Quote of the day: All that glitters are not gold, and not all gold glitters 😁.

Ashley heard the door open and bang close. She knew Chloe was definitely home. Chloe just always finds a way to announce her arrival.

Ashley sat upright on her bed. She and Greg had arrived a few hours ago, he asked his driver to drop her home saying she needed to rest and he had gone to his office.

On their way back, Greg hadn't been all to friendly. They had spent the journey in silence, and immediately they got to the airport he had insisted his driver dropped her home while he hailed a taxi. It felt like he wanted to leave her in hurry, the guy felt all too bipolar to her.

"Waaow! and she is back from the honeymoon," Chloe yelled yanking her room door open. Ashley wasn't the least bit surprised at that, Chloe was just that way.

"I went on a bloody business trip not honeymoon Chloe," she said which she knew was really not necessary because Chloe, would believe what she wants to.

"Well a business trip with your hot boss," Chloe said sitting closely beside her on the bed. Chloe gave her a look and Ashley knew what would come next, "so tell me what I need to know."

"And that would be?" Ashley asked feigning ignorance, she knew exactly what Chloe wanted to hear, but she wouldn't give her the satisfaction of talking.

"What happened between you and Greg of course," she said with an eye roll.

"Well nothing happened, I told you he had been avoiding me for some time now. He continued that in Spain and it seemed to grow worse there..."

"But... " Chloe said all to eager.

"You just knew there was a but...Well he kissed me this morning, and he slept in my bed overnight," she said slightly blushing.

"Kiss! I can't believe you guys are still in this kissing stage. Four whole days and nothing else happened," she scoffed with a disappointed look. "And how can you share a room with him and not jump him."

If only Chloe knew how hard she had to control herself from jumping him, this guy was supposed to be jailed for being so hot.

"Did you know Greg was the owner of Castello hotel" Ashley asked wanting to forget about how she had behaved when he kissed her that morning, because she knew Chloe would ask, and would endlessly tease her about it.

"No I don't... You mean the Castello? Wow, who would have thought... " Chloe said looking awed.

"And he designed a room for Nora in the presidential suite. The butler said they stayed there together for quite a long time."

"Who the heck is this Nora? She seems to be the antagonist in your love story," Chloe said with a pout.

"She is really important to him you know," Ashley said growing silent then.

"There is something else you are not telling me Ashley...What is it?" Chloe asked with concern evident in her grey eyes. Ashley felt really loved at that moment, she knew Chloe would always be there for her.

"I saw my father at Spain," she said her voice heavy with fear and concern.

"Oh no!" Chloe's eyes widened in horror. She was the only one who knew exactly what she had to endure with her father, she was the only one who knows how terrified of him she had been, "did he see you?"

"Yes he did, and I'm scared he saw me with Greg," she said what she feared the most.

"Why is it a problem if he saw you with Greg? He would just think he was someone whom you just met or something. And what the heck was he doing in Spain in the first place?"

"You don't understand Chloe."

"What is it? Make me understand," Chloe said holding her hands now in a caring manner like a mother would.

"Remember I told you about a certain woman Cassandra whom my father was in love with, and her child whom he had wanted to... "

"Yeah the family your father wanted but couldn't have," Chloe said with disgust. "Well what about them? Did you see him with them? Was that the reason he had abandoned you?"

"No Chloe, that child..." She paused, not knowing if she should tell Chloe but she knew Chloe was the only one she could tell this to, "was Greg, and the woman was his mum." She finished saying and watched Chloe's expression. To say Chloe was shocked was a big understatement.

"No way!" Chloe's eyes held lot of questions, some she clearly couldn't answer her now. "Your father can't really remember Greg, can he?"

"He definitely remembers him, he had loved Greg so much, wanted him for a child and always hated that he had gotten me instead," she said with pain and it all came back to her. Everything that had happened with her father, how he had always blamed her for everything that happened, and the tales he would always tell her whenever he got drunk, which was everyday.

"You are nothing but an inconvenience to me, if your slut of a mother hadn't fallen pregnant for me, I would have been with Cassie now, Ohh and my little boy."

She remembered how her father happens to say this everytime he got hopelessly drunk.

"Did Greg see him?" Chloe asked.

"Yes he did, and he had been curious ever since, wanting to know why I was so scared when I saw him," she said.

"So Greg doesn't remember your father. I understand him not knowing you since he never met you and all, but you said your father had cherished the boy a lot," Chloe said with confusion evident in her voice.

"He was three Chloe, how many things do you remember from when you were three," Ashley said rolling her eyes.

"I don't even remember things from when I was twenty... " Chloe said with a stupid smile, this had Ashley laughing.

"I'm just really worried you know, I haven't seen my father for two years now and I feel really uncomfortable seeing him again," Ashley said truthfully.

"Its okay Ashley you don't have to worry, I don't think your father will do anything stupid now. If he is in Spain he must be there because he loves it... And moreover he never wanted you, so... " Chloe said giving her a reassuring look.

"Yeah that is quite true," she said but was still unsure. She felt that something bad was going to happen very soon.

"You should take your mind off your father, you can't let him keep ruining everything."

"Yeah I should," she gave Chloe a smile.

"Now speaking of Greg, Why the heck are you guys still in the kissing phase?" Chloe asked with a serious look, and this looked really cute to Ashley. Ashley liked how Chloe could switch from being all sweet to serious in seconds.

"At least I'm at the kissing stage with someone, what should we say about you," she said turning the tables on her.

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't seen you with any guy recently," Ashley said with a sly grin.

"Well I haven't met anyone that looks yummy enough."

"And you believe that."

"Well yes, if I do find someone I like I won't be so slow like you," she said twirling her hair in her fingers.

"Do you want me to tell you the reason you haven't found anyone you like?" Ashley asked with a knowing smile.

"Really... " Chloe brightened up at this, "okay tell me."

"Well, follow me into the rabbit hole to find out," Ashley said standing up from her bed, Chloe followed suit with eagerness.

"I don't mind being Alice to find this out," Chloe said with excitement.

Ashley led Chloe out of her room and into Chloe's room, she opened the door and got in, at this point Chloe was confused.

"What are we doing in my room?" Chloe asked with a look of confusion. "I know very well my room does not house the reason for my lack of finding a man I like, if it does I would know by now."

Ashley gave her a dirty look, she just really wanted to bash this girl's head in right now because the reason was right there in her room, staring at the both of them in form of hotness.

"This..." Ashley said pointing to the wallpapers that decorated Chloe's walls. They were all pictures of one celebrity or the other, and all of them were guys as you can already guess and hopelessly hot. There were pictures of: Chris Hemsworth, Kelvin Lutolf, Jason Derulo, Toni Mahfud, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, Trey songz, Keith Powers, Zayn Malik, Shawn Mendes, Jeremy Irvine, Brad Pitt, Lee Min Ho, and so much more. You can imagine the rest.

"What is it about my babies?"

"Well they are the reason you can't find anyone you like," Ashley said stating the obvious fact.

"How do you mean?" Chloe said with obvious outrage. Chloe hated it if anyone pointed an accusing finger at her babies, she could bite the persons head off, but Ashley didn't care now.

"Well look at them, they are all so hot," Ashley said with a tone that stated that she was really enjoying this.

"And is there any crime in that?"

"Well there isn't but they are the reason you are always single... "

"Hold it right there."

"No you hold it. You are not to talk until I'm done talking okay," Ashley said placing a finger across Chloe's lips to shush her up. Chloe gave a childish look but kept quiet all the same. "You are so in love with them, you practically date them in your silly little mind. With this Chloe you have unknowingly set a standard for yourself, so that is the reason why any guy that is not as hot as they are, won't get your attention... "

"Obviously," Chloe interrupted.

"Shush I'm not done! You are so used to how dreamy they are in movies and maybe music videos, you seem to forget that they are humans too. And now you believe that every guy should behave in the same fashion they do. That is the reason every normal guy disappoints you, because they don't meet up to your Brad Pitt legacy." She paused a bit to see if any of it was sinking into Chloe's silly brain but as we can already guess, it wasn't. She continued all the same. "You seem to forget that no human is perfect, but your babies are always perfect, so you can't stand it if all other guys aren't as perfect as that."

"I don't believe your theory, you just hate my babies," Chloe said picking her fingernails.

"Maybe if you get a chance to spend a day with one of them you will get to realize that they are not all that perfect."

"Bleh, I don't believe you. At least Greg is all so perfect and so hot. You can't tell me there isn't' someone who looks like Greg in this world."

"What exactly is your definition of perfect?" Ashley asked with a light chuckle.

"Well being extremely hot is the first step to being perfect to me. Now get out of my room and stop casting an evil eye on my babies," Chloe said plopping down on her bed. Ashley got on the bed with Chloe lying beside her. Chloe looked at her with annoyance, "what are you doing?"

"I want to sleep in your room today." It was mainly because she was scared of the nightmare coming again, if Chloe was there it might be better.

"And what gave you the impression that I would like to have you in my room, out!" Chloe said with feigned anger, pushing her off the bed but Ashley didn't budge.

"Please..." she said giving her the puppy eyes.

"Then take back what you said about my babies," Chloe said.

"Oh my God Chloe they are so perfect. They remind me so much of those Greek gods we studied about in schoo. They really are the most beautiful creatures on this planet," she said with fake happiness.

"I know you are just lying but you can stay anyway since I'm so generous like my babies. You should thank them for letting you share the room with them." Chloe said getting up, she cuddled closer into her duvet and watched as Chloe walked into the bathroom to shower.

"Oh really, I can't believe I will be sharing the same room with this amount of hotness," she said with fake enthusiasm.

"You shared a room with Greg Marshall so you should be used to it," Chloe called out from the bathroom. Ashley decided not to reply her because it would just lead to another round of teasing.

She stayed awake for a while but soon fell into a peaceful sleep.

Chapter eighteen.
Mary Aden.