Is this destiny?

Jeff saw Jasper\'s confused expression and he explained. "The man sneaked into our property and ended up pointing a gun at my face. That was the first time in my life that I was afraid to die. I didn\'t want to die because I didn\'t want to miss my time with Anna, at the same time the only comforting thought was that she is safe. And the next thing I know, the man lost a hand, and then a leg… and my Anna was standing on the rooftop with a rifle… And another time, there was a creep stalking her who ended up taking out four of my bodyguards and cornering her. I was out of my mind while praying that I reach there in time. And when I finally reached her, I saw a scene: JoAnna was kicking him senseless while shouting that no one can compare to me." Jeff suddenly laughed and it took him some time to calm down before continuing: "And there is that time when she was kidnaped. I got a photo on my phone of her tied up. I found her and kicked the door where they confined her… you can imagine my surprise when I saw her sitting at the table comfortably and chatting with three full grown men who were tied up to the chairs. And then she asked me to give them jobs because they kidnaped her only to earn money to feed their families… She is a magnificent woman, capable of surprising me every day by showing me all her different sides. Funny and serious, gentle and vicious, smart. Definitely not boring."

Jasper sighed. "Anna sounds like a perfect woman."

"Perfect for me." Jeff curtly reminded him.

Jeff looked at Jasper who was lost in thoughts. "You know… every relationship is different. Asking me about my situation will not help you resolve yours."

Jeff noticed Jasper\'s confused look and explained: "I suspect that your questions are somehow related to Ellie."

Jasper was startled and that confirmed Jeff\'s suspicion.

Jeff shared his point of view: "I saw you last night hitting on Ellie. It\'s unusual that your charms fail. I spoke with Anna about it and she told me that Ellie is not interested in one night stands and that even if she likes you, it\'s not likely that she will give in. I\'m not an expert in women. Far from it. But if a woman is resisting you because of her principles… she stands for something, which means that she is using her head… and she is not boring."

"Did Anna resist you?"

Jeff nodded and explained: "I had a marriage agreement at that time, and Anna didn\'t want to get in a relationship with me because of it. You have no idea how miserable I felt knowing that I love Anna and that she loves me back, but there is this stupid years-old agreement keeping us apart... And when I finally accomplished dissolving the agreement, the first thing I did was to get down on my knees and ask her to marry me. And when she said yes, the whole new world of possibilities opened up."

Jasper looked at a silly grin on Jeff\'s face and wondered if he will ever be like that… in love.

Jasper sighed and that made Jeff look at him.

"I think you like her." Jeff bluntly said.

"Who?"

"Ellie."

Jasper shrugged.

"You are sighing too much." Jeff voiced his observation. "Even if you don\'t want to admit that you like her, she got your attention, right?"

Jasper didn\'t deny that. He responded with a nod.

"Just the fact that she got your attention should make you want to spend more time with her. Why are you resisting it? I saw you this morning keeping your distance from her."

"It\'s making me uncomfortable.", Jasper admitted.

Jeff scoffed. "I thought that you said how only by getting out of your comfort zone one can learn new things. Or are you afraid what you might find out about yourself if you actually get entangled with a girl who has a brain and is using it?"

Jasper frowned. "Why are you on my case?"

Jeff raised his eyebrows, feeling wronged. "Hey! You are the one who started talking about it. How is any of this my fault? Listen… do whatever you want. But snap out of it! I\'m getting married tomorrow to the love of my life, and your sulking is killing my mood."

Jeff returned to his phone. He had number of messages from JoAnna which he didn\'t read because he was talking with Jasper. Unforgivable!

Jasper was unable to continue sitting there and listen to Jeff\'s giggles. He stood up and went inside to join Bradley, Christopher, Russel and Vincent who were playing poker.

"You know that girls went for paintball?", Bradley asked Jasper while dealing a hand.

"How do you know about that?", Jasper asked without looking away from his cards.

"Maid of honor shared photos on group chat.", Russel responded.

"Group chat?" Jasper looked around and saw that others at the table nodded in unison.

"Yes. Look.", Christopher unlocked his phone and pushed it toward Jasper.

Jasper saw few photos of girls geared up and then last one was with four girls goofing around while covered in red and blue paint splotches. Due to protection goggles he could not tell who is who.

Jasper is not happy that he does not know about this group chat, while his four poker-buddies seem to be familiar with it. He scrolled up the history and saw photos from the brunch and from previous evening as well. Girls shared photos. He didn\'t see anyone take photos or fiddle with their phones.

Now that he thinks about it, the whole day today and previous evening, the only thing on his mind was Ellie.

Jasper was slightly embarrassed when he realized his urge to forward to himself three photos with Ellie on them. Why would he do that?

Jasper was frustrated by the fact that he is wasting his time, thinking about a girl who is definitely not his type. She wants a relationship and commitment. That is not him. He wants to have fun with no strings attached. His frustration increased at the thought that he could have spent his time in a more productive way. Few of the bridesmaids were definitely checking him out, but instead of doing something about them, he wasted his time.

Jasper pushed Christopher\'s phone back to him angrily.. Tonight, he will fix things… when they get off this boat and hit the club.