One Year LaterI took a deep breath in the air of Chicago as I set my foot on the land. It felt good coming back home after such a long time. It wasn’t that I wanted to come back; I wasn’t ready yet to see the life that I left behind a year ago, but Luke made me insane with his endless nagging and whining.That twenty-seven-year-old child still got anxious when he needed to handle the board of directors by himself. I was glad he controlled everything here with such determination and care. I did leave my baby to him when I flew to Italy for an indifferent time period.When I left this place, I didn’t have any plan to come back. To be honest, I never wanted to come back here ever again. Whatever happened here a year ago wrecked me in every way possible. Even after parting away from Lyra, I was living a life that had nothing but loneliness, alcohol, and work. I repeated three things every day.

Meeting Caleb after such a long time should be one of the sweetest moments; however, as the anger mechanism worked in my mind, it was tiring for me to show that kind of emotion right now. I was over the moon meeting my friends, we talked most of the time on the phone, he tried to keep me up with the news of Chicago as he would tell me things here and there. I wasn’t interested in any of them. Sometimes he would bring out Lyra, and that was my clue to cut the call even when he was talking.Caleb was still the same, there was a glow that came from meeting his new girlfriend after such a long time, who was my assistant Jessica. Both of them met two weeks before Jessica and my departure from Chicago. It was Caleb who encouraged Jessica to go with me, as he thought it would be suitable adversity for their newly blooming relationship.Long-distance comprehended only two languages of love. One, either it would be a catastrophe or two, it would be

Lyra was standing in front of me, wearing the most flimsy dress that she could ever own. No, this couldn’t be her dress. I was familiar with her wardrobes like a dream and that piece she never had in her closet. Most of her clothes were traditionalist, with full sleeves and knee-length dresses, it filled most of her closet with jeans and blouses, shirts, and dresses. She wasn’t a big fan of fashion, but packed her wardrobe with a good number of designer brands.The lewd white dress that she was wearing right now that indulged to stop a little lower than her ass. Every time she turned, I could see her pale, creamy thigh. Her shoulder was bare as it was an off-shoulder dress, every time she lowered herself, all the men in this room could see her breasts that were about coming out of the dress. She tied her hair into a high ponytail, which gave an impeccable show of her neck. Because of that, she was smiling.She was fucking smiling towa

I canceled my plan to return to Italy for now; I called Jessica and told her to call off the meeting that I was supposed to attend on my return to Italy with an investor. I would do other works that needed my attention through email, my casino manager Rocky was a trusted, worthy man. He was accomplished of handling the situation better than anyone; therefore, I knew things would be alright in Italy with little hinder.But the way everything was resolved in Chicago was scaring me to death. After the night where I almost choked Devin, or whatever that bastard's name was to death, I was feeling more out of control. The fear of losing Lyra was taking all my thinking systems at once.We spent a year apart from one another, didn’t see her, talk to her, or listen to her voice, we were living our life as two strangers. During that time, I didn’t go through this fucking fear that I was having right now.I knew she was in this world some

I didn’t say a word after Nathan told me what happened in the hospital a year ago. When I woke up in the morning that time, it was Brian, Owen, Inessa, and Michale around me. Nathan was nowhere to be found.They discharged me from the hospital the next morning after the doctor confirmed I was out of danger and ready to go home. Brian and Inessa took me to their house. I was with them for a week before moving back to uncle Josh’s condo.Michale visited me every single day, sometimes before going to the office or sometimes after work. He would bring me flowers or my favorite food from my favorite restaurants. I didn’t think much of his actions that time as I wasn’t in my head that time.I was numb for a long time after coming home; I was listening to every word that was being said to me, but I couldn’t empathize with the meaning behind any of those words. It was the reason Inessa used to do all my works; she hel