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Chapter 17
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Distant Hearts Chapter 18
Tatum: Four years agoNigel takes some time to reply. The hesitation is a lot for me. I feel the tears coming but I don’t let them escape, I simply plead for answers with my teary eyes.“Her name’s Kate”, he answers casually.I walk towards him, eating up the space between us until I’m about a foot away from him. “You know that’s not what I asked”, I tell him, cold and calm. He exhales exhaustedly.“Tate, I really don’t-”“Just answer my question Nigel !”“Jesus Christ Tate! She’s no one okay. A family friend, that’s all. Her family’s been doing business with mine for years now. It’s nothing”I know he’s hiding something but I don’t point it out because I’ve known Nigel for years, I know him better than he knows himself and the look on his face tells me there’s more to this than he’s letting on but the same look also tells me that he’s not going to spare me any other details. “Fine”, I look down at the floor, inhaling through the tears then I look back up at him “just tell me one th
Distant Hearts Chapter 19
PresentNoahI can't tell if I'm nervous. I'm hardly ever nervous, so I really don't know what it truly feels like. But right now, I think what I'm feeling could pass for nervousness. Tate is short, just a little above 5 feet tall, and I'm 6'3", which is a significant height difference between us. So, explain to me how she's managing to glare down at me like she's not the one who's closer to the ground."How could you even let him?" she asks, enraged."You have to understand that this isn't my fault," I say, not sure if I'm trying to defend myself."Well, obviously it is. You could've simply told him no from the get-go, but you chose to ask me instead, knowing that my answer would be no either way.""Tate—""Forget it," she cuts me off. "It's useless, and I'm not doing it." She turns and walks away, but I don't stop her because I warned Julius this was gonna happen. She gets to the door of my apartment and is about to reach for the knob when the door opens, and Julius steps into the
Distant Hearts Chapter 20
Tatum: Four years ago I've been in this compound for a while now, and Bridget is the most feared person here. Even when her husband was alive, she commanded fear while he earned respect. The staff felt more comfortable around him.I've seen Bridget's anger enough times to recognize it, but this time it's different. She is absolutely furious. There's no other way to put it. If we weren't so far apart in Nigel's large room, I'm sure her anger could physically harm me.I'm too shocked to move away from Nigel. I'm frozen, unable to take a single step.She glares at us from the doorway. The light streams in, revealing our shocked expressions, frozen in time."Maid, leave. Nigel, my office. Now!" She doesn't wait for a response, simply walks away, the angry click of her heels signaling trouble.Nigel turns to me. "Stay here, okay?""What? Don't leave me," I protest, but he interrupts."I promise I'll be right back." He kisses my forehead and leaves the room without waiting for another wo
Distant Hearts Chapter 21
Noah: Present Julius and I arrive at his family house a little after noon. We have work together and he had things to do at home so he suggested we move our meeting here. I’m not exactly happy with the idea but arguing with Julius is a waste of time. He rings the door bell and his little sister, Jennifer opens up the door with a wide smile on her face. “Hey Jelly”, Julius greets, immediately walking past her and into the house. I nod at her, about to follow him but she shifts a bit and I can’t get past her now. “Noah”, she greets, “it’s been quite a while since I last saw you”Her signature smile is on her face. She’s the last child in the Dale family and also the most spoiled. “Yes. Hello Jennifer…how are you?”, I add for courtesy sake.“I’m good”, she replies, the smile on her face seeming to widen. “Come in then, I’d take you in”I’ve come here countless times but I still indulge her. She doesn’t take me to the living room, instead, she takes me to their lounge room and there
Distant Hearts Chapter 22
Tatum: Four years ago.I'm floating. At least, it feels like I am. I have no idea where I am, and my mind is foggy. But slowly, I start to come to, and I feel my body being moved around. I'm being carried. I reach out my hand to touch him."Nigel?""Shh, go back to sleep, baby. I'll take you to bed."Sure enough, he puts me down on a bed that I recognize as the one in the cottage. Suddenly, my mind clears up completely, and I remember the events that led up to this moment — Kate, getting caught by Bridget, and Nigel's promise to meet me at the cottage. However, he never came as soon as he promised. I fell asleep waiting for him."Where were you?" I ask him. "What time is it?""A little past midnight," he replies, ignoring my first question.I sit up and persist, "Where were you?"He doesn't respond."You promised you were going to meet me here right away.""I know, baby, and I'm sorry. I got caught up," he sighs frustratedly."In Kate?" I ask scornfully. His surprise is evident, even
Distant Hearts Chapter 23
Noah: Present "Shall I drop you off at the restaurant, or would you like to go straight home?" Tatum turns to answer my question."Drop me off at the restaurant. I need to wrap things up with Dotty and go over what I discussed with Sophie.""Did you guys finalize the menu?"She shakes her head. "No, not yet. But that's why we'll meet up again.""Hmm." I pull up at the restaurant about five minutes later, and Tatum steps out with a goodbye. I wait for about a minute, then restart the engine, and as I'm about to pull out, I see Tatum hurriedly stepping out of the double doors. There's a panicked look on her face, and without thinking too much, I step out of the car just in time for her to basically fly into me."Dot-Dotty is...," she rushes out frantically but chokes on the words."Tatum, calm down," I say, and she does. I take her hand to lead her back inside, already knowing that something is wrong, and it probably has to do with Dorothy. Sure enough, Dorothy is slumped over on one o
Distant Hearts Chapter 24
Tatum: Four years agoNigel leads me into his room and closes the door behind us, locking it. He rests his forehead against the door, breathing heavily. When he turns to face me, anger and pain fill his eyes."You should've listened to me, Tate. If you had, I would've taken care of her and none of this would've happened.""Your mother threw a 1kg glass frame at me, barely missing my head by an inch, Nigel! This happened because she's crazy, not because I spoke up.""Mother has anger issues," he defensively states, infuriating me."Anger issues?" I incredulously ask. "Don’t pretend like you didn’t see her try to kill me, you even called her out on it so don’t fucking pretend, Nigel!""For fucks sake, Tate. You know she would never approve of our relationship, and you only made it worse by insulting her."I scoff in disbelief, speechless. How dare he defend her?"Let me check if you're hurt," he says, moving closer, his gaze fixed on my shoulder."Get away from me." I push him aside and
Distant Hearts Chapter 25
Present NoahI take Tatum to my apartment after we leave the supermarket. She doesn’t complain which makes me realize that she always intended to cook here anyways.When I put in my code, I open the door for her and she waltzes in, her confidence captivating. Stepping in and locking the door behind me, I see her reach into one of her jacket pockets and grabbing a chocolate bar.How did she get it? She walks to the kitchen counter and prepares a pot of boiling water. When I get to the kitchen, she barely looks up at me when she instructs me to place the groceries on the counter, chewing on her chocolate bar.“How can I help?”, I ask and she shakes her head.“Just go get changed. You must be tired. I’m good here”I don’t bother arguing even if I actually want to help because if there’s one thing I’ve learned with Tatum so far, it’s that she does things on her own terms and hardly gives space for arguments. So I go into my room, change and pull out my laptop, working for a few minutes
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