The party was great. Derrick and the boys arrived with drinks for all of them to enjoy. It was rushed, but everyone was pleased to see variations of dishes on the table. There was an abundance of seafood dishes, steaks and grilled fish, fresh salads, and, of course, desserts. What caught Lyra's attention was the chicken soup. It was hearty and warming; it reminded her so much of her mother that she almost began to cry the first time she took a sip.It made Rhian happy to know that everyone liked her cooking. Raine was also proud to be the sous chef. She even bragged about how well she cut the carrots for the salad, which, of course, attracted a diss from Zin. He told her about how the mandolin would have worked much better. The comment earned him a glare from Raine and a laugh from everyone else. The entire time, all of them had a great time eating, but Rhian had a better time watching how Dame kept on getting more food for himself. If him stuffing a bunch of food in his face wasn't a
The sound of the wind singing through every wave woke up Lyra. The salty air immediately gave her a boost of energy as soon as her eyes opened. She was in a new room that she didn't even recognize. It was a cool-looking hut. The roof was made with straw, something that she had never seen before. They really found a great deal, renting out a nipa hut or villa by the beach last night, even though it was an impulse buy."Good morning, Love!"Lyra gasped as she saw Derrick's head pop up at the window. He has a huge smile on his face while watching how her eyes bulge."Oh, my goodness! You scared me!" She sat up with the thin blanket wrapped around her naked body. "What are you doing?" she asked. "You woke up quite early.""It's ten in the morning," he said. "You woke up late.""It is?" Lyra reached out to the wooden nightstand to reach his phone. "Oh my, what happened? I don't wake up this late!""I mean, after last night..." Derrick trailed off with a proud smirk on his face. "You could
Lyra's POV It was a beautiful day. It seemed so perfect. Derrick did everything to give me whatever I wanted. When I asked for him to grill us some meat, he did it without asking me anything. He had no idea how to do barbecue, but he was so excited that we were on vacation together that he tried to pretend that he knew what he was doing. Although the fire was too big and the beef looked like it was about to be cremated, I gave him a huge smile and showed him my two thumbs up just so I could see his confidence rise. I haven't tried to eat steak on skewers before, but I think he's onto something. I just have to remember to put a lot of salt on the sauce that I'll make later; he really used at least three granules to season the whole two-kilo pack. Derrick is very knowledgeable at a lot of things, but I figured out that he's not great with cooking. "Love! Do you think these are done cooking?" "Yeah! Put them on the plate!" I think they've been done for at least ten minutes, but when
Lyra is feeling torn. Seeing how Derrick tried so hard just so he could keep the bad news to himself made her heart break so much more. She could tell him that she knew, but she can't ruin the fun vacation that he's been trying to give her. She could clearly see how it would be much more difficult to manage for Derrick as well. As they sat by the beach, eating some freshly cut fruits, Lyra could see him peeking at his phone, trying to check the news that came from his men, who were dealing with stuff back at home. He'd then turn to her with a big smile on his face, as if nothing had happened. The stress was piling up on top of his plate, and soon it was going to spill over. "Love, do you want to explore the place?" He's been asking her that for quite some time now. He knew that she would give him the same answer, but he would still try. "You can shop, you know?" "Alone?" That was it, her overly used response. "Why are you trying to push me away? Did you find someone more interesting
"I really thought you were meaning to do something else tonight when you told me that we were going to have a long night," Derrick said, defeated. He rolled his eyes and sighed as he drove as Lyra fed him some fries. "I was expecting something else to taste and enjoy.""Yikes, what are you talking about?" Lyra winced. She always wasn't ready for Derrick's random innuendos, but she can't blame him this time. It was really her fault that he thought of something completely wrong. "You're addicted to sex.""Woah!" Derrick gasped. "I never said anything about sex! What are you thinking? Oh my goodness, you're thinking about sex now?"Lyra sarcastically smiled and nodded, "Oh, yeah. I have been thinking about it nonstop. Like, right now, I am.""Okay, stop. "I will literally stop the car.""Stupid!" she blushed before grabbing a delicious looking piece of sushi and shoving it in her mouth. "You sound like a perv every time.""What can I say? I have been addicted to you.""Okay, maybe don't
It was a total shock, waking up with your face posted on one of the biggest magazines in the country. Lyra was a little bit stunned by the fact that she loved how the photo turned out. It was gorgeous. It was a photo of Derrick and her standing side by side while looking straight into the camera. They weren't smiling, and Lyra could tell that it was because Derrick just naturally didn't smile on any of them and she was actually too anxious to even blink. Flipping through the pages, Lyra saw a lot of their photos on different pages. It was much more than what she was told. The whole magazine was peppered with their faces. "This is a lot," she whispered as Derrick sat beside her, looking over her shoulder. "The magazine looked like our own photobook; what happened here?" "I guess they tried to use as many photos as they could to hopefully make us feel better." Derrick responded, kissing her cheek. "I don't mind; you look very good on all the photos." "That's not what we're talking ab
Derrick was left with his two followers, watching his every move. For some reason, they feel chills running down their spines as he sits there on the living room couch, grinning while looking at the flowers swaying freely in the garden. Dame sighed and sat down with him before sighing once again. Zin stood still, arms crossed, and an eyebrow raised. He sat as if he were acting out a really beautiful scene from a music video, and the two had never seen his eyebrows and forehead be that relaxed. It was creepy. If they didn't know better, they would literally confuse him for a psychopath. "There's something wrong here," Zin whispered. He rubbed his arm with his palm to stop the goosebumps. "How am I the most normal one out of all of us right now?" "Go ahead, ask him," Dame stated. He rolled his eyes before turning to Derrick. "You two better stop arguing," Derrick commented. "It's not wise to ruin my perfectly great day." "Master," Zin called. "Why do you seem so happy and worry free
"Alright, there are a lot of things wrong with me today, and I can't tell you how happy I am to see both of you here in my apartment, ready to hear all and anything I wanted to spill or talk about, but please, don't ever ask me what's wrong." Lyra and Raine both exchanged worried looks upon hearing the chunky greetings they got just as they entered the door to Rhian's unit. They haven't even said hello, and they could literally tell that she was dealing with a ton of issues at the moment. Raine was quick to agree; she simply nodded, not really questioning what her cousin was talking about. Lyra, on the other hand, was really confused. She was too close to asking; there are a lot of questions that popped up in her head, and she's not sure how to deal with them without confronting Rhian head-on. When she felt Raine's sneaky tap on her shoulder, she bit her tongue and pretended to agree without hesitation. "So, how's the weather?" "Really, Lyra?" Riane rolled her eyes and sighed. She