The rest of the time is a blur. I vaguely heard that Katherine made a short speech about herself but I couldn’t understand a single word that she said. My mind seemed to be shut down all of a sudden. Katherine, my best friend in Boston, the girl I’ve known for almost 4 years, is Eason’s mysterious fiancé?!!! But how is the even possible? So when did this thing settle? Ms. Griswold talked about finding Eason a marriage partner three years ago, so did Katherine already know that she was going to marry Eason back then? Why didn’t she say anything to me? Even if it just became serious recently, she still had plenty of chances to tell me today! Why the fuck did she keep her mouth shut?!! I look up numbly, trying to find Eason in the crowd and see his reaction toward this. But he is not standing by the piano anymore. He’s nowhere to be found now. The buzzing conversation around me becomes louder again as I finally realize that Mr. Ramirez’s opening speech is over. A few people approac
“Why was she removed from our store again?” the other saleslady asks on time. The same question I am wondering.“She ordered several pieces of fancy jewelries but can’t make the final payment. The manger offers to resell those jewelries on her behalf, yet she didn’t like that option either. She kept telling us to show her some respect because her family is very respected in town.”“Is it?”“Well, yes, a few years ago. But the Booth family is going downhill and is facing financial crisis right now. Oh her poor fiancé. If he marries her, he’ll face so many troubles, like money wise.”“Her fiancé is so hot. I think he can do so much better…”And then they leave the lady’s room together.I stand still in my little stall, taking a time to process what I just heard.So Katherine is only marrying Eason for his money? Does he know about this? Does Mr. Ramirez and Ms. Griswold know??I bet Eason doesn’t know. He didn’t even bother to get to know Katherine, let along her family. But one thing f
“Come in,” Ms. Griswold steps aside and lets me into her presidential suite.The room is enormously large. While I’m still carefully studying the layout of the room, Ms. Griswold already walked past me to the liquor cabinet and poured herself a scotch.“So,” she takes her seat and crosses her legs, “Why do you need to see me?”Her eyes are full of distant. She doesn’t even hate me. She just thinks that I’m a dirt that doesn’t deserve her time and attention.“Well?” she urges me. “Hurry. I don’t have all day.”So I speak, straightforwardly, “Call off their marriage now.”She pauses for a short moment, and then burst into a booming laughter. She laughs so hard that her scotch spilled out.“Oh dear, oh dear,” she shakes her head still laughing. “Are you coming here to beg me? If you are, at least give me the proper attitude, like crying, pleading, dropping to your knees?”“I’m not here to beg you,” my jaw tenses.Yet she carries on as if she didn’t hear me, “Your mom was really good at i
I knew he would definitely come and confront me after listening to the recorder. But I didn’t know that he couldn’t even wait till the morning.“Have you listened to it yet?” I ask.“Of course!” he huffs. “Why did you do it? Why did you go find my mom?”I’ve expected him to be angry and confused. No one wants to be told that his fiancé is an evil person right before the engagement. But he doesn’t love Katherine, that I can be sure of, so he can take the bad news. I just need to break it down to him slowly.“Your mom asked me not to tell anyone. But you have the right to know.” I sit down by my bed, taking in a deep breath before continuing. “Your mom is dating Katherine’s father, which is why she has ganged up with them to steal your money. If you marry her, you will lose all your family wealth to them.”Yet he remains silent. He just stands there, staring at me with a set of dark eyes.I frown, frustrated. Doesn’t he trust me? The fact is so plain and simple. Why is he still doubting
When we come downstairs, there’s already a large group of people gathered in the living room. The center of the crowd is Katherine, who is bragging her diamond ring to a few well-dressed ladies. So Eason still bought the ring for her? I snap my head back glaring at him. He frowns and whispers back: “I was so caught up by our little argument that I didn’t notice she took my credit card.” That little bitch! I puff my chest up and march into the living room. The chattering group lapses into a short silence when they notice the unexpected intruder, me. The cold expression on my face immediately sets everyone on the edge of their seats. Mom stands up from the seat besides Ms. Griswold (seriously I don’t know how she can stand being in the same room with that woman) and welcomes me, “Natalia where have you been? Come and look at Katherine’s engagement ring. It’s so pretty.” I ignore her and look straight into Katherine’s eyes. “Give me the ring.” She sits there holding the ring box wit
Mr. Ramirez sits down behind the desk, his eyes fixing on my face. Now I can understand why Mr. Booth shivered like a piece of leaf earlier. This man is fucking intimidating. “Do you have anything to say?” he asks in an indifferent tone. Eason is about to say something, but I speak up before him. “Sir, I probably shouldn’t have exposed their schemes and lies in front of everyone downstairs, but I do not regret it. Eason doesn’t deserve to be treated like that. He needs someone to look over for him.” Eason’s grip on my hand suddenly tightens, as if a strong wave of emotions is surging inside of him. I lock eyes with him for a brief second and notice his eyes filled with nothing but love and gratitude. Mr. Ramirez taps the desktop with his knuckle and brings out attention back. “So you just decided to step in and take over everything without a word with me first? Natalia, from your perspective, don’t I deserve to know first?” I bite my lower lip in embarrassment. He is right. But ho
Eason’s POVI wake up in her bed the next morning.The first thing I look for is her. Luckily, she is still sleeping soundly besides me, her face bathed in the golden morning sunlight. She’s like an angel.I let out a long sign, feeling relieved. I don’t remember how many nights that I dreamed about her sleeping in my arms and woke up to find that everything was only in my head. It almost crushed me.I went through the darkest period time in my life three years ago when she left me. I couldn’t cope with the fact that the love of my life was gone, and everything was my fault. So I fled back to New York from Miami and locked myself up in the apartment. I wanted to rot in that dark room, so that I didn’t need to face the reality.I drank myself to sleep but just kept being woken up by nightmares. So I drank more, forcing myself to sleep. It’s like a vicious circle. My life had fallen into a dark, endless pit.I remember one time I drank an entire bottle of vodka and passed out on the bat
I am outside my boyfriend’s apartment.I just took a 10-hour flight from East Coat to the West, transferred twice, switched subway, and then bus, just to get here in time to surprise him on his birthday.And here I am.Listening to him fucking another woman inside that door.“Oh yes…oh Zack babe…fuck me! Fuck!”I can clearly hear the bed rattling, sweaty flesh smashing against each other, husky morns of pleasure.I clamp my hand over my mouth to stop myself from screaming.All these times he’s been begging me to come and visit, and this is his welcome gift? Cheating on me with another woman?I feel betrayed, furious, and disgusted. Before I know it, I’m banging on his apartment door.“Zack! Open the fucking door! Zack!”The sound suddenly stops. A moment later, the door flies open as Zack appears behind it. His chest is naked, hair all raffled, I can still see all the hickey on his neck.“Nat!” His eyes widen in panic, “What are you doing here?”I can’t stop my voice from trembling. “