HAZEL I slept till noon today, and when I opened my eyes to a brightly lit room and the cool afternoon breeze coming through my windows, I truly felt rejuvenated. That was some much needed sleep. I could hear Valerie’s voice from my bedroom, giggling and yelling something about “fishies”. With a smile on my face, I slipped my legs into the slippers at the foot of the bed and tightened my robe around myself before I walked out of the room. The noise was coming from Christian’s bedroom so I made my way over there. “Hey,” I smiled at Christian. “Did you sleep well?” “Yeah, I did.” Our high strung and ever energetic Valerie was jumping on the bouncy mattress, her curls flying every which way as she chanted, “fishies, fishies,” with every bounce. Christian grinned as he looked at her. “What’s all this about ‘fishies’?” I asked, feeling ridiculous as I said the word. Christian rose to his full length, and my eyes fell to his very naked chest. I felt heat rise to my cheeks immediate
I couldn’t sleep. The silence in my room was suffocating. It pressed down on my chest and didn’t budge. Sometimes, I wished Christian’s house was situated in the loud parts of town, just so I wouldn’t feel so alone when the night came. I would’ve had the sounds of cars and screams of angry neighbors and drunk husbands to keep me company. That was one of the things I missed about living in an apartment. I found it annoying before, but now I missed it more than anything. This gated community shit was just too quiet. The houses were much too big and too spread apart that you almost forgot you had neighbors. Huffing one more time, I slipped out of bed and walked out of the room. The house was eerily quiet, but it was already 2am so that was to be expected. I slowly padded over to Valerie’s room to check on her. I peeked in through the slit in the door, and the sight I met took me by surprise. Chloe was in Valerie’s bed, cuddling her as they both slept soundly. She had her arm wrapped pro
CHRISTIAN“What are you talking about?” I asked her, taking a step back so we had some space between us. “This.” She waved a hand between the both of us, looking like she was in pain. I hated the look on her face. “You and I, Christian. I know why you married me, you’ve made it clear every single day for months that you hated me. And now… now we’re… you’ve been really kind and sweet and you went the extra mile for my mom, and you’ve just been so so kind–”“Is there a problem with that?” I crossed my arms over my chest. I knew I was being defensive, but I couldn’t help it. I understood her concerns and what she was saying, but how could I explain it when I didn't even understand it myself?She closed her eyes and opened them again. “The problem… the problem is that i can’t live like this. I know you derive some kind of sick pleasure from keeping me second guessing myself, and it’s just another kind of punishment on your end, but I can't live with the inconsistencies. I can’t believe so
I sighed as I tossed the file in my hand back on the table and watched as the papers flew everywhere. “They can’t do a damn thing right!” I whisper yelled, feeling the frustration ooze off of me. It was getting to the point where I would have to fire the entire marketing team. I picked up the phone to dial my assistant, but paused when I heard voices from outside.“I’m sorry sir, but as I’ve tried to tell you multiple times, Mr Walker is not available to take visits right now. You can drop a message and I’ll relay it to him when he’s free.”“Fuck you and whatever you have to say, that’s my son! You can’t stop me from seeing my son!”“Sir? Sir I’m going to have to call security.”“I need to see my son!”“Sir… sir you can’t go in there—”I held my head in my hand and sighed again. It was my father, I knew from the voice. He had been calling relentlessly the whole day, which was a bit confusing since I figured he would sulk over the punch incident for months and years to come. Besides th
HAZELThe scent of hibiscus tea and ginger wafted through the air, tainting the kitchen with a slightly sharp aroma. I stood over the big pot and stirred with a small smile on my lips as I hummed along to the music coming from the living room. Tina wordlessly arranged empty bottles on the counter so I could store the tea in them when I was done. Chloe was nursing a cup of coffee while she mindlessly scrolled on her phone. Her hair was in that tight bun again, and I quietly wondered if it didn’t hurt, because it looked like it did. Valerie was eating mini pancakes in her high chair and she occasionally mumbled her childish gibberish and went back to eating. Chloe stood up and left the kitchen when she was done with her coffee, leaving Valerie, Tina and I. I finished packing the hibiscus tea in all the bottles and was in the process of putting them in the fridge.“Haze, I want more duce.” Valerie said, asking for juice.I gave her a pointed look from the other side of the kitchen and a
“Okay, she’s a bitch.”“Right?!” I exclaimed, looking at Olivia who was sitting across from me with a chip in hand. She had a thoughtful expression on her face, like she was thinking deeply about something. And when she was done, she nodded with a note of finality.“Yep, she’s a bitch,” she said, affirming what she had said before. “Finally!” I almost screamed in relief. Finally someone could see what I’ve been trying to say for more than a month. Finally, I felt like I wasn’t the crazy one. Mia tutted beside Olivia. “We can’t just write her off like that.” She said.I frowned, and Olivia mirrored my expression. “Why not? It’s obvious that she’s up to something evil.”“Oh come on,” Mia said. “She’s probably just gotten attached to Valerie and it made her react so quickly without thinking. Surely she’s apologized to you?”“She hasn’t.” I said abruptly.“Oh, well, maybe she’s embarrassed? I know I would be. She’ll probably come around to it.”Olivia shot her a bewildered look. “Girl y
It was 4am when I opened my eyes again. Christian’s arm was tightly wrapped around me, and when I tried to untangle myself, he made a little sound that made me freeze, but thankfully, he didn’t wake up. I couldn’t believe I had fallen asleep in his arms after what happened last night. The plan was to go back to my room when he fell asleep, but I ended up sleeping too. I had almost died from the embarrassment last night, and the only reason I didn’t walk out was because I was too chicken to have a conversation about it.What had I done? Why did I have to go ahead and say those stupid words to him? Love? Christian Walker didn’t do love. I was such a fool.After a good five minutes of struggling, I finally freed myself from his hold and tiptoed to my room. I was still in the clothes from last night, I hadn’t even taken a shower so I did just that. I set the water to an almost scalding hot temperature and stood there in the shower while it washed my actions away. When I finished, I was f
CHRISTIANI did a double take when I walked into work. My sister was in my office.“What are you doing here? Is something wrong?” I asked, placing my briefcase on my desk with a small frown creasing my brows.“Hello to you too, brother.” She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she twirled in my chair.“Is mom okay?”“Of course.”I took a step and stood in front of her, one hand on my waist and one resting on my desk. “Why are you here then?”She stopped twirling and her face morphed into one of seriousness. “We need to talk.”Uh oh.My frown deepened. “About what?”She didn’t say anything, and only gave me a pointed look, like I was supposed to know what she was hinting at. I shone my eyes. “Well, go on then. I have a very important meeting in thirty minutes.”She rolled her eyes. “Christian you already know what I’m going to say. You’ve been avoiding me and I really need you to listen to me.”I sighed heavily and closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Mia, it’s 10am. Di