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Ryan settles into his seat on the six-hour flight from Orion to Pearl Coast, his mind preoccupied with thoughts of Melanie and her condition. He has been worried sick since the hospital receptionist’s cryptic message about her being hospitalized. The in-flight entertainment and snacks only did little to distract him from his concerns.As the plane takes off, Ryan feels a mix of anxiety and anticipation. He can’t wait to see Melanie and ensure she is okay. The hours tick by slowly, with Ryan periodically checking his watch and gazing out the window at the vast expanse of clouds below.Finally, the pilot's voice comes over the intercom, announcing their descent into Pearl Coast, so Ryan gathers his belongings and prepares for landing. After collecting his luggage, Ryan hails an Uber and heads straight to Chastain Park Hospital.The ride seems interminable, with his impatience growing with each passing minute but they finally get there and upon arrival, He rushes into the hospital, askin
Location: Chastain Park Hospital, Pearl, Pearl CoastThree days pass, and Caleb finally receives the green light from Melanie's doctor to begin discharge procedures. He breathes a sigh of relief because thankfully Melanie doesn’t have any complications from the surgery and they can finally leave Pearl Coast behind.As he handles the paperwork, Melanie slowly regains her strength and gets ready with the help of her nurse. The prospect of returning to Orion lifts her spirits. Melanie has no idea of what is happening in the outside world because apart from Caleb, the two nurses who know she is on the 18th floor, she has not seen anyone else.The people in the room never mentioned anything about what had been happening online to her, and neither did anybody mention to her that Ryan had come all the way from Orion to see her."Ready to go home?" Caleb asks as he assists her into a wheelchair, carefully wrapping her injured arm and smiling."More than ready." Melanie nods, her eyes shining.
Location Chastain Park Memorial Hospital, Pearl, Pearl Coast.As Ryan’s designated driver drives into the hospital’s parking lot, Ryan’s mind races with thoughts of Melanie. He hadn't seen her since Caleb blocked his visit three days ago, and even though he watched her sleep for less than 30 minutes the previous night, he didn’t count that as seeing her because he hadn't seen her since Sunday evening and now it is Thursday evening.Ryan missed his best friend so much and he couldn’t wait to see her, but frustration still simmered within him, which is eventually taken over by his concern for Melanie's well-being. He scents the jasmine that he got for her because there was a day that she mentioned that she loved Jasmine flowers so much but no man that she has ever been with had ever gotten her flowers and he smiles because he is here to make all the difference in Melanie’s life and he is also there to stay.As he enters the hospital, He quickens his pace, eager to finally see Melanie. H
Location: Inside the private jet, in transit to Blackwood, Orion Caleb receives a phone call from his mom because she is part of his favorite contacts, which in turn means that she can bypass his DND, so he picks up the honey wondering why his mom is calling him because he always does the calling and she never calls him because she knows that he is always busy. "Caleb, it's Aunt Rachel," his aunt's voice trembles on the other end, and that makes him step away from Melanie, excusing himself to take the call. "Benjamin's in trouble. He's been kidnapped." His expression changes from calm to concerned as he listens and his grip on the phone tightens. His younger brother, Benjamin, is in his early twenties and he is about to graduate from university. "What do you mean by he’s been kidnapped?" Caleb demands. "We received a ransom demand an hour ago. They're asking for $5 million in exchange for Benjamin's safe return." Rachel’s voice cracks. "Does the police know?" Caleb's eyes n
Despite getting to the plane late because he couldn’t start his on-boarding -procedures late, he is able to get settled into his seat on the flight to Orion, his excitement growing with every passing minute because he can't wait to see Melanie and his mind is filled with thoughts of Melanie’s bright smile and sparkling eyes. As the plane takes off, Ryan can feel a sense of anticipation building within him so he has to force himself to sleep so that the six-hour torture all in the name of the flight to Orion. Finally, the fight lands and Ryan quickly grabs his belongings and makes his way through the airport, books his Uber, and gives the driver the address to Kalinin's house, where he is sure that Melanie will be waiting.As the Uber driver pulls up to the house, Ryan's heart skips a beat. He leaps out of the car and rushes to the door, ringing the bell eagerly. But when the door opens, it isn't Melanie's face that greets him, it is Kalinin and on brushing past Kalinin to check the h
Ryan finishes setting up the food tray and returns to the lounge to find Mel. But she is big there, so he enters his bedroom, carrying a snack tray laden with an assortment of treats: crunchy chips, juicy grapes, creamy cheese, crackers, rich chocolate-dipped strawberries, a wide variety of mini drinks like soda and yogurt, and even ice cream.When Ryan enters, he finds Melanie lying on his bed, her eyes fixed on her phone screen. The soft glow illuminates her face, and Ryan's heart swells."Hey, what's got you entertained?" Ryan asks, setting the snack tray beside her.Melanie looks up, a hint of a smile on her lips. "Just watching TikTok…I needed a distraction.""TikTok, huh? What's the most interesting thing you've seen so far?" Ryan chuckles, sitting beside her."Oh, just some funny cat videos and dance challenges... You know, the usual." Melanie giggles, scrolling through her feed."Sounds like my kind of entertainment." Ryan grins, picking up a grape and popping it into his mout
Ryan's eyes widen, his mind racing as he excused himself to the bathroom. He locks the door, taking deep breaths to calm his racing thoughts. "One night stand on my way to Pearl Coast." Melanie's words echo in his mind and it feels like he's been punched in the gut.Ryan's feelings for Melanie swirl, mixed with a dash of betrayal and confusion. Why didn't she tell him sooner? Did she still have feelings for Caleb? He thought they were growing closer, but now he felt like he is stuck in limbo.As Ryan splashes water on his face, he struggles to reconcile his emotions. He cares deeply for Melanie, but this revelation changes everything. Was their friendship tainted by her secret? Could he ever look at her the same way?In Melanie’s defense, her phone got broken on the night of the one-night stand and the day after she got shot, so it wasn’t exactly like she kept the secret away from him intentionally, the situation and circumstances surrounding it weren’t the best and he knows that and
“I gave Kalinin my word that I would get back to her once I heard anything from you and I should have reached out to her immediately Caleb told me that you were in my house waiting for me, but I guess my abandonment issues that stemmed from my daddy issues is a thing just like Brenda said“Who is Brenda?” Melanie questions“You have never mentioned her before,” she states raising an eyebrow at him.“That is because she is not in my life anymore and she is not important so there was no reason to mention her” he mentions“What exactly happened between you two?” Melanie questions, giving him a pointed look“I see what you are doing there Mel…you are trying to make me give you all the gist that you have missed since Sunday and way before you came into my life and I promise you, I will tell you everything that you need to know but I have something else in mind for us both, just let me get my car key from my mom’s room and also say hello to her fast…okay?” he tells Melanie and she nods.Rya
Melanie’s eye widens in horror as the truth of everything that happened in the last five minutes that she got to Caleb’s house sinks in. The baby girl, Dawn is not just from any of Caleb’s one-night stands, but her flesh and blood, the child that she didn’t look at after birth because she didn’t want to get attached to, but now she is expected to just deal with it like Caleb instructed? “How could he do this to me?” Melanie’s voice trembles with rage and frustration. It just feels like she has been punched in the gut, her breath knocked out of her. “It was one of the hardest decisions of my life not to get attached to the stranger in my belly, and when I finally did, I had to just give her up because I know that giving her up is way better than having her stay with a mother that can’t cross the mountains and swim the oceans for her, but now I am expected to just…take care of her like it is no big deal?” She scoffs, her mind reeling with emotions. She had thought that she closed tha
Melanie steps into Caleb’s grand Mansion, her eyes scanning the opulent interior as a mix of nostalgia and unease washes over her. It has been a year since she last stayed in this place, and she can’t help but notice how much she missed the warmth and comfort that radiated from its walls. As she walks alongside Caleb, she pants in surprise at how natural it feels to be back here, almost as if she never left, but her reverie is short-lived. They enter the foyer and are greeted by a sea of smiling faces. The stewards, who had been like family to her during her brief stay, are all lined up, eager to welcome them back. Melanie’s eyes wide as she takes in the scene, feeling a sense of disorientation and then, her gaze lands on a tiny, chubby baby girl, dressed in a white onesie and a baby pink headband, being held by the dog, Mia’s nanny. Melanie’s heart skips a beat, and she feels a jolt of both surprise and confusion because she thought that Caleb was kidding when he said that he had
“What do I need to do to make you divorce me?” Melanie sighs before she questions Caleb because she has realized that arguing with him will not bring any positive results.“Now you are speaking the language that I want to hear,” Caleb admits with a sly smile.“…which is?” Melanie prompts.“Stay with me for a whole year, and then if you don’t fall in love with me within one year, I will let you go,” Caleb proposes, and Melanie goes wide-eyed.“Are you insane?” she questions him, and he shakes his head.“No, I am not,” He answers as if he didn’t just utter the most outrageous thing that there is to utter.“Am I a trophy that you need to secure?” she asks him while still trying to wrap her head around why he will suggest such ridiculous terms, and he shakes his head.“This cannot be a bet with Alistair like it was when you matched with me on the dating site, right?” she asks, giving him a calculated look.“How did you find that out?” Caleb inquires.“Alistair and I were in close contact
“Is this man trying to get revenge on me?” Melanie wonders after waiting for hours without hearing a word from Caleb.She silently thanks God for giving her the wisdom to convince Ryan to leave when she asked him to. No matter how understanding he might have been, sticking around her while she faces Caleb probably sets her divorce in motion. On a second note, she thinks it might be for the better because they got there around 4 p.m., and now it is 8 p.m. with no sign of Caleb.“Should I just go now, or should I keep waiting?” She silently contemplates as she looks around the reception hallway that also doubles as the waiting room of the corporation.Melanie's eyes scan the waiting room, her gaze drifting towards the passage that she feels leads to the elevator for what feels like a hundred times. She hasn’t achieved everything that she was hoping that she would achieve today, like editing the videos that she recorded earlier and posting on tiktok and her patience-wearing thing.Sudden
“Hey man, guess who just unblocked and texted me,” Alistair texts Caleb before forwarding the screenshot of Melanie's message to him. ()“Coincidentally, I just got off the call with the receptionist and apparently she is at my office with that brother of mine to see me which is not so surprising because after she ghosted me but remained in contact with Ryan” Caleb replies his best friend. “We didn't really talk about her because I could see how everything was getting to you, but you mean to tell me that she was in touch with Ryan throughout her pregnancy?” Alistair inquires and Caleb just calls him immediately “She didn't tell me that she was pregnant, but Ryan who isn't the father of her child knew that she was pregnant,” Caleb hisses. “How are you so sure that the child is yours... that if the child belongs to Ryan?” Alistair argues. “Melanie can be a lot of things, but a liar? No, she is not and she said that nothing was going on between her and Ryan,” Caleb informs Alistair.
Melanie meets Ryan at the parking lot. As they drive down to the spa, the warm morning sun shines brightly around the windshield, casting a relaxing glow over the car. Melanie, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness, chats enthusiastically with Ryan because she knows that she has missed so much in his life because of how self-absorbed and insensitive she has been, but she is determined to change that moving forward.Ryan fills her in on the details of what she needs to know, and Melanie, smiling and attentive, listens patiently as he wraps up the details of Ryan Wellington scandal with his mom and switches to discuss his plans for her to have a rejuvenating day at the spa.“You will be having a full body massage, a facial, and a hair treatment,” Ryan goes ahead to list, and Melanie just nods.“And of course, we can't forget the nails and make-up,” He adds, and Melanie tries to hide her smile because having someone like Ryan who pays so much attention to detail is not enough, she
As soon as Ryan ends the call, Melanie tries to get out of bed to put a few things together, like taking out her outfit and putting her bags together since Ruan insisted fo take her to his mom's house, but a bright idea occurs to her to do something that she has not don't in almost one year, which is to film. She even deleted her TikTok account after she left Orion because everywhere she went on TikTok, one person or another had something or the other to say about her marriage with Caleb, and there were just a whole lot of speculations going around the internet with the videos that she watched, so she just had to let the app go. This morning, she decides to get back to the routine of filming because filming is just one of those things that she genuinely enjoyed doing, but she hasn't done it in over a year. “Since I let my business go and I am trying to find myself again, what better way is there to go about it than trying to explore the things that I used to enjoy doing before to s
Melanie takes a deep breath after she rushes out of the cramped Airport toilet that she has been hiding away, smoothing out her clothes and attempting to compose herself. She is still telling from the unexpected and uncomfortable encounter with Ethan and her mind is racing with thoughts of what is to come. As she makes her way through the bustling airport, her eyes scan the signs and directories, guiding her toward the gate where her flight is departing. She quickens her pace, her heels clicking on the polished floor as she navigates through the crowds. Finally, she reaches the gate and presents her boarding pass to the attendant, who scans it and hands it back with a smile. Melanie takes a deep breath, steeling herself for the long flight ahead, and she steps onto the plane. As she walks down the aisle, Her eyes adjust to the dim lighting and she scans the rows of seats, searching for her designated spot. She booked a seat in the second-class coach, and she is determined to find a
Melanie is in her new house in Mytrle Circle where she disappeared to when she suddenly decided to go to the day she got back to Pearl Coast because after Caleb pulled up a whole lot of resources to locate Shirley for her, she could just tell that he will find her daily if she just stopped at running away from Orion. Instead of continuing with the lies, she books another flight to Myrtle Circle where she goes to meet her mother and confesses everything that has been really going on to her, including the real reason why she and Alex broke up. Her mother felt really bad because she felt like she couldn't tell her what was really going on, and she was suggested that she should stay with her during her pregnancy, instead of aborting the baby. She encouraged Melanie that they could always give up the baby after the child was born and that was exactly what she did with the child. She didn't even bother seeing the child's face, nor holding the child before giving the child away or breastf