Nour El의 작품

Sunny looked at the food she had cooked with pride. She picked up her phone and took a picture of it. Smiling, she sent it to Ford.“You promised you’d come home early today.” she typed, adding a teary-eyed emoji. Then she sent another message. “I cooked for you.”Not long after, Ford replied. “I’ll try to get home early.”While she was busy replying, the doorbell rang. Sunny placed her phone on the dining table and quickly took off her apron.“Just a second,” she called out as the bell rang several more times. She hurried toward the door and opened it.The smile on her face instantly faded.Her eyes swept over the elegant dress in front of her, the branded handbag, before finally landing on Isabella’s cold expression.For some reason, Sunny felt her footing falter. She took a step back.“What are you doing here? We don’t have anything to do with each other anymore,” Sunny said, gripping the door tightly, ready to shut it.Isabella slipped her high heel between the door to block it. T

“What exactly are we doing here? And why…” Hiro glanced at Zayne. “…am I getting dragged into this mess too?” he asked, making Zayne smirk.“Because you’re my friend now.”Hiro shot him an amused look before turning away.Zayne shrugged off his jacket, leaving on a dark brown turtleneck that hugged his broad frame. He tugged at the collar around his neck, trying to ease the suffocating feeling that had been bothering him since the drive to Sebastian’s girlfriend’s place.Feeling a little better, he walked up the stairs toward the modest house. He pressed the doorbell a few times before the thick glass door opened, revealing a young pregnant woman. Her belly was slightly swollen, and she looked exhausted.For a moment, Zayne hesitated to say anything—but they were already here.The woman looked at them back and forth, her expression filled with worry and fear.“Who are you?” she asked cautiously. The door that had been wide open slowly started to close, shielding her. “I don’t know eit

“Zayne, you need to see this message,” Gion said.Hearing that, Zayne—who had been rubbing his temples—immediately snatched the phone from Gion’s hand. He read the message Elmy had sent from someone else’s number over and over again.Wait.He wasn’t reading this wrong, right?Zayne’s eyes scanned the sentence slowly, making sure it was really Elmy who had typed it. A quiet chuckle slipped from his lips. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the sofa.His shoulders, which had been tense, slowly relaxed. He let out a long breath, like he’d just been released from an invisible chokehold. Then he laughed, making Gion raise an eyebrow in confusion.“You’re actually going to accept that offer?”Zayne snorted. “I’m not even surprised by her crazy ideas anymore.”“Figures. Bringing Sunny into your house was her idea too, right?” Gion said, and Zayne nodded. “And now she’s asking you to run away with her.”How did Elmy even come up with something like that? Run away? God… it wasn’t a bad

“Why is he here?”Dean shrugged. “I don’t know either.”“How did he even get in? Didn’t my mom forbid him from coming into this house?” Elmy asked, biting her nail anxiously.“Mrs. Isabella was the one who let him in,” Dean replied, leaving Elmy stunned. What was her mother planning now?Without another question, Elmy rushed past Dean, who stood by the doorway. Her hurried footsteps echoed through the corridor as she made her way downstairs. Her heels clicked sharply against the marble floor.Dean followed behind, guiding her toward the living room. When they got there, just like he said—Zayne was really there.“Zayne!”Hearing his name, Zayne turned around. He was wearing a black suit, looking neat and composed. His hair was styled, and rimless glasses framed his face. The corner of his lips lifted into a faint, charming smile.What is he doing here? Elmy wondered.Isabella, who was sitting on the sofa

“Get out of your room right now!” Isabella’s voice rang out, followed by loud banging on the door.“Sweetheart, please come out. It’s been two days—you haven’t eaten anything.” Vincent’s pleading voice was a sharp contrast to Isabella’s harsh, piercing tone.Elmy curled up under the blanket. Her body trembled—not from the cold, but from the anger she was holding back with everything she had. If she let go, she might start screaming… or breaking things.“Open the door, Elmy Jordyn!” Isabella ordered again.No way. She wasn’t coming out until her mother canceled the arrangement with Sebastian. She didn’t care if it made her look childish. If anything, she’d rather run away to her grandmother’s villa again. Better to be alone there than deal with all of this.“If you don’t open this door, I’ll break it down and drag you out myself.”Still no response. Elmy pressed a pillow over her ears.She was beyond disappointed in Isabella. The fact that her mother had once told Sunny to steal Zayne

“I can’t answer that… I… I promised to wait for Zayne, Bastian.” Elmy stammered.Sebastian knew this was the most shocking thing that could ever happen in their lives. Not even once had he imagined he’d be asking something like this of his best friend.He fell silent, watching Elmy, who looked like she was battling something deep inside. Slowly, he pushed himself up from the floor and brushed off his pants. A heavy breath escaped him.“El, you won’t be able to refuse.”“What do you mean?”“You know… this idea existed even before your divorce from Zayne.” Sebastian walked over to the railing, resting both hands on it as he stared straight ahead. “At first, they wanted to set you up with Hiro. But he already made his relationship official with some rich businessman’s daughter.”“So… my parents were the ones who offered this marriage to your family?”“They were just joking. But my father took it seriously.” Sebastian rubbed

I couldn’t bring myself to promise that to Dent. For some reason, it felt heavy just trying to answer him. Instead, I quickly tried to change the subject, asking about his new project. But Dent ignored it.“Please answer me, Olivia.” His voice sounded desperate. His grip tightened, as if making sure I would stay by his side—standing next to him until everything we hoped for came true. But I didn’t know why… I just couldn’t say yes.“Are you giving up, Olivia?” Dent whispered.“I’m not giving up, Dent. It’s just…” My words trailed off without direction. My thoughts drifted instead—to Xavier. To a man who shouldn’t even be in my mind right now.“Say it properly.”“I’ve been thinking… maybe we could adopt a child if you really can’t give me one,” I said quietly.Dent fell silent for a moment. His face looked shaken, but he understood what I meant. He understood the situation we were in. Not everyone has endless patience—including me, who had been holding on for so long.“Dent, it’s been

Olivia’s POVXavier’s question left me stunned for a long moment. I couldn’t answer. Even though I had never truly felt fulfilled with Dent, I still couldn’t just walk away from him. I loved Dent—and maybe… I was also starting to have feelings for my own brother-in-law, Xavier.Slowly, I lifted my gaze to Xavier, who stood there waiting for my answer. My lips felt sealed shut.“I don’t know,” that was all I could manage to say out of the thousands of thoughts running through my head.“I don’t know? You—” Xavier ran a hand through his hair before lowering his head slightly over the dining table. “You’re really going to keep this marriage going even if Dent can’t give you a child?”I bit my lip. Dent had never forced me to stay. He’d probably accept it if I asked for a divorce, just like he said at the hospital before. But the thought of leaving him had never once crossed my mind.“We could adopt… from an orphanage, if the therapy Dent’s going to try doesn’t work,” I said, trying to sta

“Feels like we were just at the villa yesterday,” Amanda said.“Yeah, and now we have to go back,” Dent replied as he fastened his seatbelt.I sat in the driver’s seat, starting the engine, ready to leave the villa behind. Amanda and Olivia were in the backseat.My heart beat faster every time Olivia and I met eyes through the rearview mirror.As usual, the conversation was dominated by Dent and Amanda. The two of them never seemed to run out of things to talk about. They kept chatting the whole drive home. Olivia stayed mostly quiet, but every time I glanced at her through the mirror, she was already looking at me.A faint smile tugged at my lips. Why did it feel like we were some awkward couple stealing glances at each other… when we’d already done far more than that?After a few hours on the road, we finally arrived home. Amanda grabbed her bag and followed Olivia inside, while Dent and I carried the rest of the luggage into the storage room.When I got back inside, I saw Olivia wa

“I saw you keep viagra in your nightstand.”Dent, fresh out of the shower, turned to me with a startled look. He walked over, opened the drawer, and tried to hide it from my sight.“No point hiding it. I already saw it earlier.”Looking embarrassed, Dent put it back in the drawer and sat down beside me. He played with the towel draped around his neck.“You use that? What for?”Even though I already knew the problem, I wanted to hear it straight from his mouth.“Things haven’t been great between me and Olivia lately,” Dent said, lowering his head, looking worn out. “I just… needed a break,” he muttered, scratching the back of his neck. “I thought maybe… coming here might help things get a little better.”I nodded like I understood. It didn’t really matter anyway. No matter how hard he tried to please Olivia, he’d already lost before the game even began.“So what exactly happened between you two?” I asked, deliberately pushing him to say it out loud—the truth that he couldn’t even satis

“Everything’s going to be fine,” I said to Olivia, more to calm myself than her.Her body was still warm. She let out a soft moan in my arms. Every kiss mark I’d left on her skin, I traced again with my lips. Each kiss made her body heat up even more. She writhed beneath me.“Xavier…” she called softly.Instead of stopping me, her hands roamed over my bare shoulders, sliding up to my neck before tangling into my half-dry hair. The way her slender fingers moved through it only made my desire to have her again grow stronger.“Use protection this time,” she whispered, her breath uneven as I kissed every inch of her long neck.I paused for a moment—not because I hesitated, but because her request annoyed me. My hand reached over to the nightstand. As I sat up to look for that damn thing, I found something else inside the drawer. A single pill.Olivia glanced at it. “What’s that?”A smile tugged at my lips. Even though I’m a dentist, I obviously knew what this was. I held it up in front of

“Ah, I was at the treehouse. Haven’t been there in a long time. It’s still as sturdy as it was when I was a kid,” I explained to Dent, who let out a wide yawn as he turned his body to face the bed.“Oh yeah? You look like a mess,” Dent muttered. He jumped onto the already messy bed, lay on his stomach, then closed his eyes again. His hand patted the space beside him. “Go to sleep.”I rubbed my face and walked toward the bed, glancing at Dent who looked exhausted. “I’ll sleep after a shower. I’m sweaty.”Dusty and smelling like sex, I added silently.As I took off my shirt and was about to head into the bathroom, Dent’s hoarse, half-mumbling voice stopped me. “You and Olivia are getting close, huh.”My body froze in front of the door. I turned to look at him, still in the same position. “Why? It’s normal for us to be close. She’s like…” I paused for a second. “…an older sister to me.”Dent didn’t move at all, but he spoke again, his tone warning.“Xavier, watch your boundaries.”“What