The whole crowd turned quiet, as the voice was from none other than Jordan.
At the direction of the voice, people moved aside to make way spontaneously, and Jordan walked into Jessica's sight slowly.
Jessica almost broke out in tears. Oh Jordan, he's a real friend indeed, to defend her like this at such a difficult moment.
Jordan walked all the way up to her, put an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.
And before she knew it, he bent and kissed her, right on her lips!
Jessica's head went buzzing. Oh no! What is he doing? Yes, he's trying to help her out, but this is going a bit too far, isn't it?
But soon, she forgot all the why's, and his kiss went deeper. His lips were moist and tender, but his tongue dominant and probing into her.
Yes! This was how it felt in the dreams! Jessica felt dizzy, and not sure if she was dreaming again.
She had never kissed a man, lips on lips, in real life, and now, there she was, kissing with Jordan in front of such a large crowd.
Her heart was racing, and she soon felt short of breath as if she would pass out right away.
Luckily, Jordan released her then, though still had his arm around her.
He looked down at her with a smile, and said, "I told you it's okay to tell, which would have saved you all these troubles."
He then looked up at the crowd and said domineeringly, "If she had stolen anything, it's my heart."
The crowd erupted in cheers, except Candy, who looked ashen-faced like she was about to drop dead.
"Oh my goodness! Mr. Sanders is in love?! But he's never been seen with anyone before. Am I imagining it?"
"Lucky girl! But she's so pretty and looking sweet, so I'm sure there must be something really special about her to have won Mr. Sanders' heart."
"Now that I look at them more carefully, she looks much better than Candy Simpson."
"I don't know why, but she's just having this elegant, firm and yet tender demeanor with her that makes her look like a queen or something. Who says she's from a poor family?"
"Let's not discriminate here. Poor or rich, we're equal and only classified by our acts and souls."
******
A senior manager said to Jordan with a pleasing smile, "Boss, we were still just discussing, and I did feel odd about the whole thing as no solid evidence was produced..."
Boss? Jessica's brain went buzzing again. Jordan was the boss of the company? But shouldn't it be a much older man? Why had he not told her?
She didn't really hear what they were talking about again, but soon the crowd was dismissed, and only she and Jordan were left there.
He led her to a lough-like room, and an assistant brought in a cup of hot tea for Jessica.
He knelt down in front of her and looked with intent at her, "Are you all right, Jessica? Don't worry. It's okay now."
Jessica took a sip of the tea and came back to reality. She looked at his face, which was so close to hers now that she could see the fine details on it. Oh God! It was such a handsome face, with sculpture features. But now that she looked closer, he did look a bit older than he had seemed to her before.
She smiled and said, "Thank you, Jordan. I'm okay. It's just a bit too much to take in. You're the boss of the JS Group?"
"Is that what you're worried about instead of the theft accusation?" Jordan smiled a bit, and continued, "Yes, Jordan Sanders, initials JS. I founded the JS Group at the age of 16, and it's been 18 years now." He talked as if a lifetime had passed by.
So he was actually 34 years old already, a whole 10 years older than Jessica.
Jessica asked, "But how were you sure that I was innocent?"
"I trusted my gut." His answer was short but firm.
Jessica was moved. They had only known each other for a few days, and yet he had trusted her so much. He had even risked his reputation to save her ass.
"Thanks again, Jordan. I don't know how I could return the favor. You seem to be a man not lacking anything."
And Jordan just nodded, "Not much." He then looked at Jessica, his eyes twinkling, "But they all say that I don't have any friends."
Jessica laughed, "Who wouldn't want to befriend a billionaire? But seriously, Jordan, as much as I'm thankful for your help, you shouldn't have put yourself out there for a low-rank staff like me. A boss's reputation is very important."
"It doesn't matter, and it wouldn't do anything averse to me for having a girlfriend, would it?"
Jessica looked at him with her eyes open wide, "You said it only to save my ass, right?"
"What if it's true that you're my girlfriend?" Jordan looked at her seriously.
Jessica blushed, and her heart thumped. She was at a loss as to how to react to this.
Jordan went up to her, and she could almost feel his breath on her face. Oh God, he smelled so nice.
He looked intently at her, and a fire started burning in his eyes, "Jessica, the pantry you went to on your first day is exclusive to my use only, and I would have thrown you out of it right away if I didn't start liking you right there from the first moment. I kept you there for a short while and strange things happened to and in me."
No wonder May had rushed to pull her away.
"But why didn't you tell me?" Jessica asked.
"You didn't really pursue the question." He answered.
It was true. She had asked but didn't really press him for an answer.
She looked at him again carefully, and she was almost in his arms now and could feel his hard chest and shoulder and the warmth from his body.
Yes, she had been dreaming of "Jordan" for a long time, but the man standing so close to her now was looking familiar and also strange to her. And though she had seen a lot of things they did in the dreams, she knew very limited about him.
"Jordan," She looked up at him, "I'm basically a stranger to you, and you to me, and..."
Before she could finish, her lips were sealed by his, and her head started buzzing again.
It was like her mind was completely devoid of anything else in the world, except the sensation on her lips and in her mouth, except his solid chest she was pressed so tightly to, except his firm arms around her...
She was gasping for air when he released her, and he said, "Could you deny THAT, stranger or not?"
Jessica suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed. She had lived a very simple and half-secluded life with her mother, whose principle was never to ask attention and stay out of crowds as much as possible.
But now, she was somehow in "something" with one of the most powerful men of the city or even the whole country?
She remembered some of the dark and hard-to-explained details in some of her dreams and suddenly felt scared.
She looked up at him abruptly and said, "Jordan...Mr. Sanders, I think I should go home for now. It's been a stressful day and I'm having a headache."
Jordan didn't answer for a few seconds but just held her quietly, before he released her and said, "Alright. Let me send you home. Take all the time you want, but Jessica Wright, you're mine and you know it."
He had said it so firmly with conviction and authority as if he believed that they were already a couple.
Jessica didn't know how to process all these things and just felt like going home and sleeping it off. Maybe it was still a dream, and when she woke up, all would be normal again.