22 Jayden the story teller

 Vanessa felt her stomach squeeze, did she do anything wrong? Why were they silent? The table atmosphere was awkward; making Vanessa have cold sweats on her forehead. The blank gaze she was receiving from Jayden's 'sister' and brother made her both nervous and confused. She could not sense any hostility or admiration in their eyes, it was like her existence did not matter to them. She was like an irrelevant obstacle that they could easily ignore.

Alessia kept her blank gaze on Vanessa, while Lorenzo just ignored her and turned his attention back to the stage. Currently, the company was giving out awards to staff for their dedication and hard work throughout the year. Vinci company was very generous to their staff with their gifts, which were accepted by the awardees with obvious joy and happiness at being awarded today. The excitement was obvious with the way they reacted when called out. One of the awardees even tripped while going to receive her award, it made the entire hall echo with laughter.

Even Vanessa could not help but laugh but stopped abruptly when she received a displeased glare from Alessia. The Jayden family were not welcoming at all. So if she were his actual girlfriend, they would have given the same reception that she is receiving now. She was silently feeling bad for Jayden's actual girlfriend. ,'Thank God I am not her, poor girl. She would start having issues with the family before she even became an official member.' Vanessa started feeling pity for Jayden's actual girlfriend.

Since his family was not welcoming; it had nothing to do with her, her deal was just to accompany Jayden to the gala and not become his family's future daughter-in-law. 

Jayden was quiet because he was aware of his mother judging off Vanessa to see if something was off. She had a pile of questions in her mind see was probably thinking of which one to start with, "So Lilac what do you do for a living?" Alessia questioned when she was no longer concerned about the event and her sole attention was Lilac, the girl her boy introduced to her?

Alessia did not have a good opinion of Jayden's girlfriend because of several things she had heard about her. Even though she had never met his girlfriend before, she heard a few gossips here and there about how Jayden's supposed girlfriend was treated. Alessia was not pleased by what she heard, but she never took the initiative to investigate who Jayden's girlfriend was because she did not feel it was necessary to interfere in her son's private life then. But Alessia was a little confused currently, based on what she heard, Jayden's girlfriend's name was Petra and not Lilac or was there a mix-up somewhere?

Vanessa, who had already given up on striking conversation with Jayden's mother, was startled by the sudden question. She had been keeping herself busy enjoying the gala and observing the guests, there were many good-looking people here, and rich people do know how to take care of their looks. So when Alessia suddenly spoke to her, she was a little shocked because she thought Alessia intended to treat her like air.

"Presently I am a student studying software engineering at Babcock University." Vanessa blurted out, immediately, not realizing she had given out her personal information. Jayden brows creased, 'was that not the same course and school of the rude rabbit? Do they probably know each other since their behaviors are similar?' Jayden wondered at the oddity. Of course, the rude rabbit Jayden was referring to was Vanessa who bumped into him. It was such a shame he did not know Lilac and Vanessa were the same people.

Alessia had a wow expression on her face, her mouth was already slightly agape, ' ' 'wasn't that the same course Jayden studied in school maybe that's why he likes her, but wait a minute; Babcock University was the same school Jayden had a sermon in couple days ago. Was it because of her?' She thought. Alessia squinted her eyes at Vanessa; this was getting more interesting.

"Was that not the same university Jayden had a sermon at a few days ago, it was even trending on Twitter. Don't tell me he went because of you; Lilac , Jay jay" Alessia chirped smirking at Jayden who choked on his drink because of his mother's sly voice. The seminar had nothing to Lilac, he only attended because of a favor he owed an acquaintance of his.

"Yes it is the same one, Jayden's sermon was very intriguing and informative." Vanessa lied through her teeth, she was not even present because she found it irrelevant and used the time to catch up on her studies.

"That's interesting, so how did you guys meet? I know it would be a very intriguing story how the CEO of JayxTech meant an engineering college student and you guys fell in love and are all lovey-dovey giving us single folks dog food. Like you stole the show when you joined the dance." Alessia's melodic voice sounded like she was teasing Jayden and Lilac. She even had a playful grin on her face, which made Lorenzo, who was trying to focus on the gala, chuckle in delight at his mother's behavior.

Vanessa's cheeks had a reddish tint to them, she was blushing not because Alessia teased but actually for the reason she had forgotten the made-up story she and Jayden agreed on about how they met each other. Her cover was about to be blown.

"There is no need to be shy about it, even though it is silly. I am just curious how my workaholic brother met his girlfriend." Alessia pushed on, not letting go of the question. Jayden finally seemed to have discovered Vanessa was in a tough position and decided to come to her rescue.

"It is a long story, we had known each other for a while before we started dating. I met her at a club, it was my first at that particular club, although I cannot remember the name again sadly because it has been a long while and the club is not that popular." 

"A club, that's intriguing. okay so what happened now, I am curious." Alessia chimed.

"Yeah, a club Lilac does not remember it quite well because she was drunk." Jayden nervously chuckled, he was creating an excuse for why Vanessa could not remember their first meeting.

" So Lilac attacked me why she was drunk, saying I must spend the night with her, it was such unladylike how she approached me and of course, I wanted to be freed from her grasp, but her claws were difficult to pull off."

'What the f*ck, is he indirectly saying I was behaving like a wh*re?' Vanessa was not pleased with the way Jayden was describing her in his story, there was no way she would behave like that. He didn't have to make her look so bad.

"I didn't want to hurt her, so I did not use much force and no one could come to my aide because, unfortunately, we were in a dark corner so no one knew what was happening. I was struggling to release her hold, until suddenly, she started crying and blabbing about something incoherent for me to understand. So for me not to look bad for making a girl cry at a club. I had to placate her and listen to her ramble the entire night, forgetting about the guys I was meant to meet with." Jayden started laughing, he was amused by the story he made up, imagining 'Lilac' in a similar position was hilarious to him.

Vanessa smiled at Jayden, who was having fun ruining her reputation to his family of all the stories he could think of. Others looking at Jayden and Vanessa would think they were having a couple of moments, only if they knew what was really in their mind.

"After talking for a long while, she fell asleep, and I could not leave her alone in a club because it was against my principles. So since I did not know her place and she was sleeping very deeply, unaware of her environment I was unable to wake her. So I booked a hostel room close to the club for us to stay the night. Therefore, the funny part was that only one room with a single bed was available, and I was too tired to drive to my villa because I had a long day. I don't know if it was fate, but I did not take my driver with me that night. I had no choice but to share The room with Lilac and to clear your suspicions, nothing happened between us because I would never take advantage of a drunk girl…"

"... But Lilac, who woke up the next day with a hangover, first reaction was to scream and threaten to defame me, saying that I took advantage of her while she was drunk. She was acting like a fierce rabbit, and I think that's when I started to develop feelings for her. She was acting fierce and a little dumb. It was obvious that I did not touch her because her clothes were still arranged, but my little fierce rabbit Lilac jumped to the conclusion because we slept on the same bed. Although it was not smart for me to sleep in the same bed with a stranger, I was tired and a little drunk that night too." Jayden then stared at Lilac's eyes with a very soft smile. His hands reached to rub Vanessa's hand before he held it. His actions were very delicate.

Vanessa's blood rushed to her head and her heartbeat picked up. Jayden was an excellent liar and actor, he played his role perfectly.