"What the hell?!" I threw my hands in the air and said as my breath calmed, "Why did you just appear like that? You almost gave me a heart attack."She folded her lips, "You almost gave me a heart attack when I noticed you sitting here too." She arched her sleek brows, "Have you been stalking me? Well, I'm sure today's stalk was a success because you heard everything, didn't you?"I looked at her, "You…you…"A cold smile formed on her lips, "You what? Don't tell me you heard nothing." Then she tutted and her brows furrowed in concentration, "Don't lie now, Sydney."I rolled my eyes, "What I meant to say is, you shouldn't drink so much coffee, you're pregnant."Bella chuckled and I wondered what was funny about what I said. Then she sobered up, rolled her eyes and said, "Who asked you to order coffee?"I gaped at her, at a loss for words. The coffee was ordered for me! I didn't invite her to sit down and share a drink, but I didn't want to argue with a pregnant woman. Besides, it was n
"She once had a child?" I thought to myself and my body stiffened a bit. Surely never expected that update.When could this have happened? Was it during those three interminable years when she had vanished without a trace? But despite the amount of questions I had, I still tried to act composed and I schooled my expression into one of indifference.I focused on the almost invisible ripples forming on the surface of my coffee as I slowly stirred the steaming liquid."I don't want to hear it," I said flatly with nonchalance.To be honest, I was mostly not interested in hearing any stories about her murky past even though at some point before, I used to be interested in it. What purpose would it serve to dredge up all of those stories anyway?In the background of where we both sat I could hear voices and clinks of cutlery, but it all faded like far away murmurs as Bella's eyes drove like nails into me. Her fingers curled around her own cup and she slowly took a sip before rolling her eye
After I officially divorced Sydney, Doris transferred her remaining shares to me. I became the largest shareholder and the de facto person in charge as I now held 46% of GT group's shares.Due to the new development, the shareholder resume was officially updated and as expected, my networth soared. The public caught a whiff of it and I received a wave of interview reviews from TV stations, newspaper publishers and journalists always were always on the standby for whenever they would catch me outside.My position in GT group was now grounded and was not tied to anyone but I knew I still needed to be careful and watch out for those who might come together and to sell their sticks to one person among them just to watch me go down.When the requests would not stop coming in, I finally instructed my assistant to respond to one of the interview requests and inform them that I had accepted the request. I chose the most famous economic TV channel. That way, everyone will get a bit of what the
The only light in the room were the brightness of our phone's screens and that of the TV. The TV had been muted while Grace and I idly worked on our phones."Woah," Grace put her phone before my face, "Sydney, look at this."My gaze settled on the dress on the screen. It was almost like one of the ones Grace had designed. I frowned, "it looks a lot like the dress you designed."Grace laughed lightly, "It is the one I designed," she scrolled to the previous slide, "This is the original one. She's one of our clients, she got it from us so she replicated it and tagged us."My mouth formed an 'O' as I nodded."Yeah." She reclined back on the couch where she had been laying. "She really tried, right?""Yeah, but I could still tell that it wasn't your work. It was just your design.""Hmm," she hummed, "I think she did well. Perhaps, we should recruit her.""Oh please."Grace laughed at my outburst then she abruptly stopped laughing. "Isn't that Mark?"I frowned and paused the shorts I was w
I folded my lips, resisting the urge to let out a groan as Grace added 'finishing touches' to my make up. She had been adding 'finishing touches' to my make up and dress for the past hour."Grace…" I groaned, unable to keep.mute anymore. "What are you still doing?!""Finishing touches.""Finishing touches."We said at the same time and Grace burst out laughing. "Relax. Didn't you say you wanted to go late. I'm making good use of your lateness.""Yes, I wanted to go Kate but now I'm way too late. I bet the event would have ended by now."Grandma Doris sent me the invite and it was well past the time stated there. I was now three hours late."You're taking so long on this makeup, I don't want it to be heavy. What if it rains?" To be honest, my butt was already hurting and it felt sore from sitting on the stool, even though it was cushioned."It isn't heavy and it won't rain," she muttered absentmindedly."Grace-" she interrupted me."Finally done." Grace drew back and smiled at her hand
After the first time I was adopted, my guardians and foster homes became a blur of faces and places. Each family I went into always mistreated me and I was lucky to be smart enough to always be able to escape. It was like a whirlwind of being scolded and punished by the orphanage officials for either misbehaving with my foster parents or running from my foster home and then before I knew what was happening, I was being adopted again and thrown into another bitter family. Having a sweet quaint family just hadn't been something I was lucky with.Eventually, the officials got fed up with giving me out since I was bound to return or be returned so they just left me there. Even if anyone said they wanted me, they would shake their heads and say, "Sorry, that one isn't up for grabs."I personally preferred life in the orphanage too. Apart from the poor food - oh. The food could be so terrible - and the harsh environment, there was nothing particularly bad about staying at the orphanage. Atl
MARK'S POVMy jaw tightened and I felt my hands trembling by my side before they clenched into fists when I saw the man wrap his arms around Sydney and hugged her tightly.Without thinking, I strode forward, burning with jealousy and pulled Sydney away from the man. Immediately Sydney was out of the way, I connected my first with the man's face.The bastard staggered back, his hands going to his face."What the hell, Mark?" I heard Sydney yell behind me but that didn't stop me. I covered the space between us and dealt him another blow to the face. This time, as he staggered back, he fell to the floor."Mark! Get off him this minute," that was Grandma but I was unstoppable.I straddled him and swung my fists in his face again. Who did he think he was to just waltz out of nowhere and hold Sydney like that?As I pulled my arm back to hit him again, his palm cupped my fist. His bleeding mouth opened and he spat out the most infuriating words I think I would hear that night."Stop while I'
"Sydney, you really look like a lovestruck teenager," Grace teased as she walked into the living room with a bowl filled with strawberries, munching on some of them."I don't know, Grace," I spinned my phone between my fingertips, my lips jutting out in worry, "Should I call him? Should I not call him?"After the whole brouhaha with Mark and Lucas at the party, my time to properly reunite with Lucas had been cut short. He had opted to drop me off at my place but he seemed to be in a hurry. But he made sure we exchanged phone numbers before he hurriedly drove off. And since then, I haven't been able to get him out of my mind or my head. I have been unable to concentrate on work because Lucas was all I could think about.Grace rolled her eyes to the ceiling as she took a seat on the bean bag that had replaced the table in the middle of the room. She stretched the bowl of strawberries toward me, "Want some?" She briefly closed her eyes and sighed dramatically, "They're really juicy."I s