The two old men sat out of breath after slapping and punching each other a few times. "You're getting old Edward." Mr. Johnson sneered, stretching on the coach.
"You never see yourself, do you Johnson? You're way older than I am. I only let you go out of pity." Mr. Edward spoke, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"You want us to start again Edward? Don't be too full of yourself." Mr Johnson got up pointing a finger at him then sat back as fast wincing in pain. "This body keeps failing me." They both laughed despite the exhaustion and pain. "What happened to us, Edward? You were my best friend, my brother." Johnson asked, feeling worn out.
"I always ask myself the same thing." Mr Edward sighed. "That night when the police arrested me, a dark cloud fell in my heart. I hated you so much for what you did to me. Seeing my father's disappointment in me completely broke me. All these years I've tried to get back at you so I can erase that pain."
"I know you never believed me back then but I didn't set you up. I was not the one who put those gold jewelry in your jacket. I would never do that to you, Edward." Mr. Johnson explained.
"You married Helena despite knowing how much I loved her. How do you expect me to believe you? I spent ten years in prison paying for something I was not part of and my father died in shame." He said remembering the last day his father went to visit him in prison.
"I had nothing to do with it. When your father and my father died in an accident they were both working hard to get you out. I have blamed you and your family for years for taking him away. He spent most of the time worrying about you, looking for people to help reduce your sentence. After my father died, my mother made me marry Helena to save the farm." He spoke remembering how much they had suffered.
"Merging the two families secured the crumbling business. Helena always loved you. I knew it and I was okay with it though I was in love with her for the longest time. The day you were set free from prison she came looking for you but you had moved on. She told me you had another woman so from then we decided to work on our marriage. She was my best friend Edward, I loved her so much and I would never do anything to hurt her. Hurting you would mean hurting her too."
They grew up together since Edward's father started working at Jonson's farm. Edward, Johnson, Helena, and Lucy were best friends, always hanging out together until the day Edward was accused of stealing jewels from the governor's house and sentenced to ten years in prison.
When he heard Helena was married to Johnson, he was devastated. Almost giving up on life until that day he met Isabella.
Walking around town drunk not knowing how he could face his mother or what to do with his life, he bumped into a young lady.
She was very beautiful. The mere sight of her face was a breath of new life. "You're so beautiful." He still remembered the first words he said to her before passing out.
She took him to her apartment for the night and became his partner and support in the small business they started after giving up on her ballet dancing career. Over the years he fell in love with his wife but his thirst for wealth and power pushed him to join the trafficking business and in a few years, he ruled it all. He became the underworld king but at the expense of his family.
"Isabella stood by me and I let her down. Anger and hate towards you ruined my family Johnson. All I've longed for these past years is to push you to your knees, now I'm ready to let it go. Please don't let Mark suffer. We have to stop this war for our grandchildren."
"You are right, I've hated you for so long yet you did not cause the accident. I thought Mark marrying that girl was right but I now see how much he loves your granddaughter. I have been so cruel to her, I hope she doesn't take it out on him."
"Not only did you hurt my granddaughter but her aunt too." Mr. Edward said.
"Her aunt, I don't think I know her."
"The young lady your son Richard married secretly over twenty years ago is my granddaughter's aunt."
"Richard's late wife is her aunt? Indeed this is a small world. When Richard married her I was against it. I wanted to fulfill my friend's wish but the boy was infatuated and so determined I couldn't keep them apart but unfortunately, fate did."
"I doubt fate had anything to do with it, that lady is still alive. She was told her husband and son died in the accident. All these years she has been living in grief and mourning for people who are alive and well."
"That's cruel, who would do something so sinister?" Mr. Johnson asked then thought of Cassandra.
"I thought you did it since wealth and class mean so much to you."
"You know me, Edward, I would never stoop so low. I think I know who lied to her but I'll need to investigate." He said taking out his phone.
.....
Sasha watched as Mark left running after Melissa. All this while she thought he had amnesia but he was playing her. He made her believe he remembered nothing about Melissa and she even paid the doctor thanking him for his good work. ~This was supposed to be my day. The day Mark proposes marriage to me~. She thought to herself as Mark disappeared down the corridor.
"Mother, what happened? Why can't Mark love me?" She turned to her mother, then looked at Mark's mother with tears in her eyes.
"I'm so sorry dear, I told you to stop this. Your grandfather wanted you to marry Mark but he didn't ask you to force yourself on someone who will never love you. Let Mark and his wife live happily. I don't like seeing you like this, my child." She reprimanded, wiping Sasha's tears.
"You don't understand mother and you will never understand." Pushing her mother's hand away Sasha ran into the house.
"I'm sorry for what my son did, he shouldn't have deceived you like this." Mark's mother apologized to Sasha's mother.
"You don't have to apologize, I understand his intentions. I'll go check on my daughter. Excuse me." Feeling ashamed of what had happened, she went after her daughter.
"Why, why?" Sasha sat on the bed crying thinking of how happy they would have been if Melissa had not ruined everything.
Since Melissa came into Mark's life, he only wanted her. Yet she stayed by his side helping him through his recovery but he never saw her. "Robert was right, Mark will only love Melissa and I will only be his childhood friend." She held the pillow to her face to muffle the sobs.
"What happened out there, Sasha? I thought the plan was successful?" Her aunt Cassandra asked, joining her in the room.
"I don't know aunt. I even paid that stupid doctor to erase Mark's memories but he didn't. Somehow Mark found out and acted like he had memory loss, now I don't know what to do." She screamed on the pillow with frustration. "I even made her sign those stupid divorce papers." She said remembering how easy it was to trick Mark into signing them.
When Mark left the hospital, by Mr. Johnson's orders his secretary brought a bunch of documents for him to sign but before she could get into his room, Sasha bumped into her. Helping her pick and arrange the scattered papers, she managed to slip the divorce papers between the documents.
Volunteering to take care of Mark, she stayed around him all the time monitoring his every movement. When the secretary brought the documents, she watched him
Once he was halfway done, Sasha sent the secretary out to get a clean glass of water for his medicine. As he signed the documents, she distracted him whenever he stopped to read.
With so much medicine in his system to lessen the pain and the trust he had in his secretary, she knew he couldn't read all of them. And once he was done signing, she managed to pull the documents out before the secretary got back.
"It was so easy, aunt, threatening to hurt her son made her...."
"You did what? Sasha, what is wrong with you? Why are you doing this to yourself?" Her mother barged into the room.
"Mother you won't understand, just leave me alone." Sasha pulled the blanket over her head so as not to have any more arguments with her.
"Do you know how you made our family look? We are getting out of this place right now." She opened her bag and started packing.
"You can't keep treating Sasha like a child. Let her do what she wants." Cassandra interjected.
"Haha! Do what she wants? You have brainwashed my daughter, always telling her how important it is to be married to the Johnsons. I'm sad that all you care about is money, Cassandra. I don't want my only daughter to be as miserable as you are." She spoke furiously, stuffing the clothes in the bag.
"Me miserable? Haha, you must be dreaming. Your marriage to that low life accountant is so boring you're jealous of me."
"Stay away from my daughter, get out." Sasha's mother shouted pushing Cassandra out of the room.