ZORA'S POV
The doctor looked at the clipboard on which he had recorded Freya's vitals. He was a youngish-looking man with a prematurely lined face which I supposed was caused by many sleepless nights and late-night calls. He looked up, smiled at me, and beamed at Freya.
"You worry too much about your little girl, Ms. Walter," he said. "I can assure you that she is in the best hands and that we will do everything possible to make sure that she fully recovers."
He glanced again at Freya who was sucking on a lollipop he had offered her after examining her. She did not seem to pay attention to what the doctor was saying. She kept looking around his office at the gaily colored charts. She mouthed the words on the charts, her legs swinging back and forth on the high-backed chair.
I sighed. "I would like to believe that, doctor. I really will."
"Please, do. Her vitals look okay. I will look more closely into her case file. Bring her back here in...three days. I will have more definite news for you by then."
I got to my feet.
"Thank you, doctor. We'll be here just as you said."
We shook hands. Freya, who was peering at a beautifully illustrated children's flyer on the doctor's desk suddenly realized we were about to leave.
"Bye, doctor," she said, coming to stand beside me. She waved. "Mama and I will come to see you soon."
The doctor chuckled. "Of course, precious."
Seeing that she still looked longingly at the magazine, he took one and handed it over to her. Freya was more than pleased as we left his office. When we got to the reception area, my phone rang. I let go of Freya's hand to answer the call. It was Cheryl.
"Hello? Cheryl?"
"Oh, thank goodness you picked, Ms Zora. We have been expecting you at the firm. You have a meeting with the company that wants you to model their products."
"Oh...right."
"Signature Cosmetics," she reminded me.
The dime dropped. I hit my forehead with my palm. I had totally forgotten that I had a meeting with them that morning. All I had thought about throughout yesterday and this morning was Freya's doctor's appointment.
"Can I tell them that you will be here?" Cheryl pressed.
I hesitated. At the moment, I did not feel like attending any meetings. Though I really wanted to reschedule the meeting, I knew I could not afford to do so.
A contract with Signature Cosmetics was a very big deal. Besides, I had already rescheduled a lot of my projects and appointments since moving here.
"Ms. Zora?"
"I'm here, Cheryl. Tell them that I will be there in-" I glanced at my watch. "- in ten minutes."
"Okay. Good," Cheryl said in a relieved tone of voice.
I rang off. I increased my pace as we headed to where I had parked my car. I strapped Freya in and quickly drove out of the hospital.
There was some traffic on the way. I tapped my fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, wishing that I had told Cheryl to expect me in say -twenty minutes. I heard the rustle of paper as Freya leafed through her magazine, staring at the pictures.
"Mama?" she said after a while when she had gotten tired of leafing through the magazine.
"Yes, sweetie," I replied, taking my eyes briefly off the road to glance at her.
"Where are we going now? Home? My school?"
"No. At least not yet. Cheryl called me and said some people want to see me."
"Another..." She frowned as she struggled to find the right words. "brand company?" She finally said and grinned, proud of herself for using a word I so often used.
I grinned and ruffled her hair. "Right, kiddo. Mama has got to work."
"Can we get pizza and chocolate on our way there?"
"No, we can't, sweetie. I am late enough as it is. If this traffic doesn't clear soon, I'll be really late."
The words were barely out of my mouth when I heard a thud. My car lurched forward. Freya's magazine fell to the floor. I was a bit stunned for a moment. It took me a few seconds to realize that someone had bashed my car. I hit the dashboard and cussed under my breath, too low for Freya to hear.
Now, I would definitely not be able to make it in time for my appointment because of an incompetent driver. Freya was wide-eyed, searching for the source of the noise.
Irritated and angry, I quickly pulled over to the side of the road and got out of the car. I inspected my car. There was a considerable dent on it. One of the headlamps had almost shattered. The car which had bashed mine was a sleek grey Mercedes.
A casually dressed man got out. He had the air of a man who was acting on orders. I judged him to be the driver. He walked up to me and stretched out his hand. At first, I thought he wanted to shake hands and I stared at him in confusion. Then I noticed that he had a wad of dollar bills in his hand.
"Here, madam, take this and do whatever repairs you need to on your car."
I glared at his hand and did not take the offered money. I seethed. It was bad enough that this individual had dented my car. Now he or she had the temerity to send the driver to offer me money without an apology! I walked briskly to the Mercedes, meaning to confront the owner of the car. I rapped sharply on the tinted windows.
After some seconds of this, the passenger door opened and a tall man stepped out. I caught my breath in surprise. It was Elliot. He was dressed in a pinstriped suit. His black hair which was very much like Freya's was immaculate and gelled back.
He was even more handsome than he had been years ago. He had his dark and cold expression on, as though he had been brooding on something unpleasant in the car. He looked extremely tired. I could spot the signs of sleep deprivation. Those blue eyes widened in surprise when they fell on me.
We kept staring at each other. At that moment, I forgot that we were on a busy road. It was like it was just the two of us, sharing a private moment. Someone honked and the moment passed. I decided to act as if I did not know him.
"Hey," I said. "You just seriously dented my car. I think you and your driver need to apologize and not just offer me money."
Elliot dragged his eyes away from me and gave an almost imperceptible nod to the driver. He opened his mouth to speak when everyone's attention was arrested by Freya who popped her head out of the window.
"Mama," she called. "Aren't we going to see the brand company people anymore? What's wrong?"
I felt my heart race when I noticed the way Elliot looked at her. He had a puzzled expression on. I suddenly could not wait to get out of here. I plastered a smile on my face.
"I er- accept your apology," I said to the driver who looked bewildered. "Excuse me. I have to be on my way now."
Before either of them could say a word, I rushed to my car and zoomed off.
"What happened back there, Mummy? Who were those men?" Freya asked as she strapped herself back in.
I did not answer. I concentrated on driving. My hands were clenched so tightly around the steering wheel that they hurt. What I wanted was to get as far away from Elliot as possible.
When I had moved to New York, I had not given much thought to what would happen if Elliot found out that he was the father of my children. Now that he had seen Freya, I was starting to panic. I wished with all my heart that Elliot would not think about what he had just seen.
When I got to the firm, I was half an hour late. Cheryl, her hands behind her back, was pacing in the anteroom. She stopped when she saw me.
"Ms. Zora, you said ten minutes," she said reproachfully. She glanced at her watch and pointed at the door of my office. "They have been waiting all this while. What happened?"
I made an impatient gesture. "I'm here now, Cheryl. Here-" I handed Freya, who I was carrying over to her. "Look after her, will you?"
With a wave to Freya, I headed to my office. As I walked, I took out my hand mirror from my bag, patted my hair in place, and applied a little more lipstick.
With my hand on the doorknob, I paused and took several deep breaths, emptying my mind of the annoyances of the day. Thoughts about Elliot Garrett would have to wait.
ELLIOT'S POVThoughts of Zora kept intruding as I worked. I did my best to push them to the back of my mind. I drew the files my secretary had kept on the desk towards me. I flipped through them, noting figures on a sheet of paper. I was engaged in this task when I heard a knock on the door. Annoyed, I looked up. My secretary knew I did not like to be disturbed at this time. I wondered what she wanted. "Come in," I said. My secretary put her head around the door, peered at me, then walked into the room. She looked ill at ease. "Sir, your wife wants to see you-" I opened my mouth to tell her off. She guessed my intentions and quickly continued. "I told her that you were very busy and didn't want to be disturbed. In fact, I told her that you had really important work to do but she refused to listen to me. She is bent on seeing you. I just came in to give you a heads-up because she might come in at any moment."I sat back and regarded her coldly. "Isn't it your job to see that I am n
ZORA'S POV For what felt like the tenth time, I adjusted Finn's collar which was askew. He looked up at me, his big blue eyes wide with worry. "Can't I stay back, today, Mama?" he asked and pouted. "I'm smart, you say that all the time. I can stay at home and you can teach me what I'll learn at school. It will be the same thing." I hid a grin and sighed. My kids were a joy to me but they could be quite a handful sometimes. "But I have to work, sweetheart. I can't be your teacher too. You have to go to school, learn and mix up with other kids." Finn began to protest. "But Mama-" "Shhh." I squatted and placed a finger on his lips. "You will do fine at school, Finn. It's not your first school, you know. I know that New York is a big city, but the kids here are the same as the other kids at your former school. They don't bite." Freya giggled and Finn smiled a little. "Mum, can we go now? I want to meet all my new friends." Freya said, shifting from one foot to the other like she
ZORA'S POVMy body worked automatically, propelling me to my feet. I must have looked stupid to him as I gawked, hardly believing the evidence of my eyes. It annoyed me to see that Elliot seemed completely unaffected. He walked casually, his hands in his trouser pockets, like he owned the place. He came to a stop in front of my desk. There was a half smile on his face as eyes began to roam over me appreciatively. I felt myself flushing, in anger or embarrassment at his scrutiny, I couldn't tell which. The telltale blush I felt sure was creeping up my cheeks prompted me to say waspishly, "What the hell are you doing in my office, Elliot?"He swept his hand through his carefully gelled back hair- a gesture which I was achingly familiar with- and shrugged. "Well, I am here for a meeting with Zora Walter. But I am guessing you already knew that. Didn't you?"It was then the dime fully dropped. I could not believe that my deal with Sleek and Chic was going to have to fall through consid
ZORA'S POVI got into the car and slammed the door, purposely not leaving it open for Trey who was right beside me. It was a signal for him to drop the issue he had raised. He got to my side of the car and noticed that I made a move to scoot over. He went to the other side of the car and got in, slamming the door a little too hard and making the driver jump a little. I peered into the depths of the shopping bag which contained things I had been gifted for doing a commercial. "Zora-" Trent began.Exasperated, I let the bag fall to the floor of the car. "Drop it, will you?" I snapped. He sighed. "How can I in good conscience drop the issue? I would not be doing my job properly if I did that. Seriously though, how can you make such a decision without consulting me first? The deal with Sleek and Chic is like- is like..." He paused for a moment to find the right words. "It's like the biggest thing to happen to someone in your line of work.""I told you to drop it."Trey went on as tho
ELLIOT'S POVOnce more, I clicked on the folder where her pictures were cached on Instagram. I looked at each one, studying the expressions on her face, the background, and everything. Seldom had I seen a more beautiful woman than Zora. Her features were almost too perfect. It wasn't a wonder she was one of the top models in the world. There was a picture of her in a sundress, at the beach, with a straw hat on. The picture spoke to me. It was obviously taken with a phone camera. It was not professionally edited, but it was beautiful nonetheless. In the picture, the sun fell on her delicate porcelain skin. Her cheeks were flushed either with heat or exertion.Her long, dark hair fell in waves down her back. Her pink lips were curved into a half smile. What struck me most were those big brown eyes. There was an expression in them that seemed to say that they defied the world. I zoomed the picture. Her eyes were warm here. They had definitely not been warm when they had been looking a
ZORA'S POVI was dressing up the kids. Dressing up in my household involved laying out different articles of clothing, assisting the kids to dress, and then spending the rest of the time trying to keep their clothes properly on. They both could decide to use the restroom multiple times and in the process wrongly button up their shirts, leave their zippers half closed and in the case of Freya, muss the hair I had so painstakingly combed and styled. I was currently at the first stage now, that of laying out the clothes they were to wear. It was another weekend. Finn and Freya were the ones who had woken me up this morning, all giddy with excitement. Not content with shaking me awake, Finn had climbed on a stool and thrown the curtains open, letting in the bright, morning sunlight. During the week, Finn had made me promise to take him and his twin out. I had had a hectic week, hectic in more ways than one, what with meeting up with my modeling appointments and the whole contract canc
ZORA'S POV"Ms. Walters? Could you please respond to the questions?" asked the first reporter. There was a note of impatience in his voice and I could not resist shooting a glare at him. The nerve of these people! To act like I owed them anything. But I had long since learned that it was the way of the world and the price I had to pay for fame. That did not mean I liked it though. I felt hands clutch my trousers and at first I was startled, thinking one of these news hawks had gotten the audacity to physically restrain me. But it was only Freya, who looked so small and frightened. She met my eyes and held me even tighter. A camera went off with a flash right in her eyes. She slunk back and tried her best to hide her face in my shirt. Finn stood beside me, staring at the people expressionlessly. Apparently, he was unmoved by the whole scene. I knew he was affected by it as we all were, by the way he grasped my hand. As I got over my surprise, I began to look for a means of escape.
ZORA'S POVI walked into my office with Cheryl close behind me. I settled down before turning to her. "So, what am I to do today?" I inquired. After a glance at her iPad, she said, "There isn't very much to do today. All you have on your schedule is two commercials. That's all.""That's all?" I echoed, both relieved and surprised. Cheryl nodded. Since I had moved here, today was the least tasking day I had had. Coming to work these days almost literally meant working non-stop with little breaks in between. Having just two commercials meant I could go home on time, spend time with my kids, and also rest a little, considering the fact that my Saturday was stressful in more ways than one. "When exactly am I due for the commercials?" I asked Cheryl. "You have one by noon and the other...they requested that you tell them when it would be convenient for you."I thought for a moment. "Tell them I will be free by... 1 pm I should be done with the first commercial before that time."Havi