The kiss went on for a while before they moved away, breathing heavily. Chloe dropped her eyes on him, placed her index finger on her lower lips and when he looked at her back, she buried her face in her palm, feeling shy. “Gosh!” She exchanged. Ryan chuckled, stood up, and then settled beside her. “What?” He asked and tried to move her hand from her face. “Nothing. I just…” She swallowed when she moved her hands from her face to see him sitting so close to her. “I…” she shook her head and placed her hands on her lips again. “Are you shy?” Ryan asked. “What are we… now?” She shook her head and asked. “What happens after a kiss?” Ryan raised his brows. “Answer me,” she pouted and nudged him gently. Ryan adjusted in his seat, picked up her hand, and then fondled it gently. “I will ask officially.” Chloe swallowed and watched him while he started. “Will you… go out with me? Be my girlfriend.” Chloe had waited for many years to hear this from him and him saying this to her r
Ramon sat in the room with Elena in silence for almost thirty minutes before the door pushed open and then Ariana rushed in. She threw her bag on the floor, rushed to her sister, and then knelt beside her on the bed. “Elena!” “I think she fell asleep again,” Ramon said. “Aria…” Elena mumbled and Ramon nodded his head. She was ignoring him on purpose. “I will leave since you are here then. Take care of yourself, Elena. I will check on you again.” “Thank you.” “And switch on your phone!” He snapped before he walked out of the room. “Elena!” Ariana burst into tears as she forcefully pulled her up. “Ah… don’t kill me,” Elena moaned. “Why is your body hot? Are you okay? Have you been crying? Did you sleep at all? What did the twins say? Did you…” “Oh, I think you are worse than Ramon,” she shook her head and then laid back in the bed. “That day at the cafe,” Ariana settled and pulled away the duvet from Elena which earned her a frown. “You said it was Zeke in the car that was
Elena had been staring at herself in the mirror for the last few minutes and all she did was sniff and stare at her swollen, red eyes. She didn’t cry, but she had been sleeping since she returned home the previous day, and when she was not sleeping, she was staring at the ceiling. Her door was locked, so no one could come to her room and she didn’t eat either. It was a new day and she knew she needed to go to work. If it was up to her, she would stay back and keep to her bed, but since it was not up to her, she had to go. Wearing a black dress that stopped on her knees, she pulled her hair in a neat ponytail and then turned to look at the door as a knock came. She walked to it and then opened the door. “Ariana,” she smiled at her sister. “Why are you doing this?!” Ariana yelled and brushed past her to enter the room. “What did I do?” “You were not answering anyone. Do you know how worried we were?!” She screamed and Elena swallowed hard. “I am sorry. I just needed to gather
Zeke let out a long sigh as he dropped his phone and then palmed his face. He knew it was going to take no time before Elena noticed that the cars were from him and he had been expecting her call since he woke up. How did she figure out about Ethan? Did Ethan reach out to her too? At the thought of that, his eyes widened and goosebumps rushed him. No way. Never! Ethan must never talk to her. He must never reach out to her or even think of doing so. It was enough that he was doing that to him. He finally knotted his tie and then grabbed him from the table. Descending the stairs, he glanced at his wrist watch and a short smile spread on his lips as he remembered that he was going to see Elena again. He wished they were meeting under different circumstances. Good circumstances. Was he a bad person for wishing those situations where they would keep running into each other and then needing each other would never end? He loved that she called him and then wanted to talk to him
Zeke's eyes lightened up as he entered the office and saw Elena standing by the coffee machine. She was wearing a black gown that tightened her waist and then flared to her knees. Her body was fucking centerfold-worthy, not to lie. The cloth wrapped her body so tightly and was exposing her curves. Her hair was a weakness of his. When she pulled it up so tightly that way, black, silky, and long enough he wished he could wrap it around my fist. Her gaze was soft. The innocent expression of hers that always seemed to burn through my skin and straight to his heart. He entered fully and then swallowed hard before she moved over to him. “You look so…” “Was it Ethan?” Well, he did not forget that behind that loving sweet face was an expression he does not like at all. Her facial expression had turned cold, nothing like how it was when he entered, so he exhaled and clasped his hands together. “How did you know about him?” “Does that matter?” She rolled her eyes and he nodded his he
“He is not going to get to you or them,” he said to assure her while he watched the woman who settled on the couch away from him. “What is he after?” “Elena, I will handle Ethan.” “How can you handle someone you don’t even know his whereabouts?!” “I am looking for him,” he said and she shook her head. “If he truly sent those pictures to the media then this is not a joke! He could be closer than we imagine. What if someone else is running the errands for him? They managed to follow me to the cafe with them. And then… their school! They know where my children’s school is and…” “Elena…” Zeke called out the woman who was shaking in fear and agitation already. “Ethan cannot do anything to them.” “I do not expect you to be worried, do I?” Her voice shook and his brows pulled together. “What?” “I watched them grow. Only I know the pain that I went through because of them so it is normal that I feel this way for them, but, you… you can’t. You met them just recently and your subcons
Zeke sat in silence all through his journey back to the company, his hands clasped together, head rested against the headrest and then eyes closed tightly. The words from Elena had pierced through his thick skin and had caused him literally nothing but pain since he left her. “You disgust me so much, Zeke. Sometimes, I wonder how I managed to pull up with a disgusting person like you for three whole years,” she had said to him while she looked him dead in the eyes. Shedding tears right in front of her, he had hurriedly wiped it off, moved away from her, and then forced a smile. “I… I should return to the office. I… I have a meeting,” he stuttered while he glanced at his wristwatch. Elena had not said anything and only watched him leave the office. Zeke sighed, opened his eyes, and then took a glance at his driver. The man had been working for him for almost five years and he was a married man too. “Uhm… John.” “Sir.” “How… how should I make a woman forgive me?” He asked, in
Camila returned to her feet and then burst into hysterical laughter which went on for a whole minute. While she displayed that psychotic side of her, Zeke removed his coat, dropped it on the hanger, and then walked to his chair. “How dare you do this to me?” She finally asked, her voice mixed with anger and desperation. “You blocked my number and then refused to pick up any call that came from me. How dare you do that?!” “I thought I made myself clear already. We are done, Camila,” Zeke settled in his chair and switched on his computer. “We are not done,” she shook her head and moved over to him. “We are not over, I told you we are not, and we can never be!” She screamed and then slapped the computer in anger but Zeke was quick to stop it from falling. There was one thing about her when she was angry and that was ruining things. He stood up, moved to the other side and she followed him just as he had expected. He was in no mood to start picking up the things she had shattered
“D… do you hear that?” Zeke stuttered after the call ended and Ryan raised his brows.“He is a psycho,” Ryan breathed out.“No, no. I heard the sound of a siren in the background. He…”“I got his location!” One of the men hollered.“Where is he?”“He is… nearby,” he drew his brows together and zoomed in properly.“He is around here,” he repeated.Zeke prepared to stand up but Ryan was quick to stop him.“No, wait.”“I have to find him.”“We need to be rational here. Hold on.”“He said the bomb could detonate on its own!”“I heard that, just calm down.”“How is it going so far?” Ray joined them in the car and Zeke breathed out.“He has called, and made his demands,” Zeke answered.“Good. How much? Tell me, and I will raise it right now.”“He wants all of my assets.”“What?”“My assets. Everything down to my shares and buildings.”Ray swallowed hard and then shook his head. “That psycho.”“What are we going to do? Make the call again. I will give him mine. They might not be up to yours,
“I knew it…”When the low, hoarse voice of the little boy came up, Ramon turned around to look at him and then breathed out.“What?”Nathan adjusted in his seat and then glanced at the tiny rope that was used to tie his wrists together.“I knew… something was wrong about you. I have always known that.”“Shut up, you don’t know anything,” he hissed at the boy.Natalie stirred gently from where she sat too and then finally opened her eyes.Looking around at where they were and how they were tied, she whined gently and then burst into tears.“I know you were not a good person,” Nathan said again.“The problem with you is that you act like you know everything.”“I think you are actually pained that I have always been right about you.”Ramon forced a laugh and then shook his head. “Right about me? You don’t know anything, trust me!”“Aside from the fact that you hold grudges against little children like us which actually amuses me, I know for a fact that you have always had this darker sid
The call ended, and Elena shook her head vigorously. There was no way this was going on. She swallowed hard and dialed the number again but it was not going through. Skeptically, she looked around the car while she made sure she sat tightly. What if it was not a lie? What if there was truly a bomb in her car? How could anyone have had access to the car anyway? Finally, her eyes settled on the dash camera in her car and she squinted her brows when her eyes caught the faint red light that was flashing beside it. She leaned closer and when she realized that a camera had been planted in her car. No wonder he knew to call the moment she wanted to leave the car. If truly she was sitting on a bomb as he had said, then she could have died if he had called her a second late. Oh, what a psychopath! Her kids were missing and she has been made to sit forcefully in her car. She browsed through her phone and then clicked the camera application. She began to record the car and then gentl
“K… kids? Whose kids?” Elena stuttered. Zeke dropped the call instantly and palmed his face. “You are not talking about the kids, are you?” The gateman stuttered. “Why…?!” He sniffed and shook his head. “Why did you let them go with him?” “I have seen him before, so I didn’t think to refuse him. Besides, they called him uncle.” Zeke looked around and his phone rang again. He gritted his teeth and then picked up the call gently. “Where are my children?!” She thundered, breathing heavily. “I am going to look…” “You said Ramon has them?!” “The gatekeeper said someone came to pick them up. I believe it was Ramon.” “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Elena screamed from the other side. “Stay back, Elena, I am going to find them,” he said when he heard the sounds of footsteps. “You can’t tell me to sit back while my children are missing!” She yelled and then dropped the call. Zeke looked around and when he saw the CCTV camera, he moved closer to the security man. “Can I see
“B… but… why have you come to pick us?” Nathan stuttered as he reluctantly got out of the gate.“Your daddy sent me to pick you up. He is running late at work.”Zeke had initially thought that they were going to close by 3PM as usual but they had closed by two.“Daddy?” Natalie raised her brows.“Have you forgotten? I am his friend. His only best friend in the world.”The twins exchanged glances again.“I know you two are mad at me about what I said the last time and I am so sorry, okay? Can you forgive me already? I’m taking you to your daddy. Can we leave now?”Nathan moved over to Natalie and then held her hand. “We will wait for Daddy to come.”Ramon gritted his teeth and then forced a smile hurriedly. “Come on, guys.”“Daddy promised to come pick us up.”“But he is not here yet.”“He probably thought we would be closing by three and not two!” Nathan snapped.Oh, this boy was smarter than his age.Ramon hissed,“Actually… I should not be telling you this…” he sighed and bowed his
“Can we not go to school today, Daddy?”Natalie forced a solemn look as she stared at her father who addressed her dress.“What?” “We are not going to tell mummy.”“What?!” He widened his eyes when Nathan added.“We’re going to act as if we went to school and then when it is time, you will take us back home,” Natalie said.“Jesus, when did you two become like this?!” He exclaimed and the twins burst into laughter.“You are being dramatic, papa.”“You want me to join you to lie to your mother!”“You are exaggerating. It’s not gonna be a lie. We’re just gonna tell her that we went to school…”“Whereas you didn’t?” He cut her short and she clasped her hands together.“Exactly.”“How did you two come up with that idea? It is so…”“Perfect? We know,” Nathan smiled.“Not perfect, guys!”Natalie covered the space between her and her father who knelt in front of her and then wrapped her arms around his neck.“That is because we have missed you, daddy. We want to spend the rest of today with
“But Daddy, do you pull your friends' clothes?” Natalie asked after they had watched Ramon out of the compound.“We were only talking. It is nothing serious. Trust me.”“I thought you were fighting. About what he told us.”Zeke sighed and then glanced at Ariana who chuckled. “We have settled everything. He had apologized for saying something like that so we are good now.”“Hmm,” Nathan rolled his eyes.“I am being serious.”He held the door for them and they both entered the car.“Have you told mummy?”He parted his lips and then scratched his forehead. “I forgot.”“Daddy!” They both exclaimed and he rushed back inside.Ariana laughed as they watched him run to the big door and she turned to look at the twins.“Your mummy will agree. Don’t worry.”===“Daddy, do you know our birthday is on Saturday?”He nodded his head as he took a turn out of the street before he glanced at them through the rearview mirror.“I do.”“We will be six years old!” Natalie shrieked and he giggled.“The ‘Ye
By the time Zeke and Elena got to the living room, Ramon was ready to leave. “Oh, I was just going to come to you to say bye!” He exclaimed, smiling. Zeke needed not to be told that the man was wearing the fakest and forced smile ever. “Oh… is that so?” Elena smiled and then moved away from Zeke. “I… sorry about your face,” she pointed her finger at his face and he chuckled. “I probably deserve it.” She nodded her head and he leaned closer to her gently and then hugged her. “I have missed you.” Zeke watched, with his hands curled into a tight ball. “When will I see you again?” She asked him. “When you feel like seeing me… but soon,” he pulled away and then stared at her. “Soon,” he repeated and then glanced at Zeke. He turned to leave the room after bowing at the old couple and then Zeke hurried after him. “Are you going to pick a fight again?!” Ray hollered. Instead, Zeke curled his arm around the man’s neck, turned back, and then smiled. “Not at all, fat
After they disentangled from the hug, Ariana waved her hands at her sister and then exited the room, leaving just the two of them in the room.When she got up to the living room, she rolled her eyes backward when she found her mother cleaning Ramon’s wound.Oh, Zeke should have hit him harder!At least, disfigure his face for the rest of his life.She grunted and then walked to the big door that led outside the room.“Where are you going?”“The twins are in the car. So, I’ll check up on them.”“Why won’t they come in, in fact?” Ray rolled his eyes.“I bet they think Zeke has come to return them so they chose to stay in the car till he returns,” she laughed.She dropped her eyes on Ramon, twitched her lips upward, and then said, “They love their father so much, you know. At this point, I can’t wait for them to become a proper family.”She said on purpose to rile Ramon up.Instead, the man only watched her while he faked a laugh.“Just leave them to do their thing,” Karina rolled her ey