Lilliana stirred awake the next morning, her eyes fluttered open and looked around the room confused… taking in her surroundings. She slowly lifted her hand, bringing it up to her face to remove the oxygen mask that had been helping her breathe while unconscious. She took a deep breath in and immediately scrunched her nose in disgust at the pungent smell in the air passing through her nostrils… a mixture of domestic cleaning fluids and medicine. Resisting the urge to vomit, she swallowed hard the bile rising in her chest and slowly sat up straight. She could tell she was in a hospital and she hated hospitals. She looked around the room again and this time noticed her best friend sleeping on a sofa by the window with Flurry in her arms. She smiled and continued her observation, her eyes stopping on a jar of water. Once again she swallowed, only then realising how dry her throat felt. She tossed the blanket covering her lower body aside and lowered her legs to get off the single bed. S
NOT EXACTLY HIS TYPEA couple of days later, Damon was in his lounge working on his laptop. He looked up from the white screen at the sound of footsteps, the soft padding toward where he was.“Damon, can you help cut… “ Lilliana stepped out of the hallway and into the luxurious spacious hall a minute later in her pyjamas, holding a pair of scissors in her left hand. The girl was now temporarily living with him in his secure penthouse while her father was busy searching for a new house or so she was told. After her two bodyguards were killed in the fire, the men didn't want to take any more chances and she… unaware of the real reason agreed. The girl halted when she realised that the man wasn't alone… his so-called personal assistant was with him, looking just as perfect as she did when Lilliana first met her. Her face contorted into a disapproving frown, her chest tightening with envy at how close the woman's close proximity to Damon. It made the girl uncomfortable to see the woman s
CAUGHT RED HANDED??... The man swiped his thumb across the girl's cheek to get rid of the tear and settled his hand beneath her chin. Gently pinching the flesh between the tips of his fingers, he instinctively started searching her body and face for the cause of her tears. He tilted the girl's head in either direction to see if she had been hit. The lack of a handprint or an angry bruise on Lilliana's skin simmering his anger a little. “What's wrong?? What happened??” He asked, still worried. Lilliana shook her head, avoiding his eyes and removed his hand from around her waist. “Lilly… “ Damon started but the girl cut him off. “It's nothing,” she said, taking a step back from him and walked around his tall broad figure to continue to her bedroom. But Damon knew something was the matter, or else she wouldn't have been crying. He turned around and watched her disappear around the wall into the hallway, leaving him alone with his assistant. He turned to the woman and asked “What did
CYBERSEX WITH A ROBOT‽‽… Damon stepped in front of Lilliana, hiding her body with his and turned to the door… expecting to find his friend but instead found a girl in the hotel's housekeeping uniform. “I.. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were still here. I was told to come clean the penthouse” the girl stuttered upon seeing Damon, her body shaking with anxiety. The man only shook his head and said “It's okay, just come back in 30 minutes' ' relieved it wasn't his best friend. Behind him, Lilliana also sighed in relief. “I'm gonna go get dressed” she said when the man turned to her, a second after the housekeeper left the room. Damon nodded and she went into her closet. She took out her new school uniform from the wardrobe cabinets and started getting ready for school. Fully clothed, she went back to her room and found the man gone. She sat in front of her vanity mirror and did her make-up routine. Once done, she smacked her lips together and freed her hair from its bun. Not botheri
KIDNAPPED OR JUST UNFOUND??…After making sure the girl was safely inside the school building, Damon drove to one of his companies. Sitting behind his huge mahogany desk, he tried to focus on his work but failed. He couldn't stop thinking about the kiss he shared with Lilliana a few hours ago. He had broken the same boundaries he kept telling the girl not to break and surprisingly, he felt no guilt this time. Leaning back in his leather chair, he closed his eyes and looked deep inside himself. Trying to find that familiar feeling of regret that he normally got after being involved with Lilliana like he was that morning, the nagging voice inside him that always held him back from expressing his true feelings to the girl but found nothing.His ears peaked at the sound of his ringtone, pulling him out of his mind. He sat up straight to get the small electronic from his desk and swiped his thumb sideways to accept the call. Not bothering to check whom it was who had called on the screen b
LOST AND FOUND…Shoving the thought to the far back of his head where it belonged, Damon quickened his footsteps and had just walked past a pair of doors when they opened. He heard a familiar laugh, the graceful sound like music to his ears and halted in his steps. Turning around sharply, he's eyes landed on the backs of two girls… one seemingly Lilliana and the other her childhood friend. The two friends were chatting happily, unaware of the pending danger.“Lilly” the man called just as the two friends were about to head in the direction he came in, presumably going to the cafeteria to have their lunch. In unison, the two girls turned around at the sound of his voice. They frowned, looking at each other when they saw Damon. ‘What's he doing here??’ Lilliana wondered, her eyes full of confusion as she looked back at the man. Damon made his way toward them in long wide strides.Stopping a couple of feet in front of the girls, the man asked “Where were you??”. The irritation in his vo
ALLERGIES…“Don't leave the building until I'm back” Damon said when they reached his penthouse, making Lilliana frown and turn to him.“You're leaving??” She asked. Damon nodded.“I have some business matters that need my attention, I'll come back when I'm done.” He explained, wrapping his hand around the back of the girl's head and threading his long fingers in her soft hair before gently pulling her face closer to him. Leaning down slightly to her level, he planted a soft kiss on the top of her head and added “... call me if anything happens, okay??”Lilliana nodded and stepped out of the elevator. She watched the doors slam shut after her and the elevator take off before going straight to her bedroom with her backpack hanging loosely over her right shoulder. She let the book filled bag drop onto the carpeted floor by the bed with a loud thud and took off her school blazer. She tossed it on the soft mattress before collapsing on the space next to it and exhaled.She stared up at th
WHAT’S GOING ON BETWEEN YOU AND BELINDA??...Belinda looked down at the plate in front of her and let out a loud gasp at the revelation. Her eyes wide as saucers in horror of what she had unknowingly done.she jumped out of her seat and made her way around the long glass table to get to the frantic father-daughter duo.“I'm so sorry” she apologised, stopping next to them. Panic evident in her voice. She was scared for the girl's life.“Don't” Jackson growled when she reached out her hand to touch Lilliana, causing her hand to freeze midair. But she didn't take offence and instead started looking around the room, searching for a nearby first aid box.“What do you need?? What should I do??” She asked.“Nothing, you've done enough already” this time… it was Damon who snapped at the woman as he made his way back to the dining table. A medicine bottle in his hand, containing allergy antibiotics. Undoing its cap open, he shuffled a pill out on his cupped palm and tossed it in the girl's mout