Kayla had no words for Lei, and Lei did not seem to have any words for her either. They drove all the way to the house in terse silence. Soon her assistant was pulling the car to a halt in front of the house."Here we are, ma'am." Lei said.She left the vehicle running and it rumbled quietly. Kayla considered telling the woman to go to hell and never show her face at her house again, but there was a tugging in her chest that pulled her towards Lei. Yes, the woman was her aide and assistant, her bodyguard and confidant. But at the same time, she was her friend. Lei had grown up with her and had watched her cry, lash out out her brothers, feel joy in all its brightnesses, grieve in silence, grieve loudly, loathe, love. So many things, infact, and that’s why now as she stood, she ran her finger across her silver ring and let herself think."Your mother," she said finally. "Is she safe?"The question seemed to stun her assistant into reticence. She gripped the wheel, her shoulders hunc
It was raining when Mei arrived in the city, days before the wedding. Kayla's stomach rumbled with unease when the woman told her she was at the airport on her way. The Upper East side of the city was known for its abundance of luxury brands and elegant boutiques. There you could find the finest of dresses at the most exorbitant rates. Just the kind of thing the wealthy and the opulent hankered for. Being the daughter of a man like Zhang, Kayla was not surprised that Mei travelled all the way from one continent to another to shop for a dress. She cancelled all her activities for the day to meet the woman, all the while cursing Tate for forcing the job on her only to steal the title and her position.She got Lei to drive her to the airport and pick the woman up. Mei glowed at the sight of Kayla. She hugged her sideways in the vehicle."Hey!" She said, her accent curled around the word and made softer than it would have sounded on the tongue of another.Kayla returned the embrace. "H
"Welcome back, Mr Johns." The flight attendant said cheerily.Her smile was the whitest thing Ceneau had ever seen, which was saying a lot as he grew up in a family of people whose dentition were made perfect by many years of orthodontics."Thank you," he told her grudgingly.The sun was out and bright, a flat golden blot in the sky. It burned his eyes with its brightness. He wanted to make sure his last night in São Paulo was well spent, so he spent it at another club. Hours of partying at nighttime tended to make the eyes burn in daylight.Ceneau plucked his sunglasses from the breast pocket of his jacket and put it on. Behind him, Gaude descended from the stairs. Jovian followed closely behind. The man had been the one who snapped him out of his haze. He had fallen into a pattern - parties and nightclubs and booze and wine and bars and women, in all the shades they came in. Ceneau figured, if he was going to spend the rest of his life trapped in an arranged marriage with a woman
They decided that the wedding would be held at the Upper West Side of the city.Kayla's brothers, Sean and Tate, had no clue whatsoever on how to see about a wedding, so she was forced to see to the arrangements personally. It had to be grandeur, she knew.It was Ceneau's wedding after all—him being one of the younger and most affable of the Johns siblings—and the excitement was through the roof. It hung heavy in the air like the scent of blooming jasmine.As much as the family had wanted to keep it as quiet as possible, it appeared on the gossip tabloids and on the gaudy pages of expensive entertainment magazines. Ceneau who was about to be wedded seemed to care the least. He spent most of his time away. When she called to berate him, he smiled into the screen."All I have to do is show up, Kayla. Right?" He asked sweetly.Kayla planed her face in frustration. She was already in charge of the floral arrangements, acquiring the location, and getting all the decorations ready. She su
As the sun's golden glow started to spill slowly over the length of the city, Reynolds woke up in Kayla's bed. She was lying next to him, having gotten back from work while he was asleep. He smiled at the sight of her, splayed out in bed. Her hair fanned out around the pillow and one of her legs encircled his waist. She slept like a child, messily. It was the only thing she did with any innocence and he was grateful to be the one who woke up next to her each night. Every other thing she did was done carefully with absolute precision. He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and at his touch, she squirmed and smile in her sleep. He kissed her forehead and untangled himself from her and the sheets.It was the morning of Ceneau's wedding and Kayla had planned for it for weeks. By all indications, she wanted it to be perfect. He wanted to make sure all her efforts did not go to waste.The day unfolded with a seamless rhythm. He prepared breakfast quickly. It was pumpernickel wa
It was going to be long, long, day, Ceneau surmised.Even worse, it was going to be the first day of his life he would be obligated to be with one woman. It was the first day in a long time that he did not wake up to a woman tangled in his sheets. The one week he had stayed in São Paulo was the last week of freedom he would have, and he knew it. He spent his days as he wished, with whom he pleased. He faintly remebered kissing a bartender at the back of the bar, her hand already halfway down his zipper, his, palm in the globe of her buttock. Ceneau sighed. He already missed the vagaries of bachelorhood.Looking at his alarm clock, he saw that it was a few minutes past 5 a.m. It was just hours to his wedding. After his disappearance, the family had kept close watch on him, as if they half expected him to up and vanish one night. The truth was, it was not as though he had not thought of it. He had dreamed of it, in fact. He wanted to book a flight, pack a bag hurriedly and head for
Gaude's daily routine had not been broken for a little over ten years.Every morning, he disassembled his handguns and put all the parts together again. Afterwards, he oiled them and made sure that the cartridges were full. Truth was, it had been years since he had had to draw his weapon and fire in defence of anyone. After being assigned to Ceneau Johns, most of the tasks he faced each day were of a more menial nature. He drove his young boss around the city and to events. He served as protection, which too often simply involved standing still in his dark suit and looking tough—an easy skill to acquire after having been trained at the academy. Gaude had worked for Ceneau for so many years, he could no longer trace the memory of being assigned to him back to the beginning. However, if there was one thing he had come to know about the young man, it was that he disappeared whenever he felt overwhelmed.It made the man unique compared to the rest of his kin. The Johns were balls of ra
Rey arrived at the church half an hour before the groom's brothers.He was dressed for the occasion: chukka boots and a black Armani suit that fitted him like a glove. Only a handful of guests were present to witness the ceremony, and they were all dressed like him. Ceneau was yet to arrive at the church and the air was already tense from the waiting. His mother had already assured them that Ceneau was on the way, but Rey doubted it. He knew a lie when he heard one and he could knew a poor liar when he saw one. Ceneau's mother was a terrible liar. Her face was a mask of worry.Sean, Tate and Lloyd whispered frantically among each other at the second time row. Hamish sat with his father at the front row, in his tux, as urbane as always. He smiled and shook the guests when they approached him, as though there was no problem at all. Guests milled about, greeting each other and sharing hand shakes.In the heart of the hustle and bustle, an unsettling hush spread amongst the Johns like r