Gabriel found himself revisiting the scene in his mind as he roamed his apartment, unable to shake the vivid memory of what had happened earlier. After a long day at work with countless meetings running into one another, Gabriel had been about ready to go to bed when he'd heard the loud bang from outside. Worried and cautious, he'd quickly stepped out of his apartment—only to be met with a sight that had caught him by surprise. There, seated before her door, was Joslyn, surrounded by her scattered belongings, resembling fallen leaves in disarray.However, it hadn't quite been the disorderliness of her belongings that had captured Gabriel's attention initially. It’d been the tears streaming down her face, her shoulders shaking with each sob. The contrast between her usual composed demeanor and her current state of vulnerability had been so stark and had struck him deeply.The image of Joslyn in such a state of distress had stirred within Gabriel an overwhelming yet inexplicable sense
“You are my best friend's boyfriend, Gabriel.”“Ex–boyfriend,” he corrected.“Whatever. It still changes everything,” she wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling tiny underneath his scorching gaze.“It changes nothing, Joslyn,” he took a step closer to her. “Nothing at all.”She looked up into his eyes, sweet honey orbs colliding with the coral combinations of greens and blues. The colour harmony couldn't be more explosive.Clearing her throat, she looked away from his captivating imprisonment of a gaze before straightening her posture to match one of confidence and determination, a total contrast to the tornado of feelings overwhelming her insides. His proximate presence was making her feel weak in the knees.“No matter what, I refuse to betray Sigourney. It is an unspoken rule between best friends to not have anything to do with each other's exes. You're off limits, Gabriel.”“Fuck such rules! Whether they're ‘unspoken’,” he gestured in an air-quote, “or in the fucking con
|| Three Years Prior To The Present ||Being an air stewardess was very thrilling and exhilarating for someone as adventurous as Joslyn Patel, but unfortunately, as exciting as it was, it also bagged a lot of stress, lots of legwork, i.e. standing and walking around, lots of sweet smiles (whether faux or genuine, but mostly, faux) and lastly, lots and lots of jet lags.The belief that if you continued to do something perpetually, you would eventually grow accustomed to it, was a lie. A big one at that and Joslyn was a living witness. No one ever grows accustomed to jet lags. So, imagine the magnitude of irritation she truly felt when her best friend, Sigourney Lapointe, had tenaciously dragged her jaded and jet-lagged body down to the clubhouse, two hours after she had landed from a 50hr+ flight to and from Kathmandu, Nepal.Joslyn groaned loudly when the words, The Airliner, illuminated in neon lights at the entrance of the club blared in her line of sight. She had had enough of air
Sulking alone while seated at the bar, Joslyn sipped from a glass of water as she scrolled through her phone; precisely through the international dates and times application.Oddly, Joslyn sometimes liked to see how different countries in different regions and varied hemispheres had distinct times from one another. She didn't know if it was as a result of always traveling around, but the idea of the dissimilar time zones between countries always intrigued her.She had just finished informing her parents and twin brother, Joshua who was serving in the Canadian Marines but was currently on one of his rare military leave, of her arrival in their resident city, Vancouver, when the air suddenly shifted and she vaguely noticed someone settling two barstools away from her.From her peripheral vision, she could make out the person's figure; it was a guy or perhaps, a woman who had spent way too much time in the gym to possess such bulging muscles and towering physique even while seated.Befor
|| One Year Prior To The Present || Feeling the uncomfortable and seemingly neverending strain in his pants, Gabriel Nicholas Reid stood stiffly in front of the bulletproof, two-way floor to ceiling mirror glass doors standing between him and his personal office balcony, which overlooked the entire city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Trying awfully hard, but to no avail, he struggled to divert his attention from his carnal thoughts and on to the beautiful and vast view of the city displaying right before his very eyes. With the mountains to the North, the Pacific Oceans to the West and the huge Stanley Park right downtown, Vancouver was well known for its jaw-droppingly beauteous landscapes. And from where Gabriel currently stood, he could see the boundless space of the blue ocean lined with different sizes of ferryboats and yachts mooring by the docks. He could also see the lines and lines of smaller buildings stretching across the city as well as the bridge that connected his si
Silence settled heavily within the confines of the BMW sitting idly by the sidewalk, save for the occasional taps emanating from fingers flying across the Gorilla-glassed screen of his phone and the hullabaloo of the outside world.Gabriel sat in the driver's seat of his car, busy with his mobile as he waited for his girlfriend to emerge from her apartment complex. He was dressed casually, yet with an intention to impress, in a pair of fitted jeans snug against his manly thighs, a black undershirt and a similarly black leather jacket with a pair of Dr. Martens boots adorning his feet. A minute passed and Gabriel shifted his attention from his phone to his wristwatch, checking the time. An exasperated sigh escaped his lips as he looked toward the apartment building he was currently parked in front of. For over a half hour now, he had been waiting for Sigourney to come out but when she'd been busy taking her sweet time getting ready, he'd resorted to busying himself with sorting throu
The sound of balls hitting balls—or occasionally, wood—filled the otherwise dull room. A ways from where they were, music boomed loudly, making even the walls and floors of the VIP section of the club pulsate with each beat, regardless of the stark contrasting quietude settling in the room. The room was dark, save for the dim illumination from the pendant lights hanging from the ceiling of the bar and the faux LED flames licking up the walls of the room, casting the space in an intimate orange glow. Music rocked the rest of the club, swarming the building with liveliness, however, only occasional pong noises emanated from the pool table in the VIP room, filling the otherwise light silence.Gabriel sat, hunched over the bar counter, his hands holding the sides of his head, fingers lost in a forest of dark unruly strands, as he stared unblinkingly at his drink. Minutes idled by with absolutely no movement from Gabriel (not even the blink of an eye) but when the ice cubes in his amber c
Joslyn shambled out of her room and down into the living area, her gaze glued to the screen of the mobile phone in her hand. She had her bottom lip between her teeth, worrying the flesh as her deeply furrowed eyebrows marred her already fatigued countenance even more. Although it was now nearing noon and she had just woken up, having crashed almost immediately Sigourney and Gabriel left yesterday, her bones still felt like mush in her body and the skin beneath her eyes still housed dark circles with heavy eye-bags. Jet lag was a bitch.Sighing, Joslyn plopped onto her couch as she stared expectantly at her phone, awaiting a response to the text she had sent. No sooner had she sat down, did she stand up again and begin pacing, sifting her fingers through her silver strands with the roots being her natural ebony color. Her phone finally pinged and her gaze snapped to the device as she hastily opened the text and read. The hope in her eyes slowly dimmed then extinguished at her father'