It was another Monday morning. To some, it was the start of a long hard boring week of getting shouted at work by their bosses. To some, it was the day of bringing in their weekend assignments for scores and hopes of boosting their plummeting college credits. While to Kelvin, it was jealousy. He stared at his phone and he saw Oliver and Zara's pictures on social media. They were everywhere, you name it. Tweet, The gram, Snap App, Back Book. They had reportedly had dinner at Delarosèê Peak and a lot of people had seen them acting all lovey-dovey. Kelvin put the phone down and calmed his nerves down. He was on medication, and he didn't need to get worked up for other reasons. He wore his cap and walked up to the door of the Cafe and flipped the open sign. A few people soon walked in and Kelvin helped them to their place and went to put the To Hire sign outside since there was no way he could attend to all of them alone, well aware his current health did not require tedious work. Th
“You were with Zara yesterday and you did not tell us,” Rita inquired as Kelvin took his seat. “I'm sorry, I planned on telling you guys about it today,” Kelvin lied.“How is She? Is she eating well?” Rita asked. “Oh Rita, you spoke to her this morning already. Of course, she is fine,” Paul cut his wife off as he replied. “But some habits never change, Morticia is an example,” Paul joked.There was a roar of laughter in the room.“Thank you for walking in right on time, I almost doubted my girl for a minute,” Rita appreciated. “Now, let's go have dinner,” Rita said as she went to the kitchen to bring the food."Morticia is a headache, right?" Paul asked. Kelvin's smile dialed down. "Yeah, a big one," he replied. Rita carried a large tray of food and dropped it on the dining table. Kelvin went to assist her with the other plates while Paul made himself comfortable. Rita chimed. "Dinner is served!”With that, they all proceeded to the dining. It went smoothly with lots of laughter
Oliver flexed his fingers in front of his laptop. The tech seemed alien to him. How many days had he missed work? Four days? Two days? Well, none of that mattered since he was—Anne barged into the office and shook Oliver out of his thoughts. Oliver blinked several times at her and she simply stared back at him. Oliver thought he would have another episode of severe scolding for dumping his work on her. "Oliver, I found what might become a problem later," Anne dropped her laptop on Oliver's table. She had taken Oliver by surprise. He thought he would have gotten scolded again. "What are you talking about?" Oliver raised a brow in confusion. Anne slapped her forehead lightly. She had forgotten that she had left Oliver out of the loop since Vanessa's last show. "Okay, let me place it like this since you have not been around for a while," she flashed Oliver a frown and he swallowed. He raised his hands in submission and Anne continued. "I ended up putting myself in Vanessa. More lik
"We need to talk."A sentence with four words. It sounded more intense than it was intended to, partly because Zara was trying to avoid Oliver. She hadn't forgotten what had happened on the rooftop that day. She knew it. She had almost kissed Oliver. "We need to talk."She simply stared at the message that was displayed on the screen. It had been there since morning, and she hadn't even bothered to reply. “Curse you, Oliver,” Zara flustered.She had successfully ignored Oliver for the last few days after that incident. She beat herself up every time she remembered it. What killed her the most was that she could not tell Kelvin about it. How would she even start? She knew it was almost an act of betrayal. Kelvin himself had been very busy for the past few days, his cafe boomed well. He was very happy. No way she was going to spoil it for him. Zara straightened her dress and heaved a deep sigh in front of the mirror. Her face stared back at her. She looked less confident than the wa
Oliver smiled back at Zara with his hands in his pocket. Zara slowly stood up and shook her head. It was impossible, why was he going that far? He was getting too involved with them. "No, I can't accept that," Zara shook her head. "You can cut off my bonuses, I barely use them anyway. You can use the money and pay for the—" Oliver cleared his throat and Zara stopped talking. He looked down at her and cocked his brow. "Tell me the truth. If I left it to you, you wouldn't have been able to do it, even with the bonuses. Are you a masochist? Can you even repay me?" The smile on his had disappeared. Zara looked to the ground and held her palms together. She felt her palms were the only ones warming her up in front of Oliver's cold stare. "I—I—""You can't. So instead of partying with the money I have, or going to the brothel, I want to help your family, and you are not stopping me," Oliver paused. He saw that he had been coming a bit too strong there. He watched as Zara's body tensed
Vanessa had become quite miserable. In fact, "quite miserable," was an understatement. She had reached the point where she had completely embodied Squidward's point of view, that famous miserable character from that legendary kiddies show.Her reputation had plummeted downwards, she couldn't even go outside to buy her groceries because of the way people looked at her. Her suspension at work was still ongoing, she didn't even expect to be called back after what had happened. Oliver Russell. Vanessa grabbed a ceramic vase from the bedside table and flung it at the wall. It shattered into a million pieces, with the sound bouncing back and forth in the large room. She grabbed her bare knees and looked at the mirror. She was losing it. Oliver Russell. Vanessa stood up and rested her hands in front of the dressing mirror. Her eyes were puffy from not getting enough sleep and she had gained some mass from staying at home, lazing around since last week. "Oliver, I will crush you!" Vane
Zara felt something ominous as she stared at her phone. Vanessa's video was trending, and she wondered what she was up to this time. Thankfully, she wasn't her problem. Oliver would deal with her sooner. She sat in the garden and looked up at the sky. The sun was high up in the sky, but it was mild on the skin because of autumn. She looked down at the flowers and thought about talking about the plants to Oliver when her phone rang. Zara stared at the ID and put it to her ear immediately. "Yes, Mom?" Zara answered. Kelvin must have already told them about it by now. She just hoped her mum wouldn't throw hard questions her way. "My baby girl, you have gotten us what we have always wanted," Rita's voice broke out as soon as she picked up.Zara sensed happiness in her mother's voice. It has been forever since she heard her mother sound that happy. She could also hear soft sobs at the end of the receiver. "Oh Rita, are you going to start on the call and keep sobbing?" Zara heard her
Zara sat cross-legged in front of her parents. They sat in their new home, and she had decided to visit them. She preferred breaking the news to them face to face, rather than on the phone. She had left Jeff in the car outside while she talked to her parents inside. And besides, it had been a while since she had seen them. "Dad, we are getting you a shop."Those words hadn't been digested completely in Rita and Paul's ears. One could say they had trouble processing it. They seemed to be lagging, at times. Zara sighed and rested her hands on her thighs. She uncrossed her legs and sat more comfortably. She used that opportunity to look at the house very well. She could see that Oliver had taken his time to furnish it well with high-grade furniture. Wasn't he doing too much, too much to be comfortable?"Zara, what are you saying?" Paul asked first. He seemed to have processed it faster than his wife.Zara sighed and stood up. "Mum, Dad, remember those times when you used to say you