A chef showed up after thirty minutes and cooked every meal they requested. There was a huge dining table in the kitchen and they were all seated around it. Each person sat on a seat but Lily was on her husband’s lap with her arms wrapped around his neck and he fed her.
Lydia and Malia wouldn’t stop stealing glances at them.
“There is a vacant seat, you know.” Malia finally spoke up when she couldn’t hide how she was feeling anymore.
Everyone turned to her except Axel and Lily. They both continued with their meal and Nora chuckled.
“Ohh, you were ignored.” Nora teased and Max laughed. Malia grabbed her fork tightly and stabbed her meal, she felt annoyed and embarrassed.
Lydia chuckled and sat on Taylor’s lap too, he started to feed her and Nora rolled her eyes at them. She wished she could do the same too with Max. The fact that their relationship has to be a secret was a lot.
After the dinner, everyone left the dining room. Axel and Max went out of the beach house to discuss something relating to business, and the ladies all made their way to their rooms. Lydia was with Taylor.
Lily was in her room waiting for Axel when she got bored, she decided to stay with Nora till he was back.
She got off the bed and walked out of the room, she got to Nora’s room and noticed the door was opened wide. Nora was standing in the middle of the room with her eyes fixed on her phone and she didn’t notice Lily.
Lily wondered what she was staring at that made her get so engrossed so she got curious.
She walked silently towards Nora and stood next to her then peeped at her phone. It was a picture of Lydia wearing a shirt. A familiar shirt.
“Is that Lydia?” Lily asked and Nora flinched and hurriedly hid her phone behind her.
“What? No.” She replied nervously.
“I know what I saw, let me see the picture.” Lily said and moved closer to Nora but she took steps back.
“No, you can’t see it.” Nora replied and for the first time, Lily glared at her. Nora was surprised and raised her brows.
“Let me see the picture.” She snapped and Nora raised her hands in the air.
“Fine, you asked for it.” She replied and gave the phone to Lily. She stared at the picture closely and also zoomed in on it.
She furrowed her brows when she recalled who the shirt belonged to.
“This is Axel’s shirt.” Lydia said and Nora nodded.
“Yeah.” She replied.
“Where did you get this picture?” Lily asked.
“Online, she posted it.” Nora replied and Lily tried to not think too much about it, she wanted to stay positive.
“Oh, it might be an old post then.” Lily said and Nora sighed.
“She posted this picture the night before we left for Atlanta. The night Axel got shot.” Nora replied and Lily felt her heart starting to race. She shook her head and chuckled nervously.
“It’s nothing, right? They don’t talk anymore, right? This isn’t true.” Lily said, trying so hard to believe nothing was wrong. That her husband wasn’t cheating on her.
As she was trying her best to not believe it, she suddenly thought of something and paused.
“What? What’s wrong?” Nora asked.
“If she posted that picture weeks ago, why are you seeing it now? You must have been going through her posts for you to see it. Why were you doing that?” Lily asked and Nora sighed.
“I don’t think you might want to hear… ”
“Just tell me.” Lily cut her off and she sighed again.
“Okay, fine. I was suspicious.”
“Suspicious? Why?”
“I know Lydia so well. She can’t just date someone else again, she is obsessed with Axel, and she can’t get over him. I know Taylor top but not really, I just know that he is Axel and Max’s business partners. Lydia wouldn’t just decide to date someone Axel knows out of the blue if she isn’t trying to get back at him for something. At first, I wanted to believe nothing was wrong but then, I just had this feeling that they hooked up recently. I was so curious and I decided to check her recent pictures. She is a social media freak and I knew she would have something on her page.” Nora explained.
Lily couldn’t understand how she was feeling, she was confused. Mixed feelings!
She felt like a fool, she had been fooled for weeks. He was cheating on her and he made her believe he cared for her.
“Hey, Lily.” Nora said and rushed to her as tears clouded her eyes.
“I need you to act like you know nothing till I get to the bottom of this, act like you know nothing. Don’t cry.” Nora said and Lily modded as she fought the urge to cry.
“Don’t say anything to Axel or anyone. Just keep acting normal.” Nora said and she nodded again.
“Lily.” She suddenly heard her name and it was Axel calling her.
He was standing at the door with Max.
“Axel is here. Please don’t cry.” Nora whispered and Lily turned to him. She had no expression on and Nora squeezed her hand.
“Hold it in. Please.” Nora whispered and Lily suddenly smiled.
“Hey, Axel.” She called and walked to him, she hugged him and he wrapped his arms around her.
Nora felt relieved and she let out a sigh.
She walked away with Axel and Max walked into the room. He shut the door and Nora rushed to him immediately.
***********
THE NEXT DAY
MORNING
Lily sighed as she placed her head on Axel’s chest and he wrapped his arms around her. They were both awake but decided to stay in bed for a while.
Lily was able to get the thought of him cheating out of her head, she knew there would be an explanation and it would be a good one.
Everything that happened in Atlanta felt real, every word he said to her, everything he did for her. It felt real.
She realised that she couldn’t really stay mad at him, her heart beats for this man. She slowly raised her head and smiled at him.
“Axel.” She called softly and slowly pulled away from him and sat up.
“Yes?” He asked and stared at her, anticipating what she had to say.
“Axel, I love yo… ”
“Don’t.” He interrupts sternly, sitting on his elbow abruptly. His expression changed and he looked mad.
“Don’t you ever say that to me.” He said and Lily felt her heart race in fear.
Her eyebrows lowered and her heart pinched in her chest as she stared at him. Tears slowly started to well up in her eyes.
“Don’t tell me you love me because I will never say it back to you,” He said in a cold, lifeless tone. One void of the very emotion she was emitting.
Lily’s lips parted in shock, he got out of the bed and walked into the bathroom.
Lily rushed out of the bed and ran out of the room, she rushed into Nora’s room in tears. She met Nora brushing down her hair and she hugged her in tears.
“Oh my God, you asked him about it. I told you not to.” Nora groaned and hugged her back.
Lily sniffed and pulled away from the hug, she shook her head and sniffed again.
“No, I didn’t ask him about it.”
“Oh. So why are you crying?” Nora asked, concerned.
“I wanted to forget everything you told me and believe it didn’t happen because everything that happened in Atlanta between us felt real. I realised how I felt and I decided to tell him I loved him. I told him and he cut me off and told me he would never say it back to me.” Lily explained in tears and Nora hugged her.
“Oh, God. Please don’t cry.” Nora said and she cried more.
“It is okay. You are going to be fine.”
“No, I can’t be. Being with Axel is hard, my mental health keeps getting messed up. He can’t tell me he loves me because he keeps cheating on me. First Malia, and now Lydia.” Lily cried and Nora hugged her again.
“I’m sorry you have to go through this. I really am.”
********
It was finally time for breakfast and everyone was in the room except Lily and Nora. They both walked into the room eventually and everyone looked at them as they took a seat.
Lily paused when she noticed Axel was putting on the same shirt in the picture. She exchanged looks with Nora and she smiled at her. Lily didn’t take another look at him, and neither did he.
Everyone could feel the tension in the air but no one was ready to talk, everyone kept wondering different things.
The breakfast went like a flash, they were all done in minutes.
Hours passed and it was noon, everyone was outside on the balcony, and they were all seated around a table filled with drinks or different snacks.
Lily and Nora were seated next to each other and they were talking, the men were also talking while Malia and Lydia were also talking.
Malia’s phone suddenly rang and she excused herself. As Lily chatted with Nora, she suddenly felt pressed.
“Hold on, I have to pee.”
“Okay.” Nora replied and she stood up and walked into the house. She decided to use the bathroom downstairs instead.
She was about to take a turn to the bathroom when she overheard Malia speaking on the phone. She got curious and decided to listen to the conversation.
“I don’t know mum. I thought I was pregnant and I got my period today.” Lily heard her say on the phone and her eyes widened in shock. Malia wasn’t pregnant!
“I know what to do, don’t worry. I will take care of it.” She said and ended the call, Lily walked out of the corner and Malia froze in fear when she saw her.
“You are not pregnant?” Lily asked and she stuttered.
Lily chuckled and suddenly, Malia frowned.
“If you tell anyone about it, I will tell everyone you and Axel met through a one night stand.” Malia said and Lily froze. She smiled seeing the look on her face.
“Surprised I found out? Don’t worry, I have my ways.” She chuckled.
“To make it all worse, I will tell everyone we are sisters.” She added and giggled, she kissed Lily’s cheeks and smiled at her before walking away.
Lily shook her head and decided to ignore it all, it was getting too much for her to bear.
She used the restroom and walked back out. She got to the lounge and took a seat next to Axel instead but she wasn’t close to him.
She stared at the bottles on the table and suddenly picked one of them.
“Let’s play a game.” She said out loud and everyone turned to her.
“Spin the bottle.” She said and Max chuckled.
“What are we? Teenagers?” Max asked and Lily shot him a glare.
“Fine.” He mumbled.
“I’m not playing.” Axel said.
“You will play.” Lily replied sternly and cleared the table.
“This should be fun.” Lydia said with a smile.
They all swapped their seats and stayed opposite each other, Lily was next to Lydia, Axel was opposite Lily and Nora, Max was next to Nora, and Taylor and Malia were next to each other.
“We all know the rules right?” Nora asked.
“Well, I believe we all went to a proper high school to know the rules. Except someone didn’t.” Malia said as she stared at Lily.
Lily felt so mad but she hid it. She felt like ripping her hair off her head and screaming at her but she fought the urge.
Instead, she gave her a response, a normal response.
“I believe we are all intelligent.” Lily replied with a smile.
Lily took a quick look at everyone as she slowly placed the bottle in the middle of the table. She spun it and it rolled.
Everyone watched it spin as they anticipated who it would end on.