I looked around the kitchen for what I could make for breakfast. It was a new year and I was feeling brand new as well so I opted for bacon, eggs and a hash brown skillet. I tried to be as quiet as possible as I moved around.I was about to move the skillet from the stove when I felt hands over my stomach. I screamed“That’s different from last night.” I turned around and smacked his chest. He was referring to my screams and I didn’t have to know that.“You’re such a jerk.” I placed the skillet on a platform and dropped the gloves“But I love your screams… I know they’re for me.” His eyes roamed over my body and lowered to my bare legs. I was wearing one of his shirts with nothing else underneath and it was extremely large on me.“Oh My God… just eat.” My face flushed as I could tell what thoughts were spawning in his head. I could barely walk and I didn’t think I could handle him again this morning.“What did Thea say last night? When we were about to leave…” I offered Kol water as he

Jason had only come to remind us of the fact that we had been backed against the wall. Even if we took the case to the court, we would have to suspend all activities on the app for as long as the case went on and Jason was intent on dragging it out as long as possible. He had also claimed to have the original file which we weren’t even sure how he got in the first place.Jason was ten steps ahead of us and it wasn’t that he wanted the app. No, he had made that very much clear. “You can never beat me. Nicholas, you never have and you never will.”My palms had itched with a burning desire to give him a twinning mark on the other side of his face. How Josh and Kol had managed to hold themselves back, I would never know. It was only Kol’s grip on me that had held me in place.I picked up everything that had been thrown across the floor. Kol and Josh had gone to ‘take care of some things’. Most likely, people were going to get fired. It amazed me that every single time, he came, he was

I carried on with the day absentmindedly. I was still in shock even after my phone screen had shattered into pieces and I wasn’t sure there was any reviving it. When I had put my system into the dustbin and waste paper into my bag at the end of the day, Dara had given me a worried look.“Are you okay ma’am?”I looked at her wondering if she had said something to me with the way she was staring.“Hmm?”“Your laptop… it’s in the bin.”“What?” My face scrunched in confusion as I looked at where her finger pointed. My eyes widened in embarrassment. Absolutely no work had been done today. I stared at the screen endlessly and my mind wandered far. No one came to mind as I wondered who it could be. It was that bad. I had been told that I was abandoned as a child without so much as a note. While growing up, no one had come for me either so, I was thoroughly convinced I had literally no one.“You should go home. We’ll finish up here.” I nodded at her and gave her a hug.Dara had become someon

“How about you move to my place?”“I can’t.”“Why not?”My lips pursed as I tried to find a reason not to move into Kol’s place. We had been bickering back and forth for the past hour about what he termed ‘protection’. Kol had gone back to the office after I had slept off at the hospital to check the security cameras but there was nothing. It had been destroyed by the perp and there was nothing left to salvage. Even the hours before my car had been trashed showed nothing.So, Kol thought it best for me to move to his place. I wasn’t sure why I didn’t agree with him.“Okay. How about this?”I looked at him from behind his work desk as he perched his hands on the table.“You stay at your place during the week and stay with me on the weekends.”I bit my lip as I thought about it.“Or… I could come stay at your place. Whichever makes you comfortable.”I was fine either way but I said nothing and looked at him. This wasn’t even a conversation for the office and it was already Friday.“Fine

“Hi.” I knocked on the glass in front of me while Kol remained behind me.“Yes, can I help you?” The woman behind the desk looked at me with her glasses seated low on her nose. It wasn’t a face I recognised. It had been years so, it was understandable if there were a few new faces.“Uhm…” I swallowed heavily. I was about to admit to another person asides myself and Kol that I might have a sibling I never knew about. I cleared my throat to seem more confident.“I got a call a few days back that someone came looking for me… for my file. I used to live here.” I smiled at the woman, hoping she wouldn’t see how desperate I felt for something I hadn’t even known existed until a few days back.“Your name please.” She seemed unbothered and somehow, I was grateful for that.“Victoria Trisha.”“Victoria Madeleine Trisha.” I corrected myself. I always thought it was weird that I was given three names. Usually, people at the orphanage are given just a name. Two at best, but three? “Your name