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Chapter 4 - Old Recipes, New Sparks.
Huling Na-update:
2025-09-17 09:46:51.
Mom’s kitchen smelled like garlic and home. She’d been humming all afternoon, slicing vegetables with a suspicious amount of joy, and shooing me away from the stove as though my stirring might offend the soup. Thankfully it was a Saturday and my crazy schedule was on hold today. “You could just admit you're excited,” I said, leaning against the counter. She glanced at me over her shoulder. “Excited for dinner, cariño. Good food, good company.” Her grin was the kind that said good company had a name. Dark thoughts suddenly interrupted the moment as I glanced at Dad. Dad was propped on the couch like an emperor recovering from battle, watching the evening news. Nothing had changed about his diagnosis no matter how hard Mum prayed these days. Transplant was the way forward and I was tired of thinking of all the ways I could raise money. I’d never been religious, but at this point I didn't mind a miracle. We couldn't lose Dad this way, not if it could be helped. It was just Dad, mum and me.All we had was each other, I knew at that moment that I'd do anything to keep us going as long as I could, even if it meant, sucking up to the ‘Devil’ himself. Of course he was going to require a chunk of my soul and I was prepared to path with it.
Priya had conveniently “worked late” to avoid the match making spectacle, texting me a string of heart emojis and a GIF of a wedding bouquet. Traitor. Even though I needed her support, she had insisted it would be rude to interrupt knowing the purpose of the dinner was to matchmake Ethan and I. The doorbell chimed. Mom practically leaped. I opened it first to intercept. Ethan stood there, hair tousled by the breeze, wearing a navy shirt. His shirts hugged him better now. Travel, gym and time had carved lean muscle where boyishness used to be. “Smells incredible in here,” he said, stepping inside with a bottle of wine. “I almost ate the door.” “Careful,” I teased. “Mom might serve you next.” He grinned, and for a heartbeat, the college girl in me stirred awake, the girl who’d believed in forever. The table gleamed with Mom’s best china, which hadn’t seen daylight since my cousin’s graduation. Dad held court with fishing stories, exaggerating every detail until Ethan and Mom were wiping tears of laughter.Ethan jumped in with tales of his own, about the locals who’d fed him chili that nearly destroyed his digestive system. His voice had grown deeper, his gestures more measured. He was nolonger the boy I’d kissed under library fluorescents. He was now a man who’d been places I’d only seen on screens.
Between bites of roasted chicken, Mom slipped in a question so casual it deserved an Oscar: “So, Ethan, are you seeing anyone these days?” I almost choked on the water I was drinking. Ethan didn’t flinch. “No. Travel makes it tricky.” His eyes flicked to me, a flash of lightning I tried to pretend I hadn’t seen. I busied myself refilling water glasses. To an outsider we looked like a small happy charming family, without a care in the world. Only that the irony was alarming. After dinner, Ethan helped Mom clear plates while I wiped counters. I could hear them laughing softly in the kitchen. A warm, familiariar sound that twisted something deep in me. He wasn’t just charming me , he charmed everyone. And wasn’t that what had scared me years ago? That he’d belong everywhere, while I’d been stuck here building a career brick by brick? When he returned, he found me fussing unnecessarily with the silverware drawer. “Some things don’t change ,”he said. I raised a brow. “Like what?” “How you alphabetize your chaos, how you manage to stay stunningly beautiful as ever.” I rolled my eyes, but my cheeks betrayed me with color. “Maybe I like order.” “ I've always liked that about you.” Dad was fast asleep on the couch when Ethan gathered his jacket. Mom conveniently disappeared into the back bedroom, humming a love song off-key. Outside, the night had cooled to a crisp hush. Streetlights painted the sidewalk in gold and shadow. We walked to his car, steps synchronized without thinking. “Thanks for coming tonight,Thanks for been here at such a diificult time in our lives” I said. “My parents adore you.” “I adore them, as well” he replied. “...And… you.” I looked up sharply. “Ethan…” He shoved his hands in his pockets, suddenly awkward. “I know i shouldn’t ambush you, but I can’t keep pretending I’m just the helpful friend. I didn’t come back to this city for a job or nostalgia. I came back for you. You are the reason, i’ve taken an indefinite break.” My breath caught. The world seemed to shrink to the pool of light beneath the porch lamp and the steady beat of my heart in my ears. He took a half step closer, not invading but offering. “I know we broke things off in the past because of miles, not because we didn’t fit. I’ve had time, time to see the world, time to see and realize the gravity of what I lost. And I’m not willing to lose you again without trying.” For a long moment, words abandoned me, I couldnt find the right words to say. The air was thick with every memory, late-night study sessions, cheap coffee dates, whispered plans for the future. He still smelled faintly of cedar and his cologne, the same combination that used to undo me. Somewhere inside, a door creaked open, the one I’d sworn i’d shut on us. He waited, searching my face with that familiar gentleness that once felt like safety. I swallowed hard. “Ethan…” My voice was barely a whisper, all tangled emotions. The porch light flickered once, as if the universe were holding its breath, waiting.
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The billionaire , the ex and the fake fiance. Chapter 21- Walk of shame.
I woke up to a bunch of missed calls from Priya. Shit! shit! shit! I stared down at myself wearing a large T-shirt, only that it wasn’t mine. I took in my surroundings for the first time and that was when it dawned on me.I had fallen asleep on the car ride after visiting the bar. In my defence I didn't want to go home in that sorry state, forced to face my depressing thoughts without Priye to distract me. She had gone on a date, yeah she was still doing that.My head was pounding.Like someone had replaced my brain with a marching band and forgotten to stop the rehearsal.I blinked at the ceiling, tall, white, and way too expensive to belong to me. Then the scent hit: something crisp and faintly masculine. Not Priye’s air-freshener-meets-coconut-chaos.My heart dropped.Oh, God.I sat up too fast and groaned. My dress was gone. My makeup was ruined. And I peered down at the large T-shirt again.Zane Cross’s shirt.“Okay, breathe,” I muttered to myself. “You can fix this. You didn’t do
The billionaire , the ex and the fake fiance. Chapter 20- Shatter point.
The sky started crying first, before I joined in.As I cried, I told myself I wasn’t supposed to be here. I’d told Ethan I couldn’t make the gallery, pitch decks, my dad, a dozen good reasons. So why was I now crying? After all,was this not the outcome I was expecting? As the rain crawled under my collar. I felt a cold hand at my back, “Maya, wait. I was going to tell you.”“Were you?” I asked mildly in irritation and disgust. “Before or after tonight?”I noticed he wasn’t alone , he had the audacity to bring his evidence with him.Leah’s mouth tilted. Not a smile. An assessment. “I’ll give you two a minute,” she said, already stepping back as her fingers brushed his sleeve as she passed. The audacity was infuriating.He reached for my hand. I let him take air. “Please,” he said, “Let me explain.”“Start with the bar,” I said. “I know she was with you that night, your so called business meeting.”“It was nothing.” He insisted “She needed closure, that was all.” He then continued.
The billionaire , the ex and the fake fiance. Chapter 19 - Lines and fire.
I didn’t knock.By the time I pushed through Zane Cross’s office door, my pulse was already sprinting ahead of me. If I’d stopped to think, I probably wouldn’t have done it , but I was past caring about protocol or professionalism.He was behind his desk, sleeves rolled up, focus deep on some sleek tablet. He didn’t even flinch when I walked in, just looked up slow, unbothered, like a man immune to confrontation.“Maya,” he said, voice calm, low. “ Right on time.”“Good,” I shot back, crossing my arms. “Because I wasn’t planning, I needed to be back here. You had me removed from my own team attacking my competence, you couldn’t find any other less demeaning excuse?”He set the tablet down carefully, like my anger was a fly he could just brush off the table. “You read the memo.”“Of course I did,” I snapped. “Do you have any idea what that email does to my professional reputation? I’ve worked my ass off here, Zane. And you just…”“Protected you.”I laughed, the kind that sounded lik
The billionaire , the ex and the fake fiance. Chapter 18 - The quiet conspiracy(With a ghost in the room)
“You’re sure Cross won’t see this coming?” Malcolm Kane asked without looking up, as he swirled the liquid in the crystal tumbler. The rooftop restaurant purred around them, soft jazz, soft voices, as the city below gleamed like an accomplice, bright, reckless and too far away to care.“He’ll see something,” Richard Hale said, “You boys never tire of underestimating men like Zane Cross. It’s adorable.”“ Exactly why we would stop him before he connects the dots together.” Victor added from the other end of the table.“Let’s skip the foreplay,” Malcolm said, leaning forward. “Cross Developments’s Harbor South filings lock the waterfront for five years, if he gets council sign-off. That’s a death knell to my pipeline.”“Correction,” Hale murmured, sliding a mint to the edge of his napkin. “It’s a death knell to our pipeline.”“And whose fault is that?” Malcolm said. “You were supposed to slow him.”In the shadowed corner, Leah crossed one silk-sheathed ,over the other the slit of her cr
The billionaire , the ex and the fake fiance. Chapter 17- One click, one truth.
I woke up before dawn, disoriented by the false quiet. Ethan’s arm was still draped lazily across my waist, his breathing deep and even.For a moment, I let myself believe in the peace of it, I almost wished I had not encountered the text and just lived in the moment.The flowers from last night were still all over the apartment, half-wilted but still looked beautiful in the soft morning light.I turned to check my phone, out of habit. A single unread message blinked in my mind’s eye again.“Don’t ghost me L.”My stomach knotted. The message was sent close to midnight, around the time Ethan had drifted off to sleep beside me..I had stared at it for a full minute, as my thumb hovered over reply, but what would I have said? I’d forced out the foolish thought and forced myself to a sad sleep.I decided to catch a little sleep again as it was still too early to be useful.By the time I woke up, Ethan was already o
The billionaire , the ex and the fake fiance. Chapter 16- Arms full of Sorry.
I was back at my apartment and working on some files when I heard the knock. Three gentle knocks, slow and patient like it was contrite.I wasn’t expecting anyone and Priye never knocked. Then I heard his voice.“ Are you in Maya?”I didn’t move, Ethan didn't tell me he was coming over and we hadn't spoken throughout the day.The knocking came again, more insistent.“Maya? It’s me.”I walked over to the door in my socks, flipped the chain, and opened the door. I had to physically step back because he was all flowers. The smell pleasantly assaulted my senses. He was holding a ridiculous, arm-aching, florist’s annual profit amount of flowers: roses, lilies, something that looked like a tiny pine tree having a glamorous crisis. One bouquet under his chin, two balanced against his ribs, another tucked in the crook of his elbow like a baby.“I panicked,” he said, breathless, eyes wide. “Forgive me, I couldn't recollect your preference and I didn’t know how to stop buying.”“You stood me u
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