Ex-wife's Marriage Revenge Free Preview

1

Jasmine wiped the tear about to fall from the corner of her left eye as she looked forward. That's what she was going to do after the experience she had today— look ahead of her. She fisted her hands to her sides, watching as impatient vehicles zoomed past her on the busy road.

The black and white strips of the zebra crossing made her temples ache. The same black and white dots started blinking and throbbing on the border of her vision. She felt the smooth texture of the parchment she was holding burn in her closed palm— it was the gift she had prepared for her husband.

Pain tore through her as the smoothness of the paper turned into unbearable heat. Her hand shook, but she didn't let her grip loosen or more tears fall.

'It's useless to cry on a man who compared my womb to a barren land!' She reminded herself.

However, his words triggered emotions she was battling to keep buried in. Tears blurred her vision as her emotions rose up through her like a tide.

Jasmine couldn't help but sob as her head lowered. There were people around her, waiting for the signal to turn green so they could cross the road. She didn't want them to heed her tears or the fact that she was the most unfortunate being among them.

It's not like she was always like this. Everything changed for her at 9.30 am in the morning when she decided to congratulate her husband of four years, Vince Garrison, for landing a huge business deal with a surprise. Since he didn't turn up last night, she decided to go meet him at his office.

That was the most unfortunate moment of her life that plunged her into the abyss of sorrow she was in right now. She wished she hadn't gone, but the deed was done.

She regretted forcing her way past his secretary to burst into his office, even as he tried to hold her back, but the impulse had been uncontrollable.

She desperately wished her hazel eyes hadn't taken in the sight of Lucy, his young stepmother, age thirty-three, who married his fifty-four year old father, sitting in his lap, chest bared as he suckled at her full breasts. But the image was burned into her memory.

It wasn't a dream. It couldn't be. Because Jasmine had pinched herself to pull herself back to the real world in case she was dreaming. She wasn't.

It was broad daylight and Vince didn't even flinch back when she walked in on them. Their eyes had met, but he didn't stop. He didn't look away as he continued to eat Lucy's tittíes and grope them.

Even as his lips stayed on Lucy's nípple, they twisted into a dark smirk, taunting Jasmine with the unspoken words- You didn't think I'd be with my sexy, young stepmother, did you?

That doesn't happen in a dream, does it? Even if a husband is cheating on his wife, the ounce of conscience he has in his heart would compel him to move away from his mistress after setting his gaze on his wife. But Vince, that puckered asshóle arrogantly held her gaze. He pulled Lucy closer, and that beautiful brunette arched her back to offer her large breasts to him more. They together mocked her.

Jasmine sucked in a breath greedily as the loud chiming of the phone of a woman standing next to rang out. She looked at her, at her head full of dyed brunette hair, reminding her of Lucy. Tears returned, quivering on the edge of her hazel gaze. It was a relief that the woman didn't smile at her victoriously like Lucy did. This woman's brows furrowed as she raised a hand to rest on Jasmine's shoulder.

"Hey, everything okay?" The woman's soft voice hit her like a hailstorm.

Jasmine's trembling lips parted. Her throat ached as she tried to form a word which would have sounded like, "Nothing's okay! A brunette woman... I mean a brunette bitch I was reminded by your hair stole my husband from me. No, that's not the right way to put it. Actually, my spineless husband cheated on me with a brunette bitch, who's also supposed to be his young step mother. He also called me barren before throwing me out of his office."

The woman stared at her for a while before withdrawing her hand. She cast a faultfinding look towards Jasmine's lack of response. Only when the woman started walking away did she realise that those were the words she wanted to say to her. Alas, she lost the warmth the woman's eyes held exactly how she lost her worth a while ago.

Jasmine shivered as the cool air brushed against her. She wore a white cardigan, stained with a dry tea patch just below her chin— a mark from when she accidentally spilled a cup of tea on herself. Though she didn't incur burns, it was no less. Her chest was on fire. It had grown heavy from the discovery she made today.

She couldn't breathe. The world seemed to be tilting sideways. She couldn't stop shaking. Couldn't stop grieving. Couldn't stop crying. Couldn't stop her mind from replaying that scene from her husband's office. Jasmine forced herself to take a breath as she saw the woman who had offered her a moment's warmth disappear behind the curb.

Jasmine broke free from her reverie with a jolt. It sank in that everyone around her had almost reached the other side of the road while she remained right there. She blinked her tears and took a step forward as she refused to be left behind. She had promised to look ahead. Similarly, she was going to always walk ahead without letting her cowardly husband's betrayal affect her.

What happened, happened. There's no need to cry over it.

Nevertheless, Jasmine stepped onto the road at the exact moment the traffic lights switched to red and the engines revved up. The vehicles roared to life, causing her legs to lock up in reflex. Her heart stopped beating in panic as she watched a speeding car closing in on her. Before she could move backwards it slammed into her, sending her crashing to the pavement.

Jasmine winced upon a breath. Her ribs hurt. Her hand holding the paper unfastened as thousands of scorching needles pricked her wrist. She couldn't comprehend where exactly the pain began or ended. It made her vision misty and the sky overhead began to spin.

The impact was sickening. Her world had already drowned into darkness, and now she felt her senses going down the same road. She wished to never emerge from the darkness.

But then, it hit her— she wasn’t alone.

There was a life growing inside her— In her womb that had been mocked as a stretch of infertile land by her cheater husband. Her hands instinctively moved to protect her stomach, aching to cradle the life within.

Unfortunately, her consciousness faded into oblivion before could raise a hand.

Tbc...

Hello Fam,

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2

When Jasmine stirred back to her senses, she found herself on a hospital bed. The back of her left hand was covered with an IV needle. She tried to move when a man's emotionless voice shook her to the core.

"Don't move! You just had a miscarriage."

The words skipped her heartbeats. Her breathing came to a halt as her throat closed up. Jasmine wanted to cry but her tears had dried up.

She sat rigidly like a model used in art studios for painting. Her mouth was sealed tight and her cheeks drained of color. Although the disclosure of the miscarriage weighed down on her, she didn't feel a single ounce of remorse.

Miscarriage. For some women, 'miscarriage' was a word filled with trauma and pain.

Women who couldn't get pregnant even after trying a hundred times, doing a hundred things, prayed for a miracle to happen to get pregnant. To such women, the mere mention of 'miscarriage' would bring overwhelming anxiety and trauma.

But then there were some women who didn't want to do anything with a child, who didn't want to start a family let alone think about it, and yet they found one growing inside them after a night or two of unprotected sêx.

As for Jasmine, it was like a last minute blow.

She was married for three years. Her husband was loyal and desperate for a baby. Albeit, her life wasn't a fairytale. She couldn't conceive no matter how hard she tried. For three long years she did everything she could but to no avail.

And when she finally did conceive, the baby died before she could make a connection with it. Before she could feel attached to it.

Jasmine took a deep breath. Miscarriage. The word played in her mind like a broken record. She had a miscarriage moments after she caught her husband cheating. Moments after she had determined to cope with her current life situation alone.

She raised her right hand to touch her belly and realized her forearm was plastered. As she stared at it with a pale look, a shadow fell on her. She had forgotten that she was not alone. There was someone in the ward with her and the voice that broke the news of her miscarriage to her belonged to a man.

Now that man was towering over her while she attempted to not drown in the storm of emotions raging within her.

"I want to be left alone." Jasmine spoke in a dull tone.

Whoever it was that saved her after the collision with the car absolutely deserved her gratitude. But currently she was not in the mind to offer anything other than emptiness. Jasmine promised to make it up to the man, but right now, she needed time for herself. Time to get her mind, body and soul together and become one again, because right now everything was scattered, including her breaths.

Minutes passed but the man didn't move. He remained standing hovering over her tired frame. Jasmine was calm, hoping that the men would leave. Perhaps, it was just a wave of sympathy he was feeling towards her that compelled him to stay.

After all, it was commonly believed that a woman who had a miscarriage shouldn't be left alone. Else she would dwell in her thoughts. And then one thought would lead to another, and eventually it would become so suffocating to come to terms with the truth that her baby is no more, and then she might just take the wrong step.

Jasmine inwardly broke into an escalating bark of laughter. She wasn't from the weak ones. She was a woman. Definitely. But she was not weak.

'I never wanted the baby to die. But it is better this way. I don't think I would've been able to answer his questions regarding his father's whereabouts or why we were abandoned by him.' She mused while caressing her belly.

'What could I have said? That his father left him and his mother so he could continue with his sinful affair with his young stepmother.'

Jasmine's lips puckered. She wanted to think out loud. Talk to herself. She had an urge to scream and act violently with passing time as it took root in her mind that every reason to want to keep living was snatched out of her hands. Her chest was growing heavy like a huge bucket of wet clothes.

Much to her disappointment and dismay, the man would not budge. It was as if he had turned into a statue.

When his presence metamorphosed into being corrosive and intolerable, she snapped her head up to bark at the man. However, her words got caught in her throat, stunned by the sight in front of her.

Her jaw dropped and heart fluttered in her chest like a bird wanting freedom from its cage. Damn! He couldn't be a man. Erm, not really a man but a fantasy man of every woman on earth.

He stood at a delicious 6'4 height with broad shoulders. Jasmine's eyes traveled upwards from the shining obsidian metal of the belt at his front up to his chest. Her head painfully craned up, still she couldn't help but observe. He was wearing a white shirt without the coat, the crisp and creaseless fabric unfastened at the color.

She stared at his tanned visible skin. His neck was thick and strong, any woman would want to wrap her arms around and clung to him. The shirt was stretched rigid against the expanse of his broad chest. As she further went up, her mouth became drier. His squared jaw was littered with dust of scruff, making him look even sexier.

He appeared like one of those totally hot and brooding models who walked the ramp. This man was rather more savage and fierce.

Jasmine further studied his hot but indifferently straight mouth. Those lips made indecent promises that Jasmine couldn't contemplate why she was getting. She hadn't even seen him before this.

But she would go straight to hell if she lied that she didn't want to! To make her feel worse over the trauma she was dealing with, his eyes were dark and hooded, and full of dark and dirty secrets, calling her to unveil and access them.

She hated herself for checking her saviour out. Yet again, she would go to the deeper recesses of hell if she denied that he wasn't attractive. Truth be told, he was very attractive.

Her own husband— correction, soon-to-be-ex-husband— couldn't even come to stand beside him for a comparison. Vince didn't even come in the same frame as this attractive man.

"Done ogling!" The exclamation rippled over her skin like goosebumps.

Jasmine's hazel eyes met with his punishing dark ones. She subtly frowned, wondering why he was looking at her like she was his guilty.

"I..."

"Spare me the fictional drama, okay. Just tell me your price." He articulated ruthlessly, making Jasmine's heart slam down in her chest.

What he said next left Jasmine frozen in a mixture of shock and misery.

Tbc...

3

"You already wasted three hours of mine. Now be quick and tell me how much you want."

Kyle's scrutiny seared into her flesh, hot and insulting and agonizing. He was barely keeping his unbridled anger in control because the woman looked pathetic with all the bandages around her right arm, head and that pitiful blue bruise on the corner of her mouth from falling on her face after getting hit by his car.

Otherwise he had lost his sanity the minute he regarded the piece of paper in her grip that she had been holding when she was struck by his car.

Kyle looked at the woman on the bed and felt disgust brimming within him. He had dealt with women like her before. The ones who would do anything for attention… or money. It wasn’t the first time someone had suddenly come in front of his car!

Some women thought throwing themselves in harm’s way was a shortcut to a fat cheque. They thought that one minor injury, a few tears, a few fake sob stories and boom… They'll get what they want.

He wasn’t new to this game. He had experienced this before as well. Women came in front of his car all the time and then demanded compensation or fake sympathy until Kyle agreed to pay money to get rid of them.

Therefore, a pretty face and a dramatic fall didn’t fool him anymore. He'd been around enough gold diggers to know when something smelled off… and the woman here in front of him seemed like a master player!

There was no doubt the woman jumped in front of his car to demand money— like everyone else!

Ultimately her plan was something else!

She probably wanted to use the baby in her womb— which he suspected didn't belong to him; after all, a dozen women like her visited him at his mansion, office, and where not, just to claim that he impregnated them.

But too bad for her that her plan backfired because the hit with his car was a little too much and it caused her excessive bleeding right there on the pavement.

And by the time he rushed her to the hospital, the baby had bled out of her.

Well, he accepted that he was the biggest and the baddest player in the country. But one thing he always resorted to was making sure he never spilled into a woman without a condom, no matter if he was sober or drunk. He always used protection. It was the only way he could prevent an unwanted baby from popping up in his life when he wanted none.

Therefore, when this 'too beautiful to be a human' looking woman jumped in front of his monstrous black Rolls Royce, he knew at first glance that it was a scheme.

Kyle Panther didn't become the wealthiest investor in Eastonville out of mere luck. He was the CEO of Panther Group, one of the most successful Corporate Groups that had been in the number one position for the last five years.

Years of hard work and observation had brought him to where he had come today.

"Price? What price are you talking about?" The woman blinked her eyes, shocked.

"Don't act like you don't know." He drawled fiercely. "I want to know the sum you would take to shut your mouth and never bring the baby up."

As if her wounds weren't any deeper, he carved them even more, making her heart bleed and pump in anger.

Jasmine's eyes hardened on the man, she hollered, "Mister, who the hell do you think you are offering me money for?"

Her head throbbed and a cursing pain emerged in the back of her eyes. Jasmine didn't want to see the man anymore. He had a pretty face with a bad attitude. A devil with no heart and conscience.

At once Jasmine deemed that the saying 'a stunning exterior hid the ugliness within' was about him.

"Nurse! Nurse! I want this man thrown out of my room. Nurse!" She called out for help.

However, no one came, and from all the loud yelling, drowsiness rose over Jasmine. She rested back on the pillow to take a breath. When she undid her eyes to call for help, Kyle sniggered.

"Don't you get it, lady? No one's going to come. I have reserved the entire floor for your treatment." He paused. "Enjoy the VIP treatment while I'm willing to pay for it." The dark glow to his eyes made him look more condescending.

Jasmine's jaw clenched. If she wasn't injured, she would have definitely jumped to her feet to connect a fist with his arrogant face.

"Who are you?" She demanded with blazing eyes.

"Come on, now." Kyle chuckled. "Don't play dumb. You know who I am."

Jasmine was outraged. She encountered another asshóle within hours of dealing with her husband. Her life couldn't get any more cruel, could it?

"I don't know you." She hissed with tears surfacing in her eyes.

Kyle stared at her for a while and a smirk unleashed on his lips. Women and their tactics. He could never understand them.

This woman was probably one of those he had one of the many memorable nights with. He hated her theatrics and how she was acting like she didn't know him. Maybe this was her way to get more money out of him.

'Money is what you want, right. Fine, money is what you will get.' He mused before retrieving a checkbook from his inside pocket.

He was getting late. Hence, to make it quick, he tore a blank check out of the book and extended it towards Jasmine.

"Okay, I agree that you don't know me. Let's keep it that way." He gestured to the check with his eyes and added. "Here is a blank check. Fill it with the sum of your liking and go to your bank. Within twenty-four hours you will have the money transferred in your bank."

That was the height of being shameless. Jasmine's eyes crackled with fire as she yanked the IV pipe, detaching it from her hand. As she tried to step down on her feet, her body betrayed her, and she went down on the floor.

She closed her eyes, bracing herself to embrace new pain. But it never came. She was held in time by Kyle and a jolt of electricity slithered up her spine.

Where Kyle held her, her skin burned, and when she found his eyes, she completely froze. The man looked exotic up this close. A frown marred her features because his eyes were full of contempt as if he wasn't holding a woman but a poisonous viper.

"Let go." She demanded in a low voice while looking away.

Kyle didn't comment. He was blank from the time he stepped forward to help the woman till he heard her voice. She was soft in his arms. Her voice was warm honey. Alas, she was a woman with a questionable character and was motivated by financial gain.

No wonder, she jumped in front of his car with a pregnant belly. That pretty much revealed her lack of integrity and a focus on material gain.

Kyle attempted to reign in his rage as he helped Jasmine back in bed. Once in, he covered her with the blanket— out of compassion he was forced to show given she lost the baby that may or may not have been his... But a baby is still a baby— before stepping back.

Jasmine was caught off guard by his next move.

Tbc...

4

The check was lifted again as he calmly spoke, "If you can't think of a sum, I'll make it easy for you. How about 1,00,000 dollars? Is that enough?"

"Get out before I stamp your face with my foot." Jasmine rasped.

Her audacity amazed Kyle. He had never seen a woman persist so much. Although he encountered many gold-diggers, they happily lowered their masks of naivety once he presented a blank check to them. This woman seemed like a skillful player.

Maybe she needed more money. Fine. He thought as he tore another check and filled 5,00,000 in it.

"Now, is it enough? It should be. You better stop that act and take it, girl. I don't have much time to waste on you. I have a meeting."

Jasmine never felt so humiliated in her life before. Although her husband's treason was a hard slap on her face, it wasn't as hurtful as this.

She just lost her baby after losing the mirage of a happy married life she lived, and now this man was carving more painful slits on her heart.

"Just who exactly are you, åsswipe? Why are you treating me like a materialistic woman when we have certainly never met each other before?"

Kyle stared at her with dark eyes. Ässwipe? It was the first time he was getting cursed by a woman. Before this, all he ever got to hear was how hot and irresistible he was. The woman's act was going beyond his limit of tolerance.

"Don't pretend. I know you know who I am. You did this on purpose." Kyle growled.

Jasmine shook her head in protest as she mocked, "I don't know. I would have remembered if I met a man without manners like you before. Who are you? A god of evil."

"There's no such thing like a god of evil." He ground out. "And if you don't remember, let me describe it for you. I'm sure by then you would know who I am."

"We had a wild night, and then you had such wild nights with many men after me, and... Well, because you couldn't locate the real father, or perhaps you thought you could use the baby to get money out of me, you jumped in front of my car."

Jasmine's mouth hung in stupor as she gaped at him, heart bottoming out.

"Y-you," She stammered with tears clogging her throat. "You hit me?"

"I'll put it the correct way for you. It was you who jumped in front of my car..." He lifted an arrogant shoulder to shrug. "For money."

The hint of tears shimmered in her eyes. Jasmine felt her fingers twitching as she stared at Kyle, feeling shock with faint. He just agreed to running her over with his car, and now blaming her for everything.

Maybe she was to be blamed. But partly, and it was not even her doing. She had been utterly disturbed witnessing her husband with his step-mom. She was trying to come to terms with it. She was trying to come out of the shock it has caused and think about her future.

But yeah, she was doing it at the wrong time and in the wrong place. Jasmine accepted that she should not have stayed occupied while crossing the street. It happened because she was not attentive. But still, it was no excuse to turn it all on her.

The man was equally responsible for killing her baby as much as she was inattentive. Maybe if he drove his car at a moderate speed around the zebra crossing, the situation would have been different.

"Look, it's a shame that you had to lose the baby this way. But it's happened. There's nothing we can do. I'll suggest you put it behind you and take this." Jasmine blinked her tears to see the man giving her another check.

"Your medical treatment is on me and I'll see to it that you get the best treatment. Now be quick and take this. I don't have much time."

Fire engulfed Jasmine. Fire of indignation. She didn't think twice when she fetched the jug of water from the table beside the bed. She launched it at his face as the water from it splashed everywhere.

Kyle smoothly ducked away and grimaced as the jug fell on the tile with a sharp noise. It broke into a hundred small pieces and scattered around his feet. He fumed, making shivers erupt within her body. But Jasmine didn't cower away. She was not in the wrong here. This arrogantly handsome man was.

"You shameless woman! How dare you do that?" Kyle growled.

"The same way you dared to offer me money for my loss without trying to know my side of the story, you ill man!"

"Your loss? It's your gain and it's a fair offer considering—"

"Considering what? Your guilt?" Jasmine cut in.

Kyle smirked rebukingly, "Let's say, my generosity."

"Generosity for what, huh? For offering me money for the child you think was yours and feeling inclined to compensate me for having gotten rid of it."

"I..."

"Look, mister, I don't know who you are, and I'm going to say this very clearly for you to understand that the child in my belly wasn't yours." Her outburst stunned Kyle.

He suppressed his mouth from falling open as he let her words sink. Did she just say the baby wasn't his?

'If it wasn't mine then it means...' he stopped thinking and regarded her with a serious gaze.

"So, I wasn't the father of the baby you lost?"

"Do you want me to write it down on a piece of paper and sign it?" Jasmine said between gritted teeth.

"Then who got you pregnant?"

"That's none of your fúcking business."

Kyle's mind was a mess as everything started making sense. Basically he hit a woman he never met, and mistook the child she miscarried as his, and was treating her with coldness so she would not bother him in the future after taking what she's come to get from him, money.

Now that the clouds of misunderstanding dissipated, he could see her face clearly. And what he saw made his heart pinch. There was a helpless woman sitting on the bed, looking extremely pitiful.

Whatever happened to her before she stepped in front of his car has been atrocious. It was visible in her eyes. And then, he caused the loss of her baby. A feeling of contrition came over him. Kyle's arrogance dispersed and his features softened.

"I am sorry for my rude behaviour. I thought you're one of the women I—"

"I'm not interested to know the number of imbecile women you've fúcked, alright!" Jasmine boomed in a hoarse voice. "You know the truth. You better take your ass out of here and never show me your face again."

Whatever sympathy he had felt towards her transformed into disappointment. A frown settled between his thick brows as he gave her a condescending look. The woman had a dirty mouth on her. This showed where she came from, Kyle concluded.

"I'm trying to be nice to you, woman, but look at your attitude." He scoffed with a stoic face.

"It's far better than yours, mister. At least, I wasn't the one offering you money for your loss." Jasmine retorted.

"That is called being nice. I was doing you a favor." Jasmine was disgusted by his nerve. "I have seen the CCTV footage of the street and it clearly shows you jumped in front of my car. Legally, I can sue you for wasting my time with your stunts but here I'm offering you compensation."

"You—"

Kyle raised a hand to stop her as he resumed, "It doesn’t matter to me what you went through before you ended up in front of my car, but I'm willing to compensate for it. Here's the check, take it or leave it."

Her fury towards Kyle was palpable. Jasmine hurled another object towards him, this time an apple from the fruit basket, that he caught with ease.

"You're disgusting. Get out." Jasmine sobbed with tears.

Nevertheless, Kyle wasn't moved one bit. He scoffed and said, "I'm trying to make amends..."

"Amends?! You want to make amends?! You're not even sorry!" Jasmine broke down, crying with heart shattering sobs. "You killed my baby! You're responsible for the car accident that took my child's life! And you dare to ask how much I would take to forget it?! You're unbelievable."

Kyle remained unfazed, checking his watch.

"You think you can buy me off?! You think my child's life is worth a paycheck?!"

"Stop grieving so much, woman. You were barely five weeks pregnant. The baby wasn't completely a baby yet. Just a ball of cells. You should be grateful that you're getting something from losing it." His cold words pierced her like ice spears. "Take the money and move on."

Jasmine left him speechless with her outburst. She threw other stuff at him, losing her complete control. Kyle had never seen a woman go this wild over having a miscarriage.

Moreover, no woman acted this way on his words. He wanted to continue talking to her but he noticed her heart beat going up in the monitor. Her voice turned thin while she shuddered terribly, and as he peered at her, her body went limp as she swooned.

Kyle ran to her in time, once again, and saved her from a painful fall. He helped her back in the bed and called for the doctors. Not before he took a long glance at her face.

Something about her stirred his carnal rage.

Tbc...

5

Kyle stayed in the ward while a team of doctor and two nurses took care of the woman. He watched as they cleaned the dry blood from the back of her hand that had bled from removing the IV pipe and secured it with a bandage. He felt a sting when the doctor pierced her other hand with a new cannula to continue providing her fluids- the hand with a temporary plaster.

Now as he reflected back on his harsh conversation with the woman, contrition weighed down on him. Her words echoed in his mind, causing his temples to ache.

The baby wasn't his and the woman hadn't really jumped in front of his car to get money from him.

That reminded him of the letter he had retrieved from her closed fingers while bringing her to the hospital. Kyle dug into his pocket for the letter. The paper was warm pink, with lots of tiny dark pink hearts scattered all over it. His shoulders stiffened as he reread every word of the letter unhurriedly, like he had all the time in the world.

Dear Daddy,

Congratulations for landing a huge business deal. I'm so happy for you and I'm on my way to double your happiness!

Mommy's tummy is my cozy home right now. But it's too compacted and dark here. I can't see anything or feel my body as I'm only a few weeks old.

But I know you are there to take care of me, daddy. Can't wait to feel your hands around mommy's tummy when you hug me.

I'm so excited to meet you. Get ready for snuggles, playtime, and lifelong memories!

I'm coming soon!

Love,

Your little miracle.

His thumb grazed over the greeting, dear daddy, for a long while.

When Kyle had read it, it really felt like his child was speaking to him. But in the circumstance he found the letter, it bristled him with exasperation. And it wasn't the first time.

The letter's pertinence to his situation was astonishing. Kyle had also recently finalized a groundbreaking business agreement, and it felt surreal. He didn't get a chance to contemplate that it could be for another man.

As he thought about the baby that was now no more, his heart grew heavy. He found himself regarding the young woman on bed and gritted his teeth. It was not because she aggravated him, but because there were women in the world who truly cared for their babies. Cared for babies who were as old as a few weeks.

It led him to think about his own mother and his lips pressed into a thin line. While there were mothers like this young woman who grieved for losing their weeks old baby, his mother had left him for a mistake that wasn't even committed by him.

Kyle was seven when she left him. She never came back. It always stoked his anger whenever he thought about her because she left him for a mistake his father made.

He had also been a child. Although seven, he needed no one but her. It's also because of her why he hated every other woman. It was the impact she left on his mind why he was rude to this woman a while ago.

"Mr. Panther," A gentle touch on his shoulder awakened him from his trance.

Kyle blinked and found the doctor in front of him.

"The shock of losing the baby knocked her unconscious. But there is no need for concern. We've put her on better medication. When she regains her senses, her condition will have improved."

The doctor left him in the ward alone. After a few minutes, Kyle frowned as he wondered why he was wasting his time in the hospital.

He turned around and walked out of the room. In the elevator, he kept staring at the letter. An unknown feeling washed over him. Even if the letter wasn't for him, the words resonated with him. And that woman, that woman occupied his mind even after he had arrived at his office.

The meeting, which was delayed because of her, hardly made sense. He couldn't focus as he mulled over how he was going to compensate her for her loss. Certainly, she didn't want his money or wanted to do anything with him. But his moral compass guided him to offer restitution.

When the meeting got over, he summoned his PA, Titus Banker, to his cabin. Titus was a man in his mid thirties. He entered with a polite nod and waited for his boss' command.

"Titus, prepare a bouquet of colorful roses and send it over to a patient in ward 766 in Sigma hospital. Don't forget to place an apology card in it." He seemed to think for a second.

Later he added, "The patient is a young woman who lost a baby. I... I Accidentally hit her."

The look on Titus' face was incredulous. Kyle ignored it.

"I want her to know I'm deeply saddened by her loss and seek her forgiveness. Send her flowers everyday till she's there, okay?"

"Sure, sir."

Kyle flexed his shoulders, feeling weird. He had never done a good thing for a woman out of a good mood, much less out of contrition. In fact, he had never done anything for any woman besides Lila Calvin, his one and only female best friend.

He felt better knowing that the flowers and his apology would reach the woman, so he returned to his work.

He came back home after a hectic day. He was in the middle of removing his shirt in the middle of his dark bedroom when someone jumped in front of him.

"Booo!" A woman with a petite figure, wearing a ghost mask, screamed with her hands in front of her, intending to scare him.

"That's not even remotely funny, Lila. Try something else." Kyle dragged the words out lazily and buttoned his shirt back, a small grin playing on his lips.

The woman lifted the mask with a huff and frowned, "Then tell me what am I supposed to do to scare you, Mr. Panther?"

Lila Calvin folded her arms to display her annoyance as she pouted, "I used worms, insects, and other disgusting crawling creatures on you. Nothing seems to work on you though."

Kyle shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe you can show me your no-makeup face in the middle of the night."

"KYLE!" Lila hollered and started running after him all around his bedroom.

"Trust me, your no-makeup face can terrify kids too. Then who am I?!" Kyle hopped and slid over the sofa set like a ninja warrior competitor, running out of Lila's grasp smoothly.

Still, she persisted and whimpered, making it a mission to catch him.

"Give up, plus size!"

"Kyle, that's outrageous! I'm not plus size." His remark fueled her stamina and she caught the back of his collar.

Kyle took the same moment to look over his shoulder and stumbled, losing his balance. Lila was after him. She propelled into him while he went down, falling on his chest on the floor.

Butterflies fluttered in her belly. She couldn't resist Kyle up this close. She had fallen for him since she started comprehending between good and bad at a young age. Kyle made her feel things.

"Hey, get up! You'll crush me under your wait." He playfully hit her head, breaking her trance.

With a subtle grin and deep flush on her cheeks, Lila got up. She looked away while smoothing her clothes to hide her blush. But deep within her, a vortex of desires unfurled. Kyle was the man of her dreams. Her first love. Her everything. Only she knew what it meant to have shared such closeness with him.

Alas, he only saw her as his friend. A girl who was his best friend.

Tbc...