That night, Carol sat up past her bedtime, waiting for Sebastian to come home. He entered the living room where she was sitting at eleven on the dot, looking so weary that her heart went out to him immediately. “Hey. Good evening.” She called to him, wondering to herself why he always looked so tired. He looked surprised to see her, and she realized that he did not see her there at first. “Carol. How are you doing?” “I’m good, and you?” “I’m fine. What are you doing up so late?” he asked, moving over to the minibar and pouring himself a glass of whiskey. He downed the contents of the glass in one go before pouring another drink and sinking heavily into the closest chair to him. “I wanted to talk to you,” Carol told him hesitantly. She was alway

The days before Carol and Sebastian were set to go on their trip were very awkward ones, especially for Carol. She did not know what it was that she had done the night when she and Sebastian had drunk together, but she knew that it was most likely not good. It wasn’t as though Sebastian said anything, but she could see it in his eyes. Carol was horrified and hoped that she had not tried to seduce him or something like that, but she could not bring herself to ask him. He talked to her normally anytime they had reason to talk to each other, but there was something different about him.Right now, she was sitting with her legs in the swimming pool, just swinging it in the water and enjoying its coolness against her legs. She wasn’t going to swim, but she was just sunning and trying to get a tan or something. Suddenly, she heard footsteps and turned around to smile at whoever was coming, thinking that it was one of the maids or gardeners, only to see that it was Sebastian. The smi

The drive down to the house was a very noisy one, with Belinda bawling her lungs out far louder than was necessary and cursing her ill-luck in having birthed such a wicked and disrespectful child. The others, including Carol, tried to placate her all to no avail as she continued to wail. “Just say you’re embarrassed by your family. Just say that and stop beating around the bush. After all, that was how you refused to allow your sister to come to visit you. Your own blood sister! I know that is exactly what you would have done to us if we told you we were coming. Can you see that I was right about us taking her unawares with our visit? Can you see?” Belinda asked Aunt Alice tearfully, getting a hold of herself as they approached the house and saw Sebastian waiting for them in front of it. She sniffed, wiped her eyes, and applied some powder to her face before getting out of the car after the others.Sebastian smiled warmly at them in greeting, shaking her father’s hand an

Carol found it difficult to sleep that night as sleep practically eluded her. She tossed and turned on the bed, trying to get some shuteye, but it just wasn’t happening, no matter how much she forced herself. So, she got up and padded out of her room, trying to be as silent as possible so as not to wake anybody up. The house was quiet, which was not a surprise, considering that it was already past two in the morning. Normally, she rarely found it difficult to sleep, but her mother never failed to bring out the worst in her and annoy her to no end.The light was off in the dining room, so she turned it on, got some orange juice from the fridge, and just sat there sipping it and staring into space. She was about to go and put on the television as there was no point just sitting there without doing anything when she heard the sound of footsteps. She froze where she was sitting, wishing that she did not put the light on as she was in no mood to speak to anybody about anything. Howeve

When Sebastian got back to his room, he found Carol fast asleep in his bed. She was lying on the covers in her pajamas, which incidentally, she had worn to dinner before the events of the evening had taken place. He went to take a hot shower, after which he wore his pajamas, and stood contemplating whether to get into bed beside her or not. After a while, he got into bed with her, after all, she was practically his wife, even though they did not act like it. Besides, they had shared a bed in Paris and nothing had happened. “Yeah well. Remember that then, you were not this attracted to her.” A voice in his head told him, but he shrugged it off. As soon as he climbed into bed, Carol rolled over, murmured something in her sleep, and made herself more comfortable by leaning fully against him, her back molde