Going Solo

Part 25

Jasmine

I was losing him.

My gaze was torn from Jin, as I watched him walk off with that girl arm in arm under the umbrella, when a hand tightly gripped my arm.

"What are you doing here?!" he said whipping me around to face him.

"Hugh." I sighed, ripping my arm from his grasp. "Long time, no see."

"Yeah, and whose fault is that?" he spat.

"You know I'd really love to catch up, but I'm not feeling too well today."

He scoffed, "It's just like you to use your illness as an excuse for your actions. I'm sure you've been getting away with that for years now."

He lowered his voice to a menacing whisper before he continued. "But let me get this straight right now. I don't feel sorry for you, not one bit. Jin may feel sorry for you now, but don't you dare think for a second that I will let you hurt him again. The only thing he feels for you is pity. You're pitiful for crawling back here, as if he'd take you back. You deserved what you got! If you hadn't been sleeping around you wouldn't be in this mess."

I felt an involuntary tear roll down my cheek, and raised an eyebrow in defiance. "If I hadn't been prepared to hear those words, I wouldn't have come back."

"Good, because that's not the half of it." he said, looking around. His gaze stopped on something, wiping the tear from my blush stained cheek, I turned to see what it was. He had noticed a woman with big eyes and full lips. She was clad in an all black ensemble, black shirt and slacks. Their eyes met once she looked up from her phone.

"We can't talk here. Follow me."

I didn't think there had been much more to talk about. Out of curiosity,  I followed. Hugh was headed in the direction opposite from which he came, down another corridor of the hotel. We finally reached a small cafe inside the hotel. He sat down at one of the tall round tables and I sat opposite him.

Propping my elbows on the table and resting my head on my hand, I put on a smile. "You didn't miss me? Not even a little?"

I could see the muscles in his face twitch. "Are you just trying to get a rise out of me? Because if that's what you want, you're not going to get it. I'm done with your games!" he said, elevating his voice.

"Of course not, but I can't believe that you don't remember that kiss."

"Shut up!" Hugh fumed. His jaw was clenched now, his eyebrows furrowed, and eyes tightly closed as if he were trying to forget.

The fake smile that I'd put on dissipated. "You will not tell Jin that you saw me here. And I might just keep our little secret." I couldn't let Jin think I was stalking him, I was his least favorite person already.

"What are you doing here? Are you that desperate that you're stalking him now?!"

"I happened to see them. I stay here now. At this hotel."

"Sure, you do." he scoffed. "Like you have the money to afford The Guinevere Hotel."

I sighed. "Believe what you want Hugh, but I'm serious about this, about Jin. I'm finally being serious."

"How about this," he said grabbing his briefcase and folder and sliding off of the seat. "I'll believe what I know, and that's that you are a lying, manipulative, skank. And I want nothing to do with you."

With that he walked away. I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew Hugh wouldn't say anything to Jin. He loved him too much. Theirs was a bromance if I ever did see one.

Slipping off of the barstool, I went up to the cashier and ordered Jasmine tea. Inhaling the aroma as I sipped on the scalding hot tea, I reminisced on memories filled with this aroma. Me going over to Jin and Hugh's house, or Jin coming over to mine. We'd be boiling a pot of Jasmine tea and Jin would tell me that he loved it so much because I was his perfect cup of tea.

Pulling myself from the memories, I slipped out my key-card and headed up to my room. As soon as I opened the door, I began searching for scissors. I settled for the kitchen shears in the knife block that sat atop the marble countertop. Hastily I cut the hospital bracelet from my arm. I hated anything that reminded me of a hospital.

Last night, Jin had bolted into my hotel room and found me collapsed on the floor right next to the door. I'd been trying to unlock the door for him and after succeeding, my body decided to reward itself with a deep sleep.

I'd woken up in the middle of the night to see him in the seat next to my hospital bed. His head was tilted back and he released a slight snore. I immediately felt at ease and went straight back to sleep, but when I'd awoken the next morning, he was gone. I stayed to speak with the doctor, then checked myself out, as there was nothing else to be done. I had my pills. I just needed to take them.

I took the bus back to the hotel. Since I hadn't drove in my car to the hospital, it was still in the hotel's parking garage. I had changed clothes, put up my hair, and was on my way for something to eat, before seeing Jin and that girl and then being interrupted by Hugh.

Finally freeing myself from the hospital bracelet, I dumped it into the trash bin. After finding the refrigerator empty, I called room service and settled for the onion soup and garden salad.

My cellphone buzzed. I took one look at the caller ID and groaned. My manager. Hesitantly, I swiped to answer the call.

"Where are you?! Jasmine, I swear you think the world will wait on you hand and foot. News flash! You're not all that! You can't afford to go missing auditions. Tell me where you are, I'm coming to pick you up right now."

"Dane! I'm in Georgia..."

"G-Georgia?" he stuttered, almost choking on his words. "Why would you be in Georgia? Oh I know what this is about. It's about that married man, isn't it? You decided to go for a little visit to your boyfriend didn't you? Listen, do you know what I had to do to get you this audition? It could be the turning point in your career! Get back here right now!"

"Dane, there's something I have to do here."

"You can't afford to be wasting time Jasmine. The big audition for the Pepsi ad is next week! I need to monitor your diet and you need to be drinking more water! You've had this unnatural yellowish complexion for months now and it may seriously start to affect your modeling career!"

"Dane! I'll get there, when I get there. I don't know how long this will take."

"I bet you're staying in a hotel aren't you? It's not like you could stay with him! Does he even take you on dates? Or does he just sneak into your hotel room at night?-"

Click. I ended the call. Mental note: Find a new manager.