Chasing

KIAN’S POV

Beverly continues to talk while I nod along as I chug down my second glass of wine since the night began. The gala itself hasn’t begun, yet it feels like I have been standing here forever. I keep sneaking glances at n wristwatch, following the movement of the minute hand and barely paying any attention to what is leaving her lips. That’s how I know I have only been here for thirty minutes. Just thirty minutes and I am already fighting the urge to get the fuck out of here, business partnership be damned.

“Kian? Kian?” She calls repeatedly but that sounds distant until she snaps two fingers in my face and I blink, immediately apologizing for zoning out. My apology is met with an annoyed scoff.

“Did you even hear anything I said?”

Of course, I didn’t. I can’t hear above the sound of the voices in my own head telling me to just leave Beverly here and walk back out the door. Afterall, she’s the one who really wanted to be here. Knowing I can’t do any of that, I decide to steal some time to myself even if it’s only a minute.

I slowly rub the small bump of her tummy. Her tense body relaxes under my touch.

“Is it okay to stand like this for so long? Are your legs fine?” I ask.

Beverly’s lips widen into a pleased smile, “Oh, c’mon. Why are you so worried? I am fine, I promise.”

I look around. The waiters are serving all kinds of beverages except water.

“Wait here, I’ll go get you some water.”

I step away from her before she can protest. I just need to be away from her for a few seconds to collect myself and prepare for the rest of the long night ahead. Being away from her is a breath of fresh air. I go straight for the restroom and spend a good five minutes gathering myself together before stepping back out, ready to go through the rest of the night.

I ask around for water and manage to get a bottle only to bump inte

+35 BONUS

Chaplet s

quests, allowing the bottle of water to slip from my grasp and roll away. Cursing, I follow the bottle which continues to roll away until a foot cladded in pretty black heel shoots out of nowhere and stops its movement abruptly.

The sudden intervention of the stranger stuns me and so does the rest of her feet as my eyes slowly trail up the slit of her glittery red dress to see the perfectly toned thigh peeking out of the daring slit. Somehow, she already has my full attention even before I see her face and when I do see her face, the world around me comes to a standstill. Or perhaps it is me who just freezes while the world carries on like there isn’t a ghost among us.

Like my dead wife who has given me sleepless nights for the past one month isn’t standing in front of me with a gold gaze in hazel eyes that chills me right to the freaking bone.

I look around, I can’t be the only one seeing this, can I? Everyone seems to be caught up in forming potential business partnerships and for a second, I want. to believe it means I am the one who has gone totally insane that I now see the ghost of my wife.

The belief shatters totally when my uncle shows up beside her and places his arm on the small of her back. My jaw slacks as I watch the scene unfold in front of me. My uncle’s action solidifies the fact that this isn’t a dream and I

am not crazy.

Leslie is alive.

I don’t know what exactly to feel about that knowledge but a wave of differing emotions crashes over me, leaving me struggling to swim out of the water before it drowns me. Leslie, with so much feminine grace, leans down to pick up the bottle of water and stretches the bottle out for me to take while I watch, spellbound by the beauty and confidence exuding out of her.

“Aren’t you going to take that, Kian? Your new woman must be waiting for you somewhere around.” My uncle says but I pay him absolutely no regard, eyes. locked on Leslie. I slowly take the bottle from her and our fingers lightly graze, the brief warmth from her sending sparks of electricity through my veins and a signal to my brain.

She is truly alive. Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

“Why did you go so pale like you have seen a ghost, Kian?” She says and God… the sound of her voice has my heart clenching. The air around her is cold and her hazel eyes are unfeeling. They are nothing like I remember but then again, none of what she looks like right now is like I remember in the past.

“Leslie…how…how are you here…how did you…”

“How did I survive?” She cuts my ramblings off, her voice just as cold as her eyes. That response stuns me for a few seconds. What in the world does she mean by that?

“No, that wasn’t what-” I attempt to speak but she cuts me off again.

“You must have been so happy when you saw the news. So happy to have finally gotten rid of the pest in your life without feeling any humiliation since I asked for a divorce first.” Her stance is on the offensive and her words underlined with a tone of accusation that confuses me but before I can say another word, Beverly butts in.

Chapter nan