Chapter One

"Then, I'll be off." Carrie said as she took her handbag.

"You know I should tie you up? You are always going home on the dot!" Terry complained as he stood at the door of his office.

"Well, you know I have commitments to keep." Carrie replied as she turned to look at Terry. Terry was like any average guy, with short dark brown hair and he was well, tall.

Carrie had been eternally grateful to Terry when he accepted her to his designers company, even when he knew that she had commitments. Terry crossed his arms across his chest and pouted, "You know I should just cut your salary?" He continued to complain and Carrie chuckled.

In a lot of ways, Terry was just like a child. Well, he was only twenty… And he's already a boss of his own company! Just like him… Carrie shook her head and turned to walk out.

"Well, you should already have gotten used to it. See you tomorrow." Carrie said as she continued walking and she could still hear Terry complaining to himself.

Walking out of the building, Carrie brushed through her long blond shoulder length hair. Breathing in the fresh air, she closed her eyes. Opening her eyes again, she walked home. She wanted to just go back and see Brian. As she thought of Brian, she couldn't help having a smile on her face.

Quickening her pace, Carrie hurried home.


"I'm home!" Carrie announced as she entered the house.

"Mummy!" A small boy ran towards Carrie and hugged her leg. Carrie bent down and gave the boy a proper hug.

"Hello Brian… Were you a good boy?" Carrie asked and Brian nodded his head.

"You're back!" A woman with her brown hair pinned up walked from the kitchen. Carrie carried Brian in her arms and stood up.

"Thanks for taking care of Brian, Ashley." Carrie said as she looked at her sister-in-law.

"No trouble, Brian was so good. Unlike his two cousins." Ashley said and with that, two boys came running out of the kitchen and crushed onto the sofa. Chris and David was just a year older than Brian. Carrie smiled as she placed her handbag on a chair and carried Brian to the sofa.

Placing Brian on her lap, she looked into his beautiful blue eyes. Like her, Brian had blue eyes. Perhaps that was the only thing Brian had inherited from her, everything else was just like his father. Pushing back thoughts of him, Carrie brushed through Brian's short black hair and asked him.

"Did you miss me?" And Brian nodded. Placing a kiss on his forehead, Carrie stood up again and walked up the stairs to their room. Brian couldn't help yawning the whole way and Carrie smiled.

Putting him in bed, she sat beside him.

"I don't wanna sleep… I… don't…" Brian said as he slowly drifted off to sleep. Looking at her three year old, she couldn't stop grinning. Carrie was always able to forget all her worries when she sees Brian's face.

Standing up slowly, she walked out of the room.

Walking down the halls, Ashley came out of a room and walked down with Carrie.

"Managed to put them to sleep?" Carrie asked and Ashley let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, fortunately they were worn out after playing with Brian." Ashley said as they reached the living room.

"Have you eaten dinner?" Ashley asked and Carrie nodded her head.

"I should really try to come home earlier… Every time I come home, it's bed time for Brian. Maybe I could negotiate with Terry to bring home my work and work here." Carrie said and Ashley chuckled.

"You think he would agree to that? You're able to come home at six o'clock when others come home at seven like that is already a blessing! But talking about this, Terry really likes his employees to work long hours…" Ashley said as she poured a glass of water.

"Well, we have a lot of projects to do and he's a genius in getting clients, you know? Even though our company is a small one, he manages to get those big clients!" Carrie explained.

And then, the front door opened and both of them turned their heads to see a tall man with brown hair enter the living room. With a frown on his face.

"Harry, welcome back." Carrie greeted her younger brother but his frown was still plastered on his face.

"What's the matter?" Ashley asked as she took her husband's briefcase from his hands.

Harry sat down on the chair and looked at Carrie with a serious face.

"What's the matter with you?" Carrie asked.

"I saw him."

Carrie raised an eyebrow and asked, "Who?"

"I saw him." But Carrie still had a blank face and Harry said, "Jake Matthews."

And Carrie sat there; memories started flowing back to her as she heard the name that she once loved. Silence followed in the living room.

"How is that possible? I thought you said he didn't have a house here?" Ashley asked Carrie, breaking the silence.

"He doesn't have a house here!" Carrie said as she started panicking. Harry placed his hand over his sister's, calming her down.

"Perhaps I saw the wrong guy. I haven't seen him in like four years, so probably I saw the wrong guy." Harry said and Carrie nodded.

The whole night she couldn't stop thinking about Jake. He couldn't be here. Carrie thought and Carrie looked at her son's sleeping face. The innocent look calmed her down and she managed to catch some sleep.


"You couldn't choose a better day to be late!" Terry said as he stood at Carrie's desk.

"I'm sorry!" Carrie apologized and asked who the client was.

"Well, he's the biggest client among all our clients! We, actually you, will be designing his house, more like an apartment. He just moved here and wanted to expand his business here so do a good job!" Terry said and they went to Terry's office to meet him.

When Carrie entered the office, she couldn't believe her eyes as she saw the familiar back. She couldn't help trembling when the man turned around to meet her.

"Meet Jake Matthews."