Good Job, Owen, for ruining another relationship.
Owen concealed himself when Raffy arrived. He did not want to be confronted by Regina’s brothers when he was not prepared to explain himself. He was still angry about the whole situation and wanted to draw his own conclusions.But when he saw Raffy’s car pull out of the parking lot, he sought his brother to clear some things.“Is that story you told Regina true?”“What story?” Myles asked. “The one about dad?”“Yes. He was angry, but that did not kill him. Get off your high horse. The world does not revolve around you.”Owen glared at Myles, “How come it’s so easy for you to talk about Dad’s death?”“Because I always think of the good times we had together. You should learn to do the same.”“I can’t. We were arguing the day he died.”“We all know that, but that’s all you remember. You were with Dad for 21 years. I bet you have better memories than that.”“I never—I stopped thinking about them. They were too painful to recall. It made me remember Da—dad was no longer with us.”“I overh
A, Our problem took care of itself. Owen is now in the hospital. He had met with an accident a few days ago, and I haven’t seen Regina visit him once. They broke up last weekend. She cried a lot, and my heart broke at the sound of her sobs. It was heart-wrenching. You should have been there to comfort her. But don’t worry, I was, and I gave her lots of hugs, so she wouldn’t feel so bad. Oh, you know what reason that stupid Owen gave her for breaking up? He blamed her for having her birthday party because it killed his dad. What an idiot. That was the happiest time of our life. So now we do not need to worry about them getting back together. We can go ahead with our plan. Regina is ours. J Raffy kept sending Regina messages during the weekend to cheer her up. He knew she was in pain and would not answer, but he sent them anyway. Nobody else knew what happened, and Regina begged to keep it between them until the decision became final. On Monday, Raffy breathed a sigh of relief when
Timothy Dalton came to visit the Bennet mansion after a few days and asked about Owen. Myles and Yvan were having breakfast with their mother and Regina when Myles mentioned Owen had sent him a message after the party that he was going on vacation and not to contact him. Myles looks at Regina and she had already bowed her head as soon as Mr. Dalton asked the question. She excuses herself to be excluded from the conversation. Any talk about Owen brought her to tears, and she did not want to cry in front of Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Dalton when they did not know about what happened. Timothy stressed the fact that he thought there was something wrong with Owen because not once had he contacted the office, even by email. “This is not like Owen to do this. He does not take breaks or vacations and even when he goes out of town, or stays at home, he always checks in on his projects and gives his assistants instructions while he is away. “ Yvan shrugged. “He might have gotten drunk or something.
“Miss Regina, I have another long-stemmed rose for you.” “Is anybody leaving a note or at least a name who it came from?” “No, not that I’ve seen. I just found the rose in your mailbox.” “Is the mailman leaving it, then?” “He says that every time he opens the back of his truck, there was already one with your name on it placed on the top of his delivery.” “That’s odd. Well, do you mind if you do that favor for me again?” Regina was afraid to voice out she had a stalker, because the flowers only started arriving after she broke up with Owen. Telling anybody someone was stalking her would be the end of her freedom. Her parents or her siblings would come and whisk her away immediately and keep her under their watchful eye. “Yes, Miss Regina. I know what to do.” Jeffrey gets rid of the flowers but does not throw them in the trash can for the building. He takes them home and disposes of them in the community compost bin because he suspects Regina has a stalker. It was not the first t
Regina woke up early that morning, excited about her surprise. Nobody knew she was baking a cake yet, and she wanted to surprise the family for Sunday lunch. Looking at the clock, she calculated there were at least four to five hours before she needed to leave, so she began cleaning. It had been a while since she’d been back, and she remembered the state of alarm when they left the place last time. Regina had bravely taken her stuff back from Owen’s place a few days after their breakup and had luggage in the other guest rooms waiting to be emptied. She still had Mrs. Carlyle’s suitcase, so she started with that. She dumped every dress on the floor and began feeling sad. ‘I know it’s only been a week since the party, but I feel like it’s been forever. Oh Owen, where are you? I hope you can forgive me.’ Before sorrow took over her whole day, she tackled every clothing and accessory as if she went on a shopping spree and it was time to put away her purchases. She re-arranged her clos
“I’m sorry, Jason. I’m not in a position to decide anything right now. I still haven’t thanked you for that whole mess last weekend.” “It’s okay, just know that I am here. I will do anything for you. Just say the words.” It was an awkward few seconds while Regina tried to decide if she should stay. She already measured everything and did not want the food to go to waste. As Jason said, they were high-quality ingredients, and he was doing her a favor, so it was her duty to continue baking. Several minutes later, after learning how to grease the pan, cream the butter, and fold the flour mixture into the wet batter, she confidently set the alarm for her first-ever chocolate chiffon cake. “Thank you for being patient with me. I feel like such a kid not learning these things earlier.” “Well, your job is not done as a chef. It’s time to clean the kitchen.” “What? Do you mean I need to clean the kitchen?” “You need to wash all the utensils, bowls, and mixers you used. You will need som
As Regina closed her eyes, she wondered why her heart couldn’t have chosen Jason over Owen when Jason expressed his intent way before Owen even acknowledged how he felt. Jason had that easygoing manner that made everyone around him comfortable. He opened the doors, pulled out her chair at the restaurant, gave her flowers, and made her laugh. He was the ideal man for any woman. Jason also had the qualities she looked for in a man. He had a thriving business. He was responsible, and even though she knew nothing about his family, he seemed like he came from a happy household. So Regina questioned why was she so hell-bent on being with Owen. Regina looked over at Jason while he drove and thought maybe it was time to give him a chance. If Owen did not want her, then why should she deny herself some happiness? Especially when it was presenting itself right in front of her in the form of a handsome man. People always said things happened for a reason, which made her think maybe she was
Myles has been searching for the whereabouts of his brother for a week now, and it has provided him with zero leads. When he tracked the activities on Owen’s phone, it showed he was at Regina’s place the last time, which meant he had come to see her. But since Regina did not look like her usual happy-go-lucky self, it only meant that they did not reach an agreement. Myles shook his head at his brother’s stupidity. Owen was letting a woman who loved him dearly slip away, but it was not Myles’ job to nag his brother regarding his love life. Myles figured he could figure things out for himself, and if he didn’t, then he did not deserve to be with Regina. Despite Owen’s desire to be alone and not communicate with the family, Myles still set out an alert when Owen’s phone got activated, so he would know where his brother was. That Saturday evening, Myles was on his way out when he received a ping on his phone saying Owen’s phone had turned on and that he stopped at Regina’s condo. Myl
“Regina, are you okay?” Arthur’s softer voice asked from the other side, and she looked up as she wiped her tears away. “I need to tell you something before he comes back. I drugged you the entire time you were with Jacob because he wanted you to cry and scream when he raped you, but he wouldn’t touch a sleeping body. He said it felt like he was fucking the dead. So I made you sleep.” “You what?” “I drugged you, so he couldn’t do anything to you. All the things he told you were lies. None of them happened.” “You did that for me?” she asked, confused about whom to believe. Was this version of Arthur telling the truth, or was it also another lie? “I couldn’t bear the thought that I stood by and watched while he harmed you.” “Why?” “I always loved you, Regina. I always will,” Arthur said before his face changed again. “That stupid shit. What did he tell you?” Armed with the knowledge that nothing happened between them, Regina stood to taunt Jacob. She wanted to get to the bottom o
“I wanted to see.”“And there’s a reason I told you no.”“Babe…”“That guy left me for dead, Regina. Would you like to see a picture of that?”“Yes. I want to understand why a man with a face so kind could be so horrible.”“I will show you the footage from the precinct and how they found out Arthur’s mental illness.” Owen sighed, knowing that keeping the truth from Regina would just give her more reason to sneak around. “Then will you come to bed and forget about this?” She nodded as Owen retrieved a file from his computer and showed her a video of Arthur arguing with himself at the precinct. He was fighting with himself as if there were two people instead of one, and Regina felt unnerved. “The doctors said Jacob was too traumatized by Arthur’s loss that he erased the fact that he was dead. In his grief, he developed the Arthur persona, who was kind and smart, just like the actual person. It was a form of coping mechanism.”“Where is he now?”“In the psychiatric hospital inside the
“YOU KILLED ARTHUR! YOU DON’T DESERVE TO BE HAPPY!” It said before images began appearing on the screen. Regina was frozen and horrified because of the text, she was trying to figure out what the images were but Owen closed the lid before she did.“Don’t touch the computer. It was just a virus. I have a friend who can clean this for you.“Who would send such a horrific message? And what is that message about Arthur? Is he dead?”“Yes, no. It’s a long story. Don’t worry about it.” He said as he moved the laptop to his desk.“Don’t lie to me, Owen.” Regina stood up to face him. “We said no secrets. What was that about? And why is there a naked woman on my screen?”“Did you have an affair and not tell me, because gods help me, I am not taking this crap from you.”“No babe, I wouldn’t do that to you. You have to sit while I tell you what that was about.”“I can’t sit. My blood is boiling right now.”“Okay, let’s go to the kitchen, get a glass of water for both of us while I collect my tho
“Dad, thank you for giving me the extended leave. France has inspired me a lot with my artistic side. Did you see my paintings?”“Yeah, I have a few of them put up in the hospital and around the house already. Is that what you want to do now? Paint?”“Oh no, that’s just my side hobby. I was inspired by the nursing home in France and wanted to build a non-profit nursing home as a branch of our hospital.”“That sounds like a good idea. I think someone suggested that before and we just didn’t have time to look into it. Talk to the project manager so we can get this started. Which wing do you want it in?”“Well, that’s the thing. I want it to be separate from the hospital, in a more scenic setting so we can usher the old people to rest peacefully. I don’t want them to feel like they’re in the hospital all the time.”“Are you willing to put in work for this project? This will be a lot of work, starting with finding available properties. You can’t just quit mid-way because it’s too hard.”R
“What are you telling them?”“Don’t worry about it, sweetie. I have everything in control.” He said confidently as they walked to his mother’s room.“Mom? Are you awake?” Owen asked. Myles was reading her a book Regina sent from France, and the scenes were getting steamy, so he was glad that his mother’s attention got diverted to the guests. “Look who’s here?”He stepped aside, and Regina softly exclaimed, “Surprise!”Mrs. Bennet stared at Regina, wondering who she was, and then it clicked. “Mandy? Oh, I’m glad you’ve come. I’ve missed you so.” She grew emotional as Regina sat on the bed and hugged her.“So did I Mrs. Bennet. I am glad to see that you are better.” Regina touched her forehead to get the temperature and her wrist to check how fast her pulse rate was.“Oh, it was nothing. They just worry too much. Now I’m in the hospital when all I want to do is see that dog.” Bella had been constant in her life, and like Regina, not having seen her for a few days, threw everything out o
News of Owen’s mystery woman spread throughout the nation as pictures of the couple were shared across every website on the internet. “Owen, what are we going to do? Can we hire someone to delete the pictures?” Regina asked as the car sped away. He smirked, “No.” “No? But your reputation?” “I’m a single man in a relationship with a beautiful woman, so I don’t care about the pictures.” “But the paparazzi, they’ll know.” “We’re not hiding our relationship, my love. Unless you want to.” “I don’t.” “I know you don’t want your face in the media, so we won’t tell them who you are. Let them find out on their own.” “I don’t care if they find out. I’m through hiding. It didn’t do me any good, anyway. I kept lying to people I really liked. I just hope they could forgive me,” she said, leaning back into the seat, more relaxed. “Well then, that’s settled,” Owen smiled and leaned over to nuzzle her ear. “You know they’ll be at my apartment waiting. What do you say we go to yours and lock
Regina asked how they all knew each other, and the three men regaled her with stories of when they met while re-constructing the apartment she was staying in.“So I have a question. If Owen owns the complex, then why do I have a small apartment?”Caelan and François both laughed and teased Owen.“Well, I didn’t want you to get suspicious about paying such a small price for an enormous apartment, so we gave you the smallest unit. It was Caelan’s place.”“Aww…” Regina looked at Caelan, “You gave it up for me? I’m sorry if I brought in mismatched furniture in there.”“Don’t feel sorry for him. He got a bigger apartment out of the deal, so he’s happy about that.” Owen butted in, and Regina laughed.“I don’t mind how you decorated the place. I like it and will keep most of the furniture,” Caelan replied.“So I heard Owen hired you to follow me around and disrupt my dates with Jason. Is that true?”“Well—I—He—Yes, it’s true,” Caelan could not defend himself, so he admitted the truth.“So th
The sun was peeking through the horizon by the time the couple fell asleep, satiated and full of love. Neither wanted to sleep lest everything was just a dream. Regina woke up first, staring at the sleeping man beside her, waiting for him to awaken. “What are you doing?” Owen asked, his voice husky from sleep.She blushed that she got caught running her finger down his chest, tracing the lines of his abdomen. “Waking you. Did it work?”“It did.” He grabbed her waist, pulling her toward him. He hooked his legs around hers and kissed her neck. “I missed you so much that when you stopped sending me messages, it made me go crazy.”“I’m sorry. I was so ashamed about what happened that I did not know how to handle the situation. How could I not know anything about my body?”“There were a lot of things happening during that time. Stop blaming yourself. We’re here now, where we should be. Just don’t shut me out again.”“I promise I won’t.” Owen nibbled her neck, and her body came alive. “W
“I had a baby—”“I know.”Regina scrunched her brows in shock. “But I never told you. The diary said you didn’t know.”“The baby was ours,” he said, holding her gaze. If her mouth wasn’t hanging open before, it was now.“How—”“How did I know? I have the same tracker app you do, and they were synched together so I could watch your cycle. I wanted to know when it would be safe because we were having unprotected sex. We needed to take extra precautions to prevent having an accident.”“But we still did.”“It doesn’t make a difference. I still love you.” “You knew, and you didn’t tell me?”“I was waiting for you to share your troubles, so I gave you the space you needed, but you just distanced yourself from me. I didn’t want to nag you because you’ve been through so much already. So I waited.”“The diary said I couldn’t tell you because I felt guilty.”“I know.”“But I didn’t tell you…”“You said it in the letter that you sent me.”“The letter that you keep talking about?”“Yes, do you w