2025-01-11 02:20:16Dee woke up in her bed with a throbbing ache in the right side of her head which made her wince inaudibly as she struggled to open her eyes. The curtains of her room had been left wide open and she could see the sun setting across the horizon. She had always loved watching the sunset especially when she sits by the pool of hers’ and Jason’s mansion which they lost to a deadly loan shark whose constant threat made them escape the city for her parents’. Jason had however never provided her with answers to the question of what he used the money for. She closed her eyes again as she felt the numbing ache returning with extra throbs.
Dee caught herself drifting into dreamland again until she felt something warm snuggling close to her body. She instantly opened her eyes and turned her head to check what it was. It was then that she realized that Ria was sleeping beside her on the bed. She wondered why Ria was sleeping beside her as she rarely sleeps in the room with her without her father being present. This time around, she felt the ache in her head subsiding as she struggled to understand what was happening and tried to remember what had happened. ‘The funeral… The angels with broken wings… ZacXavi… Aunt May.’, she thought as she struggled to remember what happened after and she did remember. ‘The guy in black!’. She exclaimed in her thoughts. Dee almost ruled it out as a figment of her imagination until she remembered that she saw him not once but twice. She remembered clearly those icy cold eyes with a body shrouded in black like a Grim Reaper shooting daggers at her, deep into her soul. ‘I passed out!’, she said and gasped as Fiona walked into her room. ‘Thank goodness you are finally awake, sis’, Fiona said as she sat at the edge of the bed. ‘What happened?’, She questioned as she made to sit up as her sister assisted her to sit upright against the headboard. ‘I was on my way to the garden when I saw you falling to the ground. You scared everybody.’ ‘How?’, Dee asked with her brows furrowing in confusion. ‘I don’t know what happened to you but do you remember Sidney?’ ‘Sidney?’ ‘Yes. Sid’ ‘What about him?’ ‘He was at the cemetery and he was the one who carried you from the garden to the cemetery parlor where he checked whatever he checked to make sure that you are fine. It was afterwards that he brought you home in his car.’ ‘And you let him into this house?!’ ‘Well, he offered to help.’ ‘After everything he did to you in high school?’ ‘Oh! You want me to put me in the spotlight, huh?’, Fiona questioned while eyeing Dee. ‘What did he say it was?’, Dee asked as she slid down to rest her head on the pillow as she was feeling sleepy again. ‘Stress. And something else’ ‘What is it?’, she asked while yawning ‘You might be pregnant but…’Fiona paused before continuing while studying Dee’s face intently ‘but he said he wasn’t sure that you have to use a pregnancy test kit or go to a hospital to confirm it’. Dee did not know how to react. She was not sure whether to be excited or not. She knew she was late but had thought that her hormones were at work again. ‘It can’t be Jason’s … it can’t be ZacXavi’s because he always used …’, she thought as she felt the ache returning. ‘No! It can’t be.’, she exclaimed as her voice started to break and she started to sob loudly. Fiona immediately took her in her arms and she also started to sob quietly as she felt her heart ache seeing her sister in pain. Ria, who had woken up saw her mother and her aunt hugging each other and decided to join in. The sudden wrap of tiny arms around her mom’s and aunts back startled them as they almost forgot that she was in the room with them. Fiona and Dee immediately detached as they both wiped their faces while Fiona carried Ria into her arms. The only thing that could be heard in the room was the ticking of a wall clock which was hung just opposite the bed as they all went silent for a while before Fiona broke the silence. ‘I still have the pregnancy test kit that I bought 3 months ago. Whatever decision you make regarding this is up to you. Regardless, I’ll always support you. I love you so much, Dee.’, she said as she planted a kiss on Dee’s forehead. ‘What about me?’, Ria asked with her tiny voice serving as a soothing balm for both Dee and Fiona as they felt themselves relax upon hearing her voice. ‘I love you so much, Ria and your mum also loves you so so so much’, Fiona replied while cuddling Ria. ‘Does daddy loves me?’, she asked innocently. ‘Yes, he does.’ Fiona replied while staring straight at Dee who appeared emotionless. ‘Why hasn’t he returned with my book?’ ‘What book, cupcake?’, Fiona asked. ‘Goaty and his friends.’ ‘He will return with it soon, Cupcake. He is just super busy at work.’ ‘But I miss him’, Ria said ‘Don’t worry, sweetheart. You Dad will be back soon’, Dee replied while standing up on her wobbly legs as she struggled to lift them from the ground. ‘Why don’t you go and play with Grandma, Sweetheart? Your aunt and I have something to discuss.’,Dee continued as she walked unsteadily towards the vanity. Ria immediately detached herself from Fiona and walked out of the room to look for her Grandma. As Dee opened the drawer to search for the test kit she had kept hidden from view, she could not help but think about the possibility of her being pregnant. She remembered that she had taken some pills after she ‘mistakenly’ slept with Danny on a hot afternoon when they were both home alone and he walked in on her showering in the bathroom. Things have been really awkward between them since then but everyone else was too stuck in their own world to have noticed. She shuddered as the thought crossed her mind again and it sent her straight into another round of aches in her head. Dee did not know what happened after as she can only hear her sister calling out her name from a far distance. She felt herself been forced into dreamland by an unknown force which dragged her farther into darkness until something jerked her awake again. It was the tinge of a needle piercing her skin which shut her down. When she felt the darkness lift from her surrounding, she realized that she was in a room which was occupied by a bed which she was on and medical equipment which were connected to her. But as she turned her head to look around, she saw someone in scrub walking towards the door. It was a nurse, a male nurse whose face she did not see as his back was turned towards her but his physique and aura felt too familiar. As he reached the door, he turned and smiled sweetly at her but she could not return it as she felt herself freeze with fright and she slipped into darkness again.
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...Cain leaned back in his chair, visibly frustrated but unwilling to show weakness again as he opened up his laptop. Cain knew he had lost this round. Jason had already made his point: he was fearless. And that was something even Cain couldn’t manipulate.Cain glanced up from his laptop, his eyes flickering over Jason with an almost dismissive glance. With a practiced air of nonchalance, he closed the laptop with a swift motion, standing up immediately. He didn’t bother to acknowledge Jason directly, choosing instead to carry the laptop with him as he walked towards the far side of the office. Jason, unfazed as ever, immediately proceeded to start where Cain had vacated. He began sweeping the area under the desk, he realized that the office, with its sleek, polished surfaces and sharp edges, felt almost suffocating in its perfection. It was large, almost as big as the president’s office, and it offered a commanding view of the rest of the headquarters, and beyond that, the sprawlin
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Jason had no expectations from his new job. He knew exactly what he had to do and expected almost nothing in return. It, surprisingly felt too natural, as if this role had always been something he was familiar with. Like there had always been someone above, giving orders, telling him where to go and what to do.The first week was too simple. His introduction to the job consisted of observing the routines of the other janitors, who moved through the headquarters with a quiet, almost military precision. The task was simple, clean, scrub, organize, but it required a keen eye and a focus on detail. He’d been taught how to clean without disturbing the sensitive documents that filled the offices, how to polish the glass surfaces without leaving a streak, and how to ensure that every inch of the topmost floor of the building was spotless by the end of his shift. The mask he wore over his face and the glasses that shielded his eyes had now become a part of his identity. They were the first
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Jason stood in front of his father in his home office, the weight of everything was now pressing down on his shoulders. He had never imagined this moment would come, this confrontation that seemed to have been waiting all his life."Why didn’t you ever look for me?" Jason's voice broke the silence, hoarse with a mix of pain and accusation. "You just let me go... and didn’t try to find me. All this time, you never even cared enough to search."His father didn’t respond immediately. The old man looked down, his hands clenched tightly together, as if searching for the right words, but finding none. Finally, he sighed, a long, heavy exhalation, as if the weight of the past had crushed him too many times."I did look for you, Jason," Mr. ArkWrath said quietly, his voice trembling with a vulnerability Jason had never heard before. "I searched... but your letter..." He paused, as if the mere mention of it was a wound too fresh to touch. "You told us not to. You wrote that we should leave you
