One Wild Night

"What? Their engagement wasn't real? You knew about this, didn't you?" Harry asked as he and Jade watched the show together on the large flatscreen television in the living room. 

Jade simply shrugged without breaking her gaze away from the screen, "Didn't you think that engagement was too ordinary for someone of Bryan's status?"

"What was ordinary about that engagement? Why would you consider it ordinary? Is there some particular way someone of his status is supposed to engage a woman he loves?" Harry asked with a confused frown, and Jade turned to look at him this time.

"Don't tell me when you meet the woman of your dreams you're just going to pop the question to her with a ring?" She asked with a small frown.

"Is anything wrong with that?"

"You mean there would be no head swooning grand gestures?" Jade asked again.

"Is that important? What matters is that we are both in love and are willing to share the rest of our lives with each other," Harry said, and Jade rolled her eyes.

"You're very unromantic, and I wish the lady that ends up winning your heart good luck. If and when I eventually decide to settle down, my man would know better than to just pop the question. I need a dramatic proposal," Jade said with a smile as she returned her attention to the screen, while Harry just stared at her. 

Jade's phone started ringing almost immediately, and she rolled her eyes when she picked up the phone and saw that it was her mother who was calling, "Another victim of Bryan's lie," Jade muttered as she received the call.

"Tell me that you didn't know that your brother lied about the engagement?" Her mother snapped at her angrily.

"I don't understand why you are yelling at me when I also feel hurt, betrayed, and heartbroken. We all fell for Bryan's act," Jade said dramatically, and Harry raised a brow as he looked at her, while she winked at him.

"You mean you didn't know that the engagement was fake?" Their mother asked doubtfully.

"How was I supposed to know? I doubt that Tom knew of it either. But what does it matter? He ended up falling for her after all, and that is the most important thing, isn't it?" Jade asked, and Evelyn frowned.

"You know what they say about relationships that start on the foundation of lies," Evelyn pointed out.

"That is if they lied to each other. But in this case, they didn't. They both lied to the world. Besides, only a person like Sonia could have tamed that randy son of yours. So you should be grateful to her," Jade said, and Evelyn sighed this time.

"I really hope that there are no more lies. I don't understand why both your brothers ended up in such complicated relationships."

"Well, at least you got what you wanted. They're both dating, and from the looks of things they will be getting married and giving you grandchildren in the not-so-distant future," Jade said with a smile. 

"And what about you? Why are you not in a relationship yet?" Evelyn asked, and Jade rolled her eyes. 

"How does this have to do with the fact that Bryan deceived us? Isn't that why you called?" Jade asked, trying to change the subject.

"Don't try to be smart with me! Why are you still single?" Evelyn repeated testily.

She knew that telling her mother that she wasn't interested in getting involved with anyone would be pointless. "I'm busy with work. And you are distracting me right now. I need to return my attention to the interview. Your other soon-to-be daughter-in-law just joined Bryan and his ex fake fiancee turned girlfriend on the set," Jade said, and Harry's lips twitched in amusement at the description.

"Jade... Make sure you clear up whatever case you have. The moment your brothers are settled, I want to see all of you. And this conversation you are avoiding, we are going to have it then," Evelyn said before hanging up. 

Jade sighed as she dropped her phone, "What is it with parents and wanting their kids to be in a relationship anyway?" Jade asked Harry whose eyes were fixed on the screen.

"What is it with you trying to hook me up?" Harry asked dryly, and Jade grinned at him.

"Perhaps it's my motherly or sisterly instinct towards you at work?" Jade asked with a little giggle, and Harry turned to look at her with an unreadable expression before returning his attention to the screen where Alicia was questioning Sonia.

"Sonia, earlier you mentioned something about having a half-brother who hated your existence, Is he the same person as the college student who was supposedly murdered by your best friend?"

Sonia paused for a moment and turned to Lucy who she noticed had become tense, "Yes. His name was Jamie," Sonia said as she took Lucy's hand once again, as though to reassure her that she wasn't alone.

Lucy looked down when she felt the slight tremble of Sonia's hand and then looked into Sonia's face. Only then did she realize that Sonia was as tense as she was. Of course, this had to be difficult for Sonia too, yet she was here doing this for her. She had to pull herself together if for nothing else, but for Sonia's sake.

 Straightening her back, Lucy squeezed Sonia's hand reassuringly.

"If you don't mind me asking, can you tell us a little about your relationship with Jamie?" Alicia asked curiously, and Sonia's eyes became distant as she thought of him.

"Jamie was my mom's first child before she got married to my dad, but I only found out about him after my dad's death. He hated the mere sight of me and never got along with me. Both he and his father did their best to make me feel uncomfortable and unwelcome in the house so I spent most of my time at Lucy's home. So it's safe to say that there was really no love lost between us," Sonia said with a shrug, knowing that some people would likely want to use all that she had just said against her. It would be easy for them to say she was taking Lucy's side because Lucy was more like family to her, unlike Jamie who she didn't get along with. 

"I suppose that is understandable," Alicia said with a nod as she turned to Lucy, "What about you, Lucy? What was your relationship with Jamie?" Alicia asked, and Lucy took in a deep breath.

"There was..." She paused to clear her throat, "There really wasn't any relationship between us. All the time I visited Sonia's house, he would treat me like I didn't exist. He barely responded to my greetings or anything, so whenever I was in the house we would stay up in Sonia's bedroom. All he was to me was Sonia's half-brother. There was no special relationship between us," Lucy said with a shrug.

"That is surprising. You mean you were friends with Sonia for about fifteen and you never got along with her half-brother? Like not even a crush? Am I to assume that he wasn't cute?" Alicia asked, and Lucy winced.

"He wasn't bad looking, but there was no form of communication between us to make me want to have a crush on him," Lucy said with a shake of her head.

"Unlike I who had a crush on Lucy's dad," Sonia supplied with a grin, and Lucy giggled.

"Seriously? You had a crush on Lucy's dad?" Bryan asked, leaning forward in his seat so that he could take a good look at Sonia.

"She still does. At least judging by the blush on her face when she saw last night," Lucy said with a grin, and Sonia giggled, while Bryan's brows furrowed.

"You're not going back there today. Bring your luggage over here once we are done here," Bryan instructed, and Sonia giggled.

"Do you realize that we are in front of the camera?" Sonia asked in amusement, and Bryan scowled.

"I'm serious," he told her before returning his attention to Alicia. He cleared his throat, "Sorry. I got distracted," he murmured. 

"It's fine. So, what was your childhood like? I mean, Sonia already mentioned that you were a model student. What were you like outside school? Did you love parties? Seeing how beautiful you look, I'm sure so many boys would have been vying for your attention. Did you have lots of boyfriends?" Alicia asked with a curious smile, slowly leading up to the question of what had happened between Lucy and Jamie. She had read the articles released online in favor of Lucy, and she had seen the testimony which some of Lucy's admirers had given in court about being harassed by Jamie. 

"Growing up, I was invited to a lot of birthday parties, so I attended my fair share. I loved parties like the average teenage girl but if it wasn't a birthday party or a school party, I wasn't allowed to go. My parents were always careful about such unauthorized parties that teenagers loved to hold in the absence of their parents," Lucy explained, and Alicia looked at her with disbelief. 

"And you never sneaked out?"

"Nah. I was too scared to do that. I always had this deep-rooted fear that if I went out without their permission, something might go wrong at the party, and then I might end up in juvenile prison," Lucy said with a wry smile, thinking that even the trouble she had tried to avoid had found its way to her. 

"Well, I never thought about that. I attended my fair share of those juvenile parties and even hosted some. And believe me, it was always mad fun!" Alicia confided with a wide smile. 

"Me too. My mother would think I was passing the night at Lucy's, but I would sneak out for a party," Sonia said with a mischievous smile.

"I guess I should have done that while I could," Lucy said with a wry smile.

"What about boyfriends? Your parents didn't let you go out with guys too?" Alicia asked in a teasing tone, and Lucy took in a deep breath. 

She knew without a doubt that they were about to get into the serious part of their conversation. Once they started this, there was no turning back. 

Her eyes moved to Tom who was standing behind the camera with Jasmine, and he gave her a nod and a thumbs-up, encouraging her to speak.

Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Lucy returned her attention to Alicia, "My parents didn't have a problem with me having a boyfriend. It was Jamie who didn't let any guy come close to me." Lucy revealed.