"Hahaha, you two are pranking me again right?" Jen started laughing before neither of them said anything, "You guys, really shouldn't be businessmen. Go and be comedians."
"But I am not joking, Jen. For you, for me, and for your family." Sebastian said to Jen, Victor pushed on his shoulder, asking him to sit back down.
"Please, Jen, take a seat and I will explain it to you." Victor turned around and nodded at the lady sending in the background, she came over with a tablet.
"I know that this must be confusing for you. But haven't you wondered why you were contacted by Lynn to be a part of YD this year?"
"Because she knew my parents back in the day and wants to give me a chance to earn some extra money," Jen said without hesitation, she had already explained this to many people who wondered why she was taking a gap year.
"There is a part of that, that is not a lie. But at the same time, that is not the only truth." Victor took the tablet and started scrolling on it, "I know your full name is not Jennifer. It's Jenna."
Jen's heart skipped a beat when she heard that name again: Jenna, this was what her parents always called her, the name carries another layer of meaning in her heart- besides the well-known meaning "fair and white", it also means smooth.
All her mother had ever wanted was for Jen to have a smooth life, without sickness or heartbreaks, even though that was never going to happen for anyone.
"So you ran a background check on me" Jen asked, disappointedly. She thought that Victor was different, but maybe all rich people wanted to show that they had more power than other people.
"Jenna, your mother Joyce was a great friend. " Victor didn't want to give her too much explanation, but just showed her a photo on the tablet: it was black and white, and a little blurry.
But Jen could recognize the girl in the photo was indeed her mother- Joyce, when she was probably still a teenager.
"I have known Joyce since we were 8 years old," Victor pointed at the boy sitting next to her, "I was pretty handsome back then."
Jen took a good look at the photo, the boy sitting next to her mother does look a little like Victor- or should she say he looked like Sebastian?
"So, my mother was both your and Lynn's friend." She wanted to get back to the topic.
"Not just them, also my father knew her." Sebastian jumped into the conversation, "But this was a new piece of information for me."
"We lost contact over the years, but I was happy to hear that Lynn was looking for your family and that your mother was happily married." Victor took away the tablet, and looked at Jen straight in the eyes, "I have always wanted to meet you, but I didn't know you are Joyce's daughter."
"Then how do you know now?"
"Because Lynn kept tabs on you. She sent people to follow you." Victor showed Jen a couple of photos that were taken of her: walking back to her apartment, going out for coffee with Luna, and a photo of her standing in front of the mirror inside a store.
"I know there are definitely more stories behind this, but I don't know what it is yet. I felt that Lynn had been acting strange for a very long time so I got my hands on the materials that she had been collecting," Victor took a sip of the coffee, "And the best solution is for you two to be protected, by me."
"Or maybe the best solution is for me to get out of this mess," Jen said, not wanting to be dragged into another drama, "As I agreed with Sebastian, 3 months, then I would be out of here."
"We agreed on that because we didn't know any better." Sebastian shook his head, regretting ever coming up with the random agreement to only have Jen around for 3 months.
"You are clearly very important to Lynn. I have a couple of speculations but I rather not say it out loud to bother your mind." Victor started sounding like a businessman, "But we will make a deal. You and Sebastian, need to start appearing in front of Lynn as a couple- whether you are dating or engaged or if you two want to jump into marriage, I support your decisions. But you two need to create the illusion that you are 'one', and that if one person is harmed, the other one will also be harmed."
"And why should I agree to that?" Jen didn't have more patience to listen to Victor's theories, "Why should I trust you more than I trust Lynn?"
"Because of me." Sebastian said, "Because I would trust Victor with my life."
"Here is the deal, you two would be contract partners and you would be protected by my trusted people. You are welcome to stay here in Rosa Land- this place was purchased without using any resources from YD, no one could have their people coming over without me knowing. All you need to do, Jen, is to give me time, I will give you an answer when I can."
Jen was confused by the idea of her staying in Rosa Land- was she going to live with Victor?
"Don't worry, you will have plenty of privacy," Victor saw through her concerns, "My flight will be here tonight, I have to go."