“Why didn't you speak to me before putting me on that dating site?” she demands an answer from Kalinin
“We did not want to hurt you,” Kalinin answers. “…But you need to begin living again.” She proclaims unapologetically. “Mom doesn't know about the state you are in and I know that you will be alright...it is just a matter of time.” She sounds like she is trying to console Melanie but she is threatening her with this statement. “It is not as simple as you make it sound,” Melanie complains. “Well sure…but we just want to get you out of your shell, we can cut it out eventually if that is what you want.” Kalinin is quick to assure. “I feel like you are trying to rush me into things.” Melanie sobs. “I thought leaving Alex would help but now I am lost.” she completely breaks down. “Why can't you just allow me to figure shit out on my own?” Melanie complains again. “We thought moving you away from all the reminders would help make it easier for you, but we are still so concerned,” Kalinin explains, “I am fine, Kal” Melanie lies, but Kalinin shakes her head. “No, Mel…I am your twin sister and I can tell when something is up.” Kalinin continues, “If you keep behaving in this manner, I will have no choice but to involve Mom.” Kalinin forces Melanie. “Mom never even acknowledged my engagement to Alex and I am sure that She will say that she knows it would never last if she finds out I ended with him.” Melanie protests “I know, and that is why we put you on heartily. me,” Kalinin argues. “But If you don't explore the dating site, I will be left with no choice but to tell Mom and get her involved,” Kalinin says, waving her phone in front of Melanie emphasizing her point. “Is this a joke?” Melanie asks, bewildered. "Of course not, " comes Kalinin's despair-laden reply. “I admit that I have not been moving on easily, but you and your husband are abusing the ‘get over it’ phrase like it's like turning off a light switch…” Melanie argues. “Do you think it is that simple for me to build my life outside of the man that I built a life with for a total of five years?” she scoffs. “I was supposed to marry this man in the next few months” Melanie screams. “I am reminded of Alex in everything I do and I cannot let go,” Melanie‘s voice calms down and explains with a trembling voice. “I understand that it is a bitter pill to swallow sis”, offers Kalinin as she pauses. “But you can't allow the past to consume you…You must keep walking and Martins and I want to help you get over him, but it's been two weeks and you're still stuck.”Kalinin lets out, frustrated. “If only it were that simple, Kalinin…” Melanie says, her voice weighed down. “I feel grounded in my history, so I am taking some time before I start dating, so why couldn't you mention the dating site to me instead of going behind my back to sign me up?” Melanie asks as her eyes well up with tears again and her voice pressing she says. “We did not wish to cause you hurt.” Kalinin clarifies. “What if I don't want to date? Shouldn't I be looking after myself for a while?” After they embrace for a few minutes, Melanie whispers. “Sure, but Martins and I want to encourage you to put yourself out there” she tries to convince her. “If you don´t like it, we can just stop It, but we should at least try.” she urges her. “You are forcing me into this,” Melanie weeps from the bottom of her heart. “I was sure that ending my relationship with Alex was the right thing to do, but now I feel lost. I fear that I can never love again.” Melanie breaks down but Kalinin lightly pets her, telling her that she will be fine. "Give me a chance, to have some time to figure my life out…Please,” pleads. “Martins and I have given you two weeks since the breakup, hoping you’d find the will to live again and that was one of the reasons why we suggested that you should come to Orion for a change of scenery, but you look way worse than we imagined and we’re worried about your mental state,” Kalinin explains. “There’s no reason to worry about me, Kal... I’m fine,” Melanie insists. “No, you’re not,” Kalinin counters firmly. “But I am,” Melanie argues. “I’m your twin sister, and I know when you’re not okay,” Kalinin emphasizes. “Martins and I are doctors, and we see patients every day, so there is no way you can expect us to leave you alone at home.” she tries to reason with her sister. “If things don’t change, I will really involve Mom and that is not a threat” she warns, making Melanie shift uncomfortably in her seat. “You know Mom never supported my relationship with Alex,” Melanie says, hoping Kalinin will understand. “If she finds out that I broke up with him, she’ll just say she told me so and that is the last thing I want to hear right now,” Melanie says firmly. “I expected you to say that, and that is why Martins and I signed you up on heartily.me” Kalinin replies. “If you refuse to explore the site, I’ll have no choice but to really involve Mom.” Kalinin flashes her phone in front of Melanie, whose face pales. “Here are the login details.” Standing up from the bed, Kalinin’s expression softens but remains firm. “You have five minutes to decide if you’re going to take this chance. If I don’t see you logged in, I’ll tell Mom you’re struggling after the breakup.” she corners Melanie “You know she’ll believe me, especially since you haven’t been here in four years.” Kalinin’s voice lowers, “If you don’t fill in your profile in five minutes, I’ll assume you’re not ready to move on, and I know that’s not true. You just need a little push.” Kalinin says and with that, she leaves the room, the door clicking shut behind her, punctuating the ultimatum. Alone with the login details and a ticking clock, Melanie feels her heart race as conflict surges within her.“Hey Meelah, hope you’re doing well. It's Alex’s uncle, Ethan.” the text reads. “I know that this might seem unexpected, but I've been thinking about you lately and I wanted to reach out,” he continues. “you’re an incredible person, and I always thought you deserved better than my nephew so, would you love to grab a coffee and catch up sometime?” Melanie’s eyes widen as she reads the message from Alex’s uncle. She couldn’t believe he would reach out to her like that. Although Ethan Sinclair’s message seems friendly and casual, but Melanie can't help but feel that it sounds slightly flirtatious. Melanie feels a mix of emotions: surprise, discomfort, and a hint of fear and even though Ethan is being respectful by acknowledging the past relationship but he is also showing interest in getting to know Melanie, she doesn’t know how to respond or even if she wants to. Trying to shake off the uneasy feeling, Melanie decides to focus on something else. She suddenly remembers the datin
“Okay, sure. What time and where?” she asks him after pondering for a while, her heart racing with anticipation because agreeing to meet up with someone that she just started talking to is way out of character for her. “10 pm at ‘The Beat’ club. I’ll leave your name at the door,” Caleb replies. Melanie nods to herself, even though she knows that he can’t see her but she is feeling a thrill of excitement at the prospect of meeting Caleb later in the day so she quickly gets up from her bed and rushes to Kalinin’s matrimonial room with excitement radiating from her face. “Kali, Kali! You won’t believe what just happened!” Melanie exclaims, barely containing her enthusiasm and forgetting to acknowledge Kali’s husband’s presence. “I will just excuse myself,” Martins takes the initiative and excuses him from the room without making the situation awkward. “What’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Kalinin looks up from her book curious “I matched with someone on the sit
Melanie crosses Kalinin's gates and draws a long, steady breath. Exhilaration combined with a hint of fear permeates the air. Melanie has only visited here very once since Kalinin relocated with Marcus four years ago but she is resolved to find out where the night will carry her, but the thought of how to navigate her way in this unfamiliar city at night makes her anxious and resolute at the same time. As she leaps into the Uber her sister booked, she gives the driver the club address that Kalinin helped her copy out and she relaxes into the car. Enthralled by the city’s sight, Melanie watches out the window on the trip. Though overwhelming, the pulsating street activity and the brilliant neon lights are thrilling. The thrill of adventure beats her heart, a nice break from her nervousness about the upcoming meeting. When she gets to "The Beats," the club is large and before her, its door is decorated with powerful lettering suggesting an evening to remember. Melanie pays the driv
After leaving Caleb's office, Melanie pulls out her phone and opens the Uber app that Kalinin downloaded and helped her set up earlier. She requests a ride, selecting the "Home" destination saved on her profile by her twin sister. Melanie stands outside the office building, taking a deep breath of the evening air. She watches as the Uber driver's estimated arrival time count down on her screen. The driver arrives promptly in a sleek black Honda Civic. Melanie hops into the backseat, exchanging pleasantries with Amir. "Hi, how's your evening?" he asks. "It's been...interesting," Melanie replies, still processing the events at Caleb's office. As the driver navigates through the city’s streets, Melanie gazes out of the window. Lost in thought, she replays Caleb's behavior, Alistar's intervention, and her feelings. "We're here," the driver announces as he pulls up to Kalinin's Estate complex. Melanie thanks him and steps out of the car. She takes a deep breath, feeling relieved to
Melanie wakes up the next morning after a good night's sleep, relaxed. She yawns, reaches for her phone, and stretches. "What should I be doing right now?" Not set any quick trips for the day, she ponders “Rise and shine, sleepy head…it's time for our morning prayer” Kalinin charges her into the chamber. “I am up,” Melanie replies as she hangs her legs over the side of the bed, dressed comfortably. “You have such good morals” Kalinin teases First thing in the morning, they pray together in the living room. Soft music floats around as they claim their regular spots, and as they pray Melanie finds peace. After prayer, Martins takes Kionna to their room to help get started on her morning routine while he leaves Melanie and Kalinin in the living room. “Sweetheart…” Kalinin chimes and Melanie shoots her a suspicious look. “What do you need from me” Melanie goes straight into questioning her because she can tell that her sister wants something from her with the way she is actin
“Hey there, small friend." The man says hello to Kionna who is clinging to Melanie's thigh like her life depends on it. The man chuckles and Melanie beams, her cheeks slightly pink. Melanie didn’t get his name, but she felt the fleeting, dazzling link as they drove apart. Melanie and Kionna had nowhere to sit in the packed restaurant but then her eyes strayed to the table across, where the man she just ran into sat. He seems to be a brilliant, successful man with remarkable confidence and sensitivity in his late 20s. Melanies mind rapidly deduces from their similar eye color that the woman he is sitting with is either his mother or his sugar mommy. The man catches her staring at him and he smiles gently but Melanie's face stays blank. Her eyes narrow slightly and she turns back to Kionna, discounting the man from her attention. An empty spot finally opens up and the man looks across where Melanie and Kionna are standing. Realizing that he won’t be able to forgive himself if
Driven by the vibes that he got from Melanie during their date, Caleb hatches plans to ask Melanie out again as soon as Emma and Alistair leave his office but when Alistair notices how distracted Caleb is, he tells Emma to stop briefing Caleb about the preparations for the next morning’s meeting and that she should come with him to his office because he has something else that he needs her to help him with, just so that he won’t call Caleb out in front of his assistant for being so distracted.Caleb is delighted as Emma and Alistair step out of his office and he fishes out his phone to text his latest catch but when she doesn't reply within one hour, he double-texts her. No reply comes forth after he waits for another 30 minutes, and that makes him groan in frustration. "Did I misread the outcome of the date to think that she is really into me when she is not?" he wonders.Caleb falls into his office chair with fatigue written all over his face. He had hoped that his date with Melan
Melanie pauses to look directly at Ryan because she is also really happy that they ran into each other but she is not ready to own up to it, majorly because she is not willing to put her mind to the possibility of them sharing a potential friendship or relationship, then she will now find out that he is somebody like Caleb. "Ryan, I will see you around." She tells him as she carries Kionna down from his car but her sleeping beauty wakes up, gets down from her hands, and starts walking towards the door. "Definitely." Ryan nods and hands her Kionna’s belongings, before taking his card from his breast pocket and handing it over to her. “Call me if you want us to be friends” he leaves her with the choice before entering his car and zooming off.As Ryan leaves, Melanie finds it difficult to let go of the notion that their spontaneous meeting could signal the start of something special but at the same time she doesn’t want to block his chances before he has the opportunity to prove himse
“Is it just me? Or does it really feel like Aiden is struggling to decide if he wants to like me or not?” Melanie points out after Aiden walks away from the table and Caleb shoots her a strange look. “What is there to decide? You either like someone or you don’t like them, there shouldn’t be any in between,” Caleb points out but Melanie shakes her head because she doesn’t agree with him. “So what is there to plan now? Are we keeping him or a we letting him go back to his mom where he truly belongs? Melanie asks and Caleb pauses to think. “You really want him here, don’t you?” She paints out and he shakes his head. “I honestly don't know,” Caleb answers her. “If you don’t know if you want him in your life or not, why can’t you just settle without a fight?” Melanie asks him. “Settling without a fight is way too easy for her, and I am guessing that she must be expecting that, but when my lawyers are done gathering the evidence of how poorly she raised him,” Caleb informs “ You thi
Melanie and Caleb retire to bed fulfilled that night and in Melanie’s point of view, she can feel closer to her daughter more than she felt before, and In Caleb’s point of view, his perspective about Melanie not being able to stand him starts to change because he saw her genuinely laugh and smile, the type of smile that reaches her eyes and he felt really content because who could have thought that Dawn's death will make Melanie to stop running away from him as a person but laying herself down as a living sacrifice. Melanie and Caleb’s grief journey continued throughout that week, with at least one highlight of the day. On the first day, they started by creating a memory garden, where they planted trees and flowers that held special meaning to them. The next day, they decided to take a cooking class together, they learned how to make different baby foods that Caleb learned after he found out about her, but she didn’t even stick around to try. On the third day, wrote letters to the
Melanie, Tony, Olivia, and Alistair return to Caleb's mansion to join Caleb because the day is far spent, but Melanie hasn’t been able to do so much out of the list of activities that she has set out for the memorial. As they pull into the drive way, the day has been emotionally draining, but she tried her best not to let it weigh her down, while she did everything with a smile on her face, so that nobody will be worried about her mental health, and with Alistair, Olivia and Tony, she had a lot of fun while trying to face her grief like a big girl.As they step out of the car, Melanie's eyes land on Caleb, who is standing by the entrance of the house, and she rushes to hug him because she didn’t realize how much she missed him and wanted him back. A warm smile appears on his face as he sees her full fit, and Melanie can’t help but feel a flutter in her chest as she takes in the sight of him.“Hey,” Caleb says as she approaches him before Olivia and Tony step out of the car to also gre
After Melanie ends the call with Kalinin and Ryan, she makes her way out of Caleb’s inhouse office and she heads straight to his room where she realizes that the room looks and feels different to what she is used to, but she isn’t able to pace it till she sees the note on the bed.“Good morning sunshine, you mentioned that you wanted your thinks moved out of your room, so I supervised them moving your things from your room to mine… once again, I am sorry for speaking to you the way I did yesterday,” Caleb apologizes again and she walks into his walk-in closet to see that a space has been created for her in the room.She exits the walk-in closet for the bathroom and she realizes that all the toiletries on her own side of the bathroom are composed of the toiletries that she was into when she was staying with him, just that everything is brand new.“I have no idea the products that you used now, but these were the ones that were in your bathroom, so I just asked him to have new ones sent
The next morning, Melanie slowly opens her eyes, groggily taking in her surroundings. She is still in Caleb’s office, sitting in his chair, but as she looks down, she notices her body is covered with a soft, plush blanket.“Could it have been one of the stewards that needed to clean up?” she mutters, feeling a sense of surprise and wonder, trying to recall how the blanket got there because she didn’t remember covering herself before she went to sleep, and she is certain that she didn’t bring a blanket with her to the office the previous night.As she lifts the blanket, she sees that it is one of Caleb’s because it has his distinct monogram, embodied on the corner. A faint smile crosses her lips as she realizes that Caleb must have covered her with the blanket while she was asleep, and her eyes scan the room, searching for any signs of Caleb, but he is nowhere to be found. She wonders if he went back to his room to sleep or left for the important meeting that he mentioned the previous
“Can I be brutally honest with you?” Melanie speaks up after a while, and Caleb raises sb eyebrow at her, curious about what she has to say. “I have no idea about what the hell I am doing and I don't think I have ever lost anyone close to me to be able to grieve properly…in short the closest thing that I have lost was my puppy” Melanie informs him. “Do you want to go upstairs to get the full gist?” Melanie asks him and he considers for a moment.“Not exactly,” He answers her“I have an important meeting at work tomorrow and I really need to get some sleep,” Caleb excuses.“Can't Alistair stand in for you at the meeting, as usual? Or doesn’t he know that you lost your daughter?” Melanie asks him multiple questions.“I haven’t told anybody on my side, not even my mom … so no, he doesn’t know and even if he does, there is no way he can stand in for me because the only thing he has been used to doing over the years is running the night club with me, so I left him to take care of the nig
As Melanie steps out of the hospital ward, she is met with the bright hospital light that seems to mock her somber mood, and she squints her eyes, scanning the area to see if Caleb eventually changed his mind and decided to take one last look at his daughter, till her eyes land on Ryan who is relaxing on the wall, waiting for her.Ryan’s face is etched in concern as he watches Melanie approach him. He can see the pain and grief, written all over her face, and his heart goes out to her as he envelopes her in a warm hug.“Hey babes, I’m so sorry about Dawn…I can only imagine how you must be feeling,” Ryan says, his voice soft and gentle.“Funny enough, I was imagining what it was going to look or feel like to be one of those mothers who found anything that their children did to be cute, but now I just feel so lost,” Melanie scoffs, her eyes welling up with tears that she blinks back.“I’m here for you, Mel…what can I do to help?”Ryan nods sympathetically and Melanie takes a deep breath.
“Is it just me, or did the doctor just leave here?” Melanie questions Caleb after staring into space for a while, but he doesn't give her an answer, he is just standing there trying to process the news of his daughter's death. It is not until Kalinin steps out of the ward, her face etched in sadness as she envelops her in a hug that Melanie recalls the previous 5 minutes.Kalinin was with the doctors in Dawn's ward while they tried to save her, she has just witnessed the devastating loss of the young child, and her heart goes out to the grieving parents. As she walked past Caleb to give Melanie that is standing in the hallway a hug, she could see the anguish and despair written on his face. As Kalinin hugs Melanie, she doesn’t say a word or do as much as move, her eyes are just dating back and forth, trying to process everything. Kalinin tightens her arms around Melanie, holding her close as she starts to do so uncontrollably. “I am really sorry sister…I had no idea that she was a
The drive to the hospital was a tense and uncomfortable one, with Caleb and Ryan barely exchanging a word. The air is thick with animosity, and the silence between them is palpable. Caleb is still fuming from their earlier conversation, and even though Ryan agreed for him to drive his car, it doesn’t make Caleb feel any better, judging from the way he gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles white with tension. Ryan seated beside him, stared out of the window, his eyes fixed on the passing scenery because he thought that it would make things less awkward, but as they drove, the only sound was the hum of the engine and the occasional beep of the car horn. The tension between them was so thick that it seemed to have a life of its own. Despite their mutual dislike for each other, they both knew that they had to put their differences aside for the sake of Dawn. They drove in silence, each listening in their thoughts, as they navigated the bustling streets. As they approached