***

    "He is awake" I told Liam.

 Ever since the doctor had permitted us to go into the ward; after the surgery was done... I have been staring at my father..and he just opened his eyes.

    "Eve" My Dad tried to speak and I held his hand.

 "You can't sit yet sir" Liam said to him  when he tried to sit upright.

   "Eve, how is your husband?" My father asked.

  "Don't call him my husband" I frowned.

 "Mr Maya.." He wanted to say but I interrupted him.

    "This is Mr Maya's son; Liam" I introduced.

  "Do you feel okay?" Liam asked him and he nodded.

 "I'ld excuse you and your father now" Liam said and left the ward.

 "Dad" I fondle with his finger as I began to weep again secretly.

 "I have not seen Mr Maya around, and how have you been?" He asked me.

    I wiped my face and forced a smile..

   "I am fine Dad, as you can see" I lied; "Mr Maya..he told son to come here with me. Mr Maya has really been a good man"

   "I told you, you won't regret getting married to him" My Dad said touching my cheeks.

  "Are you really Okay Dad?"

    "Of course.. I just need a little rest. I have been here for a very long time and they have been taking good care of...the doctor said he is not gonna release anytime soon" My father said.

  "Why?" I questioned.

 " Mr Maya told him not until I have full recovered"

  "Oh so Mr Maya did that yet he won't foot your bills anymore" I mumbled.

  "What did you say?" He didn't hear me.

 "Nothing. Then how come the Doctor doesn't know who Mr Maya is?"

   "He never come here himself, he always sends someone"

    "Oh!" How cruel Mr Maya is.

 I sniffed, so that I would not cry again..

 "Mr Maya is such a good man. He gave me a job and I am doing fine at his place" I lied again, so that he will feel better.. it's really nice to see my father smiling.

    **

    After spending some time in the ward with Dad, I came out to meet Liam whom I left waiting outside.

  "Will you be able to go home ? Or should I wait here with you?" Liam asked me.

    "My father wants me to leave, he thinks I'm doing fine just because I told him that I have a job. I also lied to him so that it would trigger his ailment.."

 "Will you stay with him?"

    "I wish. I'll come back tomorrow to see him as early as possible"

    "I'll come with you" He said.

    I stopped walking and looked at him.

    "I'm really thankful for today Liam, I owe you alot"

    "You owe me nothing Eve" He said..

    "Right! Your father put me in this position" I retorted.

    "I am glad he never had you in his bed"

    **

    Liam drove into the gate; "I thought you just wanted to drop me off" 

    "No, I need to see my damn father" He said as he got of the car before me.

    "Liam, how have you been?" He asked. Liam smiled at him as went inside quickily.

    "Liam"  We met Helen and Mark  in the living room. They mentioned his name at the same time.

    "Is father at home?"

    "He didn't even go to work, he has been sleeping... He woke up only few minutes ago" Mark reported.

   "Oh good!" Liam remarked and moved to his father's room.

    "What are you doing Liam?" I walked faster to catch up with him.. 

    Mr Maya came out of his before Liam even got there.

    "Oh Liam. You are back to father's house" Mr Maya said.

    "What did you do Eve's father?" Liam confronted him.

    "What do you mean?" Mr Maya pretended not to understand 

 "You are wicked, and you know it!" Liam remarked.

    "Wicked how?"

    "Liam, what happened to Eve's father?"

"He is ill and this man here promised to take good care of him, that's one of the reasons why Eve agreed to be with him. But as soon as Audrey signed the marriage contract, he stopped footing the hospital bills"  Liam rushed his words..

    "What...?" Helen and Mark uttered at the same time.

    "So why are you making a fuss about it?" Mr Maya laughed, he didn't even show any sign of remose.

    "You are cruel and what did you do to her bank account?" Liam asked his father, he won't even calm down or let me talk.

    "My bank account?"

    "Father!" He screamed.

  "Oh My God Liam. I have missed you so much" Mr Maya said; "Now Listen, Eve is my wife. She has a job now, I mean she is working in my company, so she should be able to settle her problems and even Carter for her family. It's still an indirect help coming from me" 

    I couldn't believe my ears

    I stamped my feet against the floor as I ran upstair and Helen ran behind me to comfort me but I told that I wanted to be alone at that moment.

I knew I was already stucked in this marriage; I just wanna let go of everything and be single and free but no, I don't wanna go back to that poor background. I have had enough since he is not keeping his promising; the only thing that can help me going his the job and I haven't earned much; talk more of leaving the marriage... Once I'm good to go; I'll fly out of the country if it's possible.

 Or I might even need a better means of breaking the marriage contract I had with him because I know for sure that he won't just sign a devoice paper which can't be easy for me to get; I also know that he might treat me worst if I talk back at him. But somehow I was glad deep down that he didn't have his way on me and I hope that he is not gonna find out soon.

  I could still hear Liam even from my room, he was still yell at his father. Right! His father is at fault but I don't know why he keeps standing up for me...making he and his father quarrel whenever he is around. I think I'm a big burden upon this family and upon myself.

  "Are you okay now Eve?" Helen knocked on my door.

"Come in" I murmured, she did.

    "Are you Okay?" She asked me again.

 "He literally showed me an exact example of 'You can't eat your cake and have you'" I told her.

 "But you should be glad that he never had s*x with you in return" She said and I nodded slowly; "Liam just left, he said he'll come back to pick you up tomorrow morning" Helen said.

  "He followed me to the hospital. we are going backto check up on my father again. Thanks to Liam, he footed the bills" I explained to Helen.. and she was so surprised."I don't know what I would have done" I added.

    "I'm sorry about what's happening to you Eve. Trust me, you'll break over it very soon" She said, pulling me closer to give me a hug and I tried to put on a smile.

  "So Liam generously footed the bills. Is that all?" She asked me.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Uhm, nothing" Helen said, smiling at me.

Liam is so generous and..and..probably when my Dad has fully recovered, he'll occupy my mind again.. For now; I'm very much worried about my father that I'm now regretting why I didn't stay back with him at the hospital.

    *****

    ***

 The next morning, I informed Helen that I was already leaving for the hospital because Liam just called me on the phone and that he was waiting outside the gate. I actually told him not to come into the house because I knew that he was definitely gonna cause trouble with his father.

    Speaking of his father, Mr. Maya... I met him in the living room when I climbed down the stairs.

       "How is your father?" Mr. Maya smiled as he spoke to me. It's obviously a very wicked smile.

    I didn't want to speak with him, instead, I looked at him with hatred and disgust.

  "C'mon Eve, Why did I then give you a job if you don't wanna cater for your family by yourself. I still kept my promise after all" He came closer to me and put his hands on my shoulder which I slowly took them off and spoke coldly;

    "Mr. Maya, I'm in no mood for jokes... I'm visiting my father today" I told him. 

  "Oh yeah, you need to do that quickly, get back to your usual self then we can have some time for ourselves tonight" He said grinning his teeth and I felt like smacking him right on the face.

    I just had to control myself; I didn't say anything. I only bow my head a little.

    "I'll take my leave" I told him then went out of the house.

 "Hey Eve, I heard about what happened to your father" Andrew said...opening the car door.

  "I won't be taking the car. Which means that you won't be driving me" I said to him as I passed by him and headed to the gate which Robert opened for me. 

    *

    "I brought some fruits and beverages for your father" Liam said.

    "Oh My God, Liam. Thank you so much"

    "It's nothing... It's part of the little I can help. So what did my father say?"

    "Nothing, no sign of remorse" I shook my head.

    Liam sighed and said "It's Okay" then he started to drive.  We didn't really say anything throughout the journey to the hospital, although I was sort of watching him through the corner of my eyes.

    ***

    " Eve dear, you refused to go to work today just because of me. I told you I'm good...can't you see it" My Dad struggled to sit upright when we came in.

    I smiled and quickly helped him up as I gave him a gentle hug. 

    "You are indeed hale and healthy. You just need to fully recover" I said.

  "Eve was so worried that you might need a heart transpiration. We are so glad you are fine now"  Liam added and I shot him a stare, how did he know that was what I was worried about?

 "That's right, you both can go back to your workplace. Eve, happy your husband happy, and don't forget to reach out to me and send me money"  My Dad said, I chucked anyways... "I will" I assured him.

    "Here" Liam dropped the basket of fruits on the bedside table.

"Father, Liam bought....I... I mean... Mr. Maya and his son, Liam got you this" I lied because I figured out that Dad is always excited at the mention of Mr. Maya. He really thinks he is the good man he claimed to be when he came asking for my hand in marriage.

    Liam looked at me because of the lie I just told again, so I stylishly blinked my eyes at him, so that he would act along too.

    And he did, he also smiled...

"Uhmm..my father is very busy at the office, so he can't come down here to see you. That's why he sent both of us. I'm very sure that he would be glad to know how well you are doing now" Liam told my Dad, who kept smiling widely.

 Just then, the doctor came in, with some nurses and some medical pieces of stuff... And he told Liam and me to leave the ward while he attend to my father.

    So instead of waiting at the reception or taking seats outside the ward, we began to pace slowly from the ward wall to the opposite wall. When I'm at the ward wall, he'll be at the opposite wall and vice versa... not until we bumped into each other. We were supposed to say 'sorry' but we giggled instead. Maybe I'm just too happy and he noticed it.

   We stopped pacing around as we faced each other properly.

    "I'm glad, you are so happy" Liam said.

  "And thanks to you too. I don't ever want to imagine what would have happened to my father assuming you didn't come through for me" I told him.

    "Uhm... My father is not human...I mean a human being with no human feelings. You can't be with him forever" He said and I didn't know when I nodded.

"Okay so what will you do?" He syllabized the words.

   "Nothing" I answered.

"No Eve, you are gonna do something. Or are you planning to abscond? "  He got it right.

    "Huh...Errr" I blinked nervously. I shouldn't deny it, didn't he promise to keep all of my secrets?

    "Yes" I responded coldly; not looking at his face but I didn't get any word from him..so I glared at his face.

  "Errrm... It's... It is the best thing for you...and your father" He stuttered and I nodded coldly; "  But..but there are people who don't want you to just suddenly disappear especially after they have gotten used to you. I just wanna let you know that there are some people who like you and they do not want you to just leave like that most especially without saying goodbye... Imagine if...if I come to the office every day and I didn't see you around" Liam rushed his words and I noticed that he was trying really hard not to stutter again

 My heart beat faster, I hope he was tryna insinuate something and I hope it was what I want from him; nevertheless, I summoned up the courage to continue staring into his eyes and asked him; "Do you like me?"

    "Sure" He replied almost immediately. That response sounds normal and general.

I asked further;  "I... I mean not that kind of like; Like... Like Like..." He was looking at me like he didn't understand what I meant and I was also avoiding making use of the word 'Love'. I also didn't want to be the first to open up about my feelings for him. 

   So I just said... " No, don't worry, Just Forget it" I told him nervously.

    "Yeah, I like you" He repeated.

    "Yeah I get" I replied coldly. 

    "That like like...Like, the one you are talking about" He said smiling.

    "Uhn?" My eyes almost bulged out of the socket and my heart almost jumped out also...

"What...what..are you saying?" I stammered.

  "I don't know if I'm just realizing it or I have been the one trying not to believe that I do... that I like you regarding the...the kind of...uhm.. plight you found yourself into"He said stammering.

    I understood what he was talking about. 

    The stepmother and stepson stuff. 

  The truth is, I was also trying to kill my feelings for him right from the time I started liking him even the day I knew I might like him... It's absurd yet the feeling wasn't ready to die especially when he kissed me...

    ******

    ****

Eve's POV

The doctor assured us that my father will be well taken care of and he told us to leave since there's something we needed to attend to ~ like work. He promised to inform me whenever it's time to discharged my Dad, nevertheless; we could still check up on him. Which I'm definitely gonna do.

    Liam drove the two of us to the office and he wouldn't stop smiling while I was nervous about what's gonna happen to us ~ regarding the stepmom and son stuff..

   "Yes, I like you too and I'll let it remain like that " I said; yeah the least we can do is to let it remain at the point of 'Like', we can also lie to ourselves that the feelings we are having is a mere family bond.

"Wanna know why I am so happy?" He asked me instead..

    "Why?" I murmured.

 "Because I fell in love again shortly after Clara left me" He responded.

    What? Love?

  I cleared my throat nervously and rested my head on the car window.

    "I know what you're thinking" He said, I sighed and looked at him.

  "Yes, you do" I muttered..

 "Listen Even, you had no choice than to marry my father but you do not like him not even one bit but here we are, we like eachother" He said, I sat properly and looked at him.

    "Let...let it remain like that, as time goes on..the feelings will..errrm fade away" I told him.

    "Nahh it won't, I love really hard Eve even when I'm supposed to learn from what Clara did to me" He glimpsed at me and smiled then he returned his glance at where he was driving too.

"Everything is going to be fine, you don't have to worry at all He said, then he held my hand and it sent a very cold shiver down my vein.

  "We have to be worried Liam. This is...forbidden" I uttered, looking at him and taking my hands off slowly. He glimpsed at me again but he stopped smiling this time.

 "You said it yourself that you didn't want to accept the fact that you may have feelings for me regarding our related family relationship" I continued..

    "Yeah... I... To be honest, I don't know what to do" He finally said, I continued looking at him worriedly, he didn't say anything else. Obviously, we were both nervous.

    ***

     We arrived at the office just after the recess period was over. Everyone greeted Liam and paid their usual respect. I also waved at my three closest colleagues before moving to our place of work but  I don't know why all eyes were on us. When we were out of their sights, Liam tried to hold my hand while we were walking, I glared at him but he smiled. I shook my head and released my hand from his, I'm sure he understands what my cold gestured means. We can't start anything or not just yet. 

    He cleared his throat awkwardly when we got to my own office;

  "It's good to be back here" He said and I nodded.

   "I see we gotta lot of works to do, we might eventually need a P.A" He added.

Yeah, there was so many files on my table..when I'm done with it, i'ld submit it to him for sorting as usual.

"So I'll be waiting for you in my office" He smiled again. I watched him walk into his office before taking my seat.

  Yet, I couldn't bring myself to start working immediately. I placed my head on the table thinking about everything. Although I was glad that our feelings were mutual but what are we gonna do to it since I'm married to his father?  What about the people aware of my marriage, what will they say when they find out that Liam loves me and I do too? What about Mr Maya himself?

    I sighed heavily then I tried to put aside the distressing thoughts. One thing I know, if it's meant to be; it will be. 

 I switched on my computer and began to work. 

 When I was done with typing and formatting as usual, I stood up to go give him the files.

    "Come on in Eve" He said before I could even knock on the door.

I walked in; only to see him at the small parlor part of the office, and he was holding two cups. He looked at me and smiled; I tried to avoid looking into his eyes, so i walked to his official seat to drop the file on the desk.

    "I made coffee for us" He offered raising the two cups up.

   "Liam" I muttered his name as I came to meet him.

 "Come on, you've been so stressed lately. Don't try to turn me down just because we have butterflies in our belly" He said.

   "Butterflies in our belly?" I chuckled a little. 

 "Have it" He stretched his hand and handed it over to me.

    "Thank you" I told him as I received it and turned to go.

  "It's coffee and talk not, coffee and leave" He said, then sat on a armchair. He tapped his side..beckoning me to come sit next to him.

    I rolled my eyes a little before going to sit beside him anyways, then I sipped the coffee slowly..

  "He doesn't have to know" He spoke.

    "What?" I stopped sipping and looked at him.

 "He doesn't have to know about us" He responded..then continued; "When two opposite svx confessed their feelings to each other, do you know what they do?" He asked.

    I was short of words..so I just had to call out his name softly; "Liam"

  He smiled as he tucked the fallen strands on my hair to the back of my ear.

    "You are not cheating on him, you are only following your heart. Besides, didn't you say you wanna run away from him as soon as you have the chance to. You can just divorce him instead, he is no good for you; he has never been" He said, I was only gazing at him.. "You might have noticed it, I've been overreacting during the times I quarreled my father, it's because I just can't bare the way he treats you"

    "Divorce" I muttered as I took another nervous sip "I wanna do that but it's not as easy as you just mentioned it and it might as well bounce back on me..." He interrupted me

  "No it won't. Even the financial assistance you married my father because of, he has quitted and he literally showed you his true colours. What are you still waiting for? Anytime you may need help, I promise that i'll always be there" He said with his hand on the left side of his chest.

 "Yet I can't just file a divorce or not just yet. Mr Maya is not even gonna sign it" I told him..

  "Gosh I made you sign those stupid marriage contract paper" He regretted as he dropped his coffee on the table and sighed.

    "Okay.." I said slowly, he glanced at me. "We won't let him know" I agreed and he put on a smile.

 "Let's see how it goes, my father might even be the one to send youoff but mind you, I got your back always and you are mind" He said and I blushed secretly.

    I allowed him to hold and fondled my hand then he moved closer to me, I wasn't really nervous anymore instead I was happy that we are risking this lovey dovey decision.

  We couldn't stop staring at each other, he was still smiling at me and my cheeks redden. He gazed at my lips then leaned forward to..to kiss me? We have forgotten about the coffee in my hand, so when he leaned over, it spilled on his shirt and distracted us.

    "Oh My God" I exclaimed and dropped the coffee on the table.

   "Don't worry, I have my suitcase here" He chuckled and coughed awkwardly.

    "Oh.. Okay" I smiled in a shy manner and stood up to leave.  "I'll go to my office now" I told him.  I've only taken a step away from him when he gently pulled me back ~ making me fall on him, he reached for my lips and kissed me. Although, it was sort of sudden yet I reciprocated so passionately and then he took over.

    ****

    ***