“Oh, come on, you’re ridiculous, you’re overreacting.”
“I would be anything just to make sure I won’t lose you. Get that in your mind and accept it as it is.” Ryan sincerely said, and then he left.
Oli heavily sighed as Ryan left. She leaned on the bar and averted her gaze at Sally, and she asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Probably better than you are right now,” Sally replied.
“You’re not going to scold me or anything like it?”
Sally shook her head and simply replied, “I’ll let you sort this one out. As frustrating as it is to watch you be so naïve and all, I know I have to let you figure it all out.”
Oli softly chuckled as she glanced outside at the starry night, “I just don’t get it. I don’t understand why Ryan… acted that way. I don’t get it at all.”
“Are you sure you don’t get i
She was not mentally prepared for that.What was that about? Does he know? Does he remember me? Sally’s thoughts were a mess. She wasn’t entirely sure whether Sam remembered her or he was just playing to get her to confess?Maybe, it was just some coincidence, and I’m reading too much into it? Sally hoped that was the case. No- it was just that. Sally convinced herself that Sam was just playing around.After all, Sally was just another one of his stupid challenges.Her mind was infested with thoughts of Sam again, just like it was back then at the beach. That moment, she loathed that moment most of all because that was almost the moment.The almost where she almost fell in love with SamSally hated Sam because he was a player, a manipulative and dishonest man, but most of all, she hated him because she liked him, and she could not accept that. Sally did not want to.Sally and Oli soon arriv
The next morning, Maya was the first to wake up. Maya looked around and to her surprise, Oli and Sally were sleeping on the floor next to the couch where she slept in. She smiled as she muttered, “Geez, these two….”Just then, Maya heard a knock on the door, so she immediately went to get it, but Ryan was already inside. Maya asked, “Oh, how did you get in?”Ryan showed Maya his keys and said, “Didn’t you know? I have a duplicate. I always drop by early in the morning to make sure Oli’s awake and ate breakfast. Besides, she’s almost always wasted, so I had to bring her back here.”Maya chuckled, “You are truly one of a kind.”“So is she.” Ryan then continued after he dropped off some seaweed soup and bandages, “Oh, these are for Sally. I treated her wounds, but just to make sure it won’t worsen, make sure she takes these medicines.”“Why? Wh
“We were thinking that Pedro was using this information as leverage against you, I mean, knowing you, you’d come running back, but what if there are no leads and he’s just manipulating you,” Sally continued.Maya calmed down after realizing their point. She said, “I guess that makes sense. I’m just… infuriated. Everything that has been happening to me was because of one guy. I left him, no more accurately; Alexander left me to marry Stephanie. Can’t she see that she’s already won? Why do they have to go and do this to me?”“It’s just annoying.” Maya added as she sighed, “I’ve been trying so hard, and yet I still get caught in everyone else’s mess.”Oli patted Maya’s back gently and said, “Hey, don’t look so glum, we got your back, and you got ours. No matter what, we’re here to stay, okay?”Maya smiled.Sally then sai
On the other hand, Maya was still at Oli’s place, bored and tired of being inside. Maya tried all the recipes she knew, she kept creating new ones, too, but it did not suffice. Maya still longs to be in the kitchen with everyone else.Maya stared blankly at the ceiling and muttered to herself, “Now what should I do today?”She browsed the refrigerator to check some ingredients, but as she checked, she noticed that they were running low on their supplies.She looked around, and she could have asked a helper to do it for her, but she did not want to be too much of a burden. Besides, Maya has been inside for weeks now. A breath of fresh air would be nice.Also, the helpers were all busy cleaning and preparing the house. Maya found it odd since she had been at Oli’s place for quite a while. The helpers were obviously rushing, so Maya asked, “What’s with today? Why does everyone seem so tense?”“Oh, right,
They knew some unexpected visitor that Oli herself did not know about was probably up to no good. It was Oli’s house, she knew everyone that would come to visit, but Stephanie was not one of those guests.The helpers guessed that Stephanie was probably just looking for Maya too, which is why the head helper allowed Maya to leave the house in the meantime too.Stephanie squinted her eyes, but there was still no response. After a while, Stephanie cleared her throat and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, I misspoke. You see, my fiancé, Alexander, had this helper back then that liked to cook. I really liked Maya’s cooking. I spoke it out of habit.”Everyone was fighting the urge to just yank Stephanie’s hair. It was like one of those scenes on TV where the evil rival arrived. It was the same atmosphere.Suddenly, the home phone rang, and the head helper answered it, but Stephanie had a strong feeling that it was Oli, so she immed
Maya was on her way to another store to fetch some grocery but before she could even enter, Stephanie got down her car and grabbed Maya’s hand to pull her. Maya’s cap fell down to the ground, which revealed her brown hair that was cut at shoulder length and her big blue eyes that sparkled as the sunray hit it perfectly.“…Maya?” Stephanie asked.Stephanie and Maya’s eyes met. They were both surprised. Stephanie blocked Maya’s path as she said, “I found you.”With that, Maya kicked Stephanie and quickly ran away from her. Stephanie ran after her, “Maya! Come back here!”Maya continued to run away as fast as she could.Meanwhile, back at Oli’s house, everyone sighed out of relief as Stephanie left the house. Oli remarked, “Phew, that was a close call.” Then, she noticed that everyone was looking at her and Ryan, so she asked, “Why? What’s wrong? Why are y
“No, it’s not that- I mean, of course I want to sleep with you but- ah, anyways, that’s not the point. I’m not helping you because of that.” Ryan sighed deeply and continued, “Look, all I’m saying is that I’m just looking out for you.”“And why would you do that? Is this some part of your stupid bet because I don’t trust you, so just leave me alone.” Sally coldly said, “I appreciate what you did by not telling anyone my real identity and about Maya but let’s keep it at that. I said it before, and I’d say it again, I’m the challenge you will never win, so stop trying.”But just as Sally was leaving, she tripped over some rake on her way out, so to prevent her from falling, Sam grabbed Sally by her waist and pulled her in closer. Sally could hear Sam’s increasing heartbeat along with her heart racing as well.Their lips were inches away from each other as th
However, Stephanie was persistent, and she even removed her high heels to try and catch up to Maya. Maya- thanks to her small built, was able to sneak past people with ease. She kept glancing back to see Stephanie.It’s definitely her. Both Stephanie and Maya thought to themselves. They were certain. Maya could feel her chest tightening as she saw Alexander’s fiancé and Pedro’s sister. sStephanie was the reason she was stuck in Russia and was forced to hide. Maya didn’t want to hate her. In fact, she didn’t, but Maya couldn’t help but feel frustrated.As she remembered what Oli and Sally told her about Pedro knowing her parent’s whereabouts, but he won’t say it unless Maya agrees to stay in Russia and never to return to America, it just broke her heart.Maya thought about it. Why couldn’t she just let me be? I just want to find my parents. Why did Stephanie have to be so greedy?
In the United States...Maya was standing in the house that she thought she would not see again.Sicilia was at the door waiting for them to come. When she got out of the car, she immediately went to Sicilia, who embraced her in a long hug.“God, I thought I would never see you again. I was so devastated.”“I thought I would never see you either,” Maya responded after breaking the hug.“So he managed to convince you ?” Sicilia looked back at Alexander.“No, it wasn’t him, it was someone else,” if Pete didn’t come and say those words to Maya, she would still be determined to turn down Alexander, or she would’ve left already. It was all because of Pete, who reminded her to look for her happiness. She thought if she ever forgives Alexander, she would be less of a woman, but that wasn’t the case. She felt even stronger, having the power to reunite them or never be with him a
In France airport, Pete stood between Maya and Alexander, and he looked mad.“What are you doing here?” Alexander asked.
“I uh…” Thomas could not help but feel emotional, but then he snapped. He realized that Mrs. Simons intended to do this! Thomas, enraged, shouted as he threatened Mrs. Simons, “How dare you bring someone like her? She’s my daughter, and she died; you brought that girl here to rub it in my face? Is that it? Huh! You wench!”Mrs. Simons smirked, and just then, Maya stopped the old Duke’s hand mid-air and said, “Please, don’t hurt Mrs. Simons. She was just trying to help me.”Thomas found it odd. Everything about Maya reminded him of his dead daughter- from her eyes, smile, and her kindness. It was too much for the old Duke. Kate passed away young but had she grown up to reach that certain age, Thomas was sure she’d look like Maya.The old Duke left after seeing such resemblance, and that left Mrs. Simons, who was devilishly grinning as everything was going according to plan.Meanwhi
Upon arriving at France, Maya sighed heavily. She felt bad not having to say goodbye at everyone, but then again, she didn’t really think she could face any of them at the moment. The people Maya trusted the most ended up lying to her and manipulating her.But Maya was really bothered about what Alexander said about Mrs. Simons being her aunt. It was impossible, right? Maya knew almost for sure that it was impossible. Perhaps because of Mrs. Simons’s wealth and status, Maya never imagined herself to be anything related to her.Maya shook her head.“Are you okay?” Mrs. Simons asked, “How was the flight?”“Everything was super okay. I didn’t know airlines could fly at any time preferred without any prior notice on the schedule.”Mrs. Simons chuckled, “They didn’t. The plane we rode here is our family’s personal plane since the old Duke, and I love traveling.”“
Stephanie said then before leaving, “I’ll leave it to you to decide what to believe in but here are the files you need. Nothing leads back to Russia, so I say nothing’s keeping you here anymore. The main branch of Greenwillow is at France, and you have a better shot there than here.”“Thank you, Stephanie, for helping me.”Stephanie flinched as she heard that. She did not know what to say because the truth was it was her and Mrs. Simons who was manipulating Maya right now. Mrs. Simons’ plan was to break off the connections holding Maya back from leaving for France- and those were her friends and Alexander.Stephanie gulped hard, kept her composure, and said, “Just remember our agreement. You’ll cut off connections with Alexander. I’ll let what happened last night when you dance with him go and everything else if you just stay away from him as soon as you leave for France.”Maya scoffed, &ld
“Maya’s not answering,” Stephanie said to Mrs. SimonsMrs. Simons was frustrated as she paced back and forth the room, “She must have been with Alexander right now. Damn it. I underestimated Alexander. He’s the perfect tool against me.”Stephanie raised an eyebrow, “Watch your tone. It’s Alexander you’re talking about. I suggest you be careful of what you say about him.”Mrs. Simons rolled her eyes, and then, she had an idea. Mrs. Simons smirked, “I’m betting Maya is back at Oli’s mansion as we speak.”“And? What are you planning?”“Since Pedro gathered them all up to delay Maya leaving for France, I’m just going to ‘undo’ what he did,” Mrs. Simon reasoned, “Once Maya knows about how Alexander, Oli, Sally- the people she trusted the most, are all trying to delay her form-finding her family, she would be so devastated a
“Aren’t you going to give me a chance to explain?”“No. Now leave before I punch you in the face.”Alexander said, “I’m actually quite surprised you still haven’t done that already.” Alexander continued, “Anyway, I can’t leave. I just told you, you owed me for all the trouble last night, and it wasn’t cheap too.”“You’re making it up. I don’t remember anything like that.”Alexander smirked, “Oh, but you remembered what you said and did to me-“Maya immediately covered Alexander’s mouth and whispered to him, “If you say anything- even one word about it to Oli or Sally, I’ll kill you, okay?”Alexander nodded as he was continued teasing Maya.Sally raised an eyebrow, “What were you saying, Alexander?”“Nothing.” Alexander smirked at Maya and continued, “I probably r
So, Maya walked her way towards Alexander. Her steps were light as to not distract Alexander, who was casually sitting, book in his hand, and the light was naturally hitting his black hair. Alexander looked like a scene from a movie.Whereas Maya was a mess, she barely brushed her hair, and her clothes were a mess because Oli chose the first set of clothes that would fit her for the night, and her face was not yet completely clean from all the make-up last night.Ugh, this sucks. Maya groaned as she thought to herself, this is not how I planned our meeting to happen. In fact, Maya never planned to cross paths with Alexander ever again. Maya awkwardly greeted, “Hello. Erm… uh, about last night-“She was worried that she most probably did something stupid, then her thought ran along the lines of what would Stephanie do to me now? The last conversation they had was when Stephanie texted Maya she would be late because sh
“I figured the silhouette was yours because of this.” Stephanie reluctantly broke the glass case near Kate’s old room and grabbed the Emerald green Greenwillow brand handbag there. Stephanie explained, “I saw this bag on the picture and coincidentally, at the video of the orphanage too when you left Maya. I figured only one would have this bag in possession since it was discontinued, and there was only one of this manufactured because it was Kate’s work. Kate made it as a gift for her aunt, and that is none other than you, Mrs. Karin Simons.”Mrs. Simons scoffed, “I’ve always loved the bag but thinking that Kate made it was disgusting, but still, I had to keep up the act and wear that bag every day.”“This green bag is the only physical evidence that would bring you down. If the video of you handing Maya over at the orphanage with this green bag, your alibi will fail, and they would know that you weren’t