Javier found a key on top of the door’s frame. In the past, whenever Javier’s father had stayed out, he would always leave a key in between the crack of the door frame. When Javier was still young and short, he wouldn’t be able to reach the top, but this did not mean he would forget about his father’s habit. In fact, he had not. Javier had now obtained a key to get inside, so he opened the door. The place was kept very clean, and the decorations made the place seem very warm. Similar to his father’s bedroom, the entire place had been tidied up by his stepmother. There was a photobook on the desk, and Javier even found photos of his father and stepmother together. However, those photos had all been taken in the past. None of them had been taken recently, so Javier was unable to trace their whereabouts through them. Javier even saw a brown envelope on the glass coffee table in the living room.The brown envelope looked very traditional. It was something not easily obtainable
Javier’s question and “excellent suggestion” ruffled Mikaela’s feathers. Waving hurriedly, she explained, “No, that’s not what I meant, Mr. Kersey! I was just thinking…We are going to buy the same thing, and Donald said he knows the best way to get it and knows a lot about it, so I was thinking…Why not kill two birds with one stone? So here I am.”Javier considered the unadulterated sincerity—bordering on gullibility—in her eyes and let out a snicker. He pulled out his phone and looked up an MRI model online before turning back to Mikaela. “Donald told you he knows about these things, doesn’t he? Give him a call right now. Ask him how many brands of MRIs there are, how much they cost, and what each of their strengths and weaknesses are. Which one is being used by which state-of-the-art hospital?”Mikaela hummed. Donald must really have meant it when he had said he knew about these things. She called the man at Javier’s behest and repeated every question to him.His answer was underw
In the end, Mikaela left without getting any action. She was this close to succumbing to their mutual lust, but she thought of her precious Renna.No, the little girl did not serve as a moral chain of any kind. The reason was stupidly pragmatic: Young Renna was napping alone at home. If she woke up and realized neither of her parents was with her, she would be terrified! And let’s not discount the growing trend of tragedies that happened because kids were left at home alone and unsupervised by adults.Just the thought of it compelled her to ignore all the desire built up in her and free herself from Javier’s arms. She scurried out of the door, her face flustered, and fled down the stairs.Javier did not stop her this time. He had told her before that he would never force himself on her. Besides, he had good reason to believe that he had planted a seed into the young woman’s mental landscape. Soon, it would sprout, take root, and grow until it took over her heart.As he mused, Mikae
With Renna in her arms, Mikaela left the house she used to call home, her silhouette moving in the streets outside. The breeze tonight was warm, and yet she felt only a tomb of ice in her chest.Ten years’ worth of youth—all spent on a piece of top-shelf sh*t! It was so infuriating that she was wondering if she should just gouge out her eyes if she was going to live like a blind person anyway!As she was simmering in fury, Renna suddenly murmured, “Mom? I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten in a long time now…”Mikaela snapped out of her anger. Belatedly, she realized it was now a few minutes past eight, and Renna had not eaten anything since lunch about seven or eight hours ago. She looked around to locate her handbag, where her wallet and phone were, so she could treat the girl to a meal in a restaurant nearby.That was when it hit her. She had barged out of the door at the peak of her lividity and forgotten to bring her handbag and phone along. She was literally penniless, and without her
Mikaela was not even sure how to describe how she felt. Was Javier a nice guy? Yes.Did she like him? Yes. A little. Somewhat. Maybe.But the idea of them being together—rings in each other’s fingers and bells tolling for a life shared—she never once felt the compulsion for it.Of course, she meant the compulsion to build a life based on a serious union. Not the more…carnal variety.It was the reason she had said what she said. She would sooner be mocked for overstating how much he was attracted to her than to risk Javier investing emotionally in an impossibility. It would make her feel guilty. It would make her feel like she was playing Javier.Fortunately for her, Javier harbored no such desire either. He studied Mikaela’s bashful expression before replying, “Just because I’m attracted to you doesn’t mean we have to get married. That’s some stuffy, old-school thing only the squarest people do. I like you, and I want to sleep with you. But marry you? No offense, but we’re not com
Javier swore the night was almost too impossible to get through.As it turned out, his success was merely on how he managed to make Mikaela and Renna stay—the woman had her own devious wiles against him. She had told Javier she needed to check on her daughter in her room to make sure she was okay and promptly shut herself inside Renna’s room, declaring she was “going to sleep”. It had been an excuse!This had to be a crime against humanity, right? It got to be!He lay on his bed, maidenless and powerless. All that teasing had gone nowhere—he had to give that woman props for withstanding his almost unbeatable advances. How on Earth did she do it?He spent way too much time tossing, turning, and rolling on his sides to finally fall asleep. God, to go to sleep hungry like that!Javier was not even given a chance to oversleep in the morning. Renna had to go to school, so Mikaela woke him up by knocking on his door, asking, “Is it me, or is there nothing to eat here in this unit?”Jav
Javier never fancied himself a man of decorum. Again, it was never his fault. He wanted to be tactful as much as the next person did, but it had to be dependable on who he was talking to.Flexing decorum with a man? Cultured.Flexing decorum with a mutt? Crackhead.This lard bucket, along with his haughty, everyone’s-below-me attitude was just a stupid nobody slung with the title of sales agent. Who the hell in their right mind would even care enough to show him “decorum”? He should be grateful for how no one was punching him in the face already.Finally, the fat man recovered from his shock and immediately cast an ugly scowl at Oliver. “The hell was that, Holmes!? I demand an explanation!”However, the older man seemed to have caught whatever bug Javier had. He wanted to feel that gratification, too.“Please, miss me with that bullsh*t.”The fat man was infuriated. What the f*ck was going on? A rebellion!? Oliver would always greet his arrival with nothing less than obsequious
Javier’s initial plan was to upgrade some of the equipment into its more hi-tech counterpart, but he changed his mind after a while. How much could he save, anyway? It would be better if he changed everything anew.If one was going to do something, they should do it right or shouldn’t bother at all. Hence, he wanted only “the best equipment” and “the best doctors.” Sacred Virtue Hospital had to be the very best, state-of-the-art hospital in the nation—no, the world!It had to be this good for Reivaj Group to make a name in the medical industry.Naturally, the name of the hospital needed to change. “Sacred Virtues” was not too bad a name, but Reivaj Group only ever named its subsidiaries with the same name, and that was…Well, Reivaj itself. Nothing more was needed.Be that as it may, the naming of the hospital was hardly Javier’s priority. He could always change its name after everything else was settled.By the time the clock struck six in the evening, Dylan had finally finished t