Suddenly, he was ripped away from me and it took me a while to process what just happened.
I saw Ethan between us, grabbing at his collar while Vince smirked at him.
“Don’t even think about it.” He said and shoved him back.
“What’s going on?” Someone asked.
“Isn’t he dating Heather? What is he doing?” I heard someone else whisper.
I heard murmurs of confusion among the crowd and Heather came into view. She latched her hand on his arm.
“Ethan!” She reproved.
Ethan let go of Vince’s collar and shook her hand off of him.
He grabbed my hand and led me away from the crowd. I didn’t resist because I didn’t want him to create a scene in front of the others because that would most probably reveal the true nature of his and Heather’s relationship.
I didn’t expect him to react like that. I thought that seeing me with Vince would make him give up on me and that he would quietly move on from me but he decided to intervene, that too in front of all those people knowing the repercussions they’d have to suffer.
Thank God there were no reporters around and that the mansion was well guarded so that no one would slip in but I just hoped that the people present at the party wouldn’t spread rumors.
We stopped at the balcony and he turned to face me.
“I’ll ask you again. Why are you doing this?”
“I’m not doing anything. It was you who did that stupid thing in front of all those people.” I rebuked.
“So you’re still not going to tell me the real reason?” His tone was harsh. It was obvious that he wasn’t taking this well.
“I did tell you. I can’t do anything about it if you refuse to accept it.”
He scoffed. “Do you have some sick fascination with seeing me suffer? Do you derive some sort of pleasure from torturing me like this?”
I shook my head. “It’s nothing like that. How can you be so affected by this? Its not like we were in a relationship. We just liked each other, had a small stupid crush. Now I don’t like you anymore. So just move on already.”
Without waiting for his reply, I walked away. I couldn’t be in his presence for long when I was hurting him with such harsh words.
I didn’t want to return to the party after what happened so I just hung around at the other part of the mansion near the balconies.
I was just walking around there when I heard low huffs and cries of pain. I followed the sound to one of the balconies whose door was open and peeked out from one of the closed French doors.
It was dark out there but I saw a feminine figure in the moonlight huddled in a corner. Her breathing was ragged and she was clutching at her stomach and her other hand was tightly gripping the railing. She seemed like she was in a lot of pain.
She raised her head and in the little light that was available I instantly recognized her.
Before I could go out to help her, I heard someone shout her name.
“Olivia!” Tristan, I recognized came running towards her and crouched next to her. “Are you alright?”
Olivia straightened up upon hearing his voice. “O-of course I am.”
Tristan shook his head. “It doesn’t seem like that. I’m taking you to the doctor.”
He went to pick her up but she objected. “No! I said I’m fine. It’s just some stomachache.”
“This looks much more serious that a simple stomachache. Let me take you to the doctor. It’ll be fine.”
“I said no.” Olivia said, more sternly this time.
“Is this because of what happened that night? If it is because of that, you don’t need to feel so awkward around me. You don’t need to ignore me. Just say the words and it will be like it never happened and we can go back to being friends. But please accept my help now. You don’t look so good.” I could hear the worry in his voice.
She looked fed up of him. “I-it’s just period cramps, okay! I’m on my period! Nothing serious.”
“Then do you need pads, or tampons? Or-or chocolate? Do you need me to drive you home? Should I call Juliet? I think I saw her somewhere around here-”
“No! It’s fine. Just call Heather.”
She asked for Heather and not me?
“Are you sure you’ll be okay and won’t need to go to the hospital?”
“Yeah.” Olivia sounded weak and slightly irritated.
Tristan took out his phone from his pocket and dialed a number.
“Hello, Heather. I’m out on the balcony with Olivia. She doesn’t feel well. She says she has a stomachache but I think it’s more serious than that. She’s asking for you. Can you please come and get her?”
He paused to hear her reply.
“Okay, get here fast.”
I was worried about Olivia’s condition but it was quickly replaced with jealousy about Olivia thinking of calling Heather first rather than me.
I was going to go help her but after seeing that she clearly preferred Heather more than me made me back off and go back to the party. It hurt.
On my way back I ran into Heather who was hurrying in the direction where I came from.
Upon seeing me, she stopped. “What’re you doing here? What about Ethan?”
“Don’t worry. I hurt him again, just like you wanted me to.” I snapped.
She raised her eyebrows. “Are you saying that I’m the one hurting him when all I’m doing is saving him from a bigger and painful heartbreak?”
I didn’t reply and she rolled her eyes.
“You should have better control over your feelings.” She continued on her way but I stopped her with my words.
“Why can’t we be together?” I heard her turn around to look at me although my back was to her. “If I tell him the truth and if he still accepts me, can’t I have a chance with him? Or are you like this because I’m not rich?”
“Julie, I told you it’s not because of that. I came from a poor background too but I don’t consider such things to get in the way of love. All I’m afraid of is that he’ll reveal the truth to everyone if you tell him. He doesn’t keep things from people he cares about especially if it’s something as big and important as this and I know he won’t be able to keep this secret for long. If he doesn’t take it well, you’ll be the only one to suffer. I’m just thinking about your own welfare.” This time her voice was soft and comforting but it did little to help me.
“I see. I wouldn’t want to lose another person’s trust after losing Olivia’s.” I retorted.
“What?” Heather questioned in confusion but I was already walking away from her.
I told Vince that I didn’t want to be at the party anymore and he must have sensed that I wasn’t in a good mood and it was best to not nag me right now so he decided to drop me off. I didn’t see Ethan anywhere so I assumed he had gone home as well.
When I reached my room, all I wanted to do was sleep. Lately life was starting to feel too stressful and lonely. I was starting to feel unhappy here and for the first time in a while I wanted to have my old life back where I didn’t have to deal with the problems I was facing being here.
I kicked off my heels and ripped out the jewelry I had on. Samara had promised me that she was going to bring some hot water for my feet to soak into because they were aching due to the heels.
I struggled with the zipper of the dress and I called out for Samara hoping she could hear me.
The door opened.
“Samara, help me with the zip. My hair is stuck in it.” I said as I tried to move the zipper again but gave up when I felt a searing pain in my scalp.
She did not move from the door for a few seconds before I heard her slowly approaching me. I had my back to her and couldn’t even move to see what was taking her so long because I didn’t want to pull at my hair because of the zipper again because that shit hurt.
She was excessively slow and I tried my best to be patient with her and it felt like she finally touched the zipper to help me after a very long time. Her fingers brushed my bare back occasionally and it caused me to shiver because it was getting a little cold. It took her about five full minutes to get all my hair out of the mess and to lower the zipper down to it’s full length. I massaged my roots and looked up to stretch my aching neck from having to keep my head lowered the whole time.
My eyes flitted momentarily towards the mirror in front of me and my breath hitched when I caught sight of Ethan behind me.
I couldn’t react for a few seconds and we just stared at each other from the mirror. I felt his warm breath flush against my neck before his fingers gently grabbed my elbow and pull me back until I was pressed to him.
His other arm encircled around me and he dipped his head. I felt his lips press to my collarbone and involuntarily I felt the tension in my shoulders disappear and I relaxed.
“What’re you doing?” I whispered.
He didn’t answer me and instead trailed his lips upward and over my neck, placing butterfly kisses along the way until his lips reached the back of my ear. I closed my eyes against my will and bit my lip to prevent myself from moaning.
He should stop otherwise we both wouldn’t be able to stop from what might happen next.
Thankfully he decided to break the silence.
“We definitely aren’t some stupid small crushes of each other. If we were, I wouldn’t be persistently pursuing you after you rejected me so many times and if you don’t feel the same for me then you wouldn’t have let me do what I just did. I don’t know what you’re doing this for but I don’t believe the reason you give me. I will continue to like you… from a distance, and hope everyday that it would be the day you’ll come to me. I’ll wait for you for as long as I can.”