HAZELThe party was going on smoothly and Christian stood by my side all night. The main event of the night had been done and all that was left to do was mingle and interact. And if there was one thing I'd learned from the elite of Seattle, it was that they took their interactions very seriously. It was all about making connections for them. The dance had just finished and I stood sipping on my fifth glass of wine which warmed my insides and slowly fizzled away my nerves and took my mind away from the fact that Christian had not asked me to dance. I was not worried about it but it made me feel sad in a kind of way, even though I knew I had no right to… even though I would rather not care about it. I knew I shouldn't be drinking that much, but there wasn’t much else to do. After the dance, I watched the different couples across the room and my eyes drifted between the ones kissing and the ones being too close for a public space like this. I turned away from them and came face to face w

HAZELI woke up very early the next morning, cheery as ever. I headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the house. Preparing breakfast was never my thing and I was not a morning person so even I was surprised at the task I gave myself. As I stood preparing the coffee, I touched my lips and memories of last night assailed me. The kiss and the hold he had on me, I exhaled heavily. I had spent the entire night tossing and turning, and still hadn’t figured out how I was supposed to feel about it. Shaking my head to get rid of those thoughts, I started to prepare the waffles for Valerie. I heard her laughing as I passed her room that morning, I knew Tina was getting her ready for school. Not long later they came downstairs and we had a nice chat where she was telling me how Anna brought her pet fish to school the other day. I boxed up her lunch and Dennis came in prepared to take her to school. One thing about her was that she wasn’t fussy about going to preschool, she loved it actua

Christian didn't come down for dinner and it was almost past ten. I had already put Hazel to bed hours ago, I was surprised he hadn't even gone to kiss her goodnight yet, he always did it every night without fail. But for the past few days he had been occupied, I barely even saw him enough to engage in any banter with him. The few times he had come out from his home office after work was to pick a new bottle of wine or gobble up some snacks. All the other times I came in contact with him he was either working out while on a call or walking around on a call. He was truly overworking himself and I knew it was taking a toll on him because he hardly even saw Valerie. I sighed before I made a plate for him and headed for his office. Heading to his office with a glass of juice and some food, I silently prayed he was not in one of his shitty moods tonight. I softly knocked on the door before I pushed it open."Hi,” he paused typing and looked up at me. "You… you didn’t come down for dinner,

Being married to Christian Walker had turned out to have its own advantages—apart from the broody eye candy and the almost daily private show I got whenever we ended up in the home gym together, I mean. As much as I didn’t care for the idea of having a driver take me everywhere I needed fo go, I didn’t put up any fight when Christian forced me to go with Dennis in the mornings instead of driving on my own and getting myself into situations—his word, not mine—but it was a word I could have coined myself. Mark hadn’t reached out or showed up in a while, but I knew he was still out there somewhere. Lurking behind the surface. My mother’s cancer had flared up recently, and the doctors were working tirelessly round the clock. I tried not to think of the negative, so each morning, I put on a big smile and went in there to spend the day with her. If I was being honest, I didn’t know what to expect anymore. Christian had concluded on his own that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to drive

A month laterThe hall that Mia had chosen for her event was probably the most beautiful one I had ever seen. It was decorated in pastel colors, which followed the theme of her new skin care brand that she was launching. Everyone was dressed in different shades of pastels to match the products too. Soft strains of music flowed effortlessly through the room and we walked in with Christian’s hand on the small of my back.It was a Saturday, and it was the launch party for Mia’s new business. The sheer elegance of the gowns and tuxedos in the room never ceased to amaze me no matter how many of these types of events I attended. Whatever the theme was, these people always seemed to find a way to beat my expectations. I knew the dresses these women were often clad in cost a few thousand dollars and they all looked so beautiful in them, which was to be expected if they were putting that much on a piece of clothing. I stood next to Christian as his eyes scanned the room, the smile on my face