Liam’s POV“Good morning,” Emma mumbled as she stepped out of her room.I had been standing by my doorway for a while trying to respond to some messages before eventually heading back into my room when Emma stepped out of hers. She had clearly just woken up and, judging from the raspiness of her voice, I had assumed she was going down to get some water to drink or something. From the look on her face, it was quite obvious she had forced that greeting out of her mouth. Like she only did it because of how close we were standing to each other, and she didn’t want to seem rude or something. “Good morning, Emma,” I greeted her back as I turned off my phone. “Hm,” she said, then made her way to leave, but I stopped her. I stretched out my hand to block her path and she stopped just a few inches from my hand. It was almost as if she made sure to avoid the hand just in time so she wouldn’t have to touch me. “Please wait,” I pleaded. She looked at me, then looked back at my hand, then lo
Liam’s POVAfter ending the call with Sammy, it was soon time to close for the day, so I began packing up my stuff when my secretary, Candace, walked into my office. “Don’t tell me a client’s waiting for me outside, Candace. This is 4:55 p.m. I’m a human being too, and I’m done for the day. Tell whoever it is to come back tomorrow,” I told her as I continued putting my stuff together. “Sir, it’s not a client,” she responded. I paused what I was doing and looked up at her, then I noticed a familiar face hanging around in the lobby behind Candace. “It’s your wife,” she said, then stepped aside for me to get a clearer picture of Emma standing outside my office door. “Well, why’d you keep her waiting?” I asked as I put aside the stuff I was packing up. “Let her in,” I said, then stood up from my seat and adjusted myself. “Yes, sir,” she said, then walked out of the office while Emma walked in. “Emma, hey. What are you doing here? Is everything okay?” I asked with a confused look on
Emma’s POV“What do you think of spending a weekend in Cabo? Or better yet, Mykonos?” Sammy asked me as she looked up from her phone. It was a Saturday and she and I had nothing better to do today, so she was over at mine, and we decided to spend it as a lazy day. The guys had gone out for the weekend to watch a basketball or baseball game. I wasn’t sure which because I wasn’t exactly paying attention when Liam was telling me about where he and Ryan would be going to today. That’s right. I’m still pissed at him.Anyway, since they were both out, I decided to invite Sammy over, and we’ve just been binging different shows and munching on snacks since. “Cabo or Mykonos? What’s happening there?” I asked, looking up from my phone with a confused expression on my face. “Your birthday, of course. I was thinking we could go the weekend leading up to the day since your birthday is on a Monday, but it’s entirely up to you. We could do it that weekend or the weekend after that. What do you t
Emma’s POV“Hey, birthday girl!” Sammy screamed into my ear as soon as I answered her call. “Girl, calm down,” I said when she reduced her tone. “First of all, I’m at work. Secondly, my birthday isn’t till Monday so can you please relax?” I sighed. “You’re way more excited about this than I am, and it’s quite fascinating”. “Emma, you’re turning twenty-five. Not just that, but you’re twenty fine as well. We’ve got to turn up this weekend!” she shrieked. “Sure thing, captain,” I laughed. “But could we please use our inside voices right now? I’m having the worst headache at the moment,” I groaned as I clutched my forehead in the palm of my left hand. “Oh, I’m sorry. I had no idea. What’s the matter though? Have you taken something for it? Painkillers?” she asked. “I’m not sure. I’ve just been feeling this way since I woke up, and I don’t know what to do or take. I took some ibuprofen earlier, but it didn’t seem to do the trick I guess,” I said.“Sorry, love. I hope you feel better.
Emma’s POV“Hey, are you ready?” Liam asked from behind my bedroom door. “Ryan just called and said he and Sammy got stuck in some traffic, but they’re almost at the airport, so they advised we leave now to avoid missing the flight”.“Okay. I’m almost ready. I’ll be out in five minutes!” I yelled back.“Alright, I’ll be downstairs. Do you want some coffee for the road?”“Yes, please,” I responded.“Okay,” he said, then the next thing I heard was the retracting sound of his footsteps.It was almost 6 a.m., so I knew we needed to leave the house immediately if we wanted to beat any traffic because without traffic, our apartment is about an hour and thirty minutes from the airport, but it’s definitely going to be more than that with traffic, and we needed to get to the airport by 8:30 a.m. latest.I used the next five minutes to organize the last of my things, then dragged my suitcase out of my room when I was done. I got to the top of the stairs and realized there was no way I was going
Emma’s POV“Guys, can I come in?” I asked as I knocked on Sammy and Ryan’s room door.“Hold on a second,” Ryan responded, then came over to open the door and let me in. “Hey, what’s up?” he asked.“Not much,” I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m just bored”.“Where’s Liam?” Ryan asked.“I don’t know. Probably in his room or something,” I answered as I made my way over to their bed where Sammy was lying down. “Hi,” I purred as I got under the covers and tried to force my way into her arms.“Hi,” she laughed, then wrapped her arms around me. “How are you?”“Full,” I responded. “I just finished snacking on some Doritos and Cheetos.“Girl, if you were hungry why didn’t you just say so, so we could get something to eat?” she asked, looking down at me.“I wasn’t hungry,” I responded.“Of course, you weren’t,” she rolled her eyes.“Anyway, what’s the plan for today? I’ve rested, and now I’m ready to be active,” I said, looking between her and Ryan.“If you had looked through the itinerary I sent yo
Emma’s POV“Can I borrow some sunscreen?” Sammy asked as we pulled out our beach towels to lay down on the sand. “I forgot mine back at the hotel”. “Sure thing,” I responded, then pulled out the sunscreen from my bag and handed it to her. “Thank you”. “You’re welcome,” I replied. She applied the sunscreen, then I applied it after her, and then we laid down next to each other while Ryan laid down next to her. “Why was it that Liam said he wasn’t going to be able to join us?” she asked as she looked over to me. “He’s working,” I responded as I pulled out my novel from my bag. “Really? You’re going to read right now?” she asked, eyeing me. “Why not?” I shrugged my shoulders. “Anyway, why’s Liam working today? Isn’t today Saturday or do I have my days mixed up?” she asked. “Oh no, it’s Saturday alright. He said something about the caliber of people he works with, that he has to make himself available for meetings based on their schedules, and blah blah. I wasn’t really intereste
Emma’s POVI was honestly shocked by the statement. “Except you’re not single, and I just overstepped my boundaries,” he said, laughing in a way that indicated he was embarrassed. It actually took me a minute to understand why he even had to ask that in the first place, then I realized I had left my wedding ring back at my hotel room. I didn’t want to wear it near the water in the fear of losing it, so I took it off as I changed. I looked down at my empty ring finger for a few seconds, deciding whether I wanted to tell this fine man in front of me that I was actually married, even though the marriage wasn’t real. Of course, I couldn’t tell him that part and I didn’t want to chase him away either by being vague and simply saying, ‘I’m married,’ so I just decided against telling him in general. “I’m single,” I smiled. “And I’d love to go out to dinner with you tonight,” I added. “Amazing,” he grinned. “Where are you staying at? I’m over there,” he pointed to the hotel that was righ
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