Jake stopped the moving car just outside a convenience store before returning with a plastic bag filled with cans of beer. It was a sea of silence between them as he sped in his brand-new luxury car towards a destination where only the two of them knew to have existed.
The old house in Myra’s memories stayed preserved beautifully, cleaned and devoid of cobwebs or dust. Myra allowed Hart to unbuckle her seat belt and lead her into the place.
The pain of her father’s alleged demise hurt her even more than Jake and the other girl. Mustering her courage, she decided to put the past behind her for once and moved around the house, running her fingers over the old furniture.
She needed a break from everything.
Once, she had been a silly little girl, and she and Jake
When Myra woke up the next morning with a splitting headache, the first thing she recognised was the familiar light wall of her bedroom. The pain in her head obliterated her from attempting to recall where she was the night before. She felt soreness in her lower abdomen and back, which she fathomed was the aftermath of being active. But the question was, what happened last night? She woke up with no remembrance of what happened or why she had drunk so much. She looked around her room for any signs of Hart having spent the night with her, but there were none. But if it wasn’t Hart, who else could it be, she gasped, rubbing her face. No, she, Myra Yang, wasn’t that shallow of a person! Other than Hart, she couldn’t imagine having someone else in her bed. Then she heard a knock on the door. Sierra invited herself, still sleepy early in the morning, into the room
“Myra, I have no other meaning but to congratulate you,” Jake extended his palm to her slowly.She trembled and looked at Sierra, then back at Jake, reluctantly taking his hand. Two months was just too long to be unreasonably angry with Jake. She knew deeply that one couldn't force relationships. He had Yuna, and she had Hart. Faking a smile, she shook his hand.“Thank you.”If she was genuinely happy with Hart, then why was her heart beating so hard whenever Jake was near or looked at her? Jake, as cool as he was, seemed to have seen through her falseness. Even His presence didn't bother Sierra, who was busy checking the text on her phone. So deeply in love that she didn’t give a damn about her surroundings.She stared at his finger. Even n
The Best Damn Thing Cafe, DowntownA slim server in an adorable uniform leant over to take their orders. Nervously, Myra chewed on her lower lip.“I’ll have the seared foie gras with caramelised figs.”She averted Hart’s gaze, fixing her eyes on the menu. Knowing Hart, he would go for something more affordable, but even a pizza or a sundae in this posh cafe would cost hundreds to thousands of dollars. When she and her friends were having hotel-standard dishes at Bali, the cheap prices delighted them extremely.Jake ordered pasta with salmon caviar, grinning at Hart who merely mumbled, “baked fish rice”. He was indeed a fish out of water. Myra pretended to indulge herself in her newly downloaded bakery game app. She didn’
“Where are we going exactly, Jake?”Myra’s eyes filled with enthusiasm as she repeatedly told herself in her mind; You can do this, Myra. You need to.She knew now Jake was driving them somewhere linked to her father’s disappearance. She hadn’t the heart to ask, after how she had almost let him have her in the cafe toilet earlier.All this while, she was supposed to be Hatta Baderan’s girl. Now, just sitting in his luxury car made her uneasy, especially with the effect he had on her. She knew she might cave in to her desires soon.What was she even thinking? Her wet undies had dried off by now, but she was still feeling guilty. She didn’t want to think of all the possibilities that would have happened inside a public toilet
The sisters sat talking at the dining table when Hart made his appearance. Myra fell silent the moment Hart stepped into the apartment. She just remembered what Jake told her. There was one way he could offer her help, but it might be uncomfortable. For the sake of her father’s businesses, she knew she had to decide soon.Her mind returned to that lone moment with Jake at her father’s empty office three hours ago.“I don’t know, Jake. I don’t know if I can do this,” she said.“It’ll just be an act. Maybe one or two years, then after that, we can be on our own ways.”“I’m not sure, Jake,” she tried to evade him, but Jake inched closer and grabbed her wrist.
Hart relived the moment where he was inside that very forest, where he found Milla. It was dark and eerie, but he continued running forward. He ran and ran, but when he reached the spot where he had found Milla, she was not there.There was no corpse. No Milla. No, nothing.He was all alone. Just silence accompanied him.Then he turned around.Milla’s eyes were bloodshot as she stared at him. He contained himself, but before he could say anything, he heard her voice. She sounded tragic.“Hatta, have you moved on well now that I’m gone?”No, this was not true, his inner voice screamed. He tried to open his mouth, but he could not find his voice.
“What’s up, Myra?”Jake was looking at her with a concerned look. She had been looking listless ever since she peeked out of the door but could not find who she saw earlier.Two months of becoming a CEO transformed him from the douchebag he was in the past, but sadly, another had taken Myra. Although he sensed that she still carried feelings for him, he had to work hard and fast to prevent Myra from progressing in her relationship with that foreign Chinese man. What was his name again? Hatta Baderan.Myra finally gave up. Was she dreaming, or was it really him?“Nothing. I must have mistaken someone for-” she stopped before she said his name. Jake understood immediately.She must have powerful fe
“Jake, I don’t know… if I am ready for this,” Myra said, twirling a loose strand of hair that remained out of her ponytail. Jake halted the sports car just before a red light before attending to her.“There’s another thing, Myra. Your father’s failing businesses. If we undergo this union, for once, you can save them. YX will be willing to lend you financial assistance. At no price.”At the green light, the sports car moved again. Jake focused his attention to the road, driving swiftly in the absence of traffic. It was not a busy day today.Myra hid her trembling fingers under the folds of her dress.“Jake, I don’t want to bother you so...much. What if I… think about it? And you think about it as we