Jade stood outside her balcony, feeling the warm Spring wind breezing through her. She felt a hand touch the nape of her neck and move her billowing hair to the other side of her shoulder. Draco's face flashed through her mind, the face, stronger and clearer than she ever tried to imagine it in the last 7 years.
"Are you all right?" she heard Daniel ask near her ear. He went to kiss her but Jade turned the other way and walked back into the penthouse. "What's wrong Jade? Why are you like this?" Daniel asked.
Jade simply ignored him and walked into their bedroom. She heard him enter and she sat in front of the mirror, seeing him stand in front of the doorway. She didn't want to apologize today. She wasn't going to say sorry for something he was responsible for. She had met Draco today, and it inspired something in her. She felt something that she hadn't in a while; this old feeling was called rebellion. For a few moments, Daniel hadn't said anything. He was staring at her through the mirror, waiting for her to turn around and tell him how sorry she was. Instead, Jade rose from her seat and walked over to her closet. Her closet was another room. It was humongous and had a variety of gowns, clothes, dresses, shoes and jewelry. She wasn't the type to shop, Merlin she hated that, but having a mother figure as a fashion icon and a fiancé who had a fortune, Jade had no other option.
She picked out a red dress, Draco's favorite color while he was dating Ginny. She smirked evilly to herself. This dress was similar to the one Ginny wore at the Valentine's Ball, the one where Jade screwed up badly. She knew now that she wasn't going to try very hard to catch Draco's attention tonight. Jade took the dress off the rack and turned around to see Daniel standing behind her.
"I love that dress." He whispered. Jade resisted the urge to roll her eyes and went to leave but Daniel stopped her. "I'm sorry Jade. I really am. This is all my fault." He said.
'How funny,' Jade thought. 'That was supposed to be my line.' Daniel kissed her lips and placed his hands one her shoulders, traveling them down to her arms. Jade pulled away, pushing him off. She wasn't going to give him what he wanted tonight; his bloody Blackberry would probably ring to its death again.
Draco stood in a circle of world class business men, listening to their rants over politics. He wasn't too interested in anything they had to say, mainly because they spoke about their businesses, stocks, politics and none too brilliant ideas of how to take over the world. He heard someone whisper 'The Mitz's.' and he looked up to see Daniel Mitz, walking in with Jade on his arm. His jaw dropped to the floor.
If someone had told Draco that this Jade Harper, the one that looked like another creature from planet X during the Valentine's Ball would look like a woman…a goddess, Draco would have laughed himself to death. Daniel and Jade were stopped by a few people and greeted them graciously, looking charming together as a couple.
"She's a leech…going after the man's hard earned money." A man said beside Draco.
Draco felt quite annoyed. He knew Jade wasn't like that, she wouldn't just marry a man for his money, or did he really think he knew her?
"Look at her, dressed up and decorated in the finest and rarest diamonds in the world. It's a pathetic story actually, the girl comes from nothing. She comes from London Mr. Malfoy, no offense to your country, but she's just got the easy way out." The man said with distaste.
"I'm sorry Mr. Weston; do you have a particular feud with this woman?" Draco asked firmly.
The old man looked shocked and a bit embarrassed. "No of course not! She's just like my wife! A huge hole in my pocket!" Weston replied.
Draco fully turned to the man and sighed. "Mr. Weston, a man shouldn't make such judgments, least of all, on a woman. We treat women with respect where I come from and I'd like to tell you that if you utter a single word against this woman, I'm afraid I might leave. Mr. Gordon won't be too pleased to find out that you've offended one of his guests from abroad, will he?" Draco asked politely.
The old man grew red in the face and looked like he was ready to explode from holding so much blood in his head. "I apologize if I have offended you Mr. Malfoy." Weston replied quickly and left as soon as he had said it.
Draco smirked and felt a hand wrapping itself around his arm. He turned around and saw Jade retracting her arm back, smiling at him with innocent and hopeful eyes. He was breathless. She wore a tight fitting red one shouldered gown outlining her slender and delicate figure. He never knew that he had been sleeping next to that body years ago, when Jade always slept over at his place. He also never knew that his body would respond this horrifically while she stood there in that crimson red dress, smiling at him.
"Eyes to yourself Mr. Malfoy, we wouldn't want my fiancée to run off, away from me." Daniel joked. Draco and Jade didn't find it funny.
"Excuse me?" Jade asked, removing her arm from his arm.
"Sweetheart, I was just joking." Daniel said his smile fading.
"Yes and we're standing here, laughing our arses off. Great one Daniel Mitz, say another one won't you?" Jade asked acidly.
"Jade! Daniel!" an elegant voice rang out. Jade and Daniel turned around to see Nessie making her way towards them, with her assistants by her sides.
"Nessie." Jade said hugging the beautiful and graceful woman in her 50's.
"I've missed you, how have you been? Daniel? Looking charming as usual." Nessie said kissing Daniel's cheek.
"Looking exceptional tonight Nessie." Daniel said.
Jade touched Nessie's shoulder and pointed to Draco. "Nessie, this is Draco." Jade said softly. Nessie gave Draco a small nod, forgetting for a moment who he was. "Draco Malfoy." Jade said.
Apparently it was taking a while for Nessie to realize who he actually was. "Draco, this is Nessie, the woman who I owe my life to." Jade said seeing Draco smile and take the woman's hand.
"Delighted to meet you." Draco said.
Nessie stood still, her face paralyzed with the smile. Her smiling eyes turned into shock as she stared at Draco. Hearing his English accent, it all clicked. This was the man that Jade truly held in her heart. He was the reason why she left England in the first place. Nessie opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
"The Fergusons, excuse us Nessie, we'll be-" Daniel went to say.
"You can go by yourself, I don't care." Jade said, turning away from Daniel to focus herself on Draco. Nessie laughed nervously and sharply turned Jade around to face Daniel.
"Go dear; it's rude and immature of you not to greet the other guests of the party." Nessie said pushing Jade forward.
"But I-" Jade was cut off by Nessie's urgent look. Jade complied and walked away, shooting an apologetic look towards Draco.
Once they were out of earshot, Nessie turned towards Draco. "Jade has told me quite a lot about you." Nessie said, slowly looking over the handsome man.
"She's told me how grateful she was towards you." Draco said standing elegantly and somewhat arrogantly.
"You are very unhealthy for her life Mr. Malfoy. Forgive me, It's been only a minute meeting you, but you have to realize that she is very happy with her Daniel." Nessie said confidently.
Draco raised an eyebrow. "I think, if you make your point with this, I'll be able to actually understand what it is you're trying to say." Draco said. Nessie took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.
"You had broken her heart and sent her here to rot. If she hadn't met me, Merlin knows what would have happened to her. She almost refused to be with Daniel, just because she had her heart set out on you. With a lot of difficulty and courage on my part, I was able to break her free from you. You have a wife and child Mr. Malfoy, please be with them and never come back to Jade again. She's happier than she probably ever was. She's engaged to a multimillionaire, one of the youngest businessmen in this generation. Don't take that away from her." Nessie pressed.
Draco felt confused. What was she talking about? Did she even know who she was even speaking to? "I don't have a wife or a child! What is this and who are you to tell me if I should come to see her? She's my best friend." Draco said seeing Nessie get angry.
"You don't have a child or wife? What does that mean? She told me-"
"Oh…yeah, Ginny. That was all a big misunderstanding. I don't have any children and I don't have a wife, I assure you." Draco said. Nessie calmed down, still suspicious. "But what do you mean? Try to get away from her? You think I'm here to destroy her?" Draco asked seeing Nessie look at Jade, who looked incredibly bored as Daniel chatted up the Fergusons.
"Jade has stopped trying. Look at her. She used to be very enthusiastic about meeting people, but now, she looks like she'd rather be anywhere but here." Nessie said.
"The real her, hates parties." Draco said.
"The old Jade hated parties…the real Jade, the new Jade loves parties. The new Jade loves Daniel, not you. Stop trying to pull her back-"
"She doesn't love me." Draco said carefully.
Nessie turned to him, a dangerous look in her eyes. "You know it. She loves you, she still does. She's always loved you and before she realizes it, you must leave her. For her own good. She's told me how heartbroken she was when you simply ignored her for that redhead. She told me how much she tried to forget you but she simply couldn't. Like I've said, because of her foolish love for you, she refused to meet Daniel. Daniel!" Nessie said with disbelief.
Draco felt his stomach sinking. The air entering his lungs becoming limited. Jade loved him? Jade loved him during Hogwarts? That's why she left? It sounded a bit ridiculous to him. If she loved him, she had an awkward way of showing it to him. He started to pick up on some key memories he remembered 7 years ago. The first time he made the attempt to speak to Ginny; Jade had flared up and was mad at him for the longest time.
'Did you really think I'd stand there if you fell? Did you feel that bad, that after you've gotten yourself a girlfriend, it felt like your life is easier now? Did I make this hard for you?'
Those words came to ravish him completely. He closed his eyes and tried to calm his anger. How stupid of her! She was so stupid to leave him! That idiot! Once an idiot, always an idiot. He got even angrier when he recalled the moment when she tried to patch things up between him and Ginny. She loved him then, yet she dragged Ginny to him because she thought he would be happy. After learning about Ginny's pregnancy she left! She left his life. Either she couldn't stand the thought of watching his baby grow in his eyes or she thought it was best to leave him alone with Ginny and live in their stupid happiness. Draco wanted to drop his glass, march up to her and tell her off. He wanted to tell her how stupid and childish she was to actually leave him that way. He wanted to shake her, touch her, kiss her, love her but Draco stopped himself. He was going crazy.
Karma knew its way around someone's life and this was what Draco was getting for ignoring Jade in Hogwarts. Although the circumstances and environment were different, the fact of the matter was that Draco wanted Jade, but Jade belonged to someone else. He couldn't ruin her life again. He didn't want that for her and he knew that she probably never wanted that for him either, that's why she had left in the first place. She would forget about him. She would move on. Draco shook his head and handed his glass to a waiter.
Jade saw Draco leave the room, looking incredibly angry. She looked at Nessie who fiddled with her hands, watching Draco leave, nervously. "Excuse me." Jade said to the Fergusons. She pried herself off of Daniel and hurried off behind Draco. She saw him swiftly exit the ballroom and outside towards the garden. Jade hitched up her gown and hurried towards him, cursing the heels. She entered the garden and walked down the stone pathway to see Draco stand in front of a fountain with his hands shoved into his pockets.
"Draco?" Jade asked walking closer to him.
Draco turned around, looked at Jade and turned back again. "What are you doing here?" he asked coldly.
"I saw you leaving and-"
"Thought you'd follow me? How sweet." Draco said sarcastically.
"What's wrong? Has Nessie said anything?" Jade asked seeing him smirk.
"Nessie hasn't said anything. I just wanted a quick smoke. Haven't had that one in a while." Draco said taking one out.
Jade stood next to him and outstretched her hand. "I need one of those too. I've been without one-"
"Since when has your husband started keeping a leash on you hmm? Never knew any man would be able to shut you down Jade. You must really love him." Draco said trying to control himself. He looked at her; she was insulted and started to get angry. Very good.
"He's not my husband-"
"Yet? Is that what you were going to say? What, you don't love him to call him your husband yet?" Draco asked seeing Jade look at him as if he was a head case.
"Draco, what's wrong with you? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?" Jade asked.
Draco smirked and took a long drag from his cigarette. "I've always been like this. You just left 7 years ago. Come on Jade, who knew you were going to marry some rich bastard for money?" Draco asked.
Jade felt her hands ball into fists and she started to shake in anger. "I never left my home just to marry a rich man. I never wanted Daniel." Jade said.
"Because you wanted him for money. You could have just asked Jay. I had money, you could have asked me for some money, but you left. Since when did you learn about dignity and respect?" Draco asked nastily.
"Don't you dare question my dignity Malfoy. You have no idea what I've been through." She snarled.
Draco clicked his teeth. "Probably went through a few dicks to get to the top." Draco said.
That was the last thing he said to her. He was too slow to react or dodge her punch. She had broken his nose quite a couple of times and Draco fixed them, but this was like no other punch she had given before. This one really did hurt. Draco stumbled back and felt the warm blood oozing from his nose. Jade heaved her chest up and down, extremely angry at him.
"I bloody hate you. I always have. You self-centered fuck!" Jade yelled. She turned around and left the garden, leaving Draco with his bloody nose and a few other broken things.