“I ruined it” She sniffed. Richard wrapped his arms around her from behind and held her closely to his body. “Calm down, my love” “No” She snorted. “,Don’t tell me to calm down. I am not even happy with myself. That was supposed to be a surprise cake for you, Babe” Richard’s eyes widened with sincere disbelief as he asked behind her, “A surprise cake for me?” She nodded, wiping off her tears with the hem of her shirt. “You know, I don’t like it when you get into the kitchen and mess up your fingers. I don’t like it “ She bobbed her head. Guilt filled her up and she bit hard on her lips. Then, it dawned on her that she was not the one who had turned off the oven. The cake was even out and she had not even thought about that. Her focus drifted to Richard and she turned around to face him “Babe?” She said in a soft tone. “What Is it, my love?” “Did you turn off the oven? I’m very sure that I did not do that myself. God damn it!” She cursed under her breath “I was lying like

He slipped his phone into the pocket of his dark blue jeans and he turned slowly to meet her. His fists balled as she approached him and his breath quickened. Elise had threw on a light makeup right after dressing and she was prettier. He stretched out his hand for her to place hers in his. The duo left home at exactly 7:30pm. There was an already waiting Uber that Richard had booked for both of them. During his preparations towards their anniversary celebrations, he deviated between stating at home and having a late night dinner date with Elise, right there in their apartment but he felt that taking her out to a more exposed environment will cause her to lighten up and add more spice to the evening. A minute before Elise came into the living room, He dialed Nikofor the last time to find out if everything was prepared. It was Niko who had chosen the location that the would use for the date. His bestfriend assured him to set his mind at rest as everything was planned out exactl

Ruben watched her movements in silence. “Thank you for everything, Mr. Ruben” Elise told the seated man. Her hand bag swung from her right hand. “Like I said, put your investigations on hold, for the moment. I’ll handle things myself” The man bobbed his head. Then, he wiped his sweaty brows. His hands were shaky as he started to unzip how small bag. Elise was about to walk away when she stopped in her tracks and turned back to look at the man. He was now gathering the papers on the table. He peered up at Elise and cocked an eyebrow. “Did you leave anything behind, Ma’am Elise?” “Yes” Elise hissed, “I left my final instructions unsaid. Now, I don’t want you to breath a word of any of these to anyone. I have left way too much sensitive information with you. Do you understand?” The man held back a chuckle and he bobbed his head. Elise swung around and took long strides out of the café without looking back at the dazzled man. The clouds hung, dark and gloomy outside the café an

Richard didn’t look back as he chopped through the eggs, “You’re acting like an old man.” Heaving a sigh, Elise tossed the paper towel at the trash can but missed, “I feel like an old man, that is exactly why I have you in my life. You are my bodyguard, remember?.” She winked at him “Can I have another paper towel?” Richard smiled, nodded and tore off another for her, then picked up the dirty one and threw it in the trash can. Within a short while, Richard dumped the eggs evenly on two plates and he brought them over to the dining table. Elise joined him with some plates of toast bread. Halfway through their meal, Richard’s phone rang beside him. He peered at the screen of the phone and looked up at Elise. She was folding her bread with some pieces of egg in between and she raised her face to meet his eyes on her, she smiled. It was brief and fleeting. “What’s up?” She asked Richard before she munched on the bread in her hands. “Who called you?” She nudged her chin at his phone

After almost four hours of groveling and pushing through the snow, Sly finally got to the private neighborhood where his family house was situated. He decided to park a distance away from the house because of the huge pile of snow that was ahead. Cold seared through him. His light long sleeved shirt was almost useless as it was as though he was not wearing any clothing. His trousers was made of thin fabric and he kept running his palms together, right after he switched off the engine of the car. The cold was numbing. Sly picked up the old scarf that laid on the passenger seat beside him. He could not remember who owned the scarf but that was the only clothing available that he could use in fighting off the cold as he prepared to leave the car . Sky drew in a sharp breath and Stepped out of the car. As soon as he did, biting cold stung his cheeks so he pulled thescarf up closer to my face. As he looked around, he noticed a white blanket of snow covering the trees, ground, and hous