Chapter 331

Julie’s point of view

Jake turned his head away with a scathing sarcasm and a grumble, the looks of his sharp blue eyes moving toward me with open mockery as he passed his fingers with confidence over his jawline, saying in a provoking hiss: "And is that wild woman going with us too, or will she spoil the evening with her madness?"

I threw the iron fork from my hand with force and violence over the glass plate so it emitted a sharp, loud ringing that shook the corners of the table, and said with revulsion and disgust: "Be absolutely certain that I am not fond or dying to go to any place that gathers me with an insolent and disgusting man like you!"

Steve moved his head in a grumble and tightness between us because of our continuous quarreling, and struck the surface of the table lightly with his palm, saying with annoyance: "Damn both of you... will you quarrel again from now or what? Stop this, by heaven’s sake."

I directed my index finger in a threat toward Jake’s face, and said with sweeping agitation to Steve: "Ask this scoundrel friend of yours to shut up completely and close his sharp tongue from me!"

Steve cleared his throat to manage the situation and calm the atmosphere that was charged with fires between us. He smiled with cunning and mischief while looking into my blazing eyes, saying with amusement: "Let us change this futile subject then... I have already decided that I will search for a handsome lover for Julie who suits her!"

In that shocking and sudden second, the bite lodged inside my throat in an abrupt manner and my breath was cut off completely. My eyes widened with intense terror and shocking panic, and I began to cough heavily, with burning and extreme violence, almost suffocating from the shock. Instantly and without hesitation, Steve rose from his place in dread and panic over my condition, and began striking my back lightly with his large palm to rescue me, handing me a glass of water with supreme speed, saying with eagerness and anxiety: "What is the matter with you, Julie, by heaven’s sake?! Take and drink!"

I gulped the cold water miraculously with rapid, panting breaths and a violently beating heart, then placed the glass cup down with a powerful strike on the wood of the table, saying with a stunned shout: "What the hell is this nonsense and absurd talk, Steve, by the sake of hell?!"

Jake let out a sarcastic, loud, and high laugh that rang throughout the aspects of the kitchen. He leaned his broad back to the rear, resting against the chair with total belittlement and disdain of me, saying mockingly: "Do not tire yourself and exert effort, Steve, in searching... for there is no sane man in this world who will accept to be her lover or tolerate her wild nature!"

The lines of my fiery features turned toward him with black malice and a fatal threat, and I ground my teeth in a blatant challenge, saying in a hiss: "Speak about yourself and your own deficiency only, you cursed fallen wretch!" Then I turned instantly with my entire body to my brother Steve with reproaching eyes and in total stiffness: "What the hell is the matter with you, Steve? Is this sane talk to be said here and like this with this simplicity and in the presence of this stranger?!"

Steve shrugged his shoulders with an artificial innocence, tilting his torso toward the table, saying with tenderness and diplomacy: "What did I truly say?.. I didn’t err; I only truly want to see you happy and stable in your life, and perhaps with the presence of a new man, all this anger, hatred, and continuous tension will disappear."

Jake twisted his lips with a scathing mockery, saying sarcastically while looking at Steve with skepticism: "Believe me and be convinced by my words, Steve... any human man who inspects her for seconds and sees her will flee, lamenting his luck to the outside without return!"

Steve’s face convulsed with absolute rejection of Jake’s insult to me, and he struck the table with his palm, defending me: "Why the hell would he flee, Jake?.. On the contrary completely, Julie is a very beautiful, enchanting woman, and she is truly desired by every man who possesses an eye that beholds beauty and attractiveness!"

Jake released a sarcastic exhale and looked at me with intense contempt and disgust, saying with belittlement: "Beautiful and enchanting? By your Lord, Steve, wake up! You are her brother; for that blind reason you say this talk and see her like queens, while the reality is completely different."

Blind anger and burning madness ignited in my head, and control over my nerves vanished completely. With trembling and raging fingers, I gripped the edge of the heavy glass plate before me on the table, and shouted with a spasm: "I swear to you... you will shut up and be quiet right now, or I will strike you with this glass plate over your provoking head to shatter your ugly skull!"

I rose with momentum, nervousness, and hysteria from the table so the wooden chair rebounded behind me with violence. Then I directed my looks that were blazing with oppression toward my brother Steve and said with bitterness and a sarcasm that devoured my chest: "Did you truly enjoy what occurred of farce and insult?! Thank you!"

Without waiting for a response or a justification of his stance from him, I exited the kitchen and snatched my long black coat from the hallway, putting it on with supreme, chaotic speed over my pajama clothes with hands trembling under the effect of adrenaline and vexation. I opened the outer door violently and then exited from the corners of the house with force; for I could no longer tolerate remaining or inhaling the air in that suffocating and desolate place for a single other second with them.

I headed with wide strides, charged with malice, hatred, and loss, toward the lake near our house. I sat on the cold grassy ground and clutched my knees tightly toward my blazing chest to protect myself from the world.

There was a little of the cold air breeze leaking harshly into my body and traveling beneath the fabric of my coat, but I ignored the physical cold shiver completely because of the fires and volcanoes raging and ignited in my chest. I began to think with dread, loss, and panic of that major catastrophe and the scrape in which I had trapped myself and my pride due to my hastiness; because I know my brother Steve and his stubbornness well, and it appears from his features and determination today that he will never leave this matter or forget it, and he will remain pursuing me with urgency and residing behind me until he finds a lover and a strange man for me and forces him into my life despite myself.

I buried my face between my bent knees, released a long and extended sigh filled with weakness, and whispered, saying in a choked voice: "Ah... damn you, Julie... into what have you trapped yourself because of your foolish promises?"