Selena received a phone call, so she went away.Jane, on the other hand, came downstairs. She saw Benjamin staring at a painting on the wall.“The sunrise… it looks beautiful, doesn’t it?” Jane said.Benjamin glanced at her and said, “Yeah.” He wasn’t sure if she remembered him or not.“Because of the big buildings, we’re not able to see the beauty of the sunrise everyday in cities like ours,” Jane added. “For the luxuries we get by staying in the city, we lose out on a lot of what nature has to offer. That’s what I learned on my recent trip with my fiance.”Benjamin didn’t say anything.“Anyway, I’m Jane,” she offered a handshake, but he didn’t shake her hand. He was a bit disappointed that Jane also didn’t remember him. He didn’t talk to her much at all, but the fact that she also completely forgot about him was not easy to swallow. Because he didn’t shake her hand, she withdrew her hand. (Is he a traditionalist? But he looks modern, though. So why didn’t he shake my hand?) Wanting
Jane went speechless, and her eyes stayed wide open after Rye said those words.Jane looked at Benjamin with a stupid expression, unable to process what was happening. If Rye was Benjamin’s girlfriend, then why did he want to get close to Rebecca? This made her feel crazy.“Is something wrong?” Rye asked, seeing the change in Jane’s expression.“Ah, uh, no,” Jane forced out a smile. “I just got caught in my thoughts. That’s all. It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Rye. Your name reminds me of Rye’s Pizzas.”“That’s because I founded that company,” Rye said.Jane blinked twice. “W-What? Are you speaking the truth?”“Why would I lie?” Rye retorted.“Then, does that mean you are friends with Colton Brown?” Jane quickly asked.“Colton?” Rye faintly smiled. “He’s the first employee of my company, so of course I remember him.”Jane’s eyes lit up. “I’ve always wanted to talk with him. Can you give me his phone number?’“I do have his number from a while ago,” Rye said, “but I’m not sure if he’s still
It had been fifteen minutes since Benjamin talked with Jane, but his head was still feeling hot and heavy. No amount of rubbing his forehead and temples helped him right now.Amber brought a glass full of juice to him and was smiling, “I made sapodilla juice, sir. Please have it and give me your opinion.”Benjamin took a sniff and looked at her. “Did you add elaichi?”Amber was startled. “S-Sorry, I forgot to add cardamom powder. Give me a second.” She quickly rushed out.“She wants me to announce my break up with Rye first, huh… What will Rye think if I do that?” Benjamin kept staring at the glass. “It’s easy to break a glass, but a woman’s heart…”He had already broken her heart once. If he were to upset her badly once again, would she be able to take it? She might be a strong woman, but what if she were to make a stupid decision on the spur of the moment?Benjamin dropped the glass at once. But he stopped it with his foot before it fell to the floor. The glass perfectly stood on hi
Rye wondered why Uzza called her, but to her shock, Uzza was eating plum fruits in a round red hat. Uzza only wanted to share plum fruits with her.Rye could only smile and eat together with her. They did grow these fruits on Sciocidad, but this was her first time eating the ones grown in the outer world.“How are they?” Uzza asked.“They are not bad,” Rye said. “But the ones we grow back at home are like juicy little apples.”“Yeah, everything we can find here is like a degraded version,” Uzza sighed. “Even the people are…” she could hear Selena talking with someone on mobile and was talking about Jacob and his drug-related issue. “You’ve lived outside for many months, so what did you understand?”“Mm? Well, at our home, we only need to grow trees and plants to live,” Rye opined, “but in this world… people need at least one of the four things.”“What are those four things?” Uzza curiously asked.“Money, looks, intelligence, or education,” Rye said. “If you don’t have at least one of
If it was anyone else that had asked for his hand for a dance, Benjamin wouldn’t even have thought about it. But the one asking now was Rye, the woman he had spent the most time with up to this point in his life.“Haven’t you two danced together already when you were young?” Uzza said, trying to break the ice between them. “Why are you thinking so much now, Benjamin? Just grab her hand and craft a step or two. Trust me, first love is the best. There’s no better feeling than dancing with your first love.”“I don’t just want to stop at being just his first love,” Rye said without hesitation. “I want to be his last love also.” She smiled through her eyes and reached out for Benjamin’s hand and grabbed it. “If you are not going to hold my hand, I will hold yours.”Benjamin pursed his lips. “R-Rye…”Before he could say another word, Rye put her finger on his mouth. “Shh, don’t act like I’m asking you to sleep with me. It’s just a dance. Don’t make a big deal over it.”After she removed her
“I’ve also just checked an e-copy of your marriage certificate. It turns out that the name there isn’t yours. It’s called Benyamin Wilde. So, in this present messed-up timeline, you were never Rebecca’s husband. Not even for a second. You didn’t even get married yet, so…” she brought her lips closer to his cheek. “Wouldn’t it be totally fine if we kiss each other right here and now?” Rye’s words skipped Benjamin’s heartbeat. He turned his head away to his left.Rye didn’t like that, but she didn’t get upset about it as she was just teasing him.“I know I’m being a little rude, this is reality, Benny,” Rye added. “You never married anyone in this reality yet. So, why don’t you just let things go and head back home?”“I would still like to live in this villa,” Benjamin replied softly.“Benjamin, you are like thunder,” Uzza intervened. “Rye is like lightning. If you get together, your kids are going to be like thunderbolts. How was my poetry?”“Very mediocre,” Rye commented frankly whil
In the later afternoon, the aroma of cappuccino filled the room, and one could see the rainbow through the glass wall, as it was mildly raining outside. The winds were crashing into the trees and disrupted the leaves and made a mess out of them, but it was a beautiful sight to watch for both Jane and Rebecca who were sitting in the comfort of their room.Jane was in a good mood because the song she was playing on her mobile, and the atmosphere outside only added to it.“I think it was in a setting like this… I used to have a big crush on my neighbor,” Jane said. “He would come out in the rain and break the logs wearing a tank top. I used to drool at him. Sometimes I would wear a camisole and go out, hoping he’d see me the same, but he considered me just as a little girl, I think.”“How old were you back then?” Rebecca couldn’t help but ask. “Don’t tell me you were underage.”“Haha,” Jane’s mouth curved into a smile, but she didn’t reveal her age. “The weirdest thing is that I don’t ev
Uzza was reading a newspaper in the bathroom. She saw a company named Breeka, which sold many skincare products from sunscreens to baby powders.“How is such a company making nearly a hundred billion in revenue?” she wondered. “Something is suspicious.”She put the newspaper aside, then grabbed her mobile and researched about the company and found out some disturbing truth.“So, they mix ingredients like Benzene in their skincare products, which cause blood cancer, and one of the affiliated companies treats leukemia and earns billions every year. That’s not strange at all. These people are money-hungry vampires. Why can’t the people see through this? Then again, I know the answer. They are too busy with their own lives. They don’t have time to look around, and they’re paying the price for it by paying for products that are harmful to them. It’s not just the skincare products, but most companies that have ties to the pharma industry have been doing this for a very long time.“We’ll hav