"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 five 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 five 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 t
"Why are you coming back alone?" the girl with the pixie cut asked as Olivia-Marie approached the table. "Yeah, something urgent came up so he couldn't stay longer." Olivia-Marie lied as she slid back into her chair. "Did you guys make out at the back?" another girl asked, pointing to the direction she was coming from. "What are you saying?" Olivia-Marie pretended to blush as if something had really happened. She could not let these girls know that she and Ezra's relationship was rocky and not what they thought. At first, they always thought that she was making him up since there was never any evidence. No pictures, no gifts, no physical boyfriend to show, and now that he had shown up, they were a bit convinced, even though some of them still had doubts about it. Olivia-Marie had always wanted to prove she would be the first to get married in their crew, so it would not be unlikely that she was staging the whole thing. "I thought he would stay a bit and maybe pick up the tab," t
"Sooo...""Isla, can you please not talk about Ezra?" Elara said that because she knew that was what her sister was about to bring up. "Oh my gosh!" Isla exclaimed as if something surprising had happened. "How did you know what I wanted to talk about?" "Because before we left the restaurant, you have been itching to talk about it." "But still, how do you know what I was about to talk about?" Isla asked, still shocked at her sister's skills. "The same way you were able to know that that one out of those girls at the table was getting married." Elara closed her eyes and rested her head, and the car went slowly over the express. Elliot's one rule for all of his drivers was driving within the minimum speed. "I just don't understand it," Isla said as if she were talking to herself when in reality she just wanted to know why her sister and Ezra broke up. They were the perfect high school couple. The school they went to was only for the rich and wealthy, so when Ezra confessed to Elar
Ezra walked into his room with his tie that was always perfect but was now scattered on his neck and his hair disbelieved. He was holding his suit jacket in hand and looked like he had been drinking even though a drop of alcohol had not dropped on his tongue in weeks. He threw the jacket in hand to the bed and sat on it slowly. He had been searching for years, and yet Elara had not turned up. Why was she turning up just a few months before his wedding? When he saw her, all the emotions he had when she broke up with him eight years ago came rushing back. Elara was the first woman he had looked at and liked, and it had stayed that way. When he finally worked up the courage to ask her out, it was a relief that she felt the same way. They were kids according to their parents, but he thought it would stay the same way forever until the day after graduation."I waited a day after graduation to do this," she murmured as they sat in the garden of her house. "And I said we should do this ou
Elara fell to the bed. She stared at the ceiling, and all of the stars she put there when she was young had fallen out except for one that still stood in the middle. She stood up and switched off the light so the glow from the sticker could fill the room.She fell back as she stared at the sticker. "I guess one star isn't enough to glow," she whispered to herself. As she closed her eyes, the image of Ezra filled her mind, and no matter how she tried to refocus her attention on something else, all of her efforts were wasted.She had thought she had forgotten him; she thought he was in her past; she thought she had moved on and was in love with Micah. It made her really begin to question all she knew: did I really love Micah, or was he a way for me to forget the lingering pain that leaving Ezra had caused?She remembered, crying her eyes out, after telling him that she wanted to break up. Her heart was wrenching into tiny pieces, but she still believed that she had done the right thing.
"Dad, Mom," Zara said as she walked into the house. Sarah glanced at the clock and shook her head. She wanted to reprimand her daughter, but it was too late at night for them to begin to throw words back and forth at each other. If her daughter was out working and not partying, then she would not have a hard time allowing her to come back to the house at this time. "Where is Dad?" Zara asked, looking around the dim living room. Sarah was catching up on her favourite shows. "He is in the room," Sarah replied gently. She had wanted to ignore her daughter, so she did not feel the need to talk to her. "I will get him; can you please turn that off?" "What?""Can you turn off the television?" Zara asked as if she were the mother. "And why should I do that?" Sarah asked."Can't you act like a mother for once?" Carlos asked, coming into view. "Like a mother? And what is that supposed to mean?" Sarah asked, whipping her head in the direction of her husband. "If she is asking you to turn
"I have not yet introduced anyone to him yet, but I told him that I was a Quinn." "A Quinn?" Sarah asked confused. The name struck a bell in her mind, but she could not quite put her hand on it yet. She shook her head as it all came to her. "A Quinn? Your dad's boss?" she asked, her voice going up. "They have a daughter who has been missing for years now, and no one knows what she looks like." "And why would you do something like this?" Sarah asked."I am sure she has a plan, so maybe you let her...""A plan? What kind of plan do you think it can be? There is no justification for this madness," Sarah said, standing up as she began to pace around. "She lied; she is a Quinn to Amy, a rich man, I suppose. What then would happen after the wedding when he finds out that you aren't who you say you are?" Sarah could not believe that her husband. If she was not her daughter, she would have sworn that she put some kind of black magic on her husband to make him act the way he was. He would
"But Dad...""Don't you dare say anything." Elliot was fuming. He could not imagine that, after all his daughter had gone through, she still thought it would be a good idea for them to let Micah go. "If you are kind, be wise about it.""Dad, it was a mistake, and I am sure that spending a night in the cell must have taught him a little about life," she replied.Elliot frowned and turned to his wife. He had tried his best, but it seemed like his daughter was not getting anything he was saying. Maybe if Clara tried to explain, she would understand it better."How do you know he has learnt?" Clara asked, and Elara opened her mouth to speak, but her mom raised her hand to stop her. "You do not know that; all you know is what kind of evil person he is. A person who thinks about drugging you—who knows what he can do if he is set loose? It is obvious that he is trying to get something, and do you think he is going to stop just because we locked him up for a day?" Clara hoped her words would
Cora could not bail out her son all morning after telling him that Zara had served him divorce papers and that it was the best for him to sign them. He listened to his mother because he also thought it was an opportunity for him to escape her; after all, he thought getting a divorce from her was his salvation. His mom assured him that she had a good plan that was going to get him out of there before the end of the day, and he needed to trust her because that was the only way he would stay sane.After a few hours, the officer came to see him and told him that the Quinn family had requested that he be moved to the headquarters, as that is where the case would be handled, so now he had to be moved in a police van back to the city."What is your plan?" Micah asked his mom. She looked at him and shook his head. Moving him from a small station like this to a big one meant that she could do nothing. Now that the Quinn family had taken over, they would do all in their power to make sure that
"What do you mean, your fault?" Ezra was thrown back by her words. She was the victim, and yet she was acting like everything that had happened happened because of her. "What do you mean?" he asked, taking her hand into his gently and rubbing it softly. "None of this is because of you," he added when her body shook from the soulful tears streaming down her face.He walked down from the car and went to her side of it, opening the door and turning her to him. He hugged her before murmuring silently that all was okay to her. He did not know how he was supposed to comfort her. After minutes of sobbing, she finally calmed down, and Ezra drove out of the place, taking her home.As soon as he was there, he was greeted by Clara, who was busy in the living room. "Ezra?" she said when she saw him walk in with her daughter. "Elara? Aren't you coming back tomorrow morning?" she looked from each of them, confused. Ezra carefully let Elara sit beside him before proceeding to explain the situation t
Micah had never thought that this was going to escalate as much as it did with him sitting in the police station. The police have asked him to call his family and tell them that he would be spending the night in the station. Elara was still stunned as she couldn't believe what would have happened to her if Mia had not intervened. She wondered why she had trusted that he would be clean enough for her to get a drink from him. He had never shown signs of this before."Officers, I can tell you that this was a mistake.""We would know if it was a mistake or not once we analyse the content of the drink," the officer said. His voice pulled Elara out of the thoughts she had been lost in."Ms., you can go, and we will be sure to call you as soon as we get the results. You must be in shock now, so I advise you to go to rest, and I am sure you are glad that you had not sipped out of it," the man said. Elara looked into the distance as she nodded to everything he said. She was hearing him, but sh
"Don't drink that!" Mia yelled as she stopped in front of Elara.Elara lowered the glass as she blinked and turned to Mia, waiting for her to catch her breath. Mia stood up straight and turned to Micah with a frown on her face. "I saw him slide some powder into that drink," she announced, causing everyone who was standing around to gasp loudly."What powder? What do you mean by that?" Micah stuttered. He thought he had been careful, but how could he think that the teenager was watching him do that?"I saw you do that," Mia replied with her foot down. "What was the powder you put in?" she asked, crossing her hands over her body and giving Micah the side eye."Why on earth would I put powder into it?" he asked, turning so he could face the girl well. He knew that he had been caught already, and his mind was spinning with excuses on how he was supposed to get out of that situation unscathed. This could land him in a police cell."Micah?" Elara's voice was shaky as she spoke. She knew tha
Micah stood stunned as he watched Elara walk away; he thought that he had gotten a stroke of luck when Elara had shown up there even though he did not plan for it. His management specialist had told him that if he could manage to secure a contract with Mrs. Red Farms, then he would have nothing to worry about and he thought that it must be a good idea, so he came up there, and when he saw Elara, he thought that the universe was on his side. When he left the house early that morning, he was angry that his life had turned out this way; he kept on regretting leaving Elatra, knowing that he would have been the Quinn family son-in-law by now. He took out his phone angrily and dialled his mom's number because he could not think of anything else to do. It took her a while before she could get the phone."What took you so long to get the phone?" he screamed as soon as the call connected."Why are you so rude in the morning? I was beside the stove..." She trailed off as she waited for him to
"Elara? What are you doing here?" Micah asked, standing up and turning to her. Elara wanted to scream because she could not believe the day she was having. What were the chances that she would run into him here?"That is none of your business.""Then I guess I can not answer your question either," he said playfully as if they were friends. "But I guess it is nice to see someone familiar here.""Do you know him?" Mia whispered in her ear, and Elara nodded, turning to the girl with a tight-lipped smile."My ex-boyfriend, who cheated on me," she wanted to make it clear to everyone at the table that they were not close and she had no idea why Micah thought it would be a good idea for him to act as if all had always been well between them. Everyone at the table shifted uncomfortably. They all knew that it was going to be tough for them to get through to each other with the growing tension between both parties."Are you still hung up on that?" he asked as if she was exaggerating."Huhscoffe
"I think I like you," the old woman said with a chuckle, causing Elara to smile and think that this might not be as bad as she would have thought."I don't think you should smile yet," Mia whispered into her ears, causing the smile on her face to drop a notch. She looked at the girl, and Mia shrugged."So what are you here for?" Elara wondered why Mia had told her not to smile. Things seemed to be going well; at least Red was being comfortable with her. She took out a file that her father had handed her after dinner last night and tried to hand it over to the woman. Red looked down at it and smiled."I am an old woman; do you think I would be able to read all of the numbers you've conjured up here?" Red? asked Elara as her head lifted slowly. Elara cleared her throat. She had gone over the report, but she did not think that she would have to give a presentation, so she was not prepared for that."You did not prepare, did you?" Red asked and let out a mocking laugh. Elara swallowed the
Ezra had kept to his word and was outside the house very early the next morning. Elara felt touched by his actions. "You look too worried about this," Ezra said as he opened the door for her to get into the car. Elara waited for him to get into the car. "I am worried," she murmured."There is absolutely nothing to worry about. You've got this. She tried her best to believe what he said, but the doubt kept on plaguing her mind throughout the ride. Elara got off the car ride with Ezra; he promised to be back by the next day to pick her up. She nodded as the car drove down to the farm was silent, but she was able to gather enough courage by clinging dangerously to his hands as if his life depended on it. She walked into the farm, and from there she got confused on what to do. "Why on earth did everyone think I was capable of doing something like this?" She murmured as she stood in place. She walked into the farm not knowing where she was headed; she only planned to stop when she ca