Quickly, a hand slammed over my mouth before the scream could escape my throat. I fought hard, still muffled-screaming. I hit the person low and hard with my elbow, eliciting a grunt from the person. My Krav maga wasn't a waste. Thea had drilled me whenever she could. I raised my elbow above my head to hit their neck since I figured they were quite tall.The person grabbed my elbow and brought me closer to their chest."Stop it." The disgruntled voice said."Kol?"I stretched my free hand to find the switch so I could see his face, but he grabbed it instead and turned me around to face him."What are you doing?" I squinted my eyes in the dark to see him. The moonlight provided what little light it could, casting a shadow over half of his face. "More like what are you doing? You could've killed me." I suddenly remembered that I'd elbowed him hard in the stomach."Oh My God. I'm so sorry." My hands flew to his shirt to check if there were bruises."Let me turn on the light to see if
"What is your problem?""Nothing is my problem. You are the problem."I sighed as I moved towards another pair that was fighting."Guys... what's going on?" I rubbed my forehead as I could feel a headache coming along."She keeps hoarding the spoons like it's hers.""And why are you hoarding the spoons?" I looked at the lady in question who had a snarl on her face."He keeps licking them anytime we mix something." Her face scrunched up in disgust.Ugh. Some boys will just be boys."That's not proper. Don't lick the spoons. They're for mixing." I hurried along, feeling like a middle school teacher after scolding the guy.After a couple of minutes of looking around, I looked at the time. It was 10 minutes to the end of the contest."Okay. You have 10 minutes left. Dot your cake i's and cross your pastries t's." Everyone gave me a deadpanned look. I shrugged. I was beyond stressed and only wanted it to be over at this point.***The design team had done fairly well and I was now on the c
Warning: Triggering Content⚠️ I tried to scream but he placed his tie into my mouth, gagging me.My hands above my head were held in a firm grip, so tight I couldn't wiggle. His thighs had had locked my lower body in place. His eyes were bloodshot and I could tell he was in some mental space other than here."Michael, please... please, let me go." My eyes said, appealing to whatever shred of humanity he had left within him at that point. I felt so helpless as tears streamed down the sides of my face."Don't worry. You'll enjoy this. I promise you."I begged and pleaded but everything fell on deaf ears. His free hand had found my shorts and pulled down the sides. I closed my eyes, silently crying as I waited for him to do whatever he wanted and just get it over with.I embraced the darkness. I probably wasn't meant for much anyway. I'd escaped into some place in my mind. Somewhere I almost never went to. I was a happy person most of the time but happiness almost never liked me. I ne
Kol was extra gentle with me as he washed my skin. My energy was spent so I had to rely on him even to the point of taking off and putting on my clothes.He carried me to his bed and lay down beside. I didn't let him leave my side as I held on to him as tightly and as closely as possible. "You scared me so much. You wouldn't wake up even throughout the night." "I'm sorry." I sniffled, wishing I hadn't inconvenienced him."You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about. It was my fault. I'll never let anything happen to you again." His voice soft against my ears. I squeezed his shirt tight wanting him to hold me against him. He understood and placed his arms around my head and I stretched my hands over his torso.The night was cold but his body provided me with more than enough warmth. He placed a kiss on my forehead as I began to drift asleep.It was a near traumatic experience and I relieved the scene in my dreams. In it, Michael completed what he'd started. I woke up with a scream
I looked closely into the bin.A bouquet of roses?Kol didn't seem like the kind of guy to buy himself flowers, most especially roses. Besides, even if it did, why would he chuck them into the bin with the wrap still on it? Quite strange."Tori?" I jumped at the sudden sound. I hadn't heard Kol get in."In here!" I yelled, walking to the bed and sitting on it. In a matter of seconds, he was with me."Hey..." His dimples popped out as he smiled. I couldn't hide my smile myself."What?" My cheeks reddened as he kept staring at me. "Nothing." but the smile on his face remained."Oh My God! Stop." I placed my hands on my face, turning away from him. He moved towards me and pried my fingers from my face."Don't even try to hide from me. You're so beautiful." I was a puddle of emotions on the inside.I was feeling things I shouldn't have felt yet. Things I didn't want to admit I felt for this man. It had to be too early. Way too early.I mean, we hadn't even gone on a date yet.His eyes f
I listened as he spoke, not moving. Only my fingers rubbed circles along his back."My mum was always high on something or drunk as f*ck. She never cared where the money came from or what her son did to get it, just that it did.""We'd gotten into a fight that night. She couldn't find money where I'd kept it and I wouldn't give her any either. She threw me out."He moved us so he was laying down and I was on top of him, my cheeks on his chest while his hands remained on my waist."That was when I met Jason. He'd been in one of the shelters set up in one of our streets and he was in a way worse off condition than I was. Naturally, we became close."I rose my head to look up at him. I wanted to see his face as he recalled events from the past. "Jason always used underhanded methods sometimes to get what we wanted. I hadn't noticed much because no one gave a f*ck about us and we just wanted to survive and Jason was doing that quite well.I had come up with an idea and we were looking for
"What?"Kol's head reeled back in shock like he hadn't expected me to say such words"Why would you... Where did you get that?"He looked at me, his brows raised in question.I only shrugged."It doesn't matter." To be honest, it didn't. All I wanted hear from him was the truth. "Of course not. I haven't been with anyone since Clara and that was a long time ago. Was that really why you avoided me all day?"My cheeks tinged with embarrassment as I realised I could've saved myself from a world of hurt and anger.I pulled the blanket over me and pretended to sleep. I was dying of embarrassment."Tori..." He chuckled beside me as he pulled me flush against his chest."You could've just asked me, you know..."I could feel the heat of his body even through the blanket, warming me up everywhere you could possibly think of.He tried to pull the blanket away from my face but I wouldn't let him."You're so cute when you're pissed off." He was getting on my nerves on purpose. I took off the bla
"You okay?"I faked a smile at Thea and nodded, my heart still running at a thunderous speed. "Yeah. Would you like some toast?"She looked at me quizzically first because we'd just eaten but a smile spread along her face. I just needed an excuse to collect myself."Of course. Make that two for me." She yelled after me.I picked up pieces of bread, buttered them up and put them in the toaster while I looked at the message again.The sender had no name, nothing.I tried calling the number but the number didn't exist.I racked my brain to figure out who could've sent me the message but absolutely no one came to mind.I figured it was a mistake and deleted the message. I picked up the toast and carried on with my activities.Thea hadn't suspected a thing and for that I was relieved. I didn't want her to be worried for absolutely no reason. "The year is ending, isn't it?"We looked up at the sky from our balcony, wrapped up in blankets."Yeah." I agreed with her. The year had started ex
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