I woke up the next morning and Alexander was nowhere to be found.A part of me was unsettled for a second, but another part of me wanted to conclude that he was in the bathroom. But after waiting about half an hour, I didn't see him or anything that looked like him.That subtle unsettlement in me quickly turned into Worry.I got downstairs in my PJs and started to walk around the house, to and fro, navigating from one end to the other as I subtly went in search of him. But the only faces that I met with were the familiar faces of butlers and maids and helpers and cooks and I walked around the entire place, searching in vain, like a damsel in distress."Maybe you should have just called though?"I stopped when that voice came behind me. That familiar voice of which I knew who it belonged to."Well, Alexander, try to let people know when you're going to—"Huh?I had only realized it so that it was not Alexander, when I looked back."Frederick?" I frowned."Flesh and Blood," He grinned b
DARLENELaura Diego and I had been best friends since right about Highschool.It all started one random morning in school when I was having a particularly hard time. I used to get bullied a lot, which was ironic because considering the fact my dad was a popular baker, it should have added some reputation to me, but unfortunately, nothing like that happened.They particularly found it funny that my father as so famous, yet did not have enough money to live in the kind of mansions that their parents had. And, funnily, Laura used to be one of them.One day, she surprisingly stook up for me. I didn't expect it so. Their friends were laughing and mocking me, going on about how ugly my clothes looked, and as usual, I was just going to ignore them and pretend like I was not bothered by all they did to me. Even if I was. And Laura noticed that, and surprisingly, stood up for me. She called out her friends and told them to leave me alone. That was a test to their relationship and having that
Laura showed up two hours earlier than we agreed.We decided that we would meet up at one of her favour spots by the park, and the time set for our little meet up was 12pm.I arrived there on time, and whatever made me think I was going to be earlier than Laura, I still questioned till now. I reached the benches to see my best friend already waving at me from her distance, her wavy black hair shining and glinting under the light, and her big eyes filled with excitement of all forms.Laura was like a little child. It was just as adorable as it could get annoying. The girl was so happy to see me, and nonetheless, as I walked out of the car, shutting it behind me as I made my way towards her, she would not stop grinning and waving. At some point, she even started to run to catch up with me."Girl, I MISSED YOU!" She was screaming at the top of her lungs as she squeezed me into a tight, breath taking hug.She couldn't have been more excited to see me. Her happiness, I hated to admit, was
DARLENE"Wow."Those were the only words that had left Laura's mouth after I had told her everything about the Mckenzie family and how it had affected my marriage with Alexander.She was so quiet that I started to wish that I did not even bring it up. It took a lot, and I mean, more than a lot to bring down the spirit of a girl like Laura, who always saw the positive in everything and was more than enthusiastic at all times."I just can't wrap my head around the fact that he would keep something like that away from me, till after I married him." I told Laura."Would you have married him if you knew before hand?" She asked me.I pondered on the question. It was not the first time that I had been asked something like this before. But usually, I asked it to myself, and one answer always prevailed after repeated rounds of wondering."I don't know," I said, sighed as I came to one realization. "I don't think so.""So, is that a No or a I'm not sure?" She asked me. It was rare to see Laura
DARLENEThere was no better way to forget your problems than a night of irresponsible drinking. So, once Laura and I had hit the bar downtown, there was no telling that I was going to be on my worst behavior.And with someone just as irresponsibily behaved as Laura, it was my lucky day of freedom.The music in the Bar was very loud and everywhere blared with a mix of Millennial and Gen Z music vibes. Purple and pink lights swarmed all around me, illuminating the entire room and shading everywhere with my favourite colour of sin. I could barely catch a thorough view of the environment, because my mind was fucked and occupied with many other things — including alcohol — but the fancy lights, loud music, and many people were all juggled and mixed up in my head.I had never felt this much euphoria before. For what seemed like an eternity, I had finally tapped back into a side of me that I thought was long forgotten — a part of me that was brewing with the most insane kind of happiness, th
DARLENEI woke up.The air was cold and it felt like I was indeed seconds away from freezing to my death. My throat felt stuffed and clogged and my head banged like crazy. Shivering, I sat up against the suspiciously soft bed and stretched my body, cracked my back, and yawned in reflex; my eyes were still drowsy and adjusting, bluriing over and over, to my wake.I sighed when I started to adjust fully. Slowly, quietly, my eyes roamed the room around me from it's new arrangement which I had never seen: the brown and white shade that illuminated to form a golden colour, the lone king sized bed I was on, the video game set, and the dark curtains that shielded any other source of light there was from the outside, giving only the swinging chandelier in the room a chance to brighten up the entire place."Hm, nice place," I muttered, half concerned for a moment.Before my eyes shot open in shock, panic latching onto my back like a cold blanket."Where am I?!" I screamed as I jumped from the
DARLENEFrederick Mckenzie was standing before me and I was so torn into confusion.The moment I saw my eyes on him, a series of flashbacks barged into my head, but all that made sense was me on the shoulder of a stranger who carried me around at will. That was it.Could he have been the stranger?I remembered very well that this stranger had very, very—"—Dark hair." I said as I noticed the colours and streaks of jet black and dark brown on Frederick's hair. "Dark hair?"I stared at him in thorough confusion, tilting my head to look at him properly as though I may have been seeing it wrongly.I remembered that he had strawberry blonde hair, the very kind that made it difficult for me to even look at him more than once. Not because he wasn't handsome. But because that tone of hair was very sharp, too sharp, to the point it made me wince everytime that I looked at him even.I remembered that I had even voiced it out to him the last time we spoke.Frederick straightened up his posture,
DARLENEI hadn't realized how long I had even spent there in the shower until I came out and it was already looking so bright outside.I remember vividly that it was still early hours of the morning that I had gotten in, do early that it was still even a bit dark outside and here I was, stepping out when the morning sun was already brightly shining everywhere.Shower time had always been this way for me because as far as I can remember, that was the only time that I seemed to get the kind of peace that I was always looking for. It gave me some time to think and reflect and just, well, relax, as the hit trickles of shower water were running down my body and warming me up, little by little.I guess, once again, I must have forgotten myself.Only in Frederick's house.For some reason, a part of me felt like all these was a but not decent, but I had to make myself feel better by coming to terms with the fact that, well, nothing major has actually happened. It was only Frederick being a ge