Chapter 327

Julie POV

My chest constricted with a fatal, bitter, and deep disappointment that bloodied my soul. So Robert was not with me, nor was my beloved son Ethan... I was only dreaming a rosy dream in a black reality! My lips moved with extreme difficulty and a weak, exhausted panting, and I said in a faint voice: "What... what happened?"

Jake exhaled a burning, angry breath full of relief mixed with tension, and distanced his broad torso backward, saying with a spasm and nervousness: "You fainted in the bathroom, you annoying fool! You almost died there because of your stupidity!"

I knitted my eyebrows with weakness and extreme malaise, grinding my teeth in an exhausted and resentful tone: "You... you are the only fool here."

I tried with a sudden momentum to shake the cover off me and rise from my place over the mattress, for I did not remember anything at all of how I fainted in the bathroom. Then I noticed with a sudden, terrifying, and shocking panic that I was entirely naked beneath the cover.

My limbs froze like ice, and I held onto the edges of the thick cotton cover with heavily trembling fingers, clutching it to my chest with a iron, desperate strength to cover myself. I looked at him with eyes burning with anger, and said with a sharp, fierce scream that shook the room: "Did... did you enter the bathroom upon me while I was naked in this manner, you base, depraved scoundrel?!"

Jake retreated a wide step backward with a hardened face and eyes widened with fury. He waved his hand in disapproval and disgust, saying sharply and in a loud voice: "I just saved your life, you ungrateful woman! You were completely unconscious like a corpse on the cold bathroom floor, and I had no other choice!"

My cheeks flushed with a suffocating, burning mixture of extreme embarrassment, humiliation, and blind anger, and I shouted at him: "You are just a despicable, insolent molester!"

Jake ground his teeth with suppressed vexation and malice, the lines of his harsh face tightening with disgust and disdain as he said in a sharp hiss: "You sick, crazy woman! I didn’t even look at your cursed body... there is nothing in you worth a man looking at basically!"

I pointed with my free, trembling hand toward the room door with an agitation that took me out of my composure, and ground my teeth: "Get out of here right now... come on, get out now!"

Jake moved with roaring, heavy steps toward the exit, his eyes launching sparks, and he shook his head with regret while shouting at the top of his voice: "The mistake is my mistake from the beginning because I thought of saving you! If I had left you rotting on the bathroom floor, it would have been much better for my peace!"

He surged toward the door like a hurricane and exited, then slammed it behind him with extreme violence and harshness, to the extent that the wood frame shook forcefully and the entire door was almost dislodged from its place and split.

I rose from the bed very slowly, pain gnawing my chest, and propped my exhausted head with my palm; my mind was still unstable, and the cursed dizziness was spinning with me and making the vision rock.

This cursed, weak condition had returned to me again and dug up my wounds ever since my small son Ethan died, and I started fainting without a clear medical reason because of the severity of grief. Although this was a very long period in which I hadn’t been exposed to such a sudden fainting, my singing of those words on the stage tonight made me remember Robert despite myself... remember our days with all their warm and dark details, and remember my small son who was born dead, so that my torn heart would bleed again without mercy.

I walked with heavy, staggering paces toward the closet and obtained comfortable short shorts and a soft white shirt, putting them on quickly. Then I brought out the hair dryer and stood before the mirror while drying the strands of my wet brown hair with randomness to banish my thoughts and the blackness of my head.

After I finished, I crawled with my completely exhausted body and entered my mattress again. I could not accept by any form or logic inside myself the idea that Jake saw me in that posture and naked, so I pushed my face beneath the cotton pillow, closed my eyes tightly, and surrendered to a deep, heavy sleep, free of dreams this time.

In the early morning, I opened my eyes and rose with a slight activity and determination from my bed. I headed toward the bathroom, where I opened the copper faucet and washed my face with cold water, then brushed my teeth quietly while avoiding looking at the floor where I fell.

The moment I opened the door and exited to the hallway, a sound of light moving utensils and clicking coming from the direction of the kitchen reached my ears.

I headed with curiosity toward the kitchen, and Steve was standing there in a fabric cooking apron, preparing a delicious breakfast. He looked at me with a cheerful smile and said: "Good morning, Julie."

I rested my delicate palm on the edge of the rough wooden table and answered him quietly with a faint smile: "Good morning, Steve."

He placed the glass plates with leisure on the table and asked me with interest, scrutinizing with his looks into my pale face: "Did you sleep well tonight? I came very late yesterday from work too."

My entire body stiffened for seconds under the impact of shock and confusion. It seems that Steve knows nothing about my fainting, nor about what Jake did. I took a long breath loaded with relief to hide the matter, and said in a tender tone: "You work a lot and with excessive effort these days, Steve... you truly must rest a little for the sake of your health."

He turned to me completely with his bright face, and wiped his hands with the white towel, saying with cheerfulness and excitement: "I will not work today at all; I took a vacation. For that reason, we will all go out together in the evening to recreate ourselves."

My eyebrows knitted with apprehension and suspicion, and I tilted my head, saying in inquiry: "Where exactly will we go?.. And what do you mean by the word ’all’?"

He answered me while lifting the cups: "We go to stay up and spend a fun time somewhere..... I mean by ’all’: me, you, and Jake, naturally."

Instantly and without thinking, my eyes widened with shock and absolute rejection, and every muscle in my body tightened with fury.

I shouted with extreme agitation and a shocking, cutting tone: "Impossible! It is impossible for this to happen! I will never go out with him to the same place... are you crazy, by heaven’s sake, to ask this?!"