Chapter 4
 

Liz smirked when she saw Eve leave the house.

“Eve sure doesn’t know to satisfy her husband… looks like I’ll have to help her with THAT one.”

She looked at the mirror, attempting to make her hair poofier that it already was. “There!” She then picked up her black headband and placed it on her hair. She shook her head and started to laugh uncontrollably. “It’s amazing that TC could still be able to resist making love to me with my incredible looks. We’ll see just how longer he could resist me NOW with the new pajamas I just bought!” She then looked at the pajama she was wearing. It consisted of little cute devils with fires scattering randomly around them, and “Devil in Disguise” plastered in huge, big, red bold letters on her chest. She snickered. “TC will love this one!

Liz then grabbed Eve’s microwaved popcorn, and jumped beside TC. “So what are we watching tonight, TC?”

“Liz!” said a startled yet somewhat annoyed TC. Where the hell did she come from?!

“Why hello TC,” purred Liz. She then pretended to look around. “Where is Eve, by the way?” she asked innocently.

“She’s in the hospital,” TC growled.

Liz smiled seductively. “Perfect!” She then suddenly threw her popcorn down, not carrying about the floor, and shut the TV off. She then threw herself at TC and began to kiss him… forcing him to open up his mouth for her… not stopping to wonder why TC isn’t responding and if anything, seemed to be resisting her… she didn’t care.

“He’ll give in,” she thought.

_________________

Julian smiled.

“Good to see you too, Eve.”

Eve looked away.

“What? Did I say something wrong?”

When Eve finally looked at Julian… all he could see was the hurt in her eyes… and the anger mixed along with it. It truly pained his heart to see her like this…

“Never mind that then…Eve… why are you crying?”

“Why else do you think I was crying?” she snapped, wiping the tears off her face.

Julian’s eyes widened. “TC didn’t throw you out of the house did he?!”

Eve slapped Julian. “Why is it that you always immediately assumed the worst?! NO, TC did nothing of the sort! Has it ever occurred to you that it could be about you marrying Rebecca tomorrow?!” Her eyes immediately filling up with tears again.

Julian, for his part, began rubbing his cheek. He never expected TC to just simply throw Eve out from whatever temper he might’ve heated up… but it was just that from the way Eve looked…

Eve is just overreacting about Rebecca. Julian decided. But the way she displayed her emotions towards his fiancée was overwhelming! And although it was probably because she just cared about him… somewhere in her eyes… that look she gave him… he could see a tiny glimpse of the love she had hidden from him so well. It only gave him hope.

Eve figured Julian wasn’t going to answer her, so she decided to ask Julian another question.

“What are you doing here Julian?”

Julian coughed.

“Well, I wanted to get away from Rebecca and her sickening attempts to throw herself at me before the big day tomorrow, so I took a walk… and I just SO happened to have found the most beautiful woman a man could ever hoped to have laid eyes on… looking very lonely… I figured that she could use have used some company and a little warming up to do.” He smiled. “Well, lucky for me it was you, Eve, because I was really hoping to bump into you. I need to talk to you. I believe I owe you an explanation, and an apology.” He tilted Eve’s head towards him and gazed intently at her, his eyes never leaving hers.

Eve slowly nodded her head, her hands rubbing Julian’s coat against her body, feeling grateful that he was here, with her, or otherwise she would have had to gone home to TC since it was so cold. A part of her wanted Julian there anyways, she always did. Being with Julian where he could lend his ears to her whenever she had her complications… listening to whatever was upsetting her without judging her... had always calmed her state of mind. Even his presence had always been relaxing. She decided that she owed Julian one and allow him a chance to explain whatever he had to say.

“Go on.”

“Eve, I love you. Believe me when I say I do. I love you with all my heart and soul… you are the one woman I ever, truly loved. If I ever, gave you any doubts at all, for the way I feel about you, then I’m sorry, I really am. Everything I’ve ever done… from the past up until now… I know that the mistakes I have done have payed its price. I would never, intentionally hurt you… you know that. And I also want you to know that I would do ANYTHING, to have a chance again to be with you.” He cupped her face and pointed it towards him, quietly whispering, “I love you… so much…”

Eve sucked in her breath, pulled her face away from his grasp… and looked up at the sky, lost in a deep thought. She felt so confused. Why on earth is Julian marrying Rebecca, if not for love?

“Why ARE you marrying Rebecca, Julian? After your life with Ivy… and your fake marriage to Theresa… you could of fooled me thinking that you’re ready to commit yourself to another marriage again. And how can you marry her, if you say you l-,“ she choked, unable to get the final words out. She wanted to ask him how could he even think of marrying Rebecca, if he claims to have love her and not the woman he was about to marry. She felt so scared, yet happy to hear that the man she loves… and loved… had returned the same feelings for her…loved her…just as much as she loved him…

She couldn’t say the words aloud. If she did, she would have finally be admitting to herself that here, was this man, ready to risk anything to be with her again… the same man, who coincidently left her all those years ago for the Crane name, power, and money.

Julian looked down.

“I’m being blackmailed, Eve.”

Eve fumed. “What, Julian? WHAT are you being blackmailed with? WHO’S blackmailing you?”

Julian said nothing to that. Eve peered at him.

“Julian?”

Finally, he looked up, and replied, “Rebecca.”

Eve gaped at him. “Rebecca?”

“Yes.”

Eve wanted to smack herself. “Of course! So that’s why you’re marrying her? Because she is BLACKMAILING you? With what?! What dirt did she dig up on you that could be SO important, the only solution you could come up with is by entering into another loveless marriage?”

Eve then pulled Julian to a hug, when he didn’t reply a single word, her face resting on his shoulder. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t ask. It’s none of my business… and you told me all I needed to know anyways…”

“I was just so scared of the possibility that maybe… it might have been something to do with me to have caused you to move on so quickly...”

Finally, Julian pulled away. “What makes you say that?” he asked defensively.

“Julian… Rebecca already suspects that you didn’t just save my life to look good… but because you wanted me…”

Julian placed his finger on Eve’s lips… motioning her to keep quiet.

“Eve… Rebecca threatened to send me to jail for the things I’ve done to my sister, Sheridan… Look, I tried to –“

Suddenly, Eve started to kiss Julian – on the lips! It was all she could think of to shut him up. She didn’t want to hear what Julian tried to do to his sister that would be so disastrous that he could be sent to prison… though she suspected she already knew. It was a horrible thing to do… thinking that Julian could actually be that ruthless… but she knew he wouldn’t of done that by himself. Alistair must of played a role throughout all of this. She wasn’t worried about Rebecca anymore. And she now knew a way to talk Julian out of marrying her…

Julian was clearly enjoying Eve’s kiss, even though it was for a few seconds. He almost groaned aloud when Eve pulled away from him.

“Eve… why –“

“Julian, I don’t want you to tell me what you tried to do to Sheridan. But whatever you did, Rebecca was there, wasn’t she? She knew everything the whole time… right?”

Julian slowly nodded… not knowing where she was heading at…

Eve smiled, literally jumping with excitement. “Don’t you see? If she turns you in, she would also be counted as an accomplice for keeping the information from the police for so long! You don’t have to marry her Julian!”

“But –“

“What, Julian?” she asked calmly. She could tell, by looking at Julian, that it wasn’t just about Sheridan… there was something else to it…

Julian felt like Eve could read his mind right now at the moment. He could tell that she knew that there was another reason as to why he HAD to marry Rebecca. Julian sighed. He might as well tell her otherwise if Eve already knew what he tried to do with Sheridan. For him, he was more than happy to know that she already forgave him for doing such a horrible thing, but she deserved to know that…

“Rebecca knows about us Eve.”

Eve gasped. “No!”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“It doesn’t matter, Eve… the point is… I couldn’t care less if she turned me for what trying to –“

“Julian…” Eve warned.

“…For what I tried to do to Sheridan… not once, but twice… I would of more than deserved it if she had… but Eve… she knows about us… she had threatened to expose our past and destroy you Eve… she wanted to present to TC what she knew about us…”

Eve motioned Julian to stop.

“Part of the reason why I had hidden my past from TC was because I was afraid that he would try to go and kill you. But Julian, I don’t want you to be stuck inside another loveless marriage for the rest of your life because of me.” She grasped his hands. “Please don’t marry her tomorrow, “ she pleaded.

“I have to, Eve… because if I don’t, Rebecca will make good on her threats… you worked so hard to hide your secrets away from your family and to all those that mattered to you. Eve… there’s a small possibility that you could lose your husband if he finds out…”

“But I love you Julian!” Eve blurted out.

Julian’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief.

“Say that again?” he whispered.

Tears streaming down Eve’s cheek, Eve repeated the three words Julian thought he would never hear from her again…

“I love you.”

_____

“So who were you just talking to on the phone before I came in?” Theresa asked Whitney.

“Oh… I was just talking to my mom.”

Theresa raised her eyebrows. “So she’s finally talking to you again?”

Whitney nodded her head. “Yea… but we didn’t get to say much since she was kinda busy when I called her.”

“Alright… well, I’m glad you worked things out with her. Wish my mom would do that for me too.”

Pilar was still mad at Theresa for not leaving Ethan alone. She practically blamed baby Sarah’s death on Theresa – her own daughter! She refused to talk to Theresa at all unless Theresa gives up her obsession for Ethan and her belief on “fate”. And Theresa downright refused to do anything of the sort.

“Your mom will come to, once she realizes that it wasn’t really your fault…” Whitney sounded doubtful.

“Well, one thing’s for sure, I’m not giving up on Ethan just yet! I know there’s still a chance for us! Fate will bring us back together one day… I just know it.” Theresa confidently said.

“What’s this I hear about Ethan again?”

Theresa and Whitney jumped, and looked behind to find one, incredibly sexy… shirtless… guy smiling right back at them. His name was Fox.

“Fox!”

“Ladies… how would you like for us to leave La-La Land for Harmony today?” he grinned.