"What the heck is going on in this house? I think I am about to go crazy!" Ivy yelled frenziedly, as she held her head like her head tightly like her life depended on it, while trying to comprehend what they had just been told by Malcolm's secretary as his message. "Edward said that Malcolm is getting married to Zoe again, and that she's going through a medical situation that has wiped off the memories of people that had caused her trauma in her life, which includes us," Audrey repeated, just in case they didn't grasp it fully, just like she did. Rather than feeling crazily perplexed like the rest of the family, she was just intrigued by what was going on. She didn't even know how to express her emotions, amidst the craziness that everyone was displaying. "Did I say that I was too dumb to hear?!" Ivy lashed angrily at her. "And do you really want to believe the explanation they are giving for this absurdity?! And the part where she agreed to get married to him again, because it
"Who prepared this?!" Those words came flying at the dining table, and every activity was brought to a halt in an instant at the vicious questioning from the dignified lady that had come to join breakfast, making everyone terribly uncomfortable with her presence. "It is I, ma'am," the chef, who had prepared breakfast that morning, came running. "How did you prepare the lasgna?" Zoe questioned him sternly, her beautiful eyes staring at him intently with curiosity. Though the chef had not seen the lady who was questioning him before, he knew that she was someone not to be disrespected by even from her aura alone. "I added shrimps, beef, mozzarella …….""It doesn't suit my taste buds, and I hate the taste of the garlic that was used. Do you have farfalle or rotelle?" She asked him, as her eyes were raised to meet the chef's in query. "Eat whatever you are given and stop whining," Ivy's voice interjected into her discussion with irritation lacing her voice, as she cast upon Zoe a l
Gary was sitting silently at a five-star restaurant in a reserved spot, waiting patiently for Zoe, who had agreed to meet him minutes ago and was not yet around. She preferred to meet him outside the mansion for issues concerning the company, and discussion of whatever news her grandfather wanted to relay to her. Zoe left home shortly after the whole charade in the dining room, and left everyone aghast after striking Malcolm's cheeks after he kissed her. Nothing melted their brains and screamed danger more than when he kissed her right in everyone's presence, and the highlight of it all was when she slapped him. Though she knew hitting Malcolm in everyone's presence was out of it, she didn't even know why her hand worked on reflex and acted without asking her. Everyone thought they were out of their minds having witnessed the most scandalous news of the century, and it had every worker on their toes about what would happen next. Just a word, judging from a bad day, and all of them
In the opulent confines of Malcolm's luxurious room, silence hung heavy in the air like a shroud for many minutes, after he had arrived back from work and changed to comfortable clothes. Zoe sat in front of the huge dresser mirror showing her back to the room, as she applied the same facial cream she had been using for almost ten minutes. She gazed heavily at her reflection as her fingers idly traced the contours on her face, while constantly observing Malcolm's movements through the mirror. She had been thinking about a way to start a conversation ever since she watched him enter the room, but she didn't want to say anything after what happened between them in the morning. Though it barely encumbered her heart to say something about it, those ladies' words had her thinking nonstop about what he could truly do. "Umh. Malcolm," Zoe called, her tiny, low voice finding its way through the stifling atmosphere, and hitting Malcolm's ears like a breeze where he stood."Yes," he answered
Zoe was sitting on the rooftop of a classy top restaurant, gazing at the beautiful scenery below, as she basked in the beautiful serenity of the ambiance around her. It was barely lunchtime in the afternoon, and she was bored by herself, because she spent all morning working. She picked up her phone and called the number of the person she had saved as ‘first friend’ under her retrieved line, and the shock from the person that appeared to her after she texted her location was a little too much to bear at once. Standing right before her, grinning from ear to ear, was her secretary, Zara. ‘It was you?!’ Zoe exclaimed inwardly. “I have missed you very much,” Zara pouted so much, forgetting her professionalism, as she pulled Zoe into a hug after she offered a handshake first. ‘Crap. This lady was hugging her like she would snap her back,’ Zoe thought to herself, unable to breath properly, in the way Zara had embraced her so endearingly. “How are you, Zara?” Zoe returned the same ene
‘Shit! When will this guy leave?’ Zoe thought to herself as she laid still on the hospital bed, trembling and almost breaking out in sweat while trying hard to stall for as long as she could. ‘She was tired of pretending!’The moment she saw the guy that appeared before her whom she had no recollection of, she quickly thought of the fastest means to get out of the situation. And the only thought that came to her was, pretending to faint, forgetting that she had a dramatic secretary. “Goodness! What is wrong, Miss Zoe?! What am I going to do?!” Zara screamed as she watched her boss fall unceremoniously to the floor, as she quickly rushed to hold her, while panting so fast and almost at the point of tears. ‘What would she tell people if they asked her what happened to Zoe?’Thanks to Martin, who took the cue that alerting people's attention to them would be a terrible idea, he told Zara to put her emotions in check in order to stop people from taking pictures or a video. He carried Z
“What?! You are not taking back the engagement?!” Zoe yelled furiously as she glared at Malcolm, the moment he made his intentions clear after she asked him. He arrived shortly after Gary left, and had driven at a high speed when he was told that she was in the hospital. Entering the ward, he was bewildered to see her pacing around instead of lying on the next like someone who was truly sick, and her next question surprised him as soon as she saw him.“You and I know that this engagement thing is bullshit. So, clinging on hopelessly to something that is not there is not nice for the both of us,” Zoe tried to convince Malcolm further with calmness, even if she was trying hard not to lash out at him too. “We can make it work better. You are like this because you are yet to regain your memories, but trust me, this is for the best,” Malcolm answered her demurely, feeling a little guilty that he was going along with the agreement he already had with her grandfather to tell her the exact
What are you suddenly getting at?” Zoe questioned with a sneer, feigning ignorance. “Is that jealousy I sense?” Malcolm teased with a chuckle as he gazed at her, tilting his head amusingly. “You must finally be losing it. Can you please be on your way now? I would like to have my peace without having to share the space with you,” she sneered and dropped the cup of unfinished coffee as she stood up, and made her way into the bathroom, without waiting to hear anything he wanted to say.Upon entering, her eyes observed how neat and organized the bathroom was, even if Malcolm had used it moments ago, which showed how snazzy and intricate he was in his doings. She stared at the huge, deluxe space for a long while, before taking her seat in the bathtub. She hung her head languorously as she tried to think of what she would do, since things seemed not to be working in her favor now. ‘Her grandfather wanted to marry Malcolm at all costs, and the only solution she thought of was not worki
What?” his eyes widened in surprise. “You ruined me,” she repeated, her voice breaking the more it felt like someone had physically ripped her heart out, “You don’t even know what you’ve done. You…” She couldn’t finish, the sobs wracking her body too powerful as she fell to her knees again, the sound of her sobs cutting through the stillness of the late evening. “Do you know I can never be happy no matter how hard I try?” She continued, as she shook violently as if her soul had split open.Malcolm's face became frozen with pity and anguish as he watched Zoe break down before him, in a way he had not seen in a very long time. His heart ached so much when he watched her so broken, as he instantly squatted beside her. “What is wrong?” His voice trembled with pain, as he reached out to her tentatively, his hands fearing that she might not like that he touched her, “Please, Zo,” he beckoned, “Talk to me.”Suddenly, as if compelled by those few words, Zoe raised her face to meet his eyes
Zoe returned the same day after the most traumatic news from Emily hit her, and was barely in her mind when she boarded the plane back to California. Instead of calling Zara to meet her at the airport on arrival with a chauffeur as planned, she boarded a cab instead and arrived at the estate very late that evening. As soon as it dropped her off in front of her house and turned back to leave, she stood for a few minutes, her mind blank about what to do or where to go, with those haunting words echoing in her mind. “I am so sorry. I never should have taken you. You do not deserve all of this.” The pain and grief of being told the darkest truth of her life was too much for her to bear. It shattered her heart so much. ‘Goodness! How could… How could this even happen to her? How?’ Zoe couldn't stop thinking about how miserable she had been her entire life. She wondered how things would have turned out if had gone to her real mother and father. Then she would have been showered with so
The rain had just begun as a soft drizzle in the evening, and Malcolm was there when it did. He was sitting on a chair in the balcony of the rooftop room in his house where he hadn't been for the longest time since he moved in, and realized how beautiful the entire estate from that view was. He also realized how palpable the amplified loneliness and unusual serenity of the place was, just from staring at the entire view from where he sat, but couldn't dwell in it as usual because his heart was burdened by the thought of someone. Her. The person he had worried even more about ever since his encounter with Andre. He wished he could call and talk to her. He really wished he could. But at the same time, he wanted to respect what she wanted too. However, it was hard doing that. What Andre had said couldn't evade his heart. He knew he might stop at nothing to get to her just to get back at him. As the drizzle turned to an increased droplet of rain, Malcolm's eyes continued to fix on the
A low, choked sob escaped Emily's lips and she struggled for breath, while tears began to spill down her wrinkled cheeks, as her eyes, watery and unfocused, locked onto the figure in front of her. “I… I am so sorry,” she whispered with a voice strained with pain, as her gaze trailed across Zoe's face as if searching for something. “I didn’t mean to do it, okay?” Emily blurted out again, as her voice trembled with misery, “I was jealous and was so stupid, so I ruined everything. I ruined our years of friendship, and ruined your happiness too. I made you miserable,” she reached out to Zoe with a trembling hand, as her hands cupped her cheeks. “Jasmine,” she choked out again, “I'm sorry for coming between you and Fred. I…..I.. tried to covet him for myself and I agree. But, it was because, I thought… I thought he was everything. And to be honest, he was. He was kind, he was rich, and he was changing your life. And I… I hated it,” she began to confess, her words raw and unfiltered
Her steps were heavy, slow, and hesitant as she walked through the hallway that led to the VIP ward that her mother had been transferred to, with her heart thumping erratically as if it would jump out of her chest anytime soon. “Make her tell you,” her grandfather's words echoed in her ears again, the more the sound of her heartbeat increased its volume in her ears. Zoe continued to move closer to the room, as she swallowed hard, the fear of what she might hear, suffocating her mind the more she continued to conjure thousands of scenarios in her mind. As soon as she got to the door and grabbed the handle, she paused for a moment and closed her eyes tightly, and drew small sips of breath. ‘Whatever she was going to hear, she just hoped and wished it wasn't going to be a cruel twist in her already shattered world.’Pushing the door open, Zoe's eyes caught the sight of Emily, who was sitting upright on the bed with her back facing the wall, with her thin frame swaddled in a hospital
Dressed in a stunning black, corseted lacy dress, that danced around her in a big umbrella of gathered flaring net, Zara stood beautifully at a corner of the party, while subduedly drinking from the flute of champagne she had in the grasp of her fingers. While basking in the beauty of the launching event and carefully observing all that was going on around her, her eyes barely left Zoe, who was on the other side of the open-roof room still holding conversations with people. However, Zara noticed that after she held a conversation with a man that seemed to break the conversation she was having with a group, she picked a glass of champagne and drank from it in a single gulp. ‘Strange. She hadn't been drinking all evening,’ Zara thought to herself, as she looked away, wondering if she was finally loosening up from being so uptight and restless since the day before. But, she could not ignore it when it seemed like she had counted three glasses already, and it seemed like Zoe wasn't go
Languidly, Malcolm made his way into his living room right after he arrived home, and left all the lights in the house off, the same way it usually was, whenever he was having the worst day ever. Today was one of them. He was able to find the stairs because of the dim lighting that hung on the walls in the living room, as he slowly climbed upstairs, and entered the first room on the left, slamming the door shut. Instantly casting away his coat, tie, and briefcase to where they should be, he pulled his suit, socks, and shoes, and walked into the bathroom to stand under the shower to wash the day's stress off him. He stepped out shortly and changed into clean clothes, before he immediately collapsed on his bed, his mind storming endlessly with worry. As Malcolm remained on the spot for a few minutes, his eyes deeply buried into the gold-colored ceilings that were above his face, because he couldn't stop thinking about his encounter with Andre almost an hour ago! He couldn't stop
Unable to book a flight to where Emily was admitted, was the hardest thing for Zoe to do in the past few hours after she left her grandfather's place. There was just a day left until the launching of her newest jewelry collection, and she could not afford to miss the launching party. Not as the CEO. Curiosity had made it difficult for her to focus on work throughout the office the next day, because she just wanted to know the truth about her birth once and for all. The only hypothesis that was ringing in her head after putting so many pieces together as a possibility, was a reality that was enough to drive her insane just at the mere imagination of it. It was too heavy to even accommodate her thoughts. She had asked Zara to plan her entire schedule for the day and next, as well as book a flight for the night after the launching party for her. She planned to get to the root of her confusion once and for all. There were still many answers she had unanswered already. As Zoe che
Marcel struggled against her tight, feisty grip as he grabbed her hands and overpowered her, before jerking himself free from her grip, almost causing her to fall back. His breath came fast, his chest rising and falling with fury, “I have nothing to say to you,” he said calmly, as he began to straighten the creases that formed on his shirt because of the way she had grabbed him. “What?! You have nothing to say to me?!” Isla lashed out angrily, seeing that he was about to enter his room, as she dragged him back from leaving with every ounce of her power and might. “After what you did to me? After you betrayed me and joined forces with my enemy to take over my company?!” she spat with a fireball of fury, her eyes threatening to scorch him on the spot, “You, of all people, knew what that company meant to me. Why would you do it?! I had to travel miles just to come and see you in this rat hole you have pathetically hidden.”“Do what exactly?” he continued to speak with a low, enthusias