Chapter: Chapter 20Hari yang Erin nantikan sekaligus takuti pun tiba. Sesuai saran Alya, Erin memutuskan untuk berdandan lebih rapi dan menarik, bahkan lebih baik daripada penampilannya saat ke apartemen Alex dulu. Supaya tetap terlihat formal dan serius, Erin mengenakan kemeja biru tua dengan kancing atas terbuka agar kalung emas imitasi yang melingkar di lehernya terlihat jelas. Ia memilih celana jins putih semata kaki sebagai bawahan. Erin berkaca sambil memasukan kemejanya ke dalam celananya. Ia sudah mencatok ikal rambutnya lalu menariknya ke belakang, menambahkan jepitan pita yang mempermanis penampilannya. Ia merias wajahnya secara natural sesuai ajaran Alya. Erin melirik sepatu hak tinggi di sebelahnya yang akhirnya akan ia kenakan hari ini. Sekarang bukan saatnya untuk main-main, kontrak ini bisa jadi penentu besar untuk masa depan painya. “Wow, lu beneran all out hari ini!” Alya langsung memuji Erin begitu ia keluar dari kamar. “Gue bangga banget sama lu, Er!”“Udah ah, jangan bikin gue tamb
Last Updated: 2022-11-17
Chapter: Chapter 19Beberapa hari jelang pertemuannya dengan Henry, Erin meminta Alya untuk mengajarinya cara negosiasi bisnis, strategi pertemuan yang bisa ia lakukan, serta respons seperti apa yang bisa Erin berikan jika Henry melontarkan pertanyaan atau penawaran tertentu. “Inget, apa pun penawaran dia, jangan sampai brand lu dipegang sama dia,” kata Alya dengan nada tegas, seolah ia ingin Erin mengutamakan poin yang ia berikan. “Brand?” Erin mengernyitkan dahi. “Gue yakin banget kerja sama yang mau ditawarin Henry pasti ada hubungannya sama restoran yang dia kelola. Jangan sampai pai lu diklaim jadi punya mereka!” Alya mengetukkan jarinya di meja makan. “Biasanya orang yang udah punya bisnis gede suka banget tuh narik karya pebisnis kecil buat diklaim jadi buatan mereka. Sebaik-baiknya Alex, adeknya belum tentu sebaik dia.” Erin menarik napas tegang. Ia memang belum kenal Henry sebaik Alex. Apa pun bisa terjadi saat pertemuannya nanti. “Duh, kenapa gue baru sadar sekarang, ya?” “Makanya lu punya
Last Updated: 2022-10-13
Chapter: Chapter 18Erin pulang dengan berat hati karena memikirkan pertemuannya dengan Henry siang ini. Ia belum pernah merasa seperti ini lagi sejak hari pernikahan ayahnya yang kedua. Ia memasuki apartemen dengan niat untuk mandi lalu bersantai sambil nonton dan makan camilan.“Hei!” sapa Alya dari meja makan. Ia sibuk dengan laptop di depannya. Tumpukan kertas dan beberapa folder tersebar di meja.“Masih kerja, Al?” tanya Erin.“Nggak. Gue lagi cari inspirasi buat wedding gue.”“Lu kerja sama rencanain nikahan lu kelihatan kayak nggak ada bedanya,” canda Erin. Ia duduk di samping Alya. Erin melihat tumpukan informasi tentang lokasi-lokasi pernikahan, vendor, wedding organizer dan inspirasi-inspirasi gaun pengantin serta dekorasi pernikahan. “Mau gue bantu?”“Maulah. ‘Kan lu bridesmaid gue,” jawab Alya. Kemudian ekspresinya berubah, teringat sesuatu. “Eh, tapi, kalau lu masih overwhelmed soal Henry tadi siang, nggak usah. Lu istirahat aja.”“Apaan, sih? Cuma Henry doang,” jawab Erin dengan enteng samb
Last Updated: 2022-09-23
Chapter: Chapter 17Seperti permintaan Henry, Erin ambil jam istirahatnya lebih awal untuk diskusi dengannya. Mereka duduk bersebrangan di meja kedai. Erin terus menatap Henry meneguk kopi hitamnya beberapa kali. Henry datang dengan penampilan sama seperti Erin bertemu dengannya pertama kali, hanya saja sekarang lebih rapi dengan kemeja putih berdasi biru bercorak putih. Mungkin ini hanya perasaan Erin, tetapi lingkaran hitam di bawah matanya makin terlihat jelas karena wajahnya pucat. Erin sampai punya hasrat untuk menjejalkan pria ini perawatan kulit yang ia miliki di rumah atau menyuruhnya pulang untuk tidur.“Gimana kamu bisa tahu aku kerja di sini?” Erin menyilangkan tangannya di meja.Henry menaruh gelas kopinya. “Tentu saja dari Alex. Dia selalu cerita soal pai kamu dan beberapa kali menyebut tempat ini.”“Masa sih?” Erin terkesiap sambil menahan senyum. Apa yang Alex katakan ke Henry? Ia ingin tahu semuanya. Tanpa menghiraukan reaksi Erin, Henry melirik ke rak pendingin kedai. “Ternyata kamu men
Last Updated: 2022-08-15
Chapter: Chapter 16Setelah Erin menceritakan apa yang terjadi padanya beberapa hari lalu di kedai, semua karyawan termasuk Alya ikut berkomentar. Mereka hampir tidak percaya dengan apa yang Henry lakukan padanya.“Dia nyuruh kakak berhenti bikin pai gitu aja?” tanya David dengan nada tidak percaya. “Seenaknya banget sih dia.”“Iya! Okelah, resepnya dari ibunya, tapi ‘kan masih bisa diomongin baik-baik dulu,” timpal Hana. “Erin sendiri juga nggak tahu.”“‘Kan udah aku bilang, Kak Erin, pasti bakal ada masalah,” kata David sambil mengelap dan menata konter.“Kenapa lu bisa mikir sampai ke situ?” Hana berkacak pinggang.“
Last Updated: 2022-03-07
Chapter: Chapter 15“Apa maksud kamu aku pakai resep pai ibu kalian?” Erin menatap kakak-adik di depannya. “Aku dapat resepnya dari buku ibu aku!”“Henry, I thought you said you’re going to take this easy.” Alex melotot pada adiknya. “Don’t lay it on thick to her like that!”“Aku tidak berlebihan, dia memang memakai resep ibu kita,” sanggah Henry.“Sebentar, kalian bisa kasih penjelasan dulu?” sela Erin.“Baiklah.” Henry memandang Erin dengan fokus. Pandangannya membuat Erin berusaha untuk tidak menunjukkan kegelisahannya. Ke
Last Updated: 2021-12-01
Held Light, Held Close
Held Light, Held Close follows Celeste Bradbury, a quiet, disciplined young woman who arrives in New York to work with the world-famous band Luminous Riot. Raised in the hush of convent halls and foster homes, Celeste has learned to survive by moving gently, listening closely, and building her life out of small, steadfast rituals. But the music world is loud, chaotic, and unkind—especially under the sharp eye of Paul Logan, the band’s volatile lead singer who meets her composure with relentless mockery.
As weeks turn into months, Celeste maintains her quiet routines, her faith, and her dignity despite the storm around her. She becomes a still point in the band’s restless orbit—an anchor none of them expected, and a mirror that reveals what each member is running from. Through rehearsals, touring, backstage politics, deadlines, and private battles the world never sees, Celeste’s presence begins to shape the group in ways that defy explanation.
The House She Built is a story of chosen family, slow-burn transformation, unspoken tenderness, and the quiet power of a woman who refuses to break—even when the world demands it. It is about the sanctuary we build within ourselves, and the imperfect people we let inside.
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Chapter: This Is an InterventionMark said, “Celeste,” the single word a command, soft and impossible to ignore.She looked at him, eyes stinging with exhaustion, searching his face for softness, for warning, for the echo of the mountain’s silence. For a heartbeat, she let herself hope for mercy, but his expression was unreadable, carved in resolve.He didn’t raise his voice; the restraint in his tone was more chilling than a shout. The quiet pressed in, thick as snowfall, heavy with the threat of all the things he was not saying.“This is not a Coachella meeting,” he said, each word measured, deliberate, impossible to dodge. “This is an intervention.” The syllables fell like stones in the corridor, echoing off concrete and skin, impossible to ignore.The
Last Updated: 2026-10-30
Chapter: I’m Not Taking You on a PlaneCeleste pushed herself upright, shoving her shoulder off the wall—a desperate reclaiming of dignity. “I’m doing my job,” she insisted, the words brittle, more plea than fact.Mark’s gaze held steady, unblinking. “You’re doing everyone’s job,” he said, the accusation gentle but heavy, meant to land.Snow drifted across his face in her vision, catching in the dark of his eyebrows, refusing to melt. She blinked hard, but the white persisted, a stubborn veil she couldn’t shake.“I’m fine,” she said, but her voice wavered at the edges, the syllables brittle as ice underfoot.Mark shook his head once, the gesture slow and absolute, the weight of decision settling onto his shoulders. “You’
Last Updated: 2026-10-29
Chapter: Walk With Me. Now.Behind her, Mark materialized—silent, imposing, his presence always a few degrees colder than the room.He didn’t clap, didn’t smile, didn’t add his noise to the others. He simply surveyed the chaos, eyes flicking from the band to the gear to the shadows where crew worked and finally, inevitably, to Celeste. He stopped beside her, close but not touching, his presence a silent pressure against her elbow, a question she didn’t want to answer yet.“Walk with me,” Mark said quietly, his voice low and deliberate, the words slipping into the air with the weight of a private summons. Something in the way he stood—a tension in his shoulders, the set of his jaw—told Celeste this wasn’t a suggestion, though the tone was gentle.Celeste finished her line, capped her p
Last Updated: 2026-10-28
Chapter: Did You Really Hear Them?Paul scrubbed his face with the towel, leaving his cheeks ruddy, his grin unbroken and fierce. “Did you hear them?” he demanded, voice hoarse but gleeful, as if the memory of the crowd’s roar was a drug he hadn’t finished tasting.“Yes,” Celeste replied, the word clipped, her voice steady despite the shudder running under her skin. She kept her expression neutral, unwilling to let him see how the noise still rang between her ears, how it pressed against the inside of her skull like a living thing.Paul’s laughter burst out again, sharp and disbelieving. “No, I mean—did you really hear them?” he pressed, stepping closer, his eyes searching her face for proof that she’d felt it too.“Yes,” she repeated, her tone unwavering, though inside she
Last Updated: 2026-10-27
Chapter: The Snow Stayed AnywayThe mountain swallowed the sound and kept it for itself, holding the music and the avalanche of applause in its cold, jagged lungs. The echoes seemed to coil deep in the ravines and under the snow-heavy pines, reluctant, almost resentful, to loosen their grip and return any piece of the night to the world below. For a suspended moment, the mountain refused, as if testing their worthiness to be heard again.After the final encore, after the lights fell and the crowd screamed itself hoarse, the noise didn’t collapse the way it did indoors. It bled outward instead, carried by cold air, bouncing off snow, slope, and stone. Cheers echoed long after the stage went dark, as if Tomorrowland itself were reluctant to let go.Celeste lingered just beyond the curtain, half-shadow and half-light, headset clamped to her ears like armor. The plastic pressed grooves into
Last Updated: 2026-10-26
Chapter: The Snow Only She Could SeePaul moved closer to the edge of the stage, leaning out, eyes wild, grin razor-sharp. He crouched, clasping hands with the front row, the audience surging to meet him, faces flushed, eyes shining behind goggles, every body wanting contact, proof, heat.The pressure behind Celeste’s eyes spiked, a flash of pain bright as lightning, her vision flickering with static and white.Crowding.Noise.White.Her vision whitened at the edges, the snow inside her wanting to match the snow outside, as if her own body had decided to mimic the weather, to dissolve her boundaries into air and ice.Peter glanced backstage between notes, eyes finding her. The look was quick, but steady, like
Last Updated: 2026-10-25
Chapter: Keep Me UpdatedSomething in her voice must have convinced him, or maybe it was the exhaustion in his bones, the kind of weariness that left no room for argument.Or perhaps he simply didn't have enough energy left to argue. Drew’s shoulders slumped, the fight draining out of him as he turned toward the house.He walked back toward the house, footsteps dragging, the trash bag swinging awkwardly at his side, his other hand trailing along the garage for balance.Laura followed close enough to catch him if she had to, her heart thumping, eyes locked on the line of his spine, calculating how quickly she could close the distance if he went down.For the first time since arriving, she understood with perfect clarity that Drew's size meant absolutely nothing. His height, his broad should
Last Updated: 2026-10-30
Chapter: I Got DizzyDrew's mouth twitched, the beginnings of a reluctant smile threatening to surface, as if humor might still have a place here.For one second the room loosened, the tension dissolving just enough to let in a sliver of hope, however brief.Then he turned toward the back door, the fragile peace gone as quickly as it came, purpose stiffening his shoulders."I'll take these out," he announced, his grip tightening on the trash bags, trying to reclaim some control."Leave them," Laura replied, her tone sharp, unwilling to let him push himself beyond what he could handle."I can carry garbage," Drew insisted, defiance flaring in his eyes even as he wavered on his feet."That's not what I'
Last Updated: 2026-10-29
Chapter: Whether You Forgive Me or Not"No." His reply was automatic, but weaker, the refusal already unraveling."Yes," she said, her voice unwavering, the answer not up for debate."I'm not going to a hospital." Drew's voice rose, but Laura heard the fear threaded through the defiance."I didn't say hospital," Laura replied, quick and calm, her patience running thin but her resolve solidifying."Good." For a moment, relief flickered across his face, gone as quickly as it appeared."But somebody medical is seeing you," Laura said, her tone brooking no argument, her gaze locked on his, the decision made for both of them."Laura." Her name was a sigh, his last protest, the syllable carrying all the fatigue and fear he c
Last Updated: 2026-10-28
Chapter: Have You Ever Seen Things?"Felt like shit." Drew shrugged, but Laura saw the shame he tried to bury beneath indifference. His voice was raw, scraped thin by too many confessions and not enough sleep."That all?" Laura pressed, her tone gentle but relentless, unwilling to let him hide in half-answers.Silence. Drew's gaze dropped to the table, lips pressed tight, the question hanging between them like a dare."Drew," she said, soft but insistent, reaching across the gap with his name alone.He rubbed his mouth, palm scraping over stubble, a gesture that looked equal parts self-soothing and stalling."Sometimes I shake," he said, voice low, his hand curling into a fist as if to hide the evidence."You're sha
Last Updated: 2026-10-27
Chapter: I Don't Know Whether You're SafeHe looked at her, real attention in his eyes now, the bravado faltering as he recognized the fear in her face.That reached him—something shifted in his expression, the walls lowering just enough to let her in.Laura didn't soften it. She forced herself to hold his gaze, refusing to retreat into comfort or half-truths."You almost fell last night. You threw up. You got confused about the day. Your hands are shaking so badly you can barely pick up a bottle." She laid out the evidence, each word a stone, refusing to let either of them look away.Drew glanced down at his hand, watching the tremor as if seeing it for the first time, anger draining into something more vulnerable."You talked to John," he said, resignation an
Last Updated: 2026-10-26
Chapter: I'm Scared"Laura." He tried to make it sound like a warning, but it landed somewhere between plea and protest."Are you nauseous?" Laura pressed, her gaze unwavering. She watched the small tremor at the corner of his mouth."Yes," he admitted, voice clipped and resentful, as if honesty was a tax he had to pay."Headache?" she continued, her tone softening as she watched him struggle to stay upright."Yes," he breathed, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand."Dizzy?" Laura asked, her own breath catching, hoping he wouldn’t lie.He hesitated, jaw working, and for a moment Laura thought he might not answer at all.Her stomach tightened,
Last Updated: 2026-10-25
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