Her tone was strict this morning.
Marta followed her to the office and took a seat when she told her to.
“Care to explain what you did?” Guinevere clasped her hands on the table.
Marta rose her brows. “Sorry?”
“I’m talking about Mr. Owen. You performed the surgery on him!” She scoffed. “It was meant to be performed this morning by a team of doctors. How did you do it on your own?”
Marta lowered her eyes to her legs.
“Marta, that’s incredible. I’m glad you’re able to pull this off. I’m just surprised you didn’t tell anyone about it.”
“I-I know. I guess I didn’t want to bother the rest of you.”
Guinevere went on, telling her about how pleased she was.
“Thank you, ma’am. But could we keep this between us for now? I wouldn’t want the others to know I can perform this surgery on my own.” She requested.
Guinevere furrowed her brows in surprise. “Why?”
“Well, you know how it is. I’m still trying to get better with the lone surgeries.”
She wanted to understand Lyric first. Wanted to know how she’s able to do the things she does all by herself. “Right. I understand.” Guinevere nodded. “But good job, Marta. Please keep it up.”
LYRIC
Work was extremely boring today. All I did was check patients’ vitals. Guinevere thought I still wasn’t strong enough and didn’t give me any complex work to handle. I was exhausted at the end of my shift. All I wanted was a good shower and a long sleep. But when I reached home, Kael approached me just before I’d open my door. “Alpha Jaris wants you to accompany him to a meeting. It’s in an hour.” He told me after welcoming me. What!? “I-I don’t think that’ll be possible.
I just go back and I’m-” “I tried to tell him you’d be exhausted, but he insisted.” No. No way. I stormed off, heading to his office. But he wasn’t there. I went to his room instead, my mind storming like a cyclone. He ushered me in when I knocked on his door. I didn’t like the idea of being alone with him in his bedroom, but I didn’t have a choice. He was rocking something on his table when i walked in.
“Good evening, Alpha.” I was doing all I could to sound normal to keep the anger at bay just yet. He merely glanced at me before looking away. “I believe Kael has passed the information across?” “Yes! And I came to tell you that won’t be possible. I just got back from the hospital, and I’m beyond exhausted!” You could be exhausted when you keep worrying. Jaris sighed, his expression like one being pestered. “I thought we had an understanding, Lyric.
You’re to accompany me to meetings and events. Or was I supposed to include ‘without complaints’ in the contract?” There was something about the way he spoke that always unnerved me. He had the uncanny ability to drop bombshells of annoyance, all while maintaining a serenity that would make Buddha proud. My anger heightened. “Well, the least you can do is inform me on time. I’m not a robot, Alpha. I have feelings and I get tired.” He continued with whatever it was he was doing on the table.
His silence was frustrating. “Why don’t you just take someone else?” I moved my hands up and down in exhaustion. Afterall, you took Marta to the Rhys’ party. He didn’t say anything, only grating on my nerves. I soon realized what his silence meant. Tears stung at the corner of my eyes. “This isn’t fair. It’s really not.” I stormed out of the room. In less than an hour, I was fully dressed and went downstairs to meet Jaris. Turned out he wasn’t down yet. So, I had to wait for him.
How funny that I was always doing the waiting. I huffed as I took a seat. I was irked at the absurdity of attending such a ludicrous meeting. If only I had a choice. Finally, ‘the arrogant king’ joined me. I rolled my eyes as I stood up and headed for the door. But I didn’t miss the way his eyes lingered on my dress. Well, I was sure looking good in my ankle-length purple dress. My hair was flowing on my shoulders, and I had my red lipstick on. We both got in the car.
Kael drove while Nerion took the front passenger seat. And in no time, we hit the road. I kept glaring out the window, feeling so mad that I was sitting next to him right now and couldn’t do anything. He was busy with his system and didn’t seem to care about me. We stopped at a traffic light, awaiting the pedestrians to cross over. Someone caught my attention; someone that made my heart stop in my chest. My eyes widened in shock as the name escaped my lips.
“Penelope?” She was right there, crossing over with the pedestrians. It looked like a dream to me. For close to five years, I’ve been looking for her. I’ve been longing to know where my kids were buried. And now, she was right there! “Penelope!” I called again, louder this time, my hands on the windows. Of course, she couldn’t hear me. The car was soundproofed and tinted black. Jaris and the others must be looking at me right now like I’d lost my mind. But I didn’t care.
Before I could stop myself, I opened the door and jumped out of the car.
LYRIC
“Lyric!” Jaris shouted my name, but I didn’t spare him a glance.
Penelope was already across the road. It was her-short brown hair, body like a model even though she was an advanced woman.
Back when I was with her, I always let her know she was very beautiful.
It was a struggle crossing over to the other side of the road. I jostled against the crowd and managed to get over, but Penelope was already getting into a car.
No.
“Penelope!” I screamed.
But I didn’t think she heard me. She wouldn’t even look at me.
I tried to make my way toward her, but the crowd kept acting as a painful barrier, slowing me down.
My heart crashed over as I watched her car start moving.
She was getting away. I was going to lose her!
The realization made me want to cry.
I continued struggling with the crowd but was forced to stop when a strong hand wrapped around my elbow, pulling me back.
“Lyric!” Jaris called with sternly. He looked pissed. “What the hell are you doing?”
I shook my gead, turning back to Penelope. But I was too late. Her car was gone.
My eyes shone with tears as my loss registered in me. I lost her. After five years, I was so close for the first time. I wanted to know where my kids were.
“I need an explanation, Lyric. Why did you just run off like that? Do you realize how dangerous it is? And who the hell is Penelope?” Jaris’ harsh grip on me reminded me that he was pissed.
My lips parted but no words formed. All I could think about was the fact that I lost Penelope.
He took-or rather dragged-me back to the car. With every will in me, I fought back my tears. We still had the meeting to attend to. I couldn’t ruin my face.
Kael and Nerion had also been out of the car but came back in with Jaris and me. Jaris turned on his seat to face me.
“Now, give me a damn explanation!” He rasped.
I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply and refusing to urge to sink my claws into my hair. It’d ruin my look.
“I’m sorry.” I finally found something to say.
“You’re going to have to do better than that. Who’s Penelope? Who were you after?”
I looked him in the eye and a helpless tear finally came through. But it was just one.
Oh, Jaris. How do I tell him I was only fighting for our dead kids? To know where they’d been laid to rest so I could pay them visits.
Finding Penelope was beyond just finding my babies’ grave. I wanted to make up for all the pain I went through when I lost them.
I had nearly lost my mind and was so desperate to have them in my arms again. It was worse than a drug.
It hurt to do this alone. To know I was all alone.
“Please,” I drew in a deep breath as I looked away. “Can we just… Can we just go?”
Jaris gave me a long stare. But after that, Kael started the car and we were back on the road.
I took my eyes to the window as I wiped the lone tear from my face.
**********
JARIS
No matter how hard I tried, it seemed I could never understand.
I was confused by how panicked her jumping out of the car made me. Seeing her running there with her gown and heels while the cars got ready to hit the road made my stupid heart race.
Nobody should have this effect on me. And yet, I ran after her without a second thought.
I didn’t see who she was after. Heck, there were too many people on the road. But this Penelope must be important enough for her to risk her life.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.