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The next morning.Zendaya’s eyes fluttered open when she felt the bright light hit her. Her eyes widened in shock when she realized that she wasn’t in her room on her bed, but on the sofa in the living room.Proceeding to get up, she groaned as her neck felt stiff from sleeping in an awkward position. ‘I’m never sleeping here again,’ she muttered to herself as she twisted her neck.She blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust to the light, and a yawn escaped from her lips. ‘What had led her to fall asleep on the sofa?’ she asked herself, and the events of the previous night rushed back to her head; Jayden's texts, their late-night banter, and his teasing as they watched a movie together. She frowned slightly, remembering how she had fallen asleep without ending the video call, or had she? She wondered as she picked up her phone to checked.The call went further than the minutes she remembered, and the colour drained from her face over the fact that Jayden had watched her sleep.S
“Zendaya Valencia!” he roared, his voice echoing in the room, and she gulped. “Care to explain why you lied to me, continuously?” Zendaya froze. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her father’s intense gaze pinned her to the spot, and she could feel her pulse racing.“What are you talking about, Dad?” she rasped as she feigned ignorance.“You told me everything was fine. No incidents. No danger. And yet,” Lucas growled, stepping closer, “Jayden’s father tells me you were in the middle of a dangerous mess, one that almost killed you.”Lucas looked at his daughter as he wondered what punishment to give her. Since he had found out about her lie, he had been wondering, and he hadn't come up with anything.She was no longer a child, and so he couldn't ground her. She wasn't his enemy, and so he couldn't kill her and finally, she had almost gotten killed. He couldn't be too harsh on her, especially when the attack came as a result of him and Justin.“I didn’t want you to worry!” Z
Jayden sat back on the couch, his feet up on the coffee table, staring down at the screen of his phone. The message from Zendaya still flashed on his display, and he reread it as he found it amusing.Even though she had told him she was busy and had ended the conversation, she was the one who texted first.‘What am I supposed to wear for tonight?’ was what the message read.He grinned to himself. The challenge was never something he minded, but there was something different in the way he was approaching her now. His fingers hovered over the screen as he thought about what to reply. Something flippant. Something sarcastic. That was usually his go-to. But today, it didn’t feel right. It wasn’t the first time Zendaya was going to that place, so she knew what she was supposed to wear. His mind wandered as he stared at the message, his thumb tapping absent-mindedly against the screen. She was trying to engage him in a conversation, as when he would answer, she would say another thing,
The present day, Jayden smiled to himself, as that was the first awakening he had about his true feelings for Zendaya.He had to admit it to himself; there was something about her that got under his skin and made her fascinated with him.It wasn’t just her intelligence or the way she always managed to keep her head held high, no matter how hard he tried to rattle her and no matter how many times she lost to him. It wasn’t even the challenge that she brought, the way she made him work for her attention despite everyone wanting his attention. No. It was the fact that, despite everything—despite all the sarcastic comments, the hard-headed defiance—he could see the cracks. He saw the softness behind her strong-willed exterior. And it was in those cracks that he found himself wanting more. The fact that he knew she hadn’t let anyone else see her vulnerability, not even his sisters, made him feel special.“Jayden, my father is a very strong person, and so is the rest of my family. What i
“What are you two doing here?” He questioned, and the smiles they both had on their faces dropped.“We came to see you. It’s been months,” Anaya was the first one to speak. Unknown to their parents, they had paid Jayden and Arthur numerous visits while they were out of the country.“Didn’t you miss us?” Juliette frowned at her big brother.“No, I didn’t,” Jayden responded, though there was a faint twitch at the corner of his mouth that betrayed the truth. However, he moved aside and the two younger Geranos didn’t waste any time entering his mansion. “You better have brought some good food because I’m starving,” he told them as he closed the door and followed them. They had bags in their hands, and he hoped it was from his grandfather or from one of his restaurants.It was already past noon, and he hadn’t had breakfast yet, he was starving.“We might have,” Anaya teased, glancing over her shoulder as they made their way to the living room. It was no secret that Jayden usually forgo
“Is it true?”Jayden looked at his sisters and in order to annoy them for being so nosy, he reached out and grabbed the bottle of water on the table.He then took his time in opening it after which he slowly drank the contents. “Jayden!” Anaya cried out when she could no longer take it.“Yes, it is, I’m not taking revenge on her,” he affirmed, and he watched their eyes widen in shock.“I’m so confused,” Juliette said as she scratched her head. “You spent so much time talking about how she embarrassed you and how you’d make her regret it. And now… nothing? What happened to make you change your mind?”His feelings of hatred had changed to one of love, he said in his head. However, his sisters didn’t need to know that.Jayden set his drink down with deliberate slowness to annoy them once more. “I decided it wasn’t worth it,” he finally responded.“That’s it?” Anaya asked, her voice rising in disbelief. “That’s all you’re going to say? You’ve never let anything go in your life, Jayden. W
"...In other news, Jayden Gerano, the heir to the Gerano empire, is back," she heard the news reporter say before turning off her tablet.The last thing she wanted was to hear about the man she hated more than anything in the world, especially when she was preoccupied with getting her fiancé to talk to her.They shouldn’t be having such a useless fight when they were days away from their wedding.Matthew Terrence, the man she loved the most in the world. He was an employee in her dad’s company, and it was love at first sight when she laid eyes on him.A lot of people, including her family, didn’t think the relationship would last due to their differences in status.However, she and Matthew had proved them all wrong as they were in their second year together.If their relationship was able to survive the scrutiny, then the fight over where their honeymoon was going to be didn’t stand a chance.“Ma’am, we have arrived,” she heard her driver say to her, breaking her line of thoughts.“Don
Life really had many ways of messing her up, and one of such ways was cleverly recreating what had happened a week after her eighteenth birthday.It was a mistake that was never supposed to happen. She had snuck out to a party. She was naive and had foolishly allowed herself to be drugged, which led to her almost getting raped.It was the man who was standing in front of her that had saved her. As she was too afraid to face her family or her friends, she begged him to cover for her, which caused her to hide in his room.One thing led to another, and the next thing she knew was that she had slept with Jayden. The fact that she was the one who pushed for it made it worse.When it was time to have a talk with him, he immediately told her his hatred for her hadn't changed, and it had only increased as he considered her cheap now that he had slept with her.The memory was one that would haunt her forever, as she hated herself for it, and the fact that he had just caught her trying to have a
“Is it true?”Jayden looked at his sisters and in order to annoy them for being so nosy, he reached out and grabbed the bottle of water on the table.He then took his time in opening it after which he slowly drank the contents. “Jayden!” Anaya cried out when she could no longer take it.“Yes, it is, I’m not taking revenge on her,” he affirmed, and he watched their eyes widen in shock.“I’m so confused,” Juliette said as she scratched her head. “You spent so much time talking about how she embarrassed you and how you’d make her regret it. And now… nothing? What happened to make you change your mind?”His feelings of hatred had changed to one of love, he said in his head. However, his sisters didn’t need to know that.Jayden set his drink down with deliberate slowness to annoy them once more. “I decided it wasn’t worth it,” he finally responded.“That’s it?” Anaya asked, her voice rising in disbelief. “That’s all you’re going to say? You’ve never let anything go in your life, Jayden. W
“What are you two doing here?” He questioned, and the smiles they both had on their faces dropped.“We came to see you. It’s been months,” Anaya was the first one to speak. Unknown to their parents, they had paid Jayden and Arthur numerous visits while they were out of the country.“Didn’t you miss us?” Juliette frowned at her big brother.“No, I didn’t,” Jayden responded, though there was a faint twitch at the corner of his mouth that betrayed the truth. However, he moved aside and the two younger Geranos didn’t waste any time entering his mansion. “You better have brought some good food because I’m starving,” he told them as he closed the door and followed them. They had bags in their hands, and he hoped it was from his grandfather or from one of his restaurants.It was already past noon, and he hadn’t had breakfast yet, he was starving.“We might have,” Anaya teased, glancing over her shoulder as they made their way to the living room. It was no secret that Jayden usually forgo
The present day, Jayden smiled to himself, as that was the first awakening he had about his true feelings for Zendaya.He had to admit it to himself; there was something about her that got under his skin and made her fascinated with him.It wasn’t just her intelligence or the way she always managed to keep her head held high, no matter how hard he tried to rattle her and no matter how many times she lost to him. It wasn’t even the challenge that she brought, the way she made him work for her attention despite everyone wanting his attention. No. It was the fact that, despite everything—despite all the sarcastic comments, the hard-headed defiance—he could see the cracks. He saw the softness behind her strong-willed exterior. And it was in those cracks that he found himself wanting more. The fact that he knew she hadn’t let anyone else see her vulnerability, not even his sisters, made him feel special.“Jayden, my father is a very strong person, and so is the rest of my family. What i
Jayden sat back on the couch, his feet up on the coffee table, staring down at the screen of his phone. The message from Zendaya still flashed on his display, and he reread it as he found it amusing.Even though she had told him she was busy and had ended the conversation, she was the one who texted first.‘What am I supposed to wear for tonight?’ was what the message read.He grinned to himself. The challenge was never something he minded, but there was something different in the way he was approaching her now. His fingers hovered over the screen as he thought about what to reply. Something flippant. Something sarcastic. That was usually his go-to. But today, it didn’t feel right. It wasn’t the first time Zendaya was going to that place, so she knew what she was supposed to wear. His mind wandered as he stared at the message, his thumb tapping absent-mindedly against the screen. She was trying to engage him in a conversation, as when he would answer, she would say another thing,
“Zendaya Valencia!” he roared, his voice echoing in the room, and she gulped. “Care to explain why you lied to me, continuously?” Zendaya froze. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her father’s intense gaze pinned her to the spot, and she could feel her pulse racing.“What are you talking about, Dad?” she rasped as she feigned ignorance.“You told me everything was fine. No incidents. No danger. And yet,” Lucas growled, stepping closer, “Jayden’s father tells me you were in the middle of a dangerous mess, one that almost killed you.”Lucas looked at his daughter as he wondered what punishment to give her. Since he had found out about her lie, he had been wondering, and he hadn't come up with anything.She was no longer a child, and so he couldn't ground her. She wasn't his enemy, and so he couldn't kill her and finally, she had almost gotten killed. He couldn't be too harsh on her, especially when the attack came as a result of him and Justin.“I didn’t want you to worry!” Z
The next morning.Zendaya’s eyes fluttered open when she felt the bright light hit her. Her eyes widened in shock when she realized that she wasn’t in her room on her bed, but on the sofa in the living room.Proceeding to get up, she groaned as her neck felt stiff from sleeping in an awkward position. ‘I’m never sleeping here again,’ she muttered to herself as she twisted her neck.She blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust to the light, and a yawn escaped from her lips. ‘What had led her to fall asleep on the sofa?’ she asked herself, and the events of the previous night rushed back to her head; Jayden's texts, their late-night banter, and his teasing as they watched a movie together. She frowned slightly, remembering how she had fallen asleep without ending the video call, or had she? She wondered as she picked up her phone to checked.The call went further than the minutes she remembered, and the colour drained from her face over the fact that Jayden had watched her sleep.S
Matthew sat alone in his dimly lit living room, and he massaged his temples. He stared at his phone, the screen still glowing with all the messages he had sent to Zendaya that had gone unread.Why was she doing this when she had told him she would give him another chance? He reread the last message she had sent to him ages ago, each time the sting of her rejection settled deeper. His fingers hovered over the screen as if he were waiting for something to change, waiting for her to change her mind. But nothing. No response. The fact that he didn't even know if Zendaya was reading his messages and choosing to ignore or didn't read them at all.He had been fooling himself, thinking that Zendaya would come back to him like she always did whenever they had a fight. He had played the scenario when everything would be over in his mind so many times, each version ending with her running into his arms, forgiveness in her eyes. But the reality was harsh. Zendaya wasn’t coming back. She wasn’
‘Friends,’ she accepted without thinking too much about it. It was the first time Jayden was extending an olive branch to her, and she wasn't ready to go back to the way they were before he left.‘Good choice. If you had rejected my offer I would have started thinking of fulfilling my promise of destroying you,’ he told her, and she wasn't surprised as she knew Jayden.‘So predictable,’ she sent in response. Her heart dropped when she heard a sound from behind her, and she quickly hid her phone while turning to see what it was. There was nobody behind her, she waited for a few seconds, but she saw nothing. It must have been the air, she thought to herself as she turned to look back at her phone.A gasp escaped from her lips when she saw Jayden’s face staring at her. “What are you doing on my phone?” she asked him.“You video called me,” Jayden told her. “Oh,” she mumbled. She must have done so by accident when she jumped up in fear.“Well, bye,” she bid as she proceeded to disconne
Jayden had just come out of the shower when he heard his phone ring. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he walked up to it, and he picked it up. He saw that it was his father calling him. Wondering what the old man was calling him for, he answered it. “Dumong is dead,” Justin informed him bluntly. “And right now I suggest you stay far away from Zendaya as her father is not happy with you,” Justin told his son and this made Jayden realize that his father had told Lucas about all that happened“When is he ever not?” Jayden rolled his eyes. Lucas Valencia didn't like him, and he had never bothered to hide that fact, so him being angry with him wasn't a new thing.“Is it too late to choose a new girl? I mean, there is this nice girl I met and…”“Goodnight Dad,” Jayden wished his father before Justin could complete his words.He dressed quickly, slipping into a T-shirt and sweatpants before grabbing his phone again. Without wasting time, he immediately proceeded to text Zendaya as he wa