9. Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Sophie
I pat my curls down for the umpteenth time, but nothing calms my nerves as I stare at the door before me.
All I have to do is open that door and continue working like I’ve been doing all this time. After all, I spent last night convincing myself that I won’t let Liam affect me anymore.
However, it’s harder than I thought.
The mere thought that after I open this door I’ll have to look at him and drive him to his location for today, all while pretending last night didn’t happen, scares me.
What if he’s pissed about my outburst?
Well, he did deserve it. He surely can’t fire me over that. It would be a waste to lose this well-paying job over a personal beef.
I should have just gone back home last night instead of losing my temper. It was already pretty clear to me that he was a jerk. Why did I still let myself get hurt over something so flimsy?
It was just too painful coming to terms with the fact that he really doesn’t care how I feel or how he treats me. He’s shown me that I’m just an average person to him, and that hurts more than it should.
Get over it, Sophie.
I suck in a deep breath and open the door to his suite. The little composure I managed to gather disappears as soon as I see Liam stepping out of his bedroom.
Unlike the usual mornings where I always have to wait for him, he’s already dressed.
“Good morning. I got your shooting schedule for the day. We have to be at the beach in an hour.” I rush the words out in one breath.
Yeah. This is the best defense mechanism—work.
I should only focus on the job I have to do, nothing more.
“Good morning, Sophie.”
“If you’re ready, I’ll drive you to the beach.”
A tense silence fills the room, and I fight the pull to look at Liam. I pick up the scripts on the table and stash them in the messenger bag slung across my shoulder.
“Are you ready, sir?”
“Yes.”
His response is clipped, and he stalks out the door without waiting for me. I hurry after him and go straight to the car.
Instead of getting in the backseat as he usually does, Liam slides into the driver’s seat and stretches his hand out for the keys.
I shake my head. “It’s my job to drive you places, not the other way around.”
“Just give me the keys, Sophie. How long do you plan to avoid looking at me?”
I drop the keys in his hand and go around to the passenger seat, still without a single glance at him. It’s better this way.
I don’t want to be pulled in by his eyes and feel all those powerful emotions again. I already have enough to handle, seeing as he’s so close to me.
I feel his heated gaze on me, and it’s almost impossible for me to keep looking away.
“I’m sorry.”
My heart skips a beat. The softness of his voice grips me with fierce intensity. He sounds so sincere that I almost fall for it, but then I remember how much he enjoys riling people up.
“What exactly are you apologizing for?”
“My selfish behavior last night…and for…” He trails off as his voice grows even softer. “And for seven years ago.”
I gulp. My heartbeat quickens as tears sting my eyes. I force them back before they fall. Even if I wanted to pretend that I don’t care, there’s still a part of me that wants him to feel remorse for breaking my heart.
Now that the guilt is heavy in his voice, it oddly doesn’t calm me.
Is it because he’s an actor?
That has to be the reason. I know how good he is at acting. He’s definitely just paying lip service to clear the awkward air. An apology without a valid reason for why he coldly dumped me after spending countless nights talking about a future with me isn’t real.
I glance at him, unable to hold myself back anymore, and what I see in his eyes sends a jolt through me. He isn’t lying.
The deep emotions circling in his eyes are ones I’ve never seen before, and I can’t name them.
“About last night,” he starts, and I push aside my tumultuous emotions. “I was out of place. I acted out of jealousy because it drove me crazy to know you were on a date with another man.”
He was jealous.
My heart leaps despite my inhibitions. Does that mean he still feels something for me?
“However, I know it’s not my place to feel that way.”
And there he goes, dashing my hopes.
I sigh. “You’re right. You have no reason to feel jealous.”
“I’m very sorry, and I promise to behave better,” Liam says, smiling awkwardly. “I know it will be hard for you to forgive me, but I hope you do.”
His sincerity is shocking and, at the same time, overwhelming. I quickly look away from him and fold my arms across my chest. “We’ll be late. Can we go?”
Liam doesn’t say anything, and after a few minutes of awkward silence, he starts the car and drives away from the resort.
***
“Cut! Still not there, Liam!”
The director’s voice booms from the microphone in his hand. He drops the microphone in a way that makes his frustration clear, and he isn’t the only one feeling this way.
Liam looks like he’s going to throw in the towel any minute now. The sun bouncing off his head can’t be easy on him and considering how long they’ve been retaking this particular scene; he must be tired.
“Today is going to be longer than I thought,” Dina mutters beside me. She lets out a heavy sigh. “We might even end up shooting into the night from the looks of it.”
“We were always going to do that, considering there are two scenes for nighttime on schedule today,” I say, patting her back. “Chin up.”
I glance toward Liam. His obvious frustration makes me feel bad for him. It’s obvious he’s trying his best to deliver this monologue, but he just isn’t using as many emotions as the director wants.
I’m not an actor, so it doesn’t look bad to me on the surface level. However, I know I wouldn’t be convinced by his words if I was on the receiving end of his speech.
It lacks sincerity.
If only he could muster a little of the sincerity I saw in him this morning.
Hold on. Does that mean he wasn’t acting then? If it had just been acting, he shouldn’t have so many issues now, right?
Or does he just have a hard time talking about deep emotions like love? After all, the monologue includes him professing his love for the female lead.
I shake my head, pushing the thoughts out of my mind.
This is an issue for him and the director to deal with, not me.
The director stands up and walks over to join Liam by the water, where he’s standing with Celeste. I watch the conversation from afar, and even though I can’t make out what they’re saying, it’s clear that it’s pretty tense.
A few minutes later, the director walks back to his stand and picks up his microphone. “We’ll take an hour break and return to continue with this scene.”
Several people let out sighs of relief. The extras disperse quickly while Dina rushes to meet Celeste. I turn to Liam only to find him storming down the beach.
I pick up the script, a towel, and a bottle of water, and rush after him even though I’m not sure how to help him.
Liam finds his way to my favorite spot. This action warms my heart a little, but I stop myself from thinking too much about it.
I walk over to where he is and hand him the bottle.
He glances at the bottle and raises his eyes at me. I get lost staring into his tumultuous blue eyes, and I don’t even notice when he takes the water out of my hand.
“Thank you.”
“Oh, yes.” I clear my throat as I hold out the towel to him. “Here.”
Liam takes several gulps of the water before accepting the towel and dabbing at the beads of sweat on his handsome face.
He pauses to glare at the script in my hand. “What did you bring that for?”
“I thought I could help you work on the scene.”
“And you think that, why?”
My cheeks heat up with embarrassment as I drop onto the rock beside him. “I know I’m not an actor. I just thought I could rehearse with you. I’m sorry for being presumptuous.”
“No, I’m sorry for being rude.” He sighs, lying down on the rock with his face to the sky. “I had no idea shooting romances could be this hard. Especially heartfelt scenes like that.”
His brows are furrowed tightly, showing he’s deep in thought. His lips are pursed in slight confusion.
“I think you’re just looking at it that way because you’re kind of biased against the genre.”
He frowns. “How can you still say that when I’m admitting that it is, in fact, challenging, and not as easy as I thought?”
“It’s still a kind of bias,” I argue. “Even though you now acknowledge it as true acting, you still don’t like it. That could be why you’re finding it so hard.”
Liam’s gaze settles on me. I gulp, finding it hard to look away from him. He props himself up on one of his elbows.
My heart flutters as I find myself so close to his face. Does he still not have any idea how much he affects me?
“You know, as much as I want to argue with you, I think you have a point.”
“Of course I do.” I smile. “Why don’t I rehearse your lines with you? You can do it with an open mind this time around.”
Liam groans as he pushes himself up. He stands up and faces me head-on. My mouth runs dry as I stagger to my feet.
The heat emanating from him makes me lightheaded. It’s impossible to not feel the pull of my true feelings for him.
He clears his throat. “Do you know the page?”
“Yes.”
I quickly scramble to the scene they’re working on.
“Great. Just read Celeste’s lines, and I’ll try my best to enact mine.”
I bob my head as my eyes scan the page. I take a deep breath before I speak.
“This isn’t how I planned for things to go, Jared.”
“When have things ever worked in our favor?”
His voice is pretty flat, and it’s clear he’s not feeling the lines.
“They never did, but you made me believe it didn’t matter as long as we had each other. What changed?”
Goodness, I ended up putting too much emotion in those words. It’s almost like I was talking directly to him.
I raise my eyes to meet his, and the guilt that flashes across Liam’s face surprises me.
“I had no other choice,” he says softly, his voice thick with emotion. “From the first moment we met, I should have stayed away from you, but it was impossible. How can I stay away when I spend every waking moment thinking about you?”
My heart tightens as I hear those words. He holds my gaze as strong emotions pull me into his eyes. Those emotions draw me in before I can even process his words.
It’s just lines, Sophie, get over it!
“I know I hurt you, and it probably never would have happened if I’d just stayed away, but I couldn’t. And by the time I realized what was happening, I was already too deep in my feelings for you. So deep that it broke me to let you go. Knowing how I hurt you…I don’t think I can ever forgive myself.”
My throat runs dry as every functioning cell in my brain goes on indefinite strike. I blink and glance down at the script in my hands to see where he’s at.
I frown.
None of the things he just said are in the script. The only line he said that was actually in the script was the first one. Everything after that was improvised.
Is he talking to me?
Tears sting my eyes as I return my gaze to him.
Liam closes the gap between us and cups my cheeks. He dabs the tears at the corner of my eyes away. “I’m sorry I hurt you, Sophie. I thought I had no other choice but to let you go, but I was so insensitive about how my abrupt ending of our relationship would affect you. I really am very sorry.”
“It’s fine.” My throat clogs up with emotions as I let my tears fall.
Something tightens within me, something so different from the heartbreak I suffered long ago, something much more primal and all-consuming.
I really might have just wanted him to show remorse and acknowledge the fact he hurt me. Even though there’s a part of me that might want this to mean something else, I really do feel grateful for this moment.
“Thank you.”
“What?” He raises a confused brow at me. “Why?”
“Just…thank you.”
The tension slowly fades from Liam’s face as his hand slides to the back of my neck, his touch surprisingly gentle. A small, genuine smile tugs at his lips—and for a moment, it steals the breath from mine.
My heart hammers as I lean closer, drawn to him like I always have been. My gaze drops to his slightly parted lips, and before I can overthink it, he leans in and kisses me.
The moment our lips meet, the rest of the world fades away. It’s tender at first—unsteady, like a memory we’re both scared to wake up. Then it deepens, and I feel myself falling all over again.
My hands slide around his neck as I melt into the moment, all the tension and hurt dissolving into something warm and familiar.
This is just like it used to be—no, stronger. More real. And part of me doesn’t want it to end.