"Get me on the phone with Ms. Clark," Ezra said as he strolled into the officer. Mary, his assistant, looked up and stumbled to her feet, slamming her knees into the edge of the table. She bent over, holding her knees as she winced in pain. She took a sharp breath, feeling it fill her lungs with air as she tried to stand up. She was not sure if her ears had heard well or if her boss was asking her to get in touch with his fiance for him. "Mr. Thatcher?" she asked, standing up to follow him. "Mary, are you going to get her on the phone or not?" he asked, taking off his coat and sliding into his chair. "If I may, sir, I would love to stay out of the drama this time," she said, moving closer to the table. She still felt scrawled by his former request and how it had ended up. Olivia Marie, who was his wife-to-be, was not pleased with her, and funny how she was the one who took all of the heat. "Are you disobeying me?" Ezra asked, holding to the edge of the table and pulling his chair
“Come on, Olivia, you can't be like this,” Ezra let out, frustrated. He was wrong, but she might be blowing it out of proportion. “Don't be like that. How else do you want me to be?” she sneered. He cleared his throat and stood up as he began pacing the entire floor. “I am sorry about how it turned out; I am just not ready to...” "Ezra, we are getting married in three months; when are you going to finally be ready to show the world that we are together?” she asked, taking a deep breath. “Olivia…”“It is Olivia-Marie and you would address me as such.” "Olivia-Marie,” he took a deep breath. He had no excuse after standing her up. She had planned this entire engagement party for them so that he could meet her friends and some other people, but he was not interested in doing that yet. “Are you still waiting? Are you still hoping?” she asked, piercing through his thoughts. “Still waiting?” he asked his mind, trying to decipher what she meant. “Are you still waiting for her? The wom
"I have been curious to know." "Mom, not now," Isla said. They were at the table ready for breakfast, Elliot and Ronan had left beforehand to get to work so they were left with only the ladies and Isla knew her mom was going to ask her sister about what happened that made her return home. Clara was glad to see her father, but she wanted to know why she was suddenly home after going without contact for three years. "I know you are curious, and I would tell you, but can I first eat this delicious rice meal?" She looked up at her mom. Clara nodded and wondered if her daughter had been starved of good meals since she left the house. "Have you not been eating well?" she asked, and her daughter smiled at her and shook her head. "Mom, I have been eating very well, so you do not need to worry." Clara made a sound at the back of her throat; it was obvious she was not impressed by the answer that her daughter had given her. "Aren't you going to eat?" Elara asked, looking up at her mother
"Mom, I am at work. Why are you calling me?" Micah said rudely over the phone to his mom. "Can't a mom call her son again? Why are you being so rude to me so early in the morning?" Cora replied."Why are you calling?" Micah asked, ignoring her questions. He knew how dramatic she could be and what she could do to him just because he ignored her call, and that was the reason he picked up. "Can Zara join us for dinner tonight?" "Mom, I don't know; why do you want her to join us for dinner?" "Since we can't meet her family, I invited your aunty and her husband so she could get familiar with the family," Cora said beaming with pride. "MOM," Micah said, almost screaming her ears off. "What is it? Why are you screaming at me?" Cora asked her own voice going up as well. "Why wouldn't I scream at you? I explained to you a million times why we have to keep this a secret from others, and yet you have gone to invite Aunty and Uncle? Why did you think this was okay without asking me first?"
"About the meeting with the prime minister," Isla began as she paced around the room. Elara dropped her phone to her body because she heard from her sister's tone that she wanted to say something important. "Is there something wrong? Are Dad and Mom not supposed to be going there?" Elara asked, sitting up and looking at her seriously. "It's not that..." Isla trailed off, making Elara panic a bit more. "Then what is it? Is the business still safe? Are Dad and Mom still safe? Do you think there might be trouble looming?" Elara knew she was supposed to be the laid-back sibling who does not worry, but somehow the incident she just faced had ignited something inside her that made her fearful, and she did not even know it."It is not that; I mean, when they are out together, should we go for dinner?" Isla said she felt a bit bad that she had made her sister go through the torture. "What?" Elara's face squeezed together as she bent her mouth to a corner and her eyebrows raised. "You want
"You sure chose a fancy place," Elara said as they walked in. "A fancy place?" Isla was not sure if her sister was being cheeky or serious. This was one of the least fancy places she was able to get because of how close to the time they were booking, and since they did not use their real identities while up and about, they could not get in like their dad or Ronan would. "Yeah, look at all the lights and decorations Oh my gosh, it's been a while since I've been at a place like this." Elara's three years out of her family home meant that she lived like a peasant, and Isla seeing it firsthand angered her the more to hate Micah. "Are you saying that when you were with Micah you did not have dates in places like this?" Isal asked."He said that dates were a waste of money." Elara began her eyes darting to the painting on the wall as she smiled at how beautiful it was before adding under her breath. "But he had the money to cheat on me at one of the fanciest restaurants in our part of to
"Ezra?" Isla raised her head to look at him, and truly he was standing there. "You see him too, right; this is in my mind." Elara leaned in and whispered to her sister, and she nodded. "Oh well," she said, almost yelling and looking up. "What are you doing here?" "I am here for dinner with my sister," she said playfully, waving the menu in hand. "What about you?" she continued. Ezra seemed uncomfortable as she shifted from one leg to another and then shook his head. "Well," he began and then stopped to clear his throat. She raised her eyebrow at him and wondered why it was so hard for him to just say that he was there for dinner. "You don't have to say it if it is that hard," she said and then smiled at him. "It's nice to see you anyway," she said, looking back down at her menu. She felt a bit fuzzy inside; why did seeing him do that to her? "It's not that I don't want to tell you; I just did not want you to hear like this." "Hear what?" Isla asked, being nosy and also because
"Ezra," Olivia-Marie nudged his side after she saw him spacing out. "Yeah?" he muttered, looking around. All the eyes of her six friends were firmly looking at him; they must have asked him a question, and the way they were looking at him indicated they needed an answer. He wondered how someone would have six closet friends and thought it was right. He wondered what their relationship was like. "Why are you spaced out so much?" one of the friends on a pixie cut asked. "He must be busy with work," Olivia-Marie responded, trying to create an impression that was the reason he was so spaced out. "Can you give us a minute?" she asked, sliding off the chair and asking him to follow her. "Don't take more than a minute," another friend yelled as they walked away. All the other girls began laughing, and Ezra knew it was an annoying joke he might never be able to get, and he was not ready to be bothered by it."Definitely," Olivia-Marie said before walking faster. She found a spot where th
Elara stared at her phone; she could not understand why Ezra had not responded. She did not want to make a big deal out of it but she had thought that with the way he was after her, he would have responded immediately. She glanced at the clock and then murmured to herself. "Elara, you are overthinking this." Somehow she could not help herself; she was even shocked that after the heartbreak she had been through just recently, she had thought of the possibility of getting into another one. Was she trying to rebound? She could not help but overthink; had she been too easy? Did she allow him to talk her into it? Was he now thinking it through? She sat on her bed and put her phone on the nightstand. Lying in the bed, she pulled the covers over her body. She had to force herself to sleep even though she knew that her mind would be raging with all kinds of thoughts; she would wish that he would end something for her even if it were some gibberish that made no sense. She lay in bed for a w
"I came here because I can't give up on you," she said. She had drunk the water he put by the bed and felt a bit better. She had been drinking every night since they met Elara at the store because she had no idea what to do. She was the master of scheming and still nothing made sense to her; she had no idea what to do."Even after I have told you countless times that we can't be together?" he asked. He could not understand how she was so hung up on her. "Ezra, you know that I cut off all ties with my family and moved out here with you." "I told you not to do any of that but you insisted. Every decision in this relationship has been taken solely by you" he interjected. He did not want to hear her make it seem as if he asked her to move out there with him and promised her a life only to then change his mind in the end. "But Ezra..." "Olivia-Marie, I gave in to everything you asked of me before now because I thought there was no chance for me but now that I know that there is a way f
Ezra struggled to get her inside and to bed because she kept acting up. She kept on speaking about wanting to get back together. Ezra knew it was impossible but with her state, how could he tell her that he had just gotten back from a date with Elara and she did not stand a chance? If she slept over there, he would tell her in the morning, and maybe they would find a way to end things in the right way and both be out of each other's hair.As soon as he stepped out of the room that he prepared for her, he met his father by the door. "Why did you bring her in here?" he asked without waiting for any pleasantries."She was drunk outside all by herself; I did not want to give her the wrong idea by driving her home," Ezra replied."Mr. Nice Guy, why would you need to drive her home?" Jacob asked, causing Ezra to stare at him in confusion. Was his father suggesting that he leave her out in the open? That would have been too wrong of him to do."Should I have let her out there?""What about c
"I had the best time today," Elara said as they stood before her car door. The driver had hurried down to help her with the door but Ezra had waved him down before he could get to them and the man understood it immediately. He stopped in his tracks and got back in the car."So you are saying that you are glad you came out this evening?" he asked and she smiled, knowing what he was trying to say. \"Thank you, Ezra." She turned to the car and tried to pull it open but his hands hovered over hers and without as much contact as necessary, she felt herself catch a breath. Her hand fell from the handle to her side as she tried to steady her breathing with her hand clutching onto itself by its side. He pulled the door open, very aware of what he had done while choosing to act as if nothing had happened.She mustered together all of the courage she had left and slid into the car quickly. She turned to him and smiled at him while murmuring a light thank you. "Thank you too," he said and then
Elara opened her eyes and she felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her. "What are you doing?" he asked again. She could hear the teasing in his voice but she did not know how she was to get herself out of this. She knew that it was all still too weird for her; she had to find a way to get comfortable around him again if they were going to do something like this. "I guess something got into my eyes," she murmured, pretending to close her eyes and rub them gently. That had to be her story; she couldn't tell him that when he leaned into her she thought he was going to kiss her and that was the reason she had her eyes closed. "Do you want me to help you?" he asked and she shook her head. "I got this." "Well, I thought that you reacted that way because I leaned in," he said and she wished he would let it go. "Of course not, I got something in my eyes." That was her story and she was sticking to it to the end, no matter what. "Well, I mean, it would be a bit awkward for you if you t
Ezra sat in front of Elara with a smile breaking from the corners of his lips; he held down his lips and wanted to scream yes to her but her finger went up in his face. "I am not saying that we are going to date; I am just saying that we should take it slow and easy and see where this goes," she said again to clarify. She would hate that he got the wrong idea.After the words had left her mouth, she wondered if she was doing the right thing. Olivia-Marie and her friends had made it clear to her that they were not going to give up on Ezra and she knew what mean girls like that meant when they said things like that. She did not want to be caught in the crossfire and still at the same time, she felt like she would be at a loss if she let him go.After eight years, she wondered what her heart would bring; she wondered if she really was able to tuck away the feelings she felt or if this was her way to get over Micah. Her mind was running rampant with questions but she pushed them all to th
"WHAT?!" Elara could not help but exclaim in shock. She could not believe that Isla had been right about the situation. She had been so sure that the woman was not pregnant and that her friend had said it to buy them time. Maybe they did not think that she would be meeting Ezra soon and that she might be asking him about it."She is infertile and can never get pregnant; if she is pregnant, then it is a miracle and it is definitely not mine," he said. From his expression, she could tell that he was being serious."Are you saying that...""I am saying that we have not had sex in a year.""You date but..." She did not know if they were supposed to be having this conversation and even more the reason she was upset to hear that before now they used to have sex. She cleared her throat and gently rubbed her throat. "I mean, I did not deserve to know all of the details.""You asked so I thought you wanted to know," he said and then shrugged."I wanted to know but not all of the details," she
DAY OF THE DATE BETWEEN EZRA AND ELARAElara was nervous; if she was being honest, she had not been on a date in a long time and it was weird for her. It felt like a time for her to reject him officially. He wanted a date to the extent that he had to involve their parents and since that was what he wanted, she gave it to him but now she was going to make sure it ended there."Thank you for coming out tonight," he said as they sat down. He had gotten to the restaurant earlier and waited for her outside so they could go in together. She did not like the idea but the restaurant he chose was not crowded so she did not express her displeasure out loud."Well, you basically forced me out so you are welcome.""I forced you out? When did I do that?""You sent your dad to my dad and voila, we are sitting here on a date when you have a fiancée." She watched the expression on his face harden and release immediately. She did not know how the evening was going to go but she knew that she had to te
"My father found out" Chole said pacing the floor of the hotel room. They always met in a hotel room, Ephiram assured her that was the best place to meet, as they would never get caught by anybody. As soon as he noticed her father leaving the house she called up Ephriam and asked that they meet. They had just left each other but they were back to each other gain."I think that is the best news I have heard all day" Ephriam beamed with joy."What?" Chole asked confused. "This is not supposed to go like this" she replied with a frown on her face."How is this supposed to go?"Ephriam asked as he shifted in the chair. "We are getting married aren't we?""Yes, of course we are," she said in a hurry because she did not want him to overthink it."Then what is the big deal of him finding out?""That is because I am sure he has gone to confront your dad and now your dad would know too.""I was planning on introducing him to you this week; remember the date I asked you to go with me? There is a