Chapter 528: Clearing It Up

As Jamal drove them to the office, he held Dawn’s hand in one hand and drove with the other.

Dawn, on the other hand, turned fully in her seat and gazed at Jamal as he drove.

Somehow, almost losing what they had, made her value their relationship even more.

At intervals, Jamal would glance at her, smile, and apologise again, and she’d smile and also apologise.

When they arrived at the company, most of the staff stared at them as they headed for Jamal’s floor, wondering why Dawn was at the company.

"So, show me your schedule for the day and tell me what you need me to do," Dawn said the moment they walked into his office and shut the door behind them.

"Not so fast," Jamal said, pulling her to himself again and hugging her.

Dawn laughed against his body but embraced him.

"Let’s talk. I still have some time before everything gets busy," Jamal said as he led her to the seating area of his office.

"You want to talk now?" Dawn asked, amused that Jamal, who had been avoiding a conversation with her, was suggesting they talk.

"Yes. I know we both apologised and made up, but we were not done with our conversation earlier before Josh interrupted us. And I didn’t want us to have such a serious conversation while driving. So, let’s clear it all up," he explained.

Dawn nodded. "Okay."

"So, go ahead," Jamal said after they were both seated on the couch, still holding hands.

Dawn frowned. "With what?"

"You suggested we clear it up slowly. We cleared up the chemistry issue. What is next?"

Dawn smiled. "Okay then. Let’s clear up the issue of you running off instead of communicating." ℯ

Jamal sighed deeply. "I’m sorry. I was feeling confused and needed space and time to process my emotions before facing you. I didn’t want you to know I was upset."

Dawn didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she thought about what he said.

Finally, she asked, "So, you prefer to think things through before communicating?"

Jamal nodded. "Yeah."

"Does that mean you were coming to the spa because you had thought about it and wanted to talk?" Dawn asked again.

Jamal sighed deeply. "Yeah."

Dawn pursed her lips. "While I think there is nothing wrong with processing things before talking about them, I also think you’re like your Mum, Jamal. You overthink. And the time you spend processing might just worsen things."

Jamal nodded. "That’s exactly what happened."

"You know, thinking about it again, it was also my fault. I shouldn’t have ended the conversation the way I did. Maybe if I had taken my time to explain instead of asking you to forget about it, you wouldn’t have misunderstood," Dawn said thoughtfully.

Before Jamal could respond, she continued. "So, how about we handle things differently now? When there is a misunderstanding, we take our time to clear it up and not deflect. We can argue and fight if need be, but we clear it up and not give each other room to overthink or make false assumptions."

Jamal nodded. "I will try."

"You will have to do more than try, Jam. This can’t happen again between us," Dawn said softly. "You have to let me know if you feel attacked, hurt, or insulted by anything I say."

Jamal nodded again. "Alright. But you’ll do the same too."

Dawn smiled. "Sure. So, let’s talk about what happened at the spa."

"I was wrong. I shouldn’t have left the way I did."

"True. But apart from the fact that our conversation the previous night upset you, have I given you any reasons to distrust me?"

Jamal shook his head. "No."

"Then why did you call the spa?"

Jamal sighed. "After seeing you both together that way, I figured you might have been with him. I’m sorry."

"Are you saying if we didn’t have that conversation last night, you wouldn’t have reacted this way to seeing me with some other guy?"

Jamal considered it for a moment. "I’m very jealous when it comes to you," Jamal admitted.

Dawn smiled.

"But that doesn’t mean I’m going to be irrational every time I see you with a guy. I particularly didn’t like seeing you with him after I saw the way he held your hand. The fact that he knew you were in a relationship yet didn’t keep a respectable distance says he doesn’t respect your relationship."

Dawn nodded slowly as she thought about the comments Adam had made about their relationships and the disturbing questions he had asked.

"Can you not lie to me next time? Even if you think I might be upset, I would rather you trust me enough to handle the truth," Jamal said.

"I’m sorry. I won’t lie to you again."

Jamal exhaled deeply then raised her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. "I’ve not been chasing you as I ought to, Dawn."

"Chasing me?" Dawn asked, lifting a brow.

"Yes. Like you said, we’ve been acting like an old married couple. We don’t go on dates often or do lots of fun stuff. I don’t even know a lot about you..." 𝖿𝖗ⅇℴ𝑚

"You know a lot about me," Dawn countered.

"I didn’t know that you’d love to travel," Jamal explained.

"That’s not a lot, Jamal. You know a lot about me. And even if we were to be together for fifty years, you still might never know everything. We unravel each other slowly. Adam got to know about that only because I saw the pictures in his office. I didn’t even realise how much I’d love to travel until I saw them."

Jamal nodded thoughtfully. "I remember Aunt Andy saying your mother used to love travelling a lot. Hopefully, you can start travelling freely after Tom and Harry expose those behind the attempt on Genny’s life."

"Travel without you and Josh? I’d rather travel with you than alone. I don’t think I’m a fan of solo trips."

Jamal smiled. "Then let’s do a lot of travelling during our honeymoon. But without Josh. Just the two of us. We can go on family vacations later. How about that?"

"I love the sound of that," Dawn said, grinning.

"I know I’ve said this already, but I want to thank you again for not allowing me to ruin what we have."

"Lucy will be so happy to know we made up," Dawn said, and immediately, Jamal groaned.

"Can you not tell anyone we’ve made up yet?" he asked.

Dawn frowned. "Why not?"

"I feel so embarrassed that I couldn’t even stay mad at you for so long. They’re going to tease me so much, especially Tom..." he trailed off and covered his face in his hands when he remembered his conversation with Tom.

"What’s wrong with you being unable to stay mad at me for so long?" Dawn asked, amused.

"This was why I didn’t want to tell anyone about what was going on. Now Lucy and Tom know, and there is Callan and the others. This is so embarrassing."

Dawn smiled softly. "Why do you feel embarrassed that you made up with me instead of breaking up? Would you rather we broke up?"

"No. Of course not."

"Good. So, we are going to let them know we fixed our misunderstanding later so they don’t worry unnecessarily about us."

Jamal groaned, while Dawn laughed.

"For now, let’s focus on work. Tell me what I need to do for you. I will have to leave when it’s time to get Josh from school," Dawn said, switching to work mode.