CHRISTIANI walked into the hospital with flowers in one hand and a bag full of chicken nuggets in the other. I said hello to the nurses in the front and handed them the chicken nuggets, ignoring the not so discreet looks of surprise on their faces. I couldn’t blame them. This was the first time I was doing something so personal. I mean, they were paid well and often got bonuses. But personally going to get them chicken nuggets was something I’d never done before. I tapped lightly on Hazel’s mom’s door and entered when I heard her small voice giving me permission. Her face brightened when she turned and saw me.“Hello Sandra,” I hugged her carefully and placed a kiss on both of her cheeks and handed her the bouquet of flowers. “These are for you.”“Oh,” she beamed as she took them from me and inhaled deeply. “They’re beautiful.”“Not as beautiful as you.”“Oh I can see why my daughter is absolutely taken by you. You’re such a sweet talker.” She laughed and carefully placed the flower

I couldn’t sleep. The silence in my room was suffocating. It pressed down on my chest and didn’t budge. Sometimes, I wished Christian’s house was situated in the loud parts of town, just so I wouldn’t feel so alone when the night came. I would’ve had the sounds of cars and screams of angry neighbors and drunk husbands to keep me company. That was one of the things I missed about living in an apartment. I found it annoying before, but now I missed it more than anything. This gated community shit was just too quiet. The houses were much too big and too spread apart that you almost forgot you had neighbors. Huffing one more time, I slipped out of bed and walked out of the room. The house was eerily quiet, but it was already 2am so that was to be expected. I slowly padded over to Valerie’s room to check on her. I peeked in through the slit in the door, and the sight I met took me by surprise. Chloe was in Valerie’s bed, cuddling her as they both slept soundly. She had her arm wrapped pro

I sighed as I tossed the file in my hand back on the table and watched as the papers flew everywhere. “They can’t do a damn thing right!” I whisper yelled, feeling the frustration ooze off of me. It was getting to the point where I would have to fire the entire marketing team. I picked up the phone to dial my assistant, but paused when I heard voices from outside.“I’m sorry sir, but as I’ve tried to tell you multiple times, Mr Walker is not available to take visits right now. You can drop a message and I’ll relay it to him when he’s free.”“Fuck you and whatever you have to say, that’s my son! You can’t stop me from seeing my son!”“Sir? Sir I’m going to have to call security.”“I need to see my son!”“Sir… sir you can’t go in there—”I held my head in my hand and sighed again. It was my father, I knew from the voice. He had been calling relentlessly the whole day, which was a bit confusing since I figured he would sulk over the punch incident for months and years to come. Besides th

“Okay, she’s a bitch.”“Right?!” I exclaimed, looking at Olivia who was sitting across from me with a chip in hand. She had a thoughtful expression on her face, like she was thinking deeply about something. And when she was done, she nodded with a note of finality.“Yep, she’s a bitch,” she said, affirming what she had said before. “Finally!” I almost screamed in relief. Finally someone could see what I’ve been trying to say for more than a month. Finally, I felt like I wasn’t the crazy one. Mia tutted beside Olivia. “We can’t just write her off like that.” She said.I frowned, and Olivia mirrored my expression. “Why not? It’s obvious that she’s up to something evil.”“Oh come on,” Mia said. “She’s probably just gotten attached to Valerie and it made her react so quickly without thinking. Surely she’s apologized to you?”“She hasn’t.” I said abruptly.“Oh, well, maybe she’s embarrassed? I know I would be. She’ll probably come around to it.”Olivia shot her a bewildered look. “Girl y

CHRISTIANI did a double take when I walked into work. My sister was in my office.“What are you doing here? Is something wrong?” I asked, placing my briefcase on my desk with a small frown creasing my brows.“Hello to you too, brother.” She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she twirled in my chair.“Is mom okay?”“Of course.”I took a step and stood in front of her, one hand on my waist and one resting on my desk. “Why are you here then?”She stopped twirling and her face morphed into one of seriousness. “We need to talk.”Uh oh.My frown deepened. “About what?”She didn’t say anything, and only gave me a pointed look, like I was supposed to know what she was hinting at. I shone my eyes. “Well, go on then. I have a very important meeting in thirty minutes.”She rolled her eyes. “Christian you already know what I’m going to say. You’ve been avoiding me and I really need you to listen to me.”I sighed heavily and closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Mia, it’s 10am. Di