Author's Note: You meet Michael and Emmaline from "UNFAITHFULLY YOURS" by yours truly. Their story is lighter in tone, but the same "PRODIGAL RETURNS" theme with the hero returning to Cherry Hills and his wife. I hope you like it!

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    Dearest Noelle,

    I had sex last night. She was hot, and I was a monster.

    Was it because I was using her to forget my own misery? Was it because I was using her body to numb down my pain? Or was it because I was so foxed so that I couldn't see her face when I was inside her?

    The foolish woman was thankful that I offered her breakfast. She thanked me because I didn't treat her like a whore. But if only she knew.

    ...that it was you I imagined the whole time. I imagined your eyes―green as spring grass and sparkling like dew in the morning sun. Your full lips. Your tiny, tiny nose with those beautiful , golden freckles. I tried to count all of them until I lost the count.

    Now you see, you've ruined every other woman on this planet for me. And I can never use a woman like that once again.

    Ever yours,

    Aiden

― Aiden Summers to Noelle Montcliff after fifty three weeks of her disappearance.

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    Noelle knew life had its gleam of sunshine.

    Maybe this was one of those days when she would forget she is Noelle Frostine who wants to avenge the death of her parents. That she was a broken girl who wants to forget and has nothing left in her life than revenge. Cherry Hills, even though as heart breaking as it was, had been her safe place―where she yielded power. As they say, ships are always safe in harbor.

    But then that's why the ships aren't made, are they?

    Just today, Noelle was going to stay ashore, safe, in the harbor. With Aiden. She faced the sunshine, to ignore the shadows just once.

    "You still have freckles," Aiden murmured, pointing at her nose.

    "Hmm." Her eyes were closed when she sighed dreamily. She had made no effort to hide her imperfections behind foundation and concealer today. The day was too warm and sweet, and she wanted to embrace it well with her naked face. So she discarded every bit of make-up today, and it had a positive effect on her: she felt less... impenetrable.

    After a momentary silence, he asked, "What did you do apart from making money?"

    There was a flicker of smile on her face when she replied. "I write blogs under a pseudonym as a hobby. Travelling blogs mostly, and sometimes philosophical blogs. Then Cecily and I also have a Travel Agency Company, but Cecily is the primary owner, I just help her with, you know, stuff? It is called 'Eat. Travel. Love' and has single women who want to travel across continents as the clientele. We take care of everything from their security to amusement. It was Cecily's idea, and she's amazing. Then there are orphanages, of course, we associate with, and a lodging house to rebuild lives of people like us. Then there's always Nicholas bugging me, as if I have anything better to do than pretend I understand a thing he does. It's all tech stuff, so I just hog over the new money he makes."

    Aiden frowned. "You said people like us? How are people like you?"

    "I don't know," she shot her eyes open and stared at him indignantly. "No place where they belong. Home is where the heart is, they say, but what if you don't have a heart?"

    "But you do have a home, you know. A heart too."

    "Durham is the closest, I feel to home. Cherry Hills was never home, Aiden." She ignored the part about her having a heart because she was confused too. She had a heart, but it felt dead. Just a piece of muscle which expanded and contracted and made sure she was living and blood was circulating through her body.

    There was a long bout of silence that followed, and Noelle looked around. The sun was out, and it was a relatively warm day compared to the cold standards of New Jersey. She saw an old couple walking their dog, some kids playing with the snow, a guy with his headphones on―too lost in the world. It was a lazy morning, and both of them were waiting for a killer.

    A non-existent, imaginary killer.

    Noelle wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

    "Did you date anyone?" he asked all of a sudden.

    Noelle looked at him in incredulity. It was none of his goddamn business. But still she wanted to tell him the truth, so she spoke, "None."

    "None?"

    "There was a guy―Felix Grayson. A couple of dates, I guess. He liked me, I liked him too but I couldn't go through it. You understand those cold, passionless people who don't know how to love? I'm one of them."

    "Nonsense," he laughed at her. "I still feel the burn on my lips from my kiss. You are positively smoldering, Noelle Frostine. You should have chosen something else for your last name. Frostine doesn't suit you at all. There's nothing cold about you."

    Noelle grasped his wrist, and Aiden understood what she meant by the action. "Nothing cold about me." She mocked, slightly chagrined.

    "Cold digits, warm heart. Mom always used to say that."

     Noelle pulled away her hand, partly because of self-preservation, partly because it reminded her of her own dad who used to say the same thing. Which then reminded her of the reason why she was back home. It really was a vicious, never ending cycle. One that was too ingrained in her blood to let her forget.

    "You're never giving up, are you?" Noelle asked rhetorically. She saw another couple entering the park through the silver gate. One look at them, and she found a smile forming on her involuntarily.

    "The cheater, cheater couple." Noelle mused. "Emmaline!" she called her friend out. She was seven years her senior, and they were barely a couple of meetings old acquaintances but friends nonetheless. Emma still was very dear to her because of what she had told once about orchids, and the necessity to love people when they are least lovable.

    Emmaline's attention drew towards them, and she walked across the park, both giving away their enchanting smiles. "Is that you Noelle? Of course, it is. I'm sorry I couldn't meet you personally at the Montcliffs. How are you?"

    "Better than ever," she replied somberly. She then darted her gaze towards Michael. "Hello, Mr. Sterling."

    "Hello, Noelle. Please call me Michael. I'm barely twenty nine, you know?" Then he gave her a roguish smile. Both Aiden and Michael had married women older than them, but Noelle couldn't help but notice the differences between the two couples. She saw how Michael looked at Emmaline, the love and warmth in his gaze.

    She remembered how it was between Aiden and Juliet. Both tried to manipulate each other so that they couldn't surrender themselves, both wanted to yield power. It was cathartic, like a game of chess, and she wondered how they even managed their four month long marriage without killing each other.

    A bitter taste formed in her mouth at the irony. Of course, one person ending up dead was the only way their relationship could end. And she had to pay the price of their inability to love selflessly, with her soul.

    Noelle wanted to bury her face inside ice cold bucket.

    Instead she smiled. "Of course," she replied, all chirpy when Michael suggested Aiden that they talk, leaving Emmaline with Noelle.

    "I always knew he would come around." Emmaline's eyes sparkled, as she smiled at Noelle. "Please tell me you both have been shagging."

    "What?" Noelle flustered, embarrassed. "Of course not!"

    "Then do it. He's all hot over you, one can see it in his eyes."

    Was it the fluttery feeling she felt in her stomach that he felt too? Or the dizziness when he was near. Or the lust washing over her, even with the smallest of his caresses, so much that she would end up kissing him.

    She could do with the kissing. Lots and lots of kissing but that was that. "I don't care how he feels about me, Emma. I―I am going to leave this place soon. I have a life outside of Cherry Hills."

    "Oh, that's too bad. You both have always been my favorite people here, you know? And both of you were gone for so long, and now are finally back together. It feels like you both were finally coming home."

    Noelle knew Aiden had left Cherry Hills months after Noelle had disappeared from Claremont Juvenile Detention Center. She had hoped not to encounter him while she straightened her business. Had not considered him as a variable in her voyage.

    She could only hope he doesn't sink with her in her ship. But some part of her black soul wanted to drown him too for his mistakes.

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this is how it ends;

you bring an end.

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     The ship sinks two days later.

    That's the thing about stories. They always begin at the end. The story never begins at the birth, the first breath one takes, the first syllable you speak, the first time you kiss, the first time you make love.

    It begins in the middle of the moment.

    You watch them, follow them. You see them caught in the middle of their moments. When they kiss in the garden, talk of love in the park, read books in the library. You see her, reading out aloud passages from The Great Gatsby.

    They look happy; they are the reason why your happiness is null and void. 

    Their story should have ended with yours eight years ago. You should have drawn a linear line from start to finish. But now you will see to their end; words will be written, songs will be sung, the snow will melt.

    They will die.

    So this is where you will put it to an end, outside the Cherry Hills Royal Library where you see her car. You watch the deserted road, and slyly work your way under the car. You tamper with the car's engine so that the hydraulic fluid would start leaking from the brake lines.

    You hear his laugh. You may dislike her, but you hate him the most. You watch at the clouds that dappled the clouds which was as blue as mourning. You still mourn, and this is only how it can end―the endless mourning.

    You surreptitiously wait for them inside your car. You watch them striding down the stairs, and hopping inside their car. They look happy, but you can see the shadows under her eyes. They look like your own.

    It's all a facade. Her deceptive appearance cannot make you desert the path you have been straying on. You will begin the end. 

    You watch them driving; they are talking, probably happy because they don't realize that their journey will not have an end. After five minutes, you realize that they have realized now. They cannot stop without crashing.

    You watch them going farther and farther away but you always maintain a safe distance so that they cannot see you. They will crash and burn; you just have to wait.

    You watch them traversing through a forested path on either sides. They skid through the path; their car sinks into the ice cold lake. They may not have crashed or burned but they will drown.

   You smile. You think you brought the end but you don't know that it was just an end.

    After a long time, you will visit the grave tonight and cry.