You'll Fall For Me, Today or tomorrow

Hilary remained distracted and had little to contribute to their banter.

Though that was how she had always been in front of outsiders, Yvonne did not particularly appreciate her speaking in front of them.

She secretly despised Hilary, and would rather that the latter kept her mouth shut, especially in front of her own fiancé.

Hence no one found Hilary’s silence unusual.

When she got home, Hilary stayed in the room by herself and sifted through her smartphone for information on Shermaine. The more she saw, the more her mood devolved. She went on to look up on James Smallwood and immediately knew that it was him.

Hilary understood now why she had found Shermaine awfully familiar and even took an instant liking to her.

She began to sob uncontrollably away in the washroom with the showers left running so that no one could hear her and continued this way for some time.

By the time Zach entered the room, Hilary was already fast asleep.

Or rather, she pretended to be asleep, as she was worried that Zach might notice something amiss.

The next morning while Zach was away at the office, she immediately called up Clarissa.

Clarissa was a little miffed that her mother has asked to meet. There was a chill in the air which encroached upon her skin, so she would rather sleep in.

“What’s so important that we’ve to do this so early, Mom?”

Hilary’s words were almost upon her own lips before she swallowed them back down. She opted to adopt a more measured and casual approach.

“Early, you say? Is this your daily routine? What kind of work are you doing that doesn’t pay and leaves you so undisciplined? Look at how hard everyone else is hustling. You aren’t bad looking so even if you don’t want to work, you should put in a little effort to doll yourself up when you go out.”

Clarissa laughed a little, only to patronize her mother.

“Why aren’t you talking?”

“Your observations are spot-on, Mom. I’m not able to defend myself!”

“You know, I’m this close to giving up on you, girl.”

You had never cared about me that much anyway.

That was what Clarissa thought. Hilary paused before she asked, “Remember that we’ve met Shermaine last time? Do you know her? I really like her, so do you think you could introduce us?”

“Huh?”

Clarissa’s brows perked up. “I don’t really know her as we operate in different social circles. I’ve only interacted with her back then because she’s a friend of my classmate.”

“I see. That makes sense.”

mildly disappointed, yet

did you become a

I

like her movies, but is it necessary to try to reach out to her? Haven’t you have anything better to do recently than

when you’re holed up in the house with your so-called essays. You’ll be turning thirty soon. At this rate, you could wind

An awkward silence ensued.

have slapped herself if she

her own mouth for saying all the

her resolve to speak less

eventually. The weather is getting colder, so I should be heading back to spend winter in W City. Probably be back next year. Got a deadline to

that the purpose of Hilary’s call was not actually about getting on her

return to Zen Highlands, but made a

like a junior employee who needed supervision. Mandy in particular had constantly pressed her

fan of her writings herself with an insatiable

single time she came in, so much so that she had to have snacks at the ready with which to pacify Mandy so that she may be able

assistants to Yael. They were able to bring in more sources of income in the form of a video game adaptation and peripherals within the short

anymore, why aren’t you posting new chapters? Even if you write only a thousand words a day, you should have consolidated quite a

own mouth with the pastries that

quite used to this by now. “Alright, you do whatever you have to do.

“You’re an evil mistress.”

laughed, “I’m not yet

she might run with

you have a boyfriend and are cohabiting with him,

tone left Clarissa

now? Aren’t you afraid that of getting

“Oh, I’m so scared!”

the office. “Mandy’s right. You should finish up whatever articles you have on hand soon, cause that’s what the production company is keen on. There are also a few more requests for you to do some screenwriting. It would be better to step it up before the end of the year, or we won’t be able to hand

“What?”

dumbfounded. It would seem that she would not only need to avoid speaking but also avoid getting

With winter around the corner, the only thing she had on

want to earn more

up immediately. “I’ll get down

rental brought her focus back. She wished she had more arms with which to speed

has been underutilized all this time. You should get in there.

like

“Yes, now. Questions?”

“Nope. None at all.”

into her own office. It was really

know, Clarissa could just marry into wealth. I mean like, why’s she even working so hard?

before, it would be impossible not to once they had

away when they were going through all these emotional stages. By the time she appeared, they were already