5. Shameless men

Closing the door behind him, Jason shut his eyes for a second as he sighed in frustration. With the car key dangling from his hand, he walked up to his car, opened the door and sat down, placing his head on the steering wheel.

Jason had never felt this hurt in such a long time, it felt as though the people he loved so much were just in his life to make it a living hell. Melissa was the last of the few people he still trusted. Though their relationship was a bit toxic, he knew that once he told her about his true identity, she would respect him, but it was too late now.

Also, it suddenly occurred to Jason that it was wrong for him to leave the house. The property was all in his name, and those who ought to leave were Alex and his ex-wife. After all, they were wealthy enough to acquire other property. It'll also give him some space alone, his mother-in-law or rather ex-mother-in-law will no longer be there to bother him.

While these thoughts lingered, Jason received a call from Grace, his assistant and he sighed heavily. Hesitantly, he picked up the call and put the phone on the speaker before tossing it to the passenger seat in front.

“Hello, Grace?”

“Uhm, hello sir,” Grace retorted with excitement,

“I just got a confirmation from the producer sir, the lead role has been delegated to Mrs Melissa, and her rivals have been taken off the cast.”

“Oh, okay,” Jason replied and his assistant couldn't help but notice the apathy in his tone. Her boss was cold on a normal day, he said only a few words, but when it came to his wife, he would excitedly say a thousand words.

“Is everything okay sir?” She asked, trying not to drop the call like an insensitive person.

Although he didn't bother anyone with his personal life, most times he didn't even talk about it, but since it was his assistant, Jason felt the need to let off some steam by telling her the truth.

Grace listened to his boss for almost ten minutes and didn't know exactly how to console him.

“I'm so sorry sir,” she said, but her tone was somewhat excited rather than sympathetic.

“It's for the best I believe,” she added with an even more excited voice, failing to realize how far she was going with the questionable reaction.

“So sorry sir, if that came across as offensive,” she quickly apologized upon realizing that she may have overreacted based on her personal feeling toward the situation, rather than what her boss felt.

“No no,” Jason uttered.

“You are right, it's for the best, I’ll send the documents back to you, I guess I'll keep my shares to myself.

Jason disconnected the call first, and as soon as Grace saw this, she jumped up in excitement. Like an autistic child, she ran around the room screaming and flopping on the bed like a fish.

The seemingly childish behavior stems from Grace's attraction to her boss, she had never seen or worked with a man like him, so cold yet so loving, for those who know him personally, Jason was a man envied by all ladies. Just like the rich CEO in a lovely romance series, Jason had all the qualities the female leads were attracted to.

“It's a loss for Melissa,” She thought to herself with a sanctimonious grin.

After the excitement, Grace sat down at the edge of the bed to make a call, and this was none other than the movie producer who she had only spoken to moments ago concerning Melissa's new role.

This time, instead of promoting her boss's wife as always, Grace instructed the director to withdraw the lead role from Melissa, stating that it was Jason's order. The producer found this request a little bit strange considering that Grace had gone so far as to get that role for Melissa only to change her mind less than thirty minutes later.

He also couldn't help but expose how talentless Melissa was, stating that her acting skill would have gotten her nowhere, but Grace only mumbled at intervals to show that she was listening to him while trying so hard to keep what Jason had told her to herself.

Meanwhile, Jason had driven to a cemetery, nearly thirty minutes drive away from where his home was. The last time he came here was a few months ago and he never thought he was going to come back so soon.

Leaving his car at the entrance gate, Jason took a stroll down the lonely path to his mother's grave where the withered bunch of roses still lay, because he had held its stems down with a stone. The note he had left the last time was still there and he took it out from under the stone, shocked to see that it had not entirely been ruined.

He came back here because he remembered five years ago when he had come to ask her to bless his marriage from wherever her soul was, but it was so sad that the same marriage had failed and now he has returned to vent.

Just before he could drop a knee on the floor, the voice of a young lady caught his attention, and for a second he thought it was just another person who came to pay tribute to a deceased loved one, but when the voice got louder, Jason was immediately alerted, at this point he heard the cry for help so audibly that he couldn't resist the urge to find out where it was coming from.

He left his mother's grave and began strolling down to where the voice was coming from, and when he got closer, Jason realized that just behind a huge tree, a lady was being harassed by a bunch of thugs and this was where he lost it.

Jason could tolerate a nagging wife and toxic inlaws, but couldn't stand shameless men who couldn't keep the groin in their pants.