His Addiction

Chapter 11

(Present)

"I love you."

Emily whimpered, holding the hands of her best friend Helenite, who had an oversized coat on with a cap on her head.

Helenite gritted out in a manly tone and shrugged Emily's hand away from her shoulder. "You don't say that."

"Please, don't turn your back on me."

Emily bit her inner cheeks while sobbing, but she flinched when suddenly her friend turned toward her.

"Then what do you want me to do, Rose?" Holding Emily's shoulders, Helen jerked her with a force that poor Emily saw stars in her vision and tried not to bring that look of horror into her eyes, "Tell me. What should I do to make this pain go away from my heart?"

In the backyard of Emily's house on a winter's eve in Seattle, the duo arranged a badminton night to surprise their little sister, but it all went wrong, much to their dismay. From the corner of her eyes, Emily glanced at Cheryl sitting on a chair with popcorn in her lap and instantly looked away, noticing how her sister narrowed her gaze at them. Even that white cat on Cheryl's toe was glaring at her as if he had caught the lies through their act. It wasn't helping with Helen forgetting her speech and. . .just overdoing it.

But what could Emily do when Cheryl demanded to see the Titanic play that was canceled at her school? Wasn't Romeo & Juliet enough that her sister's seniors had to choose that for their cultural event and lure the kids of Cheryl's age with that famous pose on the deck? This bunch of precocious teens! Luckily, the guardians were at her side, but Emily did make sure to stay behind the curtain. She didn't want Cheryl to be mad at her, but the way her sister was glaring, Emily had a feeling that Cheryl. . .

Clearing her mind, Emily again started her act. "I. . .I know it's hard for you, but what about me? Do you think it's easy for me?"

"Why don't you try to understand? Why?" Emily felt like crying when again her friend screamed at her, which wasn't in the script. "You are too good for him. He doesn't deserve you. Rose." Her face grimaced when Helen put more force on her shoulders, still glaring at Emily when she should be in tears. "You. . .you will listen to me. You will do as I say from now on. Is that clear to you?"

Some people don't change, and then Emily saw Helenite.

Only Emily knew how they cleared the HU practical in the final year of school!

"Oh, Jack!"

Emily moaned in her shoulder pain, but her violent friend growled in dominance, "Go to the pool and let me draw you. Now!"

And that was it.

Emily looked at Helen in pure horror, whose eyes screamed, "I think I messed it up. Cheryl made me nervous. Darn it!"

"It's okay. She won't know." Emily said through her eyes and smiled stiffly before turning her gaze to her two audiences and announcing cheerfully, "The next episode will be streamed live tomorrow at 8. Until then, stay safe and take care of one another."

With that saying, Emily stood there awkwardly with her head down. Her cheeks were burning, but she felt empty in her heart. She was getting that feeling again. . .that she was failing in everything. No matter what she did, she couldn't make her sister happy. She took her responsibility now. She should be doing everything, but sometimes, it wasn't easy to play every role in Cheryl's life.

As a sister, she wasn't embarrassed about the act she presented there, but as a mother, it felt like she made a mistake by lying to little Cheryl. Her mom never lied to her about anything, but now, Emily was lying, even if her intention was not that. She couldn't tell what a father would have done if he found himself trapped there, but she was pretty sure her father would have scolded Cheryl, and that was something Emily couldn't do, not when there wasn't a father figure present in her sister's life.

Cheryl didn't know what it was like to have a father or what a father's love was, and this always brought tears to Emily's eyes.

It had been three years, and the story of her home was still the same.

Emily realized the hard way she could never be a father or a best friend to her sister like Erina, her stepmother, was to her. She took a shaky breath when Helenite threw a hand over her shoulder and pulled her closer, sensing her inner turmoil.

"Don't be sad, wifey-phoo. I think Cheryl liked the play. It is a plus that she doesn't know anything about that movie, remember?" It made Emily giggle. Helen huffed after taking her cap off when Emily couldn't find her voice to ask her sister, "How was the play?"

"It was good." Cheryl looked at them with blazing eyes, shoving a handful of popcorn in her mouth. "Mr. Hemilton, too, liked that."

Helenite looked baffled. "Aye?"

"He didn't pee around our home. So, the play was pretty cool." Cheryl pressed the matter, and the duo's faces turned white. They saw the seven-year-old leave the seat, placing the popcorn bucket on the chair. "I have homework to finish, revise today's school note copies, and a diary to write." Her cat, who wasn't even one year old, stretched his legs while Emily saw her sister instructing him, "And you, Mr. Hemilton? Your girlfriend is waiting at Mrs. Piper's home. Don't keep Meowlee waiting."

Seeing her sister making her way to the door with puffed cheeks, Emily said, "We have pizza in the freezer. Do you want me to- "

"I am full." Cheryl's callous words cut Emily off. "See you at dinner." With that, Cheryl and her cat went on their separate ways.

Emily stared at the door gloomily, where Cheryl had disappeared. To lift Cheryl's mood, Emily called Helen to her home for a picnic in her garden. It was her off day, so she decorated the whole garden with balloons, lights, and plastic garlands, and Helen brought her badminton set from her home and helped Emily with the food. But Cheryl looked moody still, and when Helen asked what Cheryl needed or if she wished to see a movie, then the little girl demanded to watch that movie with a glint in her eyes that neither of the girls could resist, and then they came up with the play, and it turned out a disaster. Cheryl was a quirky kid who never behaved the way she behaved today. While putting everything in her living room, she asked, "Do all schools allow that kind of play nowadays?"

Helen shrugged, "The older ones in my orphanage used to dance twinkle twinkle, and we had to be happy with that."

Emily laughed. "Pretty sure you used to clap to get the sweet treats."

"You know me so well." Helen hissed through her teeth, but she couldn't help laughing her arse off. Placing a box on the floor where she stuffed the string lights, she told Emily, "She told you she liked the play. It must be her school stress. . .you know?"

"Yeah." Emily smiled, locking the backdoor. She glanced at her sister's room, and her heart clenched in pain at seeing the door closed. Grabbing her purse from the kitchen aisle, she buttoned her coat and said, "I am going to the market. Could you please- "

"I will. No worries." Helenite waved her hands. She knew her friend was running to avoid the conversation, and she wouldn't stop Emily as she used to until she realized how secretive her friend had become. "You okay, Millie?"

Still, Helenite asked and noticed how her friend flinched, and Emily went still momentarily.

Her best friend was a mystery to Helenite. The girl she used to know was no longer the innocent and easygoing girl she was.

Helenite thought she knew everything about Emily. She even made sure to call her friend when she was there in Sao Paulo for one year, but a week in Los Angeles was what it needed to lose the old Emily completely. Those boys who took Emily there, Helenite never saw them again, but. . .but things went out of her hands, she would reach them for the answers. She could see Emily like that, living in a nightmare. What was she afraid of? And why did that Olympic swimmer no longer wish to return to play? It couldn't be because of that scar on her body, could it? Or was it because she was trying to hide from someone who almost. . .

"I am!" Emily's beam snapped Helen out of her thoughts. "It won't take long. Keep an eye on her, okay? Lock the door after me."

With that, Helen watched Emily stalk off and thought about whether she was reading too much into things. But could anyone blame her for feeling that way? After what they had been through, she had to be more careful with her family to avoid misfortunes, but little did she know the thing she was scared of was already there and would soon take away the peace they had found in their lives.

~

Bash sat in his car, staring out the window at an exclusive clubhouse where he could see people queuing in front of that evening. He has owned this place since he moved to this city and brought his business here three years ago, but the headquarters was still in Texas, close to his aunt's home, who goes for his factory visit to check on the workers. Something someone close to his heart used to do for him when he was away on business trips or for his shoots, but now, it was only him and his emptiness.

Emptiness? Bash snorted coldly in his mind. He didn't have time for that anymore. He worked like a freak. Even the records he made in his acting career now no one could break them, and his business. . .he would soon buy the entire swimming board in the US.

"Where are you heading?"

Turning his gaze from his club, Bash asked when Julian returned after answering his call.

"Just have some private matter to deal with nearby," Julian said coolly. "Do you want something me to bring for you, sir?"

"I am coming with you." With that, Bash again turned his gaze to his club.

He forgot the count how many swimmers from his Blueberry Clubhouse were playing at the district level and preparing for NSL now. His tyrannical mother was a player. He had to give that credit to his mother for giving him this idea and hiring former ISL players and that teen sensation, the Olympian, who he was about to meet and reward her for her excellent performance and business planning with his friend, Adam, who handled that part of the business alongside him. But Bash was mainly into winemaking, a blooming business in this city, and he killed his competition so effortlessly that he was now dominating the market.

"That won't do." Julian instantly regretted leaving the car earlier. With accusation in his eyes, he said, "You probably must have overheard my conversation with your father. Juliette won't be happy if she comes to know where I am taking you with me."

"Get clear about your priority." His expression hardened as he looked at Julian. "I am your boss, but you listen only to my mum and do the job for my father, what I should be doing as Andrew does."

His older brother took over the business in Brazil, which Bash rejected with the help of his mother.

But why did Bash choose Seattle out of all of the places? That Bash still wondered. It was a mystery to him how easily his mother told him to go ahead with his business planning when Juliette was always against whatever steps he took and his life choices.

Who was he lying anyway? To himself! He was here to meet the James Heiress, but he hadn't seen her in the last three years. That Milena or Elias had to be in this city. He was sure about that and even sent his PI to find out what happened to that girl when she landed in Seattle three years ago, but strangely, they didn't find anything about her or even that attack. Hundreds of people were present at that time in the airport. How did the media know anything about that? What kind of backup does that girl have, honestly?

"But your older brother isn't an actor, sir," Julian argued, taking the driver's seat. "He doesn't run a dangerous but multi-billion dollar business himself like you. It's pretty different for him. Why don't you understand?"

"As your employer, my responsibility will be to keep you safe. Undiscovered." Bash fumed. "Then you travel everywhere with me. What if the media finds you one day? Do you think I can handle another blow in my acting career?"

Pulling out of the driveway, they drove off, and Julian shook his head at his friend's stubbornness.

"It is more like you are getting tired of staying in your home. You could have chosen the architect your mother recommended to you." Gritting his teeth, Julian spat. "Unless you get married and have five children, it will give you a hotel vibe, sir."

"Wasn't that what I planned three years ago?" Bash snorted, looking out of the window from the backseat. "That factory in Sao Paulo, this mansion and my clubhouse in Seattle, and that massive engagement ring I bought especially for her?"

"You need to get over that woman who didn't come to see you when you were hospitalized." Julian supposed his groan literally. "She. . .she did that many times, but you always justified her action, sir. She got married the next day, with whom her family fixed her marriage, and again, you say she is innocent, and you are desperate to find that hazel-eyed girl who took you to the hospital!"

"That will be the girl I want to marry and have five kids with to make my mansion feel more like a home than a hotel." Bash joked, unaware of how he would do exactly what he told Julian soon. "Do you have any problem with that?"

Julian scoffed, skidding his car before a store not far from Bash's club. "To you, she was the girl you saw on top of you that night."

"Never heard of a celeb marrying his fan?" Bash smirked and commented, looking at the store to change the topic, "This looks like some nonprofitable drugstore. The couple even looks young and leads a not-so-peaceful life. Why did dad ask you to come here?"

"Looks can be deceiving." Julian took off his seatbelt. "You are staying in the car. There is a park to the side. You can go there for the strolling, but don't step inside the store after me." With an unreadable expression on his face, he looked at the store and then looked at Bash. "I don't know what they did to offend your father's one acquaintance, but they have to leave soon. Before the mayor of Seattle gets a hold of them. You stay here now. Better if you keep your distance from this stuff."

Bash didn't argue, as he was already disturbed by the mention of that hazel-eyed girl.

He couldn't wait to get his hands on that girl. When Bash found her, he would make her life a living hell.

It didn't matter if it would bring Madeline into his life again. She was married now, and he wasn't waiting either, but it didn't mean he would let things go and spare those who wronged him. His career was almost ruined, but he was lucky to have his family at his side. Mainly his mom and his aunt Caroline's emotional support. That blow was needed in his life, or else he would never have seen the true faces of some people in his life who he used to consider as his friends. And to realize how weak his love was for his Eline.

Julian was taking a long time to leave the store. Bash began to feel worried about him now.

Still, Bash thought about waiting for a while and texting him, but when Julian didn't reply or call back, he opened the door to his side, keeping his gaze on the store, and he didn't see a girl on her bike passing his car and how she fell on the road getting hit by him.

When the realization struck his mind, his head snapped out the window, and he saw a girl trying to stand up, wincing in pain. Without wasting a second, he climbed out of his car and helped her to her feet, saying worriedly, "Oh, lord. Are you alright?"

"I am." He frowned when the girl moved away from him before even he could check her cuts. Limping, she tried to gather her paint buckets, "Please be careful when you open the door on this side. The children might get hurt. Not everyone wears a helmet here."

His gaze narrowed at the girl. It wasn't like he did that on purpose. Why was she blaming him like that? "You could have done the same!" He gritted out but still went to collect the vegetables from the road. "There is a reason you have a ring on your bike. Or is it broken?" He wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that. Judging by her outfit, he could tell she came from a middle-class family.

"I am not fighting, am I?" The girl said in anger. "When you bring this model on the road, you should be more careful than the people. Unlike us, you can see who is coming your way by sitting in your car. Not the other way around, okay? There is a park nearby. The kids are seen riding their bikes all the time. Please be careful next time when you open the door of your car."

"You aren't going to stop blaming me, are you?"

His jaw clenched in anger.

Turning around, he opened his mouth to lash out at the girl but froze, recognizing who was standing by that bike.

"You!"

He was looking forward to meeting her again, but did this have to be this way?