章 44: "Jiang Grace?"
"Where the heck were you?" Ann asked Grace hotly the moment Grace stepped into the office.
"Can you reduce your voice, please? My head is aching terribly," Grace pleaded. She was wearing sunglasses because of the light, which was still affecting her eyes.
"What happened to you? What did you do?" Ann asked, closing the blinds in her office so the other staff would not see what was happening inside.
"How did the meeting go? Were you able to sign the contract?" Grace asked curiously as she ignored Ann's question and sipped from the cold cup of coffee on the table.
"Yes, I did. Now answer my question. What happened last night, and why in heaven's name were you not taking my calls this morning?" Ann asked again as she took off the stiletto heels she had been wearing and paced around the office barefooted.
"What happened last night? I don't understand your question," Grace asked with a frown. Did Ann know what she had been up to?
"Yes, last night. First, Zee says she saw you drinking at the bar side of a club last night, and then the next thing I know, a picture of you in Tae-joon's arms is all over the tabloids. So I ask again, what happened?" Ann asked, making Grace look at her with wide eyes.
"Tabloids? What?" Grace asked as she quickly took out her phone to check the news on most of the prominent tabloids. She gasped when she saw the picture of the guy carrying her.
She was always involved in scandals as Jiang Grace, and now, even as Ann Peters, she still seemed to attract scandals. She was probably born to create scandals and be on the front pages of different papers.
"Oh, my God!" Grace exclaimed, taking off her sunglasses. He looks exactly like him. She had tried to convince herself she had seen the wrong face on the bed after she saw Tae-Joon in the hallway, but seeing this picture just told her she had been right.
"So? What happened?" Ann asked. She had been burning with curiosity all morning.
"It wasn't Tae-Joon," Grace said in disbelief.
"What are you talking about? That looks exactly like Tae-Joon," Ann said, pointing to the picture.
"Yeah, I thought so too. But now that I think about it, Tae-joon's hairstyle is different. I actually thought that was Tae-Joon until I saw Tae-Joon this morning," Grace said distractedly as she wondered what was going on.
Did Tae-Joon possibly have an unknown twin brother by chance? Why was he then staying at Wang Hotel and suites?
"You're not making any sense. What are you talking about?" Ann asked with a frown.
"I'm saying the guy in the picture isn't Wang Tae-Joon. I remember thinking he was the one last night, but he had said otherwise. This is a mess," Grace said, slumping into a chair and covering her face with her hands.
"You're sure it wasn't Wang Tae-Joon?" Ann asked again with a frown of disbelief.
"Yeah. I saw both of them this morning. As I was sneaking out of his room this morning, I stumbled on Tae-Joon on the passageway, but he didn't see--"
"What? Wait! You passed the night with him? Did he touch my body?" Ann quickly cut in, in alarm, as she looked Grace over.
"Please tell me you didn't do anything. Please," Ann pleaded in alarm. She couldn't believe she had spent all her years being chaste only for her to lose her virginity without her knowledge.
"I don't think I did anything," Grace said, and then an image of her brushing lips with the guy flashed in her eyes. She quickly blinked it off and shook her head.
"You don't think? You shouldn't be taking alcohol," Ann said with a frown.
"Do you at least know his name?" Ann asked. At least she deserved to know the name of the man who had deflowered her body.
"What? You don't know his name?" Ann asked between gritted teeth when Grace shook her head to indicate that she didn't know his name.
"Calm down! You're overreacting. I'm pretty sure nothing happened," Grace quickly assured her.
"We have to look for a way to prove that this wasn't Tae-Joon. Your mother is pretty angry. And she doesn't want to set her eyes on you, especially not now that she thinks you're trying to snatch Tae-Joon," Ann said, making Grace massage her temple with her fingers.
Whether as Grace or as Ann, her life was just really complicated. Maybe what she needed to do was to really get lost until things returned to normal.
***********
"That wasn't me, damn it!" Tae-Joon yelled angrily before slamming down the receiver of the telephone.
This was probably the tenth call he was receiving from different news outlets that morning, and it was beginning to get on his nerves.
"What?" He snapped at his assistant, who was standing in front of him.
"The manager at the hotel said some of the staff at the reception stand claims to have seen the man who looked exactly like you," His assistant informed him.
"So why didn't they say so when I was there earlier this morning for inspection?" He asked angrily before standing up and picking up his suit jacket.
"Where are you going to?" His assistant asked.
"Where else? I'm going to see the man who is causing so many problems for me. He has to take responsibility for this mess," Tae-Joon said, strolling to the door.
************
Brad stirred in his sleep when he heard the sound of someone banging on his door. He checked the time and could tell the jet lag had taken its toll on him.
When he heard the sound again, he frowned and looked around. Where was the lady? Where had she gone to? Was she the one knocking? He wondered and quickly stood up to pull on his trouser.
Without buckling his belt or putting on a shirt, he walked to the door with his hairy chest and pulled it open. His brow furrowed into a surprised frown when he saw someone that looked exactly like him staring back at him.
"Holy fuck!" He exclaimed before wiping his hand over his eyes. He surely wasn't dreaming or seeing things. The man before him did look exactly like him.
"I'm sorry I disturbed your sleep," Wang Tae-Joon apologized politely when he managed to find his voice.
He could now understand why the reporter had assumed he was the one at the club, and even he would have made the same mistake had he not been the one involved. Though he had been able to spot a few differences here and there in the few seconds he had spent staring at his doppelganger.
"Who are you?" Brad asked with a frown.
"I'm Wang Tae-Joon. And you are?" Tae-Joon asked with a straight face, even though so many thoughts were going through his mind.
"I'm Brad Carter," Brad said with a grin.
Now he knew why princess proud had referred to him as Tae-Joon. She hadn't been seeing things as he had assumed.
And yeah, she had been right about the guy too. The guy before him didn't seem like the type to wear casual clothes or smoke on the rooftop of a club. He seemed too uptight to do any of that.
"Can we talk for a second, if you don't mind?" Tae-Joon asked, still in shock. He turned to look at his assistant, whose mouth was still hanging open as he looked from one to the other.
"Sure we can," Brad said and held back a smile as he held back the door to let Tae-Joon inside the room. Definitely uptight.
"You can go and see to other businesses. Also, prepare for a press conference. I need to clear the air about this issue the moment I leave here," Tae-Joon instructed his assistant before entering the room.
"Are you like my twin brother or just a doppelganger?" Brad asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he went to sit on his bed while Tae-Joon sat on the sofa.
Tae-Joon stepped on something as he sat down and bent to pick it up. It was a credit card. He was about to hand it over to Brad when his eyes caught on the name.
"Jiang Grace?" He asked, raising his head from the card to look at Brad.
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