Liam’s POV“Hi, Maria,” Emma hugged my mother as we walked into the house, greeting her simultaneously. “I’m so sorry for not being here earlier. Don’t blame Liam. He’s been ready for hours now. It’s my fault,” she pleaded.“Mhm. Right. Well, the point is you’re here now and, luckily for me, you’re all dressed, so I can go get dressed now,” my mum replied.“Good evening, mama,” Ryan smiled and hugged her. “I’ve missed you,” he pecked her on the cheek.“Get away from me, Ryan. You claim to miss me but never come visit,” she said as she playfully swatted him away.“And I always apologize, don’t I?” he laughed.“Right,” she rolled her eyes in response and walked over to Sammy. “Samantha, darling, how on earth do you keep up with this boy?” she asked Samantha, sarcastically.“I make sure to scold him here and there,” Samantha giggled. “I guess it’s working,” Maria replied, shooting Ryan an annoyed glance, then continued talking to him while Samantha and Emma excused themselves from the ro
Liam’s POV“Good evening. Thank you for coming,” I smiled and greeted what must have been the one-hundredth guest of the night. The crazy thing was, I didn’t even know half of the people I had already greeted. “When do we get to stop this?” I bent down to Emma’s ear and whispered the question into her ear. “My legs are killing me. I need to sit down”. “Can you please stop whining?” she said, sharply, then greeted and fake smiled at the next guest that walked in next. “Shouldn’t you be used to these things by now? I’m the one who hasn’t hosted a single one of these in her life, yet I’m handling it better than you. Aside from that, I’m the one who’s been standing in heels for the last hour, so what exactly are you complaining about?”“Sorry,” I grumbled in response. “You know, for someone who hasn’t known my mother for a long time, you sure do act like her”. “Don’t test my patience, Liam,” she growled in response. I let out a little laugh but stopped when she gave me a look that ga
Liam’s POV“Here I am,” I responded, taking another drag of the cigarette and turning my head away from her to puff it out.She didn’t say anything after that though. She just stood and watched me as I puffed out my smoke, then looked at Ryan who quickly hid his cigarette behind him.“You smoke?” she asked, dragging out her question slowly.Clearly, she was not impressed.“Yes,” I said, tilting my head to the side trying to understand why she was asking me such an obvious question, then it clicked.I hadn’t smoked around her before.“Is this a new habit of yours or is it something you’ve always done?” she asked, looking at me skeptically.“I’ve been smoking since I was in high school, but it’s not like an addiction or anything. I only do it when I’m stressed or when I’m bored”.“Okay, so are you trying to tell me that all the while we’ve been together, you’ve not been tired or bored?” she folders her arms across her chest, maintaining a strict-looking composure.“That’s not what I’m sa
Emma’s POV“My God, I’m so exhausted,” I cried out as I threw myself onto the couch. “You can’t be as exhausted as I am,” Liam responded, plopping down on the couch opposite me. “You’re kidding, right?” I scoffed, propping up my body with my shoulders, so I could have a good look at him. “I mean, I did greet a lot of people,” he shrugged his shoulders and then burst out laughing. “Don’t mind me, I’m just kidding”. “You think you’re such a comedian sometimes, don’t you?” I shook my head, then rested my head again. “I try,” he laughed. “On a serious note though, thank you for tonight. For all the effort you put towards making sure everything went according to plan. I really appreciate it for real. I mean you were on your feet for most of the being and you didn’t complain once, just went along with everything. You truly are an amazing person, Emma, and I appreciate you,” he said. His tone seemed so soft and genuine, like he was in actual awe of me. It made me melt. “Thank you,”
Emma’s POV“Are you aware that Liam’s birthday is in a week?” Samatha asked, looking up from what she was cooking. “Huh?” I couldn’t hear her over the sound of the blender crushing the ice I had just put in it. Sammy and I were currently at her place having a girls’ night in. She was cooking stir-fried spaghetti while I was making some mojitos to go with. She nudged her head toward the blender, signaling for me to turn it off, so I could hear her clearly, so I did. “What did you say?” I asked. “I said, are you aware that Liam’s birthday is in a week?” she repeated. “What? How the hell do you know that, and I don’t?” I asked, perplexed. “Ryan told me,” she shrugged her shoulders casually and continued stirring the food in the pan. “How are you being so casual about this?” I asked, pouring out the ice into the glass cups. “How do you expect me to say it, Emma?” she laughed. “He’s not my man, so I’m not bothered by anything, and he’s not exactly yours either, so don’t let it b
Emma’s POV“Hey,” I greeted Liam as I walked into the apartment. He was seated on the couch with his laptop on his lap, so I assumed he was working. He didn’t answer me but put up a finger to stop me from saying anything further. “Thank you so much, sir. I’ll revert to you on that to let you know what my people have to say on the matter. Thank you so much for your time, goodbye,” he smiled as he spoke to whoever he was on a Zoom call with.“Sorry about that,” he apologized as he shut his laptop. “That meeting was literally going on forever”. “That’s fine. It’s just 2 o’clock though, so what time would that meeting have started?” I asked, putting my stuff down on the couch next to him. “Around 9:30 I think,” he responded. “A.m.?” I asked, surprised. “Yes, Emma. 9:30 a.m.,” he laughed. “Wow. That’s crazy. So are you heading to the office today?” “Nope,” he answered, leaning into the chair. “I’m taking a break today. I actually wasn’t even supposed to be on this call this morning
Emma’s POV“I’m so sorry, Liam. I didn’t mean to put you in this mood,” I apologized.He sniffled, then let go of my hands and turned off the stove.“It’s fine,” he wiped his face, dismissing the conversation. “Let’s move on from this,” he said with a forced smile on his lips.I definitely wasn’t going to let go of it, but I decided to drop the matter for now.“Of course,” I nodded, then collected the plate of food he had dished out for me. “I’m going to head upstairs with this, so I’ll be in my room if you need me,” I said, then took my phone and charger from the couch and headed upstairs.In about fifteen minutes, I was done eating, then decided to take a bath. I wasn’t up to ten minutes into my bath when I heard Liam shouting my name from outside my bedroom door.“What is it, Liam? I’m in the bathroom!” I yelled back in response.“Okay. When you’re done, I want us to talk about something. I’ll be downstairs waiting for you!”“Sure!” I responded.What now? That’s what I thought as
Liam’s POVOver the next few days, Emma and I didn’t talk much. Not about my birthday or anything in general. I was honestly pissed off from the last conversation she and I had, so I didn’t have much to say to her. Plus, I’d spent the last two nights over at Anna’s place so I could get some space from the apartment and Emma.Now, unfortunately for me, the day I had been dreading all week had finally come. My birthday. The day I turn thirty-one. The day that marks two years since my grandfather and I celebrated my birthday together.Fuck. It’s crazy how it’s been two years now, and I can’t just seem to let go.In my defense, that man was more of a father to me than my own father ever was. He’s my mother’s father and, judging from the stories my mother and her siblings would tell me about their childhood, it was no wonder the man treated me the way he did. Can’t say the same for my father’s father though. That man was much more rigid than my father was and is. I barely spoke to him up
Emma’s POVAfter hours of work that were mixed with hours of contemplation following me and Liam’s conversation from that morning, the work day was finally over, and it was time for me to go home. I knew that if I went home, I would have to confront the situation at hand between Liam and me, which I was not prepared to do, at least not before talking to Sammy first, and since I felt this was a conversation that I had to have with her face to face, I did the same thing of calling Liam ahead to let him know I’d be coming home late. “Hey,” his raspy, tired voice spoke up as he picked up the call. “How are you?”“I’m good, how are you?”“I’m okay”.“Are you sure,” I asked, worried. “You sound tired and stressed out. Are you still at the office?”“Yeah, I am. I’m tired, but I have a case I’m working on right now and want to try and make some progress with it before leaving here”. “Hm. Alright then. Just take it easy please”. “Yeah, I will,” he said. I could practically hear the smile i
Emma’s POVThroughout my drive to the office, all I could think about were Liam’s last words to me before he left the house. Considering how shocked I was by everything he had said, it goes without saying that I had no adequate response to give him at that moment. All I could muster at that point was, “I’ll think about it”. Shit. One thing for sure was that I know I definitely didn’t even say those words in a reassuring tone or anything, because the way his face fell once the words left my mouth was enough to let me know that he was disappointed. In my defense though, it was all too sudden. I felt cornered and just didn’t know what to do.“Emma! Hi!” my coworker, Dina, startled me out of my reverie as she knocked on my window. “Hey, Dina,” I rolled down my window and smiled at her. “You startled me”. “I’m sorry,” she laughed. “One of the janitors mentioned he saw you pull in a few minutes ago and, since you hadn’t come in yet, I decided to come down and check on you”. When she sa
Emma’s POVIt had been a bit over four months since I gave birth to Amelia, and it was finally time for me to go back to work. Normally, I should’ve resumed last month, but the management of the Fashion House asked me to stay back a while longer because they didn’t want to stress me out and all that. I definitely wasn’t going to argue with them, so I obliged, but I kept it down to a month extra because, truth be told, while I’ve been having the time of my life caring for my daughter, it’s been very exhausting and I need a break. I need to get some normalcy back in my life and the only way I can achieve that is by going back to work. Thankfully, today was finally the day. “Emma!” my mum’s voice called out to me from behind the front door after she had knocked. “Coming!” I responded, placing Amelia down on one of the chairs in the living room and rushing to open the door for my mum. “Hey, mum,” I hugged her. “Thanks for coming,” I said, stepping aside for her to walk in. “No need to
Emma’s POVAfter close to forty-three hours of labour, my baby was finally here. “I was told you were unaware of what the baby’s gender was before now, so it’s my pleasure to tell you that you’ve just delivered a beautiful baby girl,” the doctors said to me, her voice overlapping my baby’s cries, as she handed me my child. “Hi, there,” I cooed, poking her nose a bit as I looked back up to the doctor with a smile on my face. “Thank you, Dr. Bailey,” I said to her. “You’re most welcome, dear,” she smiled back. “Alright, I’ve got to go now. The nurses will help get you cleaned up, then I’ll see you again in a few hours, okay?”“Okay, I nodded. Please can you help call in Liam on your way out?”“Of course. Take care now,” she said and walked out of the room. “Baby!” Liam said as he rushed into the room, pausing when he saw our daughter in my arms. “She’s beautiful,” he breathed. “Yeah, she is,” I smiled at her. “Shame on you for not being in here for the birth,” I smacked his hand.
Liam’s POVIt has been nearly nine months of Emma’s pregnancy and God knows that these past two months of it have been hell. Not just for her, but for me as well. Unlike at the start of her pregnancy, over the past two months have been when Emma has been experiencing terrible morning sickness and all the pains that come with being pregnant. For some reason, the first six months were a breeze for her. She barely showed, she barely felt pain, and she was rarely sick. Now though, where do I even start?At about four months in, her bump began to appear and with how well-rounded it looked, there was no way we could lie and say she was merely gaining weight. So, Emma and I decided it was finally time to expand the number of people who knew about the pregnancy from Ryan and Sammy to her parents, my mother, and all our friends and colleagues who cared to know. As expected, both our parents were ecstatic about the pregnancy; my mother was more than her parents, of course. Considering I am all
Liam’s POVIt had been days – nearly a week actually – since Emma and I had held a proper conversation with each other. To be specific, following that little bicker we had during our last hospital visit which lasted until we got home later that day, she and I had yet to talk to each other. We were taking this thing so far between ourselves such that she hadn’t slept in my room since that evening, and we hadn’t shared a meal since then either. What was funny was that appointment of hers was last Saturday. It was currently Thursday morning and I had only gone to work one day this week, and she has not at all, meaning that we were spending much more time in the house at the same times during the day, but we just weren’t spending them together. If I was upstairs, even though it was in my room, Emma would be downstairs. Then, if I was downstairs, she would be upstairs. Obviously, it was clear that she was behaving in this petty manner that she was, because she wanted me to give in first
Emma’s POV“What do you mean?” Liam asked me again, in a smaller tone this time. Honestly, my heart broke at how heartbroken he sounded by my words, but let’s be real, this marriage of ours isn’t an ideal one for anybody at all, and I do actually love him and want to be with him, so why not just come clean about exactly how I feel now?“Liam,” I took a deep breath and turned back around to face him, grabbing his hand in mine. “I love you and that much is real, but let’s be true to ourselves right now, this marriage isn’t real, and I need you to recognize that. Maybe it’s because I was the one who was forced into the marriage, so I recognize it all the time”. “And what makes you think that I wasn’t forced into this marriage too?” he asked, visibly upset now as he pulled his hand out of mine. “You think I wanted to have to settle down at the time that I did, let alone get married?”“Oh,” I responded in a low tone. “You really think that this marriage was on the top of my bucket list
Emma’s POV“And that right there is your baby’s bead,” my OBGYN said as she pointed out what looked like a small rock on the screen of the ultrasound machine. “Perfection,” Liam gushed. Yeah, that’s right, I told Liam everything. Three months ago, Liam and I had a lengthy talk about my being pregnant and what that meant for us. As expected, even though I had a lot of doubt in my mind, he was in full support of me, willing to ensure I was okay and that everything about the pregnancy went smoothly. If I’m being honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any man as excited to have a child as Liam was that night. Now, with about two ultrasounds out of the way, he and I are finally starting to see our baby take proper shape and, judging from his expression as he stared hard at the screen while the doctor spoke, I think it was safe to say that he was most definitely more excited than I was. If I’m being honest, it’s so crazy. Because this was a man who first presented himself to me as this st
Emma’s POV“Is this seriously something that you’re considering, Emma?” Sammy asked again as she let me out of her grasp. This time, her tone was filled with disappointment. “I can’t believe this”. “Are you seriously judging me right now, Sammy?” I asked in disbelief. “Yes I am,” she answered with a straight face. “If I wasn’t judging you right now, then I would be the worst friend, but that’s not me, Emma. I’ve known you for far too long to believe that getting rid of this pregnancy is something you really think is the right thing to do. Hell, I want to believe that you’ve known me for far too long to even think I’d support you wholeheartedly if you made a decision like this”. “Wow, Sammy,” I chuckled dryly. “You know what, Emma,” she hissed. “Keep up whatever act this is that you’re putting up for as long as you want, but deep down, you know that what I’m saying is the truth. This isn’t a pregnancy that came from a one-night stand that we’re talking about, Emma. This is somethi