I stirred awake when I felt a hand on my cheek.I groggily opened my eyes. "How are you feeling?" I swatted Kol's hands away from my face."I need sleep." "It's 12pm." My eyes snapped fully awake. "I slept the whole night and half the day? And you let me!"He pulled back, unsure of exactly how I was feeling. "Was I supposed to wake you? You seemed so peaceful and I didn't want to disturb that."I paused. I hadn't slept that well in a while and honestly, it was because of him. I fell back on the bed and looked at the ceiling and then at him, with a smile on my face.His eyebrows rose in confusion, probably wondering how I had managed to go through many emotions in the space of seconds. "What?""Thank you." His eyes twinkled with mirth."Why?""Because..." There was no exact reason I could pinpoint. I just knew I wanted to thank him.When he realised I wasn't going to say anything else than stare at him, he stood up from his crouched position beside me."Well... I have something t
“Hello”“Is this Vicky?” My eyes snapped to the phone Kol had collected.‘Vicky?’ My brows rose at the nickname and the feminine voice.I collected the phone from Kol.“Hi… Yeah. It is. Who’s this?”The lady on the other end cleared her throat.“It’s Charlie. Your sister.” My heart rose in my throat.“My sister?” I swallowed hard as I looked at Kol. The phone was on speaker and he had heard everything I had.“Yeah. I uh… I got your contact… actually, can we meet and talk?” I looked at Kol who nodded at me.“Uhm… Yeah. I would love that.”“Great. I’ll text you the time and location. It’s so lovely to hear your voice.” I could hear the smile in her voice. My eyes watered as I thought about the fact that I had a sister. I wasn’t sure if she was older or younger. Just that I had one and wouldn’t mind either.“Okay.” I whispered, finding it hard to speak at a higher decibel. The call ended and I saved her contact immediately.“Charlie…” The name fell from my lips as I tried to picture a f
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREEMy fork hovered mid-air as I narrowed my eyes at the figure before me.‘What on earth was he doing here?’ I thought to myself.No one replied him but we had the same thoughts going through our heads.What did he want now?Josh’s teeth gritted against one another as his stare hardened. I looked to the side and was shocked to see a smirk on his face. It was the first time I’d seen an actual emotion displayed on his face whenever Jason was around.One could tell it caught Jason off guard. Jason’s eyes squinted they continued their stare off. When Kol didn’t back down, his ticked off eyes wandered to us, trying to see if he could figure what Kol was thinking. We were just as perplexed.“Let’s go.” Kol wiped his mouth and stood up, leaving Jason at the table. My mouth dropped open as I looked at Kol, then at Josh who had his brows raised and then back at Jason who was about to pop some veins.“What was that?” I said as I followed after Kol.“What she said.” Josh was just
Kol hadn't said a word since the incident in the morning. It was barely even an incident. Kol was just being… well, Kol.I’d gotten compliments at work too so, Kol’s behaviour in the morning skipped my mind. I looked up the amusement part Charlie had wanted us to meet in. It was quite crowded on weekends. I would’ve loved a much more secluded place like a restaurant or something but she had initiated the contact and reached out to me. The least I could do was be there.“What are you looking at?” I looked up at Dara who had appeared beside me with my knowing.“Oh, nothing. Just looking through some places.”“Have you done what I asked?” I changed the topic quickly to avoid further questioning. Although, of late, Dara had gotten more out-spoken and it was good. She smiled more and talked more.“Yeah but the cyber team won’t release the file we are to work on. Something along the lines of ‘Geneva is not done yet and the boss hasn’t approved it.’” My face formed a scowl at the mention of
“Put me down.”“No.”“I said put me down.”“Fine.”Kol placed me gently on his bed and walked backwards, putting enough space between us. I could finally breath clean air again and not his drowning scent.I wanted to fold my arms against my chest in petulance but I remembered what had happened earlier and bristled on the inside. Kol rolled his eyes at me and took off his jacket angrily. His jaw worked with tension and I was appalled at the fact that he seemed pissed. He was pissed.“How on earth are you mad at me? I’m the one in pain here.”“How? You’ve been giving me an attitude all day. You wouldn’t look at me, not at work, not at the hospital and not right now.”“I am looking at you.” He bent down and grabbed my jaw. Subconsciously, my face turned away from him.“See what I’m talking about?” He released his hold and stood, taking off the rest of his clothes. I looked away to avoid seeing things that would disorient my mind. I knew I was acting childish when I lay down on the bed an
The blaring of an alarm woke me up. I opened my eyes, disoriented. Kol was up and out of bed in a flash. What on earth was going on? I rubbed my eyes to rid it of the gunk in them. I stood up as gently as I could and followed after Kol who was running down the stairs. By the time I got to him, I was out of breath and he was perched on his chair behind his array of screens.“Kol, what is going on?” I looked at the time on his screen. It was past 2am.“Someone tried to force their way in.” My face leached its colour.“What?” Kol looked intently at the screen as he tried to figure out who the intruder was. I didn’t think he had security in place for his home. I mean, it made sense but I thought that was left for his other workspace.“After the flower incident, I upped security around the house but to think someone had the guts to actually come into my home…” Kol fingers continued to work at a furious pace until a face popped up. No, not a face. A body, clad from head to toe. They definit
I slammed the door of the car as I settled into the passenger seat. Kol looked at me apprehensively as he waited for me to speak.“I’m a twin.” Kol’s eyes grew wide as saucers.“Charlie is your twin sister?” I nodded at him.It was too much information to process at once. After the shell-shocking news, we couldn’t really get past it and we’d decided it was more than enough information for now. We had hugged and said goodbye.I knew nothing about her and about myself but it felt like I still knew too much. I’d been waiting to find out the gender of my sibling. I did. Then, I wondered if I was younger or older. It turned out we were the same age. Just minutes apart. I’d had the wrong birthday all this while.We were July born and my original name was Charlotte Rivers.“Wow.” I sunk into my seat trying to process a different life as Charlotte Rivers. I couldn’t. It seemed like a world far away. Too far away yet so close.“Let’s just go.”***“Did you say Rivers?” Kol spun around to look
“Yeah, it has worsened lately. I think it’s my fault though. I’ve been avoiding my glasses a lot and it makes me strain my eyes.” I rubbed my itchy eyes once more but I stopped when the doctor sent me a look that would have had a child crying.“Do things get blurry at all?”“Yeah. I can’t see too far of a few feet in front of me.”The doctor gave me a new prescription. At this point, I could be considered blind because the lenses were so thick they could pass for flat mugs.I put on the glasses and I felt a little better. The swelling of my hand had gone down and I was back to work.I’d taken enough sick leaves to last me a year and I was tired of Kol treating me like I was made of glass. Charlie and I had also spoken over the phone in the last couple of days and it turned out, she was a doctor. Could she be any more perfect? She’d finished school early and with awards to her name. It was quite easy to find a placement in one of the top hospitals in the country.To be fair, she didn’t
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