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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX;Another Almost...--It's been five days since she arrived in the city. Within those five days, she helped Emily plan how to advertise their shop. Aside from that, she also helped them manage their small garden in their backyard. And, if ever Emily wants off, she fills in for her and manages the shop. All in all, she was doing rather fine. There wasn't any problem with her stay. She didn't even come across him or any of them.Well, that was because she refused to go out of the shop. But now's a different story.Althea buttoned the last button of her white blouse and tucked it inside her black palazzo pants. She ran her fingers through her hair and popped her plump lips.She was ready to go.She packed her sling badly and put it on her shoulder before going down. There's a room on top of the flower shop. The shop is a two-story building, the first floor is for the shop and the second one is for the staff. They have only 4 staff but only three of them were living he
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN;Twist of Fate—There are different varieties of eye colors, ranging from the most common one to the rarest. Although there are countless hues, shades, and combinations, the eye colors are generally brown, hazel, blue, green, gray, and amber. Brown is the most common eye color and you can see them almost every day. Amber is uncommon, but you can see them throughout the world. Ultimately, there are only 5 percent of the world’s population has genuine amber-colored eyes.But, the one who gets the price of the most uncommon eye color in the world is ‘that’ color. The color represents nature and the natural world. Perhaps because of its strong association with nature, it is often seen as a representation of tranquility, health, and, of course, good luck. But, of course, it is the bitterest color. It lacks any undertone of joy, grief, joy, or passion.Green.And, coincidentally or maybe arranged by faith, she met another person who is a bearer of the rarest eye color
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT;A Message--Tyler Barns is known as an emotionless man. He faces almost everyone with his usual stoic demeanor and void-of-feelings face. If he’s happy, he doesn’t show it. If he's sad, he doesn’t show it. If he’s angry, he rarely shows it—and that is only when he is really, really angry that not even his fiancé, his mother, or his father knows how to quench the raging flames. And right now, he is outraged.And he was in that mood when his secretary and the other people he came here with appeared by his side. When they saw him standing still while looking at a particular spot without even being bothered by the stares of other people that are wondering who the hell is this man in a suit standing like a statue—everyone immediately sensed that something was wrong. Very wrong.His secretary called out to him with caution. She made her voice as calm as possible, eliminating the shaky tone and gasps. “Mr. Barns.”Tyler heard the call and his cold eyes swept over them,
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE;Marked In Red--Althea knocked on Emily's door before calling out for her, "Emily?"There wasn't any response but she could hear rustling sounds in her room. 'She might be changing,' Althea thought. She tucked her hands under her arms and waited patiently behind her doors.Not long afterward, the doorknob turned, and the door opened, presenting Emily yet not Emily. Her hair was disheveled, and she was also slightly pale. Her lips were dry and her eyes were sunken. Her appearance did not surprise Althea.Emily smiled, but her smile was not as bright as before. Even her dimple is refusing to show itself. "Good morning."Althea smiled. "Good morning. I'm here to see you off."Emily chuckled and held her elbows. Her gaze landed on the floor briefly before staring back at her. She smiled, and unlike the smile she showed Althea earlier, there was a hint of life in them. Althea also smiled at her. Emily opened her dry lips after licking them. "Thank you, and sorry to b
CHAPTER THIRTY;Meeting At Last--Weekend came.Althea was busy preparing to leave and telling her staff that they could have the day off. They were delighted and didn't even ask why they were closing on the weekend. To be honest, Althea was a little disappointed but, well, she can't control them. She wore her grey sailor pants and partnered them with a white turtleneck top. She gathered her long blond hair on the back of her head in a high ponytail, exposing the small scar she had on the back of her left ear. She checked her face once more before wearing her fancy purse and her white saddle shoes. She was ready to go.Satisfied with everything, she stepped down and entered her car. As she was about to turn the engine on, her phone vibrated. She fished it out and saw a familiar ID. It was Victoria.[Dear, I'm sorry, but can you both wait for me at the cafe? Something came up and I'll be late.]Althea let out a small chuckle. Victoria said she'd come too. Althea thought that it wa
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE;Who was it again?--ARC FOUR: Meetings and Continuations—It was a weekend morning but Tyler was already stressed out. His phone kept on ringing beside him and vibrating. He glanced at it and frowned when he read that it was her again. He slowed the speed of his car reached for it and immediately cut the call off. But it vibrated again."Fuck," he cursed and completely stopped on the sideway. It wasn't a big deal, it was morning and there were barely any cars running around. No one should maybe curse him for it.He briefly glanced at his wristwatch and confirmed that the time was 7:26, 5 minutes before the appointment time.He was eager and wanted to arrive before her but this thing is annoying the hell out of him. He should have turned his phone off, but he forgot to bring his other phone so his secretary could connect with him. He told her to make this day—at least the morning—empty, but his company is big and it's supporting many families. There's no way he
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO; Something She Forgot -- It's early in the morning, and Althea is embarrassed as fuck. So embarrassed that she just wanted to stand up and flee. She can't even look at the smiling yet not-smiling bastard sitting in front of her. She can feel his gaze penetrating her body. She wants to snap at him and tell him to cut it out, but she needs to deal with the embarrassing situation she made for herself. She needs to get out of the hellhole she stepped in. She said she was meeting an important person just to ditch him, but who could have thought that it was him in the first place?! Important person? Plain bull-!!! She calmed the raging flame inside her. Althea again counted backward from ten. After that, she is more or less calmed—just a little ripple on the sea. The silence between them was deafening. There were other people in the cafe, but the surroundings were oddly quiet. Not that people just go around shouting and stripping inside a cafe. It was like the w
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE; Purple -- Silence engulfed them. Both mother and son were observing Althea who was currently trying to recall the distant memories she still has about the information he gave her. And in the deepest part of her mind, there she found the lost memories. “Oh,” she muttered, glancing at them briefly before giving out a polite smile towards her spectators. “Yes, it seems like I heard rumors about that a long time ago.” Her eyes went to her drink as she tried to recall how many years it had been. “It’s been, I think… Nine years? Or was it ten?” “It’s twelve years,” Tyler interrupted her while leaning his arms on the table and slightly advancing in her direction. “Almost twelve years.” Althea raised her eyes silently and watched him, thinking of how—and why he remembered it. Is the number even precise? Who knows? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But she didn’t care, she wasn’t curious. Their eyes met. Althea opened her mouth to say, “It’s been that long. No wonder
---I did what I was ordered to, and when I finally got to the bottom of it…What the fuck?“I knew things would be interesting if I keep him by my side.” Startled, I looked at my sister who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She was looking at the photo with interest in her eyes. She looked at me. “Erase every record the police had or anything within Victoria’s reach, we can’t have her figuring out everything before I can have my fun of them destroying each other.”“Hmmm,” I glanced at her. “Isn’t she your friend?”“Friend?” She smiled, appearing innocent. “I don’t have anything like that. Father banned that word to us, brother.”“... If that’s what you say.”“Good!” She turned and stretched her body. “Ahh, I can’t wait to see Sheryl get destroyed by the man she loves. Or maybe, it would be mutual destruct
—“Is that your fiance?” I asked as soon as I sneaked at her back, wanting to scare her.“Stop doing that!” She yelled at me. I laughed at her, telling her sorry. She clicked her tongue before nodding. “He is. Handsome, right?”“Hmm?” I pretended to think about it. “Not really.”She scoffed. “Really.”She turned her back on me and continued her work, facing the paper works that were piled on her table. She was 15.I stood behind her, looking at the man on her table.From the day I knew that all along, she was the leader, I decided to stay and look after her. When I told her about my decision, the pause she had was short but eye-catching. Before I could register the pause and understand the meaning behind it, she answered my words with a smile.‘I will be glad to have you under me.’ Her smile was pretty chilling, more bone-numbing than our father’s s
—I am older than her by 5 years, and I remember her looking at me from behind. Normally, one should feel happy to know that someone was looking at their back, admiring them, but that’s not the case with me.Every time I look back, turn to look at her over my shoulder, every time I caught her eyes, I can’t help but shudder:She feels the same as our father.We were only half-siblings. We have the same father, but that’s not the case with mothers.My mother died when I was four, then our father brought another woman into the house after that. That woman was Charlotte’s mother. She was warm and kind. I remember her talking to me a few times.‘Charles, even though you don’t have my blood, please think of me as your mother too.’ She said one time when I tried avoiding her in fear that she wanted me dead. That was what most people who wanted to seize my father’s power would do if they were in her position
SPECIAL CHAPTER ONE: A Victim of Jealousy (10)“He is so cute…!”Days had passed since the birth of her son. Althea was peeking at him with a glass wall between them. She still has IVs in her hand, and she hasn’t recovered most of her energy yet, but she seems like she was overflowing with one.She had her palms against the glass, Althea feels like looking from where she was is not enough, she wanted to slip through the wall and hold him. But it was still not safe, so she held the urge in.A bracelet on her son, the letters were a little bit incomprehensible, but she can read them. It was the name of her son:Alexander Kai GrahamAlthea felt giddy, she can’t wait to hold him in her arms soon.“He’s your son?”“Yes,” Althea responded without thought. When she realized what she had
SPECIAL CHAPTER ONE: A Victim of Jealousy (09)—Blood was trickling down.Plop, plop, plop.Bead-shaped blood fell from her private area continuously. It seems like someone pressed the pause button of the world; Althea felt everyone in the supermarket stopped moving.‘No.’ She thought to herself as she watched the blood slowly forming into a puddle beneath her feet. She can feel the hot liquid trailing down her legs. ‘This can’t be!’This day is supposedly like the normal days she had. Strolling around and buying things she thinks she wants. But in the middle of it, she just suddenly felt it come down.She’s only six months pregnant.“Oh my god!” A lady came to her, holding her shoulders in worry. Her eyes were on the blood, aghast. “You are bleeding!”
SPECIAL CHAPTER ONE: A Victim of Jealousy (08)—She didn't think of it anymore and immediately set an appointment for the abortion.The next day, she went to the center and waited in line.Althea was all covered up, afraid that someone might recognize her in this hospital. She was pale, she had to deal with the morning sickness alone, and she had no idea what to do the whole time because, in her previous pregnancy, her mother was there.Now she was alone, dealing with everything she doesn’t want to.Althea wants to sob and to get everything over with. She can’t believe she committed a grievous sin to her friend. If only she didn’t get tempted with the money, things would not escalate like this.‘It’s all his fault,’ she galed at the entrance of the hospital where few people were going in and out. ‘He fooled me!’
SPECIAL CHAPTER ONE: A Victim of Jealousy (07)—“A brothel?” Althea asked as soon as she entered the place. Her eyes wandered around and she felt overwhelmed by the red hue of the place. The lights, the atmosphere, the people. Everything here was new to her. She doesn’t know what to feel.“First time here?” The lady in heels asked. She gestured to someone far away by her hand and the other nodded before leaving their sight. “Don’t be nervous, you will only be entertaining guests… Why you don’t want to? It’s money, you know.”Selling myself. If it was her in the past, she would strongly disagree and storms off from here. But now, she has nothing but emptiness, she abandoned her pride and morals. She doesn’t have any desire to live anyway. This much won’t hurt her.“Anything’s fine,” Althea said, her
SPECIAL CHAPTER ONE: A Victim of Jealousy (06)“What happened to you?” Altheaopened her eyes and saw a fuzzy scene. There were heads in front of her peeking at her from above. Althea could not recognize the features of the faces, but she knew they were medical workers because of their uniforms. It was the uniforms that the nurses and the doctors wear that she sees every time she goes to the hospital for check-ups and visits to her father.“You have been stabilized…” She heard muffled voices as if she was submerged in an ocean, waters entering her ear canals. She tried to move, but her body was too heavy like lead. She gave up and remained still, still unable to do anything, not even talk.“The man who found you and sent you here already paid for the medical bills…”‘What are they talking about?’ Althea had no clue. ‘It seems important.
SPECIAL CHAPTER ONE: A Victim of Jealousy (05)“Do you like it?” The man asked Althea who was silent with her head bowed. “Do you like it?”“...” She had no response.His eyebrows twitched. He dislikes being ignored despite ignoring people.He bends down and held her chin to look at him forcefully. “Hey, little mouse, I am asking you a question. Do you like it?”“...” She still had no response.With eyebrows raised, he stood up and stretched his arms. “Sigh! After all, we did to repaint the wall, that blood only amounted to that much. It wasn’t even able to cover one-fourth of the wall. So regrettable! Now, the little fierce rat is not fierce anymore…”He glanced down, his cold eyes looking at the woman who was sitting on the cold ground motionlessly. “She can’t even appreciate our