.
Victor smiled at the thought of his grandson. "Yes well I decided to give him a chance to settle in before I visit again. Besides, I certainly have enough time for that later. Now tell me what are you doing here when your wife and children are at home? Aren't things going well between the two of you? I thought the you were doing better especially with my newest grandchild on the way and Jarod."
Philip smiled to himself, thinking about how much Victor had made an attempt to change to be apart of Philip's life over the past couple of weeks. "Things are okay. Not any worse or any better you know. We're happy about the baby and Jarod, naturally. But, I don't know what to do Dad. Chloe says that I don't trust her, I keep secrets from her and she basically told me that if I don't get my act together before our child is born then she'll leave me."
"Well," the look on Victor's face said it all.
"You think she's right don't you?"
"You have to see things from her perspective, son. You left her for almost two months without tell her where you were at or anything." When it looked as if Philip would interrupt he raised his hands. "I'm not saying you didn't have a good reason. But, you should at least think about it. Sit down and talk to her about it. Put everything out on the table, that's what I think you need to do." Philip nodded and thought about it for a few seconds.
"Chloe is planning on taking the kids away for two weeks for vacation before she has to return to work. Maybe I'll go with them."
"That would be a good idea, son, a great one. Listen, I know you need to get back to so I'll leave you. But, think over everything I'd said alright?" Victor said as he rose and left the office leaving Philip to his thoughts.