Cael woke up instantly, coming alert the moment his brain woke. He was acutely aware of his surroundings as always and knew without opening his eyes that he was alone in the car. The woman had vanished.He sat up and scanned the beach, hoping to catch a glimpse of her escaping but she was nowhere to be seen. How she managed to get out of the car without rousing him was a mystery to him.What was she, a nymph? That would explain the uncharacteristic effect she had on him. She'd done nothing less than bewitching him without even lifting a finger. He never slept so deeply that he became unaware of his surroundings. She would have moved around, maybe gotten dressed, opened the door and left and he hadn't felt anything? It just went to show how much of an effect she had on him.With her in his arms, he'd slept like a baby. He couldn't remember sleeping that deeply in a very long time. And that had cost him. She was gone, vanished into thin hair. He ran a hand through his hair. It was a ha
Mikayla knew exactly what she had to do, what she desperately needed to do. But yet, her heart felt heavy. Don't be stupid, she told herself. She had to disappear, and immediately. To get herself going, she repeated the words that had plagued her mind from childhood over and over in her head like a mantra."The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."Spurred into action, she moved quietly but firmly, first locating her bra, then her dress. But her panties were nowhere to be found. She couldn't risk searching too vigorously for it or she'd end up waking him.She pulled on the bra and the dress as quietly and calmly as she could. This was a car so if she moved around too much, it would shake and wake him up."The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."Heck, she'd have to leave the panties behind if she wanted to be gone before he woke up. There was no telling how long he would sleep for. If he woke up before she left, there would be no escaping. If there was one thing she'd learnt about
"Oh, look who it is," Anna said derisively.Mikayla paused in the process of sitting down. Oh, oh, Anna did not look happy! Her friend was the kind of person who was always an open book. If she felt something, she said it loud enough to hear. She's happy? She's a bright butterfly brightening everyone's day.She's feeling prissy? She's pissing everyone off all day. She's unhappy? You're unlikely to miss it. Thankfully, that didn't happen often. The girl seemed to have a real gift for unending optimism and happiness. The issue starts when she's pissed at you? You would know it. She would tell you off quickly and sharply. Mikayla was nothing like that. She's learnt at a young age that her emotions were things to be kept hidden. The only way to survive was to be as nondescript as possible. Explosive outbursts of emotions would get her unwanted attention. Whether she was happy, sad or angry, she approached everything with a hard-won calmness.Anna was the opposite. She'd never learnt th
Mikayla was looking right into the handsome face of Antoine Moreau. She simultaneously sagged with relief and huffed with disappointment. What was wrong with her? Why was she disappointed? No, she was happy that he-who-must-not-be-named hadn't found her. "Hello, Dr. Wall," Antoine greeted, pulling her from her thoughts."Mr Antoine, how are you? I hope there's no problem." She walked further into the room, making straight for her desk.He mirrored her movement, leaving the spot where he stood at the window and going to take a seat as well."I am good, thank you. I returned with your drink yesterday but you looked...somewhat busy," he said.Mikayla blinked at him in confusion as she once again tried to piece together the events of the night together. Oh, right! Before Cael approached her, she'd been with Antoine. He'd left to get her a drink but before he returned, Cael had hijacked her. She hadn't thought about him much after all.Mikayla sighed. How many explanations and apologies w
Cael strode purposefully up to the mansion door and pressed the doorbell. The faint sound of the bell filtered out from under the massive door. The door was freakishly heavy, a fact he knew too well considering how much time he'd spent in this very house over the years.Armani's house had become something of a second home for him. Their fathers were very close friends and business partners and so naturally, they'd grown as friends, siblings even. He knew every nook of this place as well as he knew the back of his hand.How many hours had they spent running around the house, sometimes just the two of them and sometimes with other childhood friends?Only a few seconds passed before the door began opening slowly. Cael added his weight and pushed the door open. The door was still quite heavy, unnecessarily heavy, in his opinion but it didn't feel as heavy as it did when he was younger.Sadly, for the man revealed in the doorway when the door finally opened all the way, it had become incre
Cael followed Armani through the familiar halls. He even knew they were headed. It was the one place Armani would unconsciously pick to go to inside this mansion. They'd spent so much time in here as kids.They arrived at the Solarium and Armani immediately beelined to a plant. One of the leaves was drooping slightly. Cael sighed. The fact that he even recognized that face was enough to remind him that he spent way too much time here.The Solarium was beautiful. It held a variety of plants and flowers that Armani had carefully tended over the years, continuing her mother's legacy. As far as Cael was concerned, the entire set-up was more trouble than it was worth.The plants needed constant tending. It was a good thing Armani never needed to work a regular job otherwise, how would she keep up with all this? Well, he supposed she could work as a gardener or something.The glass room itself required a lot of maintenance. The glass needed to be constantly cleaned. Constantly! She sometime
Mikayla smiled patiently at the elderly woman across the table from her. She was awkwardly bent over the table to see what the woman was so excitedly showing her on her phone."And this was little Tommy's graduation just last week. Except he's not so little anymore if he's already going to college, right?" She laughed. Mikayla laughed too, "Yeah, he's not so little anymore.""I would have invited you to the ceremony except we haven't seen each other since my last checkup last month. It would have been lovely to have you there," Mrs Durall, the elderly patient, said.Mikayla smiled politely while thinking that she would never have gone even if invited. Even though she knew quite a bit about the family already, it was because Mrs Durall couldn't ever stop talking about them.At every checkup, she took her time to bring Mikayla up to speed on the going-ons of her large family. Mikayla didn't actually know any one of them herself. And judging from those pictures, it was a family affair.
Throughout work that day, Mikayla's mind was constantly on the text message she'd received last night. Even as she consulted with her patients, smiled, laughed and gisted, it continued to niggle at the back of her mind.Thankfully, she couldn't focus too much on it or she may have dissolved into a ball of anxiety. Patients kept on coming and whatever the case, the hospital must go on running. Mikayla's next patient came in. Mikayla rose with a smile to receive her. "Mrs Smith, welcome!""Hello, Dr Wall," Mrs Smith said sweetly. "How have you been?""I should be asking you that as your doctor instead," Mikayla teased. Mrs Smith took her seat and Mikayla followed suit. "I wanted to apologize for leaving so abruptly at the fundraiser event. Something came up urgently and I had to leave. I was going to call you but it's been a bit hectic since then.""Oh, it's no problem. I understand, dear. I hope you were able to sort out whatever it was," she said kindly.Mikayla cleared her throat. "