MasukThe meeting ended shortly and she picked up her bags to leave the office. Before she stepped out of the building, she stopped by the secretary to warn her.
“If that lady comes in here again and you don't call security to lock her up, you'll lose your job. Got it? The secretary nodded like her life depended on it, maybe because it did. The drive home was quiet…too quiet. Like the calm before a terrible storm but she was ready. Her ringtone tore the peace and she glared at the phone. “Darling.” She answered “Sera Darling, I have another meeting…so I will be home late” he said hurriedly. “I do not care if you have a surgery and you are the surgeon or you're going for your burial…” she hissed “I want you home by the time I'm there.” She ended the call. After that tone in her voice, he knew better than to come late. She made a stop at her sister's office to tell her what happened and she almost exploded. “What do you mean that ugly woman is pregnant!” “Calm down, Steph. I'm going home to talk to him” “Do you need me to come? I have a bat!” “Girl! Not everything is violence” she laughed. She had no idea those words would bite her back in the ass. She got home shortly after and saw her husband's car parked in. At least he kept to time today. She walked in slowly and dropped her bag. He sprinted in, still fully suited…almost like he appeared into the room. “Darling–” “Who is she?” Sera brought out a picture of Vanessa. He stayed quiet for a split second and replied, “She's a friend of mi–” “You bloody liar!” A slap tore across his face. He stood there unsure what had just happened. Seraphina's voice was shaking “Who. Is. She. Adrian vale?” her eyes glowed red from tears and anger. He exhaled and knelt down “I can explain.” Another slap disrupted the peace of the house…not like there was any to begin with. She grabbed his hair and looked him dead in the eye. “Not only did you cheat on me, but you went and got her pregnant?” His eyes widened. “I didn't! I swear!” He cried out. “It was once! It only happened once!” She relaxed her hands and he let out a small laugh. “So these pictures…” she began scrolling through her phone “...are all from one day?” “Sera. Calm down. How did you get these?” “Oh! Mr. CEO, I am calm” she said as she slowly took off her shoes “but this little marriage we have going on, is over.” “Sera…please let's be reasonable. I swear it was a mistake.” He pleaded, tears falling down his cheeks. She couldn't care less about how he felt after what he did. “Clean your eyes darling, I'll start preparing dinner” she patted his cheek “be down in 30. I'll make something simple.” Adrian didn't know how to react, fear built up in his chest and his face turned red. “Okay, sweetie…I'll be down soon” she patted his head before he got up. After he walked up the stairs, Sarah stood in the kitchen for almost 5 minutes with a knife in her hand, staring at nothing. A tear slid down her cheeks and she began preparing rice and chicken sauce…it was easy and quick to make. By the time Adrian got down, the food was ready and she was sitting on the opposite side of the dining table, staring into the food. He sat opposite her “Thank you, Sera–” “Did you ever even love me, Adrian?” her eyes began watering again. “Of course I do. I love you.” He stretched his hand across the table but she ignored him and looked up “Do you want this marriage to end? So you can go to her…?” Her eyes, red and tired “...the woman you met before you met me?” Adrian kept mute, like he had suddenly forgotten how to speak. She stretched her hand this time to him and he held it tight “Adrian…it's a simple question…do you want to end this marriage for her?” she sniffled. Adrian's grip on her hand loosened and she nodded and laughed. “I don't know, Sera…I don't.” he cried. He dug his fingers into his hair, messing it up. Seraphina stood up, forcing her body to move with her mind and walked up the stairs, her food untouched “Adrian. Never has the thought of ending things crossed my mind but you couldn't choose…” She let out a tired laugh “you've made up your mind, you just needed assistance" she walked up more and stopped “We'll sign the paperwork tomorrow and go our separate ways” Adrian sprouted. “Sera! Give me a week. Just a week and I'll give you an answer. I promise” Seraphina nodded. She knew what his answer would be anyway, she wasn't raising her hopes for anyone. “That's Friday.” She said and looked back.By morning, Seraphina looked terrible. She stood in front of the bathroom mirror and barely recognized herself. Her eyes were swollen and slightly red, dark circles sat beneath them and her hair looked like she had fought a hurricane and lost. She looked tired…not sleepy tired but exhausted in a way that settled deep inside the bones. She splashed cold water onto her face again. It didn't help…at this point, nothing helped. The words on the mirror kept replaying inside her head. ‘You looked behind you.’ Who the hell writes something like that? Who enters someone's bedroom twice and leaves without making a sound? Her hands gripped the edge of the sink…no. She couldn't stay in this house anymore…not today at least, maybe not ever. A knock sounded on the bathroom door. "Sera?" Stephanie's voice came through softly. "You alive in there?" Seraphina exhaled shakily. "Barely." The door opened slowly and Stephanie poked her head inside. She had changed into office clothes and was h
Seraphina stared at the note for so long that the words stopped looking real to her. She still waited for Stephanie but she was taking a long time. ‘Turn around.” Her fingers trembled violently around the paper as she read it again and again, hoping somehow the sentence would change itself if she looked hard enough but it didn't. Her heartbeat pounded against her ribs so loudly she could barely hear anything else and just like that, the room felt smaller while the darkness felt heavier. ‘Turn around.’ The stalker had been watching her. Not yesterday, not through a camera…not from outside the property but Inside…inside her bedroom. The realization settled into her stomach like weight she couldn't carry. "No..." she whispered weakly and it barely sounded like her. The flower lay forgotten on the floor beside her bed while her eyes remained locked on those words. She didn't want to turn around. Every horror movie she had ever watched suddenly felt very educational because whatever
By the time morning arrived, Stephanie had officially had enough. Her eyes were still swollen and her head still hurts, but she made up her mind that she was done. "No. Absolutely not." She pointed dramatically at Seraphina from across the breakfast island she had made while holding a mug of coffee. "We're done pretending this is normal." And Seraphina blinked slowly, confused. "I wasn't pretending." "You slept with a baseball bat." "That was one time." "It was last night." Seraphina looked away and Stephanie slammed her coffee mug down before she continued. "Someone has photographs of you sleeping, Seraphina…sleeping. Inside your own house. This is no longer creepy, we've crossed into criminal." And unfortunately, she wasn't wrong. The image from the previous night remained burned into Seraphina's mind. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw it again. The angle, the couch…her silk robe. The fact that someone had been close enough to take it…close enough to watch her, clos
Seraphina stared at her phone but ignored the message for almost an hour because she just didn't want to look at it. She didn't want to see another photograph or another reminder that some stranger knew more about her life than they ever should or even she did. For a while, she simply sat on the floor surrounded by old photographs and years of memories she wished she could just throw away. Her eyes were swollen from crying and her head throbbed painfully from everything combined…even her chest hurt but then, her damn phone buzzed again. She stared at it from across, anger clinging onto her skin but she still refused to move even an inch because whatever was waiting inside that damn message couldn't possibly make her day better. If anything, it would probably make everything worse. Ten minutes passed, then twenty…then thirty and eventually, curiosity won. It always did and with a frustrated groan, Seraphina wiped her face aggressively and reached for the phone and the moment she
“I know there’s someone here…” Seraphina whispered weakly and Stephanie looked at her like she regretted every life decision that had brought her to this point.The room stayed painfully bright from all the lights they had left on through the entire night. Neither of them had bothered turning anything off after the photo incident and now the bedroom looked weird under the artificial glow. Stephanie sat beside her against the headboard with messy hair and sleepy eyes before pulling her sister into another tight hug.“Sera darling…” she muttered tiredly. “We actually need sleep before both of us start hallucinating...” but the moment Stephanie finished speaking, silence filled the room and Seraphina slowly looked down only to realize her sister had genuinely fallen asleep sitting upright against her shoulder and despite everything happening, a small laugh escaped her.“Unbelievable.” But Seraphina still couldn’t sleep, not even close. Every sound made her flinch now. The wind brushing a
Adrian couldn't dwell on it because of work so he left and got back home a little past midnight. The penthouse was silent except for the faint hum of the city beyond the glass walls. Lights from skyscrapers poured into the dark space in streaks of silver and gold, stretching across the marble floors and luxury furniture that suddenly looked too still. Usually, Seraphina would be awake. Sometimes she’d pretend she wasn’t waiting for him by falling asleep dramatically on the couch downstairs with the television still running softly in the background. Other times, she’d be standing barefoot in the kitchen wearing one of those elegant dresses she loved so much while complaining about how late he was. “Mr. CEO,” she’d tease with that smile he could never ignore. “Should I schedule an appointment just to see my husband now?” and the memory seemed to hit him harder than expected. Adrian loosened his tie slowly as he stepped fully inside the penthouse, exhaustion weighing heavily against h
The number was unknown. She thought about picking up the call. She didn't want to wake Adrian up but he only turned around and mumbled in his sleep, never actually waking up. She said once, for clarity “Darling?” No response. She knew he was fast asleep so she got out of her bed and walked slowly t
Seraphina heard the garage door open and her husband's car slowly drive in. She didn't bother checking the time…he was always precise. Always 9:00pm. He'd leave work at 8, stop by to pick his coffee at 8:30 and drive for 30 minutes back home. He was always precise but not anymore.She stood in the
The week came as quickly as Adrian suggested it. Initially, he still pretended to love her. Getting her gifts, changing her phone, coming home early to eat dinner but after 3 days a version of Adrian she had never seen emerged. He didn't call or eat, he came back late and was always on call with Va
Seraphina's mind raced, her heart pounded and her breath hitched. She didn't know why she felt so much fear rather than just responding to him and he noticed. He rushed down the stairs and held her “what's going on with you?” Worry, painting his face. Seraphina had started lookingpale, compared t







