Chapter 12: What’s Her Name?
Julia’s POV:
It had been barely 15 minutes since he went inside the building to meet his wife, smiling so endearingly with his hopeful big onyx eyes which somehow made me feel a little jealous of that one lucky woman.
I won’t deny, that my heart almost stopped beating from a harrowing dread growing inside me when he told me that his wife also worked in this JW complex where Melanie had joined as an intern over a few months ago.
I don’t have words to express the anticipation I was battling on my own while I waited for him in the car for the past few minutes, but to my surprise when he returned here too soon than I expected, I winced a little seeing his face looked much darker than mine!
His hopeful big eyes which were beaming with joy until a while ago now had dimmed with disdain, making his facial expression turn completely pale. He didn’t have any trace of happiness in him now and rather looked quite vexed when he took his seat next to me inside the car.
I quickly handed him a bottle of water and patiently waited until he felt a little at ease to tell me. But when he still held onto that unanticipated silence, with his complexion turning paler than before, I couldn’t help but reluctantly touch his forehead, to make sure he was alright.
Damon flinched from my touch but didn’t oppose when I checked his temperature, rather he softened his gaze on me. While touching his forehead with the back of my palm, I urged, “Sir, your face looks really pale. But strangely, your temperature doesn’t seem to have risen. Are you really alright? If I am guessing it correctly, something must’ve happened inside, right?”
“You’re right, Miss Julia.” As he answered me, he lowered his face down and I saw his orbs turning darker from anguish.
His calm voice sounded very disturbed as he added, “I am just sad because my expectations were brutally crushed. I had hoped she would be just as happy as me but it seemed like she was doing perfectly fine without me. I feel a little lost right now, Miss Julia. I didn’t expect her to turn out so different from what I had thought of her…”
His voice trembled a little as he spoke, making me understand that he was forcing himself to speak through the immense grief choking down his throat. I know that feeling too well because that’s exactly what I had experienced on that day when I saw Marco proposing to Melanie on that dreamy vacation I had planned for our new future.
I bet right now, he must’ve experienced something like that too which must’ve forced him to put such a disdainful look on his face, snatching away the innocent happiness with which he was beaming until a while ago. Lifting my hands down, I exhaled a heavy sigh before a curious thought struck my mind.
Doesn’t our situation seem a little too similar? The resemblance is uncanny! Besides…it also involves the same place where Melanie works. Could it be….
I gulped and mustered my courage to ask him this time in a nervous voice, “Sir, may I ask…what’s your wife’s name?”
I deliberately prayed to the heavens to not make my assumption come true this time, but I saw Damon turn his face away and pursed his soft red lips as if he was hesitant to give me the answer.
I didn’t intend to make him uneasy when he was already feeling so gloomy. Besides, I consoled myself, that there were countless female interns employed in this business complex, so it would be purely impossible to even consider Melanie was the one he went ahead to meet.
Thus, to lighten up the mood, I came up with a quick excuse, “Umm, Sir, actually I was asking about it because I want to plan another date with your wife.”
“Another date?” Surprisingly hearing my answer, his sad puppy eyes beamed with a little ounce of hope, which would be a lie if I said I didn’t find him endearingly cute at that moment.
However, I knew it wasn’t the right time to be mesmerized by his looks, so I pulled a grip over myself as I uttered with a confident smile, “Yes, I do want to plan another date for you with your wife. To be honest, sometimes what we anticipate from the other side might not meet our expectations, but there might be some misunderstandings that are likely to be involved.
“Just a moment ago you said she’s doing well without you, but who knows she might be faking everything and keenly want to meet you too, as well? You shouldn’t be quick to judge a situation, Sir.”
As if my words had a deep impact on his thoughts, his dark dim eyes slowly shimmered with hope in them. He stared at me for a brief moment and with a small frown in between his brows, he nodded, “Yes…you do have a point, Miss Julia. Maybe I was too quick to judge her…”
“Yes, that’s why leave everything to me and you can simply get some rest, Sir. I hope to come up with a new plan very soon.”
I don’t know why I could feel a strange comfort inside my heart when I was able to make him feel a bit at ease, uttering those words with a big smile on my face.
As if he was truly pleased with my suggestion, he urged me to clock out early today and even thanked me for accompanying him all this time.
Damon had initiated to drop me back to my apartment but after I had gotten tha call from Dad, I couldn’t help but feel the urge to see him once, especially when I heard from Gloria that he was sick.
Though I truly never wanted to go back to that house after all the pain Melanie has caused me for the past two days, but still, I mustered my courage to go and meet Dad once, specially now that he was the only one I was left with after losing Mom.
I booked a cab and it took me 25 minutes of ride to reach the gate of my home. Inhaling a deep breath before I was about to walk inside that house, when I opened the door, the first thing I heard was a giggling sound accompanied by a soft moan, “Ahh, it hurts Marco!”