LIAM (Book Two)

EIGHTEEN

I woke up with the urge to pee. I stir on the bed, feeling a weight around my stomach, preventing me from leaving.

Looking over my shoulder, I found Liam spooning my body on the bed behind me. I didn't realize how we got into this position, but I remembered how I ended up sleeping on the same bed as him.

I searched around the room as it was already nighttime. I looked at my phone and saw the time; it was past three.

How long did we sleep like this?

Not that I'm complaining. Sleeping with Liam on the same bed made me giggle like a puppy love middle schooler.

Then I saw the missed calls and unread texts from Effie, Clark, and my parents, all wondering how the first day on the cruise was. I will reply to them tomorrow. As of right now, I can not.

As smoothly and slowly as not to try to wake Liam, I carefully removed his arm and went to the bathroom. Once I returned, my eyes adjusted to the dark room, and a hint of moonlight shone on the bed. Liam had his back turn; I went the other way, facing him and watching him sound asleep. I brush his hair back and pull the covers over him. I grabbed the extra blanket Liam used to sleep on the couch and faced the wide window screen, just relaxing to the scenery of the bright silver moon above the navy blue sky as its light shone above the ocean platform, creating this illuminating crystal water.

I couldn't go back to sleep. Once I woke up, my mind was adrift about what had happened earlier with Liam. He couldn't speak or answer me. All he wanted was to be alone and drench himself. I thought doing that was when you drank to wake yourself up, but Liam did it for a different reason. Sudden flashes of Liam in the shower, fully clothed, but his expression and body language gave it away.

He was angry and in pain.

The cold water running down on him was a way to cool him off before something wrong happened that he would regret. I started biting my fingers. I couldn't think of why he would suddenly act like that right before meeting my grandparents and Devin.

Of course, it's not Seema and Vishal.

Then Devin?

But Liam doesn't know him, but by his reaction to the table, he was trying to contain himself from breaking something.

I snuggle the blanket like an oversized coat wrapped around my body. My eyes watch the scene outside my window, but I focus on Liam. Turning my head to see how in a deep sleep he is may be the best thing for him to forget.

I turn my face back at the scenery. I couldn't understand, but I knew it must be that dark secret he had been trying to conceal and his behavior towards me.

Before meeting him, we could hit it off like Effie and Logan. But those two lovebirds hit it off quickly with a few issues before they became a couple felt like watching an anime scene or Asian drama, and I'm that best friend who is genuinely in love with the second lead who doesn't notice until the very end.

Some ending does not end well.

Man, I got to stop watching these shows. Effie obsessed me with the dramas she watched and made me a geek.

With my phone at hand, I rushed to my purse, pulled out my headphones, went on an app, and played an episode of this Chinese drama I'm currently watching. Since I couldn't sleep, a few episodes could help me count sheep.

The next day, I woke up late. Since I slept late watching a drama that I couldn't put down, I didn't sleep until five. And somehow, I ended up on the bed. Surprised, I rose and found myself alone beside myself, empty. I heard the toilet flush as Liam came into view with only a towel covering his lower part, but his upper body caught my attention and made me swallow hard.