I am Ashley. I love books. I have read numerous books under one genre. I am flexible when it comes to reading as long as the storyline is decent.

Yet, it has been a month since I last read a book and it ended like this:

As Sarah slept peacefully beside him, Henri plunged a knife into her heart. He loved her. Still, he also despised her. He wept, but knew he did the right thing. Despite his love for her, it was also this woman who cheated on her countless of times. He forgave her. But this time, he couldn’t. Not when she slept with his older brother.

It was a harsh ending. But it still fits. In fact, somehow, it made sense. It was a good story.  It even became one of the bestsellers. But I can’t shake this feeling. The author herself didn’t like the flow of this story.

I have already read seven stories written by Kris. As I read her works, I noticed that she is fond of comedy, romance, adventure and mystery. However, this was a first for her. This was the first time she let a character die.

I couldn’t help but want to ask her, “Why did you make Sarah suffer so much because of Henri?”

Yeah, at the ending, it was said that she cheated. It was true. But what Henri did to her was worse. Throughout the story, Henri threatened her that she would kill Viktor if she didn’t marry him. Viktor didn’t know this at first but when he knew, they started to secretly plan on running away which didn’t succeed since Henri killed Sarah.

This has been bugging me. I couldn’t focus on reading anything. Whenever I try to concentrate on the book I’m holding, I picture Sarah’s death. I liked Sarah. She was beautiful and sophisticated. Yet, she was secretive and full of pain.

“Why don’t you ask Kris, then?” I sighed. “I wish I could, Leo.”

“You could!” He gazed at me, his chocolate eyes assessing every bit of my face. He is handsome but only if you stared at him and have known him long enough.

He is my best friend.

I rolled my eyes.

“I stalked Kris.” Leo said.

“WHAT?” I shouted. And he laughed. “Of course I didn’t, silly. You always believe what I say. I didn’t actually stalk Kris but I did enough research.”

“And you learned that…?”

“She lives near here.” Leo handed me a piece of paper. Written below is an address. And it really is near!

I grinned. “And I assume you’ve also researched for her picture, right? Kris wants to maintain her mysterious profile, yet you managed to track her down.”

Leo smiled shyly. “It was all I could to find her address. If you just know what I risked getting that. You know my father works as an editor for Kris right? But my father himself still has not met her.”

Kris sends her work through the post mail. She sent a story to Leo’s father and asked if he would like to publish the story. She even sent him all the instructions. She didn’t want to show herself. She maintained hidden. It was included that Leo’s father must not let anyone know how to reach her.

Maybe it was all Leo could to get that address.

My enthusiasm suddenly went away. I want to see Kris. But how could I? I don’t know how she looks like. And besides, this address belongs to an apartment complex. It could be any room.

Leo noticed my sudden change in mood.

“I told you a lot of times that we could have my father ask her whatever it was you wanted to know.”

I shook my head. “I have this feeling that Kris would just dismiss the question. It was only I who wasn’t satisfied. The rest of the readers do not mind what happened.”

“You’re obsessed with Kris, Ash.”

Maybe I am. I anticipated her stories. It was even a big advantage that Uncle Arlo is the one who manages stories of Kris. I get to read them before they are published.

I decided not to answer.