“Don't you like the scenery? Everywhere looks beautiful,” Malcolm sparked up a conversation, not wanting to make every moment they were spending together boring as they walked out together. He was so glad that she chose to walk outdoors with him, and there seemed to be comfortable clothes waiting for her to change into which Malcolm had prepared already after he went out. “I do not know. I think it is cool,” she answered, feeling so bored by a conversation with a man she really wanted to be away from. “You seem to not know a lot of things that you like,” Malcolm pointed out, having noticed her attitude towards having things she liked from their few conversations. He wasn't even sure she had a hobby. All her life, she had always done things she had to do, and not things that she loved doing. “What else is left of someone who has lost herself alongside her memories?” Zoe muttered sarcastically. Those words suddenly made Malcolm, and he didn't like to hear her speak like that. He wa
Zoe had been sitting in front of the dresser in the suite for many minutes, carefully rubbing a night lotion into her face in bits, her mind drifting into random thoughts that were quite hazy in her mind. Through the mirror, her eyes traveled beyond focusing on her image as it landed on Malcolm, who was sitting comfortably on the couch, seemingly busy with work, his eyes fixed on the tablet that was placed on his lips. Her mind went back in time to almost an hour ago, after she had unexpectedly kissed him when they were both lying on the sand, and his reaction after she separated from him and stood up, confused her a bit as she struggled to process if she had seen rightly. For as long as she could remember, she didn't think she had ever seen Malcolm in that way before. She saw him flustered! ‘He was flustered? But why? Their lips touched more than twice even if it wasn't pleasant, but still, he was the one that initiated it. And if they were truly dating, they would probably ha
Zoe's body froze to a spot as she raked through her brain for what she could do, and the only thing that came to mind wasn't worth the pain. However, she found herself rolling fiercely away from his body, and towards the floor, pretending to have mistakenly dropped off the bed. “Ah!” Her loud wimp scolded her and reminded her of how foolish a decision she had made just to escape from such a stifling atmosphere, and Malcolm woke up just at the moment, his eyes jolting open to reality. “Are you okay?” Concern and worry hovered around his voice as he rose from his sleeping position to check up on, but the way in which she jumped up from the floor and flashed a smile at him startled him a bit, which made him wonder if everything was fine with her. “Hi, Good morning,” she didn't wait for him to reply, before she strode away from his sight in mortification, while nursing her pain as she entered the bathroom. ‘Shit!’ she yelled inwardly as she stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom
Did you bring your drugs along?” Malcolm walked out of the bathroom, suddenly remembering during his shower time that he had not seen her use her drugs since he came back and since they traveled. “No,” Zoe muttered, as she sat in front of the dresser which she had been glued to for minutes, straightening her hair over and over again. “Are you feeling better now? Should we go purchase new ones for you?” he suggested, not wanting to ask her why she had not been taking them as expected. She could get mad if he tried to be possessive about it, and he was not willing to bargain the peaceful atmosphere between them for anger. “I have always been fine, you know. But u do use them,” she turned to look at him, as her lips pulled into a thin line.“Have you been remembering anything or having glimpses of your memories these days?” Malcolm inquired slowly and gently, like he didn't mean to ask so directly as he walked out of the dressing room, already fully dressed. “Are you hoping I don't r
“I don't know what you would like, so I got you this,” Zoe turned to Ivy as she passed her own package to her, whose face was frozen in a mask of astonishment, with confusion dancing in her eyes. She didn't understand what was going on. She suddenly walked into the dining room the next morning in an unexpected manner, with extremely expensive gifts with her, as she placed each package in front of each person that she had gotten it for. For Irina, it was a limited edition diamond necklace she knew she had been struggling to get, and for Isla, she purchased a limited edition luxurious bag from the brand she figured was her favorite. For Ivy, it was a limited edition tweed dress, and for Audrey, it was a stunning, expensive auctioned heel that was worth more than the prices of the others. However, she had all of them with their mouths agape, with a silent gasp escaping their lips like a whisper of surprise.“You got us gifts,” Ivy's eyes furrowed with disdain even if she was so elat
Martin sat across from Zoe at the opulent restaurant they agreed to meet, his eyes filled with so much concern and worry about her, as he tried to carefully teeter around asking her too many questions. He was quite surprised when he had received her call to meet him, when it was a fact that they had spoken the day before, even if it was just for a few minutes. He had been waiting for her call all day. “How are you doing, Zoe?” he began, his voice soft and gentle, as his delicate eyes rested on her, observing the slightest change in her demeanor. He was bothered that she was trying to be strong even when she would have been disheartened if she saw the news about something she was trying to hide from the world. However, he was quite relieved that the sudden announcement of ANCLAIR and MEL-CO was all everyone could talk about. “Not so great, if I would not lie. How about you? I hope I'm not taking much of your time?” She looked up at him, her eyes studying to know if she had not m
Malcolm had been restless all morning since he arrived at work, and his workers were at the receiving end of his anger and frustration. He was unable to sleep since he received the news from Sinclair that Zoe could come back home, and it had him so bothered if she had been informed too about it.‘What if she decided to leave? What if she left and acted like she didn't know him? Would their relationship just end there?’ He thought all night, and still couldn't keep the thoughts away as he carried out his job in the office. He shifted uncomfortably on his office chair so many times, with a nervous tic crawling up his body, the more his eyes darted unconsciously to his phone, for what felt like the hundredth time, as if Zoe would call anytime soon to slam those words in his ear. His mind raced with worry as his thoughts spiraled him into anxiety, with each vibration or notification from his phone sending a jolt of nervous energy through his body, only to be met with disappointment as
“I heard that you have refused to return home,” Malcolm hit off the conversation with Zoe, breaking the silence that had been hanging in the air ever since he entered the room. He was curious to know what was going on in her head, and why she was being so unpredictable. “Yes. Any problem with that?” She tilted her eyebrows at him as she tore her gaze away from what she had been scribbling on paper since he entered. “I thought that was what you wanted initially,” a confounded look danced in his eyes as he stared at her with questioning eyes, in case she cared to explain her reasons before he asked why. But he knew she wouldn't talk more than what she was asked. “Well, I don't want that anymore,” she darted her eyes back to what she was doing. “Why? Are you really planning to get married to me?” There was a hint of anxiety in his voice as he spoke, wondering what her answer would be. She had been mentioning the marriage part and making new memories with him so casually for days n
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