Forever Raine ✔️

Bonus Chapter 1: Ice Cream Sundaes

- Ice Cream Sundaes -

It was weird what love could do to a person.

As people are born into the world, it seems that the only things that are necessary for survival are food, water, and the oxygen that we breathe. In biology, we learn that those are the three essential things in order for the human species, or any other living organism, to survive.

We are taught the survival of the fittest, all of these theories that the strongest ones are those who survive while the weak wither away. That those who are skilled enough to find resources and a shelter at which they can sleep under, are the only ones who will make it till the end.

But that is the perspective of one that has yet to fall in love.

Love changes everything.

Food, water, even oxygen becomes quite useless when a person falls in love.

The only thing that a person requires to survive becomes that one person, the special someone, that seems to be the sun of their universe by which everything revolves around.

Love was like magic. A supernatural power that seemed to spill into everyone's lives and alter them for the better. It wasn't tangible, nor was it visible. And it's existence was only proved upon that warm feeling that resided in one's chest when they held the love of their life against themselves. Or when they kissed them or made love to them.

Love was the only thing that was needed for survival.

And Xavier and Raine had found it.

They had found it in the sweet bickerings that they'd get into every time Raine wanted to do something that Xavier believed was dangerous. They had found it in all of the moments Xavier would spend kissing Raine instead of attending meetings or press conferences. They had found it in each exquisite dessert item Raine would experiment on. They had found it in every second they spent together and even in each second they spent apart, yet still close in the heart.

It had been ten months since Raine's birthday when Xavier had surprised her with something she never believed she was destined to have.

Moving back home was a dream that Raine dreamed of each night she spent in her old apartment that was nothing but cold, as she slept with a constant fear in that back of her mind that her demons would find her one day.

But unlike all of the crazy dreams that she had each night, this one actually came true.

The moment Xavier announced to the press that Thorn Inc would be shifting over to California, a wild ruckus has formed all over the country. People were curious as to what had led such a powerful CEO to shift his company, one that was born in the heart of New York, to the other side of the country. But their curiosity was resolved quite quickly when the news of Xavier's purchase in Pebble Beach came forth and the media was quick to link Raine to the matters.

Of course like every company, disagreement was evident in this transition. Shifting over the headquarters didn't settle as well with the board of directors and shareholders that depended on the success of Thorn Inc to thrive.

Yet, Xavier being the master of business that he was, was good at convincing the people that change was what was needed in other to reshape the company and give it a fresh face so that it could continue dominating the market.

As soon as everyone was on the same page about the future of the company, Thron Inc was settled to switch it's home from New York City to the City of the Fog: San Francisco.

Although Xavier's original plans for the new Headquarters were a simple tower that shot from the land into the sky and was topped with an exquisite penthouse that was built to their taste, the building quickly evolved from a simple company into a campus.