CHAPTER 221: J.J?

Abigail could hardly get any work done since she returned from lunch. It was few minutes to the close of work but she had not done much work and she wasn’t feeling inclined to. Tears ran down her face as she stared at the screen.

What punishment would be enough for a man like Ryan? What could they do to him that would ease the ache in her chest?

Wasn’t this a case of judging someone else when you were worse than them?

She had been thinking about it and making calculations, and she could tell her mother had only been a teenager then.

What she did had been wrong and there was no excuse for it, but she had made a drunken mistake. One that cost a life, and her parents like many parents would do, had tried to save her from the consequence of it. But that was just the crime they committed.

Yet Ryan who had judged them for that had gone ahead to murder them in cold blood. He had killed his parents and all the household staff in the fire.

He had stolen everything from her. He was worse. He was much worse than everyone who had hurt him and she hoped she would get the chance to look him in the eyes and tell him that.

She wanted to tell him that he was a terrible monster and nothing would ever justify all that he had done both to her and to Genevieve.

Taking a deep breath she picked up her phone, wanting to regulate her emotions. She wanted to be calm and in a better mental space by the time she gets home. She wanted to be okay for Josh.

She took out her earbuds and after connecting them to her phone, she chose a song from her gospel playlist and closed her eyes as she listened to it.

She tried to focus on something other than everything that was happening at the moment. Her thoughts drifted to her podcast and she sighed softly, thinking about how much she missed it. She opened her eyes and picked up her phone.

She wanted to see if there were any new comments since it had been a while since she last visited the site.

She logged into her account, and she smiled when she saw several comments from new subscribers and some from the old asking her when she was going to return from her hiatus.

She scrolled through, hoping to see a comment from her number one fan J.J. She was pleasantly surprised when she saw a couple of messages from him.

It seemed like he dropped one each time he logged on.

[Your message on Hope was wonderful. I feel like it was a timely message meant for me. I finally met the love of my life.]

[I’ve been listening to your old podcast while waiting for something new.]

[I miss your podcasts. I keep waiting for a new podcast notification. I hope you come back soon.]

Checking the date of the last one, it seemed like it had been a while since he last came online.

She hoped he was fine wherever he was. Maybe now that Ryan was away she could try to make a podcast tonight before going to bed.

The thought of doing that made her happy. She smiled as she wondered what Jamal would think when he found out she had a podcast channel with thousands of followers.

She knew he’d support her and be her number one fan. He was welcome to fight for that spot with J.J.

She paused when something occurred to her.

J.J was Jamal’s initials. Jamal Jonas.

Was it a coincidence? Since Jamal appeared in her life she had begun to believe less in coincidences.

From their meeting at the club, to their meeting at the airport, to their sitting next to each other in the plane, to meeting in the house.

Each encounter with him had taught her that coincidences are the whispers of destiny and the fingerprints of fate.

But was it possible that Jamal was J.J? She wondered as her heart raced.

She remembered their conversation in the plane about listening to gospel songs. She shook her head. That would be too much, wouldn’t it?

How could Jamal possibly be J.J? What manner of love was it that he’d somehow found her podcast channel and supported her even without knowing she was the one?

Speculating wasn’t good enough. She was just going to ask him. Picking up her phone she typed quickly.

: Pete, do you listen to podcasts? If yes, could you recommend your favorites for me?

She smiled as she reread the text. It was pretty direct and impersonal and he wouldn’t guess why she was asking. And even if Ryan was reading her text he won’t think anything of it either.

Just as she sent it, a knock sounded on her door and as Jamal walked in, the text entered his phone.

He took it out to check it, while she watched him as he read it.

He looked up at her, "Should I text you the response or just tell you now that I’m here? It’s time to go, Ms Genevieve said we should meet her outside."

"You can tell me as we go. That way you can tell me what you like about each of them," she said as she gathered her stuff and rose.

"Well, my number one podcast is Personal Paradise," he said as she approached him.

Abigail’s heart skipped a beat and she stopped walking.

Personal paradise? He was really the one? Jamal was J.J? How? How did he manage to keep finding her and loving her?

Jamal raised a brow, "What?"

She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and cleared her throat, "Nothing. I just... I like the name. It sounds cool. Personal paradise, right?"

She didn’t want to tell him yet. Not this way. She was going to leave clues until he figured it out himself. She’d like to see the look on his face the moment he realized that they’d kept in touch even in those years.

Jamal smiled, "Yeah. The host is cool. Her name is Nobody."

"Why are you smiling like you have a crush on her?" Abigail asked with a scowl.

Jamal chuckled, "Relax. I don’t even know what she looks like. I just... I find her voice very soothing and relaxing. Her voice calms me."

Her heart fluttered but she didn’t let it show [Seriously? You’re telling me that you find the voice of another female soothing? Her voice relaxes you?] she signed since she knew he had the car key.

Jamal laughed silently. [Now it’s your voice that relaxes me. Now that I think about you, you both sound alike. You know what? Check her out and tell me what you think about her.]

She rolled her eyes. [Sure. I’ll check out my competition. Josh said I sound like an angel. You’ve never even complimented my voice. Whatever. Let’s go.] she walked away, pouting.

Jamal hurried after her and they got into the elevator. "So, my second favorite..."

"I don’t want to hear it. Nevermind. I’ll go find my favorite myself. I think I’ll prefer to listen to a soothing masculine voice," she said with a sweet smile.