Chapter 1 1

The evening sun was down with redish moon active in its bight of light, Mariana sat while staring into an empty space off from the window. Just a little few poles that lies ahead of the gardern a from the window. The garden seemed green and alive yet her glimpse over it yields no postive impression; as if there isn't life in it. Just because, She was so lost in her thoughts and beclouded with old memories of she and Alex. Her state, is as if she lies beyond this present world, and at that moment she felt excited.

The euphoria felt could be rated higher than ever experienced after the departure of Alex.

Tall, energetic, handsome with gentleness were the features of Alex. Alex happened to be Mariana's first and true love. She has lovely wished the rest of her life ends in company of her new love. They dated and were in relationship close to five years. The experiences they had over the years, were far beyond the four letter words of love.

She felt like she was bonded to him and him to her.

Still lost in her world of imagination, she didn't hear when the door of the room was opened nor did she hear the footsteps of the duo that faced her now. Facing her Mom and younger sister, Mom told her that she needed to come out of her thoughts and leave the past behind me. My younger sister, who now looked like an elder sister to me now, crutched down to where Mariana was seated and squatted down before raising her head to look at her .

Taking a deep breath, she heard Choice saying, "Big Sis,you know that all this pain, grieving ,and sorrowing won't bring your Alex back to life,you really need to face the future. You and I know perfectly well that Alex always wants the best for you and will not like to see you in this condition. I Know you love him dearly but there is nothing either you or anyone else can do about it,so I am begging you for the sake of Alex and your family just let this go and move ahead with your life".

As much as I knew that they were not far from the truth, I just couldn't understand why my mind couldn't accept the fact that he's gone. Something kept screaming in my head, liar! they are all lying, he's alive,how could he leave me without saying goodbye, but I kept trying to convince myself that all that was my wild imagination and nothing else and I needed to get over this.

After deciding this in my head,I looked up to my sis and mom and told them that I'm ready to give up the pain and I will try my best to get over Alex. But I quickly reminded them that I wasn't making any promises. I could see the happiness glittering from my mom's eyes as I just shared my head and headed to the bathroom. Almost getting to the bathroom door I heard my mom saying, not so fast darling, Cole is coming to take you out for an outing, so you need to freshen up and get yourself into this dress and prepare to head out.

Mariana couldn't help but chuckle as she took the dress from her mom and placed it in the bed while changing from her tile slippers into my bathroom slippers to get into the bathroom. She fastened her footsteps as she just wanted to be away from her mom. She got into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. When she thought that she had escaped from her mom, she heard her calling out to her from my bathroom to be fast, she could only yell back by replying to a Yes Mom while taking a dip in the bathtub.

Away from Beth's mansion, Cole was seen humming joyfully.

Its face was full of joy, passers-by couldn't help but look at his direction as his joy was obvious and could be said that he won a lottery.

He entered into his Royce rolls and zoomed off to the Beth's mansion to pick up Marina for an outing.

He was the only one that knew the reason behind the uncelebrated happiness.

When Cole reached his destination, which was Beth's mansion, he stayed in the car to dress himself up a little before going for the door.

He rang the bell and Choice came to answer the door. Cole was welcomed warmly into the house and given a seat to settle in while she went up to let Mariana know that Cole was there.

Mrs. Beth ordered the housekeeper to serve Cole while he waited for Mariana but he opted for water only which was given to him.

Mrs.Beth also went up to attend to her daughter.

When she got to Mariana's room she realized that Mariana was still in the bath and decided to speak to her from the bedroom.

"Mariana, I hope you aren't taking this outing to heart. Cole suggested that you should hang out more to help you heal and also face the reality and we thought it was a good idea and decided that you should go out and have fun.

You've been indoors for over a year now and it's really killing you inside even Alex's family have picked up their broken pieces and moved on with their lives, so you shouldn't keep hurting yourself, we want you to live a better life and you should know I and your sister will always be there for you baby"

Mariana told her mom that she understands them and she is willing to do her best to put the past behind her.

Okay baby, hurry up and come out here, Cole has been waiting for you and hasten up.

Yes Mrs Beth I'll be out there in a jiffy, Mariana replied and they all laughed. Choice and her mom left her to prepare her clothings and jewelry for her to wear.

After a while, Mariana was out of the bathroom and went into the bedroom to dress up. She was shocked to see the jewelry that was arranged for her to wear. She wondered if she was going on an outing or exhibition.

What's up with all this jewelry ? I'm going to an exhibition and you guys aren't letting me Know?

Gosh..who goes on an outing with this kind of jewelry ? She asked her mom and Choice.

Beth and Choice tried convincing her to wear the jewelry but she accepted.

After all the arguments and disagreement, they let her have her way.

Choice and her mom led her out of the room after she was dressed up and led her towards the living room to meet Cole.

Cole beamed with a smile and complemented Mariana's dress and beauty as she walked down the stairs in Grand style.

Mariana's eyes flickered with a hint of sadness as she remembered how Alex usually came to pick her up for outings and movies.

She reached the living room and placed her hands in Cole's hand who was courteous like a prince waiting for his princess.

They went out through the door as they laughed while Mariana tried to put up a smile on their way out at a joke cracked by Cole.

They entered the car and zoomed off.