Chapter 1

The woman stopped dragging her suitcase for a moment, then looked up at the house in front of her.

The house looked old with faded paint, although it was no longer dusty because she was paying someone for it to clean it. Nothing seemed different from the last time she inhabited this place ten years ago.

"Where is your mother, Rachel? I want to greet my mother-in-law."

"Mother-in-law, your ass! We're still in school, we're not married. You're not necessarily my soul mate either."

"I am your future husband. Your soul mate, your life partner, your sleeping partner too."

"X!"

"Hahaha! Just like that, your face turned red. You're so innocent, Rachel!"

With all her strength she endured the hot turmoil in her chest, as the debris of those memories began to gather into one whole piece.

The grip on the handle of her suitcase tightened. Trying to control herself as her heart began to no longer be able to compromise.

She pulled the suitcase back and continued walking until she reached the door. Her hand reached for the key in her pocket, then put it in the hole and turned it.

A loud screeching sound was heard as she pushed the door fully open. The memories came back again. Her figure who was very young in her early college came from the kitchen with two lunch boxes in hand, then wave at a boy who was waiting for her on the sofa.

Then her gaze turned to the living room sofa, a faint flashback showed the figure of a handsome boy in neat clothes with jeans and an oversized t-shirt. His hair is neatly combed back using pomade. He seems to want to show a version of the good boy in front of the girl's mother, who the boy often calls the 'future mother-in-law'.

Rachel laughed softly as tears started to fall. She seemed to enjoy the shadows of the memories, even though her chest was starting to no longer be able to take a breath due to the tightness of the reality that hit her.

She looked up, letting the tears roll down her cheeks. Then she steps again. This time in the kitchen, everything looks still the same.

Inside the kitchen, the flashback image reappeared. The boy now wearing an oversized black t-shirt, was standing in front of the stove.

"Rachel! This egg won't explode, will it? Gosh!"

The boy screamed so loudly until his body jumped back as the egg he was frying splattered hot oil everywhere.

Rachel laughed bitterly remembering that, then pulled out a dining chair and sat there. Her elbows rested on the table, her palms covering her face. Slowly her shoulders moved up and down, sobs began to echo even though she tried with all her heart to brace herself.

There was not an inch in this house that didn't remind her of that figure. The figure of the young man who left her like that ten years ago.

She wiped the tears from her cheeks and decided to get up. Enough of this bitter nostalgia. Tomorrow morning she had to start work, there was no time for her to cry over someone whose face was now blurred in memory.

The woman stepped again, dragging her suitcase into the room. She opened the cupboard and took out the clothes in the suitcase and moved them.

She pulled a cupboard drawer, about to store valuable files. But her movement was stopped when she found a worn hat still stored in there.

This time the woman hit rock bottom in her mood. the mournful cry echoed in the room was exploding. Her trembling hands grabbed a white hat with black embroidery that read 'X-Rachel'.

She gripped the old hat tightly. Hoping that the tightness in her chest would go away, or that her longing for the man could be reduced even a little.

She wept bitterly. Release the emotional turmoil that had been suppressed since she stepped foot into the house of a million memories that made her sink into deep pain.

"X, where are you? It's been ten years ..." she mumbled between tears. "And my heart is still intact for you."

Her body fell to the floor, sitting leaning against the open closet door. She looked up, staring at the ceiling of her room with a miserable look.

"Ten years ... and I'm still holding on to my stupidity, waiting for you who don't know when it will come back to me. But, how long, X?" her gaze went blank. A soft moan came back from her trembling mouth.

"How long should I wait for you?"

.

.

(*)

"Rachel, why didn't you wait for me anyway?"

Rachel, who was just about to put the spoon filled with food into her mouth looked forward, a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair suddenly asked and sat in front of her.

"I'm really hungry, Nancy," she said simply. Then feed the food into her mouth. She wasn't ignoring the woman's presence, but also not welcoming her.

"You lie!" The woman named Nancy snorted softly. "You must have run away from avoiding the handsome one, right?"

Rachel stopped chewing, then looked at Nancy for a moment. From the look on her face, it was clear that her new friend's guess was right.

Rachel chewed again, then lazily stirred her food. "I've never avoided Mr. Young."

"My guess is right!" Nancy screams out softly. "I didn't mention anyone's name, anyway."

Rachel almost rolled her eyes. No intention of answering again because this new friend will dig further into her closeness to Dimitri Young.

"Rachel ...."

Rachel chose to ignore her and tried to continue eating quietly.

Her mind slowly began to wander. She has been working here for a week, at the head office in New York. After previously working at the Seattle branch office for two years.

Due to an incident of sexual harassment by her superior, which ended with the superior's wife fighting her because the damn man distorted the facts, it made her the guilty party when his wife caught the harassment.

"Rachel ...."

Rachel kept her head down, looking focused on her food.

"Rachel!"

This time the call was a whisper, accompanied by a light kick to her shin. Rachel groaned softly, then looked up with bulging eyes and furrowed brows.

"What's the matter!" She said to Nancy, but with only a silent lip movement.

Nancy gave the eye code. Rachel also turned to the right, then finally understood Nancy's call and eye code because there was Dimitri Young, he's their superior. The man was now sitting next to her looking at Rachel while holding her chin with one hand.

"You're so busy daydreaming that you don't even notice my arrival, Rachel."

Rachel's face turned red. Not ashamed to be stared at by a man as handsome as Dimitri, but because the attention of the entire cafeteria is now focused on her table.

Dimitri Young is a young executive with above-average good looks. The man with Tionghoa-Spanish blood has a firm face shape, slanted eyes, clean skin, a tall and straight body, and muscles in his arms and stomach - because of his gym hobby - which makes Dimitri look even sexier in the eyes of women.

Not only in the old office but here Dimitri is worshiped. Handsome, successful, rich, single too. Who wouldn't be interested in being his lover? It seems that only Rachel has absolutely no interest in that direction.

It would be too naive for Rachel not to know that Dimitri had been paying attention to her for the past two years. She was a mature woman, sensitive enough to sense that he had a special interest in her, though Dimitri himself had never said that.

Dimitri is not the type of guy who likes to suppress feelings without ever expressing them. It was just that Rachel herself always kept a safe distance, whenever the man tried to get any further.

It wasn't because she is arrogant, or set the standard too high that she never even paid attention to a man like Dimitri.

However, this is a matter of the heart. How can she open her heart even side by side with another man, while her heart is still beating the same name for the past ten years?

X ... It's still about Xavier.