The sun was in her eyes, and it made her dizzy. The fever was returning."What is your name?" the policeman asked Chris. "Chris.""And what is your business with the lady? Young lady, what's your name?""My name is Elena.""Elena what?""Elena Cooper," she said, then corrected herself. "Elena Hemsworth." It felt strange saying Liam's name after her own name. "And what is he doing with you?" asked the policeman. "We have orders that this is an illegal detention.""Detention?" Chris said, turning briefly to Elena with an amused face. "I am just taking her to my boss, her husband. He's waiting in his mansion.""What is the name of this boss, if I may ask?""Liam, of course. Liam Hemsworth." He sounded irritated, but Elena could hear a little nervous strain in his voice. "Everyone knows him.""Is he the same Liam," the cop asked, "who called us to search for you? Are you aware there is a curfew all over the city, just because of you two?"Chris shrugged. "I have no idea of such a thing.
Liam sat in his car, eagerly waiting for the call from the cops to announce that they'd seen where they took Elena to. But he waited in vain.Instead, he got a call from one of his bodyguards, the one who had gone home to take care of his wife who'd just put to bed."Hi, boss," he said cheerfully. He seemed to have missed working with him. "How's it going?""How do you do, Luke?" Liam said, trying out the luxury of a smile. "How's the baby and your wife?""All bouncing and thanking you for the big tip you gave us.""Alright." He didn't know what else to say. The plight he was into was making him confused."Is everything alright, sir?" Liam was amazed that Luke was able to catch the strain in his voice."Not really," Liam said, feeling a need to pour his heart out. "My father and Chris are playing a dirty game with my wife, Elena."Luke didn't sense the danger immediately. "What sort of game?" he laughed. "Hide and seek where you get to stab anyone you find?""C'mon, Luke. Thing is..."
Elena watched with tired eyes as the doctor prepared the syringe. Her eyes wandered to the gloves on his hands and wondered why there were always spaces left at the end of the fingers.Liam was flashing in and out of the room, inspecting the doctor, asking petty questions, and zooming out again. He was having a meeting with his staff from the company in the living room, and it didn't sound like everything was alright. For them to have brought the meeting to his house, something was going wrong in the company.Elena could hear Liam's father's voice raised above the others. And whenever she heard it, she was filled with fear and guilt, because she felt she must be the reason why Liam wasn't putting much effort as he should into the running of the company. She was the problem."Elena," the doctor called, jolting her back to reality. "Are you ready?"She glanced at the covered syringe in the doctor's hand and it became a penknife, cutting through her hair. She blinked rapidly, the images
Liam just concluded a call with his step brother, Ethan. After so many years of ghosting from both brothers. And it was nothing short of surprising and suspicious.The guy had developed one hell of an accent and seemed to be speaking through smoke fumes. He asked about "the family company", and Liam said it was fine."And ya new wife?" he asked. "You think man is gonna know what is going on, right?"Whatever that meant, Liam told him Elena was okay, and switched the conversation back to Ethan. Ethan announced proudly that he would be releasing his latest art exhibit this year, and would love to see his stepbrother attend the exhibition ceremony. Liam laughed and said he might come. The call ended afterwards in an awkward note.Now, Liam sighed as he headed back home on his bicycle, after an evening cycling. Ethan wore him out. But also terrified him. At surface level, it might look like the 25 year old had nothing upstairs. But Ethan was one of the most cunning people Liam had known.
The door to Rosa's room creaked open. She appeared at the doorway. In her background a man in orange overalls was drilling screws into her cabinet."Hi," she said. "I thought I heard someone shouting."Elena watched her very keenly, and saw it: the tiny flash of anger that appeared on Rosa's face when she saw Elena and Liam together."Oh," Rosa said, failing at trying to smile. "You two seem busy." Then she added excitedly: "You wanna come see my room, Elena?""Er, Liam wanted us to go somewhere," she said.But to her horror, Liam replied: "It's nothing, actually. You can join your friend. I need to go wash up. I have a virtual conference by 8 pm. Would have loved you to be there, too.""Oh," was all Elena could say. "Are we slowly switching back to the old culture?" she thought. Just when I believed something was going...She felt colder when Liam's arms left her. He walked upstairs to his room, and Elena wondered what it'd take to run after him, smack his face, then drag him to the
Rosa stopped herself from going after Liam, so that if anything happened, Elena wouldn't see her as the culprit. She remained there on the bench, wishing that the lights of the mansion were dimmer, so that she could feel some privacy within her.Her heart was in turmoil. She couldn't stop it, couldn't let go. Liam. Highschool...*****Flash back"Hi," Rosa said, a pretty school girl with an amazing knack for all the psychological intelligence needed to keep any conversation going.He turned to her from the reverie of his thoughts. And instantly he saw in her a stranger with a pretty face and sexy straight legs."You appear lost," she said, shifting closer to stand with him behind the rails. "Are you thinking about taking over the whole world with the snap of your fingers?"Liam cackled up in laughter, as he hadn't seen that coming. He decided to give it back. "Yes. And I was just concluding my decisions on where y'all gonna stay," he said, "because I wouldn't want any humans around
Elena was woken up the next morning to the beep of a notification sound on her phone. She groped for her phone and found it tucked away under her pillow. Liam had been in bed with her for the night, but they hadn't still had sex.She didn't know why, but something always came up to obstruct every chance they got. This time it was Liam's father knocking right on her door!She sighed and blinked her eyes against the beams of sunlight that streamed through the blinds of her window.She laid sprawling on the bed, caressing the partly warm side of the bed where Liam had laid. It had been one hell of a night, but she was happy that even though they didn't end up having sex, she was relieved that the tension between them had been resolved. She had professed love to him, and he had, too. What else was needed for a good life, finally?Another message dropped and she picked up the device. It was a text from Rosa."Guess what today is!" the text read.Elena frowned in confusion. Today was a Thur
The evening was getting darker. But the spirit of the party was heating up. Liam didn't know how his event organizers did it, but dancing poles had been set up and three strippers were on the platform, doing their thing. The DJ had gotten high, because the song he dished now had shifted from mild to hardcore.Liam had empty bottles of wine and glasses seated before him on the table, also ashtrays filled with burnt up cigars, some half smoked.The colors of the lights — multicolored and swirling — danced around his eyes, the loudness of the jam, the strippers moving their bodies ever alluringly, the sight of his many friends getting drunk and high on stone: all of these brought a sudden nostalgic feeling to Liam. His clubbing life."Where had it gone?" was the question that popped into his mind. He tried to recall the last time he hit a club as he used to, but he couldn't. His life, of late, had been centered mainly on his work, and trying to keep his family together. Well, that wasn't