Mandeline was happy. She really was. She had paid the rental company off for the car she had broken, she didn't technically break it but still they didn't care less. She got to the airport and she was a bit edgy, she was thinking of the man that followed her when she was going to Detroit. But she relaxed when she got into the plane, but her mind was racing. Then the thought struck her, amongst all the other of her thoughts, this one was loud and clear, she heard it vividly.It was the fact that she likes to do the job of other people and not work on her own. Technically, the voice in her head was telling her that she liked to work under someone else. She liked to be the shadow, she liked to be led. Of course she didn't like the thought, she tried to brush it off but the more she tried the more it dawned on her that it was true. She though about it very much, she had all the time to think about it lenghtily and she did. She had always been the body while Rosé had
It was 7:35am. I was wide awake, I've been awake for hours. I had woken up by five in the morning, even before the sun came. I had to get up early to prepare for a meeting that I had in Brighton. I had taken my bath and I went downstairs to meet Mandeline and Rosetta making breakfast. Mandeline turned to see me and she smiled.I smiled too.I remember that I had sent someone to follow her and he lost her, I knew that she didn't go to see any friend of hers, what I didn't know was where she went. But I also knew that she didn't know it was me who sent him. She was clueless about it, I knew when she got home that she still thought that I was in the dark and it was an advantage on my side.“Good morning." Rosetta said.“Good morning." I told her.“Darling, you're all set to go." Mandeline told me. “Yeah. I have a busy day ahead of me today."“Where are you having the meeting in?."“Brighton."“When are you going to be back?."“Tomorrow."“What's the meeting about?."“I
I got home but I didn't come with the chopper, I drove myself home from the airport. I walked into the living room, it was empty.I wondered if anybody was home.. I went to check the patio, I went to the waiting room, I went to the keeping room, there was nobody. So I decided that if I got upstairs, I would call Mandeline to ask where she was. I went to my room and the door was slightly ajar. Mandeline might be inside.When I walked in, she was inside alright, she was with Rosetta and another man. My safe had been cracked, I could see that, everything was coming to me slowly, but still they were coming. I saw Mandeline tossing the suitcase to Rosetta, that was the suitcase containing the five hundred grand, there was another bigher case containing five million euro, that too, was in Rosetta's hand.“What's happening here?." I asked, my mind was still processing things but it was working too slow. I saw Mandeline reach into the safe, brought out a gun and then she
I heard my phone ringing, I went towards my bedroom, but it wasn't my phone. It was Mandeline's phone.She has forgotten the phone on my bureau.It had stopped ringing. There was a message across the screen.It read: Have you gotten the person to crack the safe yet?. It was unanswered, it was sent some few minutes ago. Then just immediately a message came in: Have you got the money?Literally Mandeline had a new boss, one that was alive.“I... I have to go and check on him."" Why would you do that?. “" He's hurt, maybe he can't get up or something, he might be dying. “" Mandy, please think this over. “" I'm certain that it's what I want to do. ““You're crazy, you know that right?."“Yes, I know I'm crazy, but I'm going anyways."" He'll shoot you on sight. “" He won't."“He would, don't flatter yourself, don't say he won't shoot you because he loves you, nobody would ever love a thief, nobody, and plus you shot him, without remorse and plus you took his money. “" Rosetta t
I walked out of the motel and I saw a cab right in front of the motel and it was empty and it was about to leave so I called the driver's attention. I entered into the cab and asked the driver to take me to any motel he knows. The road was busy, there was light traffic, I felt sick of thinking of what Mandeline did to me. I concentrated on the road, at least I tried to but my mind would constantly go to other places. But I didn't judge myself, some few minutes ago I almost got shot. I wondered if Mandeline would have pulled the trigger, the place where she hit me still hurts, badly. My mind constantly went back to the day we had met.She had the most prettiest face I had ever seen and she had the body of a goddess. I remember hiding behind that box that day, watching her come closer. I remember how she had saved me the next day, I remember the days after that. We had gone from one boarding house to another, trying to work our way through life. We were just two
It was a motel. It wasn't classy but it wasn't bad either, it was somewhere in the middle... I was careful, maybe this was a set up. What if Mandeline was with Rosetta here and they were going to shoot me. I didn't know but I was going anyways.I knocked on the door of the room she had told me she was staying and in a very short while the door swung open to reveal Rosetta standing there. She tried to shut the door sharply but she was just too slow. I kicked the door open.“Rosé. I really didn't expect this scene. I remember the first day you came to my house, you were gentle and calm but yesterday when I saw you taking money from my safe, I was totally bewildered because the two types of Rosetta contrasted and there could only be one true Rosetta. Which are you?." I asked her.I went closer to her but I remembered to shut the door, I did, I locked it too.“Darwin I'm sorry." She said trying to feign innocence. “You don't have to be, I only just need a few information f
It was mid afternoon. I didn't have anything to do, I was lonely. I had gone to Ará's house but to my surprise she had moved. Jesus. I was a fool to treat her that way. You only know you love her when you let her go. I didn't know where to find her, I called her but the line wasn't going through, once again we had separated sourly and I didn't know whether or not we were going to meet again but I swear that I would make it up to her if we met again. The weather was cool. I sat in my varanda watching the trees and the sky. Watching Ará's swimming pool that was now dry. I couldn't do anything else. It's been days since Rosetta died. I didn't feel guilt, I just felt empty. I felt empty and sad. The loneliness made everything seems too intense.I knew that I was stable just because of the bliss I felt behind the pain I felt bliss and total serenity because I hadn't ended up with the wrong person. Imagine if I never even found out about Mandeline. I played my life backwarss
It's been two weeks since Mandeline left my house. Thirteen days since Rosetta died. Many people have died, many people I knew; Mark, Alice, Rosetta, even the ones I didn't know Geoffrey that died the day I met him, that man in the bar that died the day I met him and the other one in the parking lot. But, people die... people die everyday, somewhere right now, someone was dying. But the thought didn't make anything better. Although it was logical, I wasn't the ultimate cause of some one's death, they killed themselves indirectly. It's been ten days since my parents called me and since then they haven't reached out to me again. I went to the coffee shop to get my coffee because I was too tired to make one. I felt all the momentum had been sucked away from me and now I was left dry, I didn't feel like myself. I wondered what it was, that I would do so that I would get my peace back. I've tried looking for Mandeline everywhere, I've employed people and still she
It was morning. I woke up a little after dawn. I went out for a run and when I got back, everybody was already up. We were in my house in New York... All of us. My mum, my little brother, my elder brother Kai, my lovely Ará and me... All of us. “Good morning." I said to my mum.“Where's Ará?." I asked nobody in particular.“She's preparing breakfast." Kai said. I headed for the kitchen.I saw here there, handling some pots.“Good morning." I said to her walking into the kitchen.“Good morning." She said Smiling. “I woke up and I didn't see you, I figured you must have gone out for a run." " I did. “" Why don't you join me in making breakfast.“" Are you sure you don't want to have a cook or maybe just a house keeper and the house keeper can employ people to come and do some stuff. ““Remember what happened with Rosé..., Remember?." " I remember. ““ I don't want something like that to repeat itself and plus, I'm able to do these stuff on my own. We can just call peopl
It was late afternoon already.“You're my mother..." I whispered to myself, I figured that if I wanted anybody to hear me, I had to speak louder but I couldn't find my voice. “My mother's name was Bridgette, was it her you gave... Was I the baby?." I asked her..., My mother, my real mother. Looking at her I didn't know what to say, we all didn't know what to say. We all looked ashen and spooked. I wasn't the only heir after all, I was the child of a lovely affair. Something in me spurred, gave life to light. She was my mother... I felt as if I was another person entirely, I didn't feel like my name was Darwinson Charleston Andersons.... No, I didn't feel like I had a name but I felt that I had a past a, strong past and there was a strong love that brought be to the world... Not the strange type Bridgette and Anderson had, finally I could call them by their first names... I whispered it out “Bridgette Andersons and Anderson Cooper Andersons." It sounded good to my ears. Noa is
Once again I was making lunch while Kurtis spoke to Solo. To keep my mind away from what was happening, I decided to bury myself in poems, poems that nobody had heard.'I know but I don't want to believe, that there is no such thing as love, I know it's true that love dosent exist but If believing in it is being foolish, then I want to be foolish, if being foolish is being happy, then I want to be foolish it's not everytime in your life that you have to be wise, sometimes you know what happens next, so why not close your eyes and fall blindly into love even though it comes with heartbreak(s), at least you were once happy, at least you were once foolish. ''I have the mind of a ninety year old but the heart of a three year old, I love desperately and I care quietly, I miss calmly and I wait patiently, I want truly and I think fastly, I think deeply, I listen, I understand truly, I judge with reasons, I'm calm, my heart is stupid, my mind is mature, I won't compare myself to a lonely fl
I woke up the next morning to find the bed empty. I went to the sitting room. Solo was already dressed and he was drinking coffee.“Hey baby, why are you dressed so early?." I asked him." Mr Kurtis called. He's going to have a meeting with us today. He wants us to be there earlier today. “" Okay.... When will you be back?. “" In the afternoon. “" Good bye. “ I told him and he dropped his cup on the table." I love you sweetie, take care of Kai and yourself.“ He told me. I watched him leave.I went to the bathroom, I brushed my teeth and I had my bath. I was still dressing up when I heard the knock on the door. Did Solo leave anything in the house that he should have carried. I tied a towel around my chest. I went to the door, I undid the locks and then I turned the door open, standing there was Kurtis. He walked past me.“Jeez, Solo just left, what if you met him here."“I saw his car leave, I knew he just left, I was outside."“ For how long?." I asked him.“N
I woke up and made breakfast for Solo. While Solo was still asleep, the phone rang.“Hello." I said into the phone.“Hey baby." Kurtis's voice cut through the phone.“You called this early." I said above a whisper."I've been awake since dawn, I didn't know if would be so early, I'm sorry. ““You don't have to be, I was just worried that Solo might have picked the call." " How are you doing?. “ He asked me. “I just made breakfast... I'm good, how about you?."“I miss the hell out of you." He told me“I miss you too."“How about I come and pick you up today. My yacht is out in the ocean."“I don't know about today..." I started to say but he cut me off.“Solo is going to be done with his work soon, in two days time. I can't hold him here, surely he's going to get any contract, I can arrange that but I don't know how valid that plan would be, we literally don't have time on our hands, I've been thinking about it for so long and it's chewing me up. “" I thought about it too. “" I
I went home. As if Ana smelt it... As if she knew that I had done the abominable, she smiled a very fake smile.“Gael, you're back." She said to me. It wasn't Mrs Garcia or Miss Gael, it had changed to Gael, only Gael. But I felt good, I felt alive, I felt in love again almost reborn... I was born again. Gone was the old Gael and come was the new one. Not that they both of them had too many distinct features they didn't, they had too many in common, but this new me was the manifestation of the reborn Gael, the one that was formerly lost in being loyal... The one that had to quench her fire to fit in a type of lifestyle. “Yes, I'm back. “ I told her... My voice seemed foreign to me, it was much more bolder than the former, I was much more confident. “Hey Kai, how are you doing?." I asked Kai. “Momma." Kai said giggling. I took him from Ana.“Thank you Ana.“ I told her. She walked out of the door without saying anything. I was still in the bathroom having
The next day, after Solo had left for work. I took out those boxes, sat there in Kai's closet and I tore them. Toy train and cars that could moves with remotes... There were too many toys in the first box, too many that I wondered how Kai would play with them, all. Then in the other box were jewelries... How would I explain how I got them. I knew that I would have to come up with a new lie. If Solo asked who bought them, I would say that my colleague, Marietta gave them to Kai... She had a rich uncle no, I wouldn't say she had a rich uncle, I could say that she had a rich brother and she had a wealthy family too... And she loves Kai, should add that she also has a daughter or maybe I'll say she has a son. When Solo had come back, he had met me sitting in the living room with the two boxes on the table.“Jeez babe, what are those, the boxes are huge."“The boxes are huge aren't they... Let me tell you, come and have a sit. Do you remember Marrietta, my colleague, the funny lad
I heard the knock on the door. I wondered who it was. I was in the kitchen setting the things I would use to prepare dinner. I turned the locks, opened the door and I saw Kurtis standing there with two huge boxes standing beside him. When he saw me, he bent and he carried the both of the boxes and they seemed heavy. “Good afternoon." I said and he walked past me.“These boxes are heavier than they look." He said to me laughing. He dropped it on the table." I wasn't expecting you. “ I said to him." I know. “ He said walking to Kai's bedroom. " I was just in the office and I thought I'd come and surprise you and Kai. “ He said touching Kai's face." What's in the boxes?. “" Toys, mostly and the other things are just for you.“" For me?. “ " Yes, I picked them today myself. I'm sure you'd love them. “" Thank you, but what are they?. “ I asked him." You'll find out when you open the box. “ Kai was awake so they were playing together while I was cooking in the kitchen
“I'll be back soon." I told Ana. I turned the door and I walked out of the house. I went outside and I saw a different car, but it was black. And sitting behind the wheels was the same driver.“Hi." I said to him. He smiled at me. It didn't take long before we reached the beach. I climbed down from the car. The sun plastering on my body. The wind scattering my hair and my dress, kissing me everywhere. “Mr Kurtis will be waiting for you in the boat right there.“ The driver said pointing to a boat. It was the only boat that was there and it was big. Written on the body was 'Aqua-Marine'. I liked the name, very much. I walked to the deck and I turned around, the driver had started to drive away. This time there was no body to lead me. I saw Kurtis standing there when I was on the deck. He smiled at me. I turned to the ocean then to look at him.“Eyes like the heart of water." I told him. He laughed and stretched out his hand to me.“You look beautiful."“Than