"Daddy!" Kayden and Keira jumped into my arms. Once more, I was in the comfort of my house after a nightshift of catering which meant I was free that day.
"How are you my tiny little ninjas?" I ruffled the shiny black of Kayden's hair as I took Keira into my arms.
"We are fine, daddy," they said in unison. My babies were growing fast. "Would you guys love to hang out with Daddy today?" "Yes, Daddy," they replied very elated by the sound of it. I too was excited about it, but then, I needed to rest. "Fine, let Harper organize you for our play day while daddy takes a nap. Is that okay?" They agreed.
It had been a good couple of days since I received the money – the one thousand dollars – but I failed to get it off my mind. I fell onto my bed and fidgeted about with the buttons of my shirt till it was off, courtesy of my laziness. There, I looked into the screen of my now-lit phone scrolling through the different texts I'd received. I soon landed on a specific one that caught my attention. Anne Varline. Who is this person? The question echoed through my mind over and over again till I punched the name into the search engine.
Swish. Swoosh. Pam-pam-pam. Kaboom. I woke up to the sound of Kayden chasing Keira as they warmed up for their much anticipated fun. Grabbing a t-shirt, I moved through the corridor then into the living room which was a total mess, almost incognible.
"Are we ready to go?" "Yes, yes, yes, yes," they screamed in excitement as they climbed into the car I'd opened for them. It was one of the only cool stuff I held on to when everything fell apart. I closed the door and moved to the driver's seat where I too entered the car. I started the engine and was about to drive off when Keira issued a question. "Daddy, why isn't Harper coming with us?" "Honey, I don't think she wants to." That was what I honestly thought. Perhaps, she needed a break and enough time to clean up their mess. At the sound of my answer, Keira rolled down the window and shouted, "Harper, why won't you come with us?" "You do not have to mind about me, Keira. I'll be fine right here." "Daddy, can Harper come?" Kayden finally asked and I couldn't say no. "Fine, hop in." she rushed to lock up the house just before joining us in the car.
Soon enough we were at Wonderland. It was a park they had wanted to visit for some time now. Keira took the lead in their adventure expedition around the park and Harper was with them the entire time. I watched as she joined them where she could and almost worried her head off for the times they did something she deemed unsafe. I couldn't help the warm feeling in my chest as I watched them. I chuckled. It was a nice thing that they got along well with each other. In the meantime, I slowly zoned out and there I was, back in my bed trying to ingest the newfound information. Anne Varline was apparently the most influential lady in the business world of Cordonia. She was the CEO of Varline Inc., the company that owned the Varl. That though was not the problem. The problem was that she was my beautiful stranger. How was it even possible that I fell into the same path with this lady? Honestly speaking, Varline Inc. was a lot bigger than Detta Corp. could ever have been. Was that perhaps the reason why she was the way she is, cold and very imposing? I tried to make sense of things until everything in my head was a blur. It was rather overwhelming, but I was still trying. Trying hard until another chord soon struck in my head. Leila. I wondered whether she was still alive. If she is, where could she possibly be? Does she still remember me let alone think of me? I really wanted her to know the changed person I am now, perhaps she would forgive me and if not, I would never forgive myself. I had to check into it when I got time.
It was getting late and Harper had grabbed some ice-cream for the kids. They looked like they had had the time of their lives. They were exhausted and yet they were still running around and screaming at the top of their voices. Where did they even get all that energy from? "Daddy, daddy, daddy. Would you like to taste my ice-cream?" I gently shook my head and Keira resigned sadly with her lower lip jutted out.
"Fine, let me taste it. What flavor is this?" "Bubblegum," she squealed happily as she handed the cone over to me. I tasted it and it was new. It was amazing. She did have a good taste. Having handed it back to her, I instructed them to finish up so we could walk back to the car and get going. Dusk was coming in fast. Before long, we were walked along the sidewalk and the kids were over the moon as they narrated their entire adventure to me while acting out all the scenes they found necessary. It was just a beautiful sight.
Suddenly, someone familiar flashed across my sight. I looked a second time. I had worked with him for some time at Blue Waves Resort where he was a bellhop before I left for Sky High. He was driving an SUV, but how? How is that possible? My conscience probed as his name flashed my mind. Seth Little. Wondering and thinking this within the split seconds after I saw him, I noticed her in the back of the car. My beautiful stranger. She lifted her face up from her phone and for a moment, I saw Leila. I noticed her scan through the kids then Harper before locking eyes with me. A cold chill ran down my spine as shivers washed over me just as she was being driven by and carried away. The look in her eyes played on my mind on our journey back home as I couldn't wait to see her the next day.
At home, Harper and I organized the mess in the living room that Kayden and Keira left earlier while they were off to subjecting another room to the same fate. I somehow pitied Harper. How did she deal with this all by herself? I pushed the sofas while she cleaned and emptied the cupboard for her to dust, collected the toys while she organized; we worked well together. I guess we did make a good team. We had done literally everything in no time and all that was left was to straighten the clock which Kayden had…what had he done to it? What kind of games were they even playing? I watched as she stood on the sofa to finish it up while my mind drifted off away to what could have been.
"Hey Stephen, I think I need a bit of help over here," Harper called out. I joined her onto the sofa and just as I did, the wall clock slipped from her hand causing her to lose her balance as she reached for it. My reflex was to ensure her safety; the clock could be replaced, yet there she was holding onto the clock so tightly and leaving her on fate to the cruelty of gravity. I caught her just as she was about to go and pressed her against myself with the clock sandwiched between. I heard her breath hitch just before noticing how close our faces were. Her eyes caught my own, losing me into the warm golden glow of them. Slowly, she sank her teeth into her lower lip drawing my full attention towards them. Memories of my first encounter with Leila flooded my mind and a warm feeling found its way into my chest. That was one thing I could not bear to forget. One thing that in my attempt to build, I tainted and destroyed. What kind of person had I been? My glower on Harper's lips unintentionally intensified as I licked my own. She parted her lips in response. I knew it was Harper but all I could see was Leila. My breathing deepened as the urge to devour her ran up my spine reeling desire into my bloodstreams. I was losing it.
"Harper?!" The pitter patter of Kayden's footsteps soon filled the corridor causing us to jump apart. Thank God. Harper pressed her lips together in attempt to compose herself while I got down from the sofa and returned to my room locking the door behind me. There, I leaned for long and then suddenly, drove a fist into the wall, the pain of it feeding my sadistic side. The thoughts of Leila were back. All the memories we ever had together were now flashing in my mind. Every single one of them of how I tortured her in the bid to make her mine. The fear in her innocent sapphire eyes flashed my mind causing my blood to boil. I hated the person I was at that time. I mean, Leila deserved so much more. So much more than a jerk like I was; like I still am. The memories kept on coming with me doubting my sanity more each passing second. I didn't know what to do about it, but I knew I had to do something.
ANNE
"Have you or have you not done it?" I asked Seth about the instructions I had given him earlier. I was supposed to spend only two days in this city but somehow I was still there. Seth shifted from one foot to the other as though fighting the urge to pee. It is indeed better to have the devil you know than the angel you don't, or should I say the devil you don't. I picked up my phone and made a call.
"I want you here. When should I expect you?" Silence came from the other end for a while as I heard the shuffling of papers then, "as soon as possible, Ma'am. I am booking a flight for tonight." "Good." I ended the call. Henry just wasn't what I needed. Henry knew how to handle my things just right and by his answer, he also knew very well how I was when it came to getting things done.
The truth of the matter was that I was still in the city for a forum. Well it was more like a party where people like myself, business tycoons and the variety of powerful people from around met up and… I actually did not know what went on in those things. I never attended them myself to begin with as I was not a fan of them. I needed to attend this one though because it would be a good way to root into Star City in case of any business potential. Not that it was essential as I already had a branch of Varline Inc. in the city, but I was looking to explore more possibilities. I mean what is a business mind without ambitions. Cordonia was mine. Star City could be too and that would not be possible with a person like Seth. This was where Henry came in.
Slowly, my mind drifted off to the events of the last few days. Something about them was off. Every morning, I awoke from heart-clenching dreams to the weirdest ways to start my day. What really beat me though was how vivid those dreams were. It almost felt like I was reliving memories. I am not going to lie that it was the first time I was having them, but then this time, they were more often and more realistic. Scary. They were like memories I did not have.
"That over there is Wonderland, you might remember it," Seth spoke reminding me of his presence. It had been yet another day and Seth had offered to show my around. I still regret having accepted. So we were on our way back to my apartment. I looked in the direction to which he pointed and there I saw him; the hotel attendant. He had two children with him and a lady whom I carefully observed for the split seconds I had. I noticed her red frizzly hair and the freckles that…how were they visible from here? She wore a pleated skirt and a button-up shirt which she tucked in. She is presentable. I guess they make a perfect family. A grin slowly masked my face while I looked at the family I did not look forward to having. Attachments were not a thing for me.
Back into the void of the apartment I colonized, I flicked the lights on as I walked into the kitchen. I grabbed a bowl and filled it with cold milk and cereal and moved out leaving the lights off. Seth had dropped me off and even walked me to the door. Was he trying to buy himself more time? The decision had been made. Suddenly, I had no appetite for my meal, so I set it onto the dining table and moved to the bathroom. I needed to take a cold shower. After I had soaped my body fully, I turned on the showers and let the water cascade down my hair freely. The feeling of it was soothing. I closed my eyes to relish the moment. Clearly, it was a bad idea. A set of doors flashed before my eyes; huge, thick, taunting. The sight of it sent shivers all through my body. Then they flung open. He stepped in with a belt that my body had somehow learned to dread and he moved towards me. My breath came in short as I feared for what was going to happen to me. I opened my mouth to scream and the sound of my own terror plunged me back into the bathroom where I was pressed against the wall with my hands raised in defense mode. The water was still running down from the shower. What was going on? I pondered the matter anxiously while I stepped out of the shower and dried myself. The face of the man in my nightmares was but a blurred silhouette in my memory. It was as though he was a memory that I had been forced to forget.
In my room, I had on a dad t-shirt with only red lace under for the sake of sanity. I slumped onto the bed with my phone in hand and there proceeded to scroll through the different invited guests to the Crypto Gala…so they called it. My name was third on the list after the guest of honor, the Senator and his son, Jeremy Stone. In the chats, conversations were going on about almost anything till the topic of their companies came up. The company names were tagged to the names of the guests so one could tell which company who was representing. I noticed Jeremy Stone had Lenten Industries tagged to his name. It was a company that dealt with cosmetics and other beauty products like jewelry. I wondered how he managed the company. Not that it was a bad or very hard thing to do, but then it wasn't in my line of interest. For the lack of interest in the rest of anything to do with the gala or the invited guests, I switched off the phone and closed my eyes to think of other stuff; better stuff. What am I doing? I simply turned to my laptop and looked into the file of documents that I had asked Henry to get me. It was information on real estate, the line of business I was looking to get into. Flicking through the document, I found a list of real estate companies and they were quite the variety ranging from the most successful to the ones that were going bankrupt and then the ones that were no more. Looking through this list, I was stirred up into a debate on whether to build a company from scratch or to buy one. Henry had highlighted the pros and cons of buying one which made it look so terrible, but I am Anne Varline and whatever the case was, I was going to take real estate to its knees before me. I looked through the list one more time reading about each and every one of the companies then zeroed down to two options. Bluestone studios and Detta Corp.
It had been a day unlike any other. It was one that topped the cherry onto the pie of all my problems. Well, it had to be at least in one way or the other. I and been fired from my place of work where I had worked for three years as an app developer and a web designer, but I was not going to let it get to me. I was going to do everything to keep me happy and so I went out on a three-day trip just to reset my mind for a fresh start when I got back. A trip through the zoo, then to the museum, the aquarium and lots of other places not to forget the observatory. Yes, I am a nature lover and I just couldn't help my curiosity when it came to that. So far, it had been a blast. I said this to my aunt London on the video call just before my Last Supper. I had drowned my sorrows and now I was coming out strong enough to face the world. She wished me luck just before ending the call. I had to go. I threw on a lavender dress that held my body and ended mid-thigh. It brought my curves out very beautifully. It had a halter neck and left my back bare with just a few straps crossing at the small of my back. I matched it with silver stilettos, silver moon-shaped earrings and a little make-up. After all, make-up wasn't my thing. I was done. I stepped out and was met with the cool evening breeze that played with my dark locks that I had let fall freely over my shoulders and bare back in curls. After tonight, I was going back to face the world like the strong woman I am and that only meant one thing. I was going to enjoy my night as much as I could though not in any way that is destructive. You know what I mean. I headed towards the garden.
In the garden, the cold breeze kissed my exposed skin making me shiver as I walked around enjoying the beauty of the flowers in the place and singing to myself. It felt good despite the fact that it was a little cold. I thought about my life once more like I had been doing for the past two days and just as I was about to conclude how miserable I was, I rounded the next corner and bumped into someone. Well, I did not walk into him. Actually, he was seated on a bench in the center of the maze garden which I had unknowingly found my way into. I decided to apologize and walk away since someone would only come all the way here for the need of some privacy. "I am sorry."
"You don't have to go," he called out as he stood walking towards my already retreating figure. I met his gaze yet his face remained a blur and then a grin tore its way across the features of his face whisking me off to the thick curtains and the high walls that met at the set heavy set of doors at the far end of the room. The door knob turned. My blood ran cold as the door swung open and he stepped in, the familiar grin stuck to his face from ear-to-ear. Mischief danced in his eyes as he locked the door. Soon he was walking towards me slowly as he stripped too, leaving his shirt at the door and the belt somewhere just before he joined me on the bed where he pinned me. "Please don't…"
"Don't stop?! Oh no, I won't. you don't have to worry about that." I tried to plead but he only cut me off as he ran his hand over my seven-month-old baby bump. He kissed it muttering something about not being able to wait to meet his baby. I silently prayed that he would change his mind this time. He backed up a little and when I thought my prayers were being answered, he forced himself into me. A lone tear tore from my eye like a hot ball of rage as he had his way with me. This was something I was supposed to be accustomed to by now, but then I just couldn't.
A lump of rage formed at my throat as I felt my face slowly get wet. Streams of tears ran down my cheeks as the warmth enveloping me brought me back to reality. I tried to open my eyes but it was as if they had been glued together. Strong arms held me against a rock hard chest and boy, could I get used to waking up like this! Wait, who was this and what he doing here in the first place? The better part of my sub conscience reasoned causing me to pull back, yet his grip on me only tightened. Finally, my eyes flicked open and I lifted my face from his chest landing straight into a pair of obsidian eyes staring back at me. They were beautiful. What am I thinking? Emotion flickered through his eyes causing them to scream with vulnerability but then it disappeared as fast as it came. I had to physically shake my head to get out of the trance that I had fallen into and finding my voice, "what are you doing here?" I pulled myself out of his grip, the rage inside momentarily forgotten. I didn't know how to feel.
"I am sorry, Miss. It's not what you…" he trailed off as I stepped out of his embrace and stretched.