WHEN EVELYN got to the foyer, she picked up the phone and stared into the camera, gingerly making her way to the rear wing of the mansion to the courtyard where her privacy was guaranteed. "Hola, Mami!" She waved at her niece. "What's good?!" "Hola, Tía!" Livvie's reply came almost inaudibly amidst the cacophonic background. Just before Evelyn could complain about the noise, a group of grade schoolers scurried to Livvie's side, battling to join the facetime, all of them speaking almost at the same time. "Wow! Is that your aunt?!" "You weren't kidding when you said Jason's girlfriend was your aunt?!" "OMG! She's so pretty..." "I can't believe I'm face timing my idol's girlfriend!" "Is Jason there with you right now?!" "Give us a peek of what the interior of his mansion looks like!" "If possible his bedroom... with him in it!" Evelyn blinked on hearing the last comment while the little girls blushed and giggled. Livvie shooed them away. "
"JASON!" NORA loose a squeal of excitement and ran towards him the moment she noticed him walking into the hallway. Jason lifted her into his arms and hurled her up in the air which made her squeal more in excitement. "Hiya, kiddo!" He said in his best cowboy accent trying to imitate Ray from Nora's favorite kid's show "Treasure Hunt With Ray". That was their little ritual. Nora giggled. " Hiya, Jason!" She replied, planting a moist kiss on his cheek. "Why haven't you been around for a while now?" She pouted her bottom lip. "Don't you miss me?" "Of course I miss you, little princess" he said smoothing out her hair that had been ruffled up from hurling her in the air. "I've been really busy lately. Here's a peace offering." He took a little pink backpack— designed to look like a unicorn— off his right shoulder. "Wow! Unicorn!" She grabbed it from him. "Thank you!" "Where's daddy?" Jason asked striding towards Brad's bedroom. Nora flickered her little foref
EVELYN AWOKE the next day to find the bed empty and Jason had disappeared. It had been quite chaotic last night deciding on who will take the bed and who will take the coach. After minutes of controversy, they had both agreed to sleep at the far ends of the king-size bed. Evelyn had added more spice to it by building a barricade of pillows cutting off his own half from hers. The barricade of pillows which were scattered all over the bed. Evelyn grabbed her phone from the bedside table and slide it into her pocket as she pulled herself up. She came to a halt at midway. For some unexplainable reasons, she felt a sudden pang of starvation hit her. Hard. She groaned, gripping her stomach, and made a beeline for the kitchen to make herself a quick breakfast. On getting there, she found Diane sitting cross-legged in all her loftiness, leafing through a fashion magazine as Flora, Jason's cook, made her a platter of what seemed like a Greek salad. WASN'T SHE THE ONE S
YOU KNOW YOU REMIND ME OF THIS GIRL. SHE WAS JUST AS LIKE YOU. SAME ATTITUDE, SAME LOWLINESS. BUT IT DIDN'T QUITE END WELL FOR HER... A FRIENDLY PIECE OF ADVICE, STAY AWAY FROM JASON BEFORE YOU REGRET IT TOO... Diane's words echoed in Evelyn's mind. They chased around her brain even now, later the next day as she prepared to go check out her new space. The rate at which orders for her clothes were flooding in, she needed a temporary space to work in and she also needed to hire someone to help, maybe two or three someones. A few weeks ago, Doris had contacted her to recommend a real estate agent her family knew and the woman named Rosa was a connoisseur who lived up to Doris' description of a go-getter who knew her business. However, the entire process took time. A couple of listings Rosa showed them were pretty good— not perfect, but adequate— and Evelyn could have been content with either of them. Though yesterday she had found the perfect space she wanted, she still
EVELYN MOANED stroking her throbbing temple. She had quite anticipated that reaction from her. "Jorge?!" Doris repeated her disbelief patent. "You're meeting with that prev? Are you kidding me?!" "Can you not yell?" Evelyn winced. "My head is throbbing." Doris took a deep breath and collected herself. "Sorry... but I'm struggling to figure out why you would meet up with that scumbag after what he did to you?" "From the way you sound someone would think he attempted to murder me," Evelyn murmured. "It's not like he inflicted any physical harm on me." Doris grimaced at that. "Oh? You're waiting for him to inflict physical harm on you before you avoid him? Since when are you in The Jorge's fan club." "I didn't say I was a fan, but the man's a brilliant PI and I really needed urgent info on Brad, okay? There wasn't anyone who could get it that fast." There was an extensive stillness as Doris scrutinize her friend squarely. "Just for the record, I'm totally aga
THERE WAS something up with Evelyn, Jason knew that for sure. She'd been awfully quiet the past couple of days which was entirely way out of her character. She'd never responded to any of Diane's contemptuous remarks and even when he had teased her she'd just ignored him too. Evelyn was like a ghost. Roaming around with not even the slightest sound. She never came out for breakfast which was quite weird because no one loved to eat as Evelyn does. Was she annoyed with him that he hadn't kept his promise of getting Diane a house as quickly as possible? She hadn't been much of herself lately. Her whole attitude had undergone a subtle change. Jason didn't believe it but he actually liked her better when she was been defiant and unruly. What was even extra weird was Evelyn and Julia seemed to be spending time together. He couldn't grasp the sudden friendship between them and when he had asked his PA about it, she had just brushed it off as ‘Girls' stuff’ and nothing
IN THE early hours of the following morning, Evelyn slid off the deserted bed. She felt better but a little sour and weak. Naturally, her slender feet carried her to the kitchen. She'd literally eaten nothing throughout the previous day, besides the occasional sips of lemonades and energetic drinks. The smell of bacon and scrambled eggs filled her nostrils as she got to the kitchen's doorway. They were her favorite and on a normal occasion, her appetite and palate would jump for joy at such aromatic deliciousness, but for some bizarre reasons, she felt disgusted looking at the meal. Evelyn wrinkled her nose and shifted her gaze to Jason and Diane. She noticed the awkward tension between them and the sense that the air temperature had slipped several degrees towards arctic. What is wrong with the both of them? "Good morning," Evelyn said as she emerged into the kitchen. When Jason's eyes met hers, there was some emotion in them she couldn't identify. Her heart
EVELYN WOKE the next morning with a not-so-nice feeling of queasiness. She moaned and swallowed quavering as the sensation grew acute when she tried to sit up. She fell back on the bed, but that didn't help. Neither did Jason's big arm landing over her belly. "Ugh... get off me, Jason." Jason sat up in bed, giving her a look of intense scrutiny. "Huh? What's the matter?" He frowned. Evelyn scowled at him. She felt terrible and he was adding to it. As she readied to unleash the beast of frustration right on him, nausea caught up with her at the same time. She almost didn't make it to the bathroom in time as she threw up. Jason's expression cleared immediately and he leaped out of the bed with entirely too much vigor when she lurched back. "Are you okay? You look pale. What exactly is wrong with you?" Evelyn glared at him and snapped, "If I knew would I..." She breathed in and said more calmly. "I'll use the shower first." She shuffled to the closet— which was l