Turning Of the Tide by Diana Sander

In the other room, Jasper, who had just cout of the bathroom with a white towel wrapped around his lower body, saw the phone on the bed flashing.

He took a step forward and bent down. The water droplets flowed down his V-line and entered the towel. His waist was a little wet. When he saw his sister's message, he replied without hesitation, "I have something to do later. You guys can play." Olivia thought that it was a company matter and said regretfully, "Alright, then you can settle it and cover later." Olivia put away her phone and said to Liam, who was arranging cards, "My brother has to deal with the company's matters and won't be here for a while. What should the three of us playing?" Stella said, "Let's play Texas. Let's see who wins more times in one night. The loser will treat us to supper." The three of them raised their hands and high-fived, reaching an agreement. "Deal." On the other side, Jasper quickly pulled off the towel and threw it on the sofa. He took out his pajamas from his suitcase and put them on. Without drying his hair, he strode out of the room.

Four bodyguards stood at the door of Ruby. When they saw Jasper coming over with his head wet, they greeted him respectfully, "Hello, Mr. Wilson." Jasper stopped in his tracks and glanced at the closed door. He turned to the four of them and instructed, "Go to the dining room and eat something. I'll protect her for you." They looked at each other, but no one said anything. "I'll explain to her father. You're not AWOL." The bodyguard said, "Okay, Mr. Wilson. We'll be right back." After the few of them entered the elevator, Jasper only took a few seconds to open the door. After entering, he gently closed the door. The dark room was silent, so quiet that he could hear his heartbeat.

The blanket on the bed was bulging and moving. She did not look like she was sleeping well. He walked over quickly and squatted by the bed to check. He saw that her face was a little pale and she was visibly uncomfortable.

Seeing this, his face turned cold. She was curious why he was here. Wasn't he playing cards in Liam's room? After staring at each other for a few seconds, they spoke at the stime. She was weak and he controlled his emotions. "I don't feel well." She said, "Why are you here?" Ruby smiled and covered her stomach with her hand under the blanket. She did not want him to worry. "I'm fine.

It's normal. I'll be fine after sleeping." He knew that she had never been a spoilsport. She would not say that she wanted to sleep unless there were special circumstances. Fortunately, he cover to take a look. He raised his hand and pushed away the hair on her cheek. He asked gently, "Did you eat something bad?" Ruby stared at him without blinking. His eyes were visibly nervous and worried. She shook her head.

Recalling his sister Olivia's situation before, he asked again, "Is it... that?" "Yeah." "Did you use heat pack?" Jasper's words were even warmer than heat pack's words on her stomach. One was on her skin, and the other was on her entire body. She nodded and said, "Yes, go play. I'm fine." He did not say anything. His lips were pursed tightly as he stood up with a cold expression and walked out.

Before she could turn around, she heard the door slam. The sound of the door closing disappointed her. Her stomach seemed to hurt even more and she felt a little wronged.

She took a deep breath and adjusted her emotions. She planned to call Jasper "Brother" a few more times in the future, and then muffledly called out several times under the covers.

Half an hour later.

The door of the room opened again, and the four bodyguards who had originally left stood guard at the door.

Jasper opened the door as if no one was around and picked the lock in front of the bodyguards.

The bodyguard was speechless. Was this good? They could pretend that they were blind, but they weren't really blind.

Jasper acted as if nothing had happened. He walked in with a glass in his hand. The door was closed again. When he walked into the room, he saw that the person on the bed was still curled up under the blanket. She was suffocated under the blanket, leaving only her brown hair outside. He sighed and walked closer.

Hearing the footsteps, Ruby poked her head out from under the blanket again. Thinking that it was Olivia, Jasper's facial features, which had returned, entered her eyes again. She was delighted. "Didn't you go to play cards?" He didn't answer and sat down on the edge of the bed. Then, he poured a glass of warm water with honey and placed it on the bed. He got up and took a pillow. He gently helped Ruby up and placed the pillow on her waist.

He asked, "Do you need another one?" Ruby shook her head. Her gaze was on the cup on the bed.

After helping her tidy up the blanket, he handed the cup to her and said gently, "Red dates, wolfberries and ginger. | drank it before. It tastes alright. Olivia often drinks it too. If it doesn't taste good, I'll go get rock sugar." She held the glass in her hand and felt warm inside. She smiled foolishly, making him feel a little embarrassed.

"You made it. Did you go to the kitchen to make it?" Jasper averted his gaze unnaturally. He was too embarrassed to look at her. Her gaze was too direct. "Yes, drink it. Drink it and sleep." She smiled and finished the water in the glass in small sips. She handed the empty glass to him. Just as he took it, Ruby stared at him with gurgling eyes and suddenly asked, "What's the deadline you've prepared?" This was the first tshe had asked that question.

Silence. His hand that was holding the glass froze in the air. No one said anything for a long time. She stared at him, waiting for an answer. He stared blankly at the glass she had drunk from. The warmth was still there. It was very hot.

Seconds ticked by. She waited.

He looked up and met her expectant gaze. He felt a little flustered. He, who had never panicked during his first high-level meeting, was convinced that he was panicking at this moment. "I'll shorten the time." He did not give a specific time, afraid that he would break his promise.

After drinking warm water with honey, her stomach began to heat up slightly. She was not angry. Her gaze turned to his slightly wet hair. Her hand under the blanket tightened and let go. After a few seconds of silence, she said gently with a calm smile, "Go dry your hair. I'm fine." Seeing that he didn't move and there was nervousness in his eyes, she felt it and smiled again. She couldn't help but raise her hand to touch his hair, her fingertips carrying a trace of coldness. "Brother, I'm not angry. I'll sleep for a while." Calling him brother again? She said that she wasn't angry. He tried his best to suppress the urge to say something.

After a moment, he moved and stood up. He picked up the cup by the bed and held it tightly. He looked at her for a few seconds. "Senda message if you're not feeling well." Ruby had already laid down. Her eyes were filled with complicated emotions as she replied, "Okay." Jasper, who was walking to the door, suddenly thought of something. He turned around and said to the person on the bed, "Don't eat cold food in the future." As soon as he finished speaking, he left the room with mixed emotions without getting an answer from the person on the bed.

When the bodyguards saw Jasper coming out of the room with a dark face and a cold aura, the four bodyguards were a little stunned. They guessed that the two of them must have quarreled.

Jasper, who had returned to his room, did not listen to Ruby and go to the bathroom to blow dry his hair. Instead, he stood by the window with a pack of cigarettes in his hand. He bent his index finger and knocked on the pack of cigarettes. He shook out a cigarette and lowered his head to put it in his mouth. With a click, a smear of scarlet light lit up in the dark room.

The moonlight shone in through the window, making his dark face look even colder. It was deep, and his frustration and suppressed emotions was be seen.

His long fingers held the cigarette butt and flicked it in the ashtray on the window sill. He raised his hand and stuffed the cigarette between his lips. He took a few puffs and exhaled a large smoke ring, completely blurring his well-defined facial features. All that was left was the oppressive atmosphere.

His mind was filled with memories.

He was not only in the skindergarten as Ruby. They were in the selementary school, middle school, high school, and university. Other than the fact that they were in the sschool and not in the sclass in college, they were deskmates in the other grades.

Because of this, he heard a lot of things he didn't want to hear. "Isn't he Trevon's son?" "If he wasn't the Wilson family's grandson, he would be nothing. Could he be arranged to sit at the stable as Ruby, the school belle?" "It's all set by the teacher. Look at how long they've been deskmates. He occupy the advantage and doesn't use it." There were many more, but these people were fawning over him. They always called Jasper "Boss".

Those words were harsh, but they wre reasonable. Wasn't he just wearing his father's halo? Apart from being Trevon's son, what else could he give her? How long could she wait for him? It was as if there was a ball of cotton stuffed in his chest. He was suffocated and raised his hand to take a deep puff of the cigarette.

One cigarette after another.

After an unknown period of time, he smoked for a long time. It seemed that he could not suppress his frustration if he did not smoke. However, it seemed to be useless after he finished smoking. When he reached for the cigarette box again, he realized that it was empty.

It wasn't a good feeling. "When the deadline you've prepared?" It kept circling around his ears and repeating.

He was immersed in his own thoughts and memories. Olivia had been knocking on the door for a long time, but there was no reaction from inside.

He did not pick up the call or reply to the message. This made Olivia, who was standing at the door, a little worried. She used lockpicking to easily open the door to her brother's room.

As soon as she opened it, the pungent smell of smoke blew into her face. It almost sent her away. It was so suffocating.

Olivia covered her nose with one hand and kept waving her other hand to try to disperse the smoke that was drifting towards her. She quickly walked to her brother's side, thinking that there was still a cigarette box on the windowsill.

She took it and realized that it was empty. She threw it into the trash can in the room and threw the lighter away.

She stared at her brother, who was still standing by the window.

Seeing that his sister had arrived, Jasper opened the window a little. He did not turn around and looked at a certain point outside the window. "Go to sleep." Olivia automatically ignored her brother's words. She frowned. She tugged at her brother's hand and looked worried. "Jasper, what's wrong? Did something happen?" When he returned from the night market, he was still fine. Olivia had never seen her brother smoke so much. No, she had never seen her brother smoke. "Jasper, when did you learn to smoke?" He didn't answer any of her questions. He just urged his sister to go to sleep.

Her brother looked very much like sof the heartbroken people she had seen. They were drunk in the middle of the night and were willing to degenerate. However, her brother did not have a girlfriend.

Olivia could not understand what was going on. Her brother, who had not been smoking in front of everyone, was hiding in his room to smoke. With the current amount of smoke, Olivia felt that if she had ca few minutes later, he might have been dead.

Seeing that her brother still did not intend to tell her, Olivia did not force him. As long as her brother did not want to tell him, even if his father came, it would be useless.

Her brother's mouth was like a lock that could not be opened at all.

She even suspected that her brother had been an agent a lifetago.

In the end, she was pushed out of the door by her brother with worry and doubts. Before she left, Olivia reminded her brother not to smoke anymore, and Jasper agreed.

His mouth was filled with the taste of smoke, and he wasn't feeling well. He didn't intend to smoke anymore.