Chapter 533: Wife?

For the rest of the day, Jamal was busy, moving from one meeting and appointment to another, and didn’t have time to talk to Dawn or have lunch with her until she left to pick Josh up from school and take him home.

When Jamal finally stepped out of the office later that evening, he exhaled deeply.

It had been a long, busy day, but he was thankful he was going back home to Dawn and Josh.

His lips curved at the thought that they’d both be waiting at home for him.

As he got into his car, he took out his phone from his pocket, and the first thing he noticed was that he had two missed calls from Tom.

He knew that Tom was likely calling to check on him and find out the state of things between them.

He contemplated calling him back, but decided to wait until he got home so that both he and Dawn could talk to Tom together.

As he drove home, he replayed all that had happened that day, from his conversation with Dawn to what had happened with Mari and what Dawn had said to Mari in the elevator earlier about never having friends of her own.

He exhaled deeply.

When he got to an intersection, he turned the car around without thinking, and headed for the spa instead of going home.

The moment he got to the spa, he stopped at the reception desk. "Is Adam still in?" he asked without bothering with pleasantries.

The receptionist recognised Jamal, and nodded immediately. "Yes, sir. He is in his office but he will be leaving soon."

"You can let him know I’m on my way," Jamal said as he headed for Adam’s office.

Once he got to the door, he knocked once, then opened the door.

He froze at the door when he saw Adam locked in a kiss with a dark haired lady.

Adam looked up when the door opened, then smiled when he saw Jamal. "Mr Jonas. Please come in."

Jamal’s brows pulled together. That wasn’t the reaction he expected from a man who had been flirting with his girlfriend and had just been caught making out with another lady in his office.

The same office he’d brought Dawn into, Jamal thought with displeasure as he stepped further into the office and shut the door behind him.

"This is my wife, Vera. Vee, this is..."

"Dawn’s boyfriend," the lady said, smiling politely at Jamal.

Jamal looked between them with a frown . "Wife? You are married?" Jamal asked incredulously.

Vera raised her hand to display her wedding ring. "We’ve been married for two years. And we have a pretty little girl."

Jamal’s frown deepened as he looked at Adam. "Why were you flirting with Dawn?"

Adam raised both hands. "Flirting? Did she say I flirted with her?" He looked at his wife. You know me. I absolutely did not flirt with her..."

His wife laughed. "Yeah. I know you," she said, then looked at Jamal. "Adam used to be a rake..."

"That’s not true," Adam said defensively.

"You just said I know you," she reminded him.

"That doesn’t mean I was a rake. You misunderstood me then..."

His wife laughed again, but continued as though he hadn’t interrupted her before. "Adam tends to come off as flirtatious even when he’s just being friendly. It’s one of his character flaws. He can’t help it. We are sorry if he caused some sort of misunderstanding between you and Dawn. It wasn’t his intention."

Jamal looked at his wife with interest. "You were aware that he was alone with her in his office?"

She nodded. "Yeah. He told me. He actually called to let me know he saw her and got her number after fixing her phone. Then he called again after she left his office to let me know they spent an annoyingly long duration chatting alone. And while I’m used to him doing something like that, I understand how uncomfortable it must be for you."

Adam cleared his throat.

"My wife is a podcaster, too, and when we both listened to Dawn’s podcast we were thrilled, so when I bumped into her I wanted to be friends with her so I could introduce my wife to her. You know, maybe they could collaborate or something. And since we have kids around the same age I guess I just thought..." he trailed off with a shake of his head. "I’m sorry. When I heard from the receptionist that you called, I realised I caused a lot of mess and didn’t handle it right. I’m very sorry."

"We were going to try to reach out to you through Dawn but she blocked him," his wife added.

Jamal sighed. "I didn’t know you were married."

"No offence, but I don’t think you know anything about me apart from my name and my role here," Adam pointed out.

Jamal nodded.

"If you came over to punch him, feel free to do so. Maybe it’d teach him to stop being overly friendly with other ladies," Vera said, earning her a scowl from Adam, while Jamal watched them, surprisingly amused.

"I guess you didn’t tell her you were married," Jamal said as he looked around the office, taking note of the pictures Dawn had talked about.

"No. I didn’t get around to that," Adam admitted.

Jamal exhaled again. "Well, Dawn and I are fine."

"You are? Then why are you here?" Vera asked, looking at Jamal.

Jamal looked at them for a moment then dipped his hands into his pocket. "I saw you both that day in front of the spa."

Adam frowned. "You did? But the receptionist said you didn’t come in."

"Yeah. I didn’t. I left," Jamal said, feeling embarrassed by his admission. "Anyway, I came over today to find out what you wanted from Dawn. She seemed to genuinely enjoy your company. And I wanted to be certain all you wanted was friendship, because I have no intention of leaving her to you or anyone else."

"Well, we had a harmless conversation and I enjoyed her company too. You don’t have to worry about losing her to me. I have my own woman," Adam said, pulling his wife to himself.

Vera grinned as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Aww."

"I wasn’t worried," Jamal muttered.

"If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have left her behind the way you did," Adam retorted.

Jamal glared at him.

Adam held his gaze. "Well, I’m glad you both resolved your misunderstanding. But you should learn to trust your woman and be more protective of her. For someone with such a grand love story as yours, I expected better."

Vera elbowed his ribs. "Are you trying to provoke him?" She hissed at him.

"I was only stating a fact," Adam told his wife, then looked at Jamal. "You have a good woman and she loves you, so treat her right."

Although it stung Jamal that Adam was criticising him that way, he knew that Adam was right.

"I’ll let her know you are married, and she can be friends with you if she wants," Jamal said, then gave Vera a polite nod before walking out of the office.