MasukDamian POVIt had been more than a week since Claire had spoken to me.Eight days.I knew because I'd counted them,.At first, I told myself the silence was probably for the best,. Claire had asked for space, and I had given it to her,.But after a few days-, the silence started getting to me,.I kept checking my phone even though I knew there wouldn't be a message from her,.At breakfast.Between meetings.Late at night.Nothing.Claire had always been there.I was the reason she'd walked away,.I sat behind my desk, staring at a report I'd been pretending to read for the last ten minutes,.My assistant knocked on the door,."Mr. Hayes?" she asked.I looked up."Yes?""Your three o'clock meeting is ready to be moved if you'd like-," she said-. "You've been working since eight this morning,.""I'm fine-," I replied,.She looked at the untouched coffee sitting beside me,."You're also on your second coffee."I glanced at the cup."I hadn't noticed."She smiled faintly,."Would you like
Damian POVI stayed in the car for a few minutes after Claire walked away,.I just sat there, staring through the rain-covered window,.I could still hear her voice in my head,.You wait until you figure out your shit,.I looked down at myself.My shirt was still open at the top. My belt was undone.I fixed both before leaning back against the seat.I could still feel her hands on me.Her lips.The warmth of her body.And then the moment everything inside me had simply stopped.I closed my eyes.For a brief second, another face came to me.Sophia.I opened my eyes immediately.No.I wasn't going there.Not tonight.I had spent months trying to put the past where it belonged.Behind me.My phone vibrated.I pulled it out.Claire.I opened the message.I need some space.A second message appeared almost immediately.Please don't call me tonight.I stared at the screen.I started typing.I'm sorry.I deleted it.Then I typed:We need to talk.Deleted that too.There was nothing I could s
Sophia POVThe room finally fell silent.Not all of it, though.The monitores next to my bed continued their steady beeping, as did the occasional footstep passing by the door.But...It was quiet compared to the last few hours or so.I was so tired.My muscles ached, as did my eyes.But I couldn't fall asleep not yet, at least, not until I looked at them.My son lay on his side, nuzzling his body slightly towards me as I held him close.My daughter lay on her side as well, next to her brother, wrapped in a fluffy hospital blanket.Two small bodies.Two small lives.My children.I looked at my son and gently stroked his cheek with my fingertips,."You're so tiny-," I whispered,.Mom smiled knowingly from the chair next to my bed,."He won't stay tiny for long," Mom said.I frowned,."Don't say that."Mom laughed."Why not?""Because I want them to stay this way forever-," I said,.Mom shook her head,."They're going to grow,.""I know-," I sighed,."I just want to remember this,."Mom
Damian POVIt had been almost three months since Claire and I had become engaged.Three months.Long enough for our families to become comfortable with the idea of us.Long enough that the arrangement would stop resembling an engagement, and start beginning to resemble a happy ever after I knew I was expected to desire.Claire started to become a part of my existence.Dinners.Business events.Charity functions.Family lunches.We were learning each other slowly.She knew me better than a lot of people at this point. But there was still something between us I couldn't really breach with either of us. It wasn't like we didn't have chemistry. We do. Claire is pretty. I wanted her. I liked kissing her. I liked the feeling of her next to me. I felt my hand go for her more times than I was actually conscious and able to halt it. But when anything progresssed further than the kiss, something held me back. It wasn't faltering exactly.It was something deeper.A wall.A resistance I coul
Sophia POVThe drive to the hospital felt both incredibly fast and unbearably slow,.I sat in the back seat with Mom beside me-, one hand gripping hers while the other rested over my stomach,.Another contraction came,.I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the seat,."Just breathe-," Mom said quietly,."I'm trying,.""I know,."Andrea was driving-, glancing at us through the rearview mirror every few seconds,."How far apart are they now?" Andrea asked,.Mom checked the time,."About five minutes."Andrea nodded."Okay. We're almost there."I gazed at her.“Don’t say that we’re almost there as if it is a horror movie.” She laughed and got anxious.“I am trying to keep my cool.”“Not succeeding too well,” I said.“Neither are you,” Andrea said.I managed a small laugh.Then another contraction started.The laughter disappeared from my face.I squeezed Mom's hand.She immediately turned toward me."Look at me," Mom said.I did."Slow breaths."I nodded. Those moments, when my bo
Sophia POVThe Months That Changed MeThe two months that followed were nothing as I had imagined.Pregnancy had stopped being something I thought about only when I looked at the ultrasound photographs.It had become part of everything.Every morning.Every meal.Every meeting.Every night I would sleep. I ended up getting used to the nausea, although it would never be gone. There were some mornings that were easier than others. There would be times when I would wake up feeling almost normal, and there would be times when just standing made me feel sick. Mom was there through it all. There would be mornings when she would leave crackers next to my bed. There would even be times when I would find her preparing something simple because she learned what I could digest,. Mom always told me, "You need to eat something before you go,." "I'm not hungry,." Was always my reply,."You don't have to be hungry," she would tell me,. "You just have to eat,."I'd usually give her a tired smile."Y
Third-Person POVThe paper shook in Edward Hayes’s hand, though not because of his age.Even at the age of eighty, his hold remained firmHis fingers paled against the stained newspaper as he looked at the headline."Notorious billionaire heir Damien Hayes was seen leaving the club with two models
Damian Hayes POVI have many names.The golden boy, the Hayes heir, the spoiled brat who never learned what responsibility truly is.Damien Hayes, the playboy.Damien Hayes, the spoiled brat. Different people, different opinions.It all depends on who you ask, I guess.But I prefer to be unbothere
Sophia Rivera POVTingggg!!!!!!!!Ugghhh!!!!!I quickly turned my alarm offAs softly as it could but still enough to wake me from a dream in a split second.I have settled into the routine.The city was half asleep, but I heard delivery trucks buzzed somewhere around, I smelled the bagel store near
-----------Glimpse-----------The stillness of the penthouse felt just like some gilded cage pushing me down.I still could hear my mother’s rasping breaths in my head alongside seeing a hopeful smile on my brother’s face when I told him about t







