Chapter 5

It had been a while since Ella wished to stay cooped up in her personal heaven. Even though her current occupation was not something she had ever intended to pursue, she had come to accept it and even enjoy it over time.

Life is truly unpredictable.

All of her dreams from back then looked far-fetched now. Nonetheless, she does not regret her choices. Despite the fact that her life had taken a new curve, she remained satisfied.

Now, she was not sure whether her feelings would remain the same.

Working as a manager at a café was not something she envisioned, but as the days went on, she began to enjoy her new profession. It did motivate her to get out of bed in the morning and go to work. She liked to walk to the café or drive herself to work. But, unlike on prior occasions, she did not wish to leave her residence.

The encounter with Daniel and Timothy is still fresh in her mind, and she did not exactly trust herself with the secret she had been withholding from him for the past six years. At the same time, she also knew that she could not hide from them forever. Further, with how she had been reacting towards them, their suspicion would only grow. She needed to get herself together. She needs to make things seem normal.

Both Daniel and Timothy knew her well. They might already have their doubts with reference to her current job. It was no secret that being in the medical field was one of her dreams. She would have to make some kind of excuse for a change of profession.

“Mom, I am ready.” Lily broke her train of thought.

“Let’s go.” Ella smiled and led her daughter towards her car to drop her off at play school.

At present, after dropping off her daughter at her school and picking up groceries, Ella was driving around to the cafe, which was an almost twelve-minute ride.

As she was about to turn left, she saw two figures arguing on the sidewalk, and she stopped impulsively in front of them.

Daniel was annoyed. He was shooting daggers at Timothy and shouting at him for his careless attitude when a car stopped in front of them. The window rolled down, and both of them were surprised to see Ella looking at them with curiosity.

Where Daniel felt a bit awkward, lost for words to say to her, Timothy was elated to see her.

“Ella! You are my savior. My knight in shining armor." Timothy exclaimed dramatically.

“Um, is everything alright? What is going on?” Ella asked with a frown on her face, clearly confused.

“Well, you see, we kind of forgot to book a car...” Just as Tim spoke while scratching his neck, Daniel interrupted him with his hard gaze. “Not we. It was you, Timothy. You forgot to rent a car. I specifically asked you to do that, but you conveniently forgot.”

“Okay-okay. I forgot to rent a car, so what? Even though we are here helplessly standing on the streets waiting for a cab, this is an adventure long overdue. Just relax, Dan. I will rent a car by the end of the day.”

Before Daniel could interrupt him again, Ella spoke hesitantly, “Well, I can give you two a ride if you want.”

“You are the best,” Timothy said, shoving Dan into the passenger seat as he took the back seat.

“So where to?” Ella asked after both guys were sitting comfortably in her car. She was nervous with Dan sitting beside her in the passenger seat.

Timothy gave her the address. “It is not out of your way, is it?”

“No, don’t worry about it. It is on the way to the cafe,” she said while hitting the gas. They were going to meet a local interior designer whom she very well knew.

“Café reminds me, why are you working there?” Timothy asked directly, coming to the point.

Ella was expecting this question eventually, but she hoped for it to pop up later. She pursed her lips and said, “Well, it is an amazing place, and I love working there.”

She tried to answer diplomatically, but she should have known better than to make an attempt to fool Dan and Tim.

“You wanted to be a doctor, Ella. We know that. You even got accepted to your desired hospital for residency; then why the change of heart?” Dan pointed out. He was sitting there quietly listening to her and Timothy’s conversation intently, but he knew that Ella was playing merry-go-round with them.

“Well, how did you know if I got accepted or not?” She asked in confusion. She does not remember telling him about it.

“Your mother told us. She told us that you left the States to study there.” Timothy answered her.

‘That bitch,’ she murmured, hoping no one heard her, but Dan did.

Ella was furious. She knew that her step-mother was aware she had gotten the acceptance letter for her desired residency program, but she chose to hide it from her. If it weren’t for the call that she got from the Dean of the Institution, she would have never known about it.

As it is, it wouldn’t have mattered, as she left the aspiration of becoming a doctor when she got to know that she was pregnant.

Ella’s silence on Tim's remarks did not settle well with him. He won’t let her escape this time. “This is not you, Ella. I like to believe that I know you well enough to confidently say that you would not have given up your dreams for anything.”

“Well, I did. I had a change of heart and was not willing to enrol in the residency program.”

“That’s bullshit! Ella! We both know it." Daniel could not hold it any longer. "I don’t believe you for one bit that you left your desire to become a doctor out of the blue. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me anything about it. Heck, you even left everyone without telling anyone about your whereabouts. If it weren’t for your mom, we would have never known, to begin with, that you got admission. In fact, we even went there in search of you, but instead of finding you there, we learned that you canceled your admission. Do you even realize how worried we were? You left without a word, and you even changed your goddamn number. How the hell were we supposed to contact you?”

There was a hint of anger in Dan’s voice, and she couldn’t exactly blame him. She deserved it.

But damn! Timothy and Daniel were smart. But at the same time, it also overwhelmed her that both of them tried to contact her.

"Daniel, all I could say is that with time, not only people change but also their priorities. That’s what happened to me. I did what I had to do at that moment.”

However, before Daniel could respond, her phone call interrupted them. It was a welcome distraction, as she did not know how much longer she would be able to hold the truth from him.

“Where the hell are you, Ella?” Ron asked from the other side of the phone as she accepted the call and kept it on the loud speaker.

“On my way to work. What happened?” She asked.

“A few minutes back, I received a call from a girl named Candice.”

“By Candice, you mean…” Ella wanted to make sure that they were talking about the same person.

“Candice Hachette. You evil step-sister.”

“How the hell did she get your number, and what the hell did she say to you?” Ella groaned.

“How the hell am I supposed to know that? But what I don’t understand is why she warned me against marrying you. I mean, why the hell would she do that...... Unless you guys had something to do with it.”

“Nope, not me; it was all your sister and Clancy doing,” Ella said.

“Explain, please.” He demanded curiously.

“Let’s just say we three were having a peaceful afternoon until my dearest sister called me, informing me about her wonderful date with my ex-boyfriend in the same place where he actually asked me to be his girlfriend. The phone was on the loudspeaker, and Aubrey and Clancy heard it. So to irritate her, they chose to gush about my soon-to-be wedding with you. Well, let's just say that Candice did not take it well and told me that she was marrying my ex, which pissed Aubrey further, so she and Clancy took it one step further and spoke loudly about our honeymoon destination.” Ella explained it to him.

“You got to be kidding me. I can imagine Aubrey spewing this, but I did not expect it from Clancy. Why didn’t you stop them?” He accused her.

“I tried to, but then thinking about the look on that doll’s face made me happy. So, after a while, I gave up and let them take over the call. But what I can’t believe is that she had the nerve to call you. God knows how the hell she got my number, let alone yours.”

“Is she the same one who tried to sabotage your chance at the residency?” Ron asked her suddenly.

“Yup, the same one.”

“Then you should not be surprised that she managed to somehow contact you. But she is supposed to be your sister.”

“Correction, she is my step-sister. What else can you expect from her?” Ella sighed.

“True. By the way, what’s the deal with Aubrey? She really looked annoyed and had a pretty colourful vocabulary for a guy named Timothy.” Ron asked her.

Ella glanced in the review mirror and saw her friend blushing. Now that’s a rare one.

“Don’t worry, Ron. Your sister is safe with him.”

“Well, I am more worried about that guy. Aubrey is a handful. Poor guy, if he decided to date her.” Ron’s answer made Ella roll her eyes.

“Stop being mean to her.”

"Well, before I forget, Blaze is in town for a while.”

“Who, Blaze?” Ella asked in confusion.

“Your hot doctor, whom you were dreaming about sitting in my cabin,”

“Oh, that Doctor Blaze. I remember him, and I was not dreaming. He was just telling me about his residency days. Plus, he also told me about your so-called desire for Clancy.”

“I am just going to ignore your last sentence. And anyway, I really don’t understand your affection for doctors, let alone Blaze.”

“Ron, just imagine Clancy in a doctor’s coat.”

After not getting an answer for a few seconds, Ella said, “Figured.”

“You know, you should only think of me as a desirable person and not Blaze, as I am your future husband.” Ella could imagine him smirking.

“Ha-ha-ha!! Not Funny. Do not make me puke.”

“Okay. Don’t forget you are having lunch with me. So, Chinese or Italian?”

“You even need to ask.” Sarcasm was dripping from her voice.

“See you then, babe.”

“Ya bye.” She chuckled at their stupid conversation.

“Who’s Blaze and Ron?” Timothy asked her immediately after the call ended.

“Ron is Aubrey’s elder brother, who is also a doctor. And as for Blaze, he is one of Ron’s colleagues and his best friend. He is situated in Pelican, but he makes temporary visits here once in a while.”

Before Timothy could ask any more questions, their stop came, and both Timothy and Dan had to get out.

Daniel, however, could not leave Ella without clearing his name. “I am not dating Candice. Never had, never have, and never will.”

Ella was relieved that her sister and Dan were not together. At first, she was furious to learn that Dan started going out with her step-sister when she left him, but then she made herself accept the truth. Even in one of the rare moments, she had doubts, but she let them slide as she knew how Candice was. Plus, after she found out about her pregnancy when they were dating, she knew that she needed to get away, as Dan deserves someone far better than her.

Daniel, on the other hand, was disheartened. Ella never denied getting married to that Ron guy. He hoped that it was a joke that she played with her friends against Candice, but that did not seem to be the case. Apparently, she did move on, and, on top of that, Ron is a doctor.

Just great!

Another shocker was that Bellatrix is not Ella’s mother. No wonder she and Candice never treated her right.

But why did he not know about it? Why did Ella hide this truth from him?

Life was getting more complicated for him. Questions were increasing, and he had no answers to them.

As for Timothy, he found something fishy. There was more to the story than Ella let out. And he didn’t believe for a bit that Ella was marrying a guy named Ron. Their talk looked more like a joke, which no one would understand except for Ella, Ron, Aubrey, and Clancy.