Chapter 51: Chapter 51

Thomas was holding her as they entered the house. He was by her side the whole time. He had given her as much time as she needed while he held her in his arms in the car. He wanted to take away all the pain. Seeing her in misery sparked some new feelings of empathy in him. He felt like he was the one who was hurt. He kept on caressing her hair and back until she calmed down a little. It had been a little over an hour when she raised her face from his chest looking a little embarrassed. She had stopped crying, but he could sense how much trauma she was going through at that moment.

“Are you okay?” He asked tucking her hair gently behind her ear. Her bun had loosened up a bit and her strands were plucking out of the previously neat bun. He cursed at himself in his mind for not being able to remove his eyes from her.

“Yeah.” She said with a hoarse voice. Putting her hands on the seat, she got up from his lap not meeting his eyes. She could not believe she had been sitting on his lap for so long. She looked at his shirt and noticed the stain with a mixture of her tears and mascara. She had completely ruined his white shirt.

He noticed that she did not want to talk, so he drove her to the villa. The whole time during the drive, he kept on gazing her way. He wanted to know if she was alright. She looked lost looking out of the window like always. But this time, she did not look content. She looked heart-wrenchingly sad.

He brought her inside while holding her arm. She could not even walk without stumbling. After thinking for a moment, he picked her up in his arms bridal style. She looked at him with a gasp. Her eyes looked so innocent gazing up at him. She did not tell him to put her down as he had expected.

Her eyes were red from crying so much and her mascara had also gotten ruined with black marks on her cheeks. She still looked as breathtaking to him as she always did.

He shook his head removing his eyes from her and took her to her room upstairs. She needed rest after everything she went through that night. It was indeed a long day for her.

He opened the door with one hand while holding her weight with his other arm. She wanted him to put her down as she looked at him holding her while opening the door at the same time. But he did it before she could say anything.

He brought her to the bed and laid her down softly. She was leaning against the headboard. All she could do was stare at him.

“Do you need anything?” He asked as he saw her gazing up at him. He thought she wanted something.

She shook her head but kept on staring at him.

He sat beside her and took her hand in his—a bit hesitantly of course. He did not know if she would feel uncomfortable. But he wanted to make sure she knew he was there for her. His other fist clenched by his side as he remembered how that fucker touched her. He could not erase the image.

“Olivia, do you want to talk about it?” He asked gently caressing her hand while looking at her with a soft expression. He did not want to remind her about the incident again, but he wanted her to empty her heart. He knew how difficult it must have been for her. He was aware of how it felt to be alone with devastating emotions and thoughts. When he lost his parents, he went into depression for a year since he had no one with whom he could truly share his feelings. His grandpa was too immersed in his sadness after losing his only son that he did not pay any attention to Thomas for a while. When he did, Thomas emerged as a bitter, arrogant, egoist person.

He did not want her to think she had no one to share her emotions with. They were away from home. She might feel lonely, he thought.

“I am okay.” She said briefly with the same hoarse voice. She was looking at their hands. She was probably not even aware that she was drawing circles on his palm making her look at their joined hands.

He could tell she was not okay, but he did not press her. He nodded standing up. Her hand slipped out of his as he stood up. Only then, she noticed that he had gotten up.

“I will be back in a minute.” He went out of the room. Olivia felt an emptiness inside her heart as he left the room. She wanted him to stay beside her. But he had other things to take care of aside from her, she thought.

She leaned against the headboard completely and closed her eyes. The image of her sobbing and trying to push him away returned. She opened her eyes again in panic. She started breathing harder as she tried to erase the memory from her brain. She did not want to remember it again.

“What happened? Are you alright?” Thomas came inside the room to find her leaning forward and breathing harshly. She looked at him without saying anything. She could not even make herself say something.

But she nodded to let him know she was okay. He was already worried a lot about her.

“Hey!” Thomas whispered as he sat beside her and put the bowl and the towel on the bedside table. He took her face in his hands.

“I am here. Forget everything. Nothing will happen to you, okay.” He reassured her. He knew she must have remembered the scene again. God knew, how much he wanted to bury that bastard alive. He would press charges against him first thing in the morning. He would not let him go.

“I am okay,” Olivia said again trying to convince herself in reality. He removed his hands and picked up the bowl of warm water when he was sure she was calmed down a little. He grabbed the towel and dipped it in the bowl before cleaning her face.

She was in no position to go take a shower or clean up so he thought he should bring her the bowl.

“I can do this.” Olivia was confused at first thinking about what he was doing. She put her hand on top of his to stop him. She was feeling so awkward and bad that she was making him do all the work. He had already done enough for her whole life to remember. It was the second time he had done her such a huge favor. She could never forget it.

“Let me do it.” He said with a smile trying to ease her worry. He picked up on her feeling awkward. But he wanted to do anything that would make her feel assured that he was there for her.

She looked at him for a moment before removing her hand and letting him do what he wanted to. He started cleaning her tears and strains of her makeup.

She wanted to chuckle. He did not know makeup removers and wipes existed. It was kind of cute that he made such an effort for her. She did not feel as awkward as she did thinking about how he would clean her face. He did it quite gently too and with so much concentration.

“Where is your night suit? Let me fetch it.” He got up, put the bowl on the bedside, and started looking around. He was acting as if she was paralyzed and could not walk. She found it sweet instead of anything else. He was being too caring.

She looked at him going towards her suitcase. Her eyes widened as she remembered the lingeries.

“Wait!” She called as he was about to open it. His hands froze and he turned around to find her looking like a deer caught in a headlight. She bit her lip.

“I don’t have any night suits.” She said looking at and biting on her fingernails. She did not know how to tell him her best friend had left her with nothing but over a dozen pieces of lingeries.

“I don’t understand. What have you been wearing to sleep?” He asked confusedly. She did not have a single nightwear.

“Oh!” He said as he understood the situation. It was not hard to figure out why she was sleeping in lingerie the other day. And why she was panicking when he went to open her suitcase?

Thinking about that day, he remembered how tempting she looked and how hard he tried to refrain from staring at her.

He wanted to chuckle at how cute she looked thinking hard about what to say to him. She played with the covers that he had laid on her legs while trying to make her mind work. She could not tell him she had been sleeping in lingerie.

“I have a solution.” He said with a grin making her look at him questioningly. He left the room and returned after a while with his shirt.

“Here. Wear this to sleep.” He gave her his shirt. She reluctantly took it. It was a yellow shirt that was probably too big for her to cover her thighs. She hated to bother others, but she had no choice. After bothering him so much for the night, she had to wear his shirt now.

“I will be making some tea while you change.” He left the room again, closing the door behind him, and went to the kitchen. She loved herbal tea, so he went to make her some. He hoped she would forget about this bitter memory and move on. It was hard. He knew it, but he would do anything to make her forget about it.

He went to her door and knocked on the door. He heard a faint ‘come in’ and went inside.

He put the cup on the bedside table and took a seat beside her. She had changed into his shirt. It looked so cute on her. She had practically gotten lost inside it. It was too big for her. He smiled as he saw the half-sleeves crossing her elbows. She had also untied her hair.

He gave her the cup and grabbed his cup. He wanted to spend time with her.

“Thank you.” She said avoiding looking at him. Nobody, besides her, mother had taken so much care of her. She did not know if he was doing it out of sympathy or not, all she knew was that she needed it. She needed the company he was giving her at that moment.

She did not know what she would have done if he was not there with her.

“My pleasure.” He smiled. He wanted to say there was no need to thank him. Spending time with her had become one of his hobbies, but he refrained from saying, “Should we go to the mall tomorrow? To get you whatever you need.” He offered. He wanted to take her out and ease her worries.

She nodded making his smile widen. He was so glad she had calmed down.

They finished the tea and he was about to leave when she grabbed his wrist with her soft and small hand.

He was surprised to no end as he turned a round. She had never done that before.

“Stay with me tonight. Please.” His heart skipped a beat as he heard her say that. She made a request looking at him with so much innocence that he wanted nothing more than to fulfill her wish. That was exactly what he intended to do. He did not want to leave her alone. He was just leaving to put the cups in the kitchen and change into some comfortable clothing.

And now, she had personally requested him to stay.

“Okay. I will be back in a minute.” He gave an assuring smile as she let go of his wrist and removed her eyes from his.

He shook his head at her innocence and left the room with a smile.