Melissa stayed in her room all day which got Kristen really worried. All he wanted from her was a simple explanation why she was acting this way.
Once again, he rasped a knock on her door and opened it. "Melissa, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Melissa tried as hard as possible not to look towards his direction. She didn't want him to know she was crying because it would certainly make him ask what was wrong.
"I think Mia needs you."
"I'll be down in a minute." She responded waiting for him to leave the room.
Once the door closed, Melissa heaved deeply. Why now? Why does Alex have to show his face now? She suddenly recalled the day he had Rejected her. What she had gone through with her pregnancy because she was unable to forget him. She was never going to forgive him and she would keep repeating it to herself.
Melissa wasn't scared for herself, instead, she was scared for her baby. Alex might make her baby's life miserable if he found out because he would believe the child from her supposed affair.
She rose up on her feet. Even if it meant moving to another town where he would never find her, she was ready to do it as long as her child was protected.
She began walking out of the room and heading down to the living room once she heard Mia's voice. This baby of hers was her reason to smile, and she was glad she fought so hard to birth her.
"I'll prepare something for you two."
As Melissa rose up on her feet, something on the television suddenly caught her attention. She paused and stared at it until her name was called out in public.
The winner was announced, and Melissa clearly heard her name.
"Now to announce the winner of the 65th Sea Views cooking contest, Melissa Kim."
Melissa couldn't believe it until Kristen repeated it again. "You fucking won Melissa."
She had no idea whether to be sad or happy. Winning meant she couldn't leave and she would stay back, but could Melissa ever do that. Her dream was to own the biggest restaurant, and bakery. Could she ever give this up because of Alexander?
Tears that brimmed her eyes fell freely, but she had to make her choice.
Mia walked up to her and since the little angel couldn't reach her mom's level, she outstretched her hands towards her and picked her from the floor. Her two years old baby meant everything to her and she could sacrifice the world for her.
"I'll go prepare something now." She said.
Kristen had expected her to be happy, but he was shocked to see the expression on her face. What was fucking wrong with Melissa and why was she acting this way?
He trailed behind her to the kitchen and watched as she dropped Mia on the floor handing her a candy to keep her busy with.
"Wait for mummy and don't touch anything okay?"
Mia nodded her head and began chewing what was given to her.
"Melissa, what's wrong? You've wanted this all your life, and it has been your dream. Now you got it, and you don't sound happy after working so hard?"
Melissa was cutting some onions as he spoke. This was the perfect opportunity for her to cry out to her heart's content using the onion as an excuse.
"I just don't know anymore. I'm fucking confused right now, and I don't know anything."
She cried loudly, not minding that her baby was next to her.
"Did something happen yesterday? You've been acting so weird since yesterday, like you saw something strange."
She sniffled, but refused to say a word.
"I don't wanna talk about anything. I'll be forfeiting the prize."
She continued with the Onion, but he came closer and held her hands, stopping her from cutting further.
"You can give up on everything else, but not just this. You worked so hard to get this so do not let anybody take it away from you."
Maybe he was right, she had worked her ass out to get this, and she was just going to give up on it because of her ex mate?
He slowly pulled her closer and hugged her tight.
Alexander had rejected her already so there was nothing to be scared about. He was nobody to her anymore.
*********
"If you need me to come pick up, just make a phone call okay."
"I'll be fine Kristen. I'm not a baby and I can find my way back."
"You got this okay."
Melissa took out a deep breath. She had no idea why Mrs Camila, who was in charge of the contest, requested to see her today. She was meant to just go directly to the company and that was all. Nevertheless, she just believed that it was necessary to just go meet with her like she had requested.
Melissa wore a white trousers and a black turtleneck with a brown coat.
She kissed her baby's forehead and Mia reciprocated by kissing her left cheek before waving her mom bye. Melissa smiled widely before getting into the car.
She zoomed out of the house and began heading straight to Mrs Camila's office. She halted the car to see a black Mercedes Benz park outside. It was so fancy that it attracted her at first sight, but then she ignored it soon and began walking inside.
"Miss Melissa Kim?"
"Yes." She responded to the man in black with glasses.
For some reason, Melissa noticed that this place was heavily guarded today. Maybe something else that required heavy security was going on somewhere in the building.
She minded her business and trailed behind the man in black until they were standing at the entrance of the office.
"You may go in."
For some reasons, Melissa felt rather uncomfortable, and scared. She tried to relax before stepping in, but it was simply impossible to feel at ease.
She shut her eyes and held the knob telling herself that she only needed to act natural.
She cracked the knob and stepped in after opening the door. The seat was faced backwards.
"Mrs Camila, it's Melissa Kim." Melissa greeted, but then there was no response.
She waited until the seat was turned towards her direction. Melissa couldn't feel her heart racing hard and beating fast against her chest… she slowly took two steps backwards letting go of the bag she was clutching onto, and her voice trembled as she spoke.
"A…AA…Alexander?"
Melissa stood, her hands glued to her side as she stared at Alex.Silence ensued as they stared at each other.Looking at his jet-black hair and those lovely eyes that she once adored, Melissa felt repulsed.She couldn't guess why but the memories of the last three years came rushing into her mind and she could remember it as though it happened the day before.She could remember how he had mercilessly stabbed her in the heart by rejecting her and how hard she had cried under the rain of that cold and dark night.Strangely enough, the memories were even more painful than she had imagined. It would have been a different kind of pain if Alex wasn't there, but right there, he was seated - the cause of her pain and sorrow."How long has it been Melissa, three, four, five years?" He demonstrated with his fingers.Somehow Melissa felt disappointed. How could he not remember how many years it had been that he rejected her?But it sure meant one thing and she was happy about it. He didn't have
Melissa came home with a heavy heart and a fallen countenance.Kristen wondered what was wrong with her as she briskly walked past him, her fingers tightly pressed against her lips.He covered Mia's ears as Melissa banged the door the moment she walked into the room and the door was behind her.Kristen rocked Mia in his arms as he looked toward the direction of Melissa's room, afraid that the little girl would wake up because of the noise.For the past three years that he lived with Melissa, she had never come home with such a temper so fierce that she didn't bother requesting to see her daughter.He glanced at the door to her room and made to walk towards her room but restrained himself.He hugged a sleeping Mia close to his chest, hoping that giving Melissa her space would work this time.But one thing worried him, he had a burden of care in his heart that he couldn't put off no matter how hard he tried.With unease, he dipped his hand into his pants pocket and pulled out his phone.
Alex restlessly walked back and forth in his office, his hands crossed behind his back.He brushed back his hair with his fingers, his mind occupied with the thoughts of Melissa.Somehow he wanted to protect her and her daughter - he wanted to be greatly involved in their lives.Ever since Melissa moved in with him, it became more like her life was merged with his. And now that she was sad, he was greatly worried.It was more like he was designed to make her happy and smile.He placed his palm on his face. Thinking about Melissa had completely disoriented him.What made him worried the most was that Melissa had not come out of her room since the day before and no matter how hard he tried to make her she refused.Kristen could remember that he dismissed Karl the other time because a business came up. He thought she would overcome her mood in no time but she had been indoors since yesterday and it was giving him the chills - for one, he didn't want anything happening to her and at the sa
Kristen got out of his car, handed his suitcase to his assistant who willfully collected it, and started walking into the company.As he walked, he looked just like the perfect example of a business tycoon who had walked out of the cover of the page of a business magazine.As he walked toward the elevator that led to his office, he returned the greetings of his employees with a wave of the hand and without as much as a smile.Everyone in the office knew that that was his way of greeting.Walking into the elevator, he adjusted his suit and stood with his legs a bit apart.He pressed the number of the floor the elevator stopped.Immediately the elevator dinged, he came out with an elegant step and went into his office, and sat down."What are my appointments for today?" He asked his personal assistant."You have to meet with the Blue Moon Company in an hour now.And you have three other meetings before…"Kristen stopped listening at this point as his mind went through a train of thoughts
The next day, Kristen was ready for work. He pinned his wristwatch, took his briefcase, and left his room.He walked down the stairs and went to the kitchen."I smell something nice, preparing breakfast?""You'll grab a bite before you go," Melissa said and turned to smile at him."I'm sorry to disappoint but I'll have to have breakfast at the office or I will be late if I do that here. I'll be back for dinner, I promise."Kristen had to hurry back up to his room and search for his car key. After he was done searching for the key there, he moved over to his study to look for his car key.He was looking for the key to his Lamborghini as it was the car he decided to use today."Oh, the key, I…I gave it to Melissa." He muttered, placing his palm on his face.He immediately went to the dining table and there was Melissa. She was already done with cooking and perhaps preparing Mia to go to school."Here, please make sure she eats at lunch."Melissa handed Mia's lunchbox to Ellen, her nanny
Chapter 11Melissa feverishly bit her lips.Right now she was in between the devil and the deep blue sea, there was no going back."Yeah." She managed to put up a nervous smile.If wishes were horses, she wished that the earth should open so she could hide in there because her secret that she had been hiding was about to be exposed sooner or later.Right now, she didn't know what to do with the awkward situation staring at her in the face.As she started walking toward them, her legs felt heavy against the floor but she managed, nervously swallowing the lump in her throat."You two know each other?" Kristen asked and Melissa held tight to the hem of her gown.She imagined him saying something like "She's my ex mate…girlfriend and she cheated on me."But he said, "I organized the Sea View cooking competition, remember. I know her 'cause she's the winner.""Oh." Kristen nodded in understanding as he turned to look at Melissa in admiration."Nice to meet you again, Ms Melissa." Alex sha
In a shopping mall, Victoria pushed the trolley as she walked but with each step she took, she tightened her grip around the handheld area of the trolley.She was so angry, even her veins popped out.Seeing this, her friend couldn't help but talk about it."Can you stop it with this mood of yours already. Seriously, whenever you're in this mood, you should be feared.""Have you ever had something so dear to you snatched from you? Do you know how terrifying it is to know that something is not going to be yours the next minute?" Victoria asked. Her voice was so full of emotion, she felt so pissed, she wanted to cry.How was she supposed to feel after seeing what happened yesterday?Yesterday she had gone to Alexander's office to check on him. To see if he was going to listen to her.She had wanted to talk to him about their wedding. The earlier it happened, the better.If at all she succeeded in getting him to marry her, then she didn't need to struggle for Alex with Melissa.On gettin
Chapter 13Melissa came home, her strength sapped from her. Somehow she hadn't mentally prepared herself to meet Victoria and it felt bad.This was the reason she had not many friends. To her they were nothing but those that snatched the good things from you.She palm faced herself and squatted down and in minutes she was in tears.Somehow she wished that she was the writer of her own story - she wished that the story that broke her didn't happen at all. For one she hated looking pathetic.Whenever she remembered that she was rejected unjustly and how hard she had cried for Alex to believe her, she usually broke down in tears.Seeing the perpetrator today didn't make her feel any better.Kristen was just at her door and about to knock when he heard Melissa whimpering.He felt the need to console her but he held back.Something he did so that she wouldn't feel uncomfortable.When he heard her whimper die down, he knocked on the door."Come in." Her voice was a bit shaky."Melissa, are