“I would like to inform you that my patient, your wife, Mrs. Leilani Byers has been diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorder.Lorenzo sat calmly as the doctor said and he nodded his head, urging her to continue.“I understand this might come as a concern, but be rest assured that my medical team is committed to providing the best medical care for her.”“What could have caused it?” He cleared his throat.“It could be anything, sir. Genetics could play a role, and most importantly, the most common ones are traumatic events, abuse, neglect, or loss of loved ones. According to our examination, we assume it is not genetics but the others that I have listed.”He nodded his head and then curled his hands into a tight ball.“So, moving forward, we would advise that she avoid loud noises or sudden movements which may trigger her anxiety attacks. Help her provide a calm environment and encourage her to express her feelings better. We will be following her treatment plan which includes medicati
Leilani kept watching as Lorenzo talked about how she was to start therapy and medication immediately and then went as far as the kind of food she would be consuming more.“Why are you doing this, really?” She breathed out.He raised his brows to look at her and then frowned, “Do what?”“You went to the hospital despite the fact that I have told you not to worry about the result.”“Exactly. Why should I listen to you?”“Because it is about me and I have the right to hoard the result, don’t I?”“I still don’t understand why you wanted to hide it, though. I knew already, even before I took you for the checkup. I suspected that you possibly had it. It is nothing now.”“But, these days…” she stood from the edge of the bed that she sat on and then walked over to him as he worked on the laptop on the couch.“It feels as though I am being too much. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate everything you are doing for me. But, because of me, you left your parent's place. Each time you keep going out
“I… really didn’t think we would meet again,” Nancy smiled softly as she arrived at the table, and then settled gently before the woman.“Took you so long to arrive here,” she rolled her eyes and then cleared her throat.“There was traffic, Mrs. Byers. I apologize,” she settled in front of Agnes.The previous night, Agnes had called her that she wanted to meet her, and of course, she was more than happy to have received such news.After she had met with the woman almost two weeks ago and had told her about Leilani, what she had expected to see the very next day was an article regarding the new couple's divorce.At first, she assumed the people were trying to hide it as they were scared of what the public would say if they heard of the divorce.But, later, she saw pictures of Leilani and Lorenzo that were still circulating, so she knew the divorce didn’t happen.Her plan had failed.And she could only wonder why. She was certain she had done a great job slandering Leilani so the reason
Leilani stretched on the bed lazily, rubbing her eyes with the back of her palm as she sat up.She turned to the side of the bed and discovered that Lorenzo wasn't there.Leilani believed he was in the living room or somewhere around the house.That was her innocent thought until she picked up her phone and noticed she had missed six calls and three voice messages from Lorenzo.For him to have called this much, first, he wasn’t at home, and secondly, something had to be wrong.Leilani, whose mind had started flooding with lots of crazy thoughts, picked up her phone and called him back, ignoring the voice messages.She called him more than twice, but he didn’t pick up."Oh my God!" Leilani placed her hand on her head and got off the bed. She had no idea where Lorenzo was, and that scared her the most.Leilani put on her robe and headed downstairs to check if he was maybe somewhere around the perimeter and the call was just to invite her to join him.As the young lady walked down the st
"God! I'm so sorry." Leilani stepped back just as quickly as she had when she leaned in.What the hell was this? Why does she keep getting into the same mistake with the man?This was not the first time and she could only blame herself for letting the second one happen.She had told herself that since the marriage was just based on her having her revenge on Jonathan, there was no reason to open her heart to another man.But here she was, kissing him. It was an accident, at least, it had to be. She had to convince herself.On the other hand, Lorenzo didn't know how to react either. He just stood there with an expression Leilani couldn't quite place.At this point it was almost impossible to tell if it was shock, amusement, or desire.But what Lorenzo was feeling on his part was surprise. The woman had literally beat herself for having kissed him the last time that he thought she never would do something like that again."I... uh... It's uhm– I didn't mean to," she said again like he di
“So, take…” he said to her, and she turned to him to collect the card he handed in her direction.It was a card and she suspected it was for entry. This art school they were in was the biggest in the state, and maybe this man didn’t know that he was healing her inner child as the day passed.She collected it with shaky hands, stared at her name that was imprinted on it, Leilani Wheelers, and then nodded her head.“Do you wanna look around?” He asked her.“You may resume whenever you want, and classes start from twelve till three PM. Is that okay?”“Of course!” She exclaimed.He nodded his head and smiled unconsciously at the smile that was on the woman’s face.He actually might have never seen such a huge smile on her face before. She had never seemed so happy as she was at the moment.He couldn't help but savor the moment as he watched a smile spread across her cheeks as she took in everything.It makes him want to go through everything because of her.“My driver will accompany you,”
They arrived home, and the driver hurriedly brought out Lorenzo’s wheelchair from the booth, helped him sit on it, and then moved away from him and his wife after he had bowed.“Where did you two love birds go so early this morning?” Came the voice of Martha and they both raised their heads to look at her.“Martha,” Leilani smiled.“And now, she smiles.”“What?”“You looked like your husband had been kidnapped a while back and had almost gone berserk,” she laughed.“Really?” Lorenzo raised his brows.“That is not true!” She defended and the man laughed gently.“She asked everyone in this perimeter where you were. It was as if she had received some threatening calls about you or something.”“Oh, Martha,” she rolled her eyes at the woman who wouldn’t stop talking and then smiled.“I was just worried, come on. It’s not really serious.”“Well, if you say so. Now, tell me, where did you go without informing anyone? All these while, I thought you were in the building.”“I had something to d
Leilani stepped out of the car gently as the man held the door for her, and then he bowed gently at her.“Thank you,” she muttered and then walked gently to the premises As she walked to the big glass door, the entrance of the art school, Leilani couldn’t help but take glances around. As she reached the glass door, someone opened it from behind, welcoming her in with a smile.The walls of the room were bright, well-illuminated, and filled with paintings assumed to be done by the alumni of the school.She spent about five minutes admiring the room, or even more but it still felt like it wasn't enough. She loved art so much, she couldn’t even hide it.Not at that moment.Oh, to finally be living in her dream!“You must be new here,” she heard an unfamiliar voice and then turned around swiftly.“Y… yeah, hi,” she blinked at the man who stood gracefully in front of her.He was fully suited up and she wondered if he worked here or if he was a student too."Hello, I’m Caleb," the young ma
“But… Benzo is not one common name. I mean, I have heard it quite a lot in the past but I can’t quite remember where,” Leilani said as she stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in the bathroom robe.“Oh… yeah.”“What? You wanna say something?” She asked as she settled in front of the dressing table and then pulled forward her facial care routine.“Actually,” he started and sat upright.“What?” Leilani glanced at him through the mirror.“He works at my company.”“Who?”“Jonathan.”She parted her lips and then drew her brows together.“What?!”“So, the thing is, he works at my company. He recently got promoted to an executive, in fact.”“Lorenzo?”“I know what you’re thinking,” he raised his hands.“Trust me, you don’t.”“I have many companies to my name, you know? There’s Benzo electronics, pharmaceuticals, Architecture, mall… and a few like that, and he happens to work in one of them, Benzo Electronics.”“Why? I mean… why do you let him work for you?”“He has been a staff at the compan
“B… brother is Benzo?!” Mia exclaimed as she stopped in front of Leilani and then took her hands in hers.“That makes the two of us. I’m excited,” she sucked her teeth.“What? You… you didn’t know about it?” She asked, raising her brows.“I am finding out for the first time tonight just like every other person,” she shrugged.“B… but…” Mia cleared her throat.“Maybe he has his reasons for…”“Don’t take his side, Martha!”Mia and Leilani snapped.“Good, he’s coming. He has a lot of…”Leilani snatched her hands from Mia and then smacked, “I will head inside first.”Mia, with her mouth opened agape watched as the lady walked away and then shook her head.“She is so pissed.”“He should have told her, at least.”Mia creased her brows at Martha and then chuckled, “Were you not just taking his side?” “I just needed to make her calm down, of course.”“I think you only made it worse.”Lorenzo rushed to them and then panted, “Why didn’t you stop her?!”“Why should I?” “You are so…”“You are t
Arthur didn’t know he had staggered backward and the panicked murmurs from the others had snapped him back to reality.“Y… you…”He pointed his index finger at Lorenzo who looked really unbothered as he turned to look at his security team.“Are you ready, sir?” David asked, and he nodded his head.The men formed a proper barricade, and then began to push through the crowd, with Lorenzo, his wife and Nicholas trailing slowly with them.They kept waking, ignoring the crowds while Lorenzo moved over to Leilani, and then took her hand gently in his.She raised her head to look at him, sighed and he nodded his head at her, smiling softly.When the security team stopped moving, they stopped too and David who was leading moved over to him.“There are so many paparazzi outside,” he whispered in his ear.“Really?”“Yes. Literally all media companies are here.”He looked down at Leilani again and then leaned down, “Are you good?”“Yes.”“How about the back exit?” He asked David.“It is jammed t
“I am Lorenzo Byers, and I am the founder of the BENZO group of companies.”Agnes choked on the water she was drinking as she stood up gently from the couch with Aaron opposite her.“That is…”She coughed out loud, dropping the glass cup in her hand and not minding the way it shattered to the ground. She hit her chest and then coughed again.“That is…”“Lorenzo?” Aaron whispered, and then removed his medicated glasses from his eyes as if that was going to help him to see clearer.“That is Lorenzo?!” Agnes hollered and then widened her eyes.They had both settled in front of the Television to watch the event as they had hoped that Arthur would be receiving an award that night.“He is… Benzo?”“He can… walk?”Agnes and Aaron stuttered respectively.“This is wrong. There must be an error somewhere,” Agnes shook her head.But, Aaron’s reaction was different.He staggered to the big screen, touched it, and trailed his fingers down his son’s supposed legs.“He is standing!” He cried out an
David shook his head as his boss wouldn’t stop laughing and then shook his head.“Sir.”Lorenzo smacked and then exhaled. “All along… it was him.”“Boss.”“We suspected someone from the house, did we not?”“Yes, but certainly not Shane.”Lorenzo nodded his head in agreement and then dropped his head on the headrest, his eyes closed.He might have actually imagined it to be anyone, but never Shane.He thought he knew the man.He was reckless and sassy, but certainly not the type to commit arson or murder.Well, in the past.He had just assumed the man to be a jester as he used to derive joy in making fun of his condition by coming up with numerous ironies just to insult him.But never in his whole life had he thought that Shane would go as far as wanting to kill his own wife.“Boss.”“Yes?” He opened his eyes and then sat upright.“What do we do?”“Where is he?”“He is in the hall also,” he answered.Lorenzo nodded his head and then chuckled.“Give me your orders. What do you want me t
“Is that not… Enzo’s wife?”Shane chuckled dryly as he leaned in his seat and then nudged his brother gently.Arthur took his hand from the woman who sat beside him and then turned to look in the direction Shane pointed at.“No way.”“Look there. She is sitting with Nicholas.”Arthur squinted his brows and when he confirmed that it was truly the woman, he chuckled and then hissed.“Who is that?” The woman, Emily asked.Emily was his girlfriend and he had hoped that after the event was over, he would take her home and introduce her to his family.“Lorenzo’s wife.”“Your stepbrother?” She asked and he nodded his head.“Woah, she’s pretty,” she sucked her teeth.“I don’t see it.”“She is so pretty. She looks better in person.”“Whatever,” he rolled his eyes and then turned to look at Shane.“Why is she here though?”“Perhaps… She came out to cheer for Nicholas? No one needs to be told, we know he’s getting an award tonight again.”For the past five years, Nicholas had been receiving awar
“Are you ready?”Nicholas asked her and she nodded her head, taking a deep breath.“I don’t know what we’re doing, as Lorenzo wouldn’t say a word but, okay. I am ready.”“Don’t fret. It is nothing serious,” he shook his head and then curved his arm beside her.Leilani nodded her head and then breathed out again. “If you say so.”She linked her arm around his arm, and together, they walked to the press.The moment they sighted them, they all turned to look at them, flashing their lights at them which almost overwhelmed the woman.But, Nicholas was holding on to her tight as they walked down the red carpet.They kept walking, ignoring the literally provoking questions the press was asking till they walked in through the opened door of the hall.Leilani gasped softly as she entered the hall.It was the largest she had ever seen. Real or on the television. It was so bright too that it could blind a person, and the ornaments used to beautify the hall could not go unnoticed.Chandeliers hu
“Oh, how beautiful you are, Leilani!”Mia exclaimed as soon as she returned to the room and saw the woman standing in front of the dressing mirror.“Oh, how much you flatter me!” Leilani rolled her eyes and they both laughed.“I am dead serious, sis, you’re so gorgeous, Jesus!”“Uhm-hmm,” Leilani nodded her head, blushing.The make up artist moved over to her, did the final touch on her neck and then moved back.“You look like you walked out of a painting.”“That compliment beats it all,” Leilani groaned and Mia laughed.Mia scrutinized Leilani again and shook her head. “How did my brother get this designer? She is so good!”Leilani was wearing a fully beaded blue gown which flared from her waist and stopped above her knees. The V-neck of the dress was deep and was held up by two small spaghetti straps, but then there was also a drapey off-the-shoulder cap sleeveLeilani had first worried that the style would make her shoulders look huge, but now, with the pushup strapless bra that s
“Do you think he is going to show up at the event?”“Who?” Aaron asked after he drank from the glass cup and then picked up the serviette paper.“Benzo,” Arthur answered and then exhaled.“Are you still thinking about that person?”“Do you think he will show up?” He asked again.“I don’t know. He hasn’t shown up for once in over five years that he has been invited. Wonder if he ever got the awards, in fact.”“I heard no one even showed up in his place to receive his awards,” Shane butted in.“He is definitely trying not to leave any chance to be seen,” Aaron added.“What if he shows up and then considers you? You have been sending messages the longest, haven’t you?” Shane asked.Arthur nodded his head and then smacked. “I really wanna know who this person is.”“I thought he was found though. I heard someone claiming to be him.”“It was a lie. I went in search of the person and they were not real. Tch,” he breathed out in frustration and then grabbed the glass of water.“The event is i