SIX MONTHS LATER.I picked up my car keys, as I spoke into the phone trapped between my ear and shoulder, "Tell the pilot to slow down, I'm still at home."Grace chuckled, "Why don't I give the phone to the pilot so you can speak to him, dummy."I laughed out loud, almost letting the phone slip from my shoulder. "You brat! I hope your tongue isn't the only thing that got sharper during that trip.""Come pick me and you'd find out." There was a pause on her end.But I could hear the muffled voices of people in the background and the somewhat clear voice of someone softly issuing out instructions. It must be the flight attendant. "Please, rip your phones, secure your belongings as we would land in the next couple of minutes.""Okay, I've got to go," Grace finally said, "We're about to land." Then with a manufactured deep stern voice, she growled, "Don't keep me waiting, Sydney!""Yes, ma'am," I said even though the line already went dead.I stuffed everything I might need into my handba

SYDNEY'S POVI slammed my laptop shut and some of the attendees raised a brow. I smiled back at the person and turned back to the speaker for the day.The day had been hectic since I arrived in the morning. It was one work after another, one meeting after another.We had just finished the first session of the seminar on jewelry design that was hosted in our company. Thankfully there was a short break before the second session again.I traipsed to my office, dumped my laptop on my desk and walked out of the building complex, exhausted.I just wanted to be alone while getting some fresh air after being stuck in that conference room for hours!I walked to the cafe next to the office building for a cup of coffee. The cafe was a perfect place I could hide and none of the other employees would spot me and start trying to engage me in a conversation I wasn't interested in.After ordering my coffee, I got a seat on the far end of the cafe, just beside the cafe's glass walls. At first, I found

"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

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

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