Chapter 24: Hate You

I felt someone caressing my hair lovingly. I smiled with this feeling and slowly opened my eyes. I lifted my eyes at the man, who was quietly observing me. The next thing I noticed was that his hand rested against my shoulder and his touch was as light as the gentle caress of a flower. Immediately Henry withdrew his hand when he noticed me and looked away.

After a few seconds, he turned back to me. “What are you doing in my room?” He tried to speak harshly, but it came out softly.

I rubbed my eyes and straightened my body posture. I felt a slight pain in my back because of falling asleep on the chair beside his bed. “Doctor has instructed me that one person should stay with you. In case you would need anything so…”

“So you stayed here and fell asleep on this damn chair!” He completed my sentence. “Are you crazy or do you have some mental problem? Who the hell falls asleep on the chair?”

“I was just worried about you. Your right hand is fractured and if you wanted anything in the night then how could you do it with your fractured hand? So I stayed here with you.” Vivian had hit him so hard that he had broken his arm and gained a few bruises on his face. But it didn’t mean Vivian slipped out untouched. Henry broke his nose, which was completely unreasonable.

He sighed in annoyance. “If I don’t care about you, why do you care about me? Look, I don’t need your damn sympathy so it would be better if you stay out of my room right now.”

A few minutes ago, he was caressing my hair and staring at me like I was his precious thing, and now he was treating me like trash.

“I just care about you, whether you care about me or not! Because I have a human heart, I am not like you, Henry!” I stood up and hurried out of his room without waiting for his reply.

*****

I sat down at the dining table across from Henry. He was reading the newspaper, completely ignoring my presence. A moment later Jessica came out through the kitchen and approached the table and placed breakfast on it. She gave me a soft smile before disappearing into the kitchen again.

He sipped his coffee and didn’t look at me once. I also did the same thing, ignoring him and eating my breakfast quietly. He didn’t deserve my sympathy and care at all. I was the stupid one who had been glued to that chair the entire night and endured the back pain. I didn’t understand why I always thought about him, even though he didn’t deserve it.

He glanced at me briefly, and I rolled my eyes and focused on the food. Jessica cooked well.

He took a hold of his knife with his left hand and tried to cut his chicken, but as long as he could cut it, it slipped from the plate. Poor him, unable to eat with a single hand. Again he tried the same thing, but it slipped. Once again, he tried in hope, but it had happened again.

I giggled and took a sip of my black coffee.

“Fuck!” He dropped his fork and knife with a clatter and stood up to leave. He even showed his arrogance on food.

Spoiled brat.

When he got ready to walk away, I interrupted him. “If you don’t mind, I can feed you.” My eyes were fixed on the plate. I didn’t have enough courage to look at him while asking this question.

He sat down, giving me the signal of his acceptance. I moved my chair near to him and took hold of the knife. I slightly cut the pieces of chicken and took the fork near his mouth. Seeing his lips, the images of that night kiss playing in my head. His eyes were fixed on me as he continued staring at me without a single blink. I was wondering what was going on in his mind.

“You’re blushing,” he said, and a slight smile tugged at his lips. It was my first time seeing him smiling, except for his evil smirk.

“No, I am not blushing. I-I have put on extra makeup today,” I said sternly.

“Look at me whenever you talk,” he demanded.

I lifted my gaze and stared into his deep eyes. “Just finish it quickly, and take medicine after that,” I mumbled.

He groaned, frustrated. “I will not take damn medicines.”

“You must have to take the medicines if you care about your hand,” I said firmly.

“You both look cute together,” a familiar male voice said from behind us. I glanced over my shoulder to see Vivian. He was standing in the hallway with Harley.

“What the hell are you doing in my house?” Henry shouted and got ready to hit him again.

“Whoa, man! Just relax. I just came here to apologize,” Vivian said calmly.

“Just stay the fuck out of my house. Right now,” Henry growled and advanced on him but I grabbed his hand.

“Henry, please, he just came here to apologize to you, even if it wasn’t his mistake,” I said, and he twisted his head to me, and watched me, surprised. “Do you think it was his mistake? Don’t be arrogant, Henry.”

“Not his mistake!” His eyes immediately filled with hatred. He clenched his jaw and his hands formed into tight fists. “Do you mean it was my mistake?”

“I-I don’t know,” I mumbled. “But you’re the one who had hit him first.”

“Did you forget he was the one who was dating you, knowing that you’re already married?”

“And who was the one who had refused to accept me as his wife in front of that hottie?” I retorted and he looked away, finally ashamed.

“What’s in your mind there is nothing like that between us. We are not dating. I’ve just invited her for dinner and you didn’t see that we were not the only people who were coming for dinner, but I also brought my daughter and Alice brought Sarah with us,” Vivian explained.

Henry stared at him like he didn’t believe him. Did he think I was dating him? How disgusting he was. “But Sarah said…”

“She was just teasing you.” Vivian laughed quietly. “If you’re satisfied. I’d like to have a few words with you.”

After a few moments, Henry gave him a curt nod and gestured to his study. They both disappeared and I headed to little Harley. Between their fighting, I forgot about her. I reached her and sat on my knees.

She quickly hugged me. “I missed you, princess,” she chirped.

“Me too.” I smiled. “Wanna have ice cream?”

“Ice cream.” Her eyes sparkled with joy. “Yup.”

I had a great time with Harley. I spent the entire day with her. First, we solved a few puzzles, then we went to the backyard where we played football. After that, we came back and had lunch together. If I ever have a child, I want a daughter like her. She was so calm, intelligent, and beautiful despite being five years old. Undoubtedly, her mother must have been a good person who gave birth to such an adorable daughter.

“Sweetheart, it’s time to go now.” Vivian came out of the study and reached out to Harley and held her hand.

She shook her head. “No! I don’t want to go. I want to spend a few more hours with the princess,” she pouted and snatched her hand from Vivian's grasp.

“No sweetheart, your princess has a lot of work to do.”

“No!”

“Just behave, Harley!” Vivian growled at her angrily.

“Stop it, Vivian! you can’t talk to her like that,” I said and walked towards her.

“Sorry, but I have to because she is becoming stubborn day by day,” he gritted out.

I sighed. “If she doesn’t want to leave, then she can stay here.”

“No!” He refused and carried her in his arms before walking out of the house.

I saw Harley’s cry face and my heart wrenched seeing her like that. I couldn’t keep her because she was not my daughter. Vivian was behaving like I would snatch his daughter.

“Alice! Henry wants to see you in his room,” Jessica notified me.

My brows snapped together. “Want to see me, why?”

“I don’t know. You should go quickly.”

I nodded and headed to his room. I knocked on the door. “Come in.” I heard him and entered his room. He was sitting on the couch, working on his laptop.

“Did you want to see me?” I asked.

He raised his eyes at me and shut down his laptop. “Yeah.” He moved towards me. “I want your help.”

“My help?”

“Help me in taking a shower.”

“What!” My jaw dropped, and he smirked at my reaction. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him. “If I feed you, it doesn’t mean that I could shower you, too. I'm not your babysitter.”

“But you’re my wife.”

I imagined his naked body in the bathroom. God, I didn’t know what I would do when I saw him like that. I quickly shook away this thought. “I-I don’t.”

“Ok.” He pulled out his phone. “I should call Lisa or Kate to help me.”

Suddenly, jealousy grew within me. “How shameless you are.”

“If you aren’t ready to help me, I have to call another woman to help me.”

“I-I am ready.”

I felt nervous because his nearness drove me crazy. We entered the bathroom; he unbuttoned his shirt. I helped him to take off his shirt by keeping in mind his broken hand.

He worked on his pants. First, he unbuckled his belt and then unzipped it. Before he could go further, I immediately stopped him. “W-what are you doing?”

“Removing my pants.”

“Remove them later. N-not now.”

“Ok, will you remove your hand from my pants?” He grinned devilishly. I caught my hand in the wrong place on his groin. I quickly withdrew my hand and swallowed, feeling the fiery blush, creeping on my cheeks.

“S-sorry.”

I took plastic and wrapped it around his fractured hand carefully so that the water would not soak his cast.

He continued staring at me. “Done. Now, you can take a shower. In case you need anything, then call me. I will wait for you right outside the bathroom,” I said and was ready to leave.

“Alice.” He grabbed my forearm to stop me.

“What?”

“Do you like Vivian?” He asked out of the blue.

“Why do you care?”

“Just answer me. Do you like him?”

“No. But he is a good man.”

He sighed in relief. “I know.”

“But you were looking pretty busy dating that actress, weren’t you?” I held sarcasm in my voice.

“Yesterday I wasn’t dating her. She is just my client and the next model for my fashion show. We were discussing my next project.” He turned me around so that we could face each other. “And I don’t know why I am telling you all this. I don’t like to clarify myself.” He came closer to me. His fingers gently caressed my skin. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I want to hate you and hurt you but I can’t.” He whispered.

“Then why don’t you hurt me?” I barely heard my voice, my throat constricting because of his closeness.

He leaned forward to me. “I don’t know why,” he whispered in my ear. Again, he was trapping me in his charm. I didn’t understand why he suddenly behaved like I meant a lot to him. But in reality, I was nothing to him.

I gently pushed him away. “Y-you should take a bath quickly,” I said and rushed out of the bathroom.