Jessica was still upset with Rose for getting too close to her man so she had been keeping her distance for the past couple of weeks. Jessica had missed her but she had been spending more time with Winifred under the guise of brainstorming for opportunities to take down Rose.For Jessica, spending time with Winifred made her happy because it showed her the life she deserved and was trying to have. It was nice being surrounded with Winifred’s expensive things and exotic dishes. Jessica wished their friendship could go further and she would invite her for a sleepover.Things could kick off from there and maybe she would get to escort Winifred on trips to different countries. What was going on between her and Winifred was more of an alliance than a friendship. But there was still hope for that to change. She was looking for a stepping block and Winifred could be just that.She just needed a breakthrough and everything would fall

Victor took a deep breath and looked at the floor. “Straight to business, right? Something about you has changed since the last time I saw you.” Victor said in a low voice like he was talking to himself, but Rose heard.“Well, maybe it’s because my fiancé disappeared without a trace and shattered my heart into a million pieces. When something like that happens, a person is bound to change.” Rose snapped and it was hard to keep the hurt out of her voice.She couldn’t help remembering how difficult it had been for her; especially through the first month. It was like she had been grieving and sometimes it had felt worse than that. At least if he had died, she would have known it and tried her best to cope.But she had been left with the unknown; not even sure if he was still alive or dead. She hadn’t been sure how to feel and it had felt like she was just drifting through life with no one to hold unto. What she had gone through had been worse than getting her

Rose opened her mouth and blinked like a fish.“What did you just say?”Victor held her gaze and spoke adamantly. “I said that I want you to marry me. I can repeat it as many times as you want. You are the only one I want and that is never going to change. I love you Rose.” “Things have changed Victor. You can’t just come back into my life and hit play like it’s been paused since you were gone.” Rose said as she shook her head in disbelief.She could understand that he had gone through a lot, but this was asking for too much. How was she so sure that he was really over his traumatic experiences or had learnt how to cope with them better?Was seven months really enough time to deal with several years’ worth of trauma?Victor watched Rose as her wheels churned. “I can see you thinking about it, but it doesn’t have to be this complicated.”“Well, I’m sorry Victor but it is complicated.”“I know it feels

Wayne was sitting in the living room and a million thoughts were going through his head.He was sitting there instead of being in his bedroom because he wanted to see Rose as she soon as she came back.Well, if she came back. She did have to return eventually because some of her stuff was still in his house. But he was not sure if it was going to be this night or another time.“Maybe she has decided to spend the night with Victor.” Wayne muttered bitterly and took a sip from a glass of scotch. He had been nursing the bottle ever since he got home an hour ago. He had delayed coming home because he had been hoping to meet Rose here; but she was still nowhere to be seen. Wayne glanced at his wristwatch for the hundredth time; it was 6:47pm. Rose had disappeared with Victor at noon.Why was she taking so long?Maybe they were having makeup sex. Wayne wondered if he had made her feel as good as he did.

Rose watched Wayne leave and she felt powerless to stop him.A huge part of her didn’t want to stop him because she knew that if he stayed, he would probably say something mean to her again. She fell to the floor and wept.This really hurt; it hurt worse than how she had felt after Victor had disappeared. It hurt worse than all those private investigators hitting dead ends. She was stupid to have thought that anything good could come out of her being more than just friends with Wayne.Rose allowed herself that moment of weakness to slightly grief. But she needed to get herself together and leave with her things before Wayne showed up again; she could continue her grieving in the comfort of her home.She did not want Wayne to return and find her bawling her eyes out. He would probably find another terrible thing to say.Rose slowly got up and made her way to the purple guestroom. She checked the closet and drawers for h