AMELIA Why did life have to be so damn difficult? That was the first thought I had the moment I opened my eyes the next morning. Right now, my life was not only difficult, but complicated too. I heaved a sigh and practically had to drag myself out of bed. I did not feel well rested. Not one bit. With battling feelings of guilt, confusion, sadness and more guilt, I had gone to sleep really late last night. And then to top it all up, I had fallen asleep with an image of Damian's hurt expression in my mind's eye. The emotional torture continued this morning as I padded barefoot into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I could not stop thinking about what had happened last night, about what Damain had said. I wanted badly, so badly, for things to go back to the way there were before between Damain and I. I missed our closeness, our camaraderie. I missed the intimacy. All I had to do was close my eyes and it would seem as though I could feel his hands sliding along my- "Ow!" I le
DAMIAN "And why can't you ever give me any practical advice?" I snapped at Anton. He opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again. "How on earth am I supposed to do that if you haven't told me what the problem is yet. I'm not a wizard. Neither am I a mind reader." After a moment's reflection, I realized that Anton was actually right. I hadn't told him anything yet. All I had told him was that I was on the verge of loosing it. I took it for granted that everyone knew my problem. How could they not when I wore it like a batch, day in and day out? I forced myself to stop drumming on the table. To keep them still, I laced my fingers together. "The problem is Amelia," I began. “She’s driving me crazy and trust me, I’ve seen all kind of crazy.” "Aaah. I should have known. She seems to be the only one who can manage to get you this worked up. What has she done this time?" "It's more like what hasn't she done? Ever since her mother left, we have gone back to square one. The first
AMELIA It was like it happened in slow motion. I watched it happen, but I was so surprised that I could not do anything about it. I felt Colin's hands leave my shoulders. My leg throbbed as my knee buckled without his support. As I turned quickly to know why Colin had just stopped supporting, Damian punched Colin in the face in full view of the busy street. Right in front of the reporters. Right in the front of the whole world, because sure as hell, those cameras were streaming what was happening, live. For a long moment, I was speechless. The force of the blow made Colin stagger back a step. He cried out, clapped a hand to his face. Colin's face contorted in rage as he yelled, "How dare you?" Damian growled something intelligible, made a fist and advanced. Colin began to charge forward. My paralysis broke then and I stepped in front of the men. "Stop!" I cried. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Damian?" "Step aside," Colin barked from behind me. "Colin. No. P
ANTON. I watched him work. It was a miracle that he was able to even function with how upset he was. I could see that he was just simply going through the motions, working with a doggedness that was kind of scary. I’d never see him that way, not even when he was on the verge of losing everything. What had happened, Amelia, had sort of created another version of him that I didn’t know quite well. This version terrified me; staring at what seemed to be the clone of your best friend isn’t exactly a welcoming sight. With a sigh, I continued my search on the computer in front of me. Damian had made me promise to help him out with the 'Colin situation' as he called it. Seeing how worked up he was, I had been forced to agree. Now I was waiting for him to finish up work so we could go somewhere else to discuss his next course of action. Damian had also insisted that I looked up everything I could find on Colin on the internet, which was what I was currently doing now. So far, I ha
AMELIA I cracked my knuckles, put on an apron but stopped moving. Someone was behind me. I turned to see Molly staring at me in surprise. She had a weird expression on her face but I smiled back. "Good morning, ma'am," she said. "You'll be wanting breakfast. I'll get it started." She started to move towards the cooker. "Oh no. I'm making breakfast for myself and Damian this morning so you don't have to bother." Molly stared at me in surprise before nodding and moving on. She was no doubt thinking that things were now being done differently around here which was true. I had woken up this morning with a desire to cook for Damian as I used to. It was the least I could do to apologize for my behaviour yesterday. I finished making breakfast fifteen minutes before he was due to come downstairs. I set the table, dished out the food and settled down to wait while sipping a cup of coffee. Damian walked into the kitchen a few minutes later. He was already dressed and looked much
AMELIA "Leaving, ma'am?" I turned to Rose. "Yes," I answered, smiling briefly at her. "I have somewhere to be now." She nodded. “Have a great day, ma’am. I’ll leave the report on your table.” “Sure.” A minute after that, I left the bakery. It was half past 5. I wanted to pick up my dress before heading home for dinner with Damian. On my way to the dress shop, I registered the fact that I was driving in the general direction of the shopping mall I owned. Since I didn't have jewellery to match the dress I had ordered, and the dress shop hadn't had any jewelry I liked, I figured it would be an excellent idea to get some jewellery from the mall first before going to pick up my dress. Damian would certainly be speechless tonight. I was sure of that. I would look a vision in that dress. I was picturing how different necklaces and earrings would go with the dress when I looked in the side mirror and saw a car with rolled up tinted windows right behind me. I didn't know why,
AMELIA Just when I felt my lungs were closing up because of the lack of air, I found I could breathe again. Someone had yanked the bag off my head and shoved me into a hardbacked chair. I took in deep, rattling breaths. I blinked rapidly as my eyes tried to adjust to the very dim light in the room. Struggling against my restraints was useless because I was still bound tightly. My hands were already numb from the lack of circulation. Finally, I could make out the figures of six men most of which were standing in a loose circle around me. I whimpered and flinched when one of them stepped towards me, but he did that only to savagely peel the duct-tape off my mouth. I cried out in pain. The area around my mouth seemed to be on fire. The man who had peeled the duct tape off made a threatning gesture and I fell silent. These people had to be kidnappers. They could be a gang who kidnapped wealthy people in the city. Being the wife of Damian had made me a target. The thought made me
DAMIAN I brought the car to a stop inches away from the entrance steps to the building. The doorman jumped out of the way even though he had not been in danger of getting hit. "I'm afraid you can't park here, sir," he called out as I marched up the stairs. Ignoring him, I threw the glass doors open, stormed up to the reception area, pounded my fists on the startled receptionist's desk. "Where the hell is he?" I asked. She blinked. "Sir?" "Your boss. Where is he? Take me to see him right now." "Do you have an appointment?" "To hell with that!" I yelled. The massive lobby suddenly became very quiet. "Tell me where his office is. What floor?" Someone tapped my arm. I turned to see a man dressed in a dark suit right beside me. Two other men in security uniforms detached themselves from those watching and hurried forward. "I'm afraid I'll have to tell you to leave, sir," said the man in the suit. “You’re disrupting the peaceful environment of this company.” I slap
AMELIA FIVE YEARS LATER "Yay! Pancakes! Mum made pancakes!” The excited shouts... or screeches were followed by the sound of running footsteps. I sincerely hoped they were not... But of course they were, I thought in mild exasperation. Lily and Liam came racing towards me on their little feet, their eyes much like Damian's, fixed on the plate of pancakes I held. "Hey! Please slow down, guys," I called when Lily, still running, looked over her shoulder and screeched excitedly when she saw Damian. Damian was chasing them with Liam's favourite stuffed animal. "Slow down! Slow down!" I called more loudly as the twins approached me. “You’ll hurt yourself if you keep running around!” At the same time, they got to me and clutched my dress, giggling. I glared at Damian, who gave me a boyish, unrepentant grin. "Liam! Lily!" I said, turning my attention back to my kids. "How many times have I told you to stop running in the house? And Damian-" "Yes, sweetheart?" "You ar
THREE MONTHS LATER DAMIAN "Oh, come on!" I muttered to myself as, for what felt like the umpteenth time, my fingers slipped on my silk tie. I had tied knots, dozens, even hundreds of times before. But this time, I couldn't even manage to tie a decent one. I knew what the problem was, though. Apart from the fact that my hands were sweaty, I was anxious and nervous. Seeing as I had gotten wedded once before, one would have thought that I was used to the whole process by now. This time was the first time, in a way, the first phase of my new beginning with Amelia. "My wife," I said aloud, pausing to stare at my reflection in the mirror. A smile lifted the corners of my mouth. The word 'wife' did have a nice ring to it. Amelia was still technically my wife, but today, she became mine for real, not only in name. And it wasn’t like our first wedding, which concluded in minutes and was void of any emotions. "Hey!" I flinched a little and turned to the door, then shot an irr
THREE MONTHS LATER Noah's head throbbed. It banged like the world's noisest drummers were having a nonstop concert in it. His eyes felt like they were going to bulge out of their sockets as he walked-no- stumbled his way out of the bar he had been getting wasted in for hours. "Out of my way, you," Noah growled, shoving someone out of his way. "What the- Watch where you're going," the man he had pushed shouted. “Such a fucking asshole.” If only everything wasn't spinning so fast, Noah would have gone back to plant his fist in that asshole's face. It might have made him feel slightly better, hurting someone. Hate burned within him. He hated his life. He hated this noisy, shitty bar he had chosen to get drunk in. He hated every freaking thing. Eager to get some fresh air, Noah hastened his steps the closer he got to the door. He had just gotten outside when he lost his footing and- THUD! He fell on his face, gasping for breath, inhaling the smell of dust on the cold f
DAMIAN I looked up the stairs, checking to see if she was heading down the stairs. She wasn't. Not yet. What a surprise she would get tonight, I thought. With what was no doubt a goofy smile on my face, I touched the ring safely nestling in a box deep in the linings of my pocket. It felt like lead was there, a pound of it. I felt my smile slip a little bit as I thought of what this night would bring. I was nervous as hell about proposing to Amelia even though I was entirely sure that she would not refuse me. I wanted to do it right. I wanted the moment to be perfect for the both of us. Sighing, I willed my lips to speak the right words when the time came to declare my love for her, to ask her to marry me. Perhaps a simple 'I love you. Will you marry me?' would be best. Or not. The direct approach wasn't always the best, especially in romantic situations. "What are you shaking your head for?" Amelia asked in a voice I could detect the humour in. I raised my head to lo
AMELIAWith a slightly shaky hand, I pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at my sweaty brow. I had been taking deep, steady breaths for the past few minutes, but it had done nothing to alleviate my nervousness. I didn't think any woman had been this nervous to tell the father of his child that she was pregnant. Damian was unwittingly making my nervousness a hundred times worse the longer he stayed away. What was he still doing up there anyway?I straightened and straightened the placemats on the dining table for what felt like the umpteenth time. And then I heard his approaching footsteps and immediately stood straight. "Where's the food?" Damian said cheerfully, standing just inside the door and looking around. "In a- in a minute," I said. "I wanted you to come down first. I didn't want your food to get cold."I stumbled into the kitchen and stumbled back out. My hands trembled so badly that I almost dropped a dish cover on Damian's foot."Sorry. Sorry," I apologized as I caught i
AMELIAI turned my head a little to get a good look at the wall clock and saw it was just a quarter past eight. Good. I nodded. The gossip show would start soon, and I was amped for it. I adjusted until I was very comfortable in my seat and took yet another bite of popcorn. On the big television, an ad for a new washing machine was being aired, and then my phone pinged, signalling that it was time for the show. I grabbed the remote and quickly changed the channel. Just as I did, the familiar soundtrack of the gossip talk show came on.The words 'STRAIGHT TALK WITH MILES' popped up on the screen in bold caps. The message grew more extensive and slowly faded into the background. What appeared next on the screen was a live studio in which was seated a tall, youngish man, very much like Anton in looks. I immediately recognized him as Anton's friend in the talk show biz, the one who was going to help me dig up dirt on Noah, the one who was to talk about Noah today on his show based on a
AMELIA Noah got to his feet seconds after the initial surprise of my rejection had worn off. Luckily, I was already walking to the mall as fast as possible. When I looked back, I saw him coming after me. I increased my pace but managed to get into the building with Noah right at my heels, his face as red as a tomato. Red with rage. "Stop him," I said to the first security personnel I saw. I pointed to Noah, who was quickly approaching the mall's entrance. That man is after me. He wants to cause a scene. Make sure he doesn't get in here. Quickly!" Thankfully, the security guard didn't ask any questions. He just nodded to his colleague on his other side. They hurried to Noah and intercepted him before he could get to the door. "I'm sorry you can't go in, sir," the guard I had spoken to told him and turned back to glance at me. I nodded, indicating that I was content with their actions. Noah was too busy staring at me even to notice that one of the guards had his hand on his
AMELIA "We'll see soon then, Mrs Donovan." I blinked and once more, turned to focus on Engineer Sam who I had quite a lengthy meeting with. His team was hanging back a little, deeply engrossed in some conversation about the amusement park project. "Yes of course," I replied, with a glance at my watch. “I have somewhere to be. Good bye.” I was barely focused during the meeting, my mind drifting to all the things in my schedule. There were several other things I needed to do. As I left the project site, I waved absently at Sam who walked off with his team as I dug out my phone to call Rose. "Ma'am," she said when she picked up. "Are you stopping over by the bakery today?" "No. I'm afraid not. Do you have your notepad with you?" "Always." "Good. I got a call some hours ago from the office of the CEO of Sharecare. He's celebrating the 10th year anniversary of his company soon. He wants us to handle the cakes and the event in general. So what do you think?" Rose reele
NOAH I stopped typing on my computer long enough to adjust the shirt I was wearing. I felt uncomfortable as I tugged the fabric, feeling unusually small in my shirt. I sighed, a deep, weary sigh. That was what came of a reduced appetite, worry, many late nights of staying awake thinking of how best to get a lasting solution to all the problems I had been having. I made a mental note to myself to eat more and hit the gym before my enemies noticed my weight loss- if they hadn't already. I hoped they hadn't. There was nothing as aggravating as a well timed news headline to set the sharks at my door. Sitting here, I could just picture the sort of headlines those news vultures would print. BUSINESS MOGUL NOAH CARTER GOES TO PIECES FOLLOWING RUMOURS OF BANKRUPTCY. I clenched my fists, and found myself already getting worked up over the imaginary headline. Recently, a lot of news had been circulating around me. I would be damned before they printed something like that about me