Too many things happened in this one week as I appeared to unknowingly spend less and less time with Liara. I couldn't face her as I felt she was going through so much pain because of me. I would stop by her only when she was sleeping. Watching her sleeping figure soothed my aching heart. I had this intolerable pain in my chest that refused to subside after I overheard Dr. John and Liara's conversation when he informed her she would have lost the chance of getting pregnant if the knife had dug any deeper.

Tapping my legs impatiently on the kitchen floor, I glanced at the door where I left two women alone. "Damn, I'm so restless."

Attempting to concentrate on something else, I thought to heat the frozen pizza stashed in the fridge. Thinking back to the time, little Lilly walked into the warehouse. Marco had a grim look on his face, but Aiden, the blonde guy, held her hand as she walked toward me. Her dark blonde hair flew across her face and her eyes took my breath away. Blue-green and golden hints around the iris, the same features I noticed in Liara's eyes.

When she walked toward me, she smiled sweetly but had tear stains on her cheeks. I memorized the way my heart hammered, placing my hand on my chest until I felt the same rhythm. I've always been nervous around kids and when I looked at her blue-white dress that was torn in a few places, I couldn't control my anger.

Her father has been rotting in the cell after Marco and Aiden found him drinking and they said he slapped her right in front of them. She was clumsy for the first few days, and I had to spend ample time with her to make her comfortable. I didn't know why I felt a weird connection with her. I wanted to be close to her. I wanted to take her pain away.

I sighed as I recalled how desperate Julie sounded when she apologized to me and wanted to meet Liara. It took everything in me to convince myself, as I didn't know how Liara would react.

"Are you trying to burn the entire house?" I turned around abruptly, surprised by the way the voice penetrated my ears.

"I was heating the pizza," I replied, chuckling at my stupid mind that kept on bouncing from one memory to another. Switching off the microwave, I placed the pizza on the table. I looked at Liara, who was pinching the bridge of her nose and had a frustrated expression.

"You alright?" I asked as I walked toward her. Her baggy clothes gave her a much different, carefree look. She could easily fit in any clothing. My t-shirt and the trousers looked so good on her. Glancing behind her, I wondered where Julie went. Before I could ask anything, I heard Liara's voice that halted my steps., "Your girlfriend went to the hospital."

"She's not my girlfriend." I gritted my teeth. My hands involuntarily fisting.

"That's not what she said." She commented, looking at me. I glared at her as she smiled at me. Folding her hands below her chest, one finger tapping her chin. "Forget it." She muttered and poured a glass of juice. "What do you mean she said?" Confused, I looked at her retiring figure.

"She expressed her love for you and.." She turned around slowly, her eyes sparkled with an unknown expression. Julie said that to me as well, but I didn't expect her to say it out loud to my wife, fake or not.

"And?" I was getting irritated by now and she wasn't helping me. Toying with the matter in hand always irritated me.

"And you love her more than you've ever loved me." Her laughter boomed in the hallway and I looked at her, confused. The pizza slice I held slipped from my hand and I chuckled at how carefree she looked.

"And... and she was right though. You love her more." She stopped laughing and stared into my eyes. I furrowed my eyebrows, unable to understand what exactly she meant.

"Nevermind, just sort things out with ladies in your life. They already troubled me a lot." Liara said, slowly chewing the pizza slice and pointing at the injury on her abdomen.

"I'm taking care of it," I answered, guilt eating me up from within.

"Yeah, by hiding the culprits inside a dungeon-like a factory of Mr. Stone." She said so casually, but I was surprised. No one knew their whereabouts.

"You know what I'm capable of, don't you? And this is my city. So, this wasn't hard to find." She said as a matter of fact.

"And you are not angry at me?" I inquired. Hunger soon flew away from how we tried to suppress our anger.

"Why would I be? It's not like I can do anything to you." She said and walked past me. Holding the table corners, I cursed under my breath, as having a normal conversation with her was never easy.

******

A few hours passed, and Liara did not come out nor did I hear any noise. Charles came and gave me company as I was waiting for her to come out and eat something.

"Is she sleeping?" Charles enquired, and I shrugged.

"How did she know about the warehouse?" I asked Charles, and he shrugged.

"Huh, it's been a long day!" I heard a squishy voice, and Emma entered, making a clicking sound from her heels.

"Emma?"

"Yeah?" she answered.

I stood and folded my hands near my chest and raised my eyebrow, asking her what the matter was.

"Ah, Liara wants to head out. The Andersons made a big fuss in the meeting and she is fuming." Emma said breathlessly and gulped down the water that I offered her.

"She is unwell. Even if the doc removed the stitches, she needs rest." I contemplated whether to stop her.

"She decided and no one can change it," Emma answered as if striking a full stop to this conversation.

"Emma, you are here? Let's go." Liara made her way towards the door. She wore a white shirt, black pants, and heels. Her messy bun was long gone and converted to beautiful wavy hair. She must be hurt and the injury must be painful but her face did not have any hint of it.

"You need rest. You can't move around like this." I tried persuading her, but to my dismay, she looked at me and smiled. I knew what that smile meant.

"I can take care of myself. You have a family to look after. Please take care of them. " Okay, she knew I adopted those kids. She knew everything all along, but never questioned me.

"Family?" Emma asked, and Charles looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"I meant Dima. I'm heading to the office. You can visit Dima." Liara changed the topic, but Charles noticed that wasn't the matter.

"Okay." I nodded and looked at her retreating figure. She walked uncomfortably, but wouldn't ask for help. Such a stubborn lady. I murmured and saw her pausing her moment. Mulling over whether she heard me. I raised an eyebrow at her, but she turned around and looked at Charles, never meeting my eyes.

"Please get this man trimmed before meeting Dima. If she saw him like this, then she would think I hurt him and not the other way around." She said in a whisper enough for the two of us to hear.

"I can take care of myself," I said and touched my beard, feeling it.

"Yeah, I can see that," she retorted and strolled out of the house. Charles looked at me as if checking out what changes I should do. I glared at him and he laughed.

"But master, I don't understand one thing. How did she know everything about what you did?" Charles asked and my mind started thinking.

"She is something else." I whispered more to myself, but to my surprise, I heard Charles say, "Yeah, she is something else." My head whipped in his direction, but he was looking at the ajar door.

"I think I should move out of your house. We troubled you a lot." I said as Charles's house was our hideout for so many days.

"You can stay as long as you wish." He smiled and turned around to his room. My eyes slowly grew heavy. Slowly, staying hidden from my past life irked me. The people here started getting affected by my history. Liara had a weakness, so she did not take action. I felt guilty for so many reasons. If I'd started counting the number of times it was unfair to her, I could go to jail.

"Believe me, I want to end this as soon as possible," I said to no one in particular and massaged my eyes. "Let's sleep," I whispered and lay on the couch in the living room.

*******

"Crazy?! He is asleep." I heard a few murmurs.

"And what made you think I would stay away from him?" Julie? The faint feminine voice woke me up. Rubbing my eyes, I looked at the doorway and saw Julie standing with so much rage.

"What's the matter?" I inquired drowsily. Slowly sitting up, I gave her a once-over. She looked as if she ran a marathon.

"Do you know what your beloved wife did?!" she asked. Her breath was uneven, pinkish color sundress was messed up.

"What did she do now?" I asked and checked the wall clock. "It's been only two hours since she left. What could she even do?" I asked, my sleepy state long gone.

"She acquired The Shimmer's Night!" She fell to the floor and cried harder.

"Charles, what's she saying?" I enquired. I couldn't believe why Liara would buy a small club.

"This wasn't recently planned. She signed an agreement with Logan's father before his death, and they confirmed the papers on the day of your wedding party." Charles informed me, and I froze. How could she? And why?

"Logan did not even mention it! He cheated us!" I was fuming.

"Logan? Why would he cheat on you?" Julie asked, and then I realized she didn't know that Logan was in my custody.

"It's no big deal. I will talk to her and give you back your property. " I tried persuading Julie. Unknowingly, such a sweet person suffered a lot because of me. I was bad luck to whoever was with me.

"Charles, please take care of Julie. I will be back as soon as possible." I said and dashed outside his apartment, not giving him time to retort.

"Liara D'Waner, what are you up to?" Stepping on the accelerator of Charles's bike, I made my way toward SAMS International. The stars twinkled so beautifully in the night and the cool breeze caressed my skin, soothing me.

So many things kept on running inside my mind. Liara's injury, Samira's father, Julie's brother. I messed up big time.

"You have to answer me now," I murmured as I parked my bike in the special parking lot. Heading straight to the CEO accelerator, I prayed she shouldn't be in any meeting. I had to clear so many things with her.

"Where are you going? She is in a meeting." Aria, the hothead, stopped me as I was going to enter Liara's cabin. Not bothering to reply to her, I dashed inside. Anthony came rushing towards me, halting my steps.

"This isn't a good time. Please let her finish her meeting." He whispered, but I couldn't wait. I saw her talking to some people. Everyone heard me enter, but no one dared to look at me. They were so focused on her. She gracefully sat on the chair and motioned her hands towards some presentation.

"Liara, we need to talk," I said, loud enough for everyone to hear. She paused what she was doing but still never met my eyes, instead took a visibly deep breath and gave a tight-lipped smile to the people, and spoke, "Let's take a five minutes break. Have some snacks and then let's resume." Clicking on the intercom, she ordered, "Arrange refreshments for the guests." And soon after, one by one, they left the cabin, glancing at me now and then.

I did not bother about my looks, as other things occupied my mind. She nonchaotically looked at me and pointed at the chair on the other side of the table, never standing or acknowledging my presence.

"What is it?" She asked. Her voice had the same distant feel as it used to when we first met. The familiar feeling was long gone.

"We need to talk," I repeated what I said earlier, and she gestured to me to talk and continuously kept on staring at the clock.

***†****†*****†*****†*****

Can you guess what she was up to?

PS: the picture above is what I have imagined how Little Lilly looked. Although you are free to imagine her as you like.

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