LOGINIVYI had no idea if Jack was doing this deliberately, but he seemed to just be absent for way too long. Till this very moment, he hadn’t returned.Maybe I should be worried about him, but he had been living in this cabin for more than ten years now, and so if there was anyone who didn’t need to be worried about, it was Jack.Was he deliberately leaving me and Lina Barry here?After making me upset by telling me that I was also a guest here, he decided to disappear for heaven knows how long.“This is why I need the money to leave Paris for good. I need to get out of here and start my own life in a clean slate,” I said to myself.That was the only way out for me.“Ivy,” Lina Barry called softly from behind me, causing me to jerk.I had been so deeply engrossed in my thoughts that I hadn’t even realized that she had walked up to me, or maybe she had been really quiet.“What is it?” I asked Lina Barry harshly.And that was because I was still upset with her and the turnout of everything.
MARKAfter storming upstairs and spending a while in my bedroom fuming, I decided to come back down. I had taken off my suit jacket and loosened my tie.The anger ate deep, but after fuming and tossing back and forth in my bedroom, the anger just seemed to dissipate.Much to my surprise, I found Vector in the living room.“I thought you had left,” I said.I walked into my living room and slumped into the nearest sofa.“Well, I wanted to be sure that you were okay, Mark,” Vector said.My eyes caught the marriage certificate on the table. Vector had obviously kept it there, and seeing it again refreshed my memory on what happened about an hour ago. Vector could see that I was staring at the marriage certificate.“Alexa is going to be the death of me,” I muttered with exhaustion.“I honestly thought you two would have settled everything by now, especially regarding where she will live,” Vector said.“Alexa has refused to speak to me since she found out that Mona is pregnant for me,” I re
ALEXA“Mrs. Alexa, you are back,” Lona said, sounding shocked.She could barely believe that I would be back this soon. I wasn’t even gone for up to thirty minutes. All thanks to Shirley and Reyna, the church was just a stone throw from the house.“Just Alexa is fine,” I told Lona, cringing at the title that she had automatically given me.Lona was so perplexed that she couldn’t keep it in any longer.“Did the wedding not hold?” She asked me.“It did, Lona,” I told her dully.Still, she wasn’t convinced.“But...you are back way too soon, you don’t want to be addressed as Mrs. Alexa, and you don’t have any rings on,” she noted.Lona was still trying to be respectful about what she noticed, and at the same time, keeping within her boundaries.“First of all, it was just a church wedding, Lona. It doesn’t usually take the whole day to sign a marriage certificate, and secondly, people are allowed to get married and not wear wedding bands,” I answered.But deep down, in all of this, Mark an
MARK Was Alexa serious? Did I hear her correctly or was it a joke? A part of me knew that I had heard her correctly, which was why I felt deeply humiliated, especially as everyone’s attention was now focused on us. Worse, they had heard everything that was said. “Is there something you would like to say?” Alexa asked me cockily. She knew exactly what she was doing. First, she arrived almost late, and to make matters worse, she came dressed as though she was going to work on a random day. It wasn’t fair. It was embarrassing, not to talk of the fact that she had been avoiding me all through. Alexa signed the certificate that made us husband and wife without even looking at me. I had attended a lot of weddings in my lifetime, in and outside the city, but I had never seen anything like what happened here today. It was the coldest wedding ever! Unfortunately, it happened to me. “No, I don’t,” I said, trying so hard to push the humiliation down my throat. In the midst o
ALEXA“Congratulations, Mr. Mark,” Shirley and Reyna sang to Mark who merely smiled tightly and nodded in acknowledgment.He wasn’t happy.Well, that would make two of us.They turned to me and said, “Congratulations, Mrs. Alexa.”And that made my heart beat instantly because it stuck to me.Mrs. Alexa.If the called the full name, it would be Mrs. Alexa Mark Ronaldo. Well, until the court papers, I wouldn’t be referred to as that. However, the sound of that tasted really bitter on my tongue, and I already knew that I wanted nothing to do with that name.“Thank you, Shirley and Reyna,” I responded with a forced smile.I didn’t feel like being here, and thankfully, the damn wedding was over and I could leave. If Reyna and Shirley had questions, they had decided against it already.If they were disappointed by how I appeared for my own wedding, they didn’t show any signs of it, which was a good thing because they should know that they didn’t have any right to the choices that I make.Af
IVYJack returned an hour later and made us some soup from what he got while hunting. We all ate in silence and I didn’t bother with Lina Barry’s presence.Jack was already used to being quiet, and so he pretended as though he couldn’t see the tension between us.I couldn’t find the phone Jack used in communicating with Drew. What Jack didn’t know was that I had tried several times to look for it but I just couldn’t find it. It was as though he kept it somewhere in this cabin that I couldn’t reach.But where?The cabin was a small one. Was it possible that Jack would have hidden a phone in this cabin and I would not be able to find it?Or did he always take it out with him whenever he left the cabin?This left me confused and frustrated at the same time.Since Grace systematically kicked me out of her house, I had been unable to get access to any cell phone, and it would really be useful to me at this time.After the meal, we were quiet for some time and the air grew thicker. Eventual
ALEXA“What?!” I asked in shock.This was the least of the things I had expected Mark to say.“Are you aware that my dad is sick and the weekend is just two days away?” I asked him.“Please, calm down,” Mark said calmly, obviously trying to calm me down, but I wasn’t having it.“Don’t tell me that,
ALEXAI had already said the word before I began to regret it. It seemed like a party I didn’t even want to be involved with.Donald held a bouquet of flowers.Noelle was obviously on Donald’s side, which wasn’t surprising, but their expressions were enough to tell that they weren’t having a lovely
ALEXAAfter my dad fell asleep, I stayed by his bed and watched him. I had already called my secretary to inform her that I wouldn’t be coming to the office any time soon.I didn’t bother to call Noelle because we still hadn’t resolved whatever it was that caused her to leave angrily.“I hope you g
ALEXAHe didn’t show up.And I felt like a fool, just sitting there and waiting for Mark Ronaldo to show up, and he didn’t. I ground my teeth in annoyance, my rage almost bursting out.By the time I checked my watch and saw that he was three hours late, I knew that he wasn’t going to show up again.







