THIRTY

Lila already felt like a third wheel between both of them. She tried to slip away and was glad that between the chatting and the hysterical laughter from both parties, none of them noticed her. She walked a few steps when her eyes landed on the man who had clicked those images earlier. "Levi!" She called out to him at once.

He hurried to her side at the urgency of the call. Unable to say anything, she pointed in the direction of the man and instantly he chased after him with Lila on his tail. By the time she met Levi, he was holding the man by the collar. 

"Oh, good. You caught him," she said, realising that she was not as fit as he was. He had run faster than she had, yet he acted as if he had taken a stroll in the park. She took a moment to calm herself down before raising her head to speak to the man. "Why did you take the picture of me and my friend arguing?" She was unsure if her grammar was correct, but she had a greater need to delete the images than speak correctly.

"I mean, you did it in public so I thought you wanted the public to know," the man said with a cocky smile. Lila knew men like this; they were the reason she hated reporters more than she should. 

"Why is my private life now public property?" She asked, controlling herself from holding him by the collar and shaking him continuously until his brain resets. 

"I am a photographer and I take pictures of events and that." He stopped to whistle and it made her even angrier. "And right was an event that I do not want to miss," he finished. 

"You cannot publish those pictures," she demanded, like he was her staff and had to do whatever she commanded. 

The man laughed and shook his head in disbelief. "This," he said, taking up the camera bag he had been carrying and shaking it in her face. "Belongs to me and the pictures in them too; I can do whatever I want with them and I can't demand anything from me," he said and shrugged. 

Lila did not like that she did not have control over the situation; it seemed like the man had control over her. Maybe Levi saw the expression on her face and held her hand with his free hand; when she looked up at him, he murmured to her and she nodded in agreement. 'It would be better if he took care of it,' she thought to herself. 

Somehow within minutes, Levi had made the man agree to delete the pictures for money; she had zoned out so she did not hear any of the agreements they had. Lila knew that was what he wanted and she was never willing to give it to him but it seemed like Levi was going to give it to him. 

"So do we have a deal?" Levi asked. He had left the man's collar and was now standing opposite him as if they were both discussing something important. 

"You do," the man said, waving the camera again to him. He smiled and wandered off. 

Lila wanted to tell him off for paying the man but she knew that she should be more thankful than judgemental to him at this point. "Thank you," she murmured. 

"It's fine," he replied, pulling out his phone. "You can head back to the room. I want to call my parents about this paparazzi situation," he explained. She looked at his face and heard the unspoken words. He was telling her to be careful not to get photographed again. She sighed and nodded; after all, she was the one who had been causing trouble since they got married. 

Without a word, Levi walked away, and as she watched him walk away, she wondered if he was going to meet the woman who had bumped into them earlier. She turned and walked back to the room as the thoughts of his soft hand grazing her skin filled her mind. She did not know why it seemed like a big deal to get but it did. Why did he touch her and disorient her? 

She was still in bed when her phone began to ring; she wanted to ignore it because she was supposed to be on vacation and not getting that many calls. However, she was forced to pick it up when Levi Fton beside her asked her to do so. She did not know when he got in last night, but that did not matter to her. 

She sat up in bed and picked up her phone from the stand, rubbing away the sleep in her eyes. 

"Lila, have you always been such a mess?" was the first thing that crossed her ears as soon as she picked the phone to her ears. 

"Mom, what is wrong?" She asked silently as she wondered why her mom had to call so early in the morning. 

"What is wrong? You have the audacity to ask me what is wrong when you have caused such an uproar yet again. Why on earth are you and that petty boy so hell-bent on destroying both your families?" Eleanor was angry, and she was not hiding it. 

"Mom I don't understand, and you have to." 

"Why don't you pop yourself out of the balloon you've safely hidden yourself and wake up to reality?" Eleanor screamed at her over the phone. 

"Pictures of you and Jasmine arguing are all over the Internet. No one is talking about anything else aside from how embarrassing you are to your family." 

"But how?" Lila asked, turning to Levi, who was sitting too on the bed. 

"That is what I want to know."