Rui continued to coax Phyllis to calm her down. But no matter how patient she usually is, Phyllis' disheveled look made her scrunch her nose. “Stop crying, girl. Your mascara is smudging already. It's not cute.” “Really? I used waterproof mascara today…” “Girl, use sex-proof mascara next time. It's proven and tested,” Rui casually suggested. “What the hell, you filthy woman! If you're going to brag about your sex life, then go away!” Rui shrugged her shoulders. “I'm just suggesting useful tips to you, but can you fix yourself first? You don't want to let them see this kind of look, right?” Phyllis dejectedly wiped her tears. “Yeah... Go get your makeup kit.” Her bossy attitude made Rui's eyebrows arch. “Excuse me? My husband doesn't even let me do chores in the house. How can you boss me around?” Phyllis pouted as she tapped Rui's shoulder. “He's your husband. He's supposed to serve you. But I am your bestie, you're supposed to support me.” “You're too much! I don't underst
Inside Zacharias' room, the dejected Phyllis lay down on the bed with a blanket covering her entire body and face. She did not even bother looking at the music albums that were displayed in her idol's room. All the rare Luna albums are displayed neatly inside a glass cabinet. If she was feeling okay, she would have a look at all these. But with the shock that she just received, she doesn't have the energy to do so. Zacharias went inside his room with a medicine kit and a glass of water in his hands. “Lis, how are you feeling?” He took out the thermometer from the kit to take her temperature. When he touched her earlier, he felt that her body was so hot. He slightly lifted the blanket to check on Phyllis’ condition since she wasn't responding. Phyllis, whom he thought was still awake, fell asleep with a fever. Her face was flushed red and her body was burning from fever. “What the hell, Lis?” he helplessly muttered as he rummaged through the kit for a fever patch. He doesn't ev
'Three PM sharp and she's still not here, huh? I guess I'll start without her.'1 “Engineer Lu? We will proceed with the presentation now,” said the head of Design and Manufacturing. Phyllis just nodded and gestured for him to go on. Halfway through the meeting, everyone was carefully taking notes and involved in serious discussion, when the door suddenly opened. A woman in a red dress entered the room with her sunglasses on. “How come you guys started without me?” Phyllis gave her a quick glance before turning her gaze to the reports that were scattered in front of her. “I thought I told you guys to lock the door?” Her assistant felt shivers run down her spine. Phyllis has always been friendly and easy to approach even if she's the precious daughter of the chairman. However, when it comes to a meeting with the finance department, she becomes cold. Sophia Martinez, the woman who entered, was the deputy of the finance department. She is hailed as the beautiful young geniu
“Tsk, tsk. Girlie is trying to piss me off when I can uncover her secrets in a few clicks,” Phyllis murmured as she watched the door slam shut. She gathered her things before going out of the conference room. “Engineer Lu, when are you going to visit the office again so we can arrange a dinner with you,” one of the senior engineers asked. “Aiya, engineer, I'll go here tomorrow so we can eat out! It's been a while since our last gathering. So please invite everyone so I can treat them as well!” she responded in a cheerful manner. The senior engineer just chuckled after seeing Phyllis go back to her usual sunny self. “Okay, okay! But Phyllis, don't worry about the bout that you had with the finance deputy. Even if our project gets delayed, you don't have to worry since it will eventually come.” “I understand, engineer... I just don't want to waste everyone's efforts by delaying it for a few days.” In the engineering department, Phyllis is considered the baby. None of the engin
Angela's face flushed as soon as she saw Phylian standing behind her. “P-phylian!” “Who are you?” he indifferently asked. “I-I'm Angela! We were classmates in high school!” “Really? I don't remember you.” He then turned to his sister, who was holding multiple clothing articles. “Sis, are you still not done?” “Nope, not yet. Why?” “...” Phylian was about to say something, but he hesitated because Angela was still not leaving them alone. “Do you mind leaving us alone, miss?” Still, with her head in the air, Angela's eyes twinkled as she stared at Phylian's almond eyes. “But I wanted to catch up with my old classmates. Is that not allowed?” she meekly asked with a soft voice. And with her fake angelic voice, Phyllis felt irritated. She knew that Angela had a crush on her brother back in high school. However, she did not expect that she would still feel the same for Phylian. If she was a little bit friendly, Phyllis would have helped her get to know her brother. But,
The next day, Phyllis woke up late again. This is something that she's slowly getting used to. Zacharias would go to bed late, so it doesn't really bother her at all. Besides, the bed is big and wide for the two of them. There's no need to fear ever getting entangled with each other. He was right, she did not even feel his presence whenever they were sleeping on the same bed. As usual, she lazed around the bed while scrolling through her phone. She was quite active on social media. She usually shares photos and videos based on her mood. And by just casually posting stuff online, she gathered a few followers. Her NikNok account has 150k followers to this date. She would always post a short recording of her gameplay on this account. And she posted her photos on her Ninstagram account, which has 10k followers. Most of the notifications she saw were from her NikNok account. Lots of her followers frantically commented on the new video that she posted. [Woah! What?! You're this pret
Inside one of Gem Entertainment's practice rooms, a well-built man was dancing along with the loud music that echoed in the room. His body curled as he slowly kneeled down on the floor. Sweat dripped down on his sculpted body smoothly. With one final sway, he finished the routine. Exhausted from the intense routine that he came up with, Cassiel lay down on the cold floor that was wet from his sweat. He tried to catch his breath with his arms covering his eyes. “Hah… So fucking tired…” He swiftly rose from the floor to wipe his body dry. He chugged down his water while looking at the pile of gifts that they had received. Weirdly enough, his gaze was fixated on the bear's eyes. Initially, he thought that the bear was quite weird. His one eye was subtly emitting a glint of red light. Out of curiosity, he walked towards the spot of gifts and crouched down. He picked up the bear and looked closely at its eyes. Steady red light. A light, tiny enough to be overlooked. Then,
“Come to think of it, Engr. Lu, you said you were married in a trending video recently. Are you really married?” “Yeah… You're even wearing a beautiful wedding ring!” Phyllis just awkwardly laughed. She tried to ignore their questions by focusing on grilling the pork. “Aiya~ Why are you being so mysterious now, Phyllis? Are you dating your idol? Is he the one named Zach or the one named Rain?” This question made Phyllis chuckle. Of course, her colleagues would ask this. Apart from work details, they would only hear her talk about her beloved idols. She frequently talks about them, and as a result, the senior engineers have become familiar with them. “Yes! I did marry Zach!” she bragged. And of course, just like how Angela did not believe that she was married, her colleagues also did not. How can a girl so immersed in fangirling be married? “Nice joke, Engr. Lu!” “I actually almost believed it because you were wearing a ring on your left hand!” They all laughed as they ima
Zacharias remembered the moment when his childhood playmate, Phyllis, developed a fear of blood because of an incident when they were young. After that incident, he limited his visits to her as she was attending therapy. He felt guilty for what happened to her. If they did not play in their house on that day, then perhaps, none of it would have happened. Now that 15 years have passed since that incident, the memories still remain vivid. But thankfully, it's only him that remembered, not Phyllis. Seated comfortably in a coffee shop in East City, he sipped his coffee as he waited for Hill, his online friend that he impulsively invited for a coffee. 'He said he'll wear the Grand Monster hoodie that we bought online…' He looked around and saw no one who wore the same hoodie that he was wearing. Cling-ring! The sound of the door chime ringing prompted Zacharias to look at the entrance. There he saw a person wearing the Grand Monster hoodie. But… That person is not someone who
On a sunny day in the Lohr family's mansion, two little kids were playing in the garden. Zacharias was happily playing with the three years old Phyllis, who was the daughter of the family next door. “Aiash, hide and sheek! Hide and sheek!” The little Phyllis yelled as she ran around the garden with Zacharias chasing behind her. “I'm coming to get you!” he teased as he grabbed her arms. Phyllis playfully giggled as she shook her arms away from Zacharias. “Hahaha! No more tag! Hide and sheek now!” she requested from her playmate. “Okay, okay. Let's rest first.” He then led her to lean against the tree. “Aiash, let's play more games when Lian gets home!” CRASH! The loud sound startled the little girl which prompted her to hold onto Zacharias' shirt. “Aiash, Aiash,” she nervously gripped his shirt. “WINSTON I HATE YOU!” CRASH! CRASH! “Stop it Victoria! Zach will hear you!” Screams from the inside of the house can be heard from the garden. Zacharias, who was so us
“You…” her voice quivered as her hands started to loosen her grip on the handle.She lightly opened the door, enough for him to enter. But because of her fear of confrontation, she still hid behind the door. Her eyes were shut, still nervous about meeting him again after how many days. She knows it’s him. She knows him by his voice. She knows him by his scent. She knows him by heart. THUMPTHUMPTHUMPHis clean scent smelled like home is getting stronger. ‘He’s near…’‘He’s here…’Her heart thumped violently as the excitement, happiness, guilt, fear, sadness, and anxiety fill her in. She felt everything all at once. But it did not feel suffocating for her. Rather, she felt so comfortable, like she was in her safest place.“I’m here now,” he whispered as he pulled her into his arms. ‘I… I’m home…’She gripped his shirt tightly as she guiltily shed tears. “I’m sorry…”“I’m sorry for leaving, Aias… I’m sorry…” she said in between her cries. Zacharias hugged her tightly and said
“Phyllis, where are you?! Your husband went here and told us what happened! Why did you suddenly leave?!” The moment that Phyllis settled in her hotel room, the loud voice of her mom reached her ears. “Mom, calm down…” “Calm down?! You did not tell us that you're going out of the country and you expect me to calm down?! You did not even answer all of my calls earlier! We were so worried!” “Zacharias told me you wanted to get away from the press and we understand that… But you have to at least inform us so we can make necessary arrangements for you!” Phyllis held her phone tightly as she braced herself for her mother's scolding. “Mom…” “You're not a teenager anymore, you're an adult! You don't have to tell us everything that you do but you have to at least not make us worry!” Phyllis sat at the edge of the bed and quietly listened to her mom speak. She did not have the heart to respond to her, especially if she knows that she was in the wrong. “Phyllis, I know you're stres
"Sir, we've already cleared them off.” Zacharias peeked through the window to see if there were still some people from the press. They were quite easy to spot. They're usually wearing face masks and caps with huge cameras in tow. Seeing that there was none, he turned to Phyllis, who was busy packing his stuff. “Good. Please get the car ready, we're going down now,” he said on the phone. He then tucked his phone inside his pocket and approached Phyllis. “Is there anything else we need to pack, babe?” Phyllis just shook her head and said, “Nope, I got it, babe.” Just as she was about to head out while carrying the tote bag, she was hugged by Zacharias from her back. His strong arms embraced her dainty shoulders and whispered, “I miss you…” Phyllis, who was still not over with the commotion from earlier, dismissed him with a tap on his arms. “Don't be ridiculous, we're literally together. How can you miss me?” He inched his body closer to hers, letting her feel the warmth of
With all the controversy about the Klein family, they were completely mobbed by reporters, trying to get a statement from them. In just a matter of two days, the kind-hearted mayor disappeared from the public. Soon after the various documents that were reported, another video went viral. It was a video of Mayor Klein mocking the poor victims of a fire that destroyed a small neighborhood in the city. The area was small and a little cramped and so firetrucks had a hard time killing the fire until it ate the majority of the houses. In the video, the mayor was smiling to the public and promised to help them as much as he can as he helped with the distribution of basic necessities like food and clothing. But the next clip showed him mocking the victims because they were dirtying his beautiful city. His statement instantly gained critics. His image as the kind and caring mayor of Lieren City was crushed in a matter of seconds. No one likes a politician who looks down on his people. “
A large amount of Rohypnol content was found in his lab results. And contrary to what Phyllis suspected, the drug was not laced in the microchip but on the needle itself. Zacharias woke up after three long hours and is currently resting. He's just waiting for the drug to leave his body. The microchip was also taken out of his arm per his request and Phyllis' insistence. “Babe, please stop crying… The chip is already taken out…” Zacharias consoled Phyllis, who was sitting beside his bed. She has been taking care of him earnestly and has not taken a good sleep since the incident. He gently patted her back to comfort her. “I'm sorry… I'm so so sorry… We were researching microchips, babe…” “Hick—and the person who made that was a colleague of mine… If only I did not introduce this technology to him,” she said in between her sobs. She felt incredibly guilty about what happened to Zacharias. “Babe, it's not your fault. It's all on Tiffany who orchestrated all this, okay? It'
The ambulance rushed to the hospital with the unconscious Zacharias, Phyllis, and Leila cramped inside. Now that Phyllis got Zacharias to safety, everything that went down earlier started to finally sink in. When she attacked the bulky man with her heels, it did not cross her mind that some of the blood would squirt on her face. Her hands started to tremble at the sight of blood on her cheeks. She then tapped Leila and murmured in her shaking voice, “Blood…” Noticing the few streaks of blood on Phyllis' face, she hurriedly wiped them off with her blouse. “Shh, it's gone now…” She held Phyllis' hands and gently massaged them. “Okay, breathe with me…” “Inhale…” “Exhale…” “Inhale…” “Exhale…” Leila guided Phyllis with her breathing exercise. Rui taught everyone in their circle how to properly assist Phyllis in case she was triggered. Physical manifestations such as trembling, trouble breathing, and fainting were seen when Phyllis was last triggered. They continued with the bre
A loud thud resounded inside the men's comfort room as Zacharias fell to the floor. His consciousness slowly faded as he tried to reach out for his phone in his pocket. Soon after, a small red light blinked from his right arm. A girl inside a luxurious hotel room tapped the screen on her tablet, revealing a location in Dixon City. “Hurry and bring him up,” she said on the phone. “Got it, miss.” Satisfied with the turn of events, she took a good sip of her pink moscato. “I'll have to thank Auntie Vic for revealing the group's location for tonight.” She giggled as she browsed Phyllis' Ninstagram account. The simple photos posted made Tiffany sneer. She hated Phyllis' perfect life. She despised how Phyllis was cherished by her rich family. She envied how she was surrounded by a successful group of friends. She detested how she excelled academically and in her work. Above all, she hated how she got her crush just because she was his childhood friend. After getting humiliated