Time went by quickly. I prayed and hoped time would stop. Every day I went to bed wishing that when I woke up, I'd go back in time to the previous day so a day wouldn't be added. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. He kept his promise and didn't show up in my face after our marriage was registered. A few times, his bodyguard, Cadmus, would come and take Zayne and Serenity to see him. Zyaire followed a few times and didn't ask why the arrangement was like that. Since he wasn't the type to care about anything, I wasn't a bit worried about him.The new apartment he got us was a small two-room apartment. I didn't like the place and I knew he intentionally did it to make me as uncomfortable as possible. He never said a word to me, not even a greeting during the months.I knew I was the one who asked him for that, but it sucked how easily he obeyed. It just reminded me more why he easily ruined my life in the first place. I wanted him to provoke me so I could have more reasons to pour out my an
The car drove into the house I once lived in. The architecture was the same but the color of the building had been repainted to beige. The house was one of the biggest I'd ever seen and even to date, it left me marveled. The driver came out and opened the door for us. The children came out first and just as they came out, someone ran out of the house shrieking.His mother.I hadn't seen her in years. She was the most beautiful woman to ever cross my path, even for an old one. She was the framework for Rominic's beauty. She was also very kind to me back then and the closest thing to what a true mother was, but I stubbornly kept my distance because I was seeking my stepmother's affection."Oh my, my baby girl! My brown biscuit!" Stupid name, but Kara had never been good with names. I made my way over to her, smiling and readying myself for her infamous bone-crushing hug. "My Papaya!" She shrieked when the hug came. I laughed in her arms, groaning silently from the pain of her stronghold
Rominic's viewpointLavender's death drove me mad, but the silent treatment she gave him the past months made me feel worse. It wasn't easy pretending she didn't exist but I had to do that to secure our future. I could tell in an instant that the two eldest children held a significant value to her mentally than the others. They were intelligent and clever, that was part of the reason. The girl especially, was dramatically cunning and she was my first target. From the reports submitted by Stacy, the bodyguards stationed around their house and the information I got from the other children, she was the center. Winning her over is the first step to weakening Zach and then Lavender.Ah, I couldn't believe I was plotting against my children.Lavender not only hated me, she doubted every word that came out of my mouth. In her mind, I was a giant asshole. A well-deserved image but not something I wanted to leave. Still, changing it overnight wouldn't be possible so the best action was to act
Rominic's viewpoint"Lavender, you're going to exhaust my scheduled plans. Please hurry up already!" I shouted, looking up at the staircase. I didn't have much to do but I had a foreign partner I needed to talk to around 4 PM. If I was going to act as a driver and take the children around the city, it needed to be done before that time.Surprisingly, Lavender agreed to my conditions… well, the first one to work as my PA, not the second to sleep in the same room. She barely agreed to the first one. I was going to find a way to make the second one come true. Time was all I needed."Daddy, save me!" Serenity shouted, running down the staircase. Her hair was parted into two twin tails swinging with her bouncy steps. There were two small buns at the top of the bouncing twin tails. It suited her angelic face."Serenity, come back here!" Lavender shouted. The sound of her heels hitting the staircase aggressively made me worry about her. She could fall. That concern was short-lived when she c
Rominic's viewpointGoing shopping for girls is nothing but pure torture. I, at least, thought that since my daughters were kids, they would be easy to deal with but I was wrong. Not only did Savia and Serenity love to dress up, but they knew exactly what they wanted so they were extremely picky. They would never accept something if they didn't like it. They had their own style of dressing at their age and were determined to stick to them. Zach and Zyaire were the same. They knew what they wanted but didn't find the available clothes good enough. Zayne didn't know what he wanted so it was one hell of a battle trying to figure out what he'd like.Then Stacy joined and I was thrown into hell.They were worse than my sisters and mother combined. Damn, they were bossy little brats! I was tired and struggling with a nasty headache but they didn't seem to notice."Not that one, Daddy, that pretty pink one," Serenity huffed with annoyance. I was supposed to help her pick a pair of shoes from
Rominic's viewpoint"Good evening, Mom!"Lavender nodded, her eyes still fixed on what she was doing. Her hair was weaved back into three big fancy braids and she had some green stuff all over her face. "Welcome home, kids, how was your day?" Is that my shirt?"Mommy, are those our books?" Serenity asked, jumping on the sofa next to her mother. She stretched her hand out and poked the green stuff. "Can I get a face mask too, Mommy?"Lavender nodded. "Your grandmother is mixing more in the kitchen. You can ask her to make it for you too," Serenity jumped down from the chair and ran to the kitchen. Lavender was distracted. I continued to stare at the shirt on her body. It was my favorite green shirt but the edge of the sleeves had been tinted pink, the same with the hem. I wouldn't have recognized the shirt if it wasn't for my initials that were written on the collar.Zyaire stood beside her and bent, trying to get her attention. "Mom, are these our books?" I breathed with relief when I
To say the least, my life was going fantastic. In case you didn't get it, that was sarcasm. As much as I liked how my children were happy, I hated how close they were getting to him and how much I had to pretend like I was okay with it. Zachary was easier to bribe than I thought. In less than a week, he was already worshiping the ground his father walked on. Why? His father had intelligence and I didn't. His father let him use his laboratory and I didn't even have anything related to a lab. His father gave him a credit card and was teaching them how to drive. I didn't have a car.I was against the children learning about driving. Stacy brought the idea up when she sought approval to teach Zayne how to drive. I refused but Rominic thought it was a good idea and accepted. The children were all for it so it was seven against one. Stacy was in charge of teaching Zayne. Kara taught them in Rominic's absence, except Savia who wanted to learn from her grandfather for some reason. Rominic too
Everything was almost still the same. The company was still the way I redesigned it. I smiled as I walked behind him, looking around my work. It was the first thing I did when we were still friends. He complained that he didn't like how his company looked because his father allowed his sister to remodel it as a birthday wish. His sister did badly at it knowing fully well he hated it. I offered to help him. He was skeptical at first because I wasn't a professional, but I sure showed him and everyone else that I was good at redecoration.Then, I thought I really impressed him with my hard work and that helped my campaign to win his heart. Little did I know he was going to ask me out anyway as part of his scheme."Welcome, Mr. Verlice." The greeting went on and on. The curious eyes of the workers were fixed on the fat lady behind their boss, who looked like she was plucked out of an evil novel. Yeah, I get it."Lavender," Stacy called joyfully, approaching us with a wide smile. It took m
The clock ticks in slow, measured beats, each second stretching, elongating, suffocating. The rhythmic beeping of the cardiac monitor fills the room, a relentless reminder of the fragile life tethered to its machines. The air is thick, sterile, laced with the sharp scent of antiseptic that does nothing to mask the underlying bitterness of despair. The fluorescent lights cast a cold, artificial glow over the large hospital ward, highlighting the stark contrast between the warmth of the floral-printed bedding and the icy stillness of the girl lying upon it.Serenity remains motionless, her small body pale, her chest rising and falling only by the will of the ventilator. Tubes snake around her, connecting her to a maze of medical equipment that hums softly, keeping her alive. She should be running, laughing, causing the kind of mischief that only she could—but instead, she is trapped in a prison of unconsciousness, a mere shell of the vibrant child she had been days ago.Lavender stands
The sky was a perfect shade of blue, a vast canvas unmarred by even a single cloud. The sun shone brightly, its warmth brushing against my skin, and the faint scent of chlorine and freshly cut grass wafted through the air. Despite the lively scene around me, I found myself staring up at the sky, smiling faintly. It wasn't because I felt at peace—I wasn't. Inside, I was a tangled mess of emotions, but I smiled anyway, if only to keep myself together.I sighed heavily, the weight in my chest pressing harder as my mind drifted to the scandalous headlines that had erupted online just days ago. The rumors of an affair between Apollo and me had spread like wildfire, and the storm they caused had been brutal. Thankfully, Apollo going public about his love for Rominic had turned the tide in our favor. Watching Rominic and Phineas look as if they'd turned to stone when they found out had been oddly satisfying. That, combined with the widely known fact that Apollo and I used to hate each other's
Lavender stood in the dimly lit living room, her nerves fraying with every passing second. The soft glow of the overhead light bathed the space in warm hues, but it did little to soothe the tension crackling in the air. Rominic was pacing, his creamy blonde hair disheveled, winter-gray eyes stormy as they pinned her in place. He wasn't speaking yet, but his silence was worse than yelling. It was the kind of silence that suffocated, pressing down on her chest like an unseen weight.She laughed nervously, the sound brittle as it broke the stillness. "It's not what you're thinking," she said, her voice softer than she intended. "I swear, Rominic, it's not.”His eyes flickered, sharp and unyielding, and she could feel his temper bubbling just beneath the surface. The faint ticking of his wall clock was the only other sound in the room, an infuriating reminder of how slowly time seemed to move in moments like these.Lavender inhaled deeply, trying to steady herself. Her cinnamon-brown hair
Apollo's voice cut through my spiraling thoughts, sharp and unrelenting. "You alone could've prevented everything, but you chose not to. That's exactly why I despised you. None of you deserve him.""True," I whispered, my voice trembling but steady enough to hold the weight of my resolve. "I don't deserve him." I lifted my gaze to meet his, my expression calm despite the storm raging inside me. A soft, bitter smile curved my lips. "But neither does he deserve me."For a moment, Apollo's sneer faltered, his sharp retort caught in his throat. I turned away before he could recover, the silence between us broken only by the muffled sounds from outside and the deafening beat of my own heart.The room was still thick with the lingering stench of sweat and mildew, but somehow, the suffocating weight of the earlier confrontation had begun to lift. The muffled groans and rhythmic thumping from the other side of the door persisted, but I could almost tune them out now. Apollo leaned back agains
"Useless," I muttered, shaking my head and leaning further into the armrest of the sofa. The fabric felt damp, and I shifted again, trying to touch as little of it as possible.Apollo leaned back against the wall, his legs stretched out and his arms crossed over his chest. He looked as though he were perfectly comfortable, but I knew better. He thrived on tension, and this situation was no different. A heavy silence settled between us, but it was far from peaceful. The noises from outside—the cries, the moans, the unmistakable sound of a furniture slamming against a wall—filled the void like an unwelcome guest."You've changed," Apollo finally said, his voice cutting through the cacophony. I turned to him, my expression flat and unimpressed. "What?" "What you did out there…" he trailed off, his tone strangely contemplative, though the familiar edge of derision lingered."I don't see anything wrong with seducing my husband," I replied sharply, emphasizing the word ‘husband' with veno
You know how sometimes things don't go as planned? Well, my situation was one of those.At first, everything seemed to be going perfectly. I had managed to get under Apollo's skin so effectively that he stormed off, his face tight with fury. Victory tasted sweet—at least for a fleeting moment. With him out of the picture, Rominic was mine, entirely mine. We flirted, trading sharp smiles and lingering glances that set my skin ablaze. We kissed, his hands firm yet teasing, and for a brief while, the club's chaotic energy seemed to fade into the background. Then, as if the universe couldn't let me revel for too long, Lilith and a group of men I'd pointed out started brawling. Rominic and Phineas stepped in, practically dragging them apart before things got bloody. They saved lives; I mostly tried not to get crushed.And somehow—still baffling to me—I ended up here. In the mixed-gender restroom. With Apollo.Let me clarify: calling it a “restroom” was a cruel joke. There wasn't a toilet i
The bass-heavy music from the club reverberated through the walls as I stepped inside, the heavy scent of alcohol, sweat, and expensive cologne hitting me instantly. The lights pulsed in rhythmic patterns, casting shadows that danced across the crowded floor. Bodies moved in sync with the music, a chaotic symphony of energy and decadence.Beside me, Lilith was in her element. Her barely-there silver dress sparkled under the strobe lights, the hem so short it was a miracle it managed to cover her at all. She sauntered forward, her electric-blue eyes scanning the room with the eagerness of a predator sizing up its prey."Isn't this fun?" she chirped, her voice loud enough to cut through the music.I smirked at her. "You're certainly having the time of your life, Mrs. Zǐmò." I say, intentionally reminding her about who's she married to and the possibility of him destroying this club if any man should lay their hands on her.Lilith shot me a wink—ignoring me—before sashaying ahead, her dy
I sat cross-legged on the bed, my laptop balanced precariously on my knees as the soft hum of its fan filled the room. The faint scent of sweet peas lingered in the air from the diffuser on the nightstand, mingling with the faint aroma of vanilla shampoo from Savia and Serenity's braiding session.Lilith sprawled on her stomach on the other end of the bed, her dyed pink hair spilling over her shoulders as she kicked her legs lazily in the air. Her electric blue eyes gleamed with mischief as she rambled on and on about her latest escapade in the digital world."So, there I was," Lilith began, her voice animated, "watching this idiot try to bypass a firewall that I set up in, like, ten seconds. And guess what? The guy thought using a brute-force algorithm would work. Can you believe that? Brute force! In this times! What is he, a caveman?"Zachary, seated on the floor beside the bed, leaned forward with an intrigued expression. "Wait, what kind of firewall? Was it encrypted with—""Trip
As she scurried away, still visibly dazed, Apollo watched her go with a satisfied grin. "Too easy," he murmured under his breath as he took a seat beside Phineas."You ever get tired?" I asked with irritation.Apollo shrugged, brushing his long hair over his shoulder. "Of what? Being this irresistible? Never."Phineas snorted, picking his phone back up.Apollo leaned back in his chair, the dim light catching the faint shimmer in his silver eyes. His smirk returned, sharper now, almost taunting. "You know," he said, his tone taking on a biting edge, "you're wasting your godly features on Lavender."My grip tightened around the glass in my hand, the faint creak of the strain barely audible over the music. "Careful," I said, my voice low and firm, each word deliberate. "Lavender is my wife, and you'll show her respect."His smirk faltered for just a moment, his eyes flickering with something I couldn't quite place—was it irritation? Jealousy? But just as quickly, he scoffed, looking away