“Belle…” Ethan's voice passes through my ears. Why am I hearing that? I open my eyes swiftly and witness him hovering over me. He is flashing a bitter smirk. My brows furrow envisioning him here in my room, on my bed, above me. A cold shiver runs through my body. “Why are you here?” I ask, my voice a mix of astonishment and terror. He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear, a tingling sensation running through my nerves, anticipating the next outcome. He's dangerously close to me. “To make love with you,” he says, cutting to the chase. His voice is playful and warm. Wait! What? Why? I don't want to make love with anyone. Is he serious? He begins to undress me, his movements slow and steady. He removes everything from my body. I've thrown caution to the wind. Why am I not resisting him? What has happened to me? Am I an idiot? Do something, Belle. At last when he throws my bra away, he starts licking my tender nipples. My pulse quickens, my heart throbbing in my ches
In class, Ethan and I are catching each other's glances from time to time. He might be perceiving that I'm going to accept his proposal now. His face is telling that, but he has no idea what I am about to do. After school, I take a shower in a hurry, and look for something decent and elegant to wear. I wear a midi flowy dark emerald green dress with long sleeves, pairing it with elegant leather pumps, high quality jewelry, gold necklace, stud earrings, and my all time favorite—Chanel bag. And about my hair, I don't tie it. I always keep my hair in the middle partition. That works for me. “Hey! Are you going on a date?” Emily's sudden arrival in the room catches my attention. “No. I'm just going to meet Ethan casually,” I retort without even glancing at her as I apply my eyeliner with concentration. “Casually…Is it your casual Belle?” she asks, her voice sounding full of astonishment. I cap my eyeliner and avert my gaze to her. “What do you mean?” She glances my body up to
“Belle…” Max's voice catches me guard off. I glance up into his eyes and flash a warm smile. “Hi! Take a seat,” I insist, as I recall that I have to talk to him about Emily's patch up with Jason. My feet are getting cold now. He takes a seat in front of me, where Ethan was sitting a few minutes ago. “What are you doing here? Date?” he asks, his brows furrow swiftly. I chuckle and shake my head. “No. I was just here to meet someone. Not a date. My boyfriend is not in the right state of condition to go on a date. He bumped into an accident,” I explain, gasping the air out of my mouth. “Oh, I see,” he says, nodding his head. I need to tell him about Emily. I'm feeling nervous now. How do I hit the nail on the head? I decided to bite the bullet and cut to the chase. “Max. I want to talk to you about something. About Emily,” I say, feeling a pit in my stomach. “Yeah, I also want to talk about her. Neither she attends my calls nor replies to my texts. What has happened to her?”
As I reach inside my dorm room, I sit hopelessly on my bed. To be honest, my mind is still swirling with Max's words. If there is even a little truth in what he said, then I am feeling scared now. How will my relationship with Aiden be in future? Will we separate or will we end up together in the end? I don't know if I love him or not. I will end up with Aiden. No matter what happens. “Belle, you are here. How was the meeting with Ethan?” Emily's voice pulls me back to the present. “Not good,” I reply, without even glancing at her, my head aching because of crying earlier. “Why? And by the way, why did you even go to meet him? You said you have no interest in Ethan.” I gasp and glance up into her eyes. “I went to meet him, because I wanted to give him a check, a one million dollar check.” Her eyes pop out from its sockets. “One. Million. Dollar. Check. Why?” she blurts out. “I thought after seeing the amount on the check, he'll leave me alone.” All of a sudden, she starts
Because of Ethan, I neither feel like eating nor doing anything. My phone starts buzzing, showing Aiden's caller ID. I don't pick his calls and place my phone aside. If he hears my voice, he'll comprehend that I'm not okay. But if I don't pick up his calls, he'll get angry. So, I take the phone and pick up the call. “Hello…Aiden,” I murmur, my voice barely audible. “Belle, what happened? Are you crying?” he asks instantly. “Is a guy troubling you? Did a guy touch you? Tell me. I'll beat the person. I'm here to protect you. You don't need to cry about anything. Just tell me what happened?” “I'm okay. No one touched me. Don't worry. I could beat a guy on my own if anyone would have touched me,” I inform and gasp. “I'm just not feeling well. I'll talk to you later. Bye.” I end the call and cover my body with a blanket, tears still shedding from my eyes one by one, the weight of loneliness pressing down on my chest. My head throbs from crying so much. Overall, I'm just a mess. Max
Flabbergasted by witnessing Ethan here, I don't even stand up to greet him and stay like that. My father approaches him and they both shake their hands greeting each other. Ethan averts his gaze to me and again to my father then; as they both sit on the sofas my mother walks inside the room. I am stunned. Don't know if I should stand and go, or stay here and listen to their talks. “How's the business going on?” my father asks him. "Everything is well, Mr. Dubois! Nice to meet you. Heard a lot about your hotels…sounds impressive,” Ethan says. "How do you think we can team up?" "Well, imagine this: we throw awesome events at your resorts, mixing live shows with the vacation vibe. It could be a hit, don't you think?" Ethan cocks his brows. "Hmm, I like the sound of that. But how do we make sure everything runs smoothly, with all the moving parts?" "No worries, we've got a skilled team for that. We'll work closely with your folks to make sure every detail fits the vibe of your pl
Pushing Ethan away from me, I take steps towards the elevator door and kick on it in frustration. My heart skips a beat as the elevator light starts flickering. The elevator jolts to a sudden stop. I press all the buttons, but nothing happens. Claustrophobia hits me hard, making it impossible to think clearly. My chest tightens and I can barely catch a breath. “Shit! We are stuck now,” Ethan curses under his breath, and turns on his phone's flashlight. I back into a corner, my hands shaking uncontrollably and my body sweating. My breath hitches in my throat, as my eyes widen in terror. The small space in the elevator is haunting me. “Help,” I try to murmur, my voice barely audible. Ethan averts his gaze to me, and comes towards me. “Belle, calm down. It will open. Don't panic,” he says, trying to soothe my anxiety, but I can't. All of a sudden, I see my younger self, stuck in a car. I'm crying and hitting the glass window of the car, trying to open the door. “Mom. Dad,” I'm
Next day, I attend the school, but don't know why—I'm not feeling well. I'm feeling like something bad is about to happen. It's the first time that Aiden didn't call me at night time. He didn't call me last night. Maybe he's angry that I didn't pick his call the previous night. And I didn't call him either; I never do. My gut feeling is telling that it's the calm before the storm. “I hope nothing bad happens,” I murmur to myself, as I enter the cafeteria. Now Ethan will come and sit beside me, like he does everyday. How bad my life is! No matter what I do, say, or behave with him, he is still adamant. Can't he like some other girl? Out of nowhere, the microphone’s harsh sound bounces off the walls, catching everyone off guard. What's this now? Why is there noise coming from the microphone in the cafeteria? “Attention, everyone.” As soon as I recognize the familiar voice I hear all day and night, I turn swiftly; and to my surprise, my eyes meet Aiden's eyes, who's settled on a