MasukALEXAI sat in the living room after having dinner, trying to get some rest, or maybe it was because I was too restless.All day, not a word from Noelle.I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Shirley told me that she had gone to be with Mark. I did try to get the ugly thought of what they might be doing together, being that Noelle was my best friend and she wouldn’t do something like that to me, but it just wasn’t working.“If she could lock lips with Mark and keep it away from you, then what is the guarantee that she wouldn’t do more?” A voice in my head asked me.Would anyone blame me?Why wasn’t Noelle honest enough to tell me where she was going? She simply used the excuse of going out with Shirley and Reyna, only to divert and go somewhere else.To go to Mark.If she wasn’t doing anything I shouldn’t be aware of, why then did she think to hide it from me?There were several thoughts that kept running through my mind, riling me up, and I really hated to feel this way becaus
MARK“They will be right out in a second,” Mona told me.I nodded.Then she came and sat really close to me. I didn’t push her away or act uncomfortably. On the contrary, I allowed Mona to think that she had gotten exactly what she wanted from me.If she couldn’t succeed with Ace, she certainly couldn’t succeed with me.Ace told us what he had had to endure with Mona in their few years of marriage, and that included cheating.“I am not upset with you, Mark, because you are not the only man she cheated on me with. Right on our matrimonial bed, Mona was having sex with another man,” Ace had told us. “You have no idea how relieved I am that I was able to free myself from her and move on. I don’t ever want anything to do with her,” Ace had added.He had said a couple of other things, but one thing he hadn’t done was discourage me from being with Mona.However, I knew enough now to know that I would never want to be with her, even if Alexa wasn’t in the picture.Noelle was right.I had Ale
MARKWhile we waited for the plane to be ready for us, I caught sight of Noelle a few feet from us. She had taken a walk away from Vector and me.Without hesitation, I walked up to her.Noelle seemed to be doing something with her phone, and so engrossed was she that she didn’t notice my presence.“Hey, Noelle,” I called calmly.Still, Noelle jerked in shock.“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” I apologized.“No, Mark, it’s fine. I just didn’t see you coming,” Noelle said, turning to face me.And that was when I saw that she was troubled. Instantly, I became worried about her.“Is everything okay, Noelle?” I asked her worriedly.“Yeah,” Noelle answered with a heavy sigh, but I just didn’t believe her.Not when she was having that look.“Come on, Noelle. I know that we have not always seen eye to eye, and we are not friends, but you can tell me if something is wrong,” I cajoled her tenderly.Noelle sighed again.It was as though something heavy was weighing her down.Again, I n
MARKSince Ace walked into his living room and started talking to us, his last statement was the first time I caught regret in his voice.Even when he mentioned Mona’s name before then, he didn’t sound embittered or upset. He simply sounded like a man who couldn’t care less.“Why would you say that?” Noelle asked Ace, speaking for the first time.And it was at the same time that I asked a question too.“Why did you leave her?”Ace stared at us, probably wondering what question to answer first, but Noelle and I didn’t plan to ask at the same time. Instead of answering, Ace had questions of his own.“Why are you really here, Mark Ronaldo?” Ace asked deeply.For the first time, he was sounding like a man speaking to the other guy whom his girlfriend cheated on him with in business school, and that made me slightly uncomfortable.Unfortunately, I felt worse answering his question.Ace already said that his greatest regret was marrying Mona. Well, I wasn’t married to her yet but I also had
MARKFinding Mona’s ex-husband as soon as we got to Toronto was one of the easiest thing to do. Even though I did say that it wasn’t a risk that was worth taking, Noelle made me get a private plane, and two hours later, all three of us were in Toronto.“Mr. Ace will see you soon,” a woman in her mid fifties told us.She appeared to be his house manager.Apparently, Ace was in his private gym when we arrived. The good thing was that we were allowed into his premises, and I couldn’t deny how successful he had become.Well, Ace wasn’t exactly poor, or maybe it was because I never really paid attention to him. He was my rival back then, and I didn’t usually concern myself about my rivals.The only way I would have concerned myself with him was if he was my rival in business.“I really hope this is worth it, and that we are able to get back to Paris before it gets dark,” I said in a low voice, almost impatiently.At lot of things were at stake if this didn’t go well.“Have some faith, Mark
ALEXA“Hey, honey, are you okay?” A voice asked me.I was sitting on a bench at a park. I could see a little child playing without a care in the world a few feet from me. The child wasn’t being supervised and I didn’t know whose child he or she was; I couldn’t even tell the gender.I turned to the voice and realized that it was my dad.My eyes lit up instantly.“Dad!” I called out, but I didn’t stand to my feet to hug him or do anything.But I was very happy to see him, and he could tell from the look in my eyes.“I have missed you so much, dad,” I added, my voice instantly thickening with emotions.“Can I sit beside you?” He asked me.“Yes, yes, sure,” I responded without hesitation.He sat down, but I noticed that he kept some distance between us. However, I didn’t bother him about it or ask him to come closer to me. It was just the both of us at the park now...oh, the child playing too.My dad and I stared at the child for a couple of minutes in silence.Everything was peaceful and
MARKMy anger at seeing Donald increased by a hundred degrees. I wanted to ask what he was doing here, but I remembered that he now held a significant position in Alexa’s life, much to my annoyance.As soon as he got to us, he exchanged a harmless and friendly hug with Noelle, the same person who w
MARKMy visit to the hospital came with different emotions.I was upset that Donald went ahead to officially announce their relationship. It didn’t matter to me that Mr. Silver didn’t seem interested. I couldn’t even bank on that. The man was sick, and he must have felt that that was the wrong time
ALEXAAfter Eva left, and that was me being satisfied with all the dresses she brought, as usual, I could barely stop thinking about her remark about Gina.The only difference between Eva and Noelle was that she didn’t make the comparison in Gina’s presence. Maybe that would have made Gina to feel
ALEXAAfter I managed to get Clara to leave, I sat back close to my dad and watched him sleep. He was fragile and weak, but he was resting well.Thankfully, it wasn’t very severe.I yawned tiredly, and my stomach rumbled with hunger, and I realized that I hadn’t had something to eat the whole day.







