Everyone who passed through the road could not help but feel suspicious of Dylan, thinking he might have maltreated me. But we both ignored them. Our eyes were fixed on each other and were waiting for one another to say something. "I cared for you, Elaine. Always, and you know that," he replied before he lifted his head to the cold gloaming sky. "But what I don't understand was when you leave me without saying goodbye or telling me about how you truly feel about me." My brain froze all of a sudden upon hearing his last sentence. I was supposed to be pleased by the sound of it but emptiness and hopelessness dominated my heart and mind as though the truth behind those words were filled with bitterness. "That night in your apartment," he continued, "I heard every word you whispered to me that night. You kissed me and you said you love me. Was that the reason you resigned?" "Do you even hear yourself, Dylan?" I scoffed in disbelief, "Does your wife know that you're her
As I was about to head out, my phone kept ringing, not because someone was calling, but because I received non-stop messages from most of the people who knew me in New York, including Lalaine, Ghino, and Dylan. While thinking about what to do about our disrupted conversation, I scanned my inbox and read as many messages as possible. "Elaine, where are you? You disappeared in the middle of the wedding without a word to me. Are you sick? Want me to bring you some medicine?" The message was sent from Ghino an hour after Dylan and Maureen's wedding. "Please call me once you get this message. I'm on my way to my condo now. Call or text me if you need anything. Got it?" "I love you! Please, don't stress yourself out because your best friend married someone else. You deserve someone better. That's me." "So, please, give me a call once you get this." "Good night!" "Good morning, Elaine. I'll be dropping by Dylan's office this morning, in fact, I'm on my way now
While waiting for Noah to get back, I could not help but grit my fingernails while pacing from corner to corner. I even remained standing behind the door to make sure I could do something when someone wanted to come in. I glanced at Dylan who still kept on shivering. This time, he started mumbling. A part of me wanted to bring him to the hospital but I forgot we don't have one in the province. Our house was even a few meters away from the main road. Needless to say, the rain was pouring outside. After a few minutes of pacing from side to side, I remembered about reaching out to someone in New York to get the bottom of what happened. So I mustered the courage to open Dylan's messages. "Elaine? Where are you right now? Please, call me back. I missed you so much." From his very first message, my hardened heart melted in an instant, allowing me to gather my shattered and hidden feelings for him for seven years. Dylan never said such things like that since the begin
Noah secretly kicked my foot underneath the table, his sign of telling me to do something before everything went out of hand. Before we get busted, considering Dad was already furious about seeing Dylan. Worst-case scenario. Dad might not just point the tip of his pistol toward Dylan but to me and Noah. I could not help but bite the lower corner of my lips while holding onto that thought. I need to do something real quick. "Because Brother Noah kept on playing online games late at night. He kept cursing and punching the walls." John Dave continued. "Sometimes, I even caught him cooking and drinking in the middle of the night. He eats a lot." "He got me, Mom, Dad," Brother Noah faked a smile before he blinked at me. "I had insomnia. Playing late at night helped me fall asleep." "Better quit that kind of habit, Noah," Dad replied, and his suspicion of us started to subside. "Eating food late at night is unhealthy for your body. And so should you, Elaine." "By
"As much as I hate the fact that you don't like me anymore and want to forget our eight years of friendship, I'm gonna respect your decision, Elaine. Thank you so much for everything you have done for me." Those were Dylan's last words before he finally evacuated the house for good. His heavy feeling even left footprints in the room. But the one thing that I regretted about his disappearance was when he did not get the chance to tell me about his company. He was the CEO of his dad's company but he chose to tell his side of the story from my disappearance. I did some digging earlier while waiting for my parents to fall asleep. The news claimed that his CEO position in the company might be affected by his dad's passing. All his relatives, including Ghino, questioned his capacity to lead the empire his family built over the years. On top of that, the cops did not even have the final verdict of the case if it was an ordinary accident or murder. Dylan never mentioned anything about it
Ghino was about to put his hand on top of my shoulder, but I was taken by surprise when Noah applied what he learned from his marshal arts lessons by kicking my boyfriend's balls. Hard enough he moaned helplessly in pain on and before he crouched to the ground. "What's wrong with you, you son of a bitch? Do you have a death wish, huh?" I cannot blame Ghino for uttering such profanity even in front of me when I could feel his excruciating pain after getting kicked. I cannot blame my brother for what he did either. He was simply protecting me from harm since I forgot to mention anything that someone would pick us up from the port. Protecting me from any kind of harm, including those who wanted to take advantage of me being a woman was what he promised my parents on joining me on getting back to New York City. On the other hand, Ghino was well aware that I would be getting back to the apartment with my older brother. He knows my brother's name, however, he knows no
"Do you mind to discuss the reason with me as well?" Ghino replied, his voice sounding a bit hesitant for some reason. "I mean, Elaine and I are in a relationship. As her boyfriend, I am concerned for her well-being." They were supposed to be uncle and nephew by blood but why am I having these weird feelings that something was going on between them? Perhaps it does have something to do with Don Romulado's death. We already met the two brothers, yet neither of them told me anything about the incident. They acted in front of me as if they were not affected by it. "Well, I respected your relationship with Ms. Elaine, Ghino. I really do. But I'm afraid this business is in between me and her. It was already late, young man, go home, you still have an early flight back to France." Mr. Dex clapped Ghino's shoulder before he stepped foot into the apartment. That I didn't know. Ghino mentioned nothing about his flight back to France. Don't even know how long he will be sta
Last night, while waiting for my brother to get back to the apartment, I reached out to Dylan and informed him about his Uncle's unexpected visit along with his tempting work proposal. I told him everything he proposed to me including, triple salary and weekday off. But just like I expected from Dylan, his expression did not even change at all as though he already expected his uncle to know about my new apartment. Just like what Mr. Dex told me last night. He doesn't need Dylan or Ghino to tell him about me. For me, there might be something, a reason, that his uncle approached me all of a sudden. "Woooh!" Noah eagerly breathed, "Now, I was pretty convinced that my little sister had such a charismatic appearance. Well, what else could I say, we shared the same blood." Then strode closer to Dylan and shrugged off as though they became really that close after staying in his room. "You know what? Even his boyfriend, what's his name again?" "My brother, Ghino?" Dyl
"What do you mean you sold everything in our store?" Dad, out of the blue, appeared behind Dylan. He was drunk and was even carrying a bottle of alcohol in his hand. Never in my life, I have seen Dad getting drunk. I heard John Dave came home from school earlier but he was alone. But now he came home drunk. And it made me worried, believing he would lash out at Dylan. "Look, Mr. Fisher." Dylan insisted, ignoring Dad's zig-zag pace and twirling head. "I sold everything in your store..." To our surprise, Dad furiously smashed the bottle of alcohol to the ground with no signs of hesitation even if the fact that any of us might get hurt by it. The shattered sound when the bottle broke into pieces reverberated in my ears. Nervousness shivered down my spine as I remembered the last time Dylan visited the house. Dad, because he couldn't hold onto his anger, pointed the tip of his rifle straight into Dylan's head at that time. I don't want what happened in the past to
One month later. In the middle of our journey back to the province, I put my hand on Dylan's thigh while he was driving to see his reaction. The trip back to the province will be boring so I decided to break the ice. "Uh-ah!" Dylan quickly blurted as though he already knew what I was trying to do. "What?" I asked him teasingly, pretending to know nothing. "Don't do it." He said. "Don't do what?" I asked again, but I was trying harder not to laugh at his expression. His eyes were still focused on the road. "Don't start something you ain't gonna finish ma'am." "What are you talking about?" For the third time, I asked him, and this time, I started to laugh at his partly irritated and funny reaction. My little plan somehow worked out. To tease him. To make him laugh throughout our entire trip. I crazily missed Dylan's smile that much. It has been a month since all our problems have been fixed yet I barely see him smiling. "You know dang well what I
The armored car roared down the desolate road, its engine humming with power. My heart raced, worries and fears cursing through my veins as I gripped the handrail tightly. Our eyes were fixed on the two cars ahead of us. The last image my eyes captured was Maureen and Bernard joining in one car while the rest of them used the other car. "Since when did you know about the truth?" Dylan asked, his voice started to get calm, but the speed of the car kept accelerating. I couldn't let go of my eyes to the road, but Dylan deserved to know the truth, so replied without looking at him, "Since last night. I caught Ghino - I mean, Bernard Scarlette, talking to Maureen over the phone. And I heard his confession with my own ears. He confessed all his crimes." "And they are going to pay for what they did to Dad and Ghino," he answered back with conviction. "I'll use everything to catch them even in hell." So he stepped onto the accelerator and sped up the car twice the spee
"Elaine, can you hear me?" Another voice reverberated in my ears all of a sudden. "It's me, Noah. Listen to me, okay? The result came out. And the man who killed..." "What the hell is going on?" The head of the mission cut off Brother Noah's words. "Stop intervening, Noah. Elaine is in the middle of her negotiation now. We can't stop now." he insisted before he ordered. "Cut off everyone's line apart from mine. God damn it!" "No. Let him talk first. It's part of my plan. I need some information from him," I begged without moving the corner of my lips, and my undivided attention was focused on those men in masks across from me. "Are you deaf or something?" one of the masked men yelled. "Bring us the money." "Elaine, listen to me. What I found out was fucking insane." Brother Noah continued, making it hard for me to decide whether to answer the kidnappers or wait for his confession. "Proceed, Brother Noah. I'm listening, but I can only give you two minutes. We d
I could not believe a murderer just passed through me and acted as if nothing happened. But how? How did it happen? Since when did he fabricate Ghino's face? What did I miss? How come I did not notice it when I got back to New York? Those were the questions that remained unanswered and were running wild inside my helpless brain. Right. I remember now. On the day I went back from Tennessee. The first place that I went to visit was the office. And he wrapped his arms around me the second he saw me. I noticed that his body lost body weight. Ghino, who is in his right mind, wouldn't lose body weight that much in just a month of me being gone. "Are just gonna stand there, Elaine?" The impostor asked again without looking at me. His eyes were fixed on the newspapers he was holding. "Right, Ms. Elaine. Have you forgotten anything?" Lalaine approached me and held my hand to check if something was wrong with me. "Umm... Yeah, I forgot to bring my phone." Luckily I alrea
That was one for a fact. Maureen had every right to debate with Don Romualdo's lawyers as it was completely ridiculous. I mean, who am I to the family? Mr. and Mrs. Spencer simply hired me to be Dylan's secretary, nothing more, nothing less. It also made me wonder why me, a mere secretary, instead of Ghino who comes from their flesh and blood. No matter how hard I tried to think of one good reason to support their claim, my brain couldn't get one. Neither Don Romualdo, when he was still alive, nor Dylan told me about it either. "Please, enlighten us, Attorney," Ghino asked, breaking the awkward stares between me and Maureen. Mr. Vargas then slid a piece of brown envelope across from us. I was about to reach out to it but Maureen preceded me. She checked inside and studied it for a few seconds. All of us, including Ghino, drew several long curved lines while waiting for the piece of paper to drop on the table so we could read it. Instead of waiting, I tried to read
Before that assumption happened, I mustered the courage and broke the silence, "My apologies, no matter how many times, I know, is not even enough to make you feel better. I cannot turn back time either. But it was not my intention to harm them. They were the kindest couple I have ever known my whole life." "But why of all the places had to be my parents, huh? He's a goddamn billionaire. You two could have rented an expensive hotel, run away to other countries, or buy a house. You two were old enough not to know how risky your situations are. Why?" "From the bottom of my heart, I'm so sorry about it, I really do," I replied, my voice barely above a whisper. Then I lifted my eyes to the ceiling to avoid the tears from pouring. "Dylan and I simply wanted to live a simple life, away from those who try to separate us." But no matter how hard I tried begging, stopping the tears from pouring, they were beyond my control. They flooded my cheeks like an open faucet with the ut
Dad and Mom were left with no other choice but to tell me everything Ghino told them earlier. It turned out that based on the police officer's assumptions, those people who killed Mr. and Mrs. Delaven might not heard the latest press conference I made. So they assumed that Dylan was kidnapped to ask for more from the Spencers instead of the five million dollar bounty. However, they advised us to keep an eye on our phones from time to time, believing the kidnappers, whoever they were, would call one of us sooner or later. But I couldn't wait for the kidnappers to call me. Waiting for an hour while doing nothing would be a nightmare for me. So, I asked Mom and Dad that I wanted to go to the farm ASAP to check it myself - to get anything - clues or signs, perhaps Dylan left something before he was kidnapped. At first, Mom and Dad highly disagreed as it was too risky for me to travel back to Tennessee that late. But I insisted and burst into tears because I needed to see M
"Let go of me, you fucking slut!" Maureen continued as she attempted to remove my grip. I know she was not the kind of woman who wanted to get beaten up by someone like me. She would rather use everything in her power to get rid of everyone who dared bark at her or cross her path. Just like what she did to me and Dylan. Maureen was definitely the perfect female version of the devil; arrogant, bigoted, close-minded, greedy, hypocritical, and all the negative traits in the world. She was comparable to a cute and lovely pup in front of you. But once you turned your face and back around, she shifted into a huge poisonous anaconda snake. She will use her tail to encircle your whole body, bite your neck until your blood floods the floor, gets numbed, and begs her to spare your life. That's what she really is. However, I already decided not to get stepped on by someone like Maureen. So I held her hands harder than she could ever imagine. She was about to use her left