Chapter 1
The joy of a single mother was seeing her kids enrolled in nursery school. Katherine squatted to her children's height, caressing their faces lovingly as she sighed gloomily, feeling her mood dampened. She felt like taking them back home and hid them under her comforter.
This was the first time her children were leaving her sight. They were never alone, either with their nanny or her, but the twins were starting school today, and she was nervous. She was scared about leaving them by themselves.
Even though there would be a teacher assigned to them, the tug in her heart wouldn't let her believe the competence of the teacher. She had researched the school before opting for her children there, a good, conducive environment, competent teachers, and all.
Her babies have grown. She pouted, sighing in distress, seeing her babies were less concerned about her endless worries. They were itching to mix it up with the other kids and started an adventure away from her.
Katherine stared at them, linking their hands together, squeezing them a little to comfort herself that her little babies would be okay.
"Be careful in class, always listen to your teachers, don't fight—" Her lecture was cut off by her little girl.
"Mom, we know." Jasmine said with a frown, her brows coming together as she held her twin brother's hand protectively. "We should take care of each other; whenever we see any stranger, we should run and find a policeman to call you or Uncle Mathew." She recited the anthem her mother had inculcated in them robotically.
"Good," Katherine smiled lovingly, "that's my girl." She ruffled Jasmine's hair adoringly.
"When the policeman asks for your mother's contact details, what would you say?" Katherine asked, wanting to be sure again. She knew her children were smarter than their age, but she needed to calm her mother's instinct down by reassuring herself her children didn't forget what she had sown in them since they were two.
"I'm Jasmine Prescott, while he—" Jasmine turned to her twin brother, "—is my twin brother, Hanith Prescott. We live at xxxxx. Our mother's number is xxxx, while Uncle Mathew's number is xxxx. Thank you." She ended with a courtesy bow.
"Awesome," Katherine clapped her hands together, sighing in relief as she smiled lovingly at the eager twins, "Jasmine, look out for your brother." She said intently, "And Hanith, don't be too shy; tell your sister if you feel any discomfort."
She placed kisses on their foreheads affectionately, cheeks, and noses before doing a finger heart symbol to them, and they reciprocated her antics. "Mommy loves you, buds."
"Mom, we love you too," they returned in unison.
Katharine smiled, waving at her children as they ran to the entrance and mixed with the other pupils. She sighed, looking at her kids disappearing among the children as she checked her wristwatch one more time to see she only had less than an hour to reach the hotel.
She glanced back again before dropping her hand at the bus stop, waving to board an empty cab to the hotel. After a few minutes, she was lucky to see a cab, and she entered the shotgun.
She told the driver the address of her workplace before taking out her phone to check for notifications only to see a series of messages from her boss.
Katherine groaned, skimming through the messages before deciding to call her boss. "G'm boss," she greeted in an overly high tune, straightening her skirt as she grimaced, quickly removing the phone from her ear while her boss's loud voice blared on the other side.
"Where are you? Today is an important day," her boss let out.
"Important day?" She raised her brow in confusion, trying to remember if there was any important task on the schedule today. She could remember vividly that she cross-checked the schedule, and there wasn't any important task.
"God, Katherine!" She could envision her boss facepalming himself while tugging the poor tie of his. "Did you check the email I sent to you last night?"
"No. I didn't," Katharine responded immediately, shrugging her shoulders unbothered. Her boss had known her for not working extra time; she had time for everything, and all her time was planned. Work time for work, play time for play.
"At least—" her boss groaned tiredly, "one famous celebrity and his wife are lodging at our hotel today, and I want you to welcome them."
All these rich people book anytime they want without prior notice! She rolled her eyes. At least they should have booked before she left work yesterday, not making the appointment meet her impromptu.
"Okay, boss," Katherine mumbled, hanging up, not interested to hear what her boss had left to say.
Katherine groaned, rubbing her temple as she felt the migraine creeping to her forehead. She opened her bag, bringing out her tablet and water before taking two pills. She needed to visit her doctor to give her a stronger dose. She closed her eyes as she let the music in the background calm her nerves as the driver drove off.
When she reached her destination, Katherine rubbed her eyes tiredly, gave the driver money, and then got down from the cab. Then she slung her handbag on her shoulder, clearing her throat a little as she straightened her back with her head held high, walking to the door.
Katherine met her boss at the entrance, with some attendants, waiting patiently.
"You are here, Kathy," her boss said dramatically, but she could see his shoulder slumped in relief while she rolled her eyes. "They are almost ten minutes away from here," her boss said, his eyes twinkling happily. "I can't wait to see them." her boss gushed out, and she gave him a nasty side eye. "I've been a fanboy," she just shook her head, giving her bag to one of the lower attendants as she joined her boss to welcome the celebrity.
After some minutes, four slick black cars drove in, and professionally, the hotel attendants bowed a little to greet them.
One of the bodyguards opened the car door as a man in his mid-twenties got down from the car while the wife followed immediately, linking her hand to her husband's arm.
Katherine moved forward to welcome the guests, leaving her boss to gush over how handsome his idol was in reality. When she paused on her step, her confident step faltered a little, which drew the man's attention to her.
The air she was breathing freely early became dense, and it felt hard to breathe under his scorching gaze.
The deepest memories she tried to hide came rushing back like her favorite movie. A shocked gasp escaped from her lips as her eyes felt blurry. The migraine that had been tamed earlier with pills came rushing back tenfold as she took a step back and another before she picked up the pace and ran away from the hallway.