The soft sound of keyboard tapping gradually slowed down in Angela's home office. It was nine in the evening, and she had been working non-stop since the afternoon.

She was supposed to finish her last novel from the Love Tales project, but she struggled to find its ending. Unsure why she couldn't write the final chapter, she decided to continue the story that she stopped writing after she got back from the island.

Angela ended up having to rewrite a few parts of her already written chapters. She could no longer count how many times she had revised the first parts of her book. And it didn't help that the image of Gael bleeding out, or him lying in bed for days with tubes attached to his body kept flashing in her head.

This was the drawback of being an overthinker and a worrywart. Though this helps her a lot whenever she's writing her books as it prevents plot holes, it was also such a hindrance whenever she wanted to concentrate on something but only ended up worrying about something else.

The mental stress tired her out that she ended up feeling sleepy while typing on her computer. Angela became groggy, and her eyes were droopy. She attempted to wake herself up by patting her cheeks, but that didn't help much because only a few seconds later, her eyes began closing again.

Her fingers slid off the keyboard, and then her head swung forward all of a sudden. "Aw!" She rubbed her neck, feeling sore like she had just experienced a whiplash.

Letting out a long sigh, she got up from her seat and grabbed her phone as she sleepily walked towards her bedroom on the other side of the hall. And with her eyes barely opened, she quickly washed her face and patted on some moisturizer. Like a drunk woman walking, she found her bed and passed out as soon as her head hit the pillows.

The room was quiet for a few minutes until a faint buzzing sound interrupted the silence. The sound came from the bathroom sink—her phone was left on the counter. And on the screen, Gael's name was flashing.

The buzzing went on for a full minute before it stopped. Then it was followed by a text message.

However, Angela was already off to dreamland that she had no idea that someone got worried sick because he hadn't heard from her.

…

Tuesday — December 11

Angela's eyes slowly fluttered open at half past five in the morning. The eight hours of sleep did her well that she felt better waking up. She went to the bathroom to pee, and that's when she realized that she left her phone on the bathroom counter.

She received a couple of phone calls from Gael and several text messages from him, her father, brother, and Nina. It felt like she was gone for so long that people missed her.

Scrolling to the first unread message, Angela saw that it was Gael's. She decided to read it last, and so she opened Nina's first. It was nothing but a reminder to meet her at the gym for some Muaythai session. Her friend had enrolled them both because the instructor was a hottie, and her friend needed a wing woman.

Her brother and father's messages were similar, telling her that they would meet for breakfast today.

When she came to Gael's messages, she stared at them first before choosing the first one to read.

[Gael: Are you busy? I called because I told you I would.] — sent at 9:45 p.m.

[Gael: I just remembered… you said you'll be writing. Sorry for disturbing your 'in-the-zone' state. Good luck.] — sent at 10:03 p.m.

[Gael: Don't stay up too late. See you in the morning. Good night, Angel.] — sent at 11:10 p.m.

"Tch." She sighed upon reading his text. Why was he acting cute? Biting her bottom lip, Angela decided to shoot him a text message. He was probably still sleeping, but at least he'd read it when he wakes up later.

[Angela: I was writing until I fell asleep sometime around nine last night. Don't come this morning. I won't be running. I have to meet my dad and Oliver for breakfast.]

After tapping the send button, she lingered in Gael's inbox window. She felt the urge to send another text message, but she was debating with her inner self:

'How about a 'good morning'?—Nah.'

'Have a great day!—NOPE.'

'Thanks—Thanks for what?!'

She didn't have to send another text. She rolled her eyes and closed her phone with a huff before she got inside the tub.

After bathing, she noticed her bathroom floor was wet again more than usual. Her brows knitted in confusion as she tried to look for where the water was coming from, but she couldn't find it. So she decided to call the maintenance to have her bathroom checked, but she was told that the earliest visit won't be until tomorrow.

Left with no choice, Angela placed a bathroom rug onto the wet floor for the meantime, hoping it won't get any worse.

…

The Empress Restaurant

Entering the familiar place, Angela was greeted by the staff and was led to their usual private dining room where her father and brother were waiting for her.

She chose to wear a cream high-neck knitted long sleeve dress, black leggings, over-the-knee black boots, then she topped her outfit off with a light grey coat. Her outfit shielded her from the cold weather outside.

"This way, Ms. Su. Your guests had also arrived, just a minute before you," informed the manager.

"What guests?" Angela questioned just as they stood in front of the door to the private room.

The door opened, and her heart sank when she saw a face that she never wanted to see again.

Jason—bloody—Burke all the way from London. He sat next to his father who sat next to her father.

Angela inhaled deeply. She had managed to avoid this man three months ago when her father said they were coming. This time, her sneaky father did it once again—making her join them for a meal without telling her that he had 'guests'.

"Hello, Angela, good morning. Long time no see," greeted Jason in his heavy Bri-ish accent as he got up from his seat.

Angela met her father and brother's stare, in which she responded with a sharp one. Oliver came over to kiss her on the cheek and whispered, "I have nothing to do with this."

She did not respond, then she went over to give her father a kiss before greeting Mr. Burke—the father—and then taking her seat next to her brother, totally ignoring Jason who was sitting across from her.

Jason Burke wasn't bad looking—he actually reminded her of Kit Harington—only Jason was a 'git'. Though Angela only learned that word from a friend, she was sure that the British slang insult wasn't far off from the American term: "jerk".

"You alright?" Jason asked her with a grin on his face. It was his way of asking 'How are you?'

"Lovely," she responded as she avoided his stare.

"What are you going to have for breakfast, Sweetheart?" Mr. Su probed while looking at his daughter.

Her morning was already ruined the moment she saw this turd in front of her. So when she looked up to meet her father's stare, she smiled and answered, "Anything but marmite, Dad. Thanks."

Oliver softly chuckled at her answer before patting her head and saying, "You're such a joker." He was trying to lighten up the mood, and it worked because the other men on the table laughed with him.

"Behave," he whispered to his sister.

"No. I'm going to ruin your day," Angela muttered back to Oliver with a sly smirk on her face.