Markus
The ride from Lizzy’s place to mine is silent, it gives me a few moments to think about my situation with Lizzy. The way we kissed today was definitely not normal, it felt more real than all of the women I’ve kissed before. Her warm body pressed against mine felt like the missing piece of my body that I never knew existed. I smile when I remember what an eventful day it has been, I wasn’t even considering to visit ‘Nirvana’ but it all worked out well enough for me. I got to see Elizabeth and spend some crazy amount of quality time with her, I laugh at the way she called me an ‘asshole’ while trailing behind me to prove her point.
Out of the corner of my eye I see my driver watching me with a smile, I frown “what is it Turner?” I ask, he shakes his head “you’ve been quite a happy chap lately sir, it’s good to see you smile” hmm….my driver notices more than I&rsqu
LizzyI don’t want to talk about my broken family and all my broken relationships, I’ve worked really hard to put all of that in the past and move on. So, I ask him about his family,“Tell me about your parents” he doesn’t reply for a long time before saying “there’s nothing much to know about them” he shrugs and gives me nothing more “hey! That’s not fair, I just basically gave you my whole sob story” “alright, alright crazy woman” he smiles “my dad is a corporate lawyer and my mom was a teacher before she retired a year and a half ago” this all sounds too good to be true “so, they are still together?” Mark looks at me before carefully saying “yes”.“This is something new to me” and it really is, all I’ve experienced in my life are failed relationships, so when I see a happy couple, I can’t help but envy them
Markus We gorge on our meal and talk about the most random things we could think of, conversations with her are so easy and comfortable I could basically speak to her for months without getting bored. “Your favorite Christmas movie?” she asks, “perhaps Last Christmas, what about you?” she doesn’t answer just stares at me “Elizabeth Cooper are you out of words?” she blinks a few times before saying “you’ve seen Christmas movies?” she asks me again “of course I have, why do you take me for an unfeeling bastard?” I say laughing at her. She shakes her head “no, no it’s not that, I mean a beast of a man like you watching Christmas movies is kind of funny” she thinks it’s funny because of my size? Well…that’s definitely a new, “you are right, I wouldn’t watch sappy movies on my own, we watch it as a family though. Every Christmas, we visit our house in the mountains and spend the vacation together. So, I am practically forced to
Lizzy “Your smile is beautiful” I say, turning back to resume my work “funny, I think the same about your smile” he says, I feel a blush creep up my neck and go all the way to my cheek. “Do you need help with that?” he asks and I snort, “So you can potentially ruin everything? No, thanks” I tease. “You can always teach me” he says seriously “you really want to mix chocolates with me, don’t you?” I ask incredulously, “of course I want to, there’s nothing wrong with learning, is there?” he shrugs. “No, nothing wrong at all” I shake my head and hand him the spatula, “here, let me show you how it’s done a few times, and then you thin out the rest of the chocolate” I show him how he needs to rotate the spatula to get the perfect amount of thickness and how the thickness of the chocolate determines its taste. “Why do we need to go in the same direction?” he asks while working with the mixture, “if the directions are changed regularly, the texture of the ch
Markus “Uncle Mark, you’re here” Emily comes running towards me and I bend down to pick her up. I hold her in my arms and kiss both of her cheeks “I wouldn’t be anywhere but here Em bear” she’s so small, like a little fragile flower in my arms it brings back the feeling of having Lizzy in my arms. There it is, all my thoughts going back to one person ‘Elizabeth Cooper’, “where are we going tonight?” Emily asks jumping up and down with excitement. I laugh, my niece is the most adorable little kid I know, “I wanted you to meet a special friend of mine, we’ll be having dinner with her” I say pinching her nose, she taps her cheek, ones, then twice before finally saying “is she a pretty woman like your ex Ver?” Emily asks while we get into the car. “She is a pretty woman, yes” Emily’s face visibly falls at that, I frown “hey, Em what is it? Do you not want to meet her?” she answers almost immediately “Uncle Mark, I don’t like
Lizzy The smile on Emily’s face was so infectious when she saw all the food, I gave myself an imaginary pat on the back. I’ve always loved to make people happy through my cooking and chocolates, and when they reward me with such enormous smiles, my heart swells. Markus jumps up from his seat and says “I’ll get the bottle of wine from my car” I smile and nod. Liquid courage is definitely something I could use, he leaves my apartment and the door ajar, Emily turns to me “do you love Uncle Mark?” she asks and I’m taken off guard, this time my smile is a little forced “why do you ask?” she just shrugs “it’s just that dad always says Uncle Mark is lonely, dad sends me over to uncle Mark so he remains ‘sane’” she smiles sweetly. Lonely, Markus might like to sleep with half the New York but sharing his heart is not something he does, at least not with other women. I understand why Markus’s brother would want him to engage in good conversation.
Lizzy“Bye Lizzy, I love your food, can I come here again next week” Emily says while she gets in the car, how am I supposed to tell her that she can come visit me almost any time of the day? “I’d love that princess” I bend down to kiss her cheek “you loved those caramel treats, didn’t you?” she grins and nods “I’ll make a few boxes for you the next time you arrive, okay?” she loops her small arms around my neck and pulls me in for a hug, “I love you” she says “I love you too princess” with that I release her and look at Markus.“So, I guess this is it then?” I raise one eyebrow and look and Markus. “How are you going back home?” I shrug “I’ll walk, why?” he shakes his head, “you are not going alone, it’s getting late” he says. “I’m not a kid Markus, I can
LizzyWhat a ridiculous day, it’s like without Markus my days feel empty. Very slowly he has clawed his way into my routine and now it feels like I’m missing the most essential part of my life, it’s true what people say “you don’t understand the true value of a memory or a thing until it’s taken away from you” never have I ever been so grumpy in my entire life. The smiles that I throw at my customers are strained and forced. I miss him too much and I think I’m not doing a good job at hiding my feelings because little kids seem to notice it too, “momma, why is this lady so sad?” one of the kid says while I wrap her chocolate. I stop my work and look at the kid’s mother dumbfounded ‘do I really look as miserable as I feel?’ when it’s time to wrap up and head home, it takes me more time than it usually does because
Lizzy I was shocked when Trevor walked through the front doors of my shop, we hadn’t talked to each other for a few years but he was the only family member who kept in touch with me after my mom’s death. He came to know about my shop through my dad, I wasn’t thrilled at his mention but hey! At least he remembers that his daughter is still alive. Trevor said he was here on a project and wanted to catch up with me, I didn’t mind he’s been nice to me, we went to the same high school until his dad had to transfer and he left California. After that, we kept in touch through a few phone calls a week and that transformed into a few texts a week. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t good to see a familiar face in this big city. Trevor had dark blonde hair and a naturally tanned skin; his body was built but I liked Markus’s better. He was a decent looking guy and anyone viewing from the outside might think we were a couple, but Markus? How could he think so little of me?
Markus Two years later “Come on Lizzy, listen to me for ones and sit your ass down” I all but yell at her, she has become an even bigger pain in the ass since we got the news of her pregnancy. She huffs and sits down on the couch in our penthouse “fine! But if it doesn’t taste exactly like nana’s, I will drag you to Hamptons with me right at this moment” she says from her place at the couch. She doesn’t know I already asked nana to send me the recipe months ago, “okay my sweet wife” I smile at her from behind the kitchen counter and start preparing her favorite egg and beacon sandwich. We got married a year ago, when I proposed I wasn’t sure how to go about it, Lizzy doesn’t value money as much as she values emotion and hence it was difficult to come up with something she’d appreciate. That’s when I first spoke to her ‘nana’, she helped me plan an intimate proposal on my private yacht, just the two of sun and
LizzyI have never been this happy for as long as I can remember, the four-letter word “LOVE” doesn’t scare me anymore, in fact it brings a sense of freedom now because I know that the man who captured my heart will never let anything or anyone break it. I know I’ll always be safe as long as I’m in his arms, I know I’ll always trust him more than I trust myself and I know I’ll always love him even if things might not work out in the future, which I think is highly doubtful.The night of the award ceremony, he drags me to his penthouse and makes love to me all night long until I have no energy to even lift my limbs. I groan when Markus lifts my limp body and mumble “where are you taking me?” I press my lips on his neck and kiss him lightly, he sucks in a breath before saying “you are making me hard baby” I giggle at that and rest my head on his chest. How could I ever live without this? T
MarkusI’ve been nominated from the most prestigious award ceremony of the year and I feel no thrill about it, I feel like an empty vessel just going on with life. I dress up like a mechanical doll, I pose for the reporters like a mechanical doll, I even clap like a mechanical doll! The host of the event notifies that it’s time to announce the winner in my category and for the first time in days, I feel something like excitement bubbling up in my veins, I brought my brother to sit with me as family and one of the chairs allotted to me is empty because I gave the invitation to Lizzy but obviously, she’s not here. I have tried to not think too much about her in the past few days but at this moment, one of the most important moments of my life, it pains me to think she isn’t here to share this with me.I compose myself as best as I can and straighten my posture even though from the inside I’m bursting like a fir
LizzyThat night, Mia called me asking if I was the one who gave Markus her number, I frown at that, of course I told Markus about Mia being my best friend but I never gave him Mia’s number. “He asked if you were with me” she says “why didn’t you tell him that you were at the Hamptons?” I tell her that I will explain all of it to her when I return, she also mentioned that Markus sounded worried on the call and that he was asking about my safety. My heart warms at the amount of concern he showed even though our fight on Saturday had left a lot of things unsaid. I don’t want him to go through more heartache than he’s already suffered so I send him a quick text.Lizzy: Mia informed me about your call, I need some time. Hope you understand.That is obviously a lie, I don’t need time, I have never been surer about anything in my life, but what I do need is a way to m
MarkusMiserable, that’s how I’ve been since the day I left Lizzy’s house, she hasn’t replied to my text messages and calls for the last two days, she’s not at her place nor is she at Golosi. I assigned a few men at both the places and there’s still no sign of her, this is all my fault I pushed her too far and now she’s gone, she left me. The only person I know from Lizzy’s former life is her best friend Mia, I contact my private investigator and ask him to get me the number of a certain ‘Mia James’ living in Las Vegas, by the end of the day I have three women fitting the description and their numbers.Since I don’t trust anyone with Lizzy, I call Mia myself she picks up on the second ring and says “Rick, this is last time I’m telling you, stop harassing me or I’ll have to contact the authorities and file a complaint” then she hangs up, my eyes widen and I scoff.
LizzyThe next morning, nana comes up to my room and opens the blinds, letting the scorching heat fall directly on my face, I groan “nana, I need sleep” I pull the sheets all the way over my head and try to sleep again. Nana pulls the sheets off me with superhuman power and says “what you need is homemade breakfast and fresh air” she starts to walk towards the door but stops abruptly and say “oh! And I am making egg and beacon” wait, did she say egg and beacon? “I am coming nana!” I squeal and go to brush my teeth.As soon as I step outside my room, I moan at the heavenly smell of the egg and beacon sandwich, I was five when nana first made that for me, my mother had just died and I was visiting nana. I didn’t speak to her at first but when she gave me her special egg and beacon sandwich, I couldn’t help but admire it. She hands me the sandwich and I take a big bite “this is so good&rdqu
LizzyI never understood why she loved Hamptons so much, sure the beach and the warm weather were nice but there were other places more developed, like take California for instance, for me Hamptons was a vacation destination but for her, it was her whole world. I rented a car for three days because I didn’t own one and started my journey to The Hamptons, after one bathroom break and a small lunch break, I made it to Hamptons around two and a half hour later. It was 3PM in the afternoon and I was worried to find her asleep, I’ll have to wait until she wakes up from her afternoon slumber.I parked my car in her driveway and made my way to the front door, the house wasn’t anything extravagant, it was a one-story bungalow in a L shaped layout, Christmas was the last time I visited her but I know she’d be happy to see me. I rang the bell ones and waited, after five minutes of waiting I lost hope and was about to get into the car when
LizzyI couldn’t sleep last night, I twisted and turned and thought, him leaving me wasn’t his fault but mine, it was all on me. It happened because I was too scared to face my own demons. I was a coward and that thought made me tired. To be honest I was tired of pretending to be okay, tired of showing people that I was strong enough when from the inside I was eroding. I needed to act on it before I became completely hollow, before everything that made me ‘ME’ vanished and all that was left behind was a shell of a person you couldn’t recognize. I needed to confide my fears in someone, someone who would understand why I did the things I did in my past, someone who wouldn’t judge me or look at me with pity in their eyes, someone like…. I jerked from my thoughts; I know who it is.Next morning, I was too tired to even open my eyes, so I did what I thought wasn’t possible in a million years, I took a day off
Lizzy“NEW YORK’S HOTEST TECH COUPLE SPOTTED TOGETHER” “ARE VERONICA AND MARKUS BACK INTO THE DATING GAME?” “BILLIONAIRE HEAD OVER HEELS FOR HIS EX-GIRLFRIEND”I read everything the reporters had to say but with each word, all I felt was numbness, I didn’t cry or curse myself for making poor life choices again, what’s the point when all is said and done? Empty, that’s how I felt as I stared out of my window at a distance, all my emotions had been sucked out of me with a single glance at those pictures. In one of them, Markus was whispering something in her ears, ‘probably telling her how much he loved her’ that thought left a bitter taste in my mouth, the next picture was of Veronica smiling sweetly at Markus and the last one was of him wrapping his arm a