**3 years later** Arielle sat on a couch watching financial news as she had been doing since she was 10. In the last three years, John was often on the news. Thomas was as low-key as ever. But she was content. PGI was doing well as she had expected it would under his management and with the scope and plans they had discussed. Admittedly, the share prices of PGI had doubled in the last three years, which was an unprecedented growth for a listed company that was already doing quite well. That day, however, it was Thomas who made an appearance. Arielle’s breath hitched seeing him after three years, even if it was just on TV. She heard his entire speech attentively as he talked about the company and its future. However, his parting words kept ringing in her ears repeatedly. “Three and half years ago, I had contacted the best financial analyst in the industry, Miss Arielle, and sought her help. It was owing to the personnel and project clean-up by Miss Arielle that helped PGI becom
Thomas arrived in the small town by the beach and took a hotel. He had arrived in that town. But he had no clue where to start his search or what to tell Arielle when he found her. He lay on the bed, exhausted, having flown economy for the first time in his life. But happy and content at being free and not having to maintain an image all the time. However, despite his exhaustion, he could not sleep. Various scenarios of his meeting with Arielle kept appearing in his mind making him restless. But worst of all was the thought that she might not even be there in that town, and he would not be able to find her. With every passing hour, as the night deepened, that thought kept getting stronger, depriving him of much-needed rest. He locked his hotel room and decided to roam around on the beach to relax. It was close to midnight, and the beach was almost empty. That was probably the most significant difference between towns and big cities. A city never slept, while people in small
Arielle woke up happy. Since it was a beautiful beginning of the day, she decided not to worry about the future and enjoy what she had while she had it. She did not mind that they were tangled naked. She did not dare to disturb the perfect harmony. She did not move. She slowly untangled her hands and caressed his face that she had longed to see every day for the last three years. Thomas had the best sleep in three years. He felt soft caresses on his face, and with the gentle touch, he could feel her love for him. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Arielle looking at him with love and happiness in her eyes. He smiled unconsciously, happiness blooming on both their faces. They kept looking at each other and caressing each other’s faces, trying to etch every fine line in their memory. Their perfect moment was interrupted when Arielle’s phone chimed in. Thomas turned around to see the brightened screen of her phone. His fantasy broke immediately. Arielle felt him stiffen and look
Adrian was on cloud nine. He had finally seen his father. While he did not understand the whole thing, he knew his father was busy with work, like how his mother, uncle Joe, and uncle Rick got busy sometimes. “Daddy, I want to build a treehouse,” Adrian said, trying hard to speak in complete sentences. “Alright! Let’s go find a tree,” Thomas chuckled. “Ad, honey, daddy is tired. Let him rest for tonight. Tomorrow morning you can build your treehouse,” Arielle interjected as she looked at them from the kitchen. “Don’t worry, El. I got this!” Thomas smiled at her. “No. It’s getting dark, and I don’t want you guys falling from the tree,” Arielle was stern about her decision. “Mommy wants to steal Daddy,” Adrian complained as he hugged Thomas and looked at his mother with a crinkled nose. “Mommy already got daddy; otherwise, how could you have been born?” Arielle teased, making Thomas choke on his saliva. “Mommy is being meanie again,” Adrian grumbled, not understanding his mothe
Mathew laughed, “I am so loving where this is going.” Joe gulped some more wine, “Can’t we skip the embarrassing parts.” “Nope!” Arielle continued, “We started dating, or whatever you call it. By then, we had already known each other for a year and a half. We were good friends for a year and knew each other pretty well.” “When we went on dates, it was oddly awkward because I thought he was just messing with me, and he could understand why I was being weird. At that time, he had not quite figured out he was gay.” “We were buddies and used to eat together and go to movies that we both liked, but mostly we used to go to a cafe and compete over hacking or some games. And that used to be a lot of fun. Our dates were anything but fun.” Joe laughed, recalling those dates, “We dated for an entire semester, and we had formed a weird rapport. We would have a lot of fun when we hung out normally. But when we called it a date, it would be awkward and mentally draining.” Arabella added for t
The week went by exceptionally well. The friends had not spent time together in a long time, and some of them had never met. They all got along like a house on fire. Mathew got enamored by Arabella’s spunky personality and her honesty. He was pleasantly surprised to see how well-mannered Belle was and how well Arabella had raised her daughter, all on her own to boot. He asked her out after a few days, and she agreed. Arabella thought Mathew was fun and adventurous and seemed to be a good guy. He already knew all about her, thanks to all the nights they had spent drinking and spilling secrets. She felt comfortable being herself with him. More importantly, being Thomas’s best friend, he was probably not trying to score her to just hook up with a single mom. She was not looking for a marriage at the onset, but she was not okay with one-night stands or flings. Surprisingly, they got on much better than either had dared to hope. They had similar interests and were both adventurous.
Thomas finally voiced, “The idea sounds good. We all know how to run a company, but none of us know what to sell.” John nodded at the realization. “That’s right. You, your wife, Mathew, and I - have a finance and management background. Arabella is from product marketing, Joe is a network engineer, and Rick is a cop. We know how to protect and sell something. But none of us know how to produce anything.” Arabella chimed in, “How about we open a Logistics company?” Mathew asked, “Logistics?” Arabella hummed, “There isn’t any good logistics company where we grew up, especially at the international level. Same with where they currently stay. It’s been a nightmare when I have to send something to this cavewoman.” Arielle rolled her eyes at the reference, “So, I take it you did some research?” Arabella clinked her glasses, “Touché!” She shrugged and added, “Work habits are hard to suppress. There is a good market for it, though the initial few years would be bad. Combined with all o
**One and a half years later** John stood outside a police station in Pearl city, awaiting his girlfriend. A year earlier, he had broken up with Rick’s cousin after giving each other several chances. They were simply not compatible because they wanted very different things in life. Hence, they had broken up mutually. One day, he had ended up making a scene at a bar in a drunken stupor, and they ended up calling the police. The one who responded was a female police officer. The first thing about the female officer that John had noticed was the scar on her left eyebrow that made her look equally sexy and dangerous. John had an instant crush on her. Especially with how smoothly she handled everything. John had always admired people who were good at their jobs, which had also been one point of discontent with his ex-girlfriend. Rick’s cousin was never into one thing for long enough to do it properly. John had called Rick to help bail him out. Then, John found that the female police