LESLIE’S POV I’m running. I’m leaving the life I know behind and going in search of another. It is both the bravest and most cowardly thing I have ever done in my entire existence and so it comes with a mixture of emotions that trouble my mind deeply. Seated in the waiting aisle, I clutch my tr
LESLIE’S JOURNAL ENTRIES 001 ******* Dear Diary, Scratch that. Dear Journal? Well, you’re sort of pink, handmade and gotten from the roadside stall of a little girl working on some class project so maybe you're really a diary. However, I am going to pretend this is a journal and this is the begi
*Dancing*–failed! *Painting*–failed! *Drawing*–failed…partially. No drawing of clothing designs, Leslie. Just no. *Yoga*–failed! *Crocheting*–failed! Failed! Failed! Failed! Might as well be the poster girl for failure. *Sightseeing*–success! It’s fun going on tours but my purse doesn’t exac
LESLIE’S JOURNAL ENTRIES 002 ******* Thinking about designing again was a spontaneous decision. I am not sure I have what it takes to start from scratch or to even succeed. So, I’m ruling it off as one of those new year resolutions that you never get around to doing. My savings is dwindling. I h
LESLIE’S JOURNAL ENTRIES 003******It’s been exactly a year since I left my old life behind. It hits hard because today is the very day I walked away and didn’t look back. I thought I’d finally moved on. I thought I finally found myself but I guess finding a part of me doesn’t mean I entirely lose
LESLIE’S JOURNAL ENTRIES 004*******Just when I thought Cole has given up on the idea of ‘investing’ in me, he starts to hover around me again. I run into him a lot these days. At the mall, at convenience stores, at the hallway and even when dumping garbage. I have a feeling those meetings aren’t c
Trent and I had a talk while everyone else was busy listening to Cole’s adventurous stories. He bought me a drawing book and some colored pencils for my designs. I think I teared up a little as I took the gifts from me. He wanted to take me for changing their lives. He’d been worried he would have
LESLIE’S POV*THREE YEARS LATER*(Note: The three year period covers the events contained in Leslie’s journal and a little after that. Or you can look at it this way: the next events that are about to happen starting from this chapter are three years after she decided to leave her old life behind.)
CHAPTER 68 [Welcome Home ] ~SOPHIE~ “Please tell me you two didn’t fuck in here.” Celeste’s voice cut through the quiet like a whip, sharp and full of disbelief. I glanced over my shoulder, pausing mid-fold as I stuffed another sweater into my bag. She was standing above me, her arms crossed, a
CHAPTER 67 [ Whenever, wherever ] ~TRAVIS~ Having fallen for Sophie’s schemes more than once, I guess it was normal for my brain to process every unusual thing she does as a trick to lure me in. Perhaps, that was why I imagined her smirking when in truth, she was just as stunned as I was to fi
CHAPTER 66 [ In The Flesh ] ~TRAVIS~ They were still under the harsh glare of my headlights. While Justin didn’t exactly look his best, Sophie was…worse. An ugly sweater hung loosely over her upper frame, her hair was in a messy bun and was close to tumbling all over her face as she took Justin by
CHAPTER 65 [ The Real Deal ] ~TRAVIS~ The past week has been nothing short of exhausting. I had barely stepped foot into my office before I was bombarded with calls and meetings, my inbox flooded with contracts and reports that had piled up during the engagement trip. If it wasn’t work, it was
CHAPTER 64 [ Caged, Not Sheltered ] ~SOPHIE~ There were many questions; like how on earth she was in a place that was at least an hour's drive from her family’s mansion, and why she was chugging down cheap beer when I have only ever seen her enjoy the finest wine. The longer we stood there, wo
CHAPTER 63 [ Edge of Insanity ] ~SOPHIE~ In between the endless nightmares that were triggered by the events of the past week and waiting for Travis to reach out to me again, I had been pushed to the edge of insanity. I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but it did. It got worse. And now I
CHAPTER 62 [ Sugar Daddy ] ~SEBASTIAN~ (2) I’ll be damned if I have to suffer because my father was trying to correct his misdeeds. “Do you have a better plan?” My mother faced me squarely, an unimpressed look in her eyes. “Can’t we just ignore him? He’s too weak to do anything by himself any
CHAPTER 61 [ Daddy Dearest ] ~SEBASTIAN~ (1) “I am going to move into the estate with Sophie.” Daddy Dearest knew how to drop a bombshell—the kind that takes a while to recover from. It was also the kind that makes me wonder if all the drugs he’s been pumped full of in the past month have made
CHAPTER 60 [ The Hell for Bad Fathers ] ~SOPHIE~ I stared at him, convinced I’d misheard. “You want me to what?” My voice came out sharper than I intended, but I couldn’t help it. “Move back in,” my father repeated, his tone calm, as if he hadn’t just said something insane. Did he even hear