Alex's pov:When Hailey asked me to drive her home last night, I took her to her house, but she wanted me to take her to my house. She made fun of my house many times, calling it a haunted house and other such things, but I never imagined she considered it her home. That's the first time I've heard her say 'home'. I'm glad she feels at ease here enough to call it home.I tucked her hair behind her ear as I watched her sleeping peacefully beside me. Her eyes looked puffy as a result of crying. I kept silent since I didn't want to hurt her anymore by questioning it. I hope you'll tell me about it someday.Hailey blinked twice as she opened her eyes. I looked away and when I tried to leave the bed, she held my hand and pulled me towards her which made me fall on her. I apologised as I tried to get up but she wrapped her hands around me saying, "Don't leave. Let's stay like this for a while." And tighten the hug. When I hugged her back, I drifted off to sleep. After a while, when we woke
Alex's pov:When I lifted my head out of the water by the pool, I saw Hailey sitting on a bench. When she saw me looking at her, she shouted, "What are you looking at? Stop staring and keep practising. You can look at me after getting first place." At first I see that she is always calm and tries to be invisible to the people in the pool. But lately she seems to be honest with herself and expresses her side encouraging me more. I paused and walked over to her to sit beside her. She threw a towel at me and said, "Why are swimsuits scandalous?" "Can't you cover completely like the surfers?" I sat down beside her and asked, "It's not scandalous. It's how you see it." "Are you telling me I'm a lustful person?" "Why don't you get used to it when you've seen it so many times?" She gave me a drink saying, "I wonder the same thing." And looked at the other swimmers, and continued, "I've been here for two months, but I couldn't get used to it. Everyone walks and swims half-naked
Hailey's pov:saturday morning As I was getting ready to go to the amusement park with Alex, Charlie walked into the room and asked, "Looks like you're going somewhere." "Yes." I replied by combing my hair. "Where are you going?" "Amusement park." "With who?" "Alex." "Doesn't he have a last name?" I put the comb on the table and asked her, "What's the matter with you?" He gave a stare and left the room. Wierdo. At the amusement park I waited fifteen minutes at the entrance, but Alex still did not appear. What's taking him so long to get here? "Senior!" Why does it sound like Sophie? When I looked in the direction of the sound, I saw Sophie walking hand in hand with Jason. Sophie came to me and said, "Senior, what a surprise! Is that called a coincidence?" She looked around and asked, "Well, who did you come with?" "Did you come with your boyfriend?" I was about to say that Alex is not my boyfriend, but after seeing Jason, I changed my answer. "Um, yeah. I'
Hailey's POV:in the library, As I was reading the book, Riley sat on the floor next to me and handed me a notebook saying, "Since you didn't show up for the first three hours, I took notes for you." She sighed and said, "Finally, the assignment is over. I will never choose Reese as my assignment partner again, even when the teachers make me do it. I know he likes junk food but I never thought he was addicted to it. You should have seen his bag. There was more junk than books." "Speaking of food I just remembered that today's menu is curry..." I rested my head on her shoulder as she spoke and put the book down. She raised my head and asked, "Are you okay?" And found my hand asking, "What happened to your hand?" "Is this why you didn't show up to the class?" "Injured while shaving." "The cut was pretty deep so I had to bandage it." "Did you go to the hospital?" I shook my head and said, "I took care of it myself." She stood up and said, "Come with me." "Where?" "To the
Alex's pov;Finally the day I've been waiting for. Swimming competition. The week passed with little exercise for the left arm as I did lower body in the water. Hailey came every day to cheer me on during practice, which made me feel better every time I felt tired. On the other hand, Harry was also training hard. In the locker room, Harry came up to me and said, "Greetings to the race, my fellow competitor." And walked out. Hailey walked in with her eyes closed and asked, "Where's Alex?" With the help of some boys, she came to me. She sat down next to me and opened her eyes, saying, "I feel like I've walked into some half-naked model casting. How can everyone look so good? Does swimming make our bodies work like this?" I pinched his ear, saying, "Don't look at the other boys." "I'm not. They're the ones who flex their abs and thighs around me." "What are you doing here instead of sitting in the audience?" "I came to see you. How's your hand?" When I showed her my hand,
Hailey's pov:At the Sundown cafe, I said, "Thanks for dropping me off." And walked into the cafe waving at Alex who was going to his house.Elise asked excitedly, "So what happened? Did he win?" I nodded and asked, "Where's Patrick?" "Back. He's looking for something in the storage room." "I'll get dressed then." As I tried to leave, she grabbed my hand and asked, "Can't let you go so easily. You still haven't shared the details of what happened at the race." "He won. And he asked me to be his girlfriend, I accepted. What else do you want me to tell you?" Her smile faded as she asked, "Why do you look like you're not happy about it?" "I'm happy." And walked to the dressing room. When I got to the dressing room, I took out my phone and looked at dms. The expected message came from Harry. After so much thinking, I opened his chat to see what he sent me. Did he curse me? Harry: Standing at the corner of the street near your home. If you don't show up here in ten minutes
Hailey's pov:A week later, Riley: "Your brother said you haven't been home lately. How long are you planning to stay at Alex's place?" I rolled my eyes, "The reason I blocked him was to avoid him, but he finds other ways to get to me. What's his problem with me?" "Let me ask you. When are you going home? I don't mind you living with Alex, but don't you worry about your parents?" "Like they care." After seeing the message, I said, "Alex is here. See you on Monday.” And left her house. I saw Alex waiting for me in front of Riley's house. After getting on his bike, I asked, "Where are we going today?" "Surprise." And started the bike. He parked his bike in a parking lot near the station and took my bag. "Is this place far from here?" He nodded as he led the way, holding my hand. After we got on the train, the two of us sat by the window. "You can sleep in the meantime. It will be four hours before we get there." "This is my first time travelling by train. How could I mis
Hailey's pov:Alex and I came to my grandmother's house. "Wait here. I'll go get the key." I got the key from the neighbour and opened the house. Alex asked after entering the house, "is this where you grew up?" I nodded and said, "Yes." "Granny's favourite hobby is collecting artefacts, so this house is filled with them. My friend wonders whether I'm living in a museum and making fun of it.""It looks beautiful." When he touched one of the artefacts, he said, “Wow, that's neat. No one believes this house hasn't been open for five years." "There are people who run the house for money." "This house belongs to my grandmother's father. Kind of like a traditional heirloom. I got a lot of beatings for scratching the wall, and breaking some artefacts. She's very sensitive about this place." I showed Alex where I play and where I eat at grandma's house and walked him around the house. "Come, I'll show you my room." And led him into my room. I sat on the bed in my room and said, "This i
Hailey's pov:I drove away from the house as soon as I saw those images from the old diary. I dialled Mr Perez's number, and he answered, "Yeah?" "I'd like to see you. Where are you? Are you at your place? Please send me the address.""It's 3 am.""What's the big deal? I need to see you straight away. Please send me the address.""Is something wrong?" I hung up with him and dialled Jane's number to get his address from her. I went immediately to Mr Perez's house after having the address from her. I knocked on his door and stood in front of it, expecting him to open it. I walked in when the door opened. "Did you fight with your parents?" he inquired. I handed him the diary and asked him to open it. He was clearly astonished to see those photographs. "What is our relationship?" I questioned as I approached him."We're friends.""Do friends kiss like this?" I inquired, pulling up the kissing image. "Hailey… I'm sorry I didn't mean…" "Why didn't you come back to me, Alex? What took
Hailey's pov:When i came to the company, I saw Mr Perez talking with my employees. I ignored him and walked to my cabin. While i was working, Jane, my personal assistant, came in and informed me, "Mr Perez is here to talk with you about the production, mam. Shall I let him in?"When I nodded, Mr Perez walked in with a big smile on his face. After he sat down, I asked while looking at my laptop, "Jane told me you have something to talk about the production. What is it?" "Since we're going to take the scenes today, I thought you might be interested to join us…"I cut him off saying, "I'm sorry about that, Mr Perez. I have other work to look at.""Alright." When he was about to leave, I asked, "Send me the clips once the scenes are done, Mr Perez." He gave me a nod and walked out of my cabin. Shit! Why do I feel like I was rude to him? I really want to be there and look at the production process but I don't want to see him. Why is it so hard to ignore someone? I have never ignored s
Alex's pov:After getting the residential address from Hailey's personal assistant, I took Hailey to her house. When I knocked on the door, the door was opened by Mrs Walton. When I walked in holding Hailey, Mrs Walton asked, "Do I know you? You look familiar to me.""I'm Alexander Perez, I'm working with Ms Walton for an advertisement." When she showed me the room, I made her lay on the bed and walked out of the room. When I tried to leave the house, Mr Walton walked in asking, "What are you doing here?" Mrs Walton, "He's working with Hailey. I think she got a little drunk so he came to drop her."Mr Walton, "He's not working with Hailey." And turned to me asking, "What are you doing here? How did you find her?" I sighed and said, "We met at a success party which was held in Dallas. Hailey's the one who asked me to do an advertisement for her new product. If you don't believe me, you can ask her personal assistant."He made a call to Hailey's personal assistant and talked to her.
Alex's pov:Back in Kansas in Hailey's meeting room, Hailey introduced the production team members along with their designations, "That's Jeremy, he's the director. Elisabeth, she's assistant director and cinematographer, Mason, Location manager. Patrick, costume designer and Cyrus from the accounting department. I picked out the best ones from each department, Mr Perez." I got up from the seat and said, "Don't want to beat around the bush, so I'll jump right into the story I made." I showed the storyboard I prepared for the brand and explained it to everyone in the meeting room and asked for their suggestions. They were more responsive than I expected. I felt relaxed after hearing about their ideas and the enthusiasm they showed for the project. After everyone left the meeting room, Hailey asked me, "Why didn't you say anything about the team? I thought you'd pick whoever you want and discard the others. Or did you take them because you're feeling that I'm forcing it on you?" "I'
Alex's pov:When I talked about the proposal from RJ industries for making an advertisement for their new product to Mr Torrez, he immediately talked with Hailey and made a deal with her in an online meeting. When Mr Torrez ended his speech with closing words to Hailey, "We're glad to work with you, Ms Walton." Hailey thanked him back and said, "Thanks for collaborating with us, Mr Torrez and Mr Perez." And ended the call with hailey. Mr Torrez said to the employees, "I'll check the list and update who will be going to Kansas for the project in the group. Now, you may disperse."After everyone left, I stayed and asked Mr Torrez, "Can I go to Kansas and take care of it in person?""Let's send someone from the production team." He said as he was looking into his laptop. I sighed and said, "Antonio, let me go to Kansas."He leaned back on the chair asking, "Why are you so persistent? Is it because you're the one who brought up this proposal?""No.""Then what's the deal? Why do you wan
~ EIGHT YEARS LATER ~Alex's pov:"Good morning, Perez!" When Ms Sanchez greeted me, I greeted her back by saying, "Good morning Ms Sanchez." "The President asked you to meet him when you're here, Sir.""Okay, I'll go ahead. Thank you for informing me." And headed to the president's cabin. When I entered the cabin, the president said, "I heard the campaign went pretty well. As expected, you gave your best even though it's not your position. Thank you for your hard work, Mr Perez." And placed a letter on the table saying, "And, I want you to do me a favour. While I was thinking about a person to send for our latest advertisement success party, you came to my mind, Mr Perez. I hope you're free this weekend to attend this party on behalf of me." He pointed to the invitation saying, "I attached the flight tickets, hotel room details and the place of the party with the invitation for your reference." "I have an important meeting to go to. Otherwise I would have gone by myself."He didn'
Hailey's pov:A week later, Since I felt bored and alone, I couldn't stay home any longer and came to college.As I walked in the hallway, everyone stared at me but I didn't give attention to any of them. In the classroom, I became invisible from my own friends and classmates. No one talked with me or asked for my help on anything. The teacher who asked me to run an errand for him everytime now forgot my name. People in the canteen treated me like trash so I walked out without eating anything. I went to Alex's classroom, but he wasn't there. His classmates said he's on leave today. When the second bell rang, I was on the way to the next class, I saw Alex walking somewhere. Didn't they say he didn't come today? I walked to him and called out his name, "Alex." He looked at my bandaged hands and asked, "Why didn't you stay home and rest until you recover?"I hugged him as soon as I realised he still cares for me. He broke the hug and said, "I have to go. Take care." I held his hand
Hailey's pov:When I woke up, I was in the hospital. When I tried to get up, my hand felt heavy to even lift it up in the air. When I took a look at it, it was bandaged well. What happened to my hand? I touched it to feel the pain and I remembered what happened. Riley?! I removed the trip's needle from the back of my hand and got out of the bed. And when i came out of the room, mom and dad were sitting on the three seater chair. Seeing me they came to me calling out my name, mom, "Hailey! What are you doing out of the bed?" I peeked through other rooms asking, "Where's Riley? What room is she in?" Mom held my hand saying, "Calm down. Calm down, Hailey. Come on, let's go to your room first."I brushed her off asking, "Where's Riley? I want to see her." And started looking inside every room I came across. "I want to see her right now."Dad, "Hailey, listen to me." When I ignored him and kept looking for Riley, she grabbed both of my shoulders and said while looking into my eyes, "She
Hailey's pov:After I arrived at the street where Riley sent the address, I messaged her that I reached and got a reply from her that she's nearby. I put my phone back in my pocket and waited for her looking either side of the street. It looked empty which scared me a little. As I was waiting for her, I saw Riley walking towards me from my right. I ran to her and gave her a hug. She returned the hug asking, "What's the emergency? Why did you ask me to come see you? What happened?"I opened the zip a little and showed her what's in that bag saying, "One million dollars like you said. Is this enough for them or do you need more?" Riley closed the bag asking, "Are you insane? How did you get this money? Did you ask your parents? Did you ask them?" I looked away from looking at her and said, "No. I didn't ask them." "I got it from… it doesn't matter who it is. Just take the money and give it to them. And, stop hiding yourself from them from now on." And gave her the money. "I can't ta