It has only been two days after my first day at New York University, and here I am, stuck in the house, doing assignments in the living room. I do have much more free time -- compared to when I was in high school -- but there are a lot more modules I have to catch up to. Geez. I wish I could be more laid back and didn't have to be a perfectionist when it comes to studying. I should be strolling around the town with Kyla, perhaps, grabbing some pizzas or going shopping at the mall. I glance at the clock. 11 pm. Where is Drake? He's not back yet, and I don't remember him telling me that he had a football practice today. Maybe he's having a date. I blow a sigh, placing my chin on the table. The doorbell rings, and my mood brightens up. Here he comes. 'Coming." I hum, tottering toward the door. When I open it, I'm surprised to find Prince standing by the door. "Hey." He smirks, and I feel butterflies in my stomach. The fact that he's wearing a white shirt with a black leather jacket
I'm on my way to make breakfast when I decide to check on Drake again. After what happened last night, I'm pretty sure that he'll have a hangover once he wakes up. The morning sun has risen, casting its ray upon his face. He's still sleeping. I climb on the bed and sit beside him, staring at him, crossing my arms on my chest. Then his eyelids flicker, and a few moments later, he opens his eyes. He abruptly sits up and backs off, his back smacking the headboard. "You're scaring me," he barks. I must have looked like a ghost. "Spill it." I glower at him. "What?" he rasps, squinting his eyes before squeezing them shut. He curses. His head must be spinning. "Last night," I say. "What was that all about?" He groans, touching his head. "Shit. I was knocked out, wasn't I?" "Uh-huh." "I got carried away." "For what?" I ask. "What celebration?" I go straight to the point. He laughs, closing his eyes, looking like he doesn't even believe that it's happening. "My internship." My eyes
"Did you get in?" Drake's voice echoes through the speaker as I talk with him on the phone while doing my energy balance assignment on my bed. It has been six days since he left, and I'm still surviving in my early weeks of college. "Nope," I say. "I changed my mind. I didn't audition for it." "Why?" He sounds surprised. "I thought you liked it." "I do." I sigh. "I'd love to play the piano with a full orchestra. But there's this guy from South Korea who is so good. And I'm nothing compared to him”. I laugh. “You’re joking right?” He pauses. ‘’ You didn’t really want it’’. “ The team seems so driven. They participate in a lot of competitions. I don’t think I can do it. I don’t want to play with such pressure. Let me just enjoy playing it as a hobby”. I grin “As you wish, Ches.” Drake laughs. “How’s study so far?” "So far so good," I say, biting my pen as I scan the rest of my homework. "But there's this research the lecturer asked us to do, and it's quite challenging." I hate it
I get up from the couch, and my gaze darts on the thing lying on the armchair. It's Prince's notebook. Wondering if it's something important that he forgot to bring, I walk closer to it. I feel guilty for looking into other people's stuff, but there's something urgent kicking inside me. I take the book and flip through the pages. Then my eyes widen. It's all about the presentation to get into the internship. He's written the notes here and there. The important points, the conclusions and what he has to say to convince the company. No. No. No. I gulp, and even my hand starts to shake. This can't be happening. He forgot to bring it with him. How could he? He must have been in a hurry. I snap my head towards the clock. I have less than an hour until the presentation. Without thinking further, I decide to bring the book to him. My hand grips the steering wheel so hard that my knuckles turn white. The traffic lights change to red, and I curse, beating the steering wheel again for God
While I'm sitting at the sushi bar, I lick my lips. My eyes follow the sushi plates lining up and moving in front of me. They all look so tempting. In a heartbeat, I grab one plate that has salmon sashimi. I'm pouring the soy sauce over it when I feel Prince gaze on me. I turn my head towards him and find him staring at me in amusement. "What?" I ask him nonchalantly and waste no time to put the food into my mouth with the chopsticks. "Nothing." He smiles, still gazing at me. I would be shaking if I allowed myself to be completely affected by Prince Effect, but fortunately, my favorite food is such a good distraction. Tasting the sweet favour of the salmon, I close my eyes, enjoying every bit of it. It tastes like heaven. Even Drake once told me that I ate it like I was in a TV commercial. "You know," Prince begins. "This is quite a sight." I raise my brows. "Usually, girls tend to eat more carefully in front of me," Prince says. "They tried to maintain their image, even some
I take off my lab coat as my first chemistry lab ends. It's been a long session and quite tiring. Tucking the files back into my bag, I wonder how I'll get home later. I guess that I would take the bus, since my car is broken -- I just found out this morning when I couldn't start the engine. "Have you asked someone to fix your car?" Kyla asks beside me, slinging her backpack over her shoulders. Since we're taking the same major, we have many classes together, and I find it pleasing. She's my first friend here. "Nope." I sigh. "Why don't you try to ask Prince?" she asks as we exit the lab. She winks, teasing me, and I roll my eyes. So, this girl here has asked me about how I managed to hand my jaw-dropping assignment to Professor Adams so quickly, and I've told her about Prince. But no, I can't trouble Prince again. I'm well aware that Prince is busy preparing for the football game tomorrow, and I don't want to disturb him. Why do I have to be so clueless about cars? I'm going to
Tears brimming my vision, I stare at Prince storming in our direction. I can't believe that someone actually comes to save me. The sick, perverted psychopath abruptly lets go of me, pushing me to the wall. He wastes no time to run off, leaving me here with mouth agape, shaking on the ground. "Don't you dare, you asshole." Prince is ready to run after him, but when he sees the state that I'm in, he stops dead in his track. He freezes. I can see that he's shocked by how I look. My head pulses with sharp pain, and I wince, touching my forehead. Then I find blood on my palm. My forehead is apparently bleeding from the smack against the brick wall. "Jesus, Ches -- " he rasps before his jaw tightens, and I can even see his eyes burning with rage before he snaps his head back toward the bastard running away. "No," I cry out, stopping him before he can move further to catch the bastard. "D-don't leave me," I stutter. I can barely speak after what happened. I don't want to be left alone i
Prince grabs the bathrobe hanging on the wall and covers my body with it. I realize that I was almost naked in front of him. I've never thought before that it would be that hard just to clean myself up. He seems to realize that I can't do it either, so he lifts me in his arms and carries me back into my bedroom. He lays me down on the bed, and my body tenses at the sudden loss of his warmth. Thankfully, he also lays down beside me before pulling me closer to him. It's like I need him to forget about what the psycho did to me inside the alley, to replace all the horrible and nasty feelings on my body. I still haven't cleaned myself up, but I'll survive if he keeps holding me close to him. I put my hands on his back, sighing. "Did you call the cops?" "I did," Prince says. "He deserves to rot in jail. Sick bastard." His anger is still evident in his voice. "If they don't find him, I'm going to hunt him myself. I'll find the person who fucking did this to you." Somehow, I feel somethi
Today, every step that I make as I walk along the corridor of the hospital feels heavy. I just made a phone call to somewhere far away. Somewhere I will be. Soon. It has been three days after I received the first phone call from them. And I've made up my mind. I halt in front of the room, peeking through the glass on the door. And there inside the room, I see Prince, sitting on the bed. And my throat hurts so much. Tears pool in my eyes. I'm starting to doubt myself again whether I have enough strength to do this. To leave him. Right now. When he's still lying in the hospital. Wounded because of me. And it's very cruel of me that what I'm going to do next will just add more pain to his wounds, making them even worse. I move away from the door and lean back against the wall. I can't do this. But I have to. For myself. For him. For us. Tears escape my eyes and roll down my cheeks. It hurts so much. It hurts me to the core that I have to leave him. I wish I could spend more time
I can't believe what I see. Is this real? Because if this is all just a dream, I don't want to wake up. Prince tries to move his finger again, but he's still very weak. I stroke his hand, a soft smile touching my lips as tears brim my eyes. "You-you woke up," I whisper. He gazes at me with his intense eyes. "I had a dream," he rasps, his voice just as weak as his stare. "And there, you called me. Many times." I brush my fingers across his cheek. There's a tear in the corner of his eye, and I wipe it away as it escapes. "I've been thinking .. " he pauses, his voice hoarse. "What if you haven't forgiven me? I couldn't just go away, leaving you like that, could I?” My lips tremble, and I choke in tears. He stares at me, his eyes begging. "Cheska," he whispers. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all that I've done to you. I'm sorry that I hurt you." I shake my head. He's begging me like he's dying. He has sacrificed himself to save me to the point that he almost lost his life. But now, here h
I'm driving to my office when I hear my phone ringing on the dashboard. A smile tugs at my lips when I see the caller. Fiona. I press the speaker button, and her voice fills the air. "Morning, Drake." I almost want to bite my tongue to prevent myself from saying the next words, but hell with that, I decide to give myself a chance, ’Morning, beautiful." I know that she won't take this one like the other girls normally would have done. Still, a smirk curves on my lips. " You hit your head or what?" she asks, and I can imagine that she's rolling her eyes. "Easy there, Casanova." I chuckle. What a perfect way to begin my day in the morning. Our banters. Suddenly, all the tension from the morning rush disappears, just from hearing her voice. I like Fiona. Everybody might think that this is bullshit, since I always like girls. When do I not? Even my reputation as a player has already reached Fiona. But what I mean here is that I really like Fiona. I'm definitely taking this slowly and
I can't believe that I let him hold me again when I broke down. I must admit that his being here makes my heart at ease while Damien is on the run. I watch as he sits at the desk in the guest bedroom, opening his laptop, while I prepare my breakfast. I don't know if he already had one or not, but there's nothing wrong with preparing the food for him as well. I hear him talking to a person on the phone about some academic projects. It's too early in the morning to talk about that -- it might be something urgent. Then I remember that he's supposed to start his internship in the oil company -- the one I visited when I brought him the notebook. That time, he told me that it would start in three months after he passed his interview -- which is around this month. Is he postponing the start date? Because of me? My heart sinks as I think again about the circumstances that I'm in. I've been right all along. Our future doesn't work together. Mine will be a hindrance to him. I'll only be a bur
Cheska The thought of Drake purchasing a gun still bothered my mind the entire night, but I decide not to question him again about that. I keep wondering why he suddenly decides to carry it now. We've been living in California for two weeks, and so far, everything is fine. This morning, he leaves for work, as usual. While I'm about to finish blow-drying my hair inside my bathroom, I hear footstep sounds from downstairs. That makes my heart thump hard against my chest. Ever since the incident of Andrew breaking into our house in England, the smallest sound and the slightest movement can make me become a paranoid again. I'm sure that Jake has locked the door, so if it weren't him, who else would enter this house? Slowly, I step out of my room and head downstairs, almost tiptoeing so that I won't make too much sound. My pulse quickens as I finally reach the ground level. When I see the person entering the living room, I yelp in surprise. My eyes widen as I see Prince standing before m
Cheska The moment I close the door behind me, my sobs finally break. I’ve never thought that I would say those words to him, but I had to. We can’t be together anymore. I’ve promised myself that I’m going to forget everything about my painful past, about him. I need to be strong, and I can only be so without him. I’ve planned my future, and he won’t be in the picture. Our future doesn’t work together. Mine will destroy his. Drake leans back against the wall, his arms crossed on his chest, his eyes closed. He has heard everything as well. When he turns to me and walks closer to hug me, I bury my face in his chest and cry my eyes out, hugging him back. I can’t bear the pain anymore. Hurting Prince breaks my own heart, worse than when he broke mine. He came all the way here for me. He waited for days, standing on the street outside. He still waited for me even when the rain had been pouring hard on him. He was crying when he said that he loved me. But then, I just crushed him with m
Cheska As soon as Drake comes back from work, he visits my room. I sigh, closing my laptop. Drake leans back against my door frame, still in his office attire. “ Are you sure, Ches?” he asks me the question once again. I nod. This past week, I've been spending time with my laptop to figure out what I'm going to do with my life. And finally, I've found a light, filled with hope for my future. A way to achieve my dreams. "You know, I never thought that something like this would ever happen, but-" he falters, and I give him a hopeful look. A soft smile touches his lips. "As long as it makes you happy, I'm fine with it." Relief washes over me. I thought that he would be reluctant to accept my idea at first, butI always know that he's going to be supportive, as long as it's the best for me. I stand up from the chair, approach him and hug him, making him sigh. "Thank you, Drake. I always know that you're gonna be on my side." When we pull away, I do see the sadness in his eyes. Regrets
Cheska Today is my second day in Italy. It’s early morning, and I’m setting up my new cellphone when Drake emerges in my doorway. He’s talking to someone on the phone before handing it to me, making me wonder who it is. “ It’s your friend Kate,” he says. “ She got my number from Prince.” The mentioning of such name still makes my heart drop. I sigh and take the phone from Drake. “Hello?” Kate’s cries fill my ear as soon as I speak, and she goes frantic. “Oh my God, Ches. Are you okay? How are you doing over there?” A soft smile tugs at my lips. I miss her. It feels like ages since the last time I heard from her. This girl is worrying about me like I’m dying. “I’m okay. Don’t worry.” “God, I never thought that – “ she stops talking and starts sobbing. “If only I’d figured it out earlier.” She’s speaking about Andrew. There’s a guilt in her voice, and I want to tell her that none of this is her fault. Before, neither of us realized that Andrew was such a psychopath. We thought th
Prince Andrew ends up in the hospital. And I end up spending the night at the police station. That bastard is fucking lucky that I didn’t kill him, because before I could do so, three policemen came to stop me. I remember roaring like a mad person when they pulled me away from Andrew, who was already bleeding to death when the emergency response team from the hospital took him with the stretcher. My hands shaking, I look down and bury my face in them. What the hell am I doing here? I shouldn’t be here right now. I should be with her. Cheska. Cheska. Cheska. She’s the only thing in my mind now. I can’t imagine what she’s feeling at the moment. She must be scared, not knowing that to do. She must be broken. Hopeless. Alone. To settle the matters with the police, I’ve called my lawyer, whom I know from a friend I worked with for one of the influential companies I did my project with. He’s good, so I expect that the police can give me some dispensation once they find out that Andrew