POV: Harper“Is this true? “ he asked me, his voice breaking.“Are you…Are you…”“I’m pregnant,” I said softly, answering him with a smile on my face Ethan erupted with happiness, he jumped in excitement and yelled at the top of his voice,“I’m going to be a father!” He screamed out in excitement, and then he ran towards me and swept me into his arms, spinning me around happily. He kissed me so passionately, His hand was placed on my stomach as if he could feel his baby as he kissed me. How long have you known about it, why didn’t you tell me?” he asked me after the kiss, sounding a bit offended. “I planned to tell you on our anniversary night. It was meant to be your anniversary gift and I would have told you about it that night if you didn’t walk away in anger and left me all alone. When I told you that you ruined our anniversary dinner, I wasn’t referring to the food I had made for you. This is what I was talking about. I was so excited about it and I wanted to surprise you
POV: HarperI guess she doesn’t know that Ethan has already apologized and explained their history to me. So I am not bothered by her words actually, just that, I have to counteract her accusations because a few people around could hear her and I don’t want it on record that I tried to kill Emma, my husband’s ex-lover. It would ruin my reputation if everyone thought that I was a vindictive lover. If only Ethan was close by to see her talking so rudely to me. He just stepped into his home office for a quick meeting with a business partner. She sure knows when to pick on me, she always waits for him to leave my side before she comes over to antagonize me.“Stop making up stories, Serena. I never hurt your sister and I never intended to. I only went to see her because I was curious about her relationship with Ethan. But now that I know the truth, I won’t bother her anymore.” I responded firmly, surprised by my own voice. I saw the fierceness in her eyes diminished when I told her tha
POV: HarperThe party atmosphere had shifted from raucous laughter and dancing to a tense, suffocating silence, caused only by Serena's cries as Ethan escorted her to the door. Outside, a cool breeze rustled the leaves, a stark contrast to the heated emotions boiling within the house.Her screams about Ethan’s promise attracted the attention of our guests. They started whispering amongst themselves, speculating about the relationship between Ethan and Serena. I could’ve leave just like that, I had to follow up with Ethan, running to catch up with them and stop him from saying or doing anything that might hurt her.“Ethan, please…Don’t hurt her….Stop, Ethan, please!” I called out to him as I blinked back the tears that threatened to pour out of my eyes. Ethan heard my voice and he turned to comfort me, pulling me into a protective embrace while glaring at Serena. “Ethan, please… don’t hurt her…” my voice rang out, trembling but firm, pulling at Ethan’s heartstrings even amidst
POV: SerenaI sat on the hospital bed, staring at my sister Emma as she slept. I’d snuck in here to avoid signing the visitors register. I do this when I’m angry so I would have an alibi in case I get pissed and strangle her to death in her sleep. I stood there looking at her, hating the very air that she breaths. The fact that she looks exactly like Harper makes it even worse. Merely looking at her makes me sick in my stomach. In my heart, it felt like I was staring at Harper. Both girls look alike and they both found a way to steal Ethan from me. So, to me, they are both the same and I hate them. I imagined myself grabbing a sharp tool from the doctors surgical tools and stab her repeated in her sleep, stabbing her right in her abdomen and killing that child she is carrying.No one can have Ethan’s child, but me!I have work so hard to have him all to myself, I won’t let anyone take him away from me, not after all my hard work. I was standing over her, glaring daggers at her wh
POV: Serena“Let’s meet up Ethan, its urgent, please meet me at the Millennium restaurant next to our families favorite park.” I texted him, smiling as I thought of the mischief I was cooking up for him.After I left the hospital where I visited my sister, I called Ethan and asked him to meet up. I made it sound urgent, knowing that he might not want to see me after I bullied his wife last night. But he didn’t pick my calls and I know he is still pissed, so I texted him instead.“I’m standing on the bridge before the park. I’ll toss myself over the bridge if you don’t respond to my messages.” I told him, smiling to myself as I knew he would totally fall for this one. Yeah, I learnt that one from my conniving, manipulative sister, Emma. For some weird reason, he doesn’t always give in to her requests or give her whatever she asks for until she pulls this trick on him. She is such a pest!It always work for her, he cares too much to let her carry out her threat, even if we all knew
**POV: Ethan**“Emma, what is wrong? Why are you refusing to speak with me?” I asked her when I finally went in to see her. I drove down here after I left Serena at the restaurant. I was so pissed off at her that I had to leave her presence before I did something stupid.I’m so close to cutting her off and breaking whatever promise I made to her. I'm hanging on a very thin thread as it stands. I kept battling with the idea of abandoning both Emma and Serena, along with the promise I made to both girls after the death of their parents. I pinched the steering wheel in anger, cursing out loud as I recalled the way she had tried to sneak her hands into my shirt, trying to seduce me.I should have known the first time I saw her looking so hot and showing so much cleavage. I should have known that when I saw her looking this sexy, she was up to no good. I don’t wish to break my promise to her; my guilty conscience will kill me if I go back on my word after causing the death of their parents
**POV: Harper** My heart raced as I held Ethan close to me, feeling the weight of his stress seep into my skin. It was hard to watch him so burdened, especially when he was usually the one with a bright smile lighting up the room. The gentle rise and fall of his chest beneath my fingers was a brief comfort against the storm brewing in my mind. I cuddled him in my arms, playing with his hair as he slept peacefully. He looked so sad and stressed out when he arrived. I would have thought that he had so much to do at work, but his countenance said otherwise. And his warning about my visit to Emma said it all. They were the reason why he was stressed. Emma and her sister were using his guilt against him, making him do things that upset him. I didn’t know what they had done to make him so upset, but I felt so bad that I was the reason why they were angry with him. I should not have investigated his past and unearthed secrets he was trying to keep from me. Though the light in the roo
POV: HarperThe sterile smell of antiseptic assaults my senses as I fight to blink away the haze of sleep that is tormenting me. My body is heavy, like a heavy weight was wraps around me like a tight blanket. Pain radiates through me, a dull throb that seems to pulse in time with my heartbeat. But amidst that pain, the first thought that pierces through the fog is primal and fierce: My baby.“My baby!” I scream in panic, sound of my voice coming out so loudly that it hurt my throat. My hands fly to my abdomen, cradling the life that grows within me as I hoped and prayed that it is still there. I struggled to sit upright, and in my frantic attempts to sit up, pain flares through my body like wildfire. But I ignore it, desperate to ensure my baby is unharmed. I need to get up. I have to protect it, I have to protect the one thing that makes sense in my life right now, the one thing that makes me feel completeI struggled to sit upright, but the pain was unbearable, my body is badly b
POV: Harper “I’m sorry, Harps. I let my emotions get the better of me and I hurt you because of my selfish desires. That was not my intention at all and I’m deeply sorry.” He confessed, kneeling in front of me and hugging my knees.“I want to know why you did it, Liam. Why did you fall for me?Was it something I said, did I seduce you and make you love me that way, or was it because we spent so much time together?When did you notice your feeling for me, how did that happen?” I asked him. I’m not supposed to be asking this, but I just want to satisfy my curiosity, I want to be sure it wasn’t my fault, that I didn’t do something make him fall in love with me.“If you are thinking that you did something to make me fall in love with you, Harper. Then you are wrong. Enough of the blame games, you can’t keep blaming yourself for everything. This one is on me, it’s all my fault!” he scolded me, as if he had just read my mind to know that I am blaming myself again. He got up from the floor
POV: Harper I sat there crying until I fell asleep on the floor, feeling drained and frustrated. I woke up a few minutes later and i looked around frantically because I had heard my name and that is why I’d woken up so suddenly. I’d felt a presence in the room and I’d heard my name too. It felt so strange because it sounded just like Serena. As I that was not enough, I saw the window to my room have been pushed open. I could have sworn that I’d locked that window this morning. The breeze from the window usually causes a mess in the bedroom and that is why I always leave it locked. So how is it open when the door to my room is still shut firmly, the exact way I’d shut it when I came into the room.I’d wanted Liam to stay out of my room and that is why I’d shut the door. So how the hell did someone open my window from the outside and who could that be?I walked towards the window and that was when I was hit with a perfume that has haunted my dreams for a very long time. I perceived th
POV: Harper “You are getting this all wrong, Harps. I am not doing this to make you cry, I have always wanted what is best for you. I want you to know the truth and see him for who he truly is. I want you to know that he doesn’t care about you anymore. He has moved on with his life and you should do the same too.” He told me, sounding like the Liam I used to know before, the Liam who cares about my feelings. Where did the manipulative Liam go to?“I am only doing what is best for you and your baby. If I didn’t care so much about you, I wouldn’t be going through so much to make you happy,” he added, making me scoff at his words. There it is, that is the manipulative Liam that I just met today. It’s so sad that I failed to see his real behaviour until now. How could I have been so dumb?“Stop patronizing me, Liam, we are way past your silly manipulations. Just show me the fucking video!” I yelled at him, snatching back the tablet when he clicked play on the screen. He showed me a vide
POV: Harper “Fine, I’ll watch the stupid videos!” I told him furiously, grabbing the tablet from him and clicking on the first video that showed him and someone in a restaurant. I looked up at him and I saw the urgency in his eyes as he gazes at me, waiting for me to click the play button. Something in me told me to stand up to him and refuse to watch this video. But I didn’t listen...I clicked on the play button and watched a business meeting between Liam and Ethan. I paused the video the moment it showed Ethan’s face, pausing to stare at him for a little while. He looked so handsome that I soon forget about my anger and just focused on the screen, caressing his face on the screen. I miss him, I really do. But at least this answers my questions about Liams anger. He did meet with Ethan while on his business trip. First the vide showed him and Ethan in the meeting where he asked Ethan about his affair with Emma and Serena. Ethan admitted to being in a relationship with Emma while
POV: Harper “I will inform my doctor and anyone who cares to know that you are not my husband and we aren’t even dating. You are just my friend and that is it. If you try to change the narrative to suit your selfish interests, if you try to manipulate me again or use me to satisfy your sexual fantasies...I will leave this place Liam!I will leave and never look back, and that will be the end of our friendship!” I told him firmly, pointing him as I told him my mind. “You don’t mean that!” he let out in disbelief, looking at me as if he was trying to find out if I’m telling the truth or not.“I mean every fucking word, Liam. If you try to pressure me or make me uncomfortable in this house, then I’ll take it that you have decided to end our friendship. And I will gladly pack my things and my baby’s things and leave. Or better still, I’ll leave with nothing just like I came with nothing. Then you can take back everything you ever got for me and my baby.” I told him, making him gasp in
POV: Harper “Not just love, Harper, a life. A happy life together, just you and I together, with our baby.” His gaze is intense, unwavering. He believes this could turn into something. Can I? I feel a mix of shock and disbelief. We’ve spent years laughing and dreaming, but he never said he loved me. Never tried to pull me back when I was falling for Ethan. Now he thinks this rough patch gives him a reason to swoop in?“Why are you doing this Liam?Why are you trying to take advantage of my vulnerability?” I asked him, feeling hurt and betrayed in my heart. I feel like this is going to ruin our many years of friendship. He is trying to destroy the bond and trust that we have built over the years and I feel like it’s not fair that he is doing it at a time when my life is in danger, a time when I need him the most. It feels like he is trying to be cunning and manipulative. I just don’t like the sound of that. “You kept quiet all this time, Liam. You let me fall for Ethan and marry him
POV: Harper “Liam,” I finally manage, my words sounding foreign to me.“I had no idea you felt this way. I thought we were just... close friends. I never wanted to hurt you, I promise. I would have given you a chance if you had come to me before Ethan did.” I lied through my teeth. I have never liked him that way and I would probably have refused his request even if Ethan was not in the picture at that point in my life. His expression softens, vulnerability mingling with hope. The trust I see in his eyes made me feel so guilty about all this as if it were all my fault.“I’m not asking for anything right now. I just needed you to know. Just knowing you’re aware of how I feel is enough for me, at least for now.” He told me, smiling warmly. I responded with a fake smile as I nod slowly, the reality of his feelings settling around me like a soft blanket. The moment we pretended to be couples must have been a trick to get me to loosen up around him. So many pieces are finally clicking in
POV: Harper “I’m the one person that has ever loved you genuinely, Harper!I’m the one person that has always been there for you, that has stood by you through thick and thin. I was there before him, Harper!And now that he is there fooling around with whores, I am still here!” He lets out furiously, straining his voice to yell louder than me. He is furious at me and I don’t know why. Yelling so loud and throwing his hands in the air. His wound is bleeding even harder I can’t bear the sight of it.“You are hurting, Liam. Please let me help you ease your pains, let he make you stop bleeding, please. I can take care of that cut and make you feel better.” I told him, reaching for his hand one more time. He withdrew once more, scoffing at my words. He looked at me with disdain, looking at me as if I were a demon or some horrible creature he wants to murder.“Did you just say that you want to make my pains go away, Harper?Did you just say that you can make me feel better?I mean, how do
POV: Harper “Why are you doing this, Ethan, why did you have to show me that video?Is it not enough that I am hurting everyday without my husband by my side, is it not enough that I am far away from the one person that means the whole world to me?” I asked him, sobbing as he showed me the news on his tablet, showing be videos of Ethan and Emma and that of him and Serena too. It hurts to see that he is not sensible enough to shield me from things that would cause me pain and make me cry. “You promised to take care of me and protect me, Liam. Why are you showing me these things that you know would hurt me, why are you being insensitive to my feelings?” I sobbed replaying the videos to see if they are real or edited. “I’m sorry, Harper. I just wanted you to see him for who he truly is. I wanted you to see that he is lying about his relationship with those ladies. I wanted you to see the truth for yourself.” He responded, trying to pull me into his arms for comfort. I shrugged him of