"Hmmm. Good food here," Mel praised, licking his fingers like what Mara felt was nothing but a wild animal. She quickly looked away from him and turned back to her food. After taking a few spoonfuls, she grabbed the plates and took them to the kitchen. Hers was still half-full, but she just lacked the appetite to eat a full meal.Getting to the kitchen, she dumped everything into the sink and exhaled deeply. Her head was so full of thoughts, wishes, hopes and so many other things that she was beginning to feel the early signs of a headache. If only she could just turn back the hands of time to about 24 hours before or even farther behind. Hell, she would give anything to be given the chance to start again; if not her whole life, then restarting the day would be the next best thing."Hey what's up?"Mara was startled and swiftly turned around, only to find that it was Mel who was now swaggering into the kitchen with a toothpick between his lips. She turned her back to him again and wan
When Mara finally returned to the living room, she was mildly surprised to find that Mel was nowhere in sight and Leo was eating his meal. She wanted to ask him if he knew where that Mel of a fellow had gone, but she quickly thought better of it. Such a question would surely annoy him since she had already told him earlier that Mel's presence was not his business."Ahem," she cleared her throat and moved closer to him, but Leo just went on eating as if he hadn't heard her. A chill ran down Mara's spine. She knew she deserved this treatment, but what made her feel like crying was that this was the first time she was seeing him act like this to her. She wished... she so badly wished that she had not done anything to deserve this! Would he ever forgive her? Would they ever go back to the way they were before?"I want... I'd like to talk to you," she stuttered helplessly as she stood there wondering if he would even respond. It took some minutes, but eventually, he finished eating and pus
"What's up?", he asked again as he entered the kitchen. And again, Mara ignored the question. She just stood akimbo in the middle of the kitchen staring straight at him as if he was a curiosity.Mel was not one to be patient for long and she knew it; that was why she wanted to keep him hanging for as long as possible, so that whatever she said to him would stick in his mind."Come on, babe. What is it?", Mel asked, beginning to feel restless and impatient.Still, Mara said nothing. She just stood there staring at him. 10, 20, 30 seconds, and Mel couldn't take it anymore. Half-angry, he pulled a chair to himself and sat down heavily on it. Then he turned to her. But Mara was still not ready to say a word. He waited as quietly and calmly as he could, but soon, he was tapping out a rhythm with his feet on the floor. He went on tapping and tapping until he got tired and exhaled deeply. Then he ran his hand through his hair and muttered a curse beneath his breath."Come on, babe, say somet
The next day was a working day for Mara and she woke up early enough to prepare for the day. But to her surprise, Leo was already up and was preparing little Leo's food in the kitchen. She stood at the door watching him for nearly 5 minutes. She couldn't help but wonder how many other men were like him on the planet Earth. If only she had had Leo for him and not that good-for-little Mel. But she hoped that it was not too late. They could still be together in the future, who knows? Perhaps his ex-wife would get up one day and just decide out of the blue to give him a divorce. Miracles did happen! And it was certainly not a crime to hope."Good morning."Leo was startled. He had been oblivious of her presence until now. "Oh, you are up too," he said with a bright smile. "Good morning to you. How's the big man this morning? Still asleep?""Of course, he is," Mara grinned and walked further into the kitchen. "I really can't thank you enough. I appreciate your commitment to his welfare. I
By afternoon, despite all her fears and expectations, Marks didn't send for Angela. She wasn't even sure if he was in his office. He usually came very early and shut himself in all day, only communicating with his assistant who was as reclusive as he was. The CEO wasn't much different either, but she had closer interactions with Angela. Sometimes, they talked like colleagues and other times, they talked like a boss and subordinate. But Angela never forgot herself around her. Even before she was asked to spy on Mara, she knew that the CEO was not the best of women and she was always wary of her.An hour, half an hour, quarter of an hour to close of business, Angela couldn't sit still. She still had a strong foreboding that Marks would call her and ask for a report. What on earth would she tell him? She had spent the last half of the work day thinking up and throwing out various ideas. At the end of the day, she wasn't any closer to coming up with anything reasonable. At some point, she
When she returned from the bathroom, she was surprised to find Leo at the door obviously waiting for her."Is there a problem?", she asked in concern as she ushered him into the room."No, no problem. I just wanted to know if there's any news concerning Marks putting a spy on you.""Oh, that. Not really," Mara replied, shaking her head emphatically. "Angela was really worried that Mr. Marks would ask for a report from her today, but luckily he didn't. I don't know... maybe they've abandoned the idea. Perhaps they've finally seen how stupid it is.""Or perhaps they've put someone else on you... someone you don't know," Leo offered.But Mara shook her head in disagreement. "I made sure I was not followed and I made the taxi stop some distance away, then I walked the rest of the way. By the way, I also think it's important that people shouldn't see you coming out of the house."Even before she completed the statement, Leo was already nodding in full agreement. "I'm already taking that pr
“Who is it?”, Marks called out in anger in response to the harsh knock on his door. But instead of a reply, the knock was repeated again and again, louder each time.“I said who the fuck's that? Are you dumb?”, Marks roared, jumping to his feet.“Open the damn door, you barking fool.”“Oh, it's you,” he murmured in a subdued voice. If he had known it was Dalia, he would not have dared to shout. “Sorry, I didn't know it was you,” he apologized as he opened the door, hoping to avoid a hot scolding. But Dalia didn't seem to be interested so much in scolding him. Instead she fixed him with an angry glare and walked further into his room. She glanced around the place and finally chose to sit on one of the chairs.“So, what's the report from the girl today?” She asked as she sat.“Oh,” Marks ejaculated, scratching and hitting his head, “I forgot. I... I forgot to ask her.”“And when I call you an empty fool, you'll claim I'm harsh and merciless.”Marks couldn't say anything else in his defe
After several minutes of sitting motionless and staring straight ahead, Dalia suddenly opened the door of the driver side and stepped out of the car. Immediately, Marks followed her lead and stepped down too. It was lucky that he did because his legs had hardly touched the ground when he saw the door of the passenger side coming back towards him. Swiftly, he jumped down or rather dove out of the car and the door slammed shut. Dalia had locked it with the remote control in her hand. If he had not moved quickly enough, the door would have hit him full on the face!He turned to look at the cruel she-devil who had just almost injured him. As expected, there was not an iota of remorse on her face. In fact, she didn't look the least bit like someone who knew what she had just done, but Marks could swear on his life that she had done it deliberately. This was certainly not the first time she had done something like this either to him or to someone else."Let's go," she ordered and began to l