Chapter 99 You want to come inside?
Fabian sat with Heaven in the car, his hands locked stiffly around the steering wheel.
Luckily, he had pulled her away from the door and pretended they were a drunk couple kissing.
He had waited for her, and when it took too long he had gone looking, he found her having a panic attack. He knew it was the splitting headache.
“Eavesdropping on people is wrong, Vera. You can’t do that.”
“It was familiar. I just wanted to see if I could remember something by watching… maybe if I endured the pain a little… then I would…” Her voice cracked, and the sound scraped something raw inside his chest.
“Doing that can send your body into shock.” His voice was slightly raised; he was seriously pissed that she had put herself in harm’s way.
“I’m sorry… I hate being like this. I feel blank. I feel like I have no roots. Everyone has a story, but I don’t. What if someone is waiting for me?”
The question gutted him.
“No one is waiting for you.Stop pushing yourself. You chose to forget your memories for a reason because it was too painful. Every single thing that has felt familiar to you up to this point has hurt you. Why don’t you just stop?”
The word landed like a slap.
Fabian froze the second it left his mouth. He saw it the way her shoulders stiffened, the way her breath hitched, the way her eyes dimmed as if something inside her had gone quiet.
The car fell into a suffocating silence.
Heaven turned her face away, but not before he saw the tears gather. They didn’t fall; they lingered, as if she was holding them back out of exhaustion.
“I’m sorry, Vera…”
The apology useless.
“You won’t understand. Because you are not the one who doesn’t have a name.”
The drive to the Johnsons’ place was quiet. The tension between them was heavy. Fabian cursed himself the entire way for saying those harsh words, but truthfully, he didn’t want her to remember her past. If it was painful, she should just let it be. Her past didn’t deserve her. He wanted to keep her safe from it.
Heaven stepped out of the car the moment they arrived she walked ahead of him, not sparing him a glance. Immediately they opened the door, Liam met her holding flowers.
“Congratulations, Mama. Greater heights. Now the hospital looks presentable.”
Heaven smiled truly, hugging her munchkin.
“Congratulations, little girl, on your first contract,” Old Man Johnson said, pulling her into a hug.
“Thank you, old man,” she said, smiling.
“Congratulations, Vera. I suddenly feel a stomach ache. I should visit your hospital first thing tomorrow,” he added, pretending to clutch his stomach.
“Uncle Rayan, you are such a terrible actor. But if you were truly having a stomach ache, I would be the cashier. My mama is too kind, she might not take money from you,” Liam said.
Everyone except Fabian burst into laughter.
“You should all let her come in to cut her cake. Food is served,” Zaria announced.
They proceeded to the dining area. Everyone could feel the tension between Heaven and Fabian. He wasn’t stacking her plate with food, and neither were they engaging in conversation. It was awkward and for the first time, nobody knew how to handle it.
When lunch ended, a box was presented to Heaven. It was a beautifully wrapped gift box.
“Open it, Mama,” Liam said enthusiastically.
She did. Inside was a key to a car.
She was the only one shocked.
“I can’t accept this,” was her immediate reaction.
This time, everyone else was shocked.
The rejection hit him harder than he expected.
“Mama, it’s a car. How can you not want it, we don’t own any?”
“It’s too much… it’s expensive…”
“You don’t need to worry about the price. It’s part of what you signed,” Fabian said, getting up and walking away.
The atmosphere became awkward again.
The wine cellar was mercifully quiet. Fabian poured himself a drink, watching the amber liquid swirl as if it could drown the knot in his chest.
“What’s up with the both of you? Did you have a fight?” Rayan asked gently as he stepped inside.
“It’s messed up,” Fabian admitted, rubbing a hand over his face. “She’s pushing herself too hard for her memories, and it’s taking a toll on her and…” He broke off, jaw tightening.
“Why did you tell her the car was part of the contract when you got it for her?” Rayan pressed.
“You saw how she rejected it, right?” Fabian snapped, then sighed. “She rejects everything I give her now. That was the only way to get her to take it.”
“So you’re going to turn everything you give her into a professional cause?” He sighed “When are you going to tell her about your feelings?” Rayan asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to spoil things between us,” Fabian confessed.
Rayan studied him. “There should be a reason why you do all this for her. What if she feels you are doing all these things for her out of pity. It’s time you tell her your intentions before it’s too late.”
Fabian stared into his glass, guilt burning hotter than the whiskey.
Rayan stood up to leave and paused by the door “Put yourself in her shoes,if you didn’t know who you were… wouldn’t you be desperate too?”
Heaven’s trip home was quiet.
She was angry at Fabian but a part of her knew he hadn’t been entirely wrong. But she hoped somewhere in the darkness of her lost memories, that there was a light worth keeping.
When she stepped out of the taxi, she saw him.
Maverick stood outside, shirtless, his body slick with sweat as he washed his car. Water ran down his broad chest, muscles flexing with every movement. Heaven froze, staring far longer than she meant to until he glanced up and caught her.
She quickly looked away and hurried inside. She had seen bare chests before. So why had her heart reacted like that? What was so special about his?
Later that night, she stepped outside to take out the trash. Her eyes were on her phone when her foot caught on the pavement.
She stumbled
A warm, large hand wrapped firmly around her waist, steadying her.
She gasped.
When she looked up, it was him.
Her heart slammed violently against her ribs.
“You should watch where you’re going,” Maverick said calmly as he gently released her.
The loss of his warmth irritated her more than it should have.
He turned to leave.
“You want to come inside?”