He grimaced. Even after a long and uncomfortable silence, he still did not elicit a response. He was trying to avoid the topic of divorce altogether. Sylvia pressed the issue. "Odell, have you read the divorce settlement agreement I sent you earlier?" The unnatural silence continued to ring in her ears. She turned her head to look at Odell, only to see him staring blankly ahead, the color on his face was drained completely. He held the steering wheel firmly with both hands and was doing his best to ignore her. Sylvia frowned. "Odell, say something.” He scowled. “We’ll talk about it when we get back.” His voice had become rather scratchy. There was a tint of exhaustion in his voice. Perhaps he was yet to get over what Tara did to him in the past, and how she made a fool out of him. He was still driving amid all this. Sylvia was beginning to get concerned that he would mistake the accelerator for the brake pad in his emotionally unstable state. “Alrigh
Sylvia had already bought a house here. After she divorced Odell, she planned to move here with Aunt Tonya and the children. Although it was slightly cut off from the central district, it was very close to the kindergarten. The environment was rather ideal and this proved to be a good place to settle down. After arriving, she carried her luggage into the house. In addition to her luggage, she had also ordered some furniture along with household essentials online, all of them which had arrived the same morning. After she was done putting away her luggage, the couriers arrived and pressed the doorbell. Sylvia began her busy day. Little did she know, the same black sports car from previously had tailed her while she was on the way here. The black sports car was now parked underneath the shade of trees right opposite the gates of her house. The man in the car lowered the car window and spied on Sylvia running around back and forth in the house. … It took the bett
Sylvia became speechless. She knew better than to search for his phone. With a disdainful glare, she told him, “I’ll get my phone and show you. Wait here.” “Hm.” Sylvia quickly went back to her room where the children were still sleeping soundly. Her phone was on the bedside table. After getting the phone, she ran out on her tiptoe, only to see a quiet and empty corridor. She frowned. She then walked to the next room and pounded on the door several times. "Odell, are you in there?” Nothing but a buzzing silence. She knocked several times, but still, there was no answer. She pondered for a moment, then she proceeded to call him. The moment the call was connected, she could vividly hear a phone’s ringtone coming from inside the room. It only rang twice before the automated message interrupted and informed, “The number you have dialed is currently unavailable”. The ringtone she heard coming from inside the room was cut off simultaneously. He was insi
Odell turned and stared at her with a fiery intensity in his eyes as he said in a deep voice, “I promise you that I won't get myself involved with her in the future. All I want is to live out the rest of my days with you, Isabel, and Liam. I want to watch them grow together as a family.” Sylvia narrowed her eyes. She remembered when she was pregnant, he was living in the house in Lake Victoria Villa with Tara. She remembered how she spent countless nights without sleep, thinking about what she could do to persuade him to change his mind. She recalled the moment she got the news that she was pregnant with twins, and the first thing she did was to go to him and share the good news with him. For all of that, what she got was essentially a half-year imprisonment, filled with repulsive looks cast at her all the time, not to forget the sixty slaps she received. When they remarried, she had a mind to live harmoniously with him. That was until he chose the words of Tara over her again
Sylvia slept with the children until the sun came up. After they washed up and made themselves ready for the day, they went to the living room and saw Odell sitting on the couch. He was wearing a black shirt that complemented his statue-like figure, still looking as handsome as always. She darted a glance at him and looked away. She took Isabel and Liam to the dining table. After they seated themselves, Odell joined them and sat on the opposite end of the table. He flashed a quick smile and greeted them, "Morning." She ignored him. Breakfast was served. Unlike the usual healthy breakfast prepared for them every day, the breakfast today was a wide array of snacks and bites you can find sold by vendors on the streets. These were all Sylvia's favorites. Sylvia was slightly taken aback. Then she pretended to not notice anything peculiar about it, proceeding to eat as if nothing worthwhile had happened. That was when a hand suddenly extended toward her plate an
Odell effortlessly took her into his arms. The corners of Sylvia’s mouth twitched before she got out of the car together with Liam. Taking Liam by the hand, she followed Odell and Isabel as they entered the gate of the kindergarten together. As usual, this was the time of the day when all the parents brought their children to the kindergarten. There was also a crowd of parents and children who were headed toward the entrance. Odell stood out amongst the crowd by virtue of his model-like appearance. Many mothers who were present caught themselves stealing glances at the handsome man. Even the kindergarten teachers were fawning amongst themselves. Sylvia paid no attention to the noise around her. She was silently walking with Liam when she heard Isabel exclaim at the top of her voice, “Candice, good morning!" Isabel was waving at a girl about her age with braided hair. The girl in question was with her father. Hearing Isabel's greeting, she turned in her direct
"..." Sylvia turned to look suspiciously at what the source of the crowd’s chatter was and noticed that Odell was walking towards her. He was wearing the same black shirt from this morning. Only this time, he also had a long overcoat over it since it was getting cold. His defined figure was very eye-catching to this crowd. Even the other good-looking fathers appeared to be quite ordinary when put in contrast to this dashing man who had appeared among them. He smiled as he walked toward her. It was a very subtle smile, but it had this strange effect of adding to his charm. Some of the mothers who were nearby covered their mouths as they gasped and fawned over him. Sylvia frowned and turned her away without looking at him. Odell appeared behind her. He inquired nonchalantly, "Where have you been all day today?" “None of your business.” Then, the school bell rang and the door opened. A group of children emerged in an orderly manner. Shortly after
The uncomfortable silence lasted until they reached the gates of Odell’s house. Odell got out of the car and went to carry the sleeping Isabel in his arms. Sylvia, meanwhile, carried Liam out of the car. They walked into the house together and went to the children’s bedroom, the one that Sylvia usually slept in with them. Upon entering, Sylvia placed Liam on the bed and turned to Odell, “Just put Isabel down, I'll take care of them." Odell did not answer. He deftly put Isabel on the bed, before going to the dresser where he found two sets of pajamas. Sylvia was bewildered by this. She watched as he promptly removed Isabel's little boots, coat, and trousers, all in an orderly fashion, and proceeded to put her in one of the pajama sets. Then, he did the same with Liam, taking off his shoes and clothes before putting on the pajamas for him. In no time, both siblings had been placed in the middle of the bed, and carefully covered with the quilt. He did all of
She was her usual self in every aspect. She put her heart into her job and never started trouble so long as nobody tried to start trouble with her. The crew cycled through their locations during their shoot. The constant travel made her skin break out slightly, but there were no other concerns otherwise. The shoot progressed very smoothly and within three months, they managed to wrap up everything at the mountainous region previously mentioned. It was nearly evening when they wrapped up the shoot. Holding a bouquet in hand, she took a group picture with the crew and celebrated with everyone. After that, she planned to hitch a ride with another crew member and leave for home. To their demise, some men in uniform who claimed to be the road maintenance technicians showed up to break the bad news to them. They mentioned that they had to repair some of the roads urgently and so the way home was temporarily obstructed. The director took his phone and called the city hotline fo
He remembered his first meeting with Isabel. She was sitting all by herself on the floor, in the middle of nowhere. Her vulnerable expression only made her more endearing. So, he managed to get her to go to his place and installed her in his home. He fell for her and paid careful attention to all her needs. It did not take long before Isabel caught feelings for him as well. The two of them got together in no time. Their days were plain and ordinary, but also very fulfilling, that was until he met Clarice. With the help of his father, his power struggle with Roland had reached a tipping point. It was at that opportune moment when Clarice’s father saw something in Roland and planned to wed his daughter Clarice to him to join up their families, which was a cause for alarm for Decker. He stressed over it for an entire night before approaching Clarice himself the very next day. Clarice quickly caught feelings for him as well. Furthermore, Roland had been foolish enough to reject
Decker was smiling quite earnestly at Isabel. Isabel threw a deeply suspicious look at him, then she glanced at the stack of documents laid out on top of the table in front of her. “Transferal of Shares.” She was dumbfounded. "I've gone through the contract, it’s safe to sign so go ahead.” Roland picked up a pen and handed it to her. "Roland, I..." "Sign it first, I’ll explain when we get home.” Isabel frowned and tried to protest. "I—" "Don't make me have to beg." Isabel did not know how to respond. Fine. She briefly scanned through the contract. The contract stated Decker’s agreement to transfer the remaining forty percent of his shares in Rockwell Corporation to her. Roland must have talked to the shareholders of Rockwell Corporation about this as well. They all regarded Isabel with polite smiles. Isabel had flipped through the final page of the document. She signed her name on one of the marked-out sections. She proceeded to sign all thr
They ended the call shortly after that. Isabel glanced at Martha and was hesitating if she should break the news right away. Martha seemed to have sensed her staring and suddenly turned to her with a flash of concern. "Isabel, what's wrong?" Isabel took a deep breath and broke the news. "Auntie, Master Rockwell just passed away." Martha's eyes widened. After a lengthy silence that lasted more than ten seconds, she started to break out in tears. She covered her face with her hands and expressed amid bouts of tears mixed with laughter, “Wonderful! About time! I hope he enjoys life in the underworld. God knows that someone like him will never deserve a spot in heaven!” Isabel did not know whether she should celebrate with Martha or console her. Soon, Martha began to collect herself. She briefly wiped away her tears and joyfully took Isabel's hand. "Isabel, let’s go shopping! I’m in such a good mood today, I’m going to go on a shopping spree!” "Okay. But Roland w
Isabel held onto Roland's hand firmly during the entire drive home after leaving the hospital. It was because Roland’s hands were cold and rigid. Isabel sat with him and tirelessly rubbed his hand to keep them warm. After one hand was warm, she would shift her attention to the other. By the time she managed to warm the other hand, the original hand would turn cold again. She decided it was easier to take both of his hands and caress them with the warmth of her palms. Roland looked at her with a gentle glow deep within his eyes. “Thank you, Isabel,” he said softly. Thank you for loving him, and for sticking by his side all this time despite circumstances. Isabel smiled. “I’m just warming your hands, it's no big deal. Still, you’re welcome." Roland smiled faintly and left it at that. Soon, his hands began to warm up off of the heat of Isabel’s palms. When Isabel felt that his hands were no longer freezing, she prepared to pull her hand away. That was when
Decker looked nothing like his usual self. The pompous, arrogant man who held himself far above others and who expected everyone around him to kiss up to him because he was superior to them all. It was as if he had been plunged not only to Earth but a pile of swamp. He had completely lost his usual grace. Isabel said crossly, "Decker, have you gone mental? Is everything going on too much for you?” “Yeah, could you help me?” he said with a coy smile, “Just one hug should be enough to take care of it all.” Isabel rolled her eyes. Without warning, he suddenly braced himself and lunged right at Isabel, stepping past Brandon who was caught off guard by this sudden attack. Isabel barely had time to react. Just when it seemed like his hand was about to graze Isabel, a long pair of arms seized Isabel from behind and jerked her backward. It was swiftly followed by a long, muscular leg shooting outward right next to Isabel. Thump! Decker was kicked to the ground.
"How did you and Roland meet?" Decker suddenly asked. Isabel turned away, fully intent on ignoring him. "Did you meet each other at Carter Corporation? Or did you meet him outside of work and gradually fell in love with him, then you decided to set him up with a position at Carter Corporation?” What did he mean by that? Was he insinuating that Roland was relying on her to snake his way into Carter Corporation? She threw a sideways, belittling look at him. "Do you think Roland is anything like you? He wouldn’t latch on another woman to further his goals.” Decker was not upset by this as he continued with a smug smile. "Oh? Then how did he get into Carter Corporation?" “He proved his worth.” Isabel realized that she had been roped in by Decker again. Nevertheless, she continued, “He passed the interviews himself. I was one of the interviewers and initially planned to dismiss him, but he managed to leave a very good impression on my father and the rest was history.” "
"I never meant to kill him! Roland, you have to believe me. Why would I still try to deceive you when I’m in this state?” “In that case, you can go ahead and explain things to him in the afterlife.” Master Rockwell was taken aback by this, his demeanor tightened. "You...you..." Roland looked at him calmly. "Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. It was Grandma and my parents who raised me. They instilled morals and virtue into me and made sure I’d grow into a decent man.” Master Rockwell was briefly relieved to hear this, but before he could rid himself of his trepidation, Roland continued in a dark voice, "But I won’t forget about you and Decker bribing all those media outlets to defame Isabel. I know you manipulated the stock prices to try to kick me out of the corporation. I’ll make sure to settle our score through the legal system.” If convicted guilty, they would have to rot in prison. “Roland… listen to me, Roland. Decker is your uncle. If you want revenge, you can come
Master Rockwell must have heard their shifting movements and opened his eyes. When he recognized the faces of Roland and Isabel, there was a brief glow in his murky eyes. He motioned to the nurse to have her help him sit up from the bed. After he managed to position himself seated up against the head of the bed, he asked the nurse to leave. Then he cast a loving, tender smile on Roland and Isabel. “Roland, Isabel, please have a seat.” Roland said disinterestedly, "We have things to get to, just hurry up and tell us what you have to say." Isabel stayed silent. A look flashed in Master Rockwell's eyes. Then, he turned to Isabel and expressed regretfully, "Isabel, I’m a foolish old man, it was me who told Decker to leak pictures of you two. He had no choice because I forced him to do so. If you have to blame someone, blame me!” Isabel frowned. She was somewhat impressed by how smoothly the old man switched his mask from one to another. From a forlorn and sad state t