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“I’m not an invalid, Greta.” I brush away her arm, frosty persona back in place, sighing heavily as I walk up the concrete path to the very beachy feel waterfront seafood restaurant she showed me in pictures the last few days. She’s been by my side at every opportunity and mothering me like she rescued a wounded duck with only one wing. Apparently, walking is now something I cannot handle alone. Along with the constant cheerleader efforts and pep talks about ‘pulling through.’
“Did you just give me the ice queen routine?” She stops dead in her tracks and slaps her hands to her hips while eyeing me up and down, and I glare her way. “We talked about that, missy. I’m your boss…. Your caregiver. … Your…..”
“Giver of headaches.” I finish
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Til Death Do Us Part 38
“Why stay here if it’s this desolate? You can only make money half the year?” It sounds like my idea of hell, and I curse at my inability to access the millions of dollars in my bank accounts that I haven’t dared confess to her I have. It seems a little like rubbing it in her face when she uses duct tape to keep her rucksack in one piece.“I like it. I came from a pretty messed-up background with no stability, and my kid died when she was two. I needed somewhere pressure-free to go and find a reason not to end it all. This island is like a healing balm and resembled nothing in my past to give me bad memories.”“Your kid…. ?” The words catch in my throat, and my heart somersaults. Pain splicing me, and I turn my head to see the sadness in her eyes. A mirror of how I feel anyti
Til Death Do Us Part 39
“I can’t do this!” I snap at Greta for the fiftieth time as water sloshes all over me, and I lose my grip of the plate I am attempting to wash and send it skidding across the huge steel tub before it smashes to smithereens. Cursing myself for first scalding my own hands with hot water and then managing to crack three glasses that I dropped in the sink before I realized I should place them in carefully. I’m losing my last nerve. How is this so hard to master when it seems like a relatively straightforward task? Everything is so slippery, and this sink is like a bathtub; it’s so vast. I’m soaked all over, even through my apron, because of the way water slops up anytime I dip crockery into it.“You’re such a quitter. Can you stop being such a drama queen and pipe down? We have a dinner party out there to impress.” Greta flicks bubbles at me as she leans in to grab a plate I have managed to stack on the rack succ
Til Death Do Us Part 40
“Sometimes, I struggle to like you; you know that.” Greta comes up behind me, and as furious as I am and caught up in my rage, her words hurt me, and tears fill my eyes instantly. She’s never one to mean it when she says things like this, but my lip trembles, and I bite it to stop it from showing. My feeble idiot feelings when it comes to my only real friend in this place.“I don’t care. I never asked you to like me.” Greta has this magic ability to make me an emotional and vulnerable mess with the click of her fingers. I spit it out like a child sulking and keep my head turned away, so she doesn’t see how easily she brings this on nowadays.“Whoever taught you that it was okay to be this way was wrong. Whoever told you that you weren’t allowed to make mistakes, or cry, because your hurt, or sad, or angry, or scared, or know you messed up…. they did wrong.”“Don’t okay. I don’t
Til Death Do Us Part 41
“Woah…. I expected a sad story, but that….. it’s a saga.” Greta eyes me over her cup of warm cocoa, illuminated by the dawn glow as we sit by the windows on the second floor. I don’t know why I held off being honest with her about everything before now, as not once through my storytelling did I feel like she was judging me. She was quiet, attentive, and offered hugs and tissues as needed. I know she wouldn’t use who I am for personal gain, and it somehow feels like a huge weight has been lifted just by her knowing who I am.We have an unadulterated view of the tiny village and streets from up here and the vast chaotic ocean as it tosses to and fro. Its immense power and size remind me how insignificant and vulnerable humans are yet can also instill a sense of peace inside me. Like the night of the accident, it’s misty in the distance of the dull morning light, and you can’t see the landscape, or the mountai
Til Death Do Us Part 42
“And yet you don’t think they are capable of tampering with a car to off you? Do you think they’ll let you reappear now? If you show up in a swarm of ‘here I am,’ what realistically will they do? That thought scares me. They offed you for threatening his position. What will they do for creating a mass scandal and implicating more of them and damaging the entire company?”“Arrgghhhhh.” I let out a strangled noise of despair and throw my blankets off. Exhaling heavily, getting up to pace around while stretching out my arms, and crick my neck from side to side to work out the knots. Frustrated, weighted with pressure, and so tired I can’t think straight.This is my family, husband, and entire existence, even though what she’s saying makes perfect sense… It’s crazy and sounds like a movie plot. I just can’t.“Let’s just say that IF, and it’s a big IF…..Jyeon did w
Til Death Do Us Part 43
Knowing how many wealthy families have politicians, officers, and such in their back pockets, it’s not all that hard to believe she might be onto something. Corruption, greed, and destructive power struggles. It's what’s gone on around me my whole life. Being sized up, treated like prime livestock with every daughter and son in our entire city. Young heirs were willing to seduce Jyeon or me to get in on the golden egg that OLO was. Our money, our status. Many have killed for less in our culture’s history. We’ve never been people.“Please tell me your parents died of a real accident and not brake failure,” Greta adds in afterthought, and I turn to her with a sad frown at the mention of them, knowing why her brain has gone there. I exhale with the weight of all of this.“It was a genuine accident. A tragic pile-up when a truck Jack knifed on a snowy night. My parents and many others lost their lives on that highway. My father-in-
Til Death Do Us Part 44
TWO YEARS LATER“Good morning, Anna.” The bright, cheery voice of Barbara, the mail woman as she passes me in the street, brightens my morning. “Morning.” I’m practically skipping today. Wearing a new cornflour blue summer dress on the hottest day of the season so far and in a blindingly happy mood. Nothing could dampen my spirits today since I woke up from a scarce night of no nightmares and felt incredibly refreshed for once. It’s funny how that alone can change my entire day. The village is bustling, bright, and early, with most fishing crews already coming in to offload, and the har
Til Death Do Us Part 45
“Beautiful as always. You’re such a ray of sunshine in this place. I wish that one would learn she has a figure she could show off. Might have nabbed a husband by now if she wore a dress once in a while.” She throws her daughter the side-eye and gets an eyeroll in response. The usual bickering between them because she feels like her twenty-five-year-old should be settled down already.“Hey… if I wanted a man, there’s a few who are interested. I’m following Greta’s example and focusing on making myself happy and dressing how I want.”“While sweating in jeans in summer.” I point out and duck as she throws a scrunched-up paper bag at me. “Says the woman who evades Tom Fletcher at all costs while he&rsquo
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