CHAPTER 3

Everyone in his family expected him to follow into the footsteps of his father and grandfathers – to be a playboy! However, they had no idea he has no girlfriend since birth. He’s not gay and he wasn’t afraid of women. He couldn’t hurt a single woman, because of his mother! His grandmother would scold him for being a mama’s boy, but he wasn’t a mama’s boy either. He just wanted to make his mother happy after she suffered so much from his father’s betrayal.

Jacob hated Stefan at first sight. The word heartbreaker was written on the man's face, and Jacob feared that Stefan would target his mother. Although his mother was already in her fifties, she didn’t look like one, and a young man’s attention would surely make her heart flutter like a schoolgirl. Jacob clenched his fist while Stefan glanced at his mother for moral support when he ordered to have his tattoo removed!

“Baby, it’s just a tattoo! Common, please be reasonable.” Carmela Gordon reasoned out on behalf of the newly-hired secretary.

Baby? She tried to hide the smile on her lips, but she was amused at how Jacob clenched his jaw after Mrs. Gordon referred to him as a baby. “I’m sorry,” she apologized after she burst out laughing.

“Just like what I said, your tattoo is an issue to me.” He reiterated while scowling at Stefan Cuizon. 

Stephanie kept quiet while Mrs. Gordon argued with Jacob Gordon regarding her tattoo, and when the waiter arrived, they both stopped. “Thank you, Mrs. Gordon.” She said when Jacob’s mother gestured her to begin eating.

For a moment, they focused on their breakfast, but in no time at all, Jacob was at it again. He glared at Stefan for acting weak in the eyes of his gullible mother. “So, how old you are, Mr. Cuizon?” He had no chance to review the man’s resume because it was his mother who chose him, and as always, he trusted her judgment of character. However, with Stefan Cuizon, he began to doubt his mother’s ability to accurately judge a character.

“I’ll be twenty-three this year, Mr. Gordon.” She replied.

Inside his head, Jacob calculated the age gap between Stefan and his mother, and he coughed at the difference of thirty-two years. “As young as you are, you must have big dreams in life.” He insinuated that the man would resort to gold-digging to achieve his dreams and goals in life.

“Big dreams? I’m not sure, but I only dream to have a stable job.” She replied. For her, it’s a struggle to stay longer in one company, and she wished that Wolf Bank would give her the chance to stay longer than a month. Because of her short tenure in every company, she was always blamed for being a troublemaker and she had a hard time landing for another job.

Jacob arched his brow at Stefan’s ridiculous response. Just a stable job? Hah, who was he trying to fool? He glared at his secretary who kept on smiling towards his mother. “Are you sure?” He inquired.

He wasn’t the only one who questioned her dreams in life, but she was telling the truth. She only needed a stable job, then maybe someday, she would start a family. “Yes, I am sure.” She responded with confidence. It may sound unbelievable to other people, but for Stephanie, it was everything to her!

Jacob shook his head at Stefan’s blatant lie.  Stefan was good at lying, and he lost his appetite just by sitting at the same table with him. He scowled at the newly-hired staff, but his mother caught him glaring at Stefan and warned him to stop. For the first time, the demure Carmela Gordon kicked him under the table.

After breakfast, Carmela entrusted Stefan to Jacob and left for another engagement with her friends.

Stephanie was nervous while she walked beside him in going back to the office. Jacob was silent, and she didn’t know how to engage him in a less awkward conversation. When they get to the office, she opened the door for him because it was part of her job.

Earlier, she noticed the way he scowled at her, and she wondered what’s wrong. After she closed the door behind her, she followed him inside his huge office that overlooked the business district in the city.

“Do you have something to tell me?” Jacob asked when Stefan followed him inside his office.

“I think it’s vice versa, Mr. Gordon. Do you hate me?” She inquired. It would be awkward to work with a boss who hated her. It’s her first day at work for goddamn sake and yet he made her feel unwanted when she passed the meticulous job screening.

Jacob thought that it would be his best chance to be clear with Stefan. They’re going to work together, and he wouldn’t like to have a bad relationship with his secretary. “Will you be honest, Stefan? Are you dating my mother without my knowledge?” he asked and saw how Stefan 

WHAT? Whoa, that was the most ridiculous question she has ever heard her entire life! “Are you implying that I got the job because I’m dating her?” She was offended.

“Isn’t it?” Jacob followed-up the question with another one when Stefan didn’t give him a direct answer.

“Of course not!” She denied his accusation. “Why don’t we ask your mother if I’m dating her?” She suggested, and Jacob paled at the possibility of offending the woman who gave birth to him. 

It would be a disaster if his mother would learn about his suspicions, and causing her to be unhappy was the last on his list. “Are you telling the truth that you’re not in a relationship with her?”

“I don’t date anyone who’s way too old than me,” she replied honestly. Either he's a man or a woman, she wouldn't date anyone older than her.

“My mother doesn’t look like her age,” he argued.

If only she’s allowed to roll her eyes at him, she would have done it already. Stephanie concluded that Jacob Gordon has a serious mental problem. When he asked about her relationship with Carmela Gordon, he assumed the worst. When she told him she wouldn’t date an older woman, he argued that his mother was still beautiful. What a complicated man!

“As your secretary, I think I have the right to know you and your secret. Tell me, are you into men?” After she delivered her question professionally, she watched how Jacob swallowed a lump in his throat, and once again, she was attracted to the way his adam’s apple moved. She had to shake her head to stop imagining him and her together.

Jacob gritted his teeth as he tried to control himself from squeezing the life out of Stefan’s neck. How dare he was to assume that he’s not straight! “What do you think?” He asked instead.

“I think you’re gay,” she replied truthfully, and it was based on his observation.