“Put the project with the Sinclairs on hold” Caleb sends Alistair a text that he sees last immediately and he calls him.“What am I supposed to tell Alex Sinclair?” Alistair asks him, instead of going back to talk about where their last conversation ended.“You don't have to tell him anything,” he answers his friend as if what he is asking him to do is as simple as ABC.“How do you expect me to do that when I am the one here and you are in Pearl” Alistair raises an alarm.“You avoid him and if he asks you any question, you tell him to wait for me to come back so that I can handle everything” Caleb answers him.“Are you for real? You don't even know when you are coming back here” Alistair scoffs.“The doctor told me that he will observe Melanie for 3 to 5 days after which he will discharge her if she doesn't have any complications from the surgery, and then I will be back” Caleb informs Alistair.“But you can't be certain that the doctor will not find any complications after cross-exam
Shortly after Ethan Sinclair finishes his diplomatic conversation with Caleb Wellington, he goes downstairs to find the receptionist who exposed Melanie’s personal information online and a nurse tells him that she is currently upstairs, attending her disciplinary hearing, so he hangs around the hospital because he will rather hear from the person that posted the news than rely on the people that don’t know anything about the news.The receptionist returns after he waits for her for fifteen minutes, but when she returns, she returns with a box and starts packing up her things. The hospital is announced to be on a permanent lockdown, effective immediately.The hospital sweeps in to start seeing people out of the hospital, so he waits for her outside before ordering his driver to invite her over, away from all the nosy reporters and he does exactly as he is told, bringing her over in no time.“What exactly happened to Melanie,” Ethan Sinclair asks her“I apologize but I won't be able to s
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
As Alistair navigates the streets of Blackwood, he can’t help but feel a sense of unease. He does t know a lot of things about Melanie, but from what Caleb told him, she seems to be really close to her twin sister, for her to leave her comfort zone to come to stay with her, but her sudden refusal to go to her sister's house, sort of threw him off guard, and now Caleb is not saying anything concerning where they are supposed to go from here, and now he is left wondering where to take them.He glances at the rearview mirror, catching a glimpse of his best friend's concerned expression and his babe's stony silence. It is clear that something that she isn’t willing to talk about is seriously bothering her. Alistair’s eyes flick back to the road ahead, his mind racing with possibilities. He contemplates between taking them to Caleb’s house and the hotel since Melanie doesn’t have a place to stay, but just dumping her at his father’s hotel may not be the best idea. Given the tension betwee
As Melanie steps out of the guest house, she can't help but feel a mix of excitement and nervousness because the day started well for her with that really thoughtful gesture from Caleb. However, Shirley's call sort of negatively altered her day. She has been trying not to let it get to her and just figure out a way to deal with her issue with her mom so that things will not get messy at all.She has also been looking forward to seeing Caleb all morning. For some reason, she wanted to speak to him about the latest development, because she didn’t want him to think that he was the problem, or he did something to her when she decided to go MIA like she always does because she can’t come up with a better option, and especially after the lovely breakfast that he had sent her way, she had even taken extra care to dress nicely after Alistair left her room, hoping to make a nice good impression.She has a yellow and black long off-shoulder sundress, with a slit that reaches all the way to the
As soon as Kali drops the call, Melanie’s mind reels. She wonders how she will deal with the situation when she finally gets to that bridge while stuffing all her things in the mini-traveling bag she brought with her.“In the next few hours, I should be out of here, but where do I go from here?” Melanie questions herself as she routinely stops forcing her unfolded clothes into the bag.“The only people I know here are Kali and her little family, but I can't even go back there because what if I get comfortable in my sister's house and my mom decides to pay her a surprise visit?” Melanie ponders, and she shakes her head, to dismiss the idea of going to Kalinin’s house because she knows that for her mom to wake up one morning, and decide to visit her, then she can also do the same to her other daughter and it won't be strange in her dictionary.“I also know Ryan, but that man wants nothing to do with me since he hasn’t left me a message since he left, nor has he tried to even call or rea
As soon as Melanie hangs up the call with Shirley, she puts a call through to Kalinin almost immediately. It tells her that the line is busy, but instead of just letting her sister call her back, she persists with the call until her sister picks up her call. “What the F is wrong with you?” Kalinin asks her angrily as soon as she picks up her call. “Shirley told me that Mom went to Pearl Coast, and I wanted us to agree on what you are going to tell her before you spoil things way beyond what I can salvage for her,” Melanie informs her sister. “What is that supposed to mean?” Kalinin asks pissed. “I figured that you may not be able to come up with something very fast, so I decided to call you immediately,” Melanie let’s get sister know. “You should know that I won’t tell our mother something that you haven’t told her, because I know how she likes to blow things out of proportion and also overreact,” Kalinin hisses as she says. “Whoosh!” Melanie exclaims. “I can’t believe that you
“Hey, I got the surprise delivery that you asked your best friend to deliver to my room, and I am grateful for that.” Melanie’s eyes sparkle with gratitude as she types the text that she wants to send to Caleb before she procrastinates and forgets to do so. As she types, she smiles to herself.She hit send, but the messages only ticked once; they didn’t double-tick, which can only mean one thing: his data is not on or he is not available.“Excuse me, Alistair, do you know where Caleb is? I tried texting him to thank him for the breakfast, but the message didn’t deliver,” Melanie says, frowning as she turns to Alistair.“I’m afraid Caleb is unavailable at the moment, and that is exactly why he sent me here to drop food off for you, so that you can know that you are still on his mind,” Alistair’s expression turns sympathetic.“Is he okay?” Melanie asks with furrowed brows.“He is perfectly fine, there are just a few things that he needs to sort out quickly, which is exactly why he is in
After sorting Caleb out, he goes to the side of the room where Caleb’s stuff is arranged to get an outfit change out of the duffel bag so that he can have a warm bath and change into something fresh. He then goes into the bathroom to take a quick bath because he starts feeling really uncomfortable.While he is busy drying his body, the landline in the room starts to beep, so he quickly gets the call so that it won't disturb Caleb.“Alistair Rolands from room 77B speaking,” He introduces as he picks up the call.“You placed an order for a breakfast platter to room 16B on the fifth floor right?” the caller confirms from him.“yes I did…is there any problem with delivering my order?” Alistair inquires, concerned because the other was placed way over 30 minutes ago.“We brought the delivery to her room door five minutes ago, and we have been knocking since then, but there has been no response from the person inside since then,” The person at the other end of the phone informs Alistair.“
Location: Silver Oaks Resorts, Maple Ridge, Orion.Alistair's eyes slowly flutter open to the soft glow of the morning light peeking through the curtains. He stretches, feeling refreshed and fully sober after a good night's sleep. He glances around the room, expecting to see Caleb asleep in the adjacent bed, but he is nowhere around.Alistair hisses, he throws off the covers and gets out of bed, thinking that Caleb ditched him to go and spend time with Melanie again while he is left lonely and sad in the room at a vacation that was told was going to be compensation for being away from the country for a whole week with a woman that he just met, without giving him a proper explanation, and just shoving all his duties down his throat.On getting into the bathroom, Alistair stands in front of the bathroom mirror, brushing his teeth with a rhythmic motion. As he scrubs, his mind begins to wander to the events of the previous night. Specifically, he isn’t able to shake off the feeling of ma
Location: Silver Oaks Resorts, Maple Ridge, Oakland.Melanie returns to her room, reeling in her good sorts because she didn’t expect to have such a nice time with Caleb. Still, him setting up such a surprise for her during the day, just because she insisted that she didn’t want to talk to him is something that she isn’t able to get over, and then the date wasn’t something out of the extraordinary. However, it was still perfect in its own way, exuding its own uniqueness.She isn’t the type to agree to go on a date easily with someone, but first, it was the dating site that she didn’t have a choice but to check out, then the first date with Caleb at his club where he left a sour taste in her mouth and she made up her mind not to have anything to do with him again, but then the man keeps following her everywhere like he wants more from her.In all honesty, Caleb Wellinton is a good-looking man who screams money even though Melanie doesn’t know his net worth, but after she did him dirty
Sophia’s eyes drift away, her mind consumed by the turmoil that is brewing inside her. Aiden is an inquisitive child who always has questions, and if she doesn’t properly coordinate her mind on how to answer his question, because if she answers his question the wrong way, she may end up setting herself up for a huge problem later.“But really, how will I pad the truth to Aiden that over the past 12 years, his father never wanted to see him?” Sophia asks herself again as her eyes drift from side to side.“How nicely can I put it to a 12-year-old that his father’s idea of fatherhood is only limited to throwing money at us, but never is time and attention,” Sophia’s heart breaks as she thinks about it. Her tears threaten, to spill because the weight of the truth threatens to crush her.Aiden’s innocent question has unleashed a torrent of emotions. As Sophia struggles to find a perfect response to his question, she can’t bear the thought of shattering her son's illusions that Aiden must h