I’ll Teach You, Marianne.

Chapter 104 – An Oasis

Anne struggled to carry Jack into her apartment. The smell of alcohol that wafted from Jack's mouth was so strong that it made Anne feel uncomfortable.

"If you're drunk, you should go back to your house, Jack. Why should you come to my apartment early in the morning?" Anne grumbled irritably.

Jack just turned around towards Anne who was kneeling beside the sofa. She was trying to make Jack laid comfortably on the sofa.

"B-because of you, Anne…"

"Hmm … what? What did you say, Jack?" Anne stammered.

In a semi-conscious state, Jack smiled at Anne who was in front of him. He slowly studied Anne's face with his right hand.

"One and a half years, Anne, did you not notice my existence during that year and a half?" Jack asked softly speaking.

"Of course I realized, Jack, you are not a ghost. Don't talk, just sleep. You'll feel better after you sleep," answered Anne with a smile.

Flick!!

Jack flicked Anne's forehead with his index finger.

"Jack, it hurts!!!" Anne grumbled fiercely in pain.

"You are stupid, Anne, you are good at running your business, but you are stupid. You're not at all sensitive, you should know the main reason I stay by your side," said Jack with a chuckle.

"The main reason," muttered Anne quietly.

"Yupp, my main reason is you. Because you are the boss of the coffee shop, if you weren't my boss, how could I possibly want you, Anne," Jack replied quickly.

"You're like an oasis in the prairie, Anne, you relieve my thirst when I'm thirsty. You make me calm when I'm angry, you are the main reason I still have my sanity and still like women after I was betrayed by that stupid bitch," said Jack, adding to his previous words.

Anne, who was about to leave, suddenly froze in place when she heard all of Jack's words. Even though she knew that Jack was drunk right now, but somehow all the words that came out of his lips hurt when she heard them.

"Anne…"

"Yes," answered Anne shortly.

"You still hear me? I thought you were gone" Jack said chuckled.

"Do you think that the one sitting in front of you is a statue? It's me," Anne fiercely irritated.

"Hehehe, you've been so silent since earlier, Anne, I think it wasn't you that's in front of me," Jack said again.

Anne smiled at Jack's words. She then got up and changed Jack sleeping position who was tilted. She wanted Jack to sleep comfortably on the sofa, but because Jack's body, which was much bigger than Anne's, she had some trouble. 

By using all her strength, finally Anne could make Jack sleep on his back comfortably. Even though she was not a doctor, but Anne knew that drunk people needed sleep in order to gain their sobriety. Therefore, she positioned Jack to make him comfortable so he could sleep well  ..

"Go to sleep …"

"No, I don't want to sleep. You'll go out with that bastard again," Jack said quickly interrupting Anne's words.

"Bastard? What bastard?" Asked Anne, confused.

"Aa-aarooo zzzttt zzzttt."

Jack could not finish his words because he was asleep, so Anne could not clearly hear who Jack meant. Anne also did not care what Jack said because he was drunk. She got up and returned to her activities in the pantry. 

Since it was still six in the morning, Anne had plenty of time to prepare everything, even though Jack was sleeping on the sofa. 

Luckily, Anne's current business was not engaged in the food sector so she didn't have to open her shop in the morning like when she had a coffee shop in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

Anne continued her activities of making pancakes. She didn't really like instant pancakes and finally decided to make pancakes from scratch. 

She weighed all the ingredients very carefully and didn't make the dough fail. Shortly thereafter, Anne began to fry the pancakes carefully. The aroma of the pancakes immediately spread throughout Anne's apartment.

"It's beautiful," cried Anne with joy when she saw that her golden brown pancakes were already on the plate.

Seeing that her first pancake was perfect made her even more excited. With music from Mozart, Anne continued to fry her pancakes. She forgot the presence of Jack on the sofa. 

After thirty minutes had passed, there were already fifteen beautiful golden brown pancakes on the plate. Seeing her handiwork made Anne happy. 

She then made toppings for her beautiful pancakes. She carefully sliced some ​​strawberries and blueberries which would be used as toppings later, after pouring some maple syrup.

"Ok, I'm done. I better take a shower now, then go to the flower shop and… ahh!" Anne covered her lips with both hands when she realized Jack's presence. She completely forgot that there was Jack in her apartment.

"Luckily I haven't undressed yet. Oh Anne, you're so stupid. How come you forget that someone is in your apartment? You're really stupid, Anne," said Anne, cursing her stupidity for forgetting Jack in her apartment.

Without thinking, Anne then went to the bathroom. She didn't want Jack to see her while taking a shower. Therefore, she decided to take a quick shower. She put on her bathrobe and got out of the bathroom and went up to the second floor where the wardrobe and bed were. 

She walked carefully so as not to make a sound and awoken Jack. She just wanted to wear clean clothes. 

Fifteen minutes later, Anne came back down to the first floor in clean clothes. She also used skin care for her face. Anne was really ready to go to work actually, but because Jack was still not awake, Anne finally decided to wait for Jack to wake up. 

Feeling bored, Anne then opened her laptop to re-examine the assignment given by Professor Gilbert. For students who did not go to Ireland, Professor Gilbert gave an assignment to make papers that had to be submitted after they returned from Ireland. 

Actually the assignment given by Professor Gilbert was unfair because they did not go to Ireland for obvious reasons, but Professor Gilbert still gave them the assignment. 

Professor Gilbert reasoned that he gave the assignment so that no students felt like he took favoritism among them. For that reason, Anne finally accepted the assignment given by the lecturer. Because Anne woke up too early, she fell asleep while reading her assignment on the laptop. She leaned back under the window that she opened and  the cool breeze made her fall asleep.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Muller Finance International, Erick had been busy since morning. He replaced Jack's job, who was supposed to attend an important meeting today with a big client that Jack had been aiming for from the start. 

Because Jack could not be contacted, so Erick replaced Jack and went to the meeting. Fortunately, the core team from Muller Finance International at the main office was still in London. So he had no trouble when making a presentation to clients.

"I'm tired, it really makes me have a headache," said Erick softly as he wiped the cold sweat out of his forehead when he had escorted his clients away.

"You are great, Mr. Erick, you are really reliable," said Ken, one of the planning managers from Switzerland, praising Erick for being able to handle Jack's work.

"Don't make fun of me, Ken. I can't help but be able to do this, otherwise we will lose our million dollar partner and if that happens, then I and all of you will be hanged by the master in front of the office," Erick replied quickly.

"But you are extraordinary, sir, I am serious. No wonder Mr. Jack entrusts everything to you," said Vinson, the strategy manager, also praising Erick.

"Ah, don't keep praising me.  What should I do next? I have not been able to contact Mr .Jack since morning. It's already nine in the morning, Ken. We have to go to a meeting at the client's office, I haven't mastered the material yet," said Erick in a panic.

Hearing Erick's words made the expert managers smile. They then approached and calmed Erick so he could still control himself. 

After that, they explained what Erick had to do when he met the clients at the second meeting place today at client companies which were not far from the main business center of London. 

After listening to explanations from the main managers of Muller Finance International, finally Erick's was confident.

"Well, let's go, we can't be late to get those millions of dollars again. Mr. Jack must know who we are," said Erick quietly as he walked to the car that was parked in front of the office.

Ken, Vinson and Yohanes also got into the car following Erick who had entered first, and soon the car belonging to the office went to the client's place for a meeting. 

Meanwhile, Alice, the receptionist, was trying to contact Jack even though she had tried dozens of times and was not successful. 

"Sir, where are you, sir?" said Alice uneasily, because Erick told her to stay in the office and tried to contact Jack.

"I am in my mood today, I can't possibly miss this day. Oh, Mr. Jack, where are you?" Alice spoke to herself with teary eyes, because today her regular salon was having a big discount and Alice had registered to join the event. That was why she didn't want to stay in the office until the afternoon.

To be continue