10th Feb 2023 : Second chapter ;-)
Sarah pov I was still trying to make sense of what Marwick meant earlier by saying that Keith was playing with me. Did he know that I slept with Keith? My heart missed a beat at the mere thought of it. No. No. I don’t think so. That would be too embarrassing! “Hey, girl. Come back to the earth!” I heard Nadia’s shrill voice, who was sitting beside me on the recliner, “Lately you are not taking much interest in any activity we do.” She tried to complain. Last time, after the argument with my friends, I had been keeping them at arm’s length. We were sharing the same cordial relationship, but I stopped bringing Ashley into our topics. Whenever they used to ask about Justin, I used to give them a neutral answer. With time, I had accepted that they might be very good company, but they would never be my true friends. I did not have any answer to her complaints about not participating. Was trying my best to spend time with them to take my mind off Ashley’s absence and Justin’s prefere
Ashley Walters pov We all were shocked when Sarah hit Keith. First, she had disbelief on her face when she looked at me getting off the car along with Justin. After she slapped Keith, we all gasped. The snake man was about to say something when Keith did not let him. He just told everyone, it was no one’s business but Sarah’s and his. Crazy girl and a crazy dude. I did not know what got into her. Before heading inside, the snake man told me while hugging me again that his name was Marwick, and he was Sarah’s brother. Woah! Like I mean… small world. He was nothing like Sarah. I had almost forgotten that he had become cold and distant when he was taking his leave in Arguli beach before dropping me at my cottage. But here when he lifted me and twisted me, making me laugh, he seemed almost like some other man.A friendlier one. “What are you so happy about?” Justin kissed my temple in the maid’s presence who was placing my things back in my wardrobe. “Nothing. It’s just that I wa
Ashley Walters pov “GUYS! OUR VERY OWN ASHLEY IS BACK! YAYYY!” the moment I entered Ice cream Heaven, Evelyn screamed at the top of her lungs shifting everyone’s attention to me. “Where were you, girl? I was hell worried. Your phone was not responding.” Sam came to me and hugged me making me a little guilty. I just sent a simple text and then switched off my phone without realizing how much they must be getting worried about me. Squeezing his waist in my arms, I kissed his cheek without lifting much on my toes. We were almost the same height. “I missed you guys so much!” I embraced Elijah when Sam again threw his arm around me. “Yeah. We know. The way you had been calling us, we knew you are missing us soooo much.” Though Sam’s tone was not sarcastic still I felt ashamed. “Behave yourselves, you, guys. At least let her sit.” Evelyne held my arm and took me to the back room, “Andrew! I hope you can manage it for some time!” My friend did not forget to assign the duty to poor Andre
Sarah’s pov (1 Week Later) It had been exactly one week since the blast. A gas cylinder blasted in Ice cream Heaven. Ashley Walters was still in a coma, but doctors were very positive about her recovery. Her friends’ eyes had swelled up due to excessive crying. Aniya, who used to be her orphanage friend, and Evelyne who was her employer at Ice cream Heaven. She luckily survived the attack because according to her statement to the police, she went out to buy mayonnaise as that night they kind of fell short on it. Ashley Walters! A girl who changed my life forever was now lying there with a lifeless body on that hospital bed. Three days back she was on a ventilator but later, she started responding to the medicines. I still remember Shella was the one who woke me up when she saw the news of the blast on TV. Without bothering to change my clothes or look for Justin, I straight away went to the hospital. Justin had already advised the medical staff to take care of her. He was ready to
Ashley Walters (three months later) I was, at last, home. Due to my deteriorating condition, initially, they did not let me meet anyone. And then slowly Deluca mansion allowed Aniya and Evelyne to visit me. They stayed with me twenty-four-seven. A separate room was allotted to them. After getting discharged from the hospital, the person I wanted to meet first was Justin, but he could not be seen anywhere. After Aniya and Evelyne started staying with me, Justin used to visit me daily before going out. Not even for five minutes but still. It used to be a formal conversation about my health, medicines, and doctor’s appointments. Today, he was wearing a suit and looked more than handsome as I could remember. He just asked about my health, told me to take my medicines on time, and left. No kiss. No PDA. Initially, I thought he might be scared of hurting me. Just like he was scared to come closer when I had an accident at Arguli. But the more I was getting better, the more he seemed
The room provided to me in the dorm was furnished and had simple furniture. Ever since I arrived, I had been sitting on the floor hugging my knees to my chest, trying to think if I made some mistake. Or if I committed some crime.Was it possible that this all was a dream?Or maybe the time spent with Justin was a dream and now I had woken up to the harsh reality of life.“Mrs. Deluca. Come soon. I am not going back to sleep until you come back. I will wait for you.” Long forgotten words that came out of his mouth were there to haunt me.“Why, Justin? Why?” Putting my head on my knees I started crying. I was still waiting for him. Maybe it was all a prank. There was a message blinking on my phone. The message was from the bank. Justin had credited twenty million to my account.Maybe soon he would come back running to me, will put me on his shoulder like a sack and go out, “Mrs. Deluca. It was just a joke. Why the hell are you crying?”“Ms. Ashley!” Matt’s head came inside the doorway,
Ashley Walters pov We spent three days in that dorm room crying and consoling each other. My friend Evelyne hid the news to save my life. I not only lost Justin but also the two boys who called me their sister. Their family. Evelyne lost her boyfriend who was about to propose her. They were planning to get married after one year. True to my word, I did not shed a single tear for Justin after that first day. Mr. Matt had been asking me about the subjects I wanted to choose but I could not give him a confirmed answer. He arranged an apartment for us, and I decided to furnish it. We all got busy with its decoration. “I have decided to resign from my job and stay here.” Aniya announced while putting wall hangings that we bought from a thrift store and I polished them myself, “So… Can I crash in for a few days until I find a place of my own?” She pouted and blinked her eyes to look innocent. “You are nuts. You are staying with me. Ok? You girls are forgetting something. I am a mill
(Two years later) Ashley Walters pov “Congratulations, Ms. Walters. All five companies want you to design their places. Two of them are their head offices and three of them are residential plans. You are just halfway to your degree, and you are already getting offers.” I was beaming at the praise because two months back I did a private project of furnishing office space and that proved to be a hit. The principal of the International University of Arguli sitting across from me never had this idea that there were just five offers reached to me through the university but privately I was getting numerous. According to Aniya, “The way you are getting offers, you will be soon buying Deluca properties. Ha-ha.” Yes. For the past two years, Deluca properties had become a part of our jokes. “Ms. Walters these five offers will be distributed among our five toppers. However, you are being given the first choice to have your pick.” In the past two years, I had not only become the apple of m