“Oh, my goodness, this has to be the best Suprise ever” Kalinin gushes. “Nobody told me that you were coming,” she says to Melanie, still trying to her sister and examining her because Caleb sent her a picture of what she looks like after she got out of surgery, connected to all those machines, and even do she is a doctor that daily, seeing her sister like that just broke her, and she turns Melanie around to get a good look at her sister while being careful with her right hand, “Babes…” allow them to come inside instead of making them wait outside for long” Martins calls out to Kalinin and she becomes self-aware. “My apologies, please come in” she apologizes. “I will get Mel's stuff down from the car and I will be on my way…I have things to prepare in advance” he tries to escape having to go inside so that he won’t be tempted. “That can wait...Melanie’s celebratory dinner can't wait” Martins says as he joins them outside. “Celebratory dinner?” Kalinin asks “Are we celebr
“Everybody, meet Olivia… the social media manager that the photographer recommended for me” Kali introduces Olivia to everybody officially and she curtsies, making Kiki laugh.“I am the blide” She uses a TikTok sound to introduce herself and the people who got the joke like Mel and Kali laugh out loud while Ryan and Martins are left wondering what is funny.“Let's get down to business,” Olivia says as she starts dragging the content creation tools that she brought with her, so Ryan and Matins swoop in to help.“Take everything to Melanie’s room, and I will go pick up Kiki’s outfit,” she tells him as she starts to walk towards their room. “The boss has spoken,” Martins says as he urges Ryan to get up and he does. They pick up the box that contains the softbox, tripod, different sizes/types of light, with makeup folders and they start making their way to Melanie’s room.“Martin, I have a question for you,” Ryan asks once the ladies are out of earshot.“Shoot,” Martin says as he struggl
Location: No 123, Cedarwoods estate "Caleb, I need to go," Melanie said, her mind already made up. "But why? We just got here. I thought we could spend some time together," he pleaded. "I need to see Ryan. It's urgent," she replied, her tone firm. "Can't it wait?” he asked, trying to convince her. We didn’t get to spend much time together in Pearl Coast," he explained. “We didn’t go to Perl Coast to spend time together, we went there to find Shirley,” she said as a matter of fact, but Caleb’s face was a mixture of shock and utter disappointment. "You helped me find Shirley and I appreciate it but I really have to go now," she said, cutting the conversation short. “If you don’t want to drop me at his house, I can Uber there,” she said and that got him angry the more. “This issue is not even that deep, I will just drop you off since that is what you want” Caleb just had to offer to drop her off because even though he was angry, he couldn’t bear the thought of allowing her to
Caleb did not think of picking Alistair up before, but on getting to the junction of their office, he just thinks about it and calls Alistair to join him with a few bodyguards from Iron Clad Security Solutions (ISS), Alistair's father’s company, and he waits for about thirty minutes for them to get to him. After waiting for them for 30 minutes, It takes about five minutes for everybody to put themselves together, and throughout the time they try to organize themselves, but the kidnapper keeps on calling consistently but stops after a while. When they are like 15 minutes into the journey, the unknown caller who called Caleb’s mom and informed her about the kidnapping keeps on disturbing Alistair with calls, urging him to send the money otherwise they are going to torture Benjamin to the point of making him unrecognizable. “Collect the account number and Make the wire transfer,” Caleb gives Alistair instructions but there is a faint squeal in the background of the distorted voice a
“Who orchestrated the plan?” Caleb asks just and he points his finger at Ben and his three friends. “The two jolly best friends planned it and that was why Ben took 50% of the money, Trent took 30% and their lapdogs shared 30% among themselves” he answers. “So they didn't give you anything?” Caleb asks to be double-sure “ You can confirm from your dear brother, I am a Christian, and lying is not something that I will do,” Justin says. “But being a kleptomania is accepted by Jesus right?” Trent asks and he suddenly goes cold “I have a class so I need to go now,” Justin says as he leaves the room without carrying a single book. Even though Caleb doesn't understand everything that is going on, he can see the power dynamics going on in the room and why his brother and his friends consider Justin as less of a human. “In case you haven't read in-between the lines, you are deferring this semester and by implication, you are going to have an extra year,” Caleb declares Alista
“Have you forgiven me?” Ben speaks up, asking his brother “What do you think?” Caleb asks him. “Just to be sure, we are not going to black wood again?” Ben inquires “Of course we are…” Caleb answers. “I need to deliver you to your mother in one piece’ so we will go after your test tomorrow,” Caleb says. “So are you still going to Blackwood today or not?” he asks “We will all go together after your test…or was the test an excuse?” Caleb asks “The text is not an excuse” Benjamin answers him. “What about my punishment?” he asks “Have you waved it” he inquires. “Never!” Caleb insists. “I may have forgiven you, but the bargain that I and Alistair adds was that the other punishments get to stay but I take out you deferring the semester” Caleb states “ I don't that I am not in a position to talk but can you just review my punishments? Even if it is a tiny tiny bit, I will die if you freeze my card, withdraw my car, and make me stay off campus then mom will know what I did”
“Do you think we should invite her to dinner tonight?” Caleb asks after a while and Alistair shakes his head “No please” Alistair disagrees. “So how will now arrange a hook-up section with someone that you hooked up with too many years ago that you want her to hook up with your best friend ?” Caleb asks because it doesn't just make any sense to him “Now that you put it that way, it does sound really bad but I will do it if that is what it will take for me to hear it stop hyping the second with Melanie that I feel is mid asf” Alistair expresses “Do you want to go for a threesome to prove that it is not mid?” Caleb asks him and his face scrunches up in disgust “Ewwww Caleb you such a disgusting pig he says shooting Caleb a bombastic side-eye. “I am your brother so why will you suggest such a thing to me” Alistair says, refusing to get over it. “Calm down idiot...you said that the sex with the woman of my dreams was mid and I just wanted to get back at you.” Caleb clari
“She is on her way now,” Alisiar sends Caleb a text. "Shall I join you to talk to her for a while so that you can establish a sort of connection?" Alistair asks “No, I've got this." Caleb shakes his head. “Just take the other room, Venita is likely to stay till day break” Caleb tells Alist-air and he agrees with him. "Good luck." Alistair smiles knowingly. Five minutes later, Alistait texts Caleb to come down because Venita is waiting at the lobby and as Caleb enters the lobby, scanning the area until his eyes lands on Venita. She is sat on a plush couch, sipping a cocktail, her curves accentuated by a fitted red dress and Caleb's pulse quickens as he approaches her. "Venita," he says, his deep voice drawing her attention and her eyes lock onto his, a sultry smile spreading across her face. "Caleb," she purred, setting her drink aside. He sits beside her, his proximity igniting a spark of attraction. "You look stunning," Caleb compliments, his gaze roving over her. "T
“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