FINN. Throughout the drive to the boutique, Scarlett chattered about everything and nothing. I knew she was doing it to stop herself from thinking too much about whatever was going to happen and I also engaged her while cracking some jokes. It got to a point where she went eerily silent, staying quiet for as long as five minutes. I knew she was deep in thought but I said nothing. "I wonder where she's taking me to," Scarlett said as we drove into a boulevard. I followed his mother's car down a street filled with different luxury shops. She stopped at the last shop at the far end of the street and swerved into the parking lot. I slowed the car down into a cruise before turning to look at her. "Are you sure you want to do this, Scarlett?" She laughed. "Like, I have any option? Let's drive in, please. I have no say in this as it is." Nodding, I drove into the parking lot and parked right behind her car. Just as I shut the engine and stepped out from the car, Sca

SCARLETT. I flopped on the seat beside me and cradled my head in my hands. I was shaking uncontrollably. I felt him take a seat beside me before he gathered me into his arms. "Scar..." He whispered and placed his chin on my head. All I wanted to do right now was cry my eyes out. I needed a release in one way or the other. I tugged at his shirt and continued sobbing until no more tears were left to shed. I remained in his arms for a long time before whispering. "Can you take me to my room, please?" "Of course," He said immediately and helped me up. Just before I could take a step forward, he lifted me in his arms and carried me all the way to my room. He kicked the door open with his foot before laying me on the bed. He turned to leave but I grabbed him by the arm. "Stay. Please." He nodded. "I'll just lock the door, okay? I am not going anywhere." I watched him go to the door and once the locks clicked, he turned back. "I said I wasn't going anywher

SCARLETT. I enjoyed the movie. I wasn't sure about Finn, though. He kept complaining about how generic and cringe it was and after the movie, I turned to him. "So, how was it?" "You should know by now that I didn't really enjoy it." I fell back into the chair and placed my feet on his thigh. "It was a nice movie." "Generic. I already knew how things were going to turn out. I hate to watch movies I can predict. It doesn't feel authentic. I like to be kept at the edge of my seat," I burst into laughter. Watching him rant about this movie was really cute. "You should be a director, Finn. At least, you might be able to direct less predictable movies." "I actually wanted to be a director one time in the past. I already planned on attending The Juilliard School, New York University's Tisch School Of The Arts, or the London Academy Of Music And Dramatic Arts," "And you sound like you weren't able to. Why?" He shrugged. "My pops. Things went south and

FINN. I left later in the day. Scarlett made sure I took the car with me. It felt awkward driving uptown in a BMW. Driving through the streets screamed extravagantly and when I was asked to go in the SUV instead, she insisted that I go with the one she asked me to use. My family was quite known as we had lived there our whole lives, right in the house our father had built. Though it was more than isolated now and lacked the luxury it used to have— several flashy cars, servants, a clean garden, and the rest —we had kept the place. No matter how bad things were, my mother insisted on keeping the house instead of selling it. It was hard to sell off a house where most of you held your most beautiful and happy memories. As I drove along the avenue, some of the neighbors looked in my direction. I wound the windows up and thankfully, it was double tinted. Even if I drove into our house, no one would know it was me. I climbed out of the car and opened the gates immediately b

FINN. Truly, Raya's nervous system and hormones were starting to get affected. She was suddenly becoming unnecessarily rude and making jokes that set me off. More than once, my mother flared up but I pulled her away and asked her to chill out. While she got tested, we sat in the waiting room in silence. My mother kept sighing from time to time and I tried to distract myself with my phone. I scrolled through my Twitter news feed, getting engrossed in the latest gist surfacing the internet. My mother sighed again. This time, it was more intense than before. I turned to look at her. "Mum, if you keep worrying, it's going to change nothing. She's going to be fine, I promise," "I'm worried, now more than ever," She did quietly. Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears and she blinked them back. "Your father experienced this same thing a few months before his death. We were assured that he was going to be better, weren't we? We were told it was epistaxis and that he was just res