"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
"Elara is going to tell us the reason why she came back home tomorrow, so please make yourself available," Clara said as she took off her robe and slid into bed beside her husband. "Don't tell me that you pestered the girl to tell you why she came home," Ellipt murmured. He knew what his wife was capable of, but he did not want to believe that she would ever pester her. "Are you saying we should just act as if it is all okay that she disappeared from our sight and then appeared without any word?" Clara asked."Aren't you happy to see her?" "I am" "Then shouldn't you leave it at that?" "Are you saying I should just be happy to see her without asking any questions?" "That is exactly what I am saying," Elliot nodded his head, and Clara turned up her nose. She knew her husband might act like this, so why was she still surprised that he did? "You know it is not a crime to show a little bit of concern for your children and to know what is going on in their lives too." "I know what i
"Woah, everybody's at the table before me," Elara said as she got to the dining area. "What took you so long? We have been sitting and waiting for you all morning," Ronan commented as soon as she came in. "Good morning, Mr. Grumpy Pants," Elara murmured. Coming to sit down, she greeted her parents and sister before facing the empty plate before her. "I am sorry I did not get the memo that I had kept you all waiting for me," she said and shrugged. "Some of us have real work to get to..." "Like what? Saying hello to your little girlfriend?" Isla interjected, causing Ronan to throw her a death glare. If she was being honest, she did not care about his death glare. Finding a way to rile him up was part of her obligation to him. "You know that I do not like it when you say things like that," he said, picking each word with great care while also adding insane pressure on them. "I know, but it is still fun to tease you," Isla said and shrugged. Ronan opened his mouth to talk, but Clar
"What? My daughter?" Elliot asked, looking from side to side. "Yes, she claims she is a Quinn." "And that is the reason Micah is getting married to her because he thinks he would be able to climb the wealthy ladder by being with her," Isla said as the realisation of what was happening hit her. "He claims to actually love her though," Elara said. "You do not actually believe that bullshit do you?" Ronan asked. He was visibly angry. He wondered how the interaction would have gone down when his sister found out. Elara would have been too nice to even do anything to him. He must have left feeling proud of himself that he was able to ditch Elara and get with a Quinn. "What am I supposed to believe? I was with him for four years, and I believed he loved me; looking back now, maybe I was just delusional." Elara took a deep breath and shook her head. "None of this is my fault; how am I supposed to know what kind of person he is?" "Nobody is blaming you for this," Elliot said. "But Dad,
Elara could not seem to get the thought of Ezra out of her mind; she felt so warm that he had come to see her so early in the morning and he had even brought freshly squeezed orange juice and some bread. She knew that his kitchen staff would have had to wake up extra early to get it done and that meant a set of people were inconvenienced, but the thought mattered a lot to her.She had spent the day trying her best to get a painting done; she had spent almost a month here at home but still, her creativity seemed to stop at a point. She was lying on her bed scrolling through social media when a post popped out of nowhere. Suddenly she was going viral for reasons she did not know.People before had mercy on her for what Micah had done to her but now they were calling her a gold digger that did not care about her family status. She for her life, could not understand why she was being called that or addressed that way; it made no sense and she had not done anything to get treated like that
'Pregnant?" Cora stuttered as she snatched the test out of her hand, scrutinising it as if she were hellbent on finding something amiss with it. She could not kick her out now if she was truly pregnant, in truth. "How do we know this is not fake?" she followed up, turning her nose up. She planned to kick her out and get a better wife for her son. She would do whatever it took to make him richer; if she did not, then Eliana and her husband were going to mock her."We three can go to the hospital tomorrow" Zara replied. Unlike before, she seemed confident about going to the hospital for a test."You seem confident and it makes me wonder, if you were pregnant, then why did the test bring back negative earlier?" Cora asked. Micah did not want to be standing there and he wished the living room was big enough for him to slip off without getting noticed."I was going to explain that to you but it seemed like you did not want to listen to it," Zara said, shrugging as if nothing was wrong. "I
Cora had been waiting for Micah to get back; they had not told her about the test results for the pregnancy test they went to do and if the stick test had been inaccurate. He expected her son to come to tell her how it went, but for some reason, he did not, and he found a way to change the topic or escape anytime she brought it up. She had been tired of waiting, so she went to confront Zara, and it did not go well. She wondered why she thought in the first place that anything could go well with Zara."What took you so long?" Cora asked as soon as she opened the door and Micah stepped in."Is something urgent?" Micah asked. He looked more stressed these days than ever."It better be something urgent" he had learned over time that his mother was a bit dramatic about situations."Of course it is; let us talk in my room so we don't have her listening in," Cora added and began to look around."Mom, if it is not as urgent as you say, then I think...""Why on earth wouldn't it be urgent? Ever
Noelle rubbed her hand on her pants; she was glad that she had chosen a black one as opposed to the white one she was considering in the morning. It had been more than a week since she and Ronan spent the night together but her heart skipped a beat every time she saw him now. It had never been news to her that Ronan was a desirable man; even some women would regard him as sexy but she had never seen him that way. He was her boss and it would be wrong for her to do so. Now she felt her heart surge out of her chest every time he came around the corner when he spoke or when she had to walk behind or beside him. She found her mind constantly going back to him no matter how many times she tried to clean up her mind.How could spending just one night with him change her this much? It made absolutely no sense. She watched him smile at the camera, he was taking an interview and she could not tell why her palms were constantly sweating out as she watched him, this was not the first time she h
"What do you think you are doing?" Elara whispered as she stood up, almost clutching her sister's hand in desperation. She could not believe that her sister had picked up the call and was now talking with Ezra. She could not hear what he was saying but could see the expression on her face was all smiles."I will put her on right away," Isla replied. She took the phone off her ears and dropped it in her hand alongside an encouraging smile."What is it?" Elara asked as she took the phone and gently placed it on her ears."Hi, Elara. Good morning, did you sleep well? I am so sorry that I did not send a response immediately last night; something came up and when we see each other in person, I will explain it to you." His words came pouring out of his mouth at once before he stopped to take a deep breath."It is fine," Elara forced herself to say. She could not tell him that she had stayed awake for most of the night trying to fall asleep since he did not respond. She wondered if she was a
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