hey! i realized i have never actually talked to my readers bc i thought it might ruin the flow of my writing, but yes popping in to say there's a human here! ☺️

you guys are honestly the sweetest! i LOVE seeing your comments, it makes the writing so much more fun 💓  ps i love exchanging books so leave a comment here if u want me to check your book out too!!

love u & cherish u loads, have a great day!

***

Against my better judgement, out of everyone in this world, I decided to seek comfort and advice from none other than Cleo herself.

I didn't know what to expect when she walked in. The last time we had seen each other, she wasn't in her best condition. And she had revealed that she had liked Nick all this while. I was worried things would be awkward between us, and consist of hatred, even. However, she came in looking as strong as ever.

"I'm a disaster." I said openly.

"Hi, disaster." She strut in, tossing her shopping bag to the side. She sat down on the chair, and then surveyed her surroundings.

"I heard that you haven't even been using this penthouse very much. I regret taking so much time to negotiate this deal, then. You know, it was a fight between Kendall Jenner and I for this place."

"I— I'm —"

"Sorry?" She predicted my next words. "For what? Sorry that Nick liked you? Nah, hun. It's his loss."

I had to say I admired the strength in the girl. "Are you over him?" I asked.

She looked into the distance. "Not yet. It'll take a while, but I'm getting there, I think. I mean, obviously it isn't easy to just abandon a ten-year crush like that. I used to see him every day, and know everything about him. But that's okay, because I know this is right. Plus, I can tell he's happy with you."

She turned to me, a smile twitching on her face. "I've never seen him grin as widely as he has with you. At first, I was so angry because I thought you agreed to the deal to seduce him, and I couldn't believe I lost to someone who played tricks. But if you were sincere, then I'm glad that Nick found someone he liked to help him through this dark period in his life."

I blinked. Frankly, I wasn't expecting this. Thankful, I responded from the bottom of my heart.

"Well, he already had someone else too. He had you."

Cleo smiled and looked down a little, her golden locks falling to her face. "Is Emma Trinket really giving a compliment? Wow, they were right. Love changes things."

I laughed. "Well, I have to admit that my perspectives have changed a little. Maybe the elites aren't always obnoxious. And I think I've opened up more, I realized that other people can really be of help."

"Wow, congratulations." Cleo mocked. Next, she kicked her legs up onto my table, no doubt paying me back in my own coin. I had done the same to her in her office the first time we met. "I'm glad that I quit, anyway. It gave me some time to myself, for once. For ten years I have dedicated every moment to the Sheldons. The past week, I could finally do other things. Spas, manicures, even things like friends; not just people who were my colleagues, or other elites I had to take care of on behalf of the royalty. And I even found a new hobby -- art appreciation. I found out why I always made a point to decorate the Sheldons' homes and HQ with artworks. I didn't even know I had an interest in it all this while."

I grinned. "That's great, Cleo." I was genuinely happy for the girl. She said she had started working for them at a tender age. She may have been enviably wealthy after working for them, but she didn't really get to have a life outside of her job.

"Will you come back eventually? Once you get over him? He needs you. He can't lose both of us at the same time."

Her eyes widened. "So I was right after all. You guys did break up. No wonder he was waiting downstairs restlessly."

"What?" I climbed over the couch in one move, and leaned against the glass window, craning my neck to try and spot him.

Cleo huffed. "You didn't know? He's been calling and texting you like crazy."

I shrugged. "I think I need to wait on this one and cool down first. So, did he see you come in?"

"Of course. I made it a point to brush past him and strut in. He's got to know that we girls have each other's back." She winked.

"If that's true, can I ask you something? Do you — do you happen to know about the Scarlet Plague?"

"You mean this?" Cleo rolled up her sleeve and revealed a red webbed scar on her arm, just like the one Nick and I had.

My jaw dropped. "Y — you were a victim too?"

Cleo nodded slowly. "It's why I always wear long sleeves. Not only because they are classy, but because it was a painful reminder to something that may have interfered with my line of duty. My father gave his life for the cure too. The Sheldons knew that, so that's why they took me in when I was fourteen, when my mom had abandoned me and I had nowhere else to go."

That explained her dedication to them. I started getting goosebumps again. "But you forgive them for what they did? For starting the illness you have, and for taking your dad's life for the cure?"

She pursed her lips. "Well, I found out because Nicholas told me the truth. When he was sixteen, he came home crying one day. I never ever saw Nick cry, so I got so afraid. Then, he worked up the nerve. He told me the truth about his family, and he pressed a credit card into my hand. He told me to run away and expose the truth, and don't look back."

"I didn't register it at first." She continued. "It was something so morbid, because I had looked up to the Sheldons for years. They were a warm and cohesive family, and Nick's parents had always looked out for me. They were in an enviable position, and they gave me everything I ever needed. It was hard to accept that they weren't the perfect family I thought they were."

"I told him to stop believing false rumors, and that I wasn't going anywhere. So he picked up the phone, called the New York Times and told them. I remembered the look on his face when he googled the punishment for such a crime afterward. Then, he even thought of somehow taking the blame for it. He told them that it was because they wanted to save him only and so the trials happened, and he wanted to stand in for the punishment. It was horribly naive for him to think that, but I could tell that he was simply out of desperation. I realized it wasn't just me, but he had lost something too. We can mourn our dead parents, but he was mourning the living. That day, he didn't know what to think of them anymore. He lost his family."

Cleo took the cup of coffee I had been drinking and hydrated herself. She was trembling ever so slightly at the recollection of the incident. It sent shivers down my spine.

"The both of us ran away and found a house. Yeah, I used to stay in Nick's apartment, and I only moved out recently when I learnt that people had been speculating things about us. Anyway, we avoided Jon and Nicole, only seeing them briefly at important events. I didn't like them very much. They always looked so morose, so apologetic, but nothing they did would ever bring my father back.

And that's when I realized they can't do that. They didn't expect it to turn out this way too. They didn't intend to engineer a superbug. It was wrong of them to be greedy, but I would have run the same experiments to prevent the illness from getting out of a hand. Besides, they have confessed to their crimes numerous times. It was the stakeholders that didn't want the news to get out, and that's why that New York Times reporter never managed to write the story that Nick had told him, the story that Nick knew would end his perfect life. I don't like Nicholas' parents, but I knew one thing for sure: I wouldn't run away from Nicholas."

I didn't know why I had gotten so emotional recently, but tears were threatening to come at a thoughtful speech like that. I gripped onto the edge of the couch tightly. "I get where you're coming from. I'm just very shocked."

"I get it. I'm not saying you should go downstairs and run into his arms and kiss him right now, but I'm saying that you should consider forgiving him. I know that Nick is a good person."

I nodded, thinking about our good memories together. Maybe I should focus on those instead. "I remember when I first met him, I couldn't see eye to eye with him and we would bicker a lot. But our banter was funny. He's a person I have come to like."

"Like, huh? You're so boring." Cleo rolled her eyes jokingly. "I have a plan. What you need to do is tease him."

"I'm sorry, what?" I haven't even heard what the plan was yet, but I had already started laughing.

Cleo tossed her hair behind her shoulder. "You need to parade in front of him for a while, single. Make him miss you like crazy. I know the perfect time to do that." She clapped her hands. "I still have access to secretary stuff, so I know that the annual Hestia gala is tomorrow night. They're inviting all their important shareholders. Guess who else is invited? Zara Abigail."

I threw my hands up. "Wow. I thought I was over that the moment Nick revealed that he knew it was me this whole while."

Cleo nudged me. "Come on, it'll be fun. I'm going because I have shares in their company too, since I'm their faithful secretary. And I sure as hell won't be hanging out with Nick this time, so will you be a darling and accompany me this time?"

I chuckled. "Okay, fine. There's one thing I want to do, though. Nick said that even with his prosopagnosia, he would be able to recognize me as Emma. I want to test that theory."

"Sure, this is going to be interesting." Cleo got up. "What do you say, should we go shopping?"

I shook my head. "I still have so many fancy clothes you picked out for me when I first signed onto the job, so that's okay. One thing though:

I want to change my perfume..."