I looked around the kitchen for what I could make for breakfast. It was a new year and I was feeling brand new as well so I opted for bacon, eggs and a hash brown skillet. I tried to be as quiet as possible as I moved around.I was about to move the skillet from the stove when I felt hands over my stomach. I screamed“That’s different from last night.” I turned around and smacked his chest. He was referring to my screams and I didn’t have to know that.“You’re such a jerk.” I placed the skillet on a platform and dropped the gloves“But I love your screams… I know they’re for me.” His eyes roamed over my body and lowered to my bare legs. I was wearing one of his shirts with nothing else underneath and it was extremely large on me.“Oh My God… just eat.” My face flushed as I could tell what thoughts were spawning in his head. I could barely walk and I didn’t think I could handle him again this morning.“What did Thea say last night? When we were about to leave…” I offered Kol water as he
I took my clothes from the laundry and folded them absent-mindedly. I was going back to work in a few hours. I should’ve been asleep but my mind had been occupied throughout the new year break. I had also avoided the subject after I had spoken with Kol.I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried that both message and flowers were linked but he had been getting them before I got the message.I’d also been sort of avoiding Kol, trying to figure out if I could tell him. If I should.I looked at the time once more, it was 11pm. I didn’t want to call Thea and disturb her. She was also trying to adjust to her new life in a new place.Now that the clothes were folded, I twiddled my thumbs, seeing if there was anything more I could do. I peered around the room. It was sparkling clean. Taking a deep breath, I fell unto my bed, back down and stared at the ceiling. The glow-in-the-dark stars Thea and I had put there were dimming.‘Oh Thea…’ My eyes pricked with tears and my mouth shook, tryi
Jason had only come to remind us of the fact that we had been backed against the wall. Even if we took the case to the court, we would have to suspend all activities on the app for as long as the case went on and Jason was intent on dragging it out as long as possible. He had also claimed to have the original file which we weren’t even sure how he got in the first place.Jason was ten steps ahead of us and it wasn’t that he wanted the app. No, he had made that very much clear. “You can never beat me. Nicholas, you never have and you never will.”My palms had itched with a burning desire to give him a twinning mark on the other side of his face. How Josh and Kol had managed to hold themselves back, I would never know. It was only Kol’s grip on me that had held me in place.I picked up everything that had been thrown across the floor. Kol and Josh had gone to ‘take care of some things’. Most likely, people were going to get fired. It amazed me that every single time, he came, he was
“What the f*ck is wrong with you? You scared me.”I placed my hand on my chest, where my heart raced, trying to calm myself. Josh doubled over in laughter as he let go of my hand.“It’s not funny.” I scowled at him, even though he could barely see my face.The lights of the parking lot turned on all of a sudden, momentarily blinding me.“Was this also your doing?”“What? The lights? Nope.”“What are you even doing here?” “Kol isn’t finished with work and I needed to hitch a ride. Then I saw you…” He shrugged. My heart raced for an entirely new and different reason. Kol was still up there, in his office.“He’s still up there?” “Yup.” Josh said, popping the ‘p’.“Once he gets like that, he doesn’t like to be disturbed.”I was worried about him. He had brushed me off earlier and now, he was pushing everyone away.“When will he leave?” Josh had no answer to my question as he bent down to pick up my stuff from the floor.“Let’s go. I’ll drive.”***I had been so preoccupied that I didn’t
I carried on with the day absentmindedly. I was still in shock even after my phone screen had shattered into pieces and I wasn’t sure there was any reviving it. When I had put my system into the dustbin and waste paper into my bag at the end of the day, Dara had given me a worried look.“Are you okay ma’am?”I looked at her wondering if she had said something to me with the way she was staring.“Hmm?”“Your laptop… it’s in the bin.”“What?” My face scrunched in confusion as I looked at where her finger pointed. My eyes widened in embarrassment. Absolutely no work had been done today. I stared at the screen endlessly and my mind wandered far. No one came to mind as I wondered who it could be. It was that bad. I had been told that I was abandoned as a child without so much as a note. While growing up, no one had come for me either so, I was thoroughly convinced I had literally no one.“You should go home. We’ll finish up here.” I nodded at her and gave her a hug.Dara had become someon
Kol and stayed the night with me and left quite early in the morning, before I had woken up. We had both agreed to go the coming Saturday when both of us would be free.I had taken the bus this morning because my car was still at work. I walked to the parking lot to pick up some things from my car when I saw a crowd gathered at the parking lot, the noise almost loud enough for me to pick up their murmuring.‘It’s 9 in the morning. What the h*ll is going on?’ I thought to myself. I made my way to the crowd when I saw they had gathered just in front of my car. “Ugh. That stinks!”“Do you know the owner of the car?”“Not really. I think it’s most likely someone who just joined us. Maybe a few weeks.”“I definitely know who owns this car. You can tell from the quite ugly model and terrible smell.” I knew that nasally annoying voice and would recognise it even in my grave.There was a pungent smell that permeated the air. I gagged from the smell as I noticed people also had their noses in
“How about you move to my place?”“I can’t.”“Why not?”My lips pursed as I tried to find a reason not to move into Kol’s place. We had been bickering back and forth for the past hour about what he termed ‘protection’. Kol had gone back to the office after I had slept off at the hospital to check the security cameras but there was nothing. It had been destroyed by the perp and there was nothing left to salvage. Even the hours before my car had been trashed showed nothing.So, Kol thought it best for me to move to his place. I wasn’t sure why I didn’t agree with him.“Okay. How about this?”I looked at him from behind his work desk as he perched his hands on the table.“You stay at your place during the week and stay with me on the weekends.”I bit my lip as I thought about it.“Or… I could come stay at your place. Whichever makes you comfortable.”I was fine either way but I said nothing and looked at him. This wasn’t even a conversation for the office and it was already Friday.“Fine
Kol’s eyes widened in shock. His hands and jaw went slack at the same time. Kol was always on his guard and to see him fumble for words amused me. I took advantage of his momentary shock and ran up the stairs, my heart pounding from what I’d said. I didn’t think I had it in me. My nerves frayed for an entirely different reason, a mixture of fear and excitement. I’d challenged him and he was going to retaliate. I knew that much about him. I heard the door slam shut behind me and my body jerked at the sound. I didn’t turn around, afraid of what I’d see if I did. My lips formed a smile as I felt Kol inch closer to me.“You know…” He was so close to me that I felt his breath on my ear.WARNING: MATURE CONTENT ⚠️ “I don’t get surprised easily but you definitely knocked my socks off.” His hand pushed my hair away from my neck and pulled on it not too gently, stretching my head to the back. His free hand trailed the skin under my shirt that had ridden up from stretching.I arched my back
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