The panic attack that Cassius had a while ago stayed vividly in Harriet’s mind. It is the same reaction she saw when they got trapped under the collapsed building. Cassius did not see a large portion of water. So what made him panicked? ‘It is his own relatives,’ Harriet answered the mystery in her head. The reason why Cassius does not want to go home is because he despise the Fabroa family; the family Harriet vowed to take a revenge. Slowly, Harriet stared at the man who’s sitting beside her on the same bench. When Cassius calmed, they went to the mansion’s back garden stayed under the shade for a long time. Harriet dared not to speak. She knows that during at this moment, the best comfort that she can offer is her presence and not a bunch of good words. She looked around, watching the lovely sights of the the garden that are truly a view to behold. There is color everywhere – bright color, subtle color – pinks, reds, yellows, oranges, purples, greens. As the wind blew, the f
“Harriet!”Harriet and Cassius tilted their heads. They saw a woman approaching their side with an angelic smile on her innocent face.As soon as Harriet saw Reese, her hands around Cassius have tightened. Cassius felt the sudden rage. He looked at her hands and to Harriet’s sharp eyes which were fixed to the coming lady.“I didn’t know that you will go back home now!” Reese gasped then she deliberately stared alternately at Cassius and their hands. “But… who is this man you’re holding?”Harriet quickly let go of Cassius hand. She cannot let Reese create a malicious rumor about her and Cassius.“R-Reese,” Harriet murmured. “Where did you go from?”“Ohhh, w-well…” Reese scratched her nape awkwardly.She cannot let Harriet finds out that she planned on meeting her father. Not yet.‘I still cannot decide whether I’ll say the truth or not,’ Reese told to herself.Reese smiled at Harriet and changed the topic.“Hey! That is not important!”She grabbed Harriet’s hands and held it tightly. A
“You followed Harriet on the way to New York?” Finn asked his son, Zion.The members of Fabroa family were seated together inside Finn’s room. They gathered here after meeting Cassius, who returned home after a long time.“Yes. I followed her,” Zion proudly answered. He crossed his long legs, wrapped his hands on his knees and smiled at his parents.“Why did you follow that lowly woman?” his mother, Sherly, rebuked.“Harriet got into an accident. And she is my secretary. So I don’t see any wrong with following her to New York.”“Huh,” Madell suddenly laughed. She mockingly stared at her brother and said, “The boss followed his secretary. This is so rare. Brother, you look like an owner who followed his dog. It will be funny if the owner wag his tail in front of the dog.”Zion’s arrogant eyes shot straight to his sister. He sneered at her first, then replied, “As far as I can remember, you are still under provision, right?”The smile on Madell’s lips vanished.“Why don’t you act as if
There are no CCTV around my room. It is obvious that Madell asked the servants to take out all cameras so that she can abuse me whenever she wanted. I remembered times when she will knock in my room just to give me a good slap. Well, I tolerated her craziness before because I was stupidly in love with her brother. Yes. I was an idiot who hoped that we can still be family if only I tried. But not now. After the second slap on her face, Madell is now on her hands and knees on the ground. When she turned back to me, I could clearly see how red her cheeks are. ‘So satisfying to see.’ “How dare you?!” she shouted, shooting laser with her sharp eyes. All of her body are trembling, not because she’s frightened, but because she’s so eager to hit me back. “I only did that to remember if I hit miss Madell or not,” I answered with sarcastic smile on my lips. “But I guess, it is such a hard job. Maybe, if my hand turned numb from hitting you, then I can remember.” I showed her my right
Both of cheeks got swollen red and I could feel the tingling pain spread out all of my face. It feels like something is burning and they went as big as two burger buns. Nevertheless, I am so used of receiving physical pain so this does not much worry me at all. I practiced how to treat myself too.To aid my reddened cheeks, I went to the mansion’s kitchen. I put ice cubes inside a clean towel and pressed them on my face. It’s cool enough to subside my anger.As I pressed the ice and stared at the blank space, I recalled how shocked the chairman was when he saw me sitting on the ground in front of his granddaughter. Actually, I already expected that the chairman will walk around that area because he always feels thirsty during that time. It is his night routine, which I won’t forget because I’ve served him for long years. That was why I purposely slapped myself and pretended like a victim.‘Well, I am indeed a victim of Madell’s abuse. It just that I found a way how to fight back and t
The next morning, my cheeks still feel hurt. When I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I saw two bruises on each side of my face. “Oh my gosh.” However, I slapped Madell harder that what I did to me so her face must be swollen until now. ‘That suddenly made me happy.’ Not that I am turning violent. But punishing someone like her is worth it. Besides, didn’t she’s the first one who threatened my life? What I did last night is a self-defense, feat. vengeance. I looked at myself in front of the mirror again while thinking the way to cover my bruises. ‘But it is really necessary to hide my bruises?’ Today, I am going to the company together with Zion. If the employees saw my bruises, what will they think? ‘They will probably think that someone is mistreating me inside the mansion.’ Zion is living in different house. Everyone saw how much the chairman loves me so they won’t think that it was grandpa Sorren who hit me. Then, all that left are Madam Sherly, sir Finn and Mad
I don’t know where Cassius’s condo is, or who is this man driving the car for us. What I wanted to know is the reason why Cassius fetched me from the mansion and declared his love in front of the servants!Just why does he have to do that?And he even call me his ‘love’ with no expressions. If I called myself as the best actress last night, then today, Cassius is the worst actor. We won’t win the best couple award, I swear.I looked at the man sitting beside me here at the back seat of the car. Cassius is looking outside the window, as if he is deliberately trying to avoid my gaze.I really wanted to talk to him about the plan he started without telling me. But there’s another person inside the car so I had to be careful. Cautiously, I leaned closer to him.Then I whispered, “Hey.”Cassius heard me. I’m sure of that. But the stubborn man pretended he did not and just continued staring outside the window.‘This bastard!’ “Hey~” I called him a bit louder this time.The driver glance at
Zion reminisced the first day Harriet came to study at his school. He is one year older than Harriet, so he came to the school earlier than her and was so excited to tour her around the place. From the gate of the school, Zion walked together on the way in. Their classrooms are in different buildings. Harriet’s room is at the East side, while Zion’s room is at the West. Nevertheless, that did not stop Zion from sending Harriet to her room. “Hey, you don’t need to send me there. I can go by myself, Zion,” the shy Harriet told the tall man walking with her. “It’s okay,” Zion reassured. He looked at his wrist watch and said, “There still has time left.” Corners of Harriet’s mouth soared up, drawing a smile that is as sweet as morning dew. Not only she’s excited for school, but she was also looking forward to the day when she and Zion will walk like this in the same school. As they walk, students threw glances on their side. Why not? The infamous Zion has beauty that is a head turner
Spring came. The air began to warm, the temperature rose slowly and the snow begins to melt. Tree buds started greening and preparing itself to grow. It was a wonderful and joyful season which wrapped the cool winter. Another year together, Cassius, Harriet and their daughter welcomed the new season. It’s been 6 years since Cassius and Harriet tied knots through wedding. Their daughter, Jaime, turned 5 this year. Yet, every time they looked back what happened before, it made them feel as if everything was just yesterday. They changed the future, saved lives, avoided regrets. Now, they are living happily with each other, while calling everything as their ‘past.’ “Mom!” Under the sun rays which made the horizon looked beautiful against the clouds, Harriet looked back to see the child running towards her side. It was relaxing listening to the singing of the birds and the dancing of the trees. Yet, for Harriet, seeing the smile in her daughter’s lips was the prettiest thing that
Reese was running away. She heard that Zion would come in that place and she doesn't want her beloved man to see her in this state. Especially, when Zion remembered what happened in the future.But on her way out of the park, a tall man blocked her way.She looked up and fell onto the ground when she saw Zion.He stood there, like a calm lake with no waves, even if the wind was blowing hard tonight.At some point, Reese held her breath. In a situation like this, she could not do anything but stay on the ground while looking at him.“Where are you going? I think we have things to settle first,” Zion uttered.“Z-Zion. I…”“Don’t bother making any excuses. It won’t work. I remembered everything.”“I k-know,” she said before she started chuckling sarcastically. “I know that you would not forgive me for fooling you. I let Harriet die. The woman you love died so I don’t expect you to understand me.”A frown appeared on his nonchalant face.Slowly, Reese crawled into him and held his hands.
At the time Zion found who killed his Grandpa, he received news that Harriet died in the prison. How did she die? Did someone kill her inside the cell? No. She was sentenced to death. Something that Zion did not imagine would happen. He and Reese made a deal. Reese promised that she will do her best to get Harriet out of the prison, and that is by confessing Astell about Harriet’s real identity. In exchange, Zion had to marry Reese even if she’s an impostor. Zion gambled his whole life just to protect Harriet. But in the end, Harriet died. Why didn’t he hear anything about this beforehand? He realized that everyone fooled him. Reese and him weren’t allied. Instead, Reese joined hands with the people around him to keep it secret that Harriet was going to die in the prison. Knowing it was late, Zion went to the prison. ‘Harriet. Harriet.’ On his way, he continued calling out to her even though he knew that an answer would not come back. He did not know the reason why. It just
Harriet’s POVMy heart raced and my chest tightened as the cold fist of understanding squeezed the breath out of me.Reese pushed me, and now, I am underwater.The moonlight above mocked me.It was getting so hard. I guessed my legs were still moving, but I couldn’t feel my toes anymore. The water snugged in around me.My limbs were willing to win this fight. But soon, they decided to rest.I took a deep breath as the water closed in around me.‘I’ll never see my father again.’‘And Cassius, he will cry if I die, right?’The light filtering down through the water mocked me. A slight pressure pushed on my chest from the inside.My clothes swirled uselessly around me, weighing down even further. A ringing filled my ears, but otherwise it’s quiet. My lungs burnt. I clamped my shut trying to kick my legs. The urge to breathe is unbearable. My chest was going to explode.‘No.No…I don’t want to die again.I didn’t come back to be in this state again.Please…’As I prayed so hard, I watche
Cassius shoved his hand inside his pocket. He made sure that he brought the ring with him before going to Harriet’s mansion. He wanted to rent a huge place to do his proposal. But he changed his mind. If there’s one good place to do it, then it is the Wyatt’s garden. Smiling, Cassius entered the mansion. As he stepped inward, Cris, the maid, stopped when she saw him. “Sir Cassius!” she gasped. Cassius looked at the maid who called him in a surprised tone. Cris ran towards him. She was very confused. “W-Why are you here, Sir?” Cris asked. Cassius forged a cough as he shyly answered, “W-Where’s Harriet? I came here to meet her.” “Huh?” That’s weird. As far as Cris can remember, it was Cassius who texted Harriet to meet him in the Damsel park. But, here he is, looking for her. “This morning, I lost my phone. So, I was worried if Harriet was waiting for my text or call,” Cassius added. It was true that he lost his phone this morning, but he was only saying an excuse to see Harr
Harriet couldn’t sleep well that night. She rolled onto her bed, thinking how and when would Cassius propose to her. She was very excited. “You look like you’re in a good mood,” Astell noticed while eating breakfast with his daughter. Harriet smiled at him and said, “Yes. It is because I found something that I shouldn’t see. Now, I am excited.” Astell chuckled. Despite everything that happened lately, he was glad that his daughter is feeling alright. “What is your plan today?” Astell asked. “I am going to check the new project you are working on. You told me to learn more, so I am doing my best to follow your steps, father.” “Really? I don’t want to force you to take this path. If you want something to achieve, you can have it.” “No, father. Ever since I worked as Grandpa’s secretary, I knew that I love this job. Please, let me enjoy learning from your line of work.” At first, Astell doubted if Harriet would really like to continue his journey as the owner of Wyatt corporation
Harriet’s POV It’s been one month since that day. I would never forget the time I saw the truth in my own eyes. That moment when Zion was begging his father to come back. [“Poor child. I did my best. But I guess you are more qualified to teach him.”] Those were the murderer's last words before disappeared. All along, we suspected Sherly, Finn, Madell or Reese. In the end, we discovered that the murderer was neither of them, but residing in one of them. It was Finn’s personality, Victor. When Cassius and I arrived in the mansion to save the Chairman, we only saw Grandpa gasping for air on the floor while holding his neck, and Zion begging his father. It was quite a sight to remember; the sight where the future changed and no one died. The Chairman was taken to the hospital. Finn either, before the police took him and interrogated. When Grandpa regained his consciousness, he told us everything, from the fact that Victor killed Diana in order to protect the police. Until now, Gran
Sorren called Finn after meeting Elona. The prosecutor was still interrogating Madell, and Reese was on the run. Yet, Sorren does not want another day regretting not knowing the truth. More than the corporation’s reputation, Sorren prioritized saving his son from the nightmare and protecting the people around him. Thus, he sat in front of Finn, with Jasmine tea settled on the center table. No one took a sip as they talked in silent arguments with their eyes. Just like in the original future. “Why did you call me? I was very busy, father. Also, it is also weird for you to look for me when I know how much you hate me.” “Why did you do that, Finn?” Sorren asked. Finn stared at his father and tilted his head. “What do you mean?” Sorren gritted his teeth as he stared at his son. “Why did you kill Diana?” Finn’s eyes widened. He lowered his head and acted, “I don’t know what you are talking about. Diana left me a long time ago. She’s not dead!” “W-What?” Then with his head ha
A week ago, Zion met with the owner of Elona boutique. Sitting across Zion, Elona smiled. She stared at the young man who resembled his parents, the handsome Finn and the gorgeous Sherly. Then, with a grin on her lips, she said, “It seemed that everyone from that family came and visited my shop. The father, the mother and the daughter. And now, It’s you. It made me feel like I am already part of the family.” Zion observed Elona’s sneer before he mimicked her expression; the kind of beam that wouldn’t reach the eyes. “To be a real part of our family, meeting my father, mother and sister isn’t enough. There is one person you should meet,” Zion responded. “Do you mean you?” “Somehow. But there’s one more person. That’s the head of the house, my Grandpa, the Chairman of Fantell group.” Elona stopped for a moment before she chuckled. “Wait a minute. Is that a threat? Did you come here to threaten your father’s mistress?” “No. Even if you are his real mistress, I wouldn’t waste my