ONE NIGHT STAND BETWEEN BEST FRIENDS のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 51 - チャプター 60

Salma “You've been served”. The words stung my ears like a bee had stung my skin. Daphne had told me to expect this, but it still felt wrong to receive the papers in this manner. It felt like five years ago when I arrived in Baltimore in the middle of summer. I remembered disembarking from the train, and the gust of the cold evening breeze hit me. The cold had been such a shock to me given that it was already summer. I recalled seeing so many cops at the train station where I had alighted from that I had been sure they were looking for me. Especially when one of them had walked up to me to say that I looked a lot like “her”. I learned later on that “her” was an escaped convict on trial for murder. The cops that night had nothing to do with me. In fact, when my parents had discovered that I had run away from home, it had taken three weeks for them to bother searching for me. I hailed the first cab I had seen that night and simply stated, “Mount Vernon.” “It's quite the neighbourho

Brandon My hands trembled slightly as I hung up on Salma. She had some nerve ordering the court to restrain me from trying to contact my daughter.“Brandon?” I turned to see Elaine standing behind me. Her eyes were fixed on the brown envelope in my hand. “What's that about?” she asked, looking at the envelope. I tried as much as I could to regulate my voice, but I said, “Nothing.” “It doesn't look like anything to me, Brandon,” she said, “you've just been served by a court. If you're in trouble…” “I'm not in trouble,” I snapped, immediately regretting it. I apologised, “I'm sorry, but this is something… It's private.” “We're about to get married, Brandon,” she said, “you're not supposed to keep things from me.” I looked into her eyes, and for a moment I wondered if I could trust her with my fears, if I could be vulnerable with her and tell her all about Leona. But as tempting as it was to fall into her arms I could not bring myself to trust her fully. She would not understand.

FlashbacksSalma He turned his back on me and walked to the door. “Dad?” I called out softly. He turned to look at me. “Don't ever call me dad again,” he said, “and by the way, your mother died because you did not call 911 on time.” With that, he abandoned me for the third time in my life. I walked to my room like a zombie and crashed into my bed, staring at the wall and bawling my eyes out. I was like that for several hours, not moving from my bed, not shifting my gaze even once until I felt someone beside me. I turned my head sideways and saw Josephine seated, staring at the same wall I was looking at. “The walls are paper-thin,” she said without looking at me, “and your voices were pretty loud.” “You heard,” I said, shifting my gaze back to the wall. “I did,” she said, “but look at the bright side. You're an adult, and very soon you're going to be a surgeon?” She looked at me, “That's the specialty you're choosing, right?”I nodded affirmatively, “Yes.” “Look,” her tone

Brandon It sounded like she had company too, but I could not tell who it was. I backed away from the door and walked back in the direction of my car but my driver was gone already.Elaine's high-end condo was located in The Crescent Court, which was just a five-minute walk to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. So instead of going home, I chose to hike to the hotel instead. I had a private suite reserved for myself here. I rarely used it except on date nights with Elaine because I did not want to take her back to my apartment. Before Elaine, I had brought several girlfriends to my suite. As I stepped into the elevator, I saw Salma in it. But it was too late to step out. “So, you're stalking me now?” she demanded immediately as the doors shut. “I don't even want to talk to you,” I said, my voice tired. I was also doing everything I could to stop myself from looking at her reflection in the door. I knew that one look at her, and I would not be able to control myself around her. “Good,” came

Salma I woke up pleasantly sore. Brandon had always had a way with his tongue. In college, he had been dubbed by his ex-girlfriends and several flings as the king of heads. Last night was the second time he had gone down on me, and in the five years since he had given me head, he had developed some new skills. I looked beside me, hoping to see his sleeping face, but the bed was empty. I sat up in bed only to discover an empty room. I walked to the bathroom, hoping that he was there at least but he was not. Tears stung my eyes. It was just like five years ago. He had made love to me and then vanished before I woke up. When would I ever learn? I picked up my clothes from the floor and put them on hurriedly before leaving the room. I took the elevator to a lower floor and entered my room. I sat on my bed and pulled out my phone from my bag but it was switched off. I found an outlet and my charger and waited for it to come on. I had several missed calls already. There were two