“Do you want to play games here or can we leave now?” Zoe's brow furrowed with confusion, as she watched Martin, who had asked her to meet, playing a game at an arcade where she had gone in to meet him. She had expected a serious discussion over coffee or wine, and not a detour into this vibrant, chaotic wonderland.“You have not played this game before, right?” Martin turned to her, his eyes sparkling with excitement, her cute expression making him chuckle. “Looks childish to me,” her voice edged with frustration stated, as her pony farm style framed her beautiful face more overtly, highlighting her expressive eyes that incessantly darted around the room, observing that everyone seemed to be having fun. “What?” he laughed even harder, seeing how irked she looked, “It is fun. Try it and see,” he interrupted before she could even answer, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards a combat game console. “You are meant to be working, remember?” she argued sternly, still trying to make
“You cook so well, Zoe. How can you just navigate all these so easily?” Audrey's eyes glistened with admiration as she watched Zoe show her how to prepare the recipe she had chosen for the day. “You flatter me too much,” A warm smile curved Zoe's lips, as she glanced at Audrey teasingly, “We are making roast chicken with herbs and vegetables, as well as pasta too. To make this cooking perfect, we have to use fresh quality ingredients and to season everything well,” she showed Audrey how to do it. Audrey nodded as her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, ready to learn everything Zoe would be able to teach her. She had been trying to gain Irina's love and attention for as long as possible, so that her life would be much easier even if things went haywire in the long run. And since Zoe was willing to be friends with her, she thought that it was the perfect avenue to weaponize their friendship. Through her perfect cooking. “Since I have prepared the chicken, seasoning it with salt, pepper
The luxurious Maybach pulled up to the entrance of the opulent building, and the tall, able-bodied chauffeur who had driven it stepped out, and scurried to the other side of the back door to open it gracefully. From the vehicle emerged Zoe, who had been invited to the private launching of one of the biggest investment companies in the city, LASGOW.Dressed in a well-fitted floor-length black sleeveless dress intricately embellished with thousands of tiny black diamonds that shimmered under the light of focus which was on her, she exuded timeless elegance and a captivating presence that drew people's collective stare at her. Her subdued beautiful makeup screamed redundancy, which perfected the flawless look she radiated, and her hair, which was cut short to her chin, framed her face like a halo, making her look fiercer than she usually portended. Zoe sauntered into the banquet room, with the blinding lights of the cameras catching all of her perfection, as she carried herself with a
Zoe's heart skipped a breath, and she let out a soft gasp, because she had not expected to see him there. Yes, they were business partners to everyone. But, between both of them, they knew it was more than that. As crazy as it sounded, it was true that they shared the same bedroom. As insane as it was, she was his supposed fianceé whom no one knew about. As normal as it should be, she didn't want to see him at the moment when she was supposed to be away from everyone who knew her so much. ‘Shit! Why was he here?!’ A frown framed her face instantly, knowing what he was definitely capable of if he saw her. She didn't even want to speak to him. The instant plan was to retreat away from where he might see her since he had people still talking about his presence, and she tactically sidled away from those she was sharing light conversations with before he arrived, hoping to blend into the crowd and avoid his gaze or attention at all means. However, it was too late. Malcolm had already s
“What are you doing here, Martin? I didn't expect to see you,” Zoe gasped softly, her eyes widened in surprise and a sweet smile curving her lips to see him there. “To surprise you,” his left eye winked at her before he stretched his hands out to give her a hug, and then planted a friendly kiss on the cheek. Her delicious scent clung to his nostrils and munched on his mind, that it took him willpower to separate so easily from her after a few seconds. He wanted them to stay longer like that. “Be serious. Are you close to the host or something?” Her questioning eyes were on him, still in awe of suddenly seeing him at the party that she reluctantly attended just to fulfill all righteousness. Seeing him in a white tuxedo which clung to his muscle-toned body that made him look so perfect, was different from the usual plain tees and pants he usually wore. It made her see him in a different light. “Something like that,” he chuckled, as he took her right hand unconsciously in his, which
“Why are you in my skin, Malcolm?! Why are you trying to be rude to my friend?!” Zoe yelled at Malcolm the moment they got to a corner far from the banquet hall which she felt was secure enough. Her eyes took time to look around and study if there was no one coming or no cameras around, before she pulled him into another segregated hallway that led to a private balcony. “That is your friend? The one you have been talking to since all these days?” Malcolm spoke as soon as he saw that she was done checking over and over again to be sure no one had followed them. In a way, it pained his heart to see if that was how badly she wanted no one to know that they were nothing but business partners. Weren't they what they really were?“Yeah? Is that a problem?” She cocked a derisive brow at him, her guts patiently waiting for him to utter any word out of place so she would set a boundary immediately. ‘Trying to pretend like they would always be on good terms was harder than she thought!’ Z
Martin stood in his expansive, eccentric kitchen behind the countertop with an apron neatly tied to his waist, while chopping a big purple onion on a wooden chopping board, his hand moving fast with precision and accuracy even without looking. He had been cutting, dicing, chopping, and shredding vegetables for the past few minutes since he arrived home, and as much as he wanted to keep the badgering thoughts in his head out of mind by suddenly cooking something. However, he could not. His mind was consumed by thoughts of Zoe, who had captured his heart with her effortless grace and charm right from the moment he knew her, and her relationship with Malcolm Meyer, whose collaboration with her company saved her from answering the sudden rumor about her mental state. He couldn't just understand what was going on. Martin had always been so worried about her ever since he knew her, and always wanted to help her even if she seemed to have it all. When he suddenly lost contact with her fo
Seated behind the reserved table in the corner of a five-star hotel’s exclusive restaurant with the best view of the city scenery, was Zoe, sitting calmly with sophistication and poise, flipping through a copy of the RADIANCE magazine, while waiting patiently for her guest to arrive. Soft classical music played in the background filling the air with a great vibrance, one which she hummed to at intervals, without even realizing that she subconsciously knew the lyrics. She was waiting for the guy that she was supposed to meet at the party who didn't show up until it was over because of some silly excuse his brother had given on his behalf. A date was set almost immediately for them to meet properly without any form of interruption, and Zoe had surprisingly agreed to go when Gary informed her without putting up a fight. It was to seal an agreement between both of them. Once she went on a blind date and met the young man, she was not going to others, and was still not coming home eithe
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. “I
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