At five in the afternoon, Liam had to wake me up .
I had no energy to move at all but here he was , already dressed up for his schedule smiling to himself like he had just won a lottery.
" Are you going back to her ?," my heart broke as I thought about it .
" Carrot and stick ," he reminded me , no matter how much he hated the idea of meeting Palmer again , he did not let me see it .
I buried my face against the pillow , trying to fix my facial expressions.
My husband had been so brave about it ,so I needed to be considerate of him and act brave too .
When I looked up again ,I made sure that I had smile on my face .
" I will be here , waiting for you ," I promised him.
" Actually you can not be here , now ," he made an act of watching a wrist watch when he was not wearing one ," Hmm , you are running pretty late ."
I groaned . I was literally plastered on the bed . I did not know how to seperate my skin from it .
Every muscles in my body hurt , even the places I had never considered could hurt ,was hurting now .
Although we did not go all the way , I was tired like this .
A part of me panicked , thinking if I would really pass out someday on the bed .
I used to think that it would only happen in the movies or so but look at me , now .
Liam's eyes were filled with humour as he watched me overthink on the matters we did on the bed . I was pretty sure that he had an idea of what I was thinking about anyway .
" So , it was not that bad , huh ?" he asked . I knew that he was in the mood to tease me again .
But I was not letting him have that .
So I acted pretty nonchalant about it ," Well ,it was okay ."
"Okay ?"
" Okay ."
" I am surprised to hear that ," he raised his eyebrows,"Since I had to close your mouth by my hand in the midway so the servants won't hear you moan."
" That was your fault !," I hissed at him ," You told me to call your name ."
" Yes , I enjoyed hearing you moan out my name ."
I sat up wrapping the sheet around me so that I could get a fist of his hair .
Usually I was not a violent person . But he kept pushing me off the edge .
He caught me by my wrist pulling me towards him so in a second I was lying on his lap .
" I did not know you will be so excited to jump on me so soon , again ," he said .
He had already taken a shower . His clothes smelled like shampoo and sunlight and his mint colongue .
My heart ached as I stared at his blue eyes that were partially hidden under his raven hair . It was like watching a blue sky peeking through the dark forest .
" Julia ?"
" Oh no , I am falling in love again ," I blurted out without thinking .
And a smile like sunrise bloomed into his angelic face .
He bent down and kissed me .
His soft tongue ,breath that smelled like coffee and chocolates - made me shiver .
I was suddenly hyper aware of the fact that I was wearing nothing under the bed sheet . I was conscious of each bit of my skin that was exposed .
" Liam ," I called his name for assurance. I had given him my everything. I wondered if he knew that..
" Yes ," he spoke against my mouth , it felt like he was telling me -
' I am here and I will be with you forever '
I was not aware that a world existed other than two of us for few sweet seconds . His touch was so soft and cautious as if he was brushing his hand against morning dew on soft green leaves .
It made me tremble to my core . I never knew a touch could be so gentle , yet electrifying . It made me fear but also made me crave him more.
It was a strange sensation . Fear and pleasure and pain and faith in each other - I did not know how to describe it .
" It's five thirty ," Liam reminded me suddenly," I can not possibly make you more late ."
I sighed and looked at the clock .
Only if the time could freeze so I could hug him close for an eternity.
I wrapped around my arms around him , squeezing him tight . This felt like perfection at its best .
He holded me for few long seconds and then said ," Julia , you need to take a bath before you go ."
I groaned and looked up at him .
" It's for your own good ," he chuckled watching my expression," Atleast use the washroom before you get ready ."
He had done it for the first time too . He had dragged me to the washroom himself and would not let me climb on the bed until I had cleaned myself.
I supposed that I should be glad that he was thinking about my health so clearly when my head was just filled with empty bubbles .
By the time I had taken a shower and got ready , Liam had already left .
Goodbyes were becoming more and more painful these days . I knew how hard it was for him to go back to the hell .
I understood that he probably could not look at me and go back to Lin volunteerily. So he had run away .
It was a constant struggle to not burst into tears as I was driven to the studio . I felt like there was a knife constantly stabbing me in my heart .
What if Lin knew ? What if Lin got mad ?
Why couldn't I just run away with him ?
The burden was overwhelming for Liam . And he had been carrying it for an eternity. I needed to act fast so I could free him from this hell.
On the way I called but he never picked it up .
My beautiful Liam....he was already in the clutches of that witch .
By the time I had arrived my teammates were already trying out new dresses .
Elegant blue blouse that was studded with jewels and a mermaid long skirt that had a slit at one side with blue crystalised heels and a crown of golden leaflets - everything about the dress complemented Summer's chocolate skin . She wore golden eye shadows that made her eyes glow .
It was as if she has turned into a princess of deserts .
Rain on the other hand wore pink flowing rob with various layers that were arranged like flower petals from her waist . A baby pink petty silk piece surrounded her starting from her one elbow , then to her head and ending at her next elbow - like a crescent moon was rising above a blooming flower .
" I am the lotus princess ," she informed me excitedly.
I could not help but smile at her childlike glee .
I wore a white sleeveless gown that ended to my thighs at the front but spreaded like wings at the back . Now that I looked at it , the front of chest was also designed like wings of butterfly.
" It was on Las fashion show last month ," Myra informed me proudly," I know that you are loving it ."
In the mirror there was no Julia Dane , but am exotic beauty who was confident and free . That was why I liked being idol so much .
Since I could be a picture of perfection even if it was for just few moments .
" We will be recording the dance choreography later , for today it is only vedio shooting with the girls ."
A bunch of pictures were shot for the album .
Even just a single turn for two seconds would take hours of shooting and perfection .
By the time we had finished the first take , it was already three in the morning.
I walked up to my car with Jewel who was fashionably wayyy late than she should be as a highschool student .
" Your mother is going to murder me at this rate ," I told her ," Can't you just go home early ?"
Jewel shook her head , clearly tired ," No , she has just started to teach me some basics ...I need to show her how motivated I am ."
I bit my lips , already regretting my desicion of not being a help to my sister-in-law. She may have been very mean to me , but she was still a kid .
" Don't worry , I told mom that I am spending the night at a friend's place ," she bumped at me lightly .
" Did she agree on that ?," I raised my eyebrow.
" Does she have to ?," she waved away my worries ,"I have informed her ...that's all it matters ."
I watched her happily bouncing away from me .
" How are you going home ? Where are you going to stay ?," I asked her
" That's none of your business," she shouted back .
" Well it will be my business when I tell Myra that I don't like you ,the newbie on the team !"
She paused and turned at me .
Threats always worked easier with her than normal conversation.
" What do you want ?," she asked me , not even trying to hide her annoyance.
" Where are you going to stay for the night ?," I asked her ," If you lie , I will find out and drop you off the team ."
" A friend's house ," she rolled her eyes ," Her parents don't stay much at home . She told me that I can crash anyday ."
" I would like to have that friend's number ," I holded up my hand .
I knew that it was not my place to worry about the princess of Sunshine corporation but I could not just leave her like this .
" Fine," she made a face .
" And how are you going to reach there ?"
" I was going to call a cab ?"
" At three in the morning?"
She had no answer for it .
" Don't call your driver ," she groaned ," Liam will know about it then ."
She was too much to handle .
I called the only person I could make available.
In half an hour Jayjay came with his delivery-boy bike .
" You need to pay me for that ," he informed me as soon as he had arrived .
" Just get her safely to her friend's house ," I looked at Jewel ," Give him the address ."
" Who are you ?," Jewel asked ,and then paused as she took him in with her eyes ," Wait , are you that Jasper Dane ?"
" If you talk too much I am going to throw you off the bridge in the midway ," Jasper informed her and went to start the engine .
Jewel looked back at me for assurance.
" Don't worry , he is the safe choice ," and then I added loudly for Jasper's sake ," If he tries to throw you off the bridge , there is also a very good friend of his that I have at my garage. We can all throw that in the river too !"
" I was just joking ," Jasper put his hands up in surrender gesture ," You do not need to threaten me everytime with my bike ."
" I was joking too ," I told him ," You two , get home safe !"
By the time they had left , the parking lot had gone empty . Most of the stuffs had already wrapped up or busy to finish it soon.
Myra was sleeping in the car .
As I grabbed the handle of the door of my van , a voice called me at my back .
" Autumn !"
I looked back .
It was Seymore .
Bile rose on my tongue watching his smiling face.
" How did you get here ?," I asked him coldly .
" Don't worry about that ...I just need to talk to you ."
" If I see you again , I am calling the police ,"I told him .
Letting him go was the last bit of empathy I could show to him as someone who used to be a close friend .
As I asked the manager to drive our car back to dorm , I kept wondering if it was okay to let him be like that .
I was assuring myself that he had no power anymore anyway .
But , God knew how much I was going to regret letting him off the hook that day .