C H A P T E R 4 3
Heather was present during dinner. She looked a little too dressed up for a simple dinner but when Ethan walked in, I knew the reason. They were going out to eat. They were going on a date. She didn't want to stay for long as they had reservations.
I could feel Ethan's eyes on me ever so often and it was hard to ignore what happened a few hours ago whenever we looked at each other. I could still feel his lips on my neck and the warm hug which was too good to pull out of.
Ethan looked as if he was about to say something to me but I didn't give him a chance to as I spoke. "Have fun on your date."
"Thanks," Heather said before grabbing Ethan's hand and dragging him out the door into their waiting car. We bid them goodbye.
The whole dinner I was distracted. My mind kept replaying our hug and his kisses on my neck and our almost kiss.
Soon Mr. and Mrs. Jenson started talking about Ethan and Heather and their wedding.
An unknown emotion burned in my heart but I didn't give a name to it. I didn't want to acknowledge it. Heather was the right girl for him. She was someone who matched his status. They were a perfect couple.
To take my mind off of them, I decided to spend the rest of the evening talking to Keith. I wasn't going to break my friendship with him just because of Ethan.
We talked about a lot of things but even he couldn't take my mind off of it once he asked me what happened after he left.
We spent a good two hours just talking about stuff and each others lives.
It was two days after Ethan and Heather's date. I woke up at six and made coffee for myself and sat on the couch where I found a morning newspaper.
What caught my attention was Ethan was on the front page with a big picture of him and Heather kissing on what I realized was their date. I instantly started reading the news.
Ethan Noel Evans, heir to tycoon Peter Evans' multi billion dollar business was spotted at a five star restaurant on a dinner date with his girlfriend of six months, Heather Ainsley.
They looked quite cozy and were caught locking lips many times.
Friends of the much loved couple claim that they are very serious about each other and a wedding might be on the cards soon.
Fans of both are delighted at the news and many fan clubs across all social media platforms are hyped about the upcomingrumoredwedding.
After their date, we asked Heather if she sees a future with him to which she was quoted as saying, "We love each other but we don't want to rush things.
It's highly unlikely that we'll get married anytime soon.
I'm too young for that.
For now, we only want to enjoy being with each other. "
This hasn't deterred fans from hoping that they will get hitched soon.
Although Ethan maintained that it's too early for this and he would not like to get married for another five years or so, we really do hope this lovely couple are made for each other and -
The newspaper was snatched from me and I looked up to see Ethan himself.
"Hey, I was reading that."
"Well, you could've asked me rather than being creepy and reading about us in a misleading newspaper."
"Fine. Are you and Heather getting married?"
"Hmm," he pretended to think about it. "And why would you like to know?"
"No reason, just curious." I said, giving a nonchalant shrug.
"What if I say yes?"
"Then I'll say I'm happy for the both of you."
"And if I say no?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
I swallowed. "Then I'll say I hope you do get married someday."
"With whom?"
"Heather, of course."
He smirked at me.
"You know what? I just realized I don't care at all. So I'm going to go take a shower and be busy in my room all morning and afternoon so don't come banging on my door accusing me of ignoring you because I never did that."
I got up with my empty mug in hand. Putting it in the sink, I made my way out of the kitchen.
"You know, someday I'm going to find out what you do in your room for that long," Ethan said.
"Good luck with that."
"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Where are you going all dressed up like that?" I asked with wide eyes as I saw Olivia with a nice knee length purple dress.
Olivia blushed. Yes, blushed. "Um, just hanging out with Tristan."
"What? When did you two start dating?" I asked. Did I miss a few lifetimes for this to happen?
"We're not dating, Julie. We're just hanging out together after which we'll have dinner."
"That sounds like a date to me. What did he do to you? Don't you absolutely hate him?"
Her eyes widened. "I don't hate him." I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, fine I used to hate him but that was before I knew how great a person he is. He's really nice."
Thinking of it, I did notice how less I see of Olivia these days. So he was the one she was spending most of her time with.
"When did this happen?"
"From the time you had that stupid game with Ethan."
"Have you two, uh...kissed yet?"
"What? No, we haven't. Now I have to go. I'll talk to you later and tell you everything about this date, whether you want to listen or not."
"Fine," I grumbled.
Almost an hour later after Olivia left for her date, Samara came up to my room and informed me that there was someone waiting for me downstairs and that they wanted to meet me.
The first person I thought of was Juliet. What if Juliet was here and knew I was pretending to be her?
I was so scared to go down and face the person waiting for me. I honestly didn't know what I would do if it was Juliet.
I cautiously made my way into the living room. When I saw a mop of blonde hair, I sighed in relief. It was a man.
I made my way around him and was pretty shocked to find it was Vince, Juliet's ex-boyfriend.
"What're doing here?" I asked him before realizing I sounded too rude. I didn't apologize though, because I was sure Juliet wouldn't do something like that, especially to a person who cheated on her right after taking her virginity.
"Good evening to you too, love," he said, throwing a charming smile my way that I was sure would've melted my heart if I hadn't know what kind of a person he was.
"Don't call me that," I warned, crossing my arms over my chest for added effect.
"Oh, come on sweetheart. Don't be like that." He neared me.
I sighed dramatically as if showing how much annoying he was being.
"What do you want?"
Vince took a few more steps towards me but I didn't step back. I couldn't let him intimidate me like that because Juliet never gets intimidated by anyone. "Well, I'm here to pick up my lovely girlfriend for dinner."
"Well, your lovely ex-girlfriend has no desire to ruin her evening by having dinner with you," I said in the same tone he did.
"What has happened to you? Wasn't it you who wanted to buy me so badly two years ago. Now I'm willingly wanting to be yours. Again. So why are you playing hard to get?"
"Two years ago you did something that made me open my eyes and see the real you. And that's when I decided I no longer wanted such an ugly thing in my life."
I thought I said a little too much. But I he deserved it. I tried to imagine myself in Juliet's place and how I would feel and what I would say. And then the words flowed freely from my mouth. I was pretty sure Juliet would do the same thing to him.
We heard footsteps and turned to see Ethan descend down the stairs. His eyes were fixated on me and he had a hard look on his face.
Once at the bottom of the stairs, Ethan finally turned his eyes towards Vince and acknowledged him.
"Vince."
"Ethan." He sneered.
"What're doing here?"
"Why is everyone asking me this? Is my presence here that surprising?"
"Probably because you have no business here. And your presence is not desired as well."
"I have business with Juliet. So you can leave."
"I'm not going to leave until you do." Ethan shot back.
"Just let us be, man," Vince sounded annoyed.
"I can clearly see that Juliet doesn't want you here so I suggest you leave."
"Okay," Vince said, grabbing my arm. "Yes, we are leaving. We have a dinner date."
I peeled his arm off of me. "No we don't. I clearly told you I don't want to see your face again."
"You heard her," Ethan said and gestured towards the door. "Show yourself out before I have to call someone to do that for you."
Vince glared at Ethan and gave me a look. "We're not done talking, Juliet."
I ignored him as he shuffled awkwardly around us and was finally out the door.
"You okay?" Ethan asked as he walked closer to me.
I nodded. "Thanks."
"I didn't do anything."
"So, uh you going somewhere?" I asked, noticing he was well dressed.
"Yeah, something important came up and I've to go take care of it."
I nodded again. "Okay, bye." I turned around to go upstairs but stopped when he called me.
"Yeah?" I turned to face him.
"Are you free after twelve?"
"No, I'm planning on sleeping. Who the hell stays up till twelve unless it's not a party."
"Do you think you can make time for me around twelve?" He had his hands in his pant pockets and was looking up at me as I stood on the steps.
"Why? Don't you want to sleep?"
He shrugged. "This kind of thing can only be done at night."
"Um...okay? What is it?"
He shook his head. "You'll see for yourself. Just don't fall asleep."
I wondered what he wanted do this late in the night but coming up with nothing, I just shrugged it off. I guess I'd know it when the time comes.
When dinner time rolled around, I found that I was the only one at the dinner table tonight.
When I asked Samara, she told me that Charlotte and Alistair had gone out to dinner. It was odd how they didn't think of informing me. But Samara told me that they didn't want to disturb me so they just left after instructing the maids to look after me like I was a baby.
So there I was, alone at a big dinner table. I felt lonely. Everyone was out with someone, having more fun than me and I was stuck here to eat dinner with myself for company.
Olivia still hadn't returned from her date and Charlotte and Alistair left about half an hour ago, as told by Samara.
Ethan had been gone for almost two hours but he still hadn't returned so I assumed he would dine out today.
He was probably with Heather. Although I wasn't sure and he was dressed in his work attire, I still had a nagging suspicion that he was with Heather.
I know I shouldn't mind it, after all they are dating and they are supposed to be together but I couldn't help but let my thoughts wander to him.
I walked into the kitchen with my plate piled with food where Keith was scrubbing the counter.
He looked up and frowned at me. "Do you not like what I've made? Should I cook something else for you?" I was craving Chinese and the noodles he made looked delectable.
I shook my head and looked down at the food. "The food looks delicious."
"Then what's the problem?"
"I don't want to eat alone. Have you eaten yet?" I asked, looking up for his answer.
"No," he said hesitantly.
I smiled at him. "Good. Get yourself some food and come sit with me. We'll eat together." Keith looked unsure. I rolled my eyes. "Stop thinking so much and come have dinner with me."
"Juliet, I don't think that's a good idea." He said uneasily.
I frowned at him. "Why not?"
"I'm just a cook here. I'm not allowed to be friends with you. I don't want to lose my job because it means I still get to see you sometimes. If someone saw us being friendly, I might lose my job. And even though Ethan doesn't own this place, he has the power to fire me from this job."
"Keith, you've got nothing to worry about. Ethan will never fire you. I'll make sure of that, I promise. And it doesn't matter if you are a cook here or not. You are my friend and I don't care if anyone says or tells me to not talk to you because I won't listen to them."
I walked towards him and grabbed his arm. "Now get your food and come eat with me."
Keith was still hesitant and I had to pull him out of the kitchen with his food and force him to sit down with me.
I could see that he was extremely uncomfortable and kept looking around as if expecting something scary to pop out of nowhere and scare him off. In this situation, he was probably expecting Ethan to arrive and kick him out of here.
I put a hand on his to calm down his nerves. "Can you please relax?"
"I'm sorry," Keith said, placing a forkful of noodles in his mouth.
"These noodles are amazing. I wish you'd make Chinese more often."
He nodded. "Your wish is my command."
I smiled. He seemed to relax after a few minutes and then we got talking like we normally did.
After we were done eating, I helped him with the dishes. Of course he didn't want to let me do the dishes with him but he finally gave up when I threatened to not talk to him ever again. He actually believed me.
After that we went our separate ways. He had to call his family to check up on them and I just retreated to my room. It was just ten-thirty and Ethan said he'd be here around twelve.
I had an hour and a half to kill so what better way to pass that time other than sleeping? So I set up an alarm for twelve in the night and decided to take a one and a half hour nap.
Not a minute had passed after I fell asleep when I felt the covers lift off of my face. I turned around and buried my face in a pillow which was too long to be considered a pillow but I didn't mind it.
I squeezed the pillow closer to me and I felt something move next to me but I dismissed it thinking it was Plowy.
Something brushed through my hair a few times and then I heard the loud ringing of my alarm. Groaning, I extended a hand to shut the thing up but it stopped before I could get to it. Weird.
I felt for it but something caught my hand and placed it on the pillow. Becoming alert of someone's presence in my room, my eyes shot open and I turned my head from the pillow to see Ethan looking down at me.
He was sat next to me on my bed and our entwined hands were resting on his thigh. I realized that I had pressed my face earlier not in a pillow, but to his thigh.
I sat up and straightened my clothes up, embarrassed.
"I thought you were going to be back by twelve."
"It is twelve," he said, gesturing to the clock on my nightstand.
My eyes widened. Didn't I fall asleep a minute ago and then it was just ten-thirty? And now it was twelve? Why the hell did one and half hour feel like a minute?
"Did you have dinner?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.
"Yeah, you?"
"I did."
"I thought I told you not to fall asleep."
"I just decided to take a nap. Don't you want to sleep now? What on earth do you want from me at twelve?"
"I was going to take you somewhere interesting but I think you prefer sleep more."
"Take me where?"
"That you would know if you go with me."
I groaned. "It's true that I prefer sleep and food over everything but I'm kind of curious so I think I'll go with you. Besides I'm already awake now."
"Good."
"Are we like going outside or where you want to take me is in the mansion itself?"
"Outside. Dress casually. A little too casually."
"Okay, now get out. I've to change."
Ethan was still in his business clothes that I saw him leaving in.
Once he was out of the door, I rummaged through my gigantic walk in closet to search for something simple.
I found the hoodie I bought with Ethan that night in Paris. A smile played on my lips as I remembered that day. I discovered a new part of Ethan that I never knew existed. I thought there was just business, money and jerk-ness to him but there was more to him than that.
So I slipped into the dark blue hoodie and some jeans with a pair of black converse. I brushed my hair and let it loose on my back. Then I brushed my teeth and was finally ready to go wherever the hell he wanted to take me.
A knock sounded on my door and I got up to get it. It was Ethan in his light blue hoodie too and black jeans.
He looked over at me and then to the hoodie I wore and a smile graced his lips which mirrored mine. We smiled at each other in realization for a few seconds before Ethan took my hand.
"Let's go."