Billionaire's Childhood Love

IX. A Fan

Hailey's POV:

I swallow and bite my lower lip. "It's hotter in New York than I thought," I chuckle nervously, feeling his nose brushing against mine. "I need a fan."

He smirks, "Why do you need a fan?"

"I just told you-"

"You already got the biggest fan...right-" He points two fingers at himself. "here."

I roll my eyes and push him away, unable to hold back my laugh. "Joshua Lynn Greyson, you're the worst comedian in the world!"

He held my wrists, rushing his thumb down my veins. "I told you never to mention my middle name."

I stuck out my tongue.

He pretends to bite it.

Josh's playful smiles fade.

"You're serious again."

He sighs, "I'm sorry for earlier."

I tuck my lips over my teeth. "No, I should. You only care about me, and I blew a fuse."

He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, a cold hand on my cheek. "I care, HayBug."

"I know...but this is how I look right now-"

Josh exhaled, "Hailey, it was never about how you look."

"But you were sc-"

Josh ran a hand down his face. "Hailey. Let me ask you this again. Tell me again, why did you lose all this weight?"

I swallow, unable to respond. He leaped off the counter and began walking out of the room. I grab his shirt. "Jos-"

He turns around and licks his lips, placing his hands on his waist. "If you want to lose weight for yourself, I'm okay with that, but what did you say earlier? You told me you're losing all this weight because of what others think of you."

"There isn't anything wrong with losing weight-"

"Losing weight for others, suffering for others. Wasting your hard earned money for others. Is it worth it? Doing all of that, for strangers' approval?"

My hands tighten. "You don't know how I feel, Josh!" He opens his mouth, but I quickly cut him off. "Spending day after day being called a fat pig. Having people oinking in your face!" my vision began to blur.

He took a step towards me and extended his hand, tangling it with mine. "Who's bullying you? Tell me. I'll take care of th-"

"What are you going to do? Throw all of my middle school classmates into prison?"

"HayBug...I didn't know." He swipes his thumbs across my wet cheeks. "What about your friends?"

"You're going to think I'm a loser after you hear this story."

"Never," he whispers.

"They abandoned me," I try to laugh it off, but it's harder than I thought.

"Wh-What did they do?"

I bit my inner cheeks.

He closes the distance between us. "HayBug, tell me...please."

Inhaling a shaky breath, my lower lip pours out involuntarily. "They tricked me into going to this party, and there was this guy."

Josh's hands tighten on mine. "Th-There was a guy?"

I nod, "This guy my friend was crushing on."

He exhales, "Okay...continue."