“Thank you, Julie.” Katerina smiled at the help that had been working with Noona for as long as she could remember. Julie grabbed her bag and the second luggage she came with. Her grandmother cajoled her into visiting for the weekend, along with her mother.Initially, she turned down the offer but later when she thought about it. After going to work and back home, sleeping alone in a cold, frigid bed… she was tired and needed something different.Tyler decided that being close to her was torture so he relocated to the other room and if she thought the previous weeks were horrible, it was nothing compared to how things were now.To be honest, she hardly ever saw the man.She had no idea when he came back or when he left, all she saw were dirty dishes and clothes but apart from that, it would be difficult to tell that someone lived in the same house as her.At first, she cried herself to sleep almost all the time but as time went on, the tears seized along with the pain.If Tyler wasn'
The next day, which was potluck, they spent it outside under a shade as Katerina watched her Mom, Noona and Julie battle it out. Initially, when she woke up this morning, she didn't feel like getting up from the bed but then after thinking things through, she decided to go anyway tired of letting Tyler control her, even from wherever he was.For all she knew, he was off gallivanting and enjoying his life to the fullest.Currently, it was Mom against Julie, and from the looks of things, she was lagging behind.Julie allowed Mom to go first and she chose chicken curry.Apparently, she believed that chicken curry was a meal she was great at cooking but Katerina had first-hand experience…she was mediocre at best.As it was, Mom had already burnt the base to a semi-black crisp and the chicken looked half white, like they weren't properly cooked.Katerina was secretly cheering Julie despite hailing her mother.They took a break, each heading off to different stations to use the restroom wh
“Are you sure you've got all your things?” Elizabeth yelled at Katerina, ducking into her room to make sure it was properly cleared out.She did, and there was not a strand out of place which was perfect. The last thing she needs is for Katerina to come back after, saying she misplaced something and encountered something she never planned for. “Yes, yes.” Katerina sounded exasperated, probably because it was the sixth time her grandmother had asked. “I am with all three bags I came with, plus an extra filled with Julie's delicious cooking.” she cut Noona a look. “If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to chase me away.”“Well, you do know better.” Elizabeth steered Katerina towards the exit with a wide smile. On their way there, the grandfather clock mounted above the fireplace caught her attention.Geez, only an hour left.Escorting Katerina to her car as fast as her old legs could carry, she hugged the girl before she got in. “Everything's gonna be okay, you'll see.”Sh
Contrary to what Noona promised her, things did not go back to the way it was.It didn't improve but neither did it decelerate any further they just remained in a state of limbo where things were stagnant.It was quite disconcerting but Katerina quickly got used to it. Also, there was an extra pep in her step today, it could be from the fact that an old friend of hers had reached out to her asking to meet up.Katerina was so starved of communication, that she immediately agreed instead of playing hard to get.Or her excitement could be over the fact that Tyler had helped her out this morning.She'd been running low on gas last night, having forgotten to fill up since that was Tyler's job… Only to come out this morning and her tank was filled up.The security cam showed that Tyler got up very early in the morning to help her out before leaving for work.It may not seem like much to a regular person but that small act only showed her that he still cares for her. All she had to do was ma
Two weeks passed after the day Mark tried to ambush her at her office, spewing nonsense about being together. She wondered how he knew about the issues that she and Tyler were having but they quickly faded in light of recent troubles.Mark didn't bow down to her demands, in anything, he stepped up.Every morning, he would have a bouquet of roses delivered to her along with a box of her very bad expensive chocolate brand.The first morning, she thought it was from Tyler and was so excited she kept it only for her to check the card.Realizing, she immediately tossed it in the trash can but they just kept coming, no matter how many times she tried to reject it.Giving up, she decided to donate the flowers to charity or hospitals but even that wasn't enough to send a message.Katerina had to have a sit down with Davis, in which she told him her inability to work with Mark in any setting whatsoever.They argued back and forth until they concluded. Mark was really important to be cut out of
“Kat, I'm ho.....” Tyler had to stop himself from completing that sentence. By now, you would have thought that he'd have gotten used to not saying it but each day just made it increasingly harder to keep quiet. He groaned, rolling his neck to pop out the kinks. Making his way to the spare room which he'd been using for the past couple of weeks, he decides to look in Katerina's room only to find the bed tidy and the room generally undisturbed.His brows furrowed, the urge to push the door in and check around riding him hard but he ignored it, shutting the door gently.Tyler took a quick shower and then went downstairs to make a quick meal but he kept waiting for Katerina to walk down or even make some kind of noise but nothing. The house was as quiet as a graveyard. It wasn't until he checked in the garage and discovered her car missing that it clicked. Taking the stairs two at a time, he checked in on her room and his suspicions were right.She wasn't home. Everything was the way sh
Tyler kept on saying to her but it wasn't registering, it sounded far away and distant as though he was miles away.“I'll be back right now,” Tyler murmured, moving away from her. Suddenly, she felt so cold that she started to shake. Every atom of her body felt like a screw had shaken loose, dislodged by a hard shake. Katrina fell to the floor but she hardly felt overwhelmed by different feelings, majorly due to fear and anxiety.The memories of what happened before Tyler came to the rescue kept flashing through her mind, on replay like a DVD player.Exhaustion weighed down on her mind and the sweet lull to give in was equally strong.Tyler had run over to check her chair only to discover that it was virtually useless.The men who'd attacked Katerina had messed with the engine so until it was fixed, the possibility of taking it anywhere was quite low.Carting Katerina in her current state to his car was going to be tedious but it seemed like the only choice he had.Running back to her
A scream pierced the air, dangerously close to where Tyler was. His instincts kicked in and he jumped up, his eyes darting around crazily in search of his life.Remembering that she was in room 110, he changed course, practically running to her room. “Where is she? Where's Katerina?” He yelled, about to rush into the room.He could see Katerina struggling on the bed and about three nurses overshadowing her. One stabbed her in the arm with an injection and she reacted, practically bowing off the bed.Before he could rush to her rescue, two heavily built men stopped him, pushing him away.His jaw set incensed that they would try to stop him from going to her. “What the hell? Let me pass!”A doctor draped in a white lab coat stepped forward. “Mr Redwood…is it? May I talk to you for a moment?”Tyler ignored him, not in the mood to discuss but the guy placed a hand on his chest, firmly but politely pushing him back when he tried to move. “Please…”Tyler stared at the man before grudgingly