Chapter 313

Julie’s point of view

Steve turned toward him with a warm smile and placed his palm on his shoulder with affection and friendship, saying with sincerity: "You also, to us, are part of the family, Jake, and the house is your house."

I distanced myself from Steve with detachment immediately because of his arrival, and moved with quick steps toward the dining table and sat on the seat forcefully. I pulled the chair and rested my elbows on the wood of the table with total rigidity and sharp looks toward the vacuum.

Jake advanced as well quietly, stood beside the table, then looked at me with malice and a cunning smile, saying in a commanding and provocative tone: "By the way, Julie... you must first buy and compensate for the wooden chair that you broke yesterday."

The lines of my face tightened immediately with anger, and I ground out from between my teeth while directing a burning, fatal look at him: "Shut up immediately and close your mouth... otherwise, I swear I will break the second chair over your cursed head right now!"

Steve struck the table lightly with his palm to attract our attention and stop the fight, and looked at us with firm, stern, and cutting features that accepted no discussion, saying in a powerful voice: "Either you shut up and eat politely... or I leave this house right now and leave you to fight and kill each other alone!"

Jake’s body constricted in a comedic acting and fabricated fear, and he raised his hands open toward the sky in a cunning surrender and a smile, saying: "Fine, buddy... I will shut up only for your sake."

Jake advanced with calm steps and sat on the chair exactly opposite me at the table. He leaned with his torso forward in defiance, and began looking into the depth of my eyes with lines of a face and a body language through which he clearly attempted a provocative insolence, with narrowed, malicious eyes.

I clamped my lips in a suppressed rage, and turned my face entirely toward the glass window overlooking the outer street, completely ignoring his presence so that I would not see his cursed, provocative face.

After the passage of long minutes of tensed, heavy silence, Steve advanced carrying the hot plates, and placed the breakfast meal with arrangement and care over the table. Then he pulled the chair and sat beside me, and tilted his head toward me to whisper in my ears in a serious and highly faint tone: "Julie... listen to me, as for people and acquaintances, we will say that Jake had private work and trade outside the country throughout the past period. Is this matter understood and settled for you?"

My body stiffened for a second, and I immediately remembered the real reason behind their secrecy Jake does not want to inform any creature that he was couched and imprisoned in the depths of prison throughout that period to protect his reputation. I took a deep breath, averted my gaze with rigidity, and said briefly and in a dry tone: "Fine... as you wish."

I swallowed the last bite of my food with extreme difficulty because of the charged atmosphere, then wiped my mouth with the napkin with a quick, active movement and rose from the table, leaning my palms on the edge forcefully. Steve turned his head toward me quickly, and darted a questioning, anxious look at me, saying: "To where, Julie? Are you going to the flower shop again at this time?"

I relaxed my shoulders and shook my head, denying his words, adjusted my posture, and said with clarity and steadfastness: "Not today... you know the schedule well, and you know that I will sing in the hotel in the evening."

Steve moved his palm with total understanding while smiling quietly, saying: "Yes... yes, I certainly know that."

At that moment, Jake leaned his broad torso forward a little toward the table, fixed the look of his piercing, astonished eye on my face, and said in real surprise and wonder: "Really?! I did not know at all, nor did my mind imagine that you could sing."

The features of my face convulsed immediately with detachment and hatred, and I clouded my eyes sharply and looked at him with haughtiness, pride, and said in a dry, harsh tone that shocked him: "And do you indeed know me to know about me and about this thing? Mind your business and keep to your limits!"

I turned my body with supernatural speed without waiting or allowing him his reaction or his provocative comment, and left the kitchen with wide, successive steps. I headed toward the hallway, pulled my coat with tight hands and wore it in haste, then opened the outer door and went outside to inhale the air as was my habit with slow, calm steps, heading with my entire body toward the calm lake near our area to clear my mind.

I arrived at the brink of the cold water, so I bent with extreme slowness and sat on the damp, green grassy ground from the morning dew, joining my knees toward my chest with sadness and longing. I took a deep breath from the depths of my lungs and closed my eyelids with extreme slowness, surrendering entirely to my deep thoughts and imaginations.

Within mere seconds, I imagined Robert with his sharp, masculine lines of his face, his deep, captivating black eyes, and his lips whose warm, burning, and longing taste I still feel upon my lips to this very moment.

I went far with passion in my imagination, my body trembling, and felt a magical shiver coursing through the entirety of my limbs as I imagined him with me on the same bed with love, surrounding me between his strong, massive arms, holding me tightly to hide me in his chest and kissing me with a passion and eagerness that melts hearts.

Suddenly and spontaneously, the door opens and our beloved son Ethan enters with his small, sweet, and innocent childish steps, jumping spontaneously and with joy over us on the bed, placing his two small, soft palms on my face and calling me with his sweet, angelic voice: "Mom... good morning, wake up."

I imagined myself in this bliss while holding him tightly to my chest and kissing him with a sweeping love, while Robert lies beside us, playing with him with his large fingers and tickling him in his stomach with affection, so the small Ethan bursts into a laugh at the top of his voice, and I look at my family, my eyes shining with warm tears and the blood running hot and stable in my veins, saying with a smile stemming from my heart: "You are my only two men whom I love and live for in this world."

Suddenly, and without introductions, that enchanting, rosy vision vanished and tore apart when I felt a real, warm, and massive human palm touching my shoulder with lightness and caution.

I jolted with a quick, violent movement from fear, and opened my eyes with a rush and force, so the powerful, bright sunrays that reflected intensely in my eyes pained and blinded me.

I narrowed my pupils with a trembling and blocked the high light with my palm while raising my head with extreme slowness and with terror upward to see the identity of the person, so that my silent, snatched looks, filled with astonishment, settled upon a masculine stature tall, massive, and highly broad, standing tall like a mountain before me and blocking the light of the sun from me entirely.

My chest constricted with immense force and the beats and throbbing of my heart accelerated with hysterical madness, and my scream came out faint, raspy, and faltering from between my trembling lips with eagerness and an unbelievable, sweeping emotion: "R... Robert?!"