Kol? No one I knew called Kol by that name except they were close to him and I'd never seen her before. So, who on earth was she? My eyes narrowed at her, willing her to explain further. When she didn't, I asked myself."In case you aren't aware, this is a work retreat for designers, not a vacation." "I'm aware." She rolled her eyes at me and my hands itched to grace her face."Kol said we could join.""We? Who's we?" I asked her but Dara cut in before she could reply."Ma'am, what's going on?" Dara asked, confusion also evident on her face.I looked backwards when I realised commotion had risen behind me.I squinted my eyes and saw that the crowd had doubled. "I also have no idea but I... wait!"I stopped talking when I saw Kol. I would've been happy to see him if I hadn't been so pissed at the situation. I marched straight to him."What the h*ll is going on?" I said low enough for only him to hear even though the crowd was almost deafening. People were clamouring, asking for clar
"Miss Victoria, are you okay?" Dara who was beside me spoke to my still body, snapping me out of shock.I looked to her and nodded.I looked up at Michael and Amelia, hand-in-hand. They looked genuinely happy together. I wasn't going to ruin it by being bitter. The past was the past."Hi... What are you guys doing here?"I spoke to no one in particular. Asides both of them, I recognised other faces from my previous work place and few others I couldn't. Were they also here for a retreat."Oh... I thought Michael already told you we were getting married. Well, we booked a hall here." Amelia said, as chirpy as ever. My eyes narrowed unintentionally. She was okay with Michael telling me they were getting married? Did I dream up the events of our trio or I was actually going crazy?I forced a smile on my face."Oh, really? That's lovely. You made a really good choice." I hoped they wouldn't catch the double entendre.She hugged Michael's hand closer to her chest and smiled that lovey-dovey
His eyes hardened at my statement. I looked away from his peering eyes."What do you mean?""This isn't appropriate for a work environment. People will talk." I said, all of a sudden finding the brown carpet in the room interesting. Completely sidelining my earlier thoughts."You think I give a rat's ass about what other people think?" He grabbed my jaw to look directly into my eyes. There was a softness in them that I wasn't expecting and I found it hard to believe most times that someone practically hewn from granite had the ability to look soft sometimes. "Is this about them?" My eyes closed in pain as I moved back from his body and sat on my bed, bath-robed and all. I pondered for a long time if I should tell him.I felt all kinds of things when I was with him, I also trusted him so, why did it feel like I was standing in naked in front of him, instead of dressed in a robe?I was laying bare my insecurities before this man that I harboured insanely deep feelings for, of course I
By the time I woke around 5am, the space beside me was empty.I took a quick shower so I could start the day as early as possible. When I got out of the room fully prepared, I noticed Zach sneaking back to his room.I acted like I didn't see him, Kol had done the same in the earlier hours of the morning. 'We will have to talk about this later.' I said to myself.By 8, I had woken everybody up including Kol and his team. I had told one of his cyber colleagues to wake him, very carefully avoiding Geneva.The design guys were wondering why we were more than we were on the beach. The resort was built quite close to a beach so, it looked very close to an island with surrounding trees and cool morning breeze. There were also mountains a little far back of the resort making the area suitable for mountaineering.""Since the cyber team has decided to join us, I spent the early hours of this morning trying to fix our itinerary up to accommodate them." Everyone groaned in response, sizing up
My hands played with eachother as I tried to make it seem like I was desperate to have him with me."I don't want to be alone." I blurted out. I cringed inwardly at not finding a better lie. "Are you sure?" Was I sure that I wanted to be alone with him, in a room, naked?I nodded my head nervously. My teeth had found my lip and I chewed on, hoping he'd stop staring at me like I'd grown 3 heads.He took of his shirt without warning and I squeaked, quickly turning around."A warning would be fine, next time." My eyes had shut close even though he was behind me. I heard a shuffle of feet and knew he'd taken of his shorts.What had I gotten my self into? My heart had gotten to new heights of palpitation. It would be a shock if it didn't burst out running. My hands turned clammy from the new heat I was experiencing. I knew I shouldn't but I was very tempted to peek a look. For a very short while, I turned my face only to meet his directly on me. Like he'd been waiting for me to look at h
All day, I couldn't keep the smile off my face, even though we'd climbed up a mountain for one of our activities on the retreat itinerary and everyone groaned with tiredness. "How much farther do we have t... why is Miss Victoria smiling?" One of my team members had said, finding it extremely strange, and for good reason, that i was smiling even though we were a drenched with sweat and aching in places we didn’t think aches could exist in. "I have no idea." Kol brushed past me, turning me red in the face. He knew d*mn well why I was smiling.I scowled at him but he smirked in return, a promise of something dangerous in his eyes.The sun had started to go down and the air had turned very cold so, we settled in a cozy cabin at the foot of the mountain. Originally, we would've had a camp fire but it had started to snow so, we resorted to staying in the cabin.There was provision for warmth in the structure and even though it was a cabin, it was large enough to contain all of us thoug
There was a collective groan in the audience as many picked up their mugs to sip from.I knew if I took a sip, my team mates would ask who it was but I also knew if I didn't, I'd be lying about my feelings. 'Well, technically, Kol isn't my work mate. He is my boss' I reasoned to myself and stayed my hands.I noticed Dara drank from her cup beside me. I nudged her in the shoulders, a big smile on my face."Who?" I whispered, unable to contain myself. I hadn't noticed her pay attention to anyone. She barely looked people in the eye.She adjusted her glasses but said nothing. I nudged her again, this time earning a smile from her."His name is Kayden." She whispered back. Her eyes lit up at the sound of his name."Kayden?" I wondered."I don't know any Kayden.""He's not here actually." My lips formed an 'o' at the sudden thought that he might not know."Well, does he know?"She nodded her. I almost yelped. I had no idea why I was so happy for her, but I was."You've got to introduce me
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
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