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
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
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 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 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“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 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 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 POVTwo months had gone by since Liam’s dad died, and it was finally time for the funeral service to be held. Left to Maria, the service would’ve been held a month ago, but for some reason, Mr. Henderson specifically stated in his preliminary will that he wanted his funeral to be held two months after his passing. Liam believed he wanted the whole funeral to be big or something and ordered the two-month break to allow time for adequate preparations to be made. Weird, I know. Anyway, for the last two weeks, it’s been back-to-back planning over at the Henderson house. Maria had onboarded me on this because she liked my planning skills, so I took a break from work for three weeks, and I’ve been at the Henderson manor almost every day of that break. It’s been so crazy that I’ve even spent the last two nights sleeping here in Liam’s old room because the planning went late into the night and Maria insisted I sleep over. I didn’t have any more change of clothes at the manor, so I wa
Emma’s POVLiam had called me from the hospital where his dad had been rushed to, so as soon as I managed to get the address from him, I rushed down there with Sammy. I couldn’t bring myself to drive due to the shock of the news, so Sammy graciously agreed to take me. Luckily for me, Sammy’s place was closer to the hospital, so we were there in about fifteen minutes. “Liam!” I yelled as I rushed into the building. I almost didn’t even wait to let Sammy come to a halt with the car before I rushed out and into the hospital. That’s how anxious I felt about the whole situation. “Ma’am, please, no shouting. This is a hospital,” the nurse at the front desk said to me in a calm tone. “I’m looking for Liam Henderson,” I said, panting, as I rushed up to her desk. “Where is he please?” I asked desperately. “Oh, Mr. Henderson,” she cleared her throat in realization of the name I had just called. No surprise there because, after all, this was a hospital that Liam’s father had made generous
Emma’s POVSince Liam and I had that conversation about his dad yesterday, I wasn’t feeling at ease because he just felt, I don’t know, tight. I don’t know the exact word or words to use to describe exactly how he was last night, but let’s just say he was rigid. I know that to an extent he was happy to let some things off his chest, especially considering it had to do with his dad, but still, I’m guessing, since his dad is willing to just sit back and let nature take its course, he’s just been uncomfortable and angry, and I have had no idea how to help him. I mean, it was so bad that while we were trying to sleep, as I held him in my arms, I could literally feel the rigidity he exuded. I wanted to help him so badly, but I just didn’t know how, and it hurt my heart so bad to see him in this much pain. It was currently Saturday, meaning that I didn’t have to go into the office, but Liam did because work had just been a lot ever since he took over complete responsibility of the cases h
Liam’s POVIt had been a little over a month since the dinner at my parent’s place had taken place. Emma and I had taken our anniversary trip to Berlin after being indecisive about where to go for days. We were away for a week honestly, it was the best week I’d had in months. With work, my dad’s sickness and everything else that life has thrown at me over the past few weeks, this getaway we had was the exact thing I needed. My problem now was that we were home, and I was back to work, and it was all just a lot. With my dad being out due to his sickness, I’ve assumed the position in the office as not just the CEO but also the COO as well, meaning that I am basically splitting myself into multiple parts now just to ensure that everything runs smoothly at the firm. “Hey, babe,” Emma greeted me as she walked into my room with two glasses of what looked like apple juice in her hands. “Hey, baby,” I greeted her back, shaking my head off the thoughts I had in mind. Today was the first da
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”. “