Epilogue: The start of a new beginning

Juliette's POV:

The moment was supposed to be the best day of my life, because it was going to be the day that would be carved in my heart and soul for the rest of my life. Yet, I could feel the tension rising in my body as I walked in, feeling my heart pound against my chest, and feeling every nerve in my body bouncing up and down. There was this only question that kept nagging my subconscious, and that was: what will happen next?

Even though I was the one who planned to seduce him from the beginning to the point where somehow I knew we would end up in this type of situation, I still never really planned ahead. I was actually going with the flow...

What will I do now?

I didn’t even realize when I stopped in my tracks, fidgeting my fingers in tension. Nervousness and anxiety filled up my body, thinking that it’s going to hurt. But then I felt his presence behind me as his breath fanned over my shoulder, and all of a sudden, I felt his cold finger trace my forearm as he raised his finger to my straps and slowly laced his finger with it, pulling it a little before bending down and placing a soft kiss on my shoulder, taking my breath away in the process.

A sigh escaped my mouth as I arched my neck to the other side, letting him have access to my skin, as I closed my eyes and thought about letting him take over, only because I didn’t know what to do...

“Juliette,” I heard him whisper and in the next moment, I felt myself being lifted up in the air bridal style, as I held his shirt and let him carry me to the bed, while his eyes locked with mine as he placed me down softly on the bed. He took a step back only to get rid of his shirt.

My eyes remained glued to his actions as I laid on the bed waiting for his advances.

I watched him, while reminding myself to breathe if I didn’t wish to ruin the moment by losing my consciousness.

Inhale and exhale, Juliette.... Just inhale and exhale...

Hovering over me, he bent down and kissed my forehead before trailing kisses around my face and down towards my neck. Feeling the fire of need burning within me, I put my hands around his neck, pulling him down until he captured my mouth into a passionate kiss. My breast rubbed against his bare chest and my hands moved around his back, while his roamed around the sides of my stomach, and then lifted my right leg up for him to adjust between my legs. The fire has been lit, the bullet has been shot. The stream of passion and urgency cascaded down as I felt his fingers playing with the hem of my cloth, when in a jerk he sat up and removed the dress from my body in one swift motion, leaving me just in my panties.

Feeling the blanket of shyness hover over me because I was now lying down with the top portion of my body exposed before him, I moved my hands swiftly to cover my breasts, until he stopped me, holding both of my hands in his and looking straight into my eyes.

“I don’t really have any words to let you know how happy I am right now, and I don’t even have any idea what to say that would make you feel comfortable with me; but I hope that you understand what I feel for you. Look into my eyes, words can’t define how much I want you, but I know my limits and I have my dignity. I won’t lay a finger upon you if you don’t want me to,” he finished, and that was enough for all my nervousness and anxiety to diminish. A small smile appeared on my lips as I gazed into his brown orbs, seeing the truth in them. Blinking my eyes several times, I took in deep breaths, and then nodded at him, letting him know that I was ready. Ready for him.

As the muscles in my hands began to relax he gazed down at me, his eyes filled with sincerity as I let him remove my hands away from my chest. His burning gaze fell on my skin, making me flushed, and as I was about to open my mouth to speak, he lowered down and placed a soft kiss in between my boobs. Just a mere touch filled my body with wild thoughts and desires. My palms balled up, feeling the need to be touched once again, and I closed my eyes, feeling my core throbbing and burning up with desire.

His lips trailed up until he stopped in the crook of my neck, when he moved my hand up over my head and kissed me on my lips, before removing his hold on my hands and looking into my eyes. His eyes told me not to move, and I waited patiently as he proceeded with his acts of ravishing my body. Goosebumps formed on my skin as he took one of my nipples into his warm mouth; my back arched with pleasure and a moan left my mouth as I felt the emotions surface in my body. His other hand got hold of my waist as he trailed kisses down and stopped right under my belly button. I opened my eyes to look at what he was doing, to find him already looking at me.

It was as if he was giving me a chance to stop him, because he got up slowly all while locking his eyes with mine. The anxiousness and nervousness that I felt a few minutes ago were long gone. My body heated up because of his torturous kisses, and it made me feel something that I never really had before.

As I felt his fingers over the strap of my panties, I closed my eyes and rested my head back on the pillow. That was the end of my rest period, because after that, all I could remember was the pain as if I was being torn apart, which was later replaced by pleasure. His hands intertwined with mine as he went slowly in and out, trying his best not to hurt me, his whispering sweet nothings into my ear, his kissing my tears away, his reassurance that everything was going to be alright; those were the only memories from the day I surrendered myself completely to him.

“What is this?” I groaned as I heard the faint noise of something beeping continuously.

My eyelids felt heavy as I tried to open them, but shut them as the rays of light hit my eyes. Groaning a little, I rubbed my eyes and tried to lift my body up using my elbow, but then a hiss left my mouth as I felt the lower region of my body. My hand immediately went down to touch my core, and found it swollen. Then everything flooded back into my mind and I remembered everything that happened. My cheeks heated up as I rubbed the side of the face and pulled the quilt up to hide my chest. As I tried to move, a hand circled around my waist and pulled me back.

“You are awake, good. I’m not done with you yet,” said Zachary in his husky tone and pulled me back to the bed. I landed on his chest and made an attempt to get up, but he held both of my forearms and in a swift moment, turned us around, with me under him. A mysterious glint dazzled in his eyes as his mouth turned up into a lopsided grin, and he pulled both of my hands up above my head and kissed my cheek.

“Are you hurt?” he whispered into my ear, and slowly, I shook my head. Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, I enjoyed every single bit of it. If anything, I was feeling tired, because he continued giving me pleasure until I felt tired and fell asleep. I don’t even remember what happened after that.

“I tried my best to be gentle,” his breath fanned my neck as he started trailing kisses down my neck.

“Should I continue?” he asked, with the same mysterious glint in his eyes and unmindfully I nodded, which resulted in him grinning wide. His coquettish grin made me feel wild.

I could feel his manhood on my entrance, and before I could say anything, he slid himself inside me, poking and pegging without any problem. Within minutes, the room was filled with my own sounds of moaning. My nails dug into his back as he began to speed up his pace. Even though I didn’t feel any pain, it was becoming hard for me to keep up with him. My own breaths came into my way of being conscious. I felt my eyes rolling back after a heated session of lovemaking, and before I fell asleep for the second time of the day, I felt his lips on the side of my forehead as he pulled me closer to him and whispered a faint 'love you.'

My eyes shot open when I felt something disturbing my sleep. The thing was in between my legs and it poked me on my core. Gasping, I tried to move his manhood away using my hand, and turned around on the bed to look at him. He slept on his side with one of his legs on mine and his hand sprawled over me lazily, as he slept soundly. His hair was a mess and I lifted my hand up and brushed his hair out of his forehead.

Man! He has long eyelashes.

I trailed my finger on his eyes and then on his nose. As I did that, sleepily he pulled me closer to him, tightening his grip on me in the process. Flustered, I felt my heart beating vigorously against my chest which immediately brought a smile to my face.

“I don’t want to go ahead of you, I want to walk hand in hand with you wherever you go. I want to be with every single day. You don’t have any idea how much I love you,” I smiled as I felt tears rolling down my eyes. Those were happy tears that had been stored since he confessed that he loves me.

“If nothing else, I can promise you that I will spend forever loving you. I’ll love you and only you until the very end.”

A cry left my mouth and he shifted in his position. Not wanting him to wake up, I put my hand on head and raked my hand through his hair slowly, but then he got hold of my hand and snuggled to it, pulling it under his neck.

“You are the best thing that ever happened to me,” I confessed, truly feeling my heartbeat increase as I continued speaking to his sleeping form.

“I don’t really have any idea what you have been through, but I do know that the problems I have faced are nothing compared to what you have been through in your life; I wish you to never go through anything that hurts you again." I intertwined our hands before I pulled myself up and placed a kiss on his forehead.

“You have done a lot for me,” I said and tried to slide my hand away from his grip.

“Now it’s my time to do something for you,” I giggled when he tried to hold my hand, as if missing the warmth.

“Someone is already missing me,” I chuckled as I pulled my hand away from his hold and taking the quilt, I covered him properly. Hopping out of the bed, I found my underwear on the ground and hurriedly put them back on when I heard my phone beeping, notifying me of message notifications. As soon as I opened my phone, the screen was bombarded with notifications of missed calls and messages. Six missed calls from Kiara, three from Mom, and twelve from Dad.

“What’s going on?” I thought as I adjusted my bra strap. Zachary shifted in his position and turned the other way in his sleep.

Dailing Kiara’s number I waited until she picked up the call, and after three rings she answered, huffing and panting as if she ran a marathon.

“Kiara?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s you. Oh my God! Ju—Just a minute,” she panted and I heard her taking deep breaths before she responded.

“Yeah, Kiara what’s going on? Is everything alright?” I asked and looked back at Zachary. Before he could wake because of me, I took one of his shirts from his closet and his trousers, and walked out of the room towards the living room.

“Thank God you called,” she whispered and I furrowed my eyebrows confused.

“Why are you whispering?” I asked with a low tone, not wanting Zachary to wake up.

“Listen! Wherever you are. Don’t come back home now, okay? I got this! I will handle everything. I promise,” she whispered and quickly buttoning up Zachary’s shirt, I walked towards the glass window where I looked out towards the street. The sun was setting, and I watched as the birds flew away, probably back to their home. Street lights were already on, and people scurried away in several directions; a lot of hustle and bustle down there because of traffic.

“What? Why?” I asked biting my nails.

“Your parents are here. Somehow they learned Zachary is also in this town and they flew down here for you. Your father doesn’t wish you to be with Zachary. They have been trying your phone since morning, but I have already told them that you and Zachary are back together,” she whispered and I heard my father’s voice in the background.

“You did a good job, Kiara, you don’t have any idea how Dad has created misunderstanding between me and Zachary regarding divorce,” I said and held my forehead.

“Yeah?” she asked and I hummed in response.

“Moreover, is everything alright between you two now? I hope you didn’t spoil everything like the last tim—” I cut her off with a groan.

“How many times will you make me feel like the villain? Yes, everything is fine between us now,” I said with a smile.

“What? Really? Ya—” she squealed, but then lowered her voice. “Yayyy,” she whispered.

“Look you don’t need to come here. I’ll take care of your parents. You be with Zac—”

“No! No. I am coming back home. It’s good that Dad is here. I will make it clear to him that I want to be with Zachary now. And moreover, I have planned a surprise for Zachary, and for that, I have to come back home first,” I said, and I heard her gasp.

“You mean you want to clarify with your dad about all this today?” she asked and I nodded, but then realized she can’t see me so I said, "yes" in reply.

“In fact not today, but now. I am coming,” I said with determination, and she said a quiet okay in response.

“Okay. I am with you. Come bac—” I heard her groaning, and I furrowed my eyebrows when I heard her cursing under her breath.

“I am telling you, I will murder someone, or worse commit suicide, if this moron doesn’t stop calling me every single minute,” she said and that made me laugh.

“So our prince charming is still after our princess eh?” I mocked her and she huffed in annoyance.

“Prince Charming my ass!” she cursed, which made me laugh. After a chat, I hung up on her, letting her know that I’ll be there soon, and turned around to go back to Zachary to wake him up, but then stopped in my tracks when I saw the landline phone. An idea popped up in my mind, and smiling, I hurried to the phone where I called the hotel’s number.

As I paced around the room impatiently waiting for my delivery, the doorbell buzzed and I ran to the door, pulling it open to find the person I have been waiting for.

“Your roses that you asked for, ma’am,” the guy said as he passed the bouquet of red roses to me. I handed him money and told him thank you before closing the door when he went away. Inhaling the smell of the roses, I smiled at myself.

“I hope you like them,” I whispered to myself, and plucking a rose out of the bouquet, I went to the couch where I put the bouquet and took a paper and pen and scribbled:

Dear Husband,

Here is a lovely rose for my lovely husband.

I guess when you wake up, you won’t find me near you, but don’t heat up and go all Tarzan searching for me, because I am already near you. Right in your heart ;)

Cheesy right? But get used to it! From now on you will be seeing this side of me ever so often :)

And yeah, don’t think I am going anywhere. I will be right back before you can even blink. Guess what?

I am planning a sweet surprise for you.

Wait for me and yeah...

I love you.

Your Wife.

Satisfied with my work, I kissed the paper, and smiling to myself, I tiptoed back to the room where I found him still asleep.

Guess someone is really tired.

Walking to the side of the bed, I put the rose down on the pillow with the letter, and bent down to place a kiss on his forehead. “I will be right back,” I whispered, and lifting my purse from the nightstand, I ran out happy and excited to return back to him, and this time, forever.

As I walked out of the building, people who walked passed me turned around to look at me again before walking away. I was still in Zachary’s shirt and track pants.

“What? I am wearing my husband’s clothes,” I threw my hands up in the air, annoyed. As soon as I said that, people looked the other way ,and I huffed out, “People these days."

As soon as a taxi pulled up in front of me, I jumped in and told the driver the address of my home with Kiara. He pulled the meter down and drove off using the GPS. I smiled as I looked out of the window. The sun had already set, and it was already half past seven in the evening. Everything seemed so unreal. How my world has changed in a single year, I still can’t believe. I fell in love with a man, thinking him as the true love of my life, then I believed that marrying him was the right choice; but then Zachary entered my life, and against all odds, I fell in love with him. He made me realize my true self. I was always myself with him. He treated me well, even though I hated him the most. Even with all those insults, care and love were hidden. I smiled when I remembered the time I disturbed and annoyed him intentionally. I fell in his fountain, I even forced myself on him, obviously drunk...I felt jealous and even tried to beat the shit out Loana.

I never really knew I had this side of mine. I never really thought I could raise my hand to actually hurt a woman who was after my husband. Never really thought I would fall in love again after being betrayed.

All thanks to Zachary for bringing the best out of me.

As I felt my phone vibrating, I fished it out of the purse and immediately a smile formed on my face, seeing the caller ID displaying, ‘My Heartbeat.’

“Somebody is up and already searching for me I guess,” I spoke playfully as I grinned all the while.

“Juliette, why did you leave without me?” he said and I heard his restless voice.

“Did you not read my note?” I asked playing with my hair.

I feel like a teenager in love.

“I did! It’s not necessary. Just come back to me,” he said and I chuckled a little.

“I will. But before that, I need to do some work. I need to deal with my parents, and then plan the surprise,” I told him and heard him sigh.

“When will you start listening to me?” he asked and I raised my eyebrows as I roamed my tongue over my teeth before speaking.

“When you start to listen to me,” I said and heard him sighing for the second time.

“Your parents are here? So, why did you leave alone? Your father tried to separate us. I am coming. You can’t handle him on our own,” he said and I heard noises in the background.

“No, you will not!” I said out loud and watched as my taxi driver looked at me through his rearview mirror. I muttered a quiet 'sorry' to him before focusing on Zachary.

“Who is there with you?” I heard Zachary’s voice.

“I am in a taxi.”

“I could have driven you back; why are you even going back? Your home is with me. You don’t need to explain anything to anyone. Tell your driver to make a U-turn and return back to me,” he said adamantly, but I giggled at that.

“Zac you are really cute sometimes,” I cooed and heard a laugh cracking at the other end.

“Only you can call me that,” I heard him and I shifted in my seat.

“Liar! You allow Jace too. I know it! He calls you Zac too,” I said and heard his throaty laugh.

“Okay, don’t try to change the topic. Fine, do whatever you want to do. But if your father is too out of control, call me. I’ll handle him,” he said and I rubbed my forehead.

“Zac! He is my father. Have faith in me, I can handle him,” I said and heard him humming.

“Okay. And you don’t really need to plan anything for me. You being with me is what I have always wished for,” he told me and I felt tears threatening to spill out.

“Too much happiness,” I muttered to myself.

“Sorry? I can’t hear you. Did you just say something?” he asked and I realized he can’t really see me.

“No, nothing. Zachary...”

“Yeah?”

“I love you,” I said truthfully and felt my heartbeat speeding up. I still can’t believe I feel butterflies in my stomach whenever I say it to him.

“Really?” he chuckled and I rolled my eyes.

“Yes, really!” I laughed.

“I’ll back before you even realize I was gone,” I said as I watched the driver take a left turn towards the bridge.

“I hope so, because if you don’t, then you know me. I will drag you back,” he joked, but I knew him better. Even though he was joking, he would actually do that if I didn’t return.

“Okay, sir!” I said playfully.

“And I have a shirt and track pants of yours, if you haven’t realized yet,” I told him as I looked down at what I was wearing.

“Everything of mine is yours,” he said and that made my heart swell with love.

“Are you alright? I mean did I hurt you?”

“No, you didn’t. Stop worrying about me so much,” I laughed and realized we were already on the bridge very near to the house.

“Zac, I need to hang up I am already close...” before I could finish, I jerked forward because the driver who applied a sudden break. My phone slipped out of my hand, and as I realized what happened, I looked forward to find a car in front of us stopped in the middle of the road. A lady was driving the car, and she looked out apologetically shouting a sorry to the driver.

“What are you doing lady?” the driver yelled at the lady as he began to undo his seatbelt.

I shook my head as they started bickering, and as I realized my phone fell out of my hand, I moved down to pick my phone up, but when I sat back on my seat, rays of light fell on my eyes. I could still hear Zachary’s worried voice calling out for me from the call. Shielding the light from my eyes, I looked to my side towards the back of the car to find a truck coming our way at full speed. Before I could shout or get out of the car, it was too late. The truck hit the taxi. Our taxi turned around with a screeching noise, and as if the impact was not enough, our car hit another car, which caused the taxi to fly up and then back to the ground. My head hit the roof and the window every second it tumbled.

Cries and screams left my mouth, and the only thing that I registered was that we were hit by a truck. I felt my world rotating as we tumbled; I felt as if I was not on the ground anymore. My eyes fell on the road from where our car started to tumble down, and before anyone or anybody could do anything, our car struck the barrier of the bridge hard, and the car dove into the water.

Water filled my nose as I felt my consciousness fading, but before I closed my eyes, my eyes fell on the body of the driver, who floated from his seat, hitting the car’s windshield.