Luna looked at Justin with bored eyes, she rolled them as Justin continued tapping his fingers on his laps. His laps to which his feet were tapping the floor too. If Luna wasn’t so bored and over the whole thing, she would have been impressed by his ability to multitask like that. “Urgh, will you stop it?” she finally said when he just continued to tapping his fingers and feet. Justin turned his head to look at her. “What?” he asked. They were in the mansion, both of them were seated on opposite sides of the kitchen countertop, they were waiting for Matt to bring the car around to the front of the house. They were going to the hospital, for Luna’s routine checkup, except it was Justin’s first hospital appointment since she got pregnant. And he was freaking out, as much as Justin could freak out. “It’s just a routine checkup,” Luna said for what was probably the fifth time in the last two minutes. “And you don’t know what it’s going to show now, do you?” Justin countered. “Yo
Luna sat at the board table with the other executives of the gala event. Justin was at the head of the table, taking expenditure and income. It was a meeting to discuss how well they were doing on those two fronts as regards the gala. Luna glanced around the room. Almost everybody was there, except Jake and Logan and two other executives. Jake and Logan had informed Justin of their absence beforehand, due to their individual schedules that clashed with the meeting time. Moira was there though. And nobody was aware of that fact more than Luna herself. She could Moira’s burning gaze on her. If looks could pierce skin and sear them with their intensity, Luna would be a burnt crisp by now. And she knew it was one of two things that could make Moira stare at her so intensely like that. It was either Justin had told her about the pregnancy and the fact that they were living together, or honor had. If Luna was a betting woman, she would put her money on the latter. And either of the
The ride back to the mansion was quiet, Luna stared out the window for most of it, stewing over her conversation with Moira. With just a few minutes away from the house, Justin finally talked. “Are you okay?” he asked her. “I’m fine,” Luna mumbled without looking away from the window. “You don’t seem fine,” Justin insisted. “I watched you during the meeting, you didn’t seem to be stressed.” He didn’t say anything more, and Luna didn’t either. The silence remained for the next few seconds. “But maybe you were,” Justin continued when she didn’t say anything. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you come. Hell, I should cancelled the damn thing.” At that, Luna’s eyes narrowed, she turned her head slowly to look at Justin. “It wasn’t the damn meeting,” she spat at him. “And ‘let me’? You don’t get to ‘let’ me do any-fucking-thing. It’s not your place, and nobody lets me do anything, that choice is mine and mine alone to make.” “Don’t get upset about it, I was just pointing out-”
The next day, Luna walked into Honor’s studio. Ever since she challenged Honor about putting the children’s segment in the fashion show, she had made it a point to check in both the progress of the show itself and the children’s segment, most especially. Other times, she didn’t bother to check if Honor was in the studio or not before she came over, but today, she had made sure to check. And her informant had told her she was out of the studio for the morning. Having another confrontation was the last thing Luna needed today, not when the memory of her kiss with Justin last night was still seared into her brain. It was the most occupying thought in her head, every time she closed her eyes, she was sure she could still feel Justin’s lips on hers. She pressed her lips together now, and she could almost swear she felt a tingling there. She shook her head, letting the thought fade to the back of her mind. She was here to check on the children’s segment, and that was it. But becau
Luna pressed her fingers to her temple, a small headache was starting to brew there. She knew if she didn’t tend to it soon, she would have a full blown migraine on her hands. And before, she would have handled it, but now she had a whole other human being to think of, so she had to handle it now. She rubbed a hand over her stomach. At first, she had always done that to remind and reassure herself of the fact that she had a living thing growing inside of her. For the first full week after she got confirmation that she was pregnant, she had needed the reassurance that she had her baby again, her second chance, and that this time, he or she was here to stay. So that had been her reason for randomly rubbing her hand over it. And then as time went by that reason had morphed into concern for the baby itself. She had read in a book, and truly believed herself, that when she was stressed out or worried about something, it also affected her baby. If she was stressed, her baby was stressed
The instrumentalist for the funeral played a somber song as people trickled into the room to take their seats. Mrs. Reese and her two daughters were seated at the front row, people walked up to them to relay their condolences. Mr. Reese’s picture was blown up in a big portrait on the podium in front of the room, next to the closed casket. The picture depicted a handsome Black man, smiling into the camera. The mirth showed clear in his eyes. Luna and Rita stood at the far end of the funeral home, at the back, watching people walk in. “I can’t believe he’s gone,” Luna said to Rita. “I know,” Rita said. “He was so lively and vibrant. Did you know he was voted employee of the month for three consecutive months in his department?” Luna looked at Rita. “I didn’t know. Departmental mini parties were always just that, nobody from the higher-ups or even any other department for that matter were allowed. It was meant to be like a bonding exercise between colleagues of the same departm
Flashback. “What is more intimate than having a baby together?” Luna asked Justin. They were in their home, Luna had decided to confess her feelings to him. Ever since she had realized that she was in love with him, she had kept the knowledge to herself. And she had done so fro many reasons. For one, there hadn’t seemed to be a right time for it. Luna believed a couple saying their ‘I love yous’ was a very big deal in their relationship, and it should be said in the most memorable way possible. And between Justin’s seemingly never-ending meetings and his increasing absence in the house as a result of it, Luna hadn’t found the right moment. And for another, and a big one that Luna had been trying her damnedest to ignore but that she knew was there nonetheless, Justin didn’t seem to be big on the idea. Of everything. He didn’t seem to be big on the idea of their relationship, the idea of them saying their ‘I love yous’, on the baby they were having together. Nothing. Zip, zero,
“You don’t love, you don’t need me, you don’t need the baby,” Luna repeated Justin’s words from six years ago word for word, “and you never will.” Even now, her throat burned as she said the words. She looked at Justin, they were in the kitchen, both seated on opposite sides of the countertop. It was night, Justin had come back from work some thirty minutes ago, and Luna from the funeral of Mr. Reese. Maybe it was the passing on of a life, and the message it brought to home of how short life really was, or maybe she was just tired of it all, whatever it was, Luna had finally reached her breaking point. That was how she thought of it. She had finally gotten to the point where she didn’t want to keep it in anymore, where she didn’t care about anything anymore. Not of seeing herself as weak if she talked about her hurt, or about giving Justin ammunition over her by revealing how much his indifference had hurt her. She didn’t care about any of it anymore, she just wanted to alleviat
“I want to say thank you to everyone for coming,” Logan said into the microphone. The gala had been going on for hours now, it was starting to wind down, towards the end. He was giving his speech as Chairman of Lake Industries. “This would not have been successful without you all,” he continued. “I consider you all family, but I would like to thank my family, the one that I made. Both my sons, Justin and Brian, I am proud of you both. This Gala would not have been successful without you both, I love you.” He raised a toast towards Justin and Brian. “And to the ladies who stood by their side, and not just stood, but did their part in making this a success, Luna and Ashley,” he raised his glass towards Luna and Ashley, he smiled, “I love you. You are the best additions this family could have ever asked for, and my sons are lucky to have you in their lives.” He paused. “Love makes the world go around, without it, we would be lost, and I am glad that you four have found your way to ea
Luna stood in front of the full-length mirror, she placed a hand over her bump, and stared at her image. She smiled as she felt Justin’s arms wrap around her midsection. She leaned back and rested her head on Justin’s chest, she sighed as he started nibbling on her neck. “Can’t we just stay in and not go?” she asked, tilting her neck even better for Justin’s mouth to have access. Justin stopped nibbling, he looked at the mirror, meeting her eyes. “You are a witch,” he murmured. Luna laughed. “What? It’s just a suggestion,” she said, trying to look innocent. “Yeah, a suggestion that you know I am one hundred percent for,” Justin replied. “Hell, I suggested it an hour ago, and what did you say?” Luna closed her eyes. “We really should go,” she echoed her own answer. “That’s right,” Justin murmured, his mouth already muffled against the side of her neck again. Luna sighed, she twined her fingers with Justin’s on her stomach. “I was an idiot,” she murmured. Justin ma
Present. Now Luna was mad. When the article was released, while they were preparing for the press conference, during the press conference, Luna had been sick all through. But now that the press conference was over, she was mad. She had kept her calm all through the press conference. Even when the questions had turned personal and her answers had left her a little hard to breathe, Luna had kept her calm. Rita had arrived just few seconds after the press conference started, she had stood behind the interviewers, facing Luna. And she had been showing her markers with her hands, thumbs up when she was doing good and stuff like that. That had helped to keep her calm, that, and the solid presence of Justin behind her. He had stood behind her chair, no word, no interruptions, just the occasional squeeze of her shoulder. Quiet support, and steady, even gentle, backing. And then Moira had walked in. The press conference had been nearing its end by then, Luna had watched as Rita had f
Flashback Luna sat on the sofa in the living room, staring at nothing. Moira was in front of her, pacing and reprimanding her about something. Luna wasn’t sure what, she hadn’t been listening when Moira started, she wasn’t listening now, and she simply just didn’t care. She didn’t have the energy to care, she barely had the energy to be seating here as she was. She just wanted to lie down. For the past two weeks now, that was all she had been wanting to do. Just lie down, preferably in a dark quiet corner, but at this point, she would take anything she could get. But she wanted to lie down, pull a thick, dark cover over her head, and just go to sleep. She wanted to sleep, and go on sleeping, she wanted to sleep for a long period of time. And whenever she thought of the concept of waking up from that sleep, she didn’t like it. Her heart sunk at the thought of waking up, and having to face all of this again. If she woke up, she had to sit up, she had to stand, she had to walk, she
The next day, the whole issue with Honor took a back seat in Luna’s mind as she found herself with an entirely different, and bigger, situation on her hands. Another article was leaked, this one about her father. It dug up the old news about her father, and the issue he had with Lake Industries, the debacle that had brought Luna to New York and to Justin. The article was all about rehashing what her father did, how he ‘betrayed’ Lake Industries for a handout, and how he disappeared from the grid because of his shame. His name, face and story were plastered all over the news article. Even her mother and sister were not left out, Mira and Ashley’s faces and names were printed in it too. Feeling sick about it all, Luna pressed a hand to her stomach, she stood still, trying to get in a deep breath. She was at home, people were in the house, Justin had called an emergency press conference immediately the news had hit the media. Camera men and their crew were moving about the living
“I really needed that,” Luna said two hours later, as she and Justin walked back into the studio. Justin wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Which part?” Luna laughed, she swatted his arm playfully. “The food and nice view part, you pervert.” Justin shrugged. “Hey, you sounded like you enjoyed the other part very much too when we were doing it.” Luna laughed again, she shook her head. “You’re an idiot.” “An idiot you were screaming his name,” Justin leaned down and whispered into her ear. Luna looked up at him, her eyes widening. “Justin!” Somebody cleared their throat behind them, Justin and Luna both turned at the same time to look. The smile and teasing glint in her eyes were still there when Luna’s eyes met Honor’s. “Honor,” she said, startled. She sobered up immediately, Honor looked at Luna, like she focused on her like she was determined to act as though Justin was not there. Luna felt the freeze, but somehow she felt like Honor’s acknowledgement of her was not part
One week later. Luna rubbed the kinks out of her neck, she had been stuck going through things that needed to be put in place for the Gala, all morning. All week too. Ever since Honor pulled her company out of the Gala event, there had been slacks in the work that needed to be done. Both in the parts that Honor had taken up to do, and in the aspects that her company had been taking care of. The fashion aspect. “These are really good,” Luna commented, looking at the design sketches that had been left by Honor and her company before she left. “Yeah,” Temperance, the assistant working with Luna on deciding the fashion angle for the Gala, said beside her. “Miss Kosarin and her people really worked hard on it, they worked almost round the clock too. It was like there was some competition or something.” Luna knew better that Temperance just what she was saying. From the first day they had met, she and Honor had both known there was going to be a competition between them. They had
Present. Luna and Justin were both in Justin’s car, they were driving after Honor. After her announcement, Honor had dropped the mic and immediately left the party. Moira had been livid, she hadn’t shown it, of course, or at least not in an explosive way. She hadn’t screamed or shouted, or done anything of the sort. Even in the face of what someone like Moira would probably term the greatest betrayal of all time, she still hadn’t lost control. She hadn’t shown her anger to the guests or given them a show that they could go talk about to the blogs. No matter her personal feelings towards Moira, Luna had had to admit that she found that impressive. But even with her composure, Luna had known she was angry. In fact, it had been very obvious to her, and no doubt to her family members too. She saw the look Justin, Logan and even Brian, had exchanged when it happened. The vein that had popped out on Moira’s forehead had been the first tell, followed by the twitching at the corner of
Flashback. “So you’re saying there’s nothing you can do?” Brandon asked the lawyer. Luna was in her room, the room she shared with Justin, although ‘shared’ was a strong word for how much time Justin actually spent in the room with her these days. Luna shook her head to shake off those thoughts, thinking about the ever increasing distance between she and Justin for the past month would only just make her depressed. And she didn’t have the time or head space for that. She refocused her attention on the matter at hand. She was in the room, her mother and father were on a call with her, Luna stared at their faces on the laptops screen. A man was seated beside her, Carl James, her lawyer. He was a low budget lawyer, the type she had been able to afford on her own, hers and her parents, that is. She couldn’t tap into the generous money Justin kept depositing into her account almost every day. And she couldn’t do that because she couldn’t very well use his money to hire a lawyer who