“He’ll find his rhythm. Kids are resilient like that,” Dwayne said with quiet confidence. Hearing him say that, so sure and calm, I almost felt like I was… reporting to someone checking in with me after a long day? It was a strange sensation, one that crept up on me so suddenly that I had to shake
(ARIELLE'S POV) A few days later, I was at work, with the incident with Jared pushed behind me, and long forgotten. I had hired Stephen the day after his interview, despite his cringe-worthy attempts at flattery. “Love at first sight,” he’d said, which I brushed off as nothing more than an embarr
(STEPHEN'S POV) As I walked into the dining area to discuss some document details with Arielle, I was completely unprepared for what I saw. There she stood, laughing softly with a strikingly handsome man. I tried to dismiss the thoughts swirling in my head, convincing myself he was just a custom
(ARIELLE’S POV) After leaving the restaurant, Dwayne and I strolled through the city, enjoying the feel of the warm sun on our skin. I still couldn't believe he was really here, walking beside me. Our daily calls and messages weren't the same as having him physically present. "I'm still in shock,
(JARED'S POV) I was seated in the cafe, glancing at my wristwatch for what felt like the hundredth time. Arielle hasn't responded to my recent call or text. I was starting to get worried. Has she changed her mind about meeting me? Just as I was about to call her again, someone walked into my line
(ARIELLE’S POV) I returned home feeling a whirlwind of different things in my mind. My eyes were open, but not quite focused on anything in particular. It felt like I stood at a crossroads, burdened by the weight of past choices and the one glaring decision looming ahead. I sighed with relief, t
I shook my head sadly as my eyes welled up with tears. “Woah, honey. It’s okay,” my mother said soothingly as she sat beside me on the sofa and took me in her arms. “You’re okay. Do you want to talk about it?” she asked softly. “It’s all just so overwhelming,” I began. I narrated everything that h
(REBECCA’S POV) I showed up to work with a ready smile on my face, not for anything in particular —because the day was just as ordinary as any other. I moved through the motions of my role at the restaurant with efficient muscle memory for most of the day. “Who’s taking the order for table eight?
(DWAYNE’S POV.) For moments after Arielle spoke I remained silent, clenching and unclenching my fists in fury. I gritted my teeth so hardly they might have turned into fine power under the pressure. Nothing made sense. Jared opened his mouth to speak and closed it. Arielle remained silent herself,
(ARIELLE'S POV)In Flåm, a small town in Norway, I experienced the most peaceful autumn and early winter of my life. When I first arrived with Dwayne, the country was bathed in autumn colors—crisp air, golden leaves, and a quiet stillness that seemed to soften the weight of my soul.Three months pas
(ARIELLE'S POV) In Flåm, a small town in Norway, I experienced the most peaceful autumn and early winter of my life. When I first arrived with Dwayne, the country was bathed in autumn colors—burnt orange, deep crimson, and golden leaves that drifted lazily through the crisp air. There was a stillness here, a kind of quiet that softened the weight pressing on my soul. I had forgotten what it felt like to breathe without pain, to exist without the ache of memories gnawing at my mind. Three months passed. Winter arrived, blanketing the town in a hushed white serenity. The air grew sharper, filled with the scent of frost, and the world around me slowed. The cold should have bitten into my skin, but strangely, I felt nothing—neither the chill nor the warmth of the crackling fireplace inside my little ranch. My heart had been numb for so long, it didn’t know how to thaw. Dwayne wasn’t by my side all the time. In fact, our one-on-one moments were so rare I could count them on one hand
Regaining my composure, I exchanged a concerned glance with Mrs. Meyers before following Maverick. My heart pounded in my chest, a terrible weight pressing down on me with each step toward Arielle’s room. We found him there—his small arms wrapped so tightly around his mother that his little fingers turned white from the force of his grip. He buried his face into her, as if holding her close could somehow fix everything, as if his warmth could pull her back from the abyss she was slipping into. But Arielle didn’t react. She didn’t move, didn’t acknowledge the desperate embrace of the little boy who loved her more than anything in this world. She just sat there. Silent. This was what I had been trying to avoid, I wanted to shield Maverick from this, from watching his mother fade away in front of his eyes. But it seemed I was doing a bad job. I stood there, helpless. I wanted to pull Maverick away, tell him that everything was going to be okay, that I would fix this so
(JARED'S POV)I remained in that position, rocking Arielle gently, until her trembling subsided and she fell asleep in my arms. I gently laid her down on the bed, making sure not to disturb her. As I stepped back, the door went open and Mrs Meyers stepped in.“What happened?” She asked, her eyes bearing concern as they landed on the scattered remains of the herbal tea package on the floor.I hesitated, conflicted about my response. “It's nothing,” I said finally, trying to wave it aside. “It just slipped from my hand.” I didn't want to hurt her but telling her the truth.Her eyes narrowed slightly in disbelief, but she didn't press the issue. Instead, she nodded and said, “Alright, I'll have it cleaned up.”I tried to protest, but she waved me off. “Was there any progress?” Her gaze drifted to Arielle, who was still sleeping peacefully.I shook my head, feeling bad about being the bearer of the bad news. “Not much.”She nodded, but I saw her eyes cloud over with disappointment. I felt
She turned to me, eyes burning with rage and something deeper—something more painful. Something I had never seen before. “I do not need your pity or acts of charity. Do you think I don't know how you see me now? You think I'm a broken and useless woman, don't you?” I was momentarily tongue tied as I gaped at her in shock. “Arielle, I–” “Do you think throwing money at this will fix it?” Her voice cracked, but the fire in it was unrelenting. “Do you think you can just buy back the part of me that’s already dead?”I took a step forward, my hands held out in a placating gesture. “I'll find a solution, I promise I will, Arielle, please...” “You don’t get it.” She took a shaky breath, hands curling into fists. “I don’t care about expensive ingredients. I don’t care about world-class chefs. I don’t care about any of it because none of it matters anymore!”She was screaming now, and it made my chest ache. She never yelled. Not like this. I tried to steady my voice, to hold on to reason, be
(Jared's POV) I stepped out of my car and into the familiar driveway. I paused, looking up at Arielle's house, a sense of trepidation gripping my chest. It was ironic how visiting here used to give me flutters in my chest, but now it gives me dread. Nothing seemed to matter anymore, not my company, not the countless business deals, just Arielle. And whenever I visited, I wished it was under a different circumstance and things were different. As I approached the front door, it swung open, revealing Mrs Meyers. Her eyes, once bright and vibrant, now looked sunken. Poor woman. The weight of her daughter's struggles had taken a toll on her, and my heart went out to her. “Jared,” she called, her voice barely a whisper as she stepped aside to let me in. “Hi, Mrs Meyers. How are you doing?’ I asked, trying to sound cheerful despite how gloomy I was. She waved her hand dismissively, a faint smile on her lips. “I'm fine, Jared. Don't worry about me. She's upstairs,” she said pointing a
He came round the back of the house, his hands in his pockets, while his face was set in a solemn smile. I didn’t need to look up to see the pity in his eyes. I felt like a patient with a terminal disease, one tick of the clock away from my grave.“You’ve been almost non-existent for awhile now,” he began.I remained silent, my eyes still fixed on the empty nothingness before me.“I just thought the longer I waited to tell you this… I’m afraid for you, Arielle. I’m bot saying you won’t survive this. It’s just… You deserve to know the truth at least before…”“Before I die?” I’d asked with a bitter smile. And he went silent for moments afterwards.“I was going to say before anything happens..,” Michael’s voice was cut short by mother’s.“What do you want here? Have you come to do more damage than we already have to live with?” she cried with the righteous fury of a mother hen warding off a predator from her chick.What ensued was a long and heated argument between the two, with one party claimi
(ARIELLE’S POV)Time rolled by in a blur, with the days turning into weeks and the weeks into a month. I tried to get over the last incident at my doorstep, to cope with the new normal I’d come to accept as my life. I eventually had to give in to Jared and Dwayne’s plea to cooperate some more with the doctors. So my life became ridden with endless trips to the doctors’, tests almost every other day and more medicines to manage the effects of the toxin in my body.The cough disappeared completely and I could manage speaking for longer periods without the fear of sounding like an old frog on her dying bed. But there was nothing that could be done to remedy the numbness of my taste buds and inability to smell.I let out a sigh and tried to blink my thoughts away. But they clung to me like sweat on a hot summer afternoon. My mind traveled back a few days. I’d been shut off from the rest of the world for almost two weeks. Visitors were the least of my priority. I didn’t entertain them. Because