“Where are we going?” I asked for what must have been the thousandth time that evening, much to Christian’s annoyance.His eyes flared with rage as he turned to look at me from his seat in the car. “You’ve asked a thousand times since we left the house, and for the thousandth time, Hazel, you’ll know when we get there.”I frowned at him, almost tempted to stick out my tongue at him in the same way that Valerie did when she wasn’t getting what she wanted. I looked down at my attire, black sweatpants with a pale pink hoodie, and white sneakers. I had walked down the stairs earlier with a full face of makeup and a dinner dress on, only to meet Christian’s unamused glare at the bottom of the stairs. He had taken one look at me, and cocked an eyebrow. “What is this?”“What is what?” I had asked in confusion.“Take it off,” he simply ordered.“Why?” I had asked, still confused.He had ignored my question, choosing instead to take my arm and pull me back up the stairs and into my closet, whe
Emotions are a weird concept. You never truly know which one is next or hard it’s going to hit you. Because here I was, watching my husband and my ex boyfriend exchange pleasantries, and my chest felt like it had been split open with an ax. Mark caught my eye as we reached our bowling pit and he gave a sick wink that made me want to throw up my insides. I swallowed down the acrid taste of bile in my throat, while still trying to keep a blank face. I couldn’t let Christian suspect a thing. “Your wife is very beautiful. You’re a lucky man.” Mark said, slapping Christian playfully on the back like they had been friends for years.Christian gave me a look that I didn’t bother to try and decipher, before he looked back at Mark and gave a polite nod. “I am, aren’t I?”We put our names in the system and the game started. Mark was going first. I watched him stick his fingers in a green ball, taking his sweet time and doing everything in such a calculated manner. I knew he was taunting me. An
I sat stiffly next to Christian as we drove to a nearby cafe, with Mark driving behind us in his own car. I had pressed my nails into my palm since we left the bowling alley, and a sweet pain now spread through my arm. My nails had created moon crescents in my palm and I was very sure that I would draw blood soon if I didn’t stop applying so much pressure soon.“What is wrong with you? You’ve been acting shifty since we were at the bowling alley,” Christian asked, his voice tinged with irritation.I turned slowly to look at him, trying to keep my voice steady. “I just don’t feel good… can we just head home instead?” I asked with a little hope in me.“And what? Cancel on him just like that?” Christian motioned towards the car behind us. I sighed and shut my eyes. “Christian, please…” I had resorted to begging, because I had a feeling that this wasn’t going to end well for me. We needed to ditch Mark, in any way possible.Christian mumbled something incoherent, and shot me a look. “Den
I was meeting Christian and Valerie at the park today. I had just spent the entire morning with my mother. She was getting better, her memory was still kind of choppy but I was getting better at managing the whole thing. The plan was to spend the whole day with her but I had gotten a text from Christian saying that Valerie was throwing a fit about going to the park and she insisted I must be there too. I found it kind of cute that she wanted to spend time with me, and I still felt a little guilty since I had been spending a bulk of my time at the hospital. But the downside to this development was that I would be forced to be in the same space as Christian, which is something I had been actively avoiding for the past few days since that night with Mark. I was so sure that I had been caught that night, but before Chritian could come into view, Mark released his grip on my neck and smoothly slipped into the bathroom. Apparently, he had told Christian that he had an emergency and needed t
All my senses were at alert. My heart was thudding in my chest, and beads of perspiration had formed around my forehead.“Hazel,” Christian called, reaching out to grab my arm. But I was already out of reach. I ran across the length of the park, down to the area where Valerie had been playing with her friend, but she wasn’t there.“Valerie!” I called out. I could see Christian walking towards me. His lips were moving like he was saying something, but I was unable to hear anything over the blood rushing to my head. “Oh God,” I panted, still running around like a crazy person. My head was filled with all kinds of thoughts, all coming to a single conclusion. Mark had gotten to her, he had taken her. We had only looked away for a second but Mark had snatched her up, and it was all my fault. I didn’t even want to think of what he might do to her. He wouldn’t hurt a child, right? If anything happened to her, I would never be able to forgive myself.“Valerie!” I yelled again, feeling bile ri
“Hey girly!” Mia’s vibrant aura filled the room as soon as I opened the door.“Hi” I smiled, going in for a hug, she pulled me in and hugged me tightly. I savored the moment, inhaling the flowery scent of her perfume. After the crazy and disoriented way I'd been feeling lately, I really needed a hug like this.“Where’s the little gremlin?” she asked walking past me inside the house“Preschool,” I said, closing the door and following her inside the house.“I come bearing news,” she said, tapping her heels impatiently on the floor. My eyes went to her new Versace kitten heels which I was sure she would never wear again after today. Mia was crazy about shoes and she had like a million designer pairs.“Please do tell,” Olivia prompted her, giving me a knowing wink as she appeared from the restroom. We both knew that the second Mia felt the tiniest bit of stress, she loved to splurge on some retail therapy.“Oh my God, Olivia’s here too, that's even more perfect.” she exclaimed, envelopin
CHRISTIANI had had a very bad day at work, I lost a client and I foresaw losing even more, just because of a stupid mistake one of the managers had made. The stakes were not going in my favour. So instead of putting myself up for more business torture, I decided to head back home. I was not ready for a drink now, I just wanted to rest my head and figure out how to fix the problem at hand before it cost me even more than it already did. But as I opened the front door, I heard Mia’s voice and I stopped. I was in no mood for a chatty and cheerful conversation today so I stood waiting for the next move before deciding where I wanted to be that afternoon. I could go over to a hotel and just sleep. But when I heard Hazel tell Mia I was at work, all my reasoning went out of the window. They were going to feel comfortable knowing I was not around and talk about girl things and secrets only they knew about. I wanted in on that today, it was time for a change. Maybe I would find out a few thin
HAZELThe party was going on smoothly and Christian stood by my side all night. The main event of the night had been done and all that was left to do was mingle and interact. And if there was one thing I'd learned from the elite of Seattle, it was that they took their interactions very seriously. It was all about making connections for them. The dance had just finished and I stood sipping on my fifth glass of wine which warmed my insides and slowly fizzled away my nerves and took my mind away from the fact that Christian had not asked me to dance. I was not worried about it but it made me feel sad in a kind of way, even though I knew I had no right to… even though I would rather not care about it. I knew I shouldn't be drinking that much, but there wasn’t much else to do. After the dance, I watched the different couples across the room and my eyes drifted between the ones kissing and the ones being too close for a public space like this. I turned away from them and came face to face w