The choices we make [Completed]

Chapter 43- Ghosts from the past

Chapter 43- Ghosts from the past

Olena struggled to control her panic as she left the shop. She had been too relaxed these past few months, believing she had left her past behind her, and thankful she was given a chance to recover from her mistakes and start fresh.

She had sacrificed everything just to escape the past, even going as far as thrownling away her career which she spent half her life building. She had grown apart from her friends, because the mistake she had made had always been like a white elephant in the room whenever they tried to get together.

She had even forced herself to cut all ties, even from people she had grown to love. It was especially hard to leave her former boss and mentor, Jason, who was more of a father to her than her real one.

But now her past has come back to haunt her, and all her sacrifices had been for nothing. And Olena had no one to blame but herself.

Why did she not make the connection when she met his parents? Why did she not notice the resemblance to Anna when they met?

In hindsight, Olena could clearly see the similarities. The full lips that look like they were made for kissing. The thick eyebrows that made them look intimidating. And most unmistakable of all were their deep set eyes and the way they stare at you that always seemed like they were looking through your soul.

In her defense, Olena's first impression when she met the couple was one of awe. She thought their love story was like a fairy tale, having conquered the odds, and finally getting back together at this stage in their lives.

She hadn't really been thinking about their family or the remote possibility that the only "James" she knew could be related to them. It was not a very unique last name after all.

But still, it was careless of her, and now she was paying the price. Worse, she couldn't very well run off like she did 5 years ago.

And she didn't want to. Olena loved what she was doing now. She had poured her heart and soul into this business, sometimes at the cost of her quality times with Levi, and she was not about to throw away her life like that again just because of one man.

The same man who caused her life to spiral downwards all those years ago.

No, that was not exactly true. She was as responsible for what happened. It was her fault that her life had crashed.

But she had learned her lesson well. She was not going to let it happen again.

Olena took out her phone from her bag and sent a quick message to Bessy.

"I'm so sorry but I have to cancel our lunch. Something came up. Talk to you later."

She was not ready to answer the barrage of questions that were surely coming. Though she cannot avoid them forever, she needed at least today for herself.

She needed to come up with a plan.

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Bessy saw the message as she was about to leave the shop. But she had worked herself in the mood for some company over lunch that she didn't want to eat alone right then.

She spotted Patrick on his phone just outside the shop and decided to take her chance. He seemed more talkative than usual anyway. Maybe he's in a friendly mood and won't shoot her down if she invited him for lunch.