Liam’s POV“Hey, girls,” I greeted Sammy and Emma as Ryan and I walked into my room.“Hey,” Sammy waved and stood up. “Hey babe,” she said to Ryan as she walked up to hug and kiss him.“Hey, guys, Emma greeted from the bed. “What took you guys so long?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.“Ryan and I decided to have some drinks first,” I answered, shrugging my shoulders.“Okay,” she said, looking down at her phone. “That reminds me, your mum said you should call her. She called me a few minutes after you stepped out of the room and said she’s been trying to reach you all day but to no avail,” she continued, looking up at me to clarify that I was the one she was speaking to.I walked over to the bed and sat beside her.“Oh, well, I didn’t see any of her calls. Did she happen to mention what she wanted?” I asked, turning my body to face her.“Nothing specific, but something along the lines of your dad needing to talk to you, and she wanted to give you a heads-up about it or so. I’m
Liam’s POVWe had locked eyes for a few seconds before my eyes fell on her lips. Once I looked at her lips, I couldn’t look anywhere else. They looked too luscious to pass up, and I knew that I had to kiss her.Unfortunately, just as I dipped my head down, so our lips could meet, her phone began ringing really loudly from the closet, which startled her, causing her to jump back. From the way she looked at me after that, it was as though she had been in a trance that she had just snapped out of. It took her a while to come to terms with what was about to happen and at that point, her phone stopped ringing. Once she realized herself, she was about to speak up, but she stopped herself, clearly contemplating if she wanted to say what was on her mind or not. As she was unwilling to speak, I decided to speak out, but I couldn’t get passed calling out her name when her phone started ringing again. Based on the way she quickly rushed into the closet to answer the phone, it was obvious she was
Emma’s POV“Are you really not going to talk to me for the rest of the night?” Liam asked as we walked into our room.“What exactly do you want me to say to you, Liam?” I asked as I tossed my purse and phone onto the desk beside the door.“Anything! I want you to say literally anything to me! Is that so fucking hard?” he asked, yelling in frustration. “My God! You really know how to push my buttons sometimes, you realize that, right?” he sighed, exasperatedly.I knew I wasn’t the one he was yelling at, so I just stood and looked at him.“Look, I’m sorry for yelling,” he apologized, pinching his eyes shut.“I thought so,” I rolled my eyes and walked into the closet. “As I already told you, Liam. There’s nothing for us to talk about, so just drop it. We almost kissed, but it didn’t happen. End of story,” I raised my voice a bit so he’d hear me.“I don’t know what to say to you, Emma. You’re just too damn difficult,” he kissed his teeth, then walked out of the room, making sure to slam t
Emma’s POVIt’s the morning of the second day of our trip, meaning it’s the morning after Liam and I had sex. I had woken up earlier than I’d thought I would but to my surprise, Liam wasn’t on the bed beside me.“Liam?” I called out as I sat up on the bed. “Are you here?”No response.I looked over to the nightstand on his side of the bed and saw his laptop and iPad was there, but his phone wasn’t, so I assumed he had left to take a call outside the room or something.Since he wasn’t in the room, I decided to use that opportunity to hop in the shower and wash off the smell of sef from my body.Liam and I had sex. I couldn’t get that out of my mind. He had seen the whole me. There was nothing left to hide. Fuck.How the hell did I let this happen?I decided not to allow these thoughts to cloud my mind too much, so I just drew myself a bath and stayed in the tub for about twenty minutes. Throughout the time I was in the bath, Liam still hadn’t returned to the room. At some point, I was
Emma’s POVThe week went by fast, so before we knew it, the trip was over, and we had to return to our everyday lives once again.Liam and I still hadn’t properly addressed what happened in the hotel room the other night and honestly, it’s been eating me alive. Since that day, he’s been acting like what happened, didn’t, and I don’t know how much longer I can take it.We had sex for crying out loud, and he’s been acting like it was nothing. After he spoke to me with that attitude the day after we slept together, I knew for sure that there was nothing sensible that was going to come out of the conversation if we eventually sat down to talk.I really don’t get how something like that can happen, and it can be ignored. I get that he may not want to face reality or whatever, since he’s with Anna and all, but if he doesn’t realize how unfair that is to me, then he really is stupid.“Good morning,” Liam greeted me as he walked down the stairs.I didn’t even realize he was home.“Morning,” I
Liam’s POV“It’s been six months since you and Emma got married, so I have decided that for you both to celebrate, you’re going host your first charity dinner,” my father said, finally looking up from his laptop and acknowledging my presence. I had been sitting across from him from his desk at his home office for over twenty minutes and these were the first words he spoke to me since I got there. “What? Why?” I asked, sitting up. “Because I said so,” he stated, his face devoid of any form of emotion. Because I said so. My God, he can be so childish sometimes. “Is there a problem?” he asked, closing his laptop and folding his arms on the desk. “If I’m correct, you come from a respected family in society. That aside, I recall you telling me that you had told Emma that part of the conditions of the marriage was that you both would be hosting parties and dinners and the like. So, I ask again. Is there a problem?”“No,” I grumbled. “Fix your attitude,” he warned. “Sorry,” I said, st
Liam’s POV“Hey, good morning,” I greeted Emma as I hurried down the stairs. “Morning,” she said back from the living room. She was all dressed up, so I assumed she was heading into the office today, but I had to ask to confirm. “You’re going to work today?” I asked as I passed by her and went toward the dining table. “Yeah. My break is over, sadly. If I’m being honest, I didn’t quite expect to be happy that it’s over. I guess I’ve just been cooped up in here for too long, so it feels good to know I have somewhere to go to every day again,” she said, breathing a sigh of relief. I don’t blame her. With the way I’ve been acting, I’m sure she’s overjoyed that she doesn’t have to run into me as often anymore. “Okay, that’s good for you, I guess. Well, I’ve got to head out now,” I replied, grabbing an apple and walking toward the front door. “That’s right. The trial begins today,” she looked at me. “Yeah, and I can’t be late,” I told her as I opened the door. “Right. Of course. G
Liam’s POV“Hey,” I greeted Emma as she walked up to meet me at the door of the restaurant. Serendipitously, she and I arrived at the restaurant at practically the same time. She had come in when I had already handed my key to the valet and was about to walk through the doors into the restaurant. “Hi, Liam” she greeted me back. “Are those for me?” she asked with a look of confusion plastered on her face as she pointed at the bouquet of pink roses in my right hand. “Yes they are,” I smiled as I handed them to her. “Thank you,” she said, the look of confusion still plastered on her face, as she took them out of my hand. “They’re lovely,” she mentioned as she brought them up to her nose to smell. “You’re welcome. They’re your favorite, right?” I asked as I opened the door of the restaurant to let her walk in first. “Yes they are,” she looked up at me. “How’d you know?” “Don’t worry about that,” I said, grabbing her hand in mine as we both walked up to get cleared for our reservati
Emma's POVAbout ten minutes after Maria and I got into our feelings with each other, Liam and his father returned to the dining room. Mr. Henderson looked fresh again in his change of clothes, but Liam, on the other hand, looked tired and stressed out. Clearly, the entire situation that had just unfolded in front of him stressed him out, but he didn’t say anything about it for the entire time the lunch went on. From one o’clock or so, till five minutes past three o’clock, the four of us ate lunch and made small conversations about anything else but the elephant in the room. While I found it a bit weird that everyone chose not to say anything about what happened, I obviously couldn’t comment on anything because, at the end of the day, I don’t have much of a say in what’s going on. It’s not like Mr. Henderson is my husband, neither is he my father, so yeah, I couldn’t exactly say much. Once we were done eating and had spent the extra hour at their place for our food to digest, Liam a
Emma’s POVTo cut the whole story short, Liam spoke. A lot. He said far much more than I could even remember, and what’s crazy is he just said these things a few minutes ago. He took his father’s go-ahead for him to say what was on his mind quite literally, and when I say literally, I mean literally. Unexpected to all of us, Liam started addressing issues from far before I came into his life. Issues he’s had with his father, and his mother, from when he was a little boy, actually. There was also him talking about how he felt closer to his grandfather than anyone else before his passing and how his passing really affected him because he knew that he wasn’t ever going to feel that type of pure love again from a father figure, let alone his father. He talked about how he always felt unloved by his parents because, while his father drowned himself in work most of the time, his mother drowned herself in work and societal events and gatherings, so it felt like she was even more absent. The
Emma’s POV“Okay,” Liam spoke up. “We’re listening. Why’d you call us over here today?” he asked. “First of all,” Mrs. Henderson cleared her throat. “Your father and I want to wish you both a happy anniversary”. Oh, so she remembered. “You remembered?” I squeaked out. “Are you kidding me, dear?” she asked with a small smile on her lips. “How could I forget? I mean after all the planning that went into that wedding and how invested I was, not just in the wedding but in your hopeful love story. With all that in mind, there was absolutely no way I could forget the day you got married to Liam; fake wedding or not. I was personally very happy that day because I liked you, so nothing was going to make me forget it”. “Oh…” I was speechless. “Thank you, Maria”.At the mention of her name, her smile instantly grew. I knew she hated me calling her Mrs. Henderson and I hated calling her that just as much because I believed we had formed a bond that went beyond me calling her that. So, while
Emma’s POVAs we pulled into the driveway of the Henderson house, I could see Liam visibly tense up already. From the way his fingers tightened on the steering wheel, to the way his jaw began to clench, it was clear he wanted to be anywhere but here right now. “Are you good?” I asked him, placing my hand on his that was still gripping the steering wheel even after he had parked the car. At the feel of my hand on his, the hold he had on the steering wheel instantly loosened, and I could thankfully feel the tension ease from his body under my touch. “I’m better now,” he said, mustering up a weak smile, as he held my hand and brought it up to his lips to place a kiss on it. “Thank you”. “Hey,” I rubbed the back of his neck. “Everything’s going to be alright. Besides, I have a feeling that we’re here to receive some good news. Nothing that’s going to spoil either of our moods. Okay?”“Okay,” he nodded, then turned off the car. As he started to open his door, I held him back again for
Emma’s POV“Happy anniversary, baby,” Liam said, cheesing from ear to ear, as he walked into my room with a tray filled with waffles, bacon, eggs, an assortment of fruits, and two glasses of orange juice.“For me?” I smiled as I looked up from my phone. “Yes, ma’am,” he nodded, placing the tray on the nightstand next to me. “Happy anniversary, my love,” he said again, as he bent down to hug me. “I love you,” he pecked my cheek. “Happy anniversary, Liam,” I cooed in response, hugging him tightly, making sure to sniff him in the process. “How early did you wake up for you to have taken a shower and made me breakfast?” I asked, genuinely wondering. “Early enough,” he shrugged his shoulders, hopping into the bed and squeezing closely next to me. “I see that,” I turned my head to face him. “Did you sleep in here with me though? Because I don’t even remember sleeping off. I had planned to come over to yours after taking a bath, but I guess I must have fallen asleep after doing that”. “
Emma’s POV“So, talk to me. What’s going on in that big head of yours?” I joked. “Rude,” he scoffed, feigning a hurt look. “Whatever,” I chuckled, unwrapping my hands from his waist. “This seems like serious talk, so let’s go over to the living room please”. “Alright,” he nodded, pushing himself off the counter that he was resting on and following behind me until we got to the living room and sat comfortably on the couch. “Now,” I moved a bit closer to him. “Talk to me”. “Okay,” he cleared his throat, evidently nervous. “I don’t know if you know… but tomorrow is our first anniversary,” he stated, then averted his gaze from me. “Is that it?” I chuckled. “What do you mean?” he asked with furrowed brows. “I mean, is that all that’s bothering you?”“Yes, it is. Now can you please stop laughing,” he grumbled. “Sorry,” I stifled a laugh. “Listen,” I grabbed hold of his hands. Can I be honest with you?”“Sure,” he nodded, fiddling with my hands. “I know”. “Seriously?” he looked of
Emma’s POVIt had been a long day at the office, but thankfully, it was finally over. As I packed up my sketches that I planned to work on over the weekend, my phone buzzed on the table, but I didn’t pick it up immediately because if it was something important, I’d have assumed the person would call me. After about ten minutes of putting my stuff together, I was done packing up for the day and finally picked up my phone to check the time. The time wasn’t what caught my eye though. It was my notification; specifically, the one that came ten minutes ago which I ignored. It was a notification from my Reminders app, reminding me of what tomorrow is – Liam and I’s first anniversary. Shit. How the hell could I have forgotten? And especially now that Liam and I are actually in true love with each other, and we’ve been so good with each other these past couple of weeks too, fuck!As I walked out of the office, I began brainstorming the excuse I was going to give Liam for forgetting about t
Liam’s POVWhen Ryan and I were done eating, we immediately began our journey back home. “So, have you decided what you’re going to do yet?”“About what?” I asked, optimistic that the meaning behind that question wasn’t the same as when he asked me this same question ten minutes ago. “About you and Emma, silly,” he scoffed, looking at me like I was dumb. “No, Ryan. I have not decided what to do, just like I hadn’t decided ten minutes ago when you asked me the same damn question,” I said, tightening my fingers on the steering wheel momentarily, before letting out a deep breath in annoyance and releasing my grip on the wheel. “My bad,” he rolled his eyes. “I’m just trying to be helpful,” he murmured. “Then be helpful by suggesting what I should do!” I raised my tone slightly and kissed my teeth. “You being helpful isn’t you asking me the same question repetitively at ten-minute intervals hoping that my response would be different? Helping would be you trying to help me brainstorm o
Liam’s POVIt had been a week since Emma had made her choice to be with me and for this last week, I’ve probably been the happiest man on this earth. Now, our first anniversary was in three days, and I had no idea what to do. Before we got married, I remember while I was having one of the pre-wedding discussions with my mother, she said she would love for Emma and me to throw a party or a ball or something in that regard to commemorate the milestone, while also making sure we appear as a happily married couple in the public light. However, with how things are going in the family right now, with my dad’s sickness and the rift between Emma and my parents, that party that my mother would have wanted us to have just doesn’t seem probable. And to be honest, I haven’t even had a talk with Emma about this anniversary of ours, so God knows if she actually remembers that it’s even coming up or not. “Liam! Where are you!?” Ryan yelled, pulling me out of my thoughts as he stepped into the apa