EPILOGUE“Kol, this doesn’t look right.” Kol pulled the Christmas tree to the left again. I could see his veins about to pop as I shook my head. We’d been at it for almost 30 minutes straight and Kol was getting tired.“A little…” He groaned as he moved the tree a little to the right. There!“Perfect.” I huffed like I was the one doing all the work. Kol collapsed on the rug for a few minutes, probably thinking of new ways to most like strangle me and then stood up.“Baby, I’m sorry.” I kneaded his shoulders, his body relaxing under my touch.“It’s fine.” I placed a kiss on his back hoping to relieve his muscles but he turned rigid instead. I didn’t stop kissing his back though.“I think you should stop. Your dad will be coming over in a few hours and I would prefer the house smelling like hot chocolate and cookies.” He spun around to face me, grabbing my jaw.“Not wild s*x.” He always had a way of leaving me w*t and speechless every d*mn time.Now I wanted the whole place to smell like
“Sent!” I sighed.“girl! You finally did it… after weeks of postponement.” Cynthia or Thea as she preferred, my roommate and best friend, was beaming at me. It was because of her I was able to apply for a product design role at Drestech.Co. “Now I just have to wait for them to call me… or not” I looked at her apprehensively. I had worked with Jaskey Technologies for five years before they stabbed me in the back and let me off. It was also there I met my ex-boyfriend who cheated on me with one of our coworkers. I could say with absolute confidence that Jaskey Technologies was the source of most of my sadness. “Toria, I’ve seen what you can do. There’s no way you aren’t landing this job.” Thea was a source of my comfort. She helped me through the pain and I’d forever be grateful for her. Despite being the owner of Moore and More, a high end fashion design company, she was the most down to earth person I knew and she spoiled me silly.“Hey! Earth to Toria.” fingers snapped in front o
“Toria, what is it?” I didn’t answer“What does it say dam**t?” she didn’t wait for my reply as she grabbed the phone from my hands.She looks up at me and back at the phone.“You got the f**king job!” she screeched. I was going to puke. I ran to the toilet and emptied my stomach or whatever was left in it into the closet.“I’d forgotten how you get when you’re nervous. Sorry.” She rubbed my back. My nerves usually got the best of me at the most inopportune times. I couldn’t really stomach certain kinds of information."I'll be fine." I said."You should go to work. You'll be late.""Right. When I get back, we'll have you prepared for your first day" I groaned. Thea could get real bossy when she wanted and I hated being on the receiving end."Fine!" Knowing she wouldn't budge whether I complained or not. She smiled and left.***By the time Thea got back, I was coffee-in-hand ready for her. I needed the energy."Okay. Let's do this."4 hours later and 15 dresses tested, we, well she,
This was an indication that things weren’t going to go well for me. This was bad.His eyes stayed on me for a few seconds and moved over to the rest of the room.I swallowed hard. Maybe he didn't recognize me, maybe he was looking at someone else."But his friend sure did recognize you." My subconscious spoke.Fudge! I didn't swear. It just made me cringe on the inside."Not at all, Mr Drey. Just something we're about fixing." Alfred answered his earlier question. I could see a slight sheen of sweat forming on Alfred's eyebrows as he answered nervously.He had that much power in his gaze."Then we can start?" He asked."Of course, sir." Everyone else rushed to their seat. Luckily, Dara came just in time with a flash in her hand. The atmosphere eased a little as Alfred started with the presentation slides.We were making changes to the app but I had completely zoned out looking at the man in front of me.The way his lips moved as he spoke.His arms extended in front of him as he flip
During the night, I had heard Thea come in and check in on me but I didn’t turn. I was in no mood to answer any questions regarding work. Sleep came late but I was up again by 6am. Even if I was going to be fired today, there wouldn’t be any added reason to do it, I told myself.I was at my building in no time. The structure loomed over me, regarding me as insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I held my bag tightly as I walked in. I was quite early as only the receptionist was in the lobby unlike the day before. I greeted her and she smiled in return. ‘phew! Okay. One down, many to go. I’ve got this!’ I tried to assure myself. I got up to my floor. No one was there so, I got around to the business of the day, going over files from the previous week and not missing a thing. While checking out the MOD project, Jeni came in. She was my team lead and I was going to be the bigger person. So, I greeted her first.“Hi!” I smiled. She only raised her eyebrows in return and went to he
My eyes widened in surprise. Mr Drey. I hadn't seem him all week and now that I was, I was on all fours on the floor.Realising I wasn't in the best position my employer should find me, I quickly scrambled to my feet, dusting myself. "I uhm... I was looking for uhm...a flash drive fell.""That doesn't explain why you're on my floor." Oh, that floor. Wait, was I not supposed to be on this floor?"I had no idea I wasn't supposed to be here. I was told you requested a progress report." His face scrunched up in confusion."I did?" "Yeah. Jeni said - oh." Realisation dawning on me. "Nevermind." The she-devil. She had sent me on a fool's errand. "I'll be on my way now." My body itching to increase the distance between us. I hated him with every fibre of my being but I still feared him as my boss regardless. I turned around."Is this what you were looking for?"He held the flashdrive in his hands."Yes." I replied going to get it from him but he raised his hands out of my reach. The move
She hadn’t even tried to be subtle to use my idea. She used the entire presentation verbatim, only changing my name. She obviously had no shame. The finger tapping had stopped. Mr Drey’s eyes zeroed in on the screen. “What is this?” “Just something I came up with sir.” Jeni smiled nervously. As she should. The fudging liar. I hated that I could not swear without feeling uncomfortable but slowing, this girl was changing everything about me. “You came up with this?” It was hard to tell what he was thinking but I assumed there was an atom of disbelief on his face. There were murmurs all around. People whispering quietly beside me. He changed the file in his hands to the one she extended towards him and flipped through. There was a slight relaxation of his brows. That must’ve meant something good. “She did that? Wow. No wonder she’s the team lead.” Someone who was seated right next to me said. No, she didn’t. I did. Me. Mr Drey motioned for her to continue and the room quieted. Sh
My name was boldly typed across the screen on the last part of the presentation. I couldn't believe she didn’t edit that last part or cut it out. If you were going to steal from someone, then you should be wise enough not to leave your prints. Thievery101 people. Now I was in a tight position. No matter how badly she behaved towards me, I couldn’t out her like that because I was either going to get her fired or demote her. Even in the tech world, snitches also got stitches. I was still healing from Jaskey Technologies so, I decided to play dumb. It was the biggest mistake of my life. “What about it?” “What about it?” He scoffed. “Why is your name on here?” “I was trying to play a big prank on Jeni. She’d been messing a little with me all week.” “Really?” Not even believing me for a second. I nodded. Not trusting myself to say anything further. I was a terrible liar. I made the mistake of looking directly into his eyes. His deep blue eyes drew me in, making me flustered. I felt und
EPILOGUE“Kol, this doesn’t look right.” Kol pulled the Christmas tree to the left again. I could see his veins about to pop as I shook my head. We’d been at it for almost 30 minutes straight and Kol was getting tired.“A little…” He groaned as he moved the tree a little to the right. There!“Perfect.” I huffed like I was the one doing all the work. Kol collapsed on the rug for a few minutes, probably thinking of new ways to most like strangle me and then stood up.“Baby, I’m sorry.” I kneaded his shoulders, his body relaxing under my touch.“It’s fine.” I placed a kiss on his back hoping to relieve his muscles but he turned rigid instead. I didn’t stop kissing his back though.“I think you should stop. Your dad will be coming over in a few hours and I would prefer the house smelling like hot chocolate and cookies.” He spun around to face me, grabbing my jaw.“Not wild s*x.” He always had a way of leaving me w*t and speechless every d*mn time.Now I wanted the whole place to smell like
“I cannot believe you woke up late. We should’ve left hours ago.” I smacked my forehead in exasperation.“You mean 30 minutes ago.”“You’re late. It’s all that matters.”Dimitri had an amused smile on his face as he watched Charlie and I bicker in the plane. They were all late, except for Kol and me. That was pretty much a given but Charlie was the latest of them all.“Can you too stop fighting so I can enjoy my champagne?” Josh was pouring a glass for Thea who had her sunglasses on, even in the plane, seemingly unbothered about everything.Both of them had been pissing me off.“What the f*ck is going on between both of you?”“They shagged.” Charlie pipped up beside me.“Ew! I cannot believe this.” My nose wrinkled in grossness.“Pay up.” Kol stretched out his hands. I now owed him a couple hundred dollars. Thea’s brows pinched together in confusion and sudden realisation.“They bet on us.” She pointed accusingly.“Why am I not surprised?” Josh glared at us, mainly at Kol.“How much?”
“Imagine having time to take care of your family because your app helps you work out your day effectively from just keeping track of what you do per time.”“We are in the age of health and lifestyle. An app that could sync up your life with routines that have been mastered by our app would make life so easier.” Everyone was paying rapt attention as I continued to speak.“For example, Miss Tina doesn’t usually work out but she syncs her app to her health. On Monday, she works out by 9, on Tuesday, she does the same. On Wednesday, she doesn’t work out at all. Maybe something else has her preoccupied at that moment.Our app notices these routines you have skipped throughout the day and reminds you at 9 that you haven’t worked out. You’re not forgetting anything and you’re not storing unnecessary data in you brain.”“It doesn’t just work with health, it works for anything that has a routine. Something you do every time. You don’t have any activity you’re forgetting because something is re
“How?” I couldn’t process my words. It was like I had entered a new realm where the sun had been replaced with fairy lights. Concrete had been replaced with soft grass that tickled my feet. I pried open strings of steams and walked into the space before me.“Was that…” Julia Michael’s song played in the background but this song felt different than when I first heard it. It felt like a lifeline, my lifeline. The song that had pulled me out of a wandering abyss at the hospital.I’d been so caught up in the beauty of the environment that I hadn’t noticed Kol in the centre of everything, standing right there. My eyes welled up with tears and my mouth felt very dry.I walked slowly to him and stopped where he stood.“Kol, what is all this?” I gestured to everything he’d set up. His hands found mine and squeezed.I looked up at him and my heart raced within its cage. There was a new emotion in his eyes I hadn’t seen before. Contentment. He seemed content with everything, his life. Gosh, I w
“Thea, meet Charlie. Charlie, meet Thea.” I motioned to both of them as we converged outside Thea’s new place. She’d moved into Charlie’s neighbourhood and thought we should all just meet at her place since she hadn’t been properly introduced to Charlie.Both of them smiled at each other and Thea being Thea just ran off her mouth.“You’re so pretty. D*mn. If I were into girls, I would lick you up.” I threw her a disgusted look. Some thoughts were better left as thoughts. Charlie didn’t mind though as her cheeks turned rosy.“Can we please go inside?” I rolled my eyes at both of them.We joked around for a few hours and I could tell that they would be fast friends. They were so similar in nature, both beautiful, fashionable and resilient, tough nuts to crack, but would defend what they thought was right with all they had.Thea looked at her phone surreptitiously and turned it off. She’d been acting edgy all day. Was she expecting a call from someone?“What is it?” I whispered beside he
We sat inside David's study. A room with wood that looked richer than my bank account. It probably was richer. The shelf behind him held so many books that had been considered priceless or just lost to most of the world.His house looked just as elegant as it did outside on the inside. The couches smelled of expensive leather and one could smell a citrus-cinnamon scent everywhere else.We all sat in the living room just staring at one another until Gerald came in to ask for what we'd eat, his stare at me unwavering. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.We'd all echoed the same thing."No, thank you. I'm fine."When he saw no need for his services, he calmly left the room, sparing me a final glance before exiting the door.I didn't know where to start or how to David's face wasn't welcoming. He looked angry but he hadn't thrown me out yet. So, that counted for something.Instead of leading with a 'why the f*ck did you help me?', I asked something entirely different. "How long have you
I went up to the room and lay in bed, looking up at the ceiling but not noticing it.First I was shocked, then I was mad. Shortly after I was confused. Why?Kol walked on eggshells around me all night, not knowing how to handle the situation for once. I understood that there was no choice and he was the only option in that moment but why had he done it?I was under the impression that he hated me and that I should’ve died in place of his wife. He’d made that abundantly clear. If you asked me, I thought that was a very obvious opportunity for his wishes to be fulfilled.While I continued staring at the ceiling, Kol glanced at me surreptiously.“I’m sorry.” I turned my face to fully look at him.“I’m not mad at you. I would’ve done the same thing.” I would’ve. His life over any other thing. That would’ve been my choice too.“I’m just… honestly, I don’t really know how to feel.” I moved a lock of hair from his forehead and left my hand on his face, cupping his cheek.“That’s fine. If you
FIVE WEEKS LATERTori’s POV.“I swear, I’ll kill him if he tries to bring a spoon near me to feed me.” I hissed through my teeth.Thea chuckled beside me as she got the bath ready for me. I’d come back from the hospital and Kol had been treating me like I was made of glass, carrying me everywhere, spoon-feeding me, tucking me in bed.I was tired and he was slowly getting on my nerves. I’d thrown a fit when he’d demanded that I let him feed me. My arms were f*cking fine. I was fine. I still needed bed rest but I could do a few activities without groaning so loudly.“It is so weird to see Kol like this. I think it’s best if you just let him baby you. We don’t know when he’d go back to cold - no emotions Kol.” She was right but it was getting overbearing.I rolled my eyes at her.“I am serious about killing him though. He won’t go beyond holding my hands though.”“What else do you want him to do? He’s scared he might break you.” Her eyes glinted mischievously at me. I scrunched up my nos
Tori was awake. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The doctors couldn’t either.They were all shocked at her miraculous recovery. She could barely speak or move much. She still needed weeks of rest and medical care but she was awake. It was all that mattered.I watched her sleep and wake up, drink water when she was parched, cleaned her myself and then watched her some more for long hours.My phone rang, disrupting my new position as the room hawk and mother hen according to Thea who was asleep in a very uncomfortable position by the way.“How’s she?” Josh had also rushed over, dropping every other thing when he had heard she was awake but returned back to work shortly after.“She’s asleep.” He sighed deeply and then continued to talk some more about work. We were doing fine, thanks to Josh. The short period when Tori was almost lifeless, there were moments of reflection where I realised that not a lot actually mattered to me in the grand scheme of things. The grand scheme of things being sp