Following Melanie’s suggestion from the previous night, Ryan eventually opened up to Melanie about everything that has been going on in his life since they last spoke at the resort two months ago and had a misunderstanding. He tried to walk her through his complicated emotions because he finally realized that he couldn’t just assume that she was going to treat him any better if she didn’t point her in that direction. Ryan struggled to articulate how hurt he felt by how she always treated him like he didn’t matter in her life when in his mind she was the center of everything, but she still got the memo that being there for somebody who acts like they don’t care about your feelings is exhausting as hell. She apologized to Ryan and promised to do better, but before they continued their conversation, Melanie tidied up all the papers and disposable plates that were used to other the food, before they both relocated to Karen’s bed so that they could be more comfortable. Ryan was genuinel
The suite Alistair eventually suggested they use was the top floor of the hotel, called the Royal Oasis, and on getting there now and seeing the breathtaking view of the city’s skyline, Melanie couldn’t have agreed more. There is a spacious, open-plan design with a sprawling living area, a separate dining space, a luxurious bathroom, and an en-suite bathroom. Melanie quickly scrutinizes the place, because she has not been here to check it before, but she took Alistair's words saying the place is magical for it, and the place is truly magical. The walls are adorned with rich velvety fabrics in shades of emerald green and navy blue, plush colored cream carpets with intricate designs and subtle sheen. The elegant floor-to-ceiling curtains in sheer white billowing gently in the breeze. There is also a lavish chandelier and scones, casting a warm golden glow throughout the suite and vibrant contemporary artwork and sculptures add a pop of color and visual interest. There is a fully sto
Location: on the last floor of The Beats Club“I will send you an address when I decide on a place for us to meet up and talk, just don't keep me waiting” Melanie sends to him and he tries to call her almost immediately be a use he can't help but feel that something is off from the way she is talking, but the call bounces back. He tries to call her again, but the call tells him that the person he just spoke to is busy and he starts to wonder who she can be busy talking to that she can't suspend the call to pick up his own. “Fin… get back to me as possible so that we can talk things out because I can't help but feel that something is off with you and you have been avoiding me since we came back from the resort, but I have tried to give you grace and also your space but I guess 2 months should be enough space for you” he sends to her, but she doesn't read the message, talk more of reply it Caleb clears out his table in one sweep, before hitting the table out of frustration while Ali
Caleb navigates the winding road from the suburb of his mom's house to the main road, he wonders if he is doing the right thing by running to Melanie as if he is at her beck and call, but he really likes her, and he will rather hear what she has to say asap than delay it unnecessarily. The thought of texting Alistair and telling him the situation on the ground crosses his mind, but he decides against the thought of it because he didn't inform his best friend when he just decided to leave Blackwood City for Oak Land, so why now? At the start of the journey, different questions are just busy running through Caleb's mind, but instead of him to dwell on them, he decides to double his speed since there are barely cars on the Oakland to Blackwood Expressway, compressing a journey of about two hours into 1 hour 30 minutes. On getting to Black Wood, Caleb goes back to Melanie's chat window to confirm the address of where they shall be meeting up, but on seeing the familiar address, his bro
“I got this for you Dad,” the little boy says, confirming the fact that he wasn't mincing words when he called Caleb Dad the first time. “Do you like the Suprise that your son and I put together for you?” a stylish lady in her late twenties, whom Melanie recognizes as Sophia Thompson steps closer to ask Caleb.While most of the guests are not surprised because they are well aware of Aidens existence, Melanie is beyond surprised because Caleb has never mistakenly told her about his existence before but instead of just running away from the party like she would have done on normal grounds, she waits for Caleb where she is standing because she wants an excuse of explanation as to why he never mentioned it to her before. “As you all can see, our celebrant is not party-ready, so I will be borrowing him very quickly so that he can change into something that is much more appropriate,” Alistair announces as he goes to wear Caleb is standing to drag him out of the party. Caleb expects Mel
As Melanie takes fast-paced steps out of the library, she starts to dial Ryan's number, while praying that he won't be asleep so that he will be able to pick up the call, but he doesn't pick up on the first two rings. The third time as she is about to give up, but decides to dial his number for one last time, he finally picks up the phone. “Hey,” Ryan answers half asleep. “I know this is late, but can you come get me?” Melanie pleads as her voice starts to shake on relieving everything that has happened to her that night and the sound of her voice makes Ryan sit up, alarmed. “Where exactly are you?” Ryan asks worried. “I am still at the hostel, but I think I am going to find a place to hide myself till you come because I don't want to talk to Caleb or become a bigger laughing stock than I already am,” Melanie informs him, and he gets out of bed ASAP, picking up his car key and dashing out of his room. “Just find a place to stay while you wait for me, I will be there as fast as I
“I need to downstairs to figure out the current situation, then I will come back here to meet you okay?” Ryan says as he pulls away from Melanie's hug. “Can't we just stay here till everything quiets down, and in the next one or two hours, we should be able to leave,” Melanie argues. “No, we can’t” Ryan refuses. “I need to know what exactly is going on to be able to judge what will happen to us if we decide to stay within the forewalls of this hotel, so just take a chill pill and stay here, I will be back in no time” Ryan insists and he starts to walk away from Melanie, instead of listening to what she has to say in protest. Ryan, on the other hand, goes downstairs and by the time he gets there, the situation downstairs is much quieter, so he walks up to the receptionist to pick up a room for himself and Melanie, but the receptionists are looking at him and whispering to themselves in a weird way that was getting underneath his skin, but he just dismisses it as he overthinking ev
After just nodding to allow peace to rain, Ryan finds a place for himself on the sofa to sit and relax while Melanie just stays rooted on a spot on the bed reliving the events that happened over the past five minutes and then she shakes her head, but it just makes Rysn feel bad for adding to her stress, so he gets up from where he is to speak to her v‘Hey,” Ryan lets out, his voice dropping to a whisper. “ I don't want to talk to you right now, so just leave me alone” Melanie insists but Ryan just pulls her into a warm hug. “I'm sorry Mel” Ryan apologizes. “For losing my temper with you, for just dumping everything on you without trying to find out what you are going through, I am deeply sorry” he apologizes again. “I was just scared to lose you forever Mel, but that is no excuse for the way I spoke,” he apologizes again, and a tear just slips down Melanie's cheek. “I have heard you, but still think that it is totally unacceptable to shove feelings that I have no idea about down
“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