ArianWhen I open my eyes, the first person I see is Mr Cruz seated on the sofa with his laptop on his lap typing away. He has a frown on his face as if he doesn't like whatever it is he's seeing on the screen and I sigh.It's been three days since I was admitted to the hospital and he's been coming to see me for those number of days - before he goes to work and after he gets back from work. He only allowed Kary to come see me once which was yesterday but she didn't stay long.I watch him rake his fingers through his hair, blow out his breath and then he sets the laptop aside, turns his head and locks gazes with me. Sky blue eyes to honey brown eyes."Hi." He says."Hi." I reply."How are you feeling?" He asks."A little better." I say. "When can I go home?""Not a fan of hospitals?" He chuckles."No." I shake my head."I'll ask the doctor." He rises to his feet. "Do you want me to get you anything?""I'm fine. Thank you sir.""Okay." He nods and walks out of the room.I don't know wh
Gabriel "You want me to hold off on filing the petition?" Fabian asks, disbelief etched in his voice. "But everything is ready...""I know that and I'm sorry." I apologize. "I did something on the spur of the moment and I can't undo it. I really don't want to."Fabian sighs. "What did you do?""I sent her away to Asia for six months." I reply. "Bali to be precise.""Why?" He's surprised."To get away from her.""Gabriel! You shouldn't have done that." He scolds me. "In doing so, you've made a promise to her that you won't divorce her if she leaves. Did she put up a fight?""At first she did.""And then?" He probes."I just told her to go away because I need space." I rub my free hand over my face. "I actually didn't make it look like I wouldn't continue the divorce process if she leaves and she still agreed to go.""Women like that are manipulators." He says. "Anyway, are you really sure about this? I can still send her a copy via email.""Let's wait until she gets back. I'm hoping s
Gabriel"Are you okay son?" Dad questions suddenly.I look up at him wondering why he's asking me that all of a sudden but I don't say anything and just nod."Are you sure?" He asks. "Yes dad. Why do you ask?" "You look like you have a lot on your mind." He says. "How is the launch of the new laptop going?""Good. Everything is ready." I say. "We're also planning to launch Gabi's online game on the same day to get it over with.""I see." He nods. "That's good to hear.""Hey dad?" I look down at my glass."Yes?""Can I ask you a question?""Sure.""I know Gabi and I weren't interested in hearing your love story with mom when we were kids but I was wondering if you could tell me now." I mutter. "When did you fall in love with mom?"A smile appears on his face and he throws his head back with a sigh then after what feels like forever, he drops his head and looks at me."Now that I don't want to talk about it, you're interested." He mutters teasingly.I chuckle. "Tell me.""It was at th
Arian A knock on the bathroom door wakes me up and I'm surprised to see myself naked in the shower stall with the water running. Had I fallen asleep while showering? It wouldn't be the first time though. "Arian? Are you in there?" Mr Cruz calls out. I gasp loudly and I shut off the water hoping it'd not been running all night. "Arian?" He calls again, sounding anxious this time. "Good morning sir." I answer. I literally hear him take a deep breath and I wonder why he's asking about me. I'm sure I'm not late in attending to Kary right? "I thought something had happened to you." He says. "Are you alright?" "I'm fine sir." I reply. "I'll be with Kary in a few minutes." "Kary? She's gone to school." He informs me. "What?!" I shriek. I open the door and almost slip on the tiled floor in my haste to get out, grab a towel from the hanger and wrap it around my body then I rush to the door and fling it open. "She's gone?" Mr Cruz blinks several times in the space of a few seconds, pr
Gabriel When her words dropped, I felt like she'd sucker pinched me in the gut and she really did. She wants to stop working for me because of this? Hell no!"I don't accept your resignation." I tell her. "That's not enough reason to just quit.""Your sister already told me this before." She says. "There were more qualified applicants to take my place but you chose me. Why?""I wasn't the only one who chose you. Kary did too, right?" I answer vaguely. "And she's a very picky person when it comes to associating with people." She sighs. I know I'm stubborn and I never want to let things go if I can keep them. I'd give her a hundred reasons to stay if she wants to hear them."What day is it?" She asks."June 20." I reply. "You were in a coma for a week.""And you stayed here for a week?" She arches her brow."Yes.""What about Kary?""I had Micah drop her off at my parents place. She's been living there." I say. "She said she'll pray for you to get better."A small smile appears on her
Arian "Good morning Arian." Mr Cruz greets me with a broad smile on his face."Good morning sir." I smile back. "When did you get back last night? Kary didn't want to eat without you but I told her you wouldn't like it if she waited for you.""Around 9." He replies. "How are you feeling?""Good sir." I say. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I'd be coming home anyway. I couldn't stay in the hospital.""It's fine. Just don't stress yourself and rest a lot." He tells me. "I can't handle a repeat of that incident.""I won't let that happen again." I assure him. "Were you able to solve whatever it was that happened at work yesterday?"He lets out a tired sigh and shakes his head. "Not really. One of the generators blew up yesterday and two people died. Seven were injured.""Oh my gosh!" I cover my mouth. "That's terrible. How did it happen?""I don't know yet but I intend to find out." He answers. "Someone probably has it out for me. I don't want to jump to conclusions.""I'm sorry you're goin
Gabriel "What's the verdict on the investigation?" I ask the technician from the company we'd bought the generators."Well sir, I would like to tell you that someone had something to do with the generator's explosion but no." He says. "It was probably the fault of the operators. They should have known better.""What do you mean?" I frown."How long does the generator stay on working?" He questions."For as long as there's a power outage." I say. "Which is half of a day or sometimes a whole day.""They were probably trying to take a shortcut refilling the generator without turning it off and the heat from overloading it caused it to explode. That's one theory." He says. "Another is that the coils of wires connected to the generator rubbed against each other while the generator was running and the wires sparked, causing it to explode."I rub my bottom lip with my thumb thinking about his theories. I don't want to think that the men were stupid enough to refill the fuel tank while the g
ArianThe smile remains on my face long after the call ends, even when I close the book and make my way out of my room and head to the kitchen to see if I could do something to help them out."Is there anything I can do to help?" I ask, standing in the doorway of the kitchen."No dear, you need to rest." Theresa tells me."I've been resting. I'm tired of resting." I say. "Please give me something to do."Theresa sighs. "Okay. Go and help Rachel clean the pool." She says. "But you must be fast about it.""Yes ma'am." I nod, pivot on my heel and make my way to the garden. I meet Rachel already cleaning the pool with a long pole which has a net attached to it so I go over to her. "Hello."She turns to look at me, eyes me over and just ignores me which doesn't take me by surprise because I know she doesn't like me and I don't intend to confront her about it. "Theresa told me to come and help you clean the pool." I tell her. "Where can I get...""Here." She pushes the pole into my hands.