“You know each other?” David asked Kendall and Blayze. His eyes shifted from one to the other. So were Angela’s, who needed to turn to watch them both.

“She’s who?” asked Blayze but his eyes were on Kendall.

“And what are you doing here? How are you here?” Kendall was confused, lines forming between the space of her beautifully arched brows.

For ten long years, she hadn’t had the slightest idea that she’d meet him again… one day. And that day was now. And of all places, here. But she couldn’t deny how her heart somersaulted when she saw him again. She couldn’t control the hard and fast beating of it inside her rib cage. It was annoying.

Kendall turned to David.

All of them had questions, a lot of them to be exact.

“This is Kenny. Kenny, this is my nephew, my cousin’s only son, Blayze,” David said but still confused. His forehead showed its deep lines.

She turned to Blayze with a quirked brow. “Blayze? Elijah Blayze Mitchell? Is that your whole name?” Her lips parted.

He sighed. “So, you’re Kenny. I thought you were a he,” he rebutted.

She raised an eyebrow. “And I thought your name was just Elijah!” she sarcastically replied, crossing her arms.

“Wait a minute. How do you two know each other?” Angela chimed in, tears forgotten. “Did Jack—”

“She’s my ex-girlfriend,” Blayze said.

“He’s my ex-boyfriend,” Kendall said in unison.

The two sighed at the same time. David and Angela exchanged glances, almost amused of this unexpected turn of events.

“What? How? When did it happen?” the couple asked them.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kendall answered.

“It’s a long story,” Blayze added, looking away. Obviously, neither of them wanted to tell the story of what happened between them in the past.

Kendall took notice of his height. He seemed taller than before. His muscles were in their right places to boot! Oh, how she hated him for looking so attractive right now in his simple casual clothing of jeans, shirt, and sneakers. It was apparently effortless on his part, and yet, he was looking… yummy!

“Alright, we’ll have all our lives to listen to that story one day,” said David, patting Blayze’s shoulder.

“Dinner will be ready in an hour,” Angela tried her best to lighten up the gloomy atmosphere. It was like a dark cloud was hanging overhead. “Blayze, be a dear and show her her room, okay?” she added with a little pat on his cheek.

Kendall was about to say something when he threw her a warning gaze.

“I have to call one of my hands to round up the cattle tomorrow,” David excused himself toward the study, while his wife went to the kitchen.

Blayze took Kendall’s luggage and led the way upstairs. She was forced to follow him without a word. She didn’t want to add to the negative vibes that suddenly resonated in the house because she met him again. She gritted her teeth.

The cream-colored wall was bare, and the second floor was quite cozy, too.

“There’s a bathroom in the middle of the two guest rooms. They’re like conjoined. The balcony is right there as you can see, and—”

“You can spare me the details, thank you. I’ll check and have a tour myself later,” she cut him off coldly.

He stopped and turned to her. He put aside the luggage, near the left guest room door. He looked at her in the face. Really looked at her. Then he took a deep breath.

“Doll—”

She raised her hand. “Don’t. Don’t call me that anymore.”

He let out a sigh and nodded. “Right.”

“And please, shall we keep everything… civil? I don’t want to burden David and Angela.”

He stared at her for a moment or two. She chose to look away.

“Are you going to stay here for a while?”

“That’s supposed to be my question,” she shot back and checked herself. She pursed her lips tightly and took a deep breath. “You never stayed long in one place, do you?” She wanted to hide the bitterness in her tone but her feelings got the best of her, it seemed. Oh, well, it was clear as day.

He blinked. “Right,” he slowly agreed with a curt nod.

She wondered how she could be so naïve in her early teenage years. But well, everyone must be so naïve at some point in their lives, right? She was head over heels in love with this guy and then he left her without words, no parting gifts or anything. Nothing. In short, he ghosted her! She was just left high and dry. Well, rather, wet. She cried buckets of tears at the time. One day he was still there and the next he vanished into thin air. Poof! And now, he appeared in her life again. Wham! He must be relatives with the mushroom. He popped up without notice. But for some reason, she hoped he won’t make her fall for him. Again. She swore she’d find and meet him first and then her mission in life would be over. At least.

She opened the door of the guest room and went past him to enter it. She dragged her luggage in and closed the door tightly behind her. She took a shaky breath as she leaned against the door.

‘Oh, why must I meet him again? I was fine without him! I was fine when he wasn’t there for me when I needed him the most! I must be fine now.’

Of course she wasn’t. She just tried to convince herself. Then tears formed in the back of her eyes. She angrily wiped them away with the back of her hand when they spilled and rolled down her cheeks.

She smiled to herself bitterly. It was a decade ago but here she was, still shedding tears for him. Her lost love.

♥ ♥

Blayze placed one hand on the closed door of Kendall’s room. He let out a small sigh and hung his head. He was at fault at the time. He didn’t tell her the reason why he had to go away. But it was too late now. They were like strangers now. There was no use to regret it, was there? And yet, he always regretted it. But blame it to his younger self. He was once young and stupid. And maybe gullible. There was that. And a mistake was a mistake.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t deny how his heart jumped when he saw her again. It was the same when he first saw her more than a decade ago. She was turning fifteen, and he just turned eighteen. He went to the Philippines to visit—no, to escape—as a backpacker. He enjoyed it there, while rebelling and making his parents miserable. He hated them for making him miserable, too.

He shook his head. That was a long time ago. His parents were both dead because of a traffic accident years ago, leaving him alone, except that he had David and his family who were always there for him.

His phone suddenly rang. He jumped at the sound of it, realizing he was still in front of Kendall’s room. He hoped she hadn’t heard it or she might think something was going on.

‘Like what, Blayze? That you’re still into her after all this time?’ His own thought mocked him.

He immediately went to the balcony to answer his manager’s call. From there, he could see the vast area of the ranch and everything on it.

“You said you’ll not be back in LA? Indefinitely?”

“I text messaged you, so why are you asking me this now?” He didn’t want to sound grumpy or sarcastic but he did. Well, he was not in the mood to be jolly right now. There were a couple of reasons. Jack’s gone and his ex-girlfriend was back in his life. Any abnormal person would be jolly about any of these.

He heard his gay manager’s chuckle. “Alright, honey! I know that you’re in some—I don’t want to say the ‘s’ word as you hate cussing—but aren’t you going to work next month? You already signed the contract and the company you’re going to work with will surely—”

“Sue me if I canceled it, right. I got it! I promise to be there, okay? Honey?” he said, adding the last word sarcastically.

He caught a movement in the corner of his eye, and his lips parted when he saw it was Kendall, who went out of her room. He noticed she changed into a fresh pair of jeans and T-shirt. She looked in his direction and turned to go downstairs.

God! She looked marvelous even in those simple clothes. He sighed as he finished the call.

‘Great timing!’ He slapped his forehead. ‘This is just getting better and better.’