Mary slumped down on her bed after a hectic day at work. The babysitter has been playing with Cole, and she smiled as she saw them."Thank you, Stella, for looking after him." The girl had been a blessing in disguise."It is not a problem; I love looking after Cole, and he loves it too. Right?" She said tickling the baby, and he giggled in return. "School is resuming in the next two weeks, and I will be expected to resume.""Oh." Mary sat up; she had not thought of that."Yeah, I am just informing you on time so you can start looking for another babysitter." Stella informed her, standing up from the mat where she had been playing with Cole.She picked him up and transferred him to his cot. "Thank you for telling me; I will start looking for options. But do you have anyone you can recommend?" Mary said as she began to rack her brain. Stella had been a huge help to her, and she hated to see her go.She shook her head, her curls bouncing softly around. "I can’t think of anyone else, but
Operation Look for Mary had kicked off and was in progress. Nicholas had decided he was going to contact the police department while Cameron had volunteered to go to the orphanages, and so the search began.It was Monday morning when Nicholas set off for the police headquarters in New York. He had earlier contacted the NYPD commissioner and explained his plight, and the latter had asked that he come to his office.He didn’t go to work that day; instead, he hopped into his car and drove towards the station. Nicholas was popular, as the word popular could be, especially in New York, so he was received with warm regards.He was led to the office and asked to wait for the commissioner since he had just stepped out not too long ago to go do something.Nicholas made himself comfortable on the chair while he pressed his phone, trying to reply to a message. He had gotten tired of waiting and was able to go out and complain when the man stepped into the office."I must apologize for the delay,
Nicholas had hired a private investigator as per Cameron's request, and he had contacted him almost immediately, but he had decided to fix the meeting discreetly and online.This was someone he didn’t know, and he didn’t want anything to be linked to him, in case it blew out of proportion. Which was stupid since he was a private investigator, as his job was to investigate.But Nicholas had set up a meeting online and given him all the information he would need to locate Mary. And this time he prayed it would be successful; otherwise, he would say bye-bye to Harrington Holdings.Apart from the private investigator and the NYPD, Nicholas had taken it upon himself to search for her physically. On weekends, he and Cameron would take a drive around the neighborhood, armed with her picture and asking questions.He couldn’t continue to sit down and wait for the NYPD or the private investigator when he could do something, no matter how little. Because the more time he wastes, the more his cha
"Nicholas." Mary’s mouth was already moving before she registered what she just said. It was impossible; Nicholas couldn’t be here. But why is she seeing him here, at the restaurant?It all seemed to happen fast because someone who was coming from the back bumped into her, and Mary watched, feeling like she was in an outer body, as the tray fell down."Thud." The tray hit the ground with a thud, shattering on impact on the floor, and the noise seemed to shake her awake, and she jolted.She looked down at the mess she had made, at a loss for what to do with the person’s order now on the floor. Liz, who had been watching the scenario, came towards her.Mary bent down to start picking up the shards, but Liz stopped her. "Don’t worry, I will get it." She replied in her usual calm voice. Liz left to get a broom and a dustpan, while Mary continued standing there.She tried to pretend she didn’t know that the person in front of her wasn’t Nicholas, and she went to the next table, whose order
Amy looked at Nicholas, black orbs to blue orbs, her gaze unwavering. He didn’t seem to be backing down any time soon, and he stared at her head-on.Amy looked away; his gaze was too hot for her to handle, and she looked back at Mary. Her eyes were pleading that she should let it be and let them go. But Amy couldn’t let that happen. She had been with Mary since she came here, and she knew just how much Nicholas had hurt her, and she vowed that no one was going to hurt her friend again."That is alright; I am coming.""Amy. You can’t do this; you need to stay here; I will be fine." Mary pleaded, gently squeezing her hand."I don’t care if you will be fine or not, but I am coming with you. I am not leaving you in the hands of a man who threw you out." Nicholas whined as he heard that, and Amy eyed him in distaste. "Who knows what he would do next time?""Look. Amy, or whatever you are called, I won’t tolerate any disrespect; I know my action wasn’t exactly good, but the last thing I wil
They all sat on the sofa, with Nicholas and Mary sitting together while Amy and Cameron sat on the adjacent sofa, silence reigning over them.The tension in the air was so thick that a knife could cut through it, and no one was willing to say anything."Alright, that is enough; I can’t continue pretending we are all mute." Cameron said he was shifting outward. "While we are still gathering our thoughts, we could maybe get to know each other. There are new faces here.""Sure, not like we don’t already know." Amy shrugged."Alright. I am Cameron, and that is Nicholas." Cameron said, and he waited for someone to introduce themselves. But neither Mary nor Nicholas could be bothered, so Amy sighed, deciding to do it."I’m Amy, Mary’s friend. I don’t think I need to introduce Mary since she is the protagonist here. Yeah, and that is all." Amy said, and everywhere became silent again."Who is the child’s father?" Nicholas started, wasting no time. He needed to know the father of the child, s
Mary climbed the stairs back to her room, and she opened the door to see Amy and Cole already in bed. Cole was already sleeping, and a little smile plagued his lips."Thank you for watching him." Mary said, walking towards the bed. She looked down at her son with love-filled eyes, and she leaned down to press a kiss on his forehead. "Goodnight." She whispered to him."It’s no problem. I had begun to think you weren’t going to go back upstairs." Amy replied, watching them."Sorry, I was held down by something." Mary was explaining, but they heard a knock on the door, and she kept quiet. "Come in, please." Mary said, and Cameron came in, dragging two boxes behind him."Where should I put these? Cameron asked, gesturing to the bags."Don’t worry, I will take over from here. Thank you for the help." Mary said as she got up from the bed and padded towards him."You are welcome. I will be taking my leave now," Cameron replied, and he was about to head towards the door when he noticed Amy o
The familiar iPhone ringtone blared out, disturbing the quiet room, and everyone reached to their pockets since they all owned one. But it turned out to be Mary’s.Nicholas gently placed Cole in his cot, and he went back to his seat, watching as Mary picked up her phone. He didn’t know when a wave of anger would come to him. But he was a little happy for her.He was angry that she had left the phone he had given her; if only she had carried it, it would have been easy to track her. But at the same time, he was happy that she had been living fine enough to get a phone.A nice phone at that. Now he felt stupid that he had been worried about her and her wellbeing. After he had the talk with his dad, Nicholas had problems sleeping well. He had been worried that he had cast her away to the street, and she had ended up begging or even worse.But it was obvious she was fine; she even had the money to get a phone. An iPhone at that. Those things don’t come cheap, and they wouldn't be easy for
Mary didn’t end up getting a divorce.No matter how she tried, Nicholas refused to sign the papers. But they got separated.She had moved out of the mansion to get her own accommodations in a bid to find herself. She had gotten a new apartment away from the hustle and bustle of New York City.She was willing to start afresh, and she hoped that the new environment would help.His friends have been against it, especially Helena, seeing she had moved there in search of her and was given a job by Nicholas.But Mary had reassured her that there was no need for all that. Helena had no issue with Nicholas, so there was no need to try to quit her job.But Mary had refused Nicholas help; I mean, there was no need to when she had his credit card and did whatever she wanted with it.But she had chosen to spend it wisely.She had gotten a job as a model for a small clothing line that deals with curvy ladies, and Mary liked every bit of it. She got free clothes every now and then, so it was an adde
The next day, Mary was no better; no matter how much Nicholas had tried to seek an audience with her, she always found a way to escape. Gone are the days when she was the one begging for his attention.She didn’t have such time; instead, she had taken to exploring—a harmless one, though.It began when Nicholas had come back from work rather early, unlike his usual self, and he found a strange lady sitting in his living room and his son playing around the house.Nicholas was alarmed, and he entered quietly in order not to startle the lady while his hands reached for his phone to call 911."Oh, you are back. Good evening, Mr. Harrington. I will be taking my leave now." The lady stood up to go, but Nicholas prevented her."Who are you, and why are you in my house?" Nicholas asked; he still had the police on speed dial and was ready to call them if necessary."I am the babysitter your wife hired. Here." She stood up and handed him something that seemed to be a card. Nicholas eyed the card
"Oh fuck." Mary cursed as she saw the doctor approaching her. The only time she decided to unwind and let loose was when he decided to be here.She sighed, lifting her eyes to the sky; only there was a ceiling preventing her. Why was the universe out to get her?"Well hello? Mary, is it?""Oh hi. Lewis." Mary greeted him cheerfully, still slightly tipsy from all the drinks. "Fancy seeing you here?"Lewis chuckled, finding her assuming. "I should be asking you that. I live here, and I am familiar with some people here. You are the one that is sort of a stranger here.""Yea. I live.." She gestured outside the door and frowned. Where exactly did she live again?"Let me pour you a drink." The bartender said to Lewis, already reaching for a bottle of wine on the shelf."There is no need for that. I am not staying long." He refused the drink."Oh, that is alright. You can pour me his share; I would take it." Mary offered and swerved to grab the glass. But a firm hand stopped her."I don’t t
Mary stormed to her room, bolting the door as she got in and headed straight for the sofa. She dumped herself on it and continued eating from her bowl of fruit, but she was seething inside.The audacity he had. How dare he come back home after so long? The only thing he could say was, "Hey, I got your message."Mary was seething in her seat. Has he always been this nonchalant and uncaring, or has she just been ignoring it all this time? She couldn’t help but wonder.Well, it didn’t matter what the answer was because it ends today. She was done being the doormat he could just toss aside. Starting today, it was a new Mary.She stilled as she heard footsteps coming close to her door, and her ears perked as they listened for movements. But the footsteps stopped just in front of her door, and there was silence.The footsteps resumed, but this time away from her, and Mary sighed in frustration.He was such a coward.If she could have her way, she would have spent the rest of her day in her
The surgery was successful, and they removed her appendix, but Mary was required to stay in the hospital for monitoring for another day. It was to be for two days, but she had refused, threatening to leave on the same day, so they came to a compromise, and it was for an extra day.She had been away from her son for so long—the first of a kind—and she was starting to get worried. She could imagine he would be crying his tiny lungs out, and she couldn't bear to think of that.She had woken up from the surgery with a foggy head and tenderness in her abdomen, and as usual, she was alone. She didn’t bother checking up on her phone for any messages from Nicholas because it was already obvious he didn’t care.He had yet to reply to her message from two days ago, so there was no way he would be here.With nothing to do, her mind began to wander to different places, but most especially to Nicholas, or rather, her unfortunate relationship with Nicholas.After minutes of deliberating about the a
The kind doctor, whose name Mary hadn’t bothered to learn, had taken an interest in her, and he had been helping her run the hospital stuff.He was lucky enough to be able to fix an operation for her with the surgeon the next day, so she had to be hospitalized.Mary spent most of the day sleeping in; the drug they had given her was making her feel drowsy, so she didn’t know when time passed by.But the young doctor had taken it upon himself to look into her case, especially when he found out she had no one with her.He had taken it upon himself to always check in on her when he wasn’t so busy, making sure she was well covered and the pillow was comfortable for her, and Mary appreciated the gestures.Her head had been fuzzy from all the drugs they had been pumping into her, and she was slippy in and out of consciousness.She had woken up later in the evening to see her phone swimming in a sea of messages and calls. All from Amy. Mary didn’t hesitate to call her, and she waited as the c
The mini-get-together ended on a high note, and it was safe to say that the three had become best friends, and Mary couldn’t be happier.It was easy since Helena and Amy had similar characteristics and were able to get along easily. She was happy that she had two females she could rely on, and Cole had two aunties who loved him dearly and would spoil him rotten.Everything was slowly looking up for her; even her academics have been going well. It wasn't as easy as it felt, but with time it had gotten easier for her, and she dare say she was enjoying the classes.But one thing was still stagnant. She and Nicholas were yet to make any headway.In fact, it had become so bad that she couldn’t remember the last time she and her husband saw eye-to-eye. It was Cole who had been keeping her company; otherwise, the house would become too suffocating for her.At least she had Netflix, and there was always food around, so she used that to comfort herself.Mary has been feeling some pain in her s
While Helena may not be living with them, the girls were still communicating as Helena was able to get a new phone and they had gotten really close.Mary had been the happiest since Amy came back, and she was happy to have her friend close by. Everything seems to be looking up for her.It was just to introduce her friends to each other that was left. Amy had no idea how Helena looked, and neither did Helena. Although Mary has mentioned them to each other, she has been planning how to bring them closer so it would be a sisterhood.It was the weekend, and that means Nicholas was out of town for a meeting. I mean, when is he never out? Mary barely sees him nowadays, so she arranged the meeting at her house.She was preparing the meal that they were going to have, all while praying that they liked each other. It would make her life easier if it were so. At least Cole would have two aunts, and he could be taking turns passing the night at their house.She had put the last batch of muffins
Helena is here.The words were something Mary thought she would never hear, and it was as if they weren’t true, but her childhood friend turned sister was in the living room, sitting and waiting for her, and Mary didn’t know how to act."Get your act together, Mary; it is just Helena." She said to herself as she stood in front of the mirror.It had all begun when Cameron called her that one Helena was in his home and wanted to see her. She hadn’t believed it at first and thought he was playing a fast one on her, so she had asked him to bring her over.And it turned out he wasn’t lying. Helena was actually heard.But she saw them as they were getting out of the car, and she panicked and ran to her bedroom."It will be fine. It is just Helena." She said to the reflection of the mirror, and she heard Cole huff as if in agreement with her.She went towards her son, who was attempting to stand on his own, and she picked him up. He let out a cry, angry that he was disturbed. But Mary ruffl