Location: Silver Oaks Resorts, Maple Ridge, OrionSaturday morning.Melanie and Ryan wake up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated on their second morning. They both link up in front of Mel’s room and converge at the villa's patio. As they enjoy a leisurely breakfast, they can't help but reminisce about their wonderful first day."Yesterday was absolute bliss," Melanie sighs, smiling at Ryan."I know, right? You deserved every bit of relaxation." Ryan nods, taking her hand."I loved our beach walk, and lunch at the beachside restaurant was amazing." Melanie closes her eyes, replaying the day's highlights."And don't forget our pool time. You looked stunning in that bikini." Ryan chuckles."You're biased, but thank you." Melanie blushes, laughing.As they reflect on their first day, Melanie realizes how much she needs this break. The stress and anxiety of recent weeks seem to melt away in Ryan's presence."I feel like I've left all my worries behind," Melanie says, her voice filled with gr
Caleb and Alistair finish packing up and Caleb locks the house before slipping into the driver’s seat of his sleek grey Lamborghini Aventador Roadster, while Alistair settles beside him like the passenger princess that he is and as Caleb starts the engine, the V12 roars to life."Alright, let's get going," Caleb says, his eyes scanning the navigation system, and as he inputs the address of his destination into the car’s navigation system, his anticipation builds."You don't know the way to Silver Oaks Resort?" Alistair notices Caleb's hesitation. "I've never been there. I'll just input the address." Caleb's brow furrows as his fingers dance across the touchscreen, entering the resort's location. The navigation system springs to life, providing turn-by-turn directions."You're not exactly the 'ask for directions' type, Caleb. What's going on?" Alistair raises an eyebrow."Just making sure we get there efficiently." Caleb shrugs, as he goes ahead to lie to his best friendThe navigatio
Location: Silver Oaks Resort, Maple Ridge. Caleb and Alistair arrive at the Silver Oaks Resort, the luxurious entrance and manicured lawns exuding an air of serenity."Wow, this place is stunning!" Alistair exclaims, eyes wide with wonder. "Told you it'd be worth it." Caleb smiles, his expression masked and Alistair shoots him a strange look. He didn’t know if it was going to be worth it, he just gambled it, hoping that it was going to be worth it, and he is more than grateful that it is. "Dude, what's got you so hyped? You're not exactly the relaxation type." As points out as they check in, on noticing Caleb's unusual intensity. "Just eager to unwind, Al. Let's enjoy the weekend." Caleb chuckles. Alistair raises an eyebrow because he suspects that something else is going on, but says nothing, deciding to just observe Caleb in the meantime. He knows that something must have prompted them to come over to the resort and he knows his best friend too well to know that it should be
After receiving Caleb’s message and panicking for the first 20 seconds, Melanie decides what do to and how to handle the situation, so she texts him back. “Are you stalking me?” she texts him back. “That is such a strong word my love” Caleb replies her almost immediately. “Your first mistake is that you posted a video with your current location on social media and anybody could have used that privileged information to try to harm you, so I came here to keep you safe” he continues. “Keep me safe?” Melanie scoffs. “Who the hell do you think you are? And where exactly are you?” she questions him, looking around frantically. “The man of your dreams, and I am Somewhere, watching over you” He answers her. “It is either you tell me where you are so that I can come and meet you or I leave this resort” she threatens him. “I don’t feel comfortable knowing that you are watching me from the sidelines…it is creepy as hell,” she expatiates. “If you don’t feel comfortable, then tell me
Melanie and Caleb's peaceful slumber is shattered by the incessant pounding on the door. "Mel! Are you okay? I know you are in there” Ryan's voice echoes through the room.Melanie's eyes snap open, locking onto Caleb's. They exchange a panicked glance. Melanie doesn't vocalize her words, but she knows that there is no way that she will let Ryan discover Caleb in her room.Without a word, they freeze, but Caleb doesn't freeze because he is scared of Ryan, he froze because Melanie's anxiety was leaking into him."Don't move." Melanie's heart is racing, as she mouths silently to Caleb, and they both hold their breath. Caleb nods, his eyes fixed on hers but Ryan's pounding grows louder and more insistent. "Mel! Answer me! I'm not leaving until I know you're okay!" Ryan insists but Melanie and Caleb remain statue-still, barely breathing. The tension is palpable."Mel, please... I have a feeling that I saw Caleb lurking around last night. I know he's trouble so If he is in there with you
Ryan felt a mix of emotions, from shock to embarrassment, to hurt, as Melanie storms out of his room. The mixture of his complicated feelings stems from the fact that he did not expect Melanie to react so strongly over him just asking her a simple question. Ryan had no idea, that, asking Mlanie if she slept with Caleb, would be interpreted as him overstepping since she was the one who told him the first time that she slept with him and he was genuinely curious, which was why he asked her. His concern for her clouded his judgment after he went to check up on her in her room, and she didn’t open the door to let him in like she usually did.As he watches Melanie, walk away, his heart sinks and he can’t help but feel that he has lost his footing with her because he has seen her pissed and irritated about stuff before, but he has never seen her this angry. He loved Melanie, since the first day he set his eyes on her, but he has never mustered the courage to tell her, firstly because of w
Melanie storms into her room, the door swinging open with a soft thud. Her emotions still simmer from the heated exchange with Ryan and her mind races with the thoughts of betrayal and overstepped boundaries.As she enters, her gaze sweeps the room, coming to an abrupt halt on the figure lying on her bed. Caleb is sprawled across her bed, half-naked just as she had left him earlier. The sheet rides low on his hips, revealing the defined contours of his chest and abs.Melanie’s breath is caught in her throat, her anger momentarily forgotten as Caleb’s eyes meet hers, a lazy smile spreading across his face. “Hey,” he drawls, his voice husky and for a moment, Melanie stands frozen, her eyes locked on Caleb’s. The tension between them crackles, a mix of unresolved emotions and unspoken desires.The memory of their passionate night floods back, and Melanie’s cheeks flush, most especially because she did not expect to find Caleb still in her bed, looking so relaxed and inviting. “Hey,” sh
Location: last floor of the guest house in Silver Oaks Resort, 77B Maple Ridge, Orion.Caleb walks into the room he shares with Alistair, still smiling after his conversation with Melanie."Hey, man!" Alistair calls out, not looking up from his laptop screen."Hey, Al. What's up?" Caleb drops onto their bed, kicking off his shoes. "Just trying to complete this one mission in GTA Vice City after you left me without a word at the bar yesterday, to go be with a woman that is not yet your woman," Alistair says, though his eyes remain fixed on the screen, his fingers flying across the keyboard, but he rolls his eyes. "Saying that I left you without a word is too big of an allegation, my friend" Caleb chuckles.“I remember mentioning that I would step out to speak to Melanie…” Caleb tries to recall.“Speak not sleep with her right?” Alex corrects.“Oh…shut up” Caleb laughs, heading to the bathroom to freshen up.As Caleb showers, his mind wanders back to Melanie. Their conversation left
Caleb’s mind reels with the Alistair ten-year-long revelation. He feels like he has been punched in the gut, his breath is knocked out of him as the room seems to be spinning around him as he struggles to process the truth that Sophia, the woman he blamed himself for violating almost ten years ago, had manipulated him and actually fed him aphrodisiacs without his knowledge or consent.“When did you find out?” Caleb asks his best friend, trying to suppress the wave of anger, betrayal, and disgust, trying to overshadow him.“The morning of your accident,” Alistair answers and a wave of emotions hits Caleb.“How could she do this to me, most importantly, how could you do this to me?” Caleb questions Alistair as he thinks back to that night, wondering how he could have been so blind.“It wasn’t in my place to tell you at first, because later that day you got involved in the crash and was in a coma for two weeks,” Alistair tells him.“What happened to telling me after I woke up two weeks l
Caleb waits for a while before trying to clarify anything with Alistair, and his order actually comes in, so he picks up the room delivery, opens it, and takes it to Alistair who is a picky eater to lick so that the natural sugar from the honey can help stabilize his blood sugar level.“I don’t like honey at all, so I won't lick it,” Alistair refuses and Caleb almost loses his temper, but he calms himself down and goes to the table to find a cup, then he takes a large spoonful of honey, mixes it with water to create a soothing drink for him before going back to him.“You have to drink this, otherwise I will force it down your throat myself,” he says to Alistair, but he still shakes his head.“I don’t like the taste of honey,” Alistair says.“Well brother, you don’t have a choice here, so take it and chug it down in one goal because neither of us will sleep with their two eyes closed in this room today if we don’t sort this out” Caleb warns as he hands the soothing drink over to his be
Since Melanie insisted that he should order takeout for Alistair, he goes back to Oakwood Essentials to grab him pizza from Food Court and a wide variety of soda from the departmental store, so that he can have something to snack on later after they probably talk things through, before he leaves the mall and heads back to the guest house.On getting back to the guest house, he picks up the key card to the room, before making his way back to his and Alistair’s shared room, but on getting to the room, he realizes that everything in the room is just like he left it, without any sign of Alistair entering the room while he was away.He feels really disappointed and sad, as he drops the peace offering that he got for Alistair on the ground, before stepping into the shower for a quick bath. His shower doesn’t waste time because he wasn’t under the shower this time around to get his mind off things, he just wanted a cold shower after a stressful day, after which he returns to the room to chan
Caleb and Melani eat their dinner in considerable silence without either of them trying to say anything to each other, even though they both have quite a lot to say.“Like I said earlier, the reason for this trial relationship is because I came close enough to getting trapped inside a marriage with Alex Sinclair almost a month ago, which is while I feel like a trial relationship is an important vetting process to determine if the other person matches what each of us wants in our partner, so the fact that I brought up this trial relationship doesn’t mean I should be the one benefitting from it,” Melanie finally breaks the silence, while Caleb listens carefully because he isn’t halfway gone with his food like Melanie is with hers.“This is an evaluation period for me, where I am trying to check if you have everything that I want in a man because the last thing I want is to settle for less just because you have a lot of money to throw around”“I may not be from a rich family, but I am wo
“Both,” Caleb speaks up after a while and even though Melanie wants to ask him so badly if he is sure or not, she doesn’t and she picks up the menu that she was checking earlier to see what she wants to eat.“S, what catches your eye? Want to start with some appetizers?” as they both check the menu, Caleb asks Melanie.“No, I think I’ll skip the appetizer and go straight for the main course,” Melanie answers as she shakes her head.“How about you?” she asks him as her eyes scan the menu for something suitable to eat and instead of doing trial and error with food, she tries to look for a dish that she knows isn’t likely to go wrong since she is starving.“Same here…I’m in the mood for something hearty” Caleb smiles and they both return to searching the menu and few minutes later, a friendly woman with a warm smile, clad in the same uniform that Melanie saw Valeri wear earlier, and assumes that she is their server.“Welcome to Coastal Cove! What can I get for you tonight?” she inquires.
“Hey babes, you are running late, and at this point, I think we might have to compress our date night plans.” Caleb sends an actual text that Melanie reads instead of trying to hurry her up as he has been doing for the past 15 minutes. “I am out now, where should I meet you?” Melanie texts him back almost immediately. “Just wait in front of the guest house; I will come and get you,” Caleb texts her back. So she and Valeri make their way to the front of the guest house together while having the conversation they couldn’t have in her room because Melanie didn’t want the other crew members to know the terrible thing that happened to her. “I am sorry to ask this, but I really want to know a few things about your child, if you don’t mind” Melanie starts, and Valeri nods, asking her to go on. “How old were you when you had her, and how old is she now” Melanie inquires. “I was 16 when I had her, and she is 5 years old now” Valeri answers Melanie. “I am sorry to ask so many questions, b
After Valeri left Melanie with instructions on how to look for her date, before leaving the boutique, the sales representative returned with the same dress in two sizes, one two sizes lower and the other her exact size that she tried on earlier.“Explain to me why you have two dresses with you,” Melanie asks the sales representative after inspecting the sizes of the two dresses.“We are in a bit of a pickle because your upper body is a size eight since you have a relatively smaller upper body up your hips is where we have an issue since your lower body is a size twelve” the sales representative explains.“I understand your concerns and one size lower would have been understandable, but two sizes lower?” Melanie expresses her hesitation as she inspects the size 8 with clear judgment in her eyes before returning the dress and shaking her head that she doesn’t want to try it on.“Why don’t you just step into the fitting room to fit it out first,” the sales rep says as she returns the dre
“What the hell just happened” Calen questions himself because he can’t seem to wrap his head around it. “Anybody who doesn't know the type of relationship that Alistair and Sophie share will think she is either his sister or he is in love with her because I don't get why he is trying to make an enemy out of me for something that happened 12 years ago,” Caleb mutters as he hisses. “Now he walked out of the room angrily, but he didn't feed me back about the details of the reservation that I asked him to make” Caleb mutters,“I was so engrossed with the movie that I was watching and the fact that I wanted to make it up to him by giving him the gifts that I starved him of, that I completely forgot to ask about the reservation that he went to put in place” he blames himself.“Well, in my defense…I had no idea that he was going to blow a conversation as simple as that out of proportion and even end up walking out on me” he tries to justify his actions.“At this point, I don't know if I ow
Caleb returns to his and Alistair’s shared room before Alistair comes back, and then he picks up Alistair's PC, logs into Alistair's Netflix account, selects his profile under Alistair's account instead of login out the account and logging in his own, and he goes straight his list to check out of the series of movies that he added earlier. He selects the first movie on his list that is not a seasonal movie, just a 1-hour 36-minute movie, called Happiness Is, while he snacks on his French toast that is supposed to be his breakfast. He starts the movie with no hope or expectations whatsoever, he is just watching it because he doesn't want to commit himself to yet another seasonal film that he knows he doesn't have time to keep up with. When he started watching the movie, the movie was really chaotic and he couldn't understand what the focus was, so he started hoping and praying for Alistair to just show up.Then the movie seems to resonate with what is going on in his life at the mom