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PROLOGUE: I LOVE YOU
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Stifling a harsh expletive, Rhea Palmer awoke with a start as the phone beside her rang shrilly in her ears. Groggily, she rubbed her hooded eyes which were still swollen with sleep and sat up glancing at the clock on the mantelpiece. With a defeated sag against her pillow, she suppressed a groan. Unfortunately, she had a pretty good idea who could be calling at this ungodly hour.
“Adam Devin Crighton! Why don’t you do both of us a favour by leaving me alone?” she nearly barked in the phone, her voice still husky with sleep.
“Goooood morning sweetheart. I won’t ask you how you are feeling this morning because I think I have a pretty good idea,” replied the voice from the other end of the receiver.
Rhea raised her eyes heavenwards in an exasperated manner although she knew nobody could see her and slammed down the receiver with a disgusted sigh. Surprise, surprise! The phone rang again almost immediately.
“Okay,” she capitulated knowing full well it was the only way to keep her wits about her for the whole day. “What do you want?”
“You know what I want, sweetheart.”
“Oh, get lost!” she cried her eyes finally adjusting to the light and she flung aside her bed aside to peep in the opposite house outside her window. It was of course the house of her caller. But she could see no movement around and she nearly bumped into her wardrobe.
Damn Adam Crighton! Damn him to hell and may he never come back. It was the only way he had concocted to get her attention.
“How can I? I haven’t said the three magic words yet. I love … you, Rhea.”
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes once again, she smiled sweetly on the phone and said in a bored voice. “Okay? Satisfied? May I go now?”
“So glad you missed me too, sweetheart.”
“Right,” she sneered determined not to spoil her mood. It was a challenge however not to let her temper get the better of her so early in the morning. And besides she was used to the calls now; it had been happening for the past two years; it was no joke!
“Bye love. See you later.”
Without replying, Rhea once again slammed down the receiver with fury even if she knew it wouldn’t serve any purpose. She simply couldn’t handle Adam anymore. Heaven only knows what had gotten into him those years back when he had suddenly realized that he loved her.
They had known each other forever; having practically been brought up together. But it was only on her twenty first birthday that Adam had suddenly realized that he had to-get-her. And just to prove it, he had been regularly calling her every morning at six o’clock to tell her that he loved her!
At first, Rhea had treated the whole thing as a joke but Adam had still persisted and Rhea had grown tired of the game.
Really, she had had enough! Adam was a sweet and very very handsome guy. Considering him as a very good friend, Rhea did not want to hurt him but she simply did not love him back. She had lost count of how many times she had tried explaining to him. But he was so damn stubborn! And she no longer knew how to handle him anymore.
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Say you Love me CHAPTER ONE: NEVER SAY DIE, UP MAN AND TRY!
Adam sighed as he heard the dead line at the other end of the phone. Again. He was starting to get tired of his … situation now. At first when Rhea had ignored his feelings, he had not minded thinking that when he showed her that how sincere he was, she would finally give in.However, he had never thought that it would become such a challenge for him to conquer his love and suddenly the great Adam Devin Crighton felt himself feeling insecure. How to convince someone about your love if the latter had been refusing any of your advances for the past two years??Today was exactly two years since he had realized that he loved his best friend Rhea Palmer. It had been on her eighteenth birthday that he had decided to tell her about the unexplainable attraction he had been harboring for her. He could still remember the day as clearly as if it were yesterday itself.He had known Rhea since forever as they had lived near and attended the same school. Moreover, his father Jake Crighton, one of t
Say you Love me CHAPTER TWO: EVERYTHING IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR
Rhea heaved a huge sigh of relief and sagged against the closed door as Adam left without using any of his usual charm on her. It was starting to get on her nerves that every time he was around she felt so uncomfortable that she could barely say a decent word to him. And she was also fed up of his supposedly undying love for her.It was not that she did not like him. She did. In a big way. But had never thought of him as anything except her elder brother. Just like Zach Cooper. She had grown up as Ashton’s Cooper’s daughter and was closest to Zoey. But had been brought up with Adam and Zach, the one she considered her brothers. The only family she had after her own father Slade Palmer had disowned her like she was dirt.And when Adam had so openly told her that he wanted her, she had felt insulted. It had been something beyond her imagination and her already poor opinion of the male species had not helped. She had been so shocked by his vehement declaration on her birthday party that
Say you Love me CHAPTER THREE: WHERE THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A WAY
Adam could hardly believe it when he saw the message flashing on his phone screen. Rhea had asked him for her birthday party. For someone who had gone out of her way to avoid him for the past two years, she had suddenly made progress. Maybe Zoey had talked some sense into her and she had started to see him in a positive light.But Adam was no fool. He knew that Rhea was not going to crumble her barrier just like that. He knew about her inner feelings; more than she herself knew them. She was a broken soul and Adam wanted to mend her; just like he had set everything right in her life before by making her part of his family.With a curse, he shut the file in front of him feeling unable to concentrate. Life was not fair sometimes. For some, life was like eating sugar candy all the way like his own life had been. Born with a silver spoon in the mouth, he had the most wonderful parents on earth and had never lacked anything. Whether it was materialistic wise or emotion wise. While for Rhea
Say you Love me CHAPTER FOUR: STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT
Damn! And double damn! Rhea stood stunned at his last sentence not knowing what to make out of Adam. He was such a paradox. Last year, he had tried to seduce her and this year he was acting like the past two years had not even existed!Like he was the best friend he had always been. Rhea would be damned if she could figure out what was going on in his mind. He was so damn unpredictable! So she managed a tentative smile instead deciding not to give him more importance.She was already unhappy with herself for not having the audacity to tell him that she did not love him. She knew that she would have lost him forever as a friend and she so did not want that. If that made her weak, then so be it.“Sure, let’s go,” she said casually and followed him downstairs.Which was quite a sight. There was a crowd gathered in every empty space available in the living room which was big enough to accommodate at least a hundred guests. Damn! How had the party gotten so out of hand? She had not realize
Say you Love me CHAPTER FIVE: BEING A WEAKLING
Adam could not help feeling glad that the party was over. Except that his apartment looked like it had been ransacked by raccoons. Exhausted, he threw his body on the nearest sofa and closed his eyes to block away the hideous sight. He was damn tired and had to work tomorrow but he had to restore his house to a modicum of order else his housekeeper Jane would just kill him."Adam, why don't you and Zach go upstairs and get some rest?" Zoey offered. "I will manage everything. And besides we will sleep through the day tomorrow while you two have to get back to work."At her words, he could not help himself; he jumped up to kiss Zoey. She was such a darling! As he made his way upstairs, Rhea looked like she had something to say but when he furrowed his eyebrows at her, she schooled her expression clearly not going to say what she had in mind and he dropped the subject.At that point, he did not care. All he wanted was to have some sleep before checking the account sheets again first thin
Say you Love me CHAPTER SIX: BEING HIGH MAINTENANCE
Rhea’s plan was not working. The first advice for being the perfect girlfriend was “Be feminine but not weak” and that was why she had been acting like a fragile emotional wreck around Adam last night. But instead of feeling angry with her, Adam had been patience personified.Damn! Zoey had been right; it had backfired on her. She had been so tempted to cancel their “date” at the last minute. Especially when she had been damn sure that Adam was reading more into their dinner than he was supposed to. And the way she had behaved had only served to fuel his imagination instead of tampering it. Everything had gone out of hand. But she had acted exactly the opposite of what the magazine had said.By letting him open doors for her, letting him pull her chair and letting him choose the menu. It had not exactly been a show of weakness; but she knew it was something Adam would not appreciate. Back in high school days, he used to complain about how his girlfriends were too dependent on him; he
Say you Love me CHAPTER SEVEN: AWAY FROM A MAN'S HEART
The more he thought about it, the more he became certain that there was something wrong. Two days had passed since the “credit card’ episode and Rhea had stayed clear out of his way since then. It was certainly not a coincidence that they had not crossed each other’s path while they were living in the same house.The only few seconds he had heard of her was when he had called her like every morning to tell her that he loved her. Except that it had been a one-sided conversation and he had to try after several disconnected calls as usual.On top of that, Adam had had his share of furtive looks from Zoey during those past few days and he suspected that they were cooking something up. Except he never realized how right he was until he returned home that evening and found Rhea already in his kitchen. Cooking!And now he was sure that he was right well at least literally. Rhea Palmer cooking in the kitchen was definitely something out of place. As far as he remembered, she had never been ab
Say you Love me CHAPTER EIGHT: FREAKING OUT
The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, the article had read in the paragraph where it had advised a good girlfriend to cook for her man. And that was exactly what Rhea had done. Well, cook for him to show him just how bad a cook she was.And it had worked! For the first time since the whole episode had started, Adam had suddenly grown disheartened and grumpy instead of his usual infuriating enthusiasm. Rhea had given herself a mental high-five when he had practically fled from the kitchen when she had started on her “poor me” self about how she could not even manage to boil a decent pasta.It had been unbelievably fast and she had never expected her plan to work out so quickly. But it was too early to hope for the best; she would only confirm her theory the next morning when Adam would skip the dreaded morning call. And she could only hope that it never came again.Of course if it happened that way, she would never raise the subject again and they would be back to being good
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Say you Love me EPILOGUE: I LOVE YOU TOO
Stifling a harsh expletive, Adam Crighton awoke with a start as the phone beside him rang shrilly in his ears. Groggily, he rubbed his hooded eyes which were still swollen with sleep and sat up glancing at the clock on the wall. Who the hell would be calling at this ungodly hour?“Hello?” he nearly barked in the phone, his voice warning the person off that it might better be something urgent.“Goooood morning sweetheart. I won’t ask you how you are feeling this morning because I think I have a pretty good idea,” replied the jovial voice from the other end of the receiver.What the hell was going on? Was he dreaming? It was like some déjà-vu except in a reverse position. Rhea was calling him so early in the morning and repeating the exact words he used to wake her up when she was in a foul mood.Adam frowned at the date his clock was showing. It was two days after he had been released from the hospital and he could not believe he had not socialized on for so long except for attending M
Say you Love me CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: TABLES ARE TURNED
“Mom, I’m fine. Stop treating me like a kid,” Adam wailed as his mother fussed over how much worse it could have been.Adam was bored lying on the hospital bed and was in no mood for all that ado. It had indeed been a narrow escape but thankfully he had only hurt his head when bumping against the right door of the car. It was a miracle that he had managed to protect Zoey at the last second. Although he had not said anything, he was having doubts about the way that truck had collided against them.It looked like the vehicle had deliberately moved out of its lane to collide with his car. They had been on their way to the airport when the crash had occurred. Unfortunately, the collision had been fatal for the driver while he and Zoey seated at the back had been spared.Adam had seen the truck veer in their direction and Zoey who had been seated on the left would have been crushed had Adam pulled her to him and protect her with his body. That was when he had lost his momentum and bumped a
Say you Love me CHAPTER SIXTEEN: ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER
“Rhea, honey,” called her secretary Rosemary standing outside her office door looking like she had many questions but was refraining from being impolite. “There’s someone to see you,” she said in an effective voice but signaling her frantically with her eyes.“Anita, I’m busy. Is it important?” Rhea looking away from her eccentric secretary not even bothering to understand what she was saying. Dismissing the latter, she continued scrutinizing the dossier in front of her. Damn, this was more complicated that she had thought.“Well, there is a hunk and he said he came all the way from Orlando only to see you,” Rosemary finally blurted which made Rhea immediately look up from her files and felt her heart skip a beat. All the way from Orlando? Only to see her. It had to be Adam.And judging by the look of extreme happiness on the face of Rosemary, she had recognized Adam too and that was why she was so agitated. Joy engulfed her at the prospect. He had come for her! After two weeks of abs
Say you Love me CHAPTER FIFTEEN: NOBODY DIES OF UNREQUITED LOVE
Adam knew something was amiss. The house next door was too quiet, too gloomy for the past two weeks now and even as he peeked through his window, he could not see the usual porch light on. It was two weeks now since Rhea had managed to hurt him so much that he had decided to stop harassing her.It had been harassment; she had been quite clear about that. But whether it was out of habit or love, Adam just had to make sure she was okay. And the lack of activity from the nearby house was making him worried. Maybe she was out or something?Trying to be discreet, he peered once again out of the window trying to figure out what the hell was happening. Was she sick or something? Should he go and visit? Since she had made it clear that she wanted no more to do with them, nobody had visited her since the face-off. Not even Zoey.Even if he had reassured her that nothing was anyone’s fault and that he was okay, Zoey had been subdued during the past few days responding only when she was addresse
Say you Love me CHAPTER FOURTEEN: HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
One week had gone by after the fatal confrontation. Rhea had received no phone calls since that day and she convinced herself that she was glad. It was what she had wanted all along. Then she wondered why she was sitting next to the phone and checking more than hundred times whether it was working or not.It was not as if she was wishing for him to call her. She was just surprised he had finally given up on her. When he had promised he would never let her go. Although she deserved it, she knew. She did not know why she was having second thoughts. It was better to keep things as they were; she had managed to destroy everything she had without much help from others.Even Zoey was avoiding her and Rhea no longer knew what to think. It would seem that she had been right to assume that every relationship of hers was borrowed from Adam’s account. She was such a pathetic person that she had to borrow from someone else’s friendship.But it was better that way, she told herself for the umpteen
Say you Love me CHAPTER THIRTEEN: NO TRUE LOVE WITHOUT JEALOUSY
Adam stopped abruptly as he caught sight of the scene which presented in front of his eyes. Just as he was jogging past Rhea’s doorstep, he saw a couple quite intimately enlaced seeming lost in each other’s embrace. When he got closer he got the shock of his life when he was able to define Rhea’s silhouette.For one second, he stopped short. Why the hell was Rhea standing so intimately close to a stranger? Alarmed, he looked over at Zoey who was trying to signal him frantically. She had her back to them and he could not read her frenzied expression. He was too pissed off to even try.“What’s with you?” he mouthed puzzled and impatient. Thankfully, Zoey was close enough to catch his language.“Good sex,” she was saying over and over again and pointing in their direction in an obvious way. Adam wanted to slap her since she was behaving so crazy in such a complicated situation. Then it clicked.Good sex was the next thing the article had mentioned and instead of showing him that she was
Say you Love me CHPATER TWELVE: DESPERATE SITUATIONS, DESPERATE MEASURES
Rhea stood listening to the conversation inside the room and could not budge as shock registered through her. Traitors. That was the first thing which came to her mind. They were all conspiring against her. And she felt rage course through her as she clenched her fists into two rigid balls.Too numb to react, she felt like she was an automatic mode when she turned back from the room and stealthily got out of the house. While she walked down the alley, she refused to think about anything before finding the sanctuary of her home again.When she did in a few seconds and the first thing she did was to bolt the door behind her and leant against the wooden object glad of the dull comfort it was offering. Her body felt limp and she sunk at the bottom unable to bear her own weight as shock still coursed through her. And she finally allowed the earlier events to replay in her head.Bored out of her mind with her own company, she had decided to join them to see what they were up to. Despite the
Say you Love me CHAPTER ELEVEN: ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN A DAY
The next week flew by as Adam got really busy with his latest work assignment. He had little time to get back home and think about the past events. But he knew that Rhea had moved back to her house along with Zoey and that Zach was still invisible.Nothing had changed between them except the fact that Rhea had seemed to put a pause on her plan. He was still unsure of the reason. Maybe it was because he was unavailable for her antics or maybe it was because it was of the resounding kiss they had shared on Sunday.Adam wanted to believe it was the latter but it was too soon to hope. He’d rather busy himself in work for the time being instead of worrying too much. The more he thought about it, the more restless he became and wanted to do something about his situation. And he feared that he might act in haste and it would turn out to be his fatal mistake. It’s been more than two years that he had thought about his mistakes and what could have been. And it was two years too much.There was
Say you Love me CHAPTER TEN: BEING UNFIT
Rhea could not sleep a wink as her mind went over and over what had happened the previous night. It was so atypical of the Crightons. Well, she knew them from the day she was born and despite their massive wealth, they were not society people. The Crightons and Coopers rarely attended parties and social events if not for a really good cause.For them, family was everything. That was why Aunt Selena had been so affected when Zach had not shown up. But Slade Palmer had been part of their circle too and for a long time. Rhea could not believe they had chosen her over her father. She had been in that family because of his connections with them and it was weird that they had sided up with her. And Adam had been acting as her hero again.When would he ever learn? He wanted to make her happy she understood that. She felt the same way about him. But it was not love he felt for her; it was only pity. She knew the difference well since pity was the only emotion she was familiar with.Lost in he
