GOLDEN HEART 11

THIRD PERSON POV

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.’ Adam was whispering in the phone while fixing his cufflinks in front of the full length mirror next to our dressing table, his phone is pressed to his ear with the help of his shoulder.

‘Yes, send Peter to pick them up.’ He said before hanging up, and putting the phone on the night stand.

He looked up when a pair of soft pale hands covered his, and started helping him with his cufflinks. Justine’s tired features appeared in front of him.

He looked at her for a moment without any emotion displaying on his features until she finished and fixed his tie too.

‘Why are you out of bed when you should be resting.’ Adam stated more than asked.

‘I’m tired not paralysed, Adam.’ She expressed tiredly with a broad smile while leaning slightly into him for support.

‘Exhausted is the right word for you condition.’ He said gruffly, his hands snaked behind her waist to support her. ‘You know what happens after these episodes hits you, you should pay more attention to yourself. Jeff.’

‘I’m okay, Adam.’ She assured in a strained voice. ‘It was not Jeff’s fault that my dad was in my apartment, neither of us knew he would be there. I--I just.’ Justine trailed off not knowing what word to use to avoid triggering his anger.

‘You just wanted a little bit of freedom, right? One would think I’m locking you up in a cave.’ He emphasised the words she once used with anger and a hint of sarcasm. ‘I don’t want to hear that damned word out of your mouth again, Justine. One more time and you won’t like the outcome.’ He warned in a dangerously low voice. ‘And by the way I increased your security details.’ He informed while looking down at her as if daring her to defy him.

‘You Can’t do that, Adam! Stop treating me like a child who’s yet to learn how to walk, I’m perfectly able to look after myself.’ She tried to shout but hissed when pain shot through her head, and she ended up whispering angrily at him.

‘No, Justine, you’re not! Have you forgotten what the doctors said? One more major episodes would land you in a coma, and what you experienced last night was the closest you’ve ever experienced to one. I almost lost you the last time, and by no means I’m going to allow that to happen again. You are to be as far away from anything that could trigger your episodes as possible, and so God help me if you defy me again I’ll make sure you lose every last ounce of freedom you have now.’ He was mad, furious even.

‘Stop it. Adam! At this rate, I’m afraid I’ll die of suffocation rather than anything else.’

Adam sighed, tired himself. He didn’t know how to get trough her, how to make her understand that he’d burn the whole country if anything happens to her. He Didn’t want for the monster he spent years to bury deep within to resurface. ‘What’s so wrong and stuffy about having people around you all the time? Why are you always this rebellious, Justine?’ He finally asked.

‘I barely got out of that suffocating routine they forced me into, it’s the one place I don’t ever want to go back to again. Please, Adam.’ She pleaded, placing her hand on his jaw where a light stubble laid.

Adam’s eyes were still hard and distant, his jaw tightly clenched almost as if he was in a whole other realm. An unpleasant one.

He suddenly picked her up bridal style, and gently laid her on bed before covering her up and kissed her forehead lingeringly.

‘Anything else but that, Justine. I’m willing to give you anything and everything, but that request.’ He answered after awhile.

‘But why? It’s not like I’ll jump over a cliff or something!’ Justine said frustrated.

‘End of discussion, Justine.’ He said in a tone that indicated finality.

Justine knew all along that it wasn’t something he would concede to, but she had a small glimmer of hope that it would work. She knew that that accident left a huge impact on him, and he made sure that she knew it.

Adam took his stuff and started walking out but he suddenly stopped at the door and turned to her. ‘If you try to pull any stunt like that again, Jeff will be at the receiving end of my wrath.’ He warned before exiting the door.

She simply huffed before flipping the blankets off of her body and heading to the bathroom for a shower.

Adam can be a possessive controlling freak when he wants to, and sometimes it was too much to handle. However she witnessed first hand how heartbroken and vulnerable he was when that accident happened. How destructive and lethal he was.

It was a sight she never wished to witness again, a sore memory that was imprinted in her mind fuelling the guilt that was eating her life essence, refusing to ever wither away.

It wasn’t like she didn’t believe that love existed, love after all was the reason why her whole life flipped upside down. It was just that she despised the word, she found it unworthy of all the trouble she went through so she forbid herself from falling for such a scheme. However with Adam she never once heard him professing his love with words, he expressed it with actions.

From the moment he laid eyes on her, he never failed to make her feel like she was the centre of his universe but the only thing she felt as a result of his actions was guilt.

Guilt of not being able to reciprocate those feelings.

Guilt of what was brewing inside her mind.

The word she hated and found the most repulsive to use as an excuse for breaking someone.

She was now very familiar with the said word, since it was her companion since she met Adam. The man that deserves the whole world on a platter of Gold. The man she was ruthlessly taking advantage of.

The centre of all her wicked and evil plans that have been formulated in her mind over the years, and that are being executed.

The man who deserves much more than a manipulative bitch to be by his side and to rule his Heart.

She hated herself for doing this, but it was the only way to achieve the vow she swore to herself.

She would bring them down with her.

Her phone rung, bringing her out of her thoughts. She put a bathrobe on before exiting the bathroom.

One look at the unregistered number, and she had a hunch who was the caller.

She picked it up, put it on her ear, but didn’t talk.

‘Hello? Justine?’

She was right.

Her hunch was always right, never once failed her.

‘Please, Justine. Please, speak to me. I just want to hear your voice, know that you’re really fine that’s all I want.’ The same sweet pretence she was so used to, the same sickly sweet and soft tone that one could tell it was fake and forced from miles away.

She cut the call without any single word, his torture was her pleasure. It was her frozen soul’s only piece of solace.

Her only worry was how would Adam react once all of those secrets unveil before him, she wished he would handle everything well, that he would be the strong man she knew for two years and came to admire.

She hoped he wouldn’t blame himself or feel any kind of remorse for too long, she was too shallow and selfish for a great man like him to Waste his Tears on….