Semua Bab A Whole New World: Bab 1 - Bab 5

ESSENCE I sat quietly in the corner, watching everyone eat, drink, and laugh like it was the happiest day of their lives. Well, it probably was. Everyone’s life but mine. They looked right through me, as if I didn’t exist. Which was ironic, considering I was supposed to be the co-star of the show. It was my tenth wedding anniversary, for goodness’ sake. Ten years married to Alex Watson, yet here I was, the invisible woman at my own celebration. But not Remi Vanguard. Oh no, Remi was impossible to miss. She was the star of the evening. She floated around like she owned the place… like she owned my husband. Alex couldn’t take his eyes off her, and neither could half the people here. Including my nine-year-old son, Asher, who seemed to think she was some kind of goddess sent from heaven to grace us with her presence. I looked at the party I had spent weeks planning. The decorations, the flowers, the cake I nearly lost my eyebrows baking in the middle of the night because the ca

ESSENCE Once again, I ended up in the arms of the stranger.He caught me before my face hit the ground, flipping my body effortlessly. In the blink of an eye, my back was resting against his other arm, like he’d done this a thousand times before.Our eyes met. Again. And there went my heart, racing like it was training for a marathon. I didn’t even realize I was biting my lower lip until it was too late.'You are truly disgusting, Essence.' I chided myself silently, forcing my teeth away from my lip. At thirty, I was too old to be getting infatuated with a hot stranger who would never think of me that way.Worse, I was a married woman. With a son. And yet, here I was acting like a schoolgirl who’d never seen a man before.I pulled myself away from him quickly and tried to put a good two feet of distance between us.“You need to be more careful,” he said.Then his gaze sharpened. “Why are your cheeks turning red? Are you having indigestion?”“It’s my natural skin tone,” I lied flatly.

ESSENCE “Did you forget your promise?” I asked, staring at Alex like he was a walking disappointment. “You said it would be just the two of us.” “I know,” he said, holding my arms like I was the unreasonable one. “But try to be flexible. Even your son wants to come.” Right. My son wants to come. The same son who told me to leave my own house. Without another word, I turned, walked back into my room, and slammed the door behind me. My bed barely creaked as I sank into it and stared at nothing. “I should’ve known,” I muttered. “It was too good to be true.” I bent down to unstrap the silver death traps pretending to be shoes. They dug into my fingers as I yanked at the buckles. Of course, Alex picked these shoes. They were his favorite. Mine too—if I’d lost all feeling in my feet. That’s when he came barging into the room. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he snapped. “You know the world doesn’t revolve around you, right?” I scoffed loudly. “You’re the liar full