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,
"What are you doing here?" Ezra raised his head to see Olivia-Marie walking into the office. "Did you get my message or did you not get my message?" She asked, standing in front of him and folding her hands angrily against her chest. She was ready to go to war against him if the need be. "And didn't I respond to the message?" He retorted."You did, and I did not like the response, so I came here to get the right one." "I told you that I do not want to see you in my office, yet you never listen; you have come here multiple times," he murmured, getting out of his chair. At that moment, he was regretting ever giving in to her advances. When she had been going after him in the university, he should have retained his stance and never given in to him. How was he going to escape her now? After seeing Elara, the need to escape him even grew stronger than he could explain. His roommates had been the ones who advised him that the fastest way to get over a person was by using another one. H
"I just got a call from the gate, and they say that Ezra Thatcher is here to see you." "Ezra?" Elara's head whipped as she heard his name; she had spent the entire morning looking up at the ceiling as she tried to make sense of her mother's plan."Is there? What for? Why would he come here? To see me? Why would he come here to see me?" Her eyes glanced at the clock on the wall. It was too early in the morning for him to be there. Her father and brother had only left for work about an hour ago; why would he be there?"I have no answers to the multitude of questions you have just hurled at me. All I know is that I just got a call from the gate, and they say that Ezra is here to see you, and they could not call you by themselves since they do not have your contact information," Isla explained. She was busy scrolling through social media when she got a call from the gate; she knew that she was right about the way Ezra looked at her sister that day. He was still definitely still in love
"You are here to apologize to me?" Elara repeated her words back to her in a question form. "Why? Is Micah not good to you? Do you want to return him back because he is not exactly what you saw on the outside?" the questions left her mouth faster than her mind could comprehend.She did not intend to be mean and even though she was grateful for her breaking them off she could not help but still feel a little hurt. As at the time it happened she did not know that it was going to be a favour for her so her feelings at that time were valid. "Elara...""Oh does my life that looked so rosy from the outside not look as good as it did anymore? Is Micah unbearable? And his mom? Do you not like her anymore? Just because she does not want you around?" Elara wondered where she was getting all of the words from and how easily she was able to articulate herself to him."I mean most times poeple's life look like a dream when you are looking at it from the outside, once you are in it you get to know
Elara wondered why on earh Zara would come see her other, she had thought that after she made sure they got together that she had nothing to do with them anymore but unfortunately they seemed to keep showing up around her. She sighed as she sat on one of the couches in the middle of the room. She kept wondering what she could be there to say and if she was supposed to be kind to her.Somehow she was grateful to Zara, if she had not swooped in and taken Micah from her she would have been a hundred percent convinced that the man loved her and she would have stayed with him. With his attitude and that of his mom she would have been out of that house sooner or later. It was obvious that she had been saved from a bullet bt she was even more grateful to her because it had helped her connect back with Ezra after all this while and everything in her life seemed to be taking shape.She gulped and faced the door when the door opened, her assistant stepped into the room with Zara following close
"Its the weekend; want to go on a date?" Ezra asked Elara over the phone."Yes, but where are we going?" She responded without thinking twice about it. They were still in a private relationship and it was not yet time for them to tell the world. They were yet to tell their families so who could they get caught in public?"My place?""Isn't your father back?""We can tell him I offered to help you review some files," he suggested."Ezra Thatcher," she said, laughing. "When did you become such a good liar?""A liar?" he scoffed as if he were offended. "You can bring some files with you and we can speed up time together and I can help you" he said, sounding so proud of himself for being able to come up with such a solution."This sounds like a bad plan, and we wouldn't be doing it," she replied."I have another plan," he said in a hurry."Okay, then what is?""I'll show up at your house and announce to your parents that we are dating; that way we do not need to sneak about and can have a
"What is bad? What is very bad?" Ronan murmured. He was about to speak when she began talking. "This" she pointed between them shaking her head. "This is wrong on all levels and should not be happening between us" " Huh?!" He was confused. He did not think anything had happened between them to make her react like that. "I work for you, you are my boss. This is wrong" "What is wrong?" "You know what I am talking about" she said and he shook his head. The room fell silent with his eyes going from left to right on the tablet in hand. He finished and looked up at her with a dazzling smile that can make the heart beat crazily fast or even stop breathing all together. "Want to go for dinner tonight?" "Yes..." She trailed off as she realized what was happening. She had said yes without thinking about it. "No sir, I meant no. I do not want to go to dinner" she began the words pouring out at once. "Are you sure?" She did not know if the expression on his face meant that he was t
Noelle stood in front of Ronan's door. The memories of everything that happened yesterday flooded her mind. She spent the entire night tossing and turning and when her alarm went off this morning she was very close to calling in sick. The thought quickly left her mind when the possibility of him showing up in her neighborhood to check on her taunted her. She did not need Felix to see him there, she knew he was always watching her somehow and Ronan showing up at her doorstep was not good news for them both. She was glad that his office and hers was away from public eyes or else everyone would have wondered why she had spent over ten minutes contemplating whether to go in or not. She rubbed her hand on her skirt and raised it ready to knock. The door flew open before she could knock. Her hand hung in the air as she cleared her throat looking from side to side. She never knocked once and now she was about to knock. He looked at her with furrowed eyebrows and then turned on his heels.
Sarah did not know how she was supposed to react to the news; was she supposed to be happy for her daughter? Was this supposed to be a thing of joy? She searched her face but Zara kept a straight face. She wanted to know what her mother was thinking before she told her that she was excited for the child."Aren't you going to say anything?" Zara asked when she did not say anything. She feared that her mother thought she had made a mistake by actually getting pregnant."I don't know what I am supposed to say," Sarah confessed. "I mean, it is a good thing that you are pregnant if you want to but I thought your husband and his mother would not like something like that." Sarah paused and shook her head. "Are you happy? Do you want the baby?" she asked.Zara pressed her lips together and nodded. She had not thought about it before but now that she was thinking about it, she was sure that she wanted to keep that baby no matter what the Swansons said."Okay then, I guess I am happy for you but
Zara lay in bed staring at the ceiling; her mind flashed back to when she had gone to her parent's house and what had happened. Her father blamed her for his misfortune, even though he had been the one cheering her on when she wanted to get into this marriage. Somehow he was convinced that his marriage to Micah was going to be their ticket out of poverty; the only problem was that Zara did not pick a good target and that was the reason he was upset. After the fiasco at the wedding, he quietly dropped his resignation letter on Elliot's desk and left without a word. He said he had too much pride to still stay there after all that had happened."Pride is for those that have money to survive," Sarah had screamed in his face when he told her."I knew you would react this way; that was the reason I processed the resignation before telling you," he said smugly."How then do you intend to survive?" Sarah asked him. "Are you going to get a new job?" she asked and he shook his head. Sarah reali
"You do not need to take me home; I can go by myself." Noelle stopped and turned to him; she smiled faintly as she wondered how she was going to get any sleep. Everything that happened today happened so fast that she had been barely able to comprehend any of it. Ronan confessed to her in the morning and then again in the evening in front of his family. She was not sure if his family would accept her as they did; after all, everything was easier said than done but still, they seemed to be warm towards her all night."Wait up!" Clara called after them. They both stopped and turned to the woman speed-walking toward them. She stopped and turned to Noelle with a smile on her face. "I know that we seem far away because we are rich," she began air-quoting the word rich with an eye roll. "But we are normal people and one thing I want for all my children is for them to settle down with someone who loves them as much as they love them. I am not saying this to put any pressure whatsoever on you;
The entire table went silent as they heard what Ronan had just said. If they had been eating, particles of food and water would have been flying across the table. They all had stunned expressions on their faces, including Noelle, who sat there upright and unable to move.Elliot was the first to recover. He cleared his throat, looking from Ronan to the girl. "Why are you asking us? Shouldn't you ask the woman you want to date?" "I want to ask her, but she has so many excuses as to why we can't be together," Ronan replied, smacking his lips together. "Then what can we do to change her mind? Giving you our blessings does not make her want to date you," Clara said. "It's her choice, and if she says no, then no it is." "But yet no one has answered my question," Ronan replied. "If she agrees, would you two agree as well?" "Bringing her here and asking us this kind of question right in front of her is a bit..." Clara trailed off for lack of better words. "You know that we have never disap