Melanie is busy in the kitchen wrapping up dinner preparations with Kalinin after spending the whole Saturday at Ryan’s family house, hanging out with Ryan and also dropping Kionna off for her play date with Aurora, Ryan’s five-year-old niece when her phone suddenly vibrates due to a notification that Melanie assumes is from Ryan, because they had an unfinished discussion, but it turns out that the notification is actually from heartily.me, the dating sight.“What the…?!” she stares at the message, her eyes glued to the screen, as she struggles to process the information.“For what felt like an eternity, I waited on the rooftop terrace for you to arrive with the beef and broccoli stir fry, but you didn’t show up,” Kalinin says as she walks swiftly into the kitchen, picks up the bowl of food before she returns to the rooftop terrace to continue serving dinner. Melanie doesn’t move from the position that she is glued in, her eyes are darting back and forth trying to figure out what cou
Melanie hesitates to give Caleb an answer because she doesn’t know if meeting up with him will be a good idea or not, but she already sort of agreed to meet up with him even though she didn’t exactly say yes, more so she was the one that reached out first so refusing to meet up will not look well on her path, and a part of her wanted closure, as to the real reason why he unmatched her if he was interested in exploring the possibility of a relationship with her.Caleb unmatching with her bruises her ego so bad, and she finds herself pondering about the pros and cons of meeting up with Caleb for the second time. She doesn’t want to discuss anything about Caleb with her sister again because the attitude she gave when she told her about Caleb unmatching her was not welcoming to her at all, so she decides to text Ryan instead because she feels like she will go crazy if she doesn't talk to somebody soon.“I found Caleb’s number on the dating site and I called him after thinking about if I
Caleb’s phone dings with the text from Melanie and as he reads his text, his eyes narrow, and his mind races as he processes the information because he knows that Bistro Bliss is Ryan’s family restaurant, so he is sure as hell that it can’t be a coincidence, so his gut twists with unease, recalling the growing closeness between Melanie and Ryan.“He is getting too close to her and I don’t like that at all,” Caleb thinks and a pang of jealousy strikes him, so he takes a deep breath for him to analyze his emotion.“I buried myself into so much work that I stopped trying to reach out to her for two weeks which allowed Ryan to plant himself into her life” Caleb’s rational side kicks in.“I should have tried to reach out to her again instead of waiting for her to reply my previous messages, but this meet-up should be an opportunity for me to clear the air about my radio silence, for us both to understand what happened on each other side and also for me to show Ryan that I am still in the
Following a solid night's sleep the night before, Caleb wakes up feeling refreshed. Looking at his watch, he discovers the time to be 7:00 AM and Alex Sinclair, Saint Clair's agent from Pearl Coast will be arriving in Orion today to oversee the project with his company and even though it is Sunday morning, he is neither the church type guy nor religious at all.Caleb gets ready to make a good impression by wearing a tidy white shirt and fitting trousers, then he grabs his keys and leaves to pick Alex up from the airport.He wants to make the representative very valued by being very careful about everything that influences his hospitality, hence he is controlling everything by himself even though he could have told his assistant to pick the representative up.At 8:00 AM Caleb parks his car at Orion International Airport and walks to the arrivals lounge. Looking at the flight status on his phone, he sees that Alex's flight has landed and heads for the Arrival gate.Caleb sees a large an
After a quiet night's sleep, Melanie wakes up feeling rejuvenated. Driven to interact with her faith community and spend time in worship, she gets ready for church. She sensed the Lord quite powerfully in the church, she sang hymns and listened to the preaching her pastor raised that she left appreciatively changed and rejuvenated by the gift of fellowship.Melanie gets home after church, excited to see Ryan for their regular Sunday hangout that became a routine three weeks ago and she puts aside everything that she would need to get ready for the date night into a duffle bag, then she drives Kalinin's car to Ryans house, knowing that she doesn't want to go through the stress of hurrying down from Ryan's house in the evening when it is time for her date.Ryan is a very busy man who works two jobs, not because he is low on money but rather because he is so good at what he does, so she packs lightly and leaves the house without Kionna because even though she and Ryan are getting rather
“Shall we?” Caleb asks when he notices that Melanie’s mind seems to have drifted miles away, and he confirms his theory because Melanie almost jumps out of her skin when he touches her.“Mel… are you okay?” Ryan asks Melanie, sensing her unease, and she gives a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes as she nods.“We can just go back home if you change your mind about the date,” Ryan proposes. “I am sure that Caleb will not hold it against you, " Ryan suddenly decides for Caleb, acting like they are twins that share the telepathy bond.“Or will you?” Ryan suddenly asks Caleb, acknowledging his presence for the first time that night by putting him on the chopping block.“Of course, I won’t” Caleb replies, glaring at Ryan and returning the same energy that Ryan has been sending his way since they met that night.“I am okay, Ryan,” Melanie says.“Let’s go to the Private Oasis,” Melanie urges and Ryan leads them out of the restaurant to the upper level of Bistro Bliss.The private Oasis is an
Alex sits alone on the lower floor of Bistro Bliss, scanning the crowded room and wondering whether Caleb's mystery woman is Melanie because he knows that Melanie has a twin sister and they look too alike. His thoughts return to their stormy history, and Melanie's unexpected exit from Pearl Coast is still fascinating to him because nobody could find her, and all leads failed. He had done everything to find her because their previous debate was inconclusive, and the last time she caught him cheating, she slipped off the grid for a bit and crept back to him when she wanted to end the radio silence. He was confident that this time would be no different. “Could Melanie be in Orion? Her sister lives here, after all,” He wonders as he orders food and starts eating, but his hunger is gone, and his thoughts continue going back to Melanie as these two weeks without her have been misery. He sets his food aside and plunges himself into a 45-minute internal debate about whether to investigate
Melanie is finally able to escape the rather unsettling situation with Alex, and on getting to the bathroom, her hands tremble as she dials Shirley’s number but it goes straight to voice mail.“There is no reason to be worried yet” Melanie tries to calm herself, knowing that Shirley barely has the normal phone etiquette that a normal human being should have, and her lackadaisical attitude towards her phone usage is just Shirley being Shirley and she will call her back when she gets her voice mail.“I need to know that you are alright, so I need you to call me once you see this,” Melanie sends Shirley a text on WhatsApp before redialing her number just in case she picks it up, but the call goes to voicemail once again.Melanie tries calling again so that if the issue of her not picking up is as a result of her phone being on DND (do not disturb) her falls will override the DND, but the result is the same. Panic creeps in, and her heart sinks because even though she always blamed the p
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
Emma, Caleb's assistant whom he retained at his current place of work walks into his new office at the Wellington Corporation to speak with all to Caleb. “Boss your people are here again,” Emma sighs as she informs Caleb. “Just shoo them away like we have been doing since last year,” Caleb answers her without lifting his head from the files that he buried them in. “Boss why not just adjust them once and for all,” Emma tries to intercede for them but Caleb isn't even listening to her. “At least, for the sake of them being consistent for a whole year boss…just address them today” Emma continues. “Or just hold a mini-press conference today and just address everything that has happened, because if I were the one in their shoes, I would want to know and verify all the things that everybody has been gossiping about since last year because you have refused to clarify anything to their general public, hoping that your silence will make everything fizzle out, but that doesn't stop us from