Chapter One Hundred and Five

He shrugged.

'Oh its nothing.' Collins replied. 'The both of you have been such amazing friends to me, and I have known Leonard all my life, and now you guys are having a baby.... My speech wouldn't have been complete if I hadn't mentioned the both of you'

Favour smiled at him, while Jasmine said nothing. She concentrated on the plate in front of her, although she was barely eating anything from it. Collins mentioning Favour and Leonard's baby seemed to hurt her even more. Clearly he had not mentioned her miscarriage to Leonard, and even if she was glad that he didn't, she couldn't help but wonder if it was to protect her privacy or his. Damn, she was a mess.

'Enjoying the meal, Jasmine?' Favour asked suddenly, bringing Jasmine back to reality.

She raised her head to find everyone staring at her and managed a smile and a nod while carefully avoiding Collins gaze. 'Yes I am' she replied, 'The food is great, Leonard. Favour was right. You are a great cook'

'But you have barely touched it' Favour insisted.

'I'm eating, Favour' Jasmine said, not liking the attention of everyone at the table being at her. 'Maybe I'm not just in a hurry to finish up'

Favour wasn't backing down. 'No. You are not eating at all. You are bringing an attitude just like you have been doing lately and bringing the atmosphere down'

Jasmine stared disapprovingly at her sister. 'Stop it, Favour' she said.

'Honey, maybe we should let this go right now.' Leonard said and reached for Favour's hand. She pushed it away.

'No I won't stop. I'm tired of all this and I'm going to get it all out right now.' She turned back to Jasmine. 'What exactly is your problem? If you are mad at me, why can't you just talk to me? You have been avoiding me for so long. Do you think that I don't notice the changes in you? Now I invited you over here for dinner just to see if we could iron whatever it is out, but now I can see that you are just intentionally being a jerk and I'm so angry with you'

Collins decided to interfere.

'Maybe we should all just calm down, take a deep breath and you guys can talk about this later'

Jasmine glared at him. She wasn't thinking straight and she didn't care any more. All she knew was that she was tired. Tired of holding back on her feelings. Tired of lying. Tired of hiding the truth, and frustrated that she could never have the one thing she wanted the most.

'Oh really?' she asked him. 'Talk about it later like you usually do? You know what? Why don't you just stay out of this because it's none of your business'.

Collins stared at her for a few seconds. He seemed shocked my her outburst, but then he shrugged, as if he understood her. 'I'm sorry if I struck a nerve. I was just trying to help, that's all'

'Well we don't need your help. Don't you think that you have helped enough?'

Favour and Leonard exchanged confused glances, and Jasmine suddenly let it go as she turned to her sister. 'If you really want to know, I've been avoiding talking to you or hanging out with you because all we seem to talk about lately is your pregnancy, and believe me, I'm extremely happy for you and I can't wait to meet the baby too, but it's been hard for me because.... I had a miscarriage.'

She didn't let the look on their faces stop her. Although this wasn't the way she wanted the truth to come out, she felt relieved that it was finally out. No matter the way it came out, it felt like a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

'You were pregnant?' Favour asked her.

'Yes' Jasmine replied. 'Around the same time that you found out that you were pregnant, I was too, but I kept it to myself because you didn't know about I and Collins. It happened so unexpectedly and I was overwhelmed. I also saw how happy you were and I didn't want to steal your thunder or anything like that. When I lost the baby, I was even more broken and hurt so I just shut down because I didn't know how to handle it'

Favour was almost in tears now. 'But why did you feel that way?' she asked. 'We have always been close since we were kids and we told each other everything. I know that I can be a bit pushy sometimes, but it's only because I love you and I worry about you and I just want you to be happy. I set you up on a date with Collins so I obviously wanted you guys to be together. Why did you feel the need to hide things from me?'

'I just wasn't ready. Everything happened so fast. When I thought about meeting someone, falling in love and having kids, this wasn't the way I wanted it to go. I don't expect you to understand, and I'm sorry you had to find out about it this way'

Jasmine looked around. Everyone was staring at her. Dinner was officially ruined. Her life was in chaos and now her relationship with her sister and best friend had also hit the rocks. Everything just seemed to get worse no matter how hard she tried. Favour was crying now and Leonard was holding her.

She stood up slowly, knowing It was time to leave. 'I have to go' she said. 'I'm sorry about this. I know I should have kept my cool but I'm kinda glad it's all out now. It's been hard keeping it myself'

'I don't think you should be driving in this condition, Jasmine' Collins said. 'Please let me take you home'

Jasmine shook her head. 'No please' she said, trying so hard to keep her voice from cracking as she was also close to tears herself. 'I think I can drive home by myself. Thank you for offering'

Collins nodded, although he didn't believe her. He knew that his presence had obviously triggered her, and he blamed himself for everything. He stared at Leonard and Favour, then rose to his feet.

'I'm sorry guys' he said.

'It's alright' Leonard replied. 'I totally understand, but I think you should talk to her. She needs you'

Collins knew that. Hell, he needed her too. 'I'll make sure she gets home safe' he said. 'Good night'