Chapter 8 Eight

• It was almost ten minutes later before Sarah Garcia got to her final destination. After getting all the bags into the kitchen, she went to the living room. Rosa and Jake were watching a movie together, which was quite a surprising sight. These two were rarely ever seen together.
• "What are you guys watching?", the housekeeper asked curiously as she sat down on the sofa beside her friend.
• "Oh, it's just some historical movie," Rosa shrugged, popping a pop corn in her mouth. "It's fun though. And educative. That's why I called Jake to come watch it."
• Ah, that explained Jake's presence. But even then, he was seated at the dining table, which was quite a distance from where his mother was.
• "Well, that's cool." Sarah nodded in approval. "By the way, you won't believe what happened today."
• "What happened?", Rosa asked, turning to face her friend. She could sense that a gist was on the way. The movie could wait for now. Even Jake's attention was now focused on Sarah.
• Knowing that she had their attention, Sarah began her story smilingly.
• "Well, I met this tall, handsome, middle-aged man at the mall this morning..."
• "And he asked you out?", Rosa interjected.
• "Please let me tell my story," Sarah scolded her playfully. "Well, like I was saying, I met this man at the mall. He's a complete stranger to me, but he paid for everything I bought and even helped me carry them. Then he drove me all the way to Weston. It was crazy. I've never seen something like this before."
• "Obviously, he likes you," Rosa said with a shrug as if it was a no-brainer.
• "Well, I don't know," her friend sighed. "I think like is not enough reason to go that far for someone you don't know."
• "What else could be the reason for a man to be so nice?", Rosa snorted. "At least, he got your number, didn't he? You'd be shocked how far soke men can go just to get a woman's number."
• "That's the point, Rosa," Sarah laughed. "He didn't ask for my number and I didn't give him. He only asked for my name and we shook hands. That's all."
• Rosa's eyebrows shot up in surprise when she heard this. "Now, that's strange," she finally conceded. "And you say he's a complete stranger?"
• "Absolutely. I just don't know what to make of it."
• Rosa didn't know what to make of it too. She racked her brain in silence for a while, trying to come up with a possible reason for the man's actions, but nothing came to mind. So, she turned to her son. "Jacob, what do you think about this?"
• "Well, I just think she should be careful," Jake said with a shrug.
• "Careful about what?", Sarah retorted, turning to look at him questioningly.
• "There are a lot of dangerous people out there, you know," the young man clarified.
• But this wasn't enough for Sarah. "What's dangerous about what he did?", she pressed.
• "He might be trying to bait you. Have you thought about that?", Jake blurted out. He seemed seriously concerned about the issue.
• "Bait me?", Sarah scoffed. "For what reason exactly?"
• "Well, I don't know. It could be that..."
• "You don't know, but you're making groundless assumptions, huh?", Sarah retorted before he could finish his statement. "Do you know who I think is dangerous? It's you."
• Jake was taken aback by this unexpected accusation. His face showed how shocked and rattled he was.
• Nevertheless, Sarah went on.
• "You're the man in the house you're not really busy with anything serious, yet you can't come with me to the mall to help me with shopping, but you can sit here and decide who's dangerous or not. Would a stranger have any excuse to help me if I already had someone that could help me?"
• Jake couldn’t argue against this. He just hung his head in silence.
• Feeling victorious, Sarah left him to marinate over her scathing rebuke and turned back to her friend and employer.
• "So, I'll have to send you the money since I didn't spend it. Let..."
• "Why do that?" Rosa cut her off. "The man obviously gave you a gift. It's yours to keep."
• "You think so? Thank you then," Sarah said gratefully.
• "I'm really not be the person you should be thanking. I wasn't the one who made your day," Rosa pointed out.
• "You're right," the housekeeper giggled. "He sure did make my day. It's rare to find such gentlemanly guys like that nowadays."
• But at this point, there was a sharp noise in the dining area. Jake had aggressively gotten up from the dining table and was stomping off in displeasure.
• "What's up with that one?", Rosa couldn't help but ask as she watched his retreating figure.
• "I don't know. Maybe he has something to do," Sarah murmured. But in her mind, she knew that was not the reason for his behaviour. Apparently, he had been angered by the way she had talked about that good samaritan. Could it be that he was jealous? Was he still attracted to her in some way? The thought of this made her heart flutter a bit. But then, even if her guess was correct, she couldn't afford to allow that feeling grow any further in his heart. If it did, it would certainly not end well at all! Hence, she was determined to do everything in her power to discourage and kill it once and for all.
• She had thought that making it clear to him that what happened between them was a mistake had done enough to crush any ‘inconvenient’ ideas or feelings he might still have. But it seemed she was wrong. Perhaps talking was not enough? Maybe it was time for action. But what action should she take that would be effective and longlasting? This was the dilemma... or was it? Didn’t she already have the tools she needed to get this done? Of course, she did!