"Nice show, Jessica. Nice show." Kenzie commented sarcastically with a confident smirk and poise, clapping her hands together.
"Kenzie," I whispered to myself and a small smile broke from my face. My insides settled in relief and my eyes travelled to my father who looked utterly confused and probably wondering how she got in and what she was up to.
"You know, it is so easy to lie than say the truth. It is so easy to cook up something for the world to see and digest even if...that is not what it truly is." She played with a tendril of her hair. "Just as an all-time famous writer: Williams Shakespeare once wrote in his book...all the world is a stage and all the men and women merely players."
Jessica gritted her teeth and her nose flared from beside me.
"Anyway, let's cut to the chase. Who wants to hear some really bad news?"
Silence greeted her question and she chuckled.
"I thought as much."
"Someone, get security." My mother gave orders to no one in particular and Kenzie shook her head in disapproval.
"Don't be so hasty to get rid of me, Mrs Meyers. Do you not want to hear the story of how your beloved son's life is about to be ruined by the same girl you thought was unfit for him?"
The crowd murmured again and I frowned.
Was she referring to me when she mentioned her favourite son? Or was this all part of the plan too?
"Tory Parker." She began, playing with the dark gloves on her hand. A few eyes turned to Tory in recognition and even I did the same. She stared on at Kenz, mirroring my shocked expression. Why was she even here?
"Who would have thought the innocent, simple and pathetic ex-lover of Connor would be eyeing his wealth, plotting to strike when she gets the slightest chance?"
I could not comprehend what she is saying and I looked back at Tory again who kept staring at Kenzie in ultimate disbelief.
My insides boiled and unlike the rest, I wasn't in disbelief of the things Kenzie said. Kenzie would never lie.
"Long story short, my real name is Kenzie Seattle and I am a coquette for hire."
I could see the look of total disbelief on my parents' faces and even Jessica's. I set a piercing gaze on Kenzie.
What the fuck did she think she is doing? She was ruining everything. What were her plans?
"Miss. Tory and Mr Connor had hired me to play pretend girlfriend because Mr and Mrs Meyers wouldn't allow the union of the two lovers. My goal? Finish off Jessica and make way for Tory to be accepted back into his life by his dictators of parents."
Jessica gasped and stared at me in both shock and hurt. I ignored her and keep my gaze hard on Kenzie.
"Know who came up with the whole idea?" She fixed her stern gaze on Tory. "Miss Tory Parker."
"Enough, Kenzie!" I would not stand there and let this go on, so, I yelled at her. This time, she met my gaze and smiled a kind of smile that told me to relax and listen.
"She wanted to do away with Jessica so that she can be accepted into your family and rip you off all you have..."
"She's lying!" Tory yelled, trembling with rage.
Or...fear?
"Oh?"
"You have no proof of your allegations."
"You think?" Kenzie smiled and with a snap of her finger, the walls behind her got projected into a large screen where a cam video of Tory making dinner in a kitchen while a man sitting on the kitchen stool, was playing.
I could see Tory's eyes widen in what looked like fear now and my heartbeat in the dead for what to expect as I watched the screen before me.
"It's not working as planned, Ian. I am pissed as fuck."
The man who was Ian got up from his stool and walked toward her. He hugged her from behind as she chopped some veggies.
"It'll work. Just wait and see."
But Tory turned around, her face in a type of anger I had never seen her display before. For a second, I doubted the woman on the screen was Tory.
"I thought she was competent enough, Ian. I thought Zed was too. They're just a bunch of losers."
"Do you want me to kill them off for you?"
"Well, if you want to kill someone, why don't you start with finding me a way to marry Connor, get my hands on his fortune and then you can kill him off however you like."
The crowd gasped at her answer and I turned my head sharply to look at Tory as the rest of the video played on. My insides burned at the feeling of betrayal.
This was all a dream, wasn't it? Or maybe a prank. Tory would never go as far as wanting to kill me without as little as a flinch.
"That doesn't prove anything!" Tory screamed at the faces of everyone and a hand wheezed across her face, slapping her hard. She held her cheek with a hand and glared at my mother.
"You slut!" My mother slapped her again and again and I rushed over to get her off Tory.
"You are not getting away with this, bitch. You lying piece of swine." Jessica stormed to Tory to attack her too but Kenzie's next words stopped the commotion again.
"Neither is your brother getting away with his crime too, Miss Jessica Brooks."
All eyes turned to Jessica who now transferred her stare to Kenzie. She looked at Kenzie ridiculously.
The screen immediately switched to another image of Ryan in a hotel room and I recalled it as the same video recording she had shown me the first day we had met. The video caught him murdering Steph.
The crowd gasped in shock as the video played and Jessica looked on in disbelief.
"Your obsessive lover of a brother didn't even bat an eye to end her life. Just like the same he killed off his wife after abusing her in their marriage."
"You're lying!" Jessica yelled as Tory did just a few moments ago. It was so funny how people could be placed in another person's shoes without a blink of an eye.
"Oh, honey. I wish I was. But these videos don't lie. You're better off cancelling your engagement already. No family in their right senses would allow their son to be married into a family of obsessive freaks. I mean..., what if you end up doing the same thing your brother did to his lover?"
"You are lying! Ryan would never do that!" Jessica was crying now, her mascara smudging all over her face.
Why was Kenzie doing this? What was she aiming for with this?
"Just a few days ago, something terrible happened to me that almost caused me to regret the very essence of my existence." Kenzie continued, her voice low and weak this time.
"I found out about my pregnancy a month ago. But just last week, Tory Parker visited me and poisoned my drink."
My heart beat fast and hard as she spoke and I gulped, praying whatever I was thinking in my head wasn't true.
"She caused me to miscarry my baby."
The crowd gasped and my own heart shattered to the ground completely. I blinked back the tears in my eyes in disbelief.
No. This cannot be true.
From the stage, I could see the tears on Kenzie's face now and my insides bleed at the sight.
She had lost the baby. Our baby.
Unable to handle herself anymore, she rushed out backstage and I abandoned the commotion in the room and ran after her. My heart beat accelerated and my temples gleamed with sweats when I did not see a single trace of her left. My panic level reached its top peak and I ran outside the building to the roadside, where I finally sighted her frame, standing in front of a car and waving at me. I tried to cross to the other side of the road and get to her but she shook her head and pointed to the phone in her ear.
My phone instantly buzzed and I hesitantly picked up the call.
"Forgive me, Connor." her voice came.
"Were you lying back there? Did Tory do that to us?"
I saw her nod her head from the other side of the road, confirming her words back in the hall. My heart bled again and I tried to fight back the tears that gathered in my eyes, threatening to spill.
I couldn't imagine she had gone through all of these by herself without my support. How did she manage to smile through those pains?
"When did it happen?"
"The day you left for your parents."
This time, a tear dropped down my face. The day I had thrown tantrums was the day she was broken. And I did not know that.
How did I ignore past the paleness of her features that day? The hollows in her eyes. How did I get so selfish as to look past those things I should have noticed?
I concluded I would never be able to forgive myself for this day. I would never be able to forgive myself for being among those people who broke her.
"I hate myself for everything..."
"Don't." She cut in immediately. "Don't say that. It was their fault."
"You shoulda told me about Tory too." I gulped again, feeling suddenly lost and beaten. "That was a careless move, Kenz. They'll find you. And they'll try to kill you."
She smiled again.
"Let them. Let them catch me if they can."
I sighed and bit my lip in frustration.
"Do you even care about me? Do you care about how I feel..."
"You should be inside trying to fix the commotion in there. Tory..."
"Screw Tory. Screw everyone in there. What matters right now is you, Kenz. You are all that matters. You shouldn't have done that. You should have told me your plans. Your real plans."
"I would do that over and over again."
I sighed, getting fed up with the distance between us. I wanted to see her face to face. To be sure she was okay and not lying. I wanted to hug her and let her cry on my shoulders. I wanted to be there for her.
"Hold on. Let me come to you." I moved to cross the road but her words stopped me again.
"No, Connor." I saw a small smile spread on her face. A smile that read pain.
And for the first time since the whole incident, did I realize this might be the last time I would be seeing her? She wouldn't put her life at risk just to be here.
She was planning to run away. From everyone and me. My heart quickened and my mouth felt awfully dry instantly.
"Chase me."
A truck crossed the road, obstructing my view from her as I tried to walk toward her again and when the truck passed by and I looked back to the direction she was standing just a second ago, I saw no sign of Kenzie anywhere.
And just like that, she was gone with the wind and the sound of the truck. A sound that would hunt me for many many nights to come.
###CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED-AND-ONE
"Hey, can I have a beef burger and a can of soda?" A blonde-haired lady said as she waited in front of me, a pet dog in her hand.
"Sure. Coming up." I quickly wrapped and packaged her order and bowed my head as I handed her the brown paper bag while she paid me with the other hand.
"Kamsamida."
The lady smiled and left with her order.
I tucked the money into the small money box inside the truck and as I raised my head, I saw Jojo coming from a distance.
"So far, I think our beef burger is the best seller." Zed who was sitting on a stool outside the food truck said and raised his hand to his head in salute. "Courtesy to the chef."
I sneered and he laughed and faced his sales book, calculating the sales we had made for the day.
Jojo waved to a few customers who were seated under the umbrella shades having their food.
"What's up, madam CEO?" She said to me as she entered the truck.
"You're late." I wiped the grease off my hands on my apron and started to loosen the tie of the apron around my waist.
"I know. Unannounced test. I don't know why I had to run a master's program. I should be working on a start-up company by now." She nagged and reached for a half-eaten hotdog on the plate beside me. "Have you been missing me?"
"No." I frowned. "You're taking over tomorrow. I have tested too."
"Yea," Jojo said with a mouthful. "It's not easy juggling between handling a food business and starting college. That is why..." She pointed her disgusting remnant of hotdog at me. "I call you my superwoman."
"Whatever." I shoved the apron to her and turned to wash my hand in the small sink.
"Aigoo." She exclaimed with a click of her tongue and I almost laughed at her wannabe imitation of Korean expressions. For fuck's sake, it had only been three years here. How did she suddenly become Koreanized?
"You know, you are getting grumpier with every passing day."
I ignored her and dried my wet hands with a small towel.
"You miss him, don't you?"
I slowed down, my head stopping just the same time she had referred to him.
"You should try to contact him if you miss him this way..."
"I won't." I resumed drying my hands.
"Don't be so stubborn, Kenz. Stop torturing yourself." I could hear her wear the apron. "I see you every day and even though I don't know what goes through that hard head of yours, I do know that every day, you miss him more. I see the way you look at those fine dresses you got from him. You never wear them, do you? Why? Preserving his memory?"
"Stop talking about him, Jojo."
"If you are not going to reach out to him, then give those cute suitors of yours a chance." Her eyes widened in excitement. "I heard there's this hot CEO who is visiting your department tomorrow. You should give him the green lights..."
"I will not."
"Fine. Just do the right thing, ma'am." She gave up and went on to attend to another customer.
This has been my way of avoiding talking about him for the past years. At a point, I felt I shouldn't have been here so far away from him. Last I heard, everything was back to normal. Except for my heart. Tory had run away just like I did and had never been seen again. Ryan had been arrested and put behind bars for his crime and the day I had learned of the news, I had almost shed a tear of freedom. I was finally free. And safe.
Connor and Jessica's engagement had gotten called off as well.
And Connor? It did bother me to check up on him. See if he was fine. If he missed me. But then again, I knew I was bad for him.
But still, I kept waiting for him. Every day, looking intently when tall broad-shouldered men stopped by my food truck. And every day, I got disappointed as I waited for him.
What if he never chased me? What if he was happy without me? What if I had thought right and I was just temporary in his life? A second option?
What if he never chased me and I was waiting for a moment that would never come?
What if I would never get the chance to tell him I never really miscarried his baby and she was safe and sound with me, waiting for him to complete our little family?
###CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED-AND-TWO
CONOR
I was relieved when the meeting was finally over and everyone began to disperse. My PA hurried alongside me as I walked out of the building as well.
"Sir, there is another meeting with the AOI modelling agency scheduled for tomorrow by 10 AM." He informed me, going through his file that contained my planned schedules.
I nodded, feeling fatigue wash over me. "Okay."
"You also have a meeting scheduled with Mr Lee Do San tomorrow by mid-afternoon." He continued and I rubbed a hand over my forehead in frustration.
"Alright."
"And sir? Do you remember Ms Shin from the last two month's seminar in Boston? She wants to schedule a date..."
I stopped abruptly, startling him a little.
"Reece."
"S...Sir."
"Check for the nearest English restaurant around. We need to get something to eat."
"Okay, sir." He immediately went to his phone.
"And Reece..."
"Sir?" He answered again.
"Stop talking about my meetings for now. Please. I need to get some rest."
"Okay, sir." He gave an apologetic nod and immediately returned to his phone as we walked ahead and he sent a google voice. "Siri, what is the best English restaurant around Seoul?"
..........
Reece stopped the car a little close to a food truck. He crosschecked his phone and the food truck, doubt all over his face.
"Are we there yet?" I looked up from my phone and called from the back seat.
"Uh...I think so, sir. Although I am not sure this feels right." He glanced at me. "Hold on a minute sir, while I go confirm." He immediately alighted from the car and headed toward the food truck. I sighed and looked back to my phone and continued to scroll down my Instagram feed.
My heart stopped at a picture of a lady I had just scrolled past. Ash's grey hairs, curvy yet petite physique. I immediately scrolled back up and my heart fell in disappointment.
It wasn't her.
I dropped my phone on the car seat and sighed. It had been three whole years. Three whole years of waiting for her call. Of scanning my eyes on every street I pass. Of checking every dating app, every social media app, hoping to see her anywhere. But it was all a futile attempt to find her.
How could I have unrated her?
I smile a small painful smile to myself.
She was the smartest woman I had ever met. Quick-witted with a taste for cunning ability. She would have taken her time to plan and map out her escape plan so well.
But yet again, that wouldn't stop me from searching for her. It never tired me.
I lifted my eyes as Reece opened the door again. "Sir. It's here."
I nodded and alighted from the car. We both walked to the food truck and passed people eating under a cosy and aesthetic umbrella shade.
"Although sir, I don't think you would be able to like it here." Reece eyed the umbrella and I ignored him.
"Hi," I said to the food truck lady; a young Korean lady with ash grey hair. My insides burned as I took on the sight of the familiar hairs.
"An-nyeong-ha-se-yo. How may I help you?" she greeted me in a heavy Korean-accented voice.
"What do you have on your menu?" I asked, finally taking my eyes off her hair.
"We have uh...burgers, chips, hotdog, uh...haze...uh...haze." I watched as she tried to rummage through her head for the name of the next food. "Hazehnut...hazel...what does she even call it?"
I squinted my eyes as she struggled to pronounce the word and I mentioned the first word that came to my mind.
"Hazelnut soup?"
The girl clicked her fingers and her eyes brightened. "Yes, hazelnut soup. It's a special recipe my boss created. She calls it uh....soup for the uh...soup for the..."
"Soup for the soul." It sounded more like a statement than a question to my ears and her smile widened.
"Yes sir. You see, even though my boss is a tough woman and hard-headed, she is very gentle and thoughtful. I so much adore her that I dyed my hair this colour because of her."
"Hey, if you can stop talking already, we would like to place an order..." Reece's slightly annoyed voice came and I raised a hand to stop him.
My heart was beating in a rhythm now. This could not be a coincidence.
"Her hair colour?"
"Yes, sir. She has the same hair colour as me."
"Would you tell me her name? Please?"
"Uh...it's uh..."
"Dude, when are you ever going to learn to stop wasting customers' time and just do your job?" Another high pitch girly voice joined her from behind and my mouth parted slightly as I look at her tall frame.
"Jojo."
Jojo froze and her eyes prodded as she locked her gaze with me.
"No fucking way."
"If you are here, then Kenzie would be..."
Jojo's eyes fix on whatever was behind me and I did not need to be told to turn around. It was Zed, holding a grocery bag in one hand while clutching a child in the other. My insides were warm and my heart felt light as I locked eyes with the little girl. I took in her features. Ash's grey-haired. Fox-shaped eyes. And the dimples on her cheeks as she smiled. She looked like the perfect image of the child I had always dreamed of during Kenz's pregnancy.
A child that would look both like me and her. A child that would look like...
art.
"Hey." Jojo rushed out of the van and raised the child to her arm, holding her securely as if she was protecting the girl from me.
"Who is that?" I asked both Jojo and Zed who stared at me like I was some ghost from a nightmare. When I realized they were not going to answer me anytime soon, I made to close the distance between the three of us but Zed immediately stepped in front of Jojo, covering the little girl from my sight.
"She is mine." He proclaimed and a frown crossed my face. I did not find myself believing an atom of his word. If it was true, why was he being so overprotective?
"Only Zed and I followed Miranda here. Kenz went a separate way." Jojo said from behind Zed, crushing the little bit of hope I had left in me.
"She wouldn't." I tried to convince myself. "She cannot stay without you."
"She learned to. You taught her that." Jojo replied to me and took Zed's hand into hers. "We're sorry to disappoint you."
I watched them walk back to the food truck, the little girl turning her head to look at me.
She smiled at me and waved at me and I felt a spark in my heart that I hadn't felt for three years.
Kenzie may not be here with her family, but there was something about the child. And I was going to find out myself.
