My dear little broccolis💚💚💚

💚 Give Me The Daddy, I'll Give You The Sugar 💚

"The best investment I ever made, was when I lost fifty million dollars and met the love of my life as a result of that."

‼️Rated M - {Out Of Characters/All Human/Alternate Universe}‼️

‼️Romance/Angst/Drama/Lemons‼️

‼️Clace/The Waylands/OGs/Magnus Bane/‼️

💚 READ & REVIEW, DON'T BE A SILENT READER 💚

Chapter 4: Fruit Pastes & Eggnog (7,5K)

The next morning, Clary woke up, feeling rather content. The gala hadn't been as much as a disaster as she thought it would be, and she hadn't been that bored after all. Sure, she still thought it was ridiculous for them to spend so much money on it instead of sending straight to the cause they were raising money for.

Still, she had to admit that she had a good time, and that, even without the meeting of Valentine Morgenstern, she would be looking forward to the next event. But of course, the highlight of her evening was her meeting of Valentine Morgenstern.

On their ride back to his hotel room, Jace explained that Valentine was one of the two lawyers he worked with. He had one for his internal affairs, everything that happened in the US, and he had Valentine for everything international. She didn't need to ask for Jace to assure her that Valentine was not the lawyer who wrote her NDA, or their contract, he volunteered that information by himself.

He explained that he had been planning on introducing them regardless of whether they would have met that day or not. And of course, he did not hesitate to use Valentine's words in his advantage as soon as they got in the car, to Clary's greatest displeasure.

"Since you have exams coming up in January that would finalise the end of this semester, maybe you should consider taking Valentine's advice and apply for Columbia for your second semester."

"I can't do that."

"Of course you can. I'm sure Valentine wouldn't mind pulling a few strings to make sure you got there. He likes having a project."

Clary held back her thoughts on what she thought of not getting there on her own merit, and gave a more practical approach, "I already paid a full year for CUNY. I need to do both my semesters there."

"No, you don't. You know I'll pay for whatever school you decide to go," He countered, clearly not seeing the point Clary was trying to make. She deeply breathed through her nose and tried to clarify that simple concept that seemed so foreign to Jace 50MIL Wayland,

"The matter is, I worked hard to get the money to pay for that year. Maybe you can afford to pay me studying on the moon if I wanted to, but ... I don't want to waste a semester because you fancy shmucks think I should be in a school with better ratings. I worked hard and already paid to do two full semesters in CUNY, and that's what I'll do, no matter what you guys say."

"I can refund you the semester."

"It's not the point! The point is, the hard work behind it."

Jace had not argued to that, which led Clary to understand that, even though money was nothing to him, he still valued hard work enough to not interfere when it was involved.

After the ride, she went to his room to change into her normal clothes, and she found next to her bag an envelope with her first payment. And though she knew it was coming, and that it was her who insisted on being paid cash, she still felt awkward receiving an envelope full of cash in a hotel room.

Jace had insisted on getting her a cab home, and of course, the outfit that she wore earlier had been sent home with her. According to him, he had no use to it, and she couldn't much argue to that. Even if Jace was one of those men who secretly liked dressing up as women, she was way too short compared to him for him to fit in her clothes.

For a moment, Clary felt so good in the warmth of her bed that she considered being lazy for half an hour, and just lay there to do nothing. But her exams were in less than a month, and she couldn't afford to fail. Even though now she had Jace who was more than willing to pay for her studies and Valentine Morgenstern who apparently would not be against being her mentor, her ego did not allow her the option to fail her semester, and even less her year.

Even though she knew both Valentine and Jace meant well, it still stung a little when they implied that she wouldn't be a great lawyer because of the school she was in. A great cook was not judged by his tools, but from his results, and she felt it should be the same for her. She shouldn't be judged by her school, but by what she would make of it.

And now, she was determined to major in every single one of her classes. After all, now, she didn't need to work at night as regularly as before, so she should replace that by studying even more. She would show those two uptight meant that coming from the gutter did not mean ultimately failing.

So, it was with that determination that she got out of bed, and headed to the bathroom, scrolling through her phone as she used the loo. She checked her emails, and texts, and was surprised to see a text from Magnus that simply linked to a YouTube video. She opened it, curious to see if Magnus was one of those people obsessed with cat videos from the internet, but the video was something else entirely.

Bachelor billionaire finally settling down.

Famous billionaire Jace Wayland has been seen, for the first time, going to the annual Water For Africa gala, accompanied. Though nothing has been confirmed yet, we know for a fact that the beautiful redhead at his arm is someone he has been seeing for a while. As you can see, the couple seems to be a regular of the bar-restaurant Idris, in Manhattan (pictures displayed of Jace putting Clary in cabs outside the Idris).

The young woman is a law student at CUNY, who likes to do some charity work on her own on Sunday evenings when she volunteers at a kitchen soup in Brooklyn. It is not known yet how the pair met, but we can assume that this is pretty serious given the fact that Jace has never been seen with a woman by his arm in all his years of business.

In an interview he gave a couple of years after starting his company, he admitted that he was not interested in dating, and only wanted to make his business thrive. Now that we are almost fifteen years later, and that his company is worth billions of dollars, we can see that his interests have shifted and the thirty-five years old man is more than inclined to open himself to the dating world. (picture of Jace whispering something in Clary's ear, outside Idris. It looks intimate enough to be either a secret or something leading to a kiss)

Clary stared at her phone for fifteen minutes after the video ended, forgetting that she was sitting on the toilet. How did they know all of that about her? sure, they had made sure to never give her name, or where she lived, but how did they know where she studied, or where she volunteered? Even Jace had no idea she did charity work.

She saw her phone light up with a couple of texts from Magnus, but she seemed so far away. In fact, she seemed so far away that it was starting to get difficult to see or breathe. And the more she tried to calm herself, the more she tried to rationalise herself, thinking that she shouldn't be panicking when she was safe in her home and that it was even ridiculous to panic whilst being on the throne, the more she panicked nonetheless.

It was her phone ringing in her hand that prevented a full-on panic attack from forming. She answered, without even seeing who it was, and felt something warm run through her veins when she heard the sweet and reassuring voice of Magnus.

"Biscuit, you okay? Why aren't you responding to my texts?"

She deeply breathed in, getting up as she brightly assured her friend, "Yeah, of course, I'm okay."

It was a lie, but she was used to lying about how she was truly feeling. No one really actually cared about how she was feeling, so there was no point on telling people. She was always fine, even if, she was dying on the inside, she would never admit to someone that she was not okay, that she was anything, but fine. She even smiled for good measures, even though Magnus couldn't see her.

"Cut the crap, Fray. I'd be freaking out if some pseudo-journalists knew so much about my life. I mean, I didn't even know that much about you. I had no idea you were involved in a charity."

"It's okay, really, Magnus. I should have expected it," She said, feeling a bit calmer than a couple of minutes ago.

After all, even if Jace wasn't a celebrity per se, the fact that he made so much money in so little time did turn him into an eventual target for tabloids. She was sure that he was often featured in business magazines, but the gossip media was not really interested in the business side of his life. And as they said, he had been single for his whole career, or at least, he was, officially.

So she should have expected this kind of scandal coming into her life since she entered his. And Jace had been expecting the same, or he wouldn't have added that clause in their contract. She shouldn't freak out. Technically, because she was a nobody, they couldn't give her name out. And yet, she did freak out. No matter how strong she was making her voice so Magnus wouldn't know, she was freaking out. She didn't even dare to look through the window to see if there were paparazzi waiting for her to come out.

How was she going to go to school the next day? She still had a couple of days of school, and she couldn't miss them. How was she going to go to the kitchen soup tonight? Sure, they didn't give her address, but they had obviously been following her, or they wouldn't know about her school, or about the soup.

And they already had so many pictures of Jace and her. Strangely enough, none from the gala, though Clary figured that the high society had made sure that none of the blood-sucking tabloids would be allowed. But all those pictures proved that they had been following Jace, and then her, for a while.

"Really, Magnus, it's fine. It's just I wasn't expecting it so soon, or bright on a Sunday morning."

"What does Jace say about all of that? Has he contacted you?"

"There is no reason for him to do so," She countered, sure that Jace was not aware in the slightest of any of that. She highly doubted he spent time focusing on gossip when he didn't have time for anything but his company.

"Clary ... text me your address, I'm coming."

"There is no need, really. You're making it a bigger deal than it is."

Magnus wouldn't hear a word, and though it made her wary because she didn't eat him to see her freaking out, it still made her appreciate her friend even more. She was sure that Magnus would like nothing more than to sleep, after all, Saturday nights were always busy nights at Idris, and he had better things to do than to make sure she was okay. And yet, he still came to see her.

An hour later, she had made sure her apartment was decent for guests and baked some cookies. Magnus arrived, looking worried for her. She gave him her brightest smile, just to reassure him, and let him know that he worried for nothing, but all he did was shake his head, and gently swipe his thumb over one of her eyebrows.

"You can't seem to lift this eyebrow when you're worried," He softly explained, making her feeling betrayed by her own body who had such an obvious telltale of her emotions.

"I made cookies," Was all she could say, and Magnus brightly smiled at the news.

In September, it had been his birthday, and she had made him an upside-down pineapple cake (because he loved pineapples). Ever since there hadn't been a week he hadn't hinted that he wouldn't be against another treat baked by her.

They went to the kitchen, with Magnus curiously looking at her apartment. It wasn't really spacious, though it was for a student. All rooms lead to one another, without any corridor to link them. She only had the one-bedroom who also was her living room, but she didn't need a living room to begin with since she didn't have time to lounge or have a social life. Henry had complained a lot about that lack of space.

She would usually eat in the kitchen since it was big enough to have a small table in it. And seeing Magnus there made her feel strange. It made her realise that, even though she didn't miss social interactions at the time, she still missed it now that she had a friend over.

As they sat, and Magnus immediately dug in the cookies, Clary put a kettle on for coffee, and he let her know,

"I don't think I've seen any paparazzi outside. But then again, they can be sneaky. I've never seen them outside of Idris either. What does Jace think of all of that?"

"I have no idea."

"Are you not going to call him?"

"To tell him what? That some gossip YouTube channel talked about him? He runs a multibillion-dollar company. He has better things to do."

Magnus didn't seem to like her answer and humphed as she poured some hot water in mugs, over some instantaneous coffee. She sat by his side, and he gently pressed her hand,

"Don't worry about it, Biscuit. This is exactly what you wanted, now the world thinks you're together. They don't suspect for a moment what is really going on."

She nodded, so appreciative of Magnus for saying exactly what she needed to hear. This was what Jace had wanted. For the world to think he was taken so he could keep focusing on his business, and stop being hassled by women in heat and desperate gold-diggers.

"So how was yesterday night? How fancy did it get? Did they auction you out? I heard some charities still do that."

"Do they?" She asked, outraged and glad that it hadn't been the case. And she hoped that if it ever happened, Jace would have the decency to tell her beforehand and accept her refusal to be auctioned like a piece of meat.

She knew that Magnus was trying to take her mind of the article, and she smiled, knowing that he was right. The deed had already been done, and there was nothing she could do that could change it. She was about to fill in Magnus, when her phone lit up, flashing Henry's name. Ever since she had seen the article, her phone had kept ringing, people texting her, calling her, emailing her. She had never known she knew that many people.

She had only answered to Dorothea to text her that she was okay and then switched her phone in silence mode. Magnus glanced at it but did not comment when she obviously ignored it.

"To be fair, it wasn't that bad. Though a complete waste of money. I mean, they should send the catering money straight to dig those wells instead of showing off, but you know, all I all, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"Did you get hit on? Because you looked gorgeous. I think, even I would have hit on you if I had seen you for the first time like that."

"I didn't go there to get hit on, Magnus," She laughed, shaking her head at her friend. "I was there to prevent Jace to be hit on. Which happened quite a lot. I didn't know so many single women attended those things."

"That's how gold diggers find their prays. Next time you go, pay attention and you'll see that in general, they stay by the bar, looking all pretty and they never donate any money."

"You seem well informed."

"One of my exes was that sort of girl. She told me all about her tactics."

"Then why was she with you?" She asked, before biting her lower lip down, feeling bad for her bluntness. After all, men didn't like hearing that they weren't as successful as they'd like to be. By Magnus laughed, not bothered a second by her words,

"I happen to know exactly how to please a girl. So I'm pretty sure she was only in for the sex. Now she's probably with some old rich guy who definitely doesn't know how to satisfy her."

He was grinning, clearly boasting, and making Clary laugh with him as they both started imagining what his ex's sex life looked like now. There were a lot of talks of batteries and toys as an hour passed and the cookies disappeared, and shortly before midday, Magnus said that he had to go to work. He hugged Clary, whispering in her ear,

"I do hope that you know I'm your friend. I'm here for you for the highs and the lows. Don't try to handle everything on your own. Friends are there for one another."

She smiled, kissing his cheek to show her gratefulness, and just before he left her kitchen, he snatched her phone and forwarded the first text he had sent her in the morning to Jace, promising her that she would thank him later.

Once she was alone, she took a quick shower and then focused on studying. She studied during the whole day, not taking the time to even have a break to eat since she started working later than she had planned. At some point on the beginning of the afternoon, Jace called her, but she was too busy working on a paper on Constitutional Law to answer.

Long after the sun had set, she finally looked up and stretched like a cat. It was time for her to get ready to the kitchen soup, and she hoped that she wouldn't be bothered on the way. Even more, she hoped that no one there had heard about her relationship with Jace Wayland. She wrapped herself in a warm coat and an even warmer scarf, and walked outside, filtering all the texts and calls she had. She deleted all the texts she received from Henry, without reading them like she had done for the past seven months, and did the same with every unknown number that miraculously appeared.

As she was on the process of purging her phone, doing her best to not bump into anyone, she saw that Jace had texted her after trying to call her.

Call me when you're free. No matter the time. Jace

She twisted her mouth on the side, hesitating on calling him now since she still had a good forty-five more minutes of walking, but she decided against it. She didn't want to risk anyone hearing what they would talk about. So she settled on calling him when she would get home later on. After all, Seattle was three hours behind New York, so she would have the time, without calling at indecent hours.

The kitchen soup was as normal as usual, and no one made any comment about her very public relationship. sure, she hadn't expected the people who needed to come to the kitchen soup to know about that, they had much more important things to focus about, like surviving in this cold winter; but she had been worried of what the other volunteers might know.

As she walked aimlessly in the streets of New York to keep herself warm, her stomach grumbled, again and again, screaming for the food it hadn't received in two days. She was starving, she was cold, she was tired, but most of all, she was scared.

She knew nothing of New York, she had grown up in Philadelphia, and the cities were nothing alike. She wished the family that had taken her in hadn't moved after all. She could have gone back to the social services. She didn't know where they were here. And frankly, after the way that policeman had treated her, she didn't want to trust any sort of adult official.

"Come on, little girl. Those are grave allegations. You shouldn't joke about that. Mathew is a good guy, don't run around telling lies that could ruin his career. I'll take you back home to him."

She had agreed, only to run as soon as that cop terrible at his job turned his back. Of course, no one would believe her. Mathew was the officer of police, so good that he had been transferred to the New York police, she was the orphan girl with baggage, transferred from home to home like a meal ticket. Mathew's wife didn't believe her, so why would his coworkers do?

She sat on a bench, massaging her stomach, scared out of her mind at the idea of spending yet another night outside. Being a thirteen years old girl was not a great thing when the streets went dark.

"Hey, kid!" A hobo hailed at her from the floor where he was sitting, with an empty cup of coffee in front of him, waiting for people to give him a buck or two.

Clary looked at him but did not move any closer to him. For all she knew, he could want to steal something from her, even though she had nothing. The homeless guy smiled.

"You should try going to the Ninth Avenue. They have great food. And I'm such Zazie will try to find you a bed for tonight."

She blinked, not sure to have understood properly, and the hobo got up, fathering his cup full of money as he told her, "Come on, I'll show you where it is. Kids shouldn't be in the streets, especially when it's called like that."

She had been helping various kitchen soups ever since she had first had gotten a real job. Of course, she never saw again the guy who had prevented her to die of starvation, but that didn't stop her from helping any other person who needed it. She knew how it felt, and she hoped that one day, she would see less and less people around Christmas time, instead of the contrary.

As usual, she had a good time with Sebastian Velrac. Seb was a nice and jovial person who never failed to make her laugh at least twice every Sunday. Which was completely understandable when she learnt that he was a struggling comedian. More than once, she tried to convince him to go to Hollywood, where it seemed there would be more opportunity for him, but the City of Angels was not his goal. Seb aimed to be a regular part of SNL, though he admitted himself he was a long way from it.

Throughout the evening, Seb and she started planning what they would do for Christmas. Clary wanted to bake a few cakes, so the guys would have something sweet for the celebration, and Seb was more into brewing some eggnog. In the end, they had decided to come early both on Christmas day, so they could each do their own thing to make the day a bit merrier.

Shortly before ten, Clary bid her goodbyes to the guys and debated on whether she should be lazy and take the subway home when she was met with the cold wind of the outside, but all thoughts left her mind when she saw that someone was waiting for her outside the kitchen soup.

For a split second, she considered running back inside and ask Seb, or another volunteer to walk part of the way with her, but this was not her anymore. She had stopped running from her problems seven months ago when she had confronted Henry about them, and thrown his sorry ass out.

So she kept her head high as he walked closer to her. He hadn't changed one bit. For better or worst, he seemed to be exactly the same, still wearing the clothes he wanted, despite the weather, still sporting an untidy face because he didn't want to conform to society, still looking as if the world owed him something, just because he was.

"I see that you rebounded well," He all but spat at her.

She wasn't surprised that he knew where she was volunteering, this had been a topic that led to many arguments between them. She had been volunteering for this kitchen soup for over a year now, and when they were still together, he often complained about it. Of course, he never directly complained about it, because who in their right mind would complain about being with a charitable person.

But he complained that they didn't spend much time together and that she should pay more attention to his wants and needs, than to some stranger she would never see again. And still, he always made a point of giving money to homeless people when they were together, to show that he wasn't against charitable actions, as long as they did not take away time from their couple.

"It's none of your business, Henry."

"Of course it's my business. We were together for three years, shall I remind you. Before you decided that you didn't want to be in a relationship anymore!"

She ignored him, not wanting to take the bait and start arguing in the streets. He always did that. Never did he want to talk at home, where it was just the two of them. It was always outside, which she never understood. He would always tell her that he was a private guy, but in the meantime, he would want to wash his dirty laundry in public.

"I've been trying to call you every single week for the past six months. I thought that maybe you needed time, but I see now that you were busy landing yourself a billionaire."

"I have nothing to tell you, Henry."

"Well, I have loads. Because I want us to get back together. He's never going to give you what I gave you, no matter how rich he is, you do know that. I thought you weren't that kind of girl."

Once again, she ignored him, mostly because it did not affect her. Henry, of all people, could never call her a gold digger. For three years that they were together, he had only been working for one year. She had provided for most of their outings, even the ones she didn't want to do, to begin with, she had provided for most of the bills, and most of the food. And she never had never even once complained about it, brushing it off when he would try to be the man and say that he should be the one paying.

"I'm sorry about the way we were before you ended things. I don't want to erase three years of our lives like that, Clare bear."

"You should have thought of that before doing everything that you did, Henry."

"You're overreacting."

She opened her mouth, wide with shock. Even after all this time, he still couldn't see that he was the one at fault. Sure she was far from being perfect, but as it took two people to build a relationship, it also took two people to break one. But of course, in Henry's mind, she was the one at fault, and he was the one who had always been indulgent and doing the efforts in their relationship because she was difficult, to begin with.

As soon as they had gotten together, Henry had told her that he was in for the long run, that, him being older than her meant that he was already thinking of having a family and of kids. And Clary had immediately warned him that she was not like the other girls. She wasn't a touchy-feely person, she was not particularly fond of public display of affection and it was hard for her to open up. And he had said that he loved that about her, that it made her different and even more loveable.

And all throughout their relationship, he had complained about it. He would say that it wasn't normal to be that closed, that she was not making any efforts, that she was doing it just for the sake of being stubborn. Every time she thought of opening up, trying to explain why she was the way she was, she stopped herself, because he would say something that would make her recoil. And in the end, she was glad she never truly let him in. It hurt less in the end.

But that was nothing compared to their breakup. They had been falling out for over a year, of course, according to Henry, they only had been falling out since he moved in, and she should have listened to him and moved him with him, at his mother's flat. Ever since he moved in, he had been out of a job once again, and bit by bit did things that he thought she didn't know, but where pure proof he didn't respect her in the end.

When they had met, he was a big consumer of weed but stopped because she had always made it clear that she would never have kids with a smoker. He had promised to stop cigarettes, though he never did, and had stopped weed all at once, swearing that if he ever got back into it, he would tell her first, out of respect. Which he never did. She had to find a bag full of the herb in her apartment one Sunday morning when she was cleaning.

And yet, she did not break it up with him. She still thought she could fix things up. The last straw was the Tinder notification. Clary had never been a jealous person, unlike Henry, but one day, as she was preparing dinner, she saw a Tinder notification pop up on his phone. She never knew what it was about, and she didn't care. It was more than she could endure.

A week later, she was asking him to leave, giving him all the evidence. But of course, as she had expected it, none of it was his fault. He had started smoking again because he was alone and didn't feel that she put many efforts into their relationship. He was looking for a job, but it wasn't that easy (of course, waking up at 4 pm and doing nothing for six months had nothing to do with it). And he was only on Tinder because he was lonely because she was working so much.

With a shake of her head, Clary came back to the present moment. She was not going to give him the satisfaction to make a scene outside. She was done with this man. He could think whatever he wanted, he could tell anyone whatever he wanted, there was nothing that would make her go back to him. Even if it meant she would end up alone with her cats.

"I'm sorry I'm not the girl you need, Henry. Maybe there is one out there, but it's not me."

She started walking away when he grabbed her arm to force to continue their conversation. She repressed a sigh, having forgotten that Henry only thought a conversation was over when he had said the last word. But she was saved from saying or listening to anything as Seb hailed,

"Oi, Clary. You need a lift home?"

She jumped on the occasion, "Don't mind if I do."

She rushed to Seb, not even bothering looking back at Henry, and for a couple of minutes, Seb and her silently walked to his car whilst she blocked Henry's number from her phone. She didn't need to bother with social media, since the only one she had, was the one he didn't.

Once she was in front of Seb's car, she smiled at the blond man, grateful for his interruption, "Thank you so much, Seb. It would have taken me hours to shake him off. But I'll let you go home, now."

"Don't be ridiculous. Hop in. It's too cold for you to be out, anyway. I can drop you wherever you want, it doesn't have to be your place."

She climbed in, all too happy that she would be home much sooner than anticipated, and for a moment, Seb said nothing, trying to find a decent radio station whilst driving.

"So ... I have to say, I never thought your love life was so interesting," He teased, after having settled for a station playing classic rock. She turned a curious head to him, only to see his playful smile as he said,

"I'm assuming that was your ex. And ... well, I may or may not have seen a video this morning about a certain redhead dating a certain billionaire."

Clary whimpered, though a part of her was glad Seb did not mention it until now. She didn't need all the other volunteers to ask her about Jace. Seb chuckled, apparently amused by the situation, unlike Clary,

"I don't know why you're embarrassed. Dating is part of life, and there are ups and downs. But, if I were you, I'd start looking for another place to volunteer. Josh told me that some journalist has been asking about you."

"What did he tell them?"

"'No comment'. That's what he told us to say as well. But you never know with some people. If you do go, I just hope that when I'll get to be on SNL, you won't forget about me, and will still be cheering me up."

.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.

As soon as Seb dropped her off, Clary jumped in a shower where she ended up crying. She hated the fact that she was crying over her relationship that was definitely not healthy for her, but it was the first time she cried about the breakup. Because she had been the one breaking up with Henry, she had felt that she had no right to cry. But now, now that she had seen him and felt nothing but the relief of no longer being with him, she allowed herself this little moment.

She cried so much that once out of the shower, she collapsed on her bed and went into a heavy and dreamless slumber. still, she woke up in the middle of the night, her stomach grumbling and her bladder bursting. After having taken care of the latter, she decided to cook herself some rice and veggies since she had run out of pot noodles. She would need to do some groceries tomorrow.

As she was making a mental list of what she would need to buy, calculating if it fit in her budget, she remembered that she had already been paid by Jace. For a moment, she pondered if she should put the money in the bank, or not, and decided to only take a hundred, before putting the rest of the money in her saving accounts. After all, she still had her tips from last week as well. She could easily live a month with all of that.

It was only at that moment that she remembered Jace and his text. She hesitated a brief instant, before calling him on speaker as she kept frying her veggies. He answered at the first ring.

"Well, hello Clarissa."

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No. I was just working in bed." She did her best to not picture him in his bed, though a part of her mind couldn't help but wonder if he slept with pyjamas on, or not. "Isn't it a bit late, in New York?"

She glanced at the time and paled when she saw it was already two in the morning. Tomorrow morning would be a harsh wakeup call. "I got carried away with studying and ... other stuff. I didn't see the time pass by."

"Have you been out, today?"

"Yes."

"No has bothered you?"

"No." There was no need to mention Henry. He was no one to her. Just someone from her past.

"No leeches trying to suck you dry?"

"Leeches?"

"Paparazzi."

She laughed, the mood slightly lightened by the nickname.

"My PR is going to make a statement first thing tomorrow morning. But I want your approval first. Mr Wayland has just started being in a relationship with a young woman who would appreciate keeping her anonymity. They are still in the very beginning of their relationship and would like to enjoy its ups and downs like any other person. When they will feel like taking it further, they will let make a statement and let us know."

"Okay," She said, not really sure what she would say more. Though she did notice how Jace, or his PR, had played with words. After all, they were in a relationship, just not the one everyone thought they were in.

"If any leech comes to you, just ignore them, and don't give them the satisfaction to react to their presence."

"Did you know we were being photographed?" She burst. She had been thinking about it over and over again. This was exactly what Jace needed, a public statement showing to the world (and the snakes) that he had a girlfriend. And though she didn't mind the manipulation, she would have preferred being in the loop.

"Believe me, I didn't. If I did, I would have the pictures."

"Well, that's not creepy at all."

"Don't be a perv. I would have bought the picture to avoid publication, not to do whatever your dark mind thinks I could do with them. I never intended for us to be outed so soon"

"But you wanted us to be outed at some point."

"Yes. That's the whole point of this arrangement. But I wanted to talk to you about it first. And arrange a night for them to take all their money-shot pictures. I didn't want you to be rushed into it, like now. And I didn't want this to happen before your exams."

"It's okay, Jace." She assured him, and there was a small silence on the other end fo the line, proving her that he didn't believe you. So she clarified herself as she poured the cooked rice over her broccolis and carrots.

"What I meant was, it's not your fault. Don't stress over it. I'm not."

"Really?" Once again, she could tell he was not believing her.

"Anyway, why did you need me to call? Because if it's just that —"

"You're the one who texted me with the link to that video."

"Well, technically, Magnus did. I was not going to bother you with that."

"Well, I'm glad he did. I almost fired my PR. he's supposed to be ahead of this kind of issues, and he obviously wasn't. But anyway. Any plans for Christmas break?"

"As you said, I have my exams coming up. So I was thinking of studying and studying. Maybe a bit of studying on the side, and allow myself with a treat or two of studying so I don't overwork myself."

He laughed, and she could almost picture his eyes forming small crow-like wrinkles around his eyes. "How do feel coming to Seattle?"

She did not say a word. She had never taken a plane before. When she came with Mathew's family from Philly, it was by car since they were moving. But she had never taken a plane. She didn't know if she was scared or not, but she was definitely nervous at the idea.

"Do you need me to?"

"Yes. We have a New Year's Eve party at the headquarters, and now that we're officially together, I need you more than ever. Especially given the number of drunk girls I seem to attract every year."

"So, you want me to fly out for Wednesday the 31st?"

"I was thinking more a couple of days. So you can choose your outfit, this time. I can book you a room at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel for a couple of nights. You can bring your laptop to work here as well, and I'll just steal you for New Year's Eve."

Even though she hadn't voiced her concern, Jace had addressed it in a subtle way. She didn't mind coming to his company party, after all, that's why he paid her for. She minded staying over. But if she had her own place to go to, then, she had no reason to refuse. Plus, it would be a nice change of scenery for her.

"Okay then. Let me know when you have the precise dates in mind."

"Text me your email so I can send you your plane tickets and hotel reservation. I'll see you on the 29th."

.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.

Before she knew it, it was the day of Christmas Eve. She had decided to only study a couple of hours on both those days, and spend the Eve with Magnus, and Christmas itself at the kitchen soup. However, her plans were changed when Madam Dorothea all but insisted that Clary spent Christmas Eve with her husband and her. When Clary tried to get out of it by using Magnus, she happily enjoyed the man over as well, even though she had never met him before.

And that's how both Clary and Magnus were now standing awkwardly in front of the Johnsons house, feeling out of place. Though Magnus did not say anything, Clary was pretty sure that his childhood had had more downs than ups, like her, and that he was not making up for it by enjoying as much as he could Christmas. It was the one time of year he said he would always have off.

Dorothea happily welcomed them inside her house, explaining that she had come to dread Christmas over the past couple of years, since her kids were both in Australia and that the house felt more empty than usual at this time of the year. Magnus had brought fruits and chocolates, whilst Clary had made some fruit pastes a couple of days ago, that were ready to be consumed.

Eric Johnson, Dorothea's husband seemed to be a sweet and nice old man, down to earth with a thundering laugh. Not once he mentioned his work, which Clary found refreshing. She had assumed all businessmen were the same, but it seemed that Jace was the only one who didn't know how to detach himself from his work. But then again, his company was his love, so in the way, she understood.

They all spent a wonderful evening, eating and drinking much more than they should have, appreciating the copious amount of food that Dorothea had cooked, the tasteful wine that Magnus had brought, and the sweetness of Clary's fruit pastes.

It was the first time of her life that Clary actually fully and genuinely enjoyed a Christmas. Sure she had pleasant ones in the past, but she had always felt this bittersweet taste about them. Especially the three she had spent with Henry, the last one being the worst of them all. She had been forced to be someone she was not, just to please the in-laws.

Whereas this time, she was completely herself, especially after a few eggnogs, special composition and curtesy of Eric Johnson. They all danced, and sang Christmas carols, with some inappropriate lyrics from Dorothea and even more appropriate choreographies from Magnus. They ended the night playing a game that Clary would later qualify as the best game in the world, Cards Against Humanity.

Dorothea was actually really good at finding twisted ways to turn a sentence, which surprised Clary who only ever saw her as a very strict woman. It was shortly after midnight when they were all comatose on the sofas of her living room that Magnus gave her the best Christmas gift she ever had. It was nothing material, just a few words that she would cherish until the end of her days,

"You know what, Fray. This little Christmas might be the best I ever had, but it was because I was with you. You're like ... the little sister I never had. I love you."

❌PLEASE DO NOT COPY, DOWNLOAD OR SHARE THIS ANYWHERE OTHER THAN HERE❌

.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.

💚Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed💚

💚 Cassandra Clare owns the names of the characters from the Mortal Instruments franchise, everything else is mine.

Love, Mina💚💚💚