The sun rays fall on my face as the curtains are slided aside. The warm light on my face makes me slowly wake up, as my eyes flutter open I find myself in my dorm with a weird pounding in my head. The cool sheets are so comfortable to just stay in a little longer.
"Wake up now, it's already 3 in the afternoon" Jasmine informs. My eyes flutter wide open and I sit up straight removing the blanket. As I sit groggily on my bed rubbing my eyes feeling the haziness in my vision. The dull ache in my head and bitterness on my tongue makes me remember last night
I groan holding my head regretting it. I was so angry and frustrated yesterday that I just forgot everything and went straight up to drink to clear my head
Seriously?
What was I even thinking! I just did something totally out of my character just because I was so pissed off by that jerk
"How are you feeling?" Jasmine asks, she sits on the edge of the bed passing me a glass of water and a tablet . I take the tablet swallowing it and gulp down the water in one go to ease out the dryness in my throat. The memories of last night are still blurry, I don't remember anything. "Still groggy" I mumble, placing the glass aside
"If you get drunk like that again without anyone around I am seriously gonna kill you. Do you know how worried I was?" She glares at me. She is angry but I know how concerned she is for me. Jasmine knows about me getting drugged once, her anger is applicable. "I am really sorry, I wasn't thinking properly, Please don't be mad" I say, my words sincere but I couldn't maintain eye contact with her due to guilt. I slowly tug on her hand trying to ask her forgiveness
She sighs, shaking her hand, her eyes softens "Be careful from now on okay? Don't do that again" I smile while nodding at her. She scoots closer wrapping her arms around me pulling me into a hug "Thank God, Liam brought you back" she says, rubbing my back
I pulled away from her, "what do you mean Liam brought me back?" I ask, almost yelling. She slams her palm on her forehead "Aare yeh ladki toh sab kuch bhool gayi! She groans
[Translation: Ah! This girl has forgotten everything!]
"You were drunk, you called him and blabbed something to him. Luckily, he found you and brought you back" she explains. As she speaks, a bit of the memories come back to my mind. Me calling him lemon, him arriving at the restaurant, and how I was singing in front of him.
I closed my eyes and hid my face in my hands feeling embarrassed. "Please tell me you are joking." I plead, hoping this all was just a dream. She chuckles, shaking her head. Jasmine grabs my hands and removes them from my face and gestures to me to look beside. I frown and turn my head to the side. My eyes fall on a coat lying beside me.
Oh God-
I take the wrinkled coat in my hands feeling the expensive cloth is all ruined due to my behavior. "This is bad" I cry out, trying to straighten the wrinkles with my palm which is obviously really stupid. Jasmine holds my hands preventing me from touching the coat and takes it in her hands in the air
"you did this with his coat, what would you do if it was him instead?" She smirks teasing me. My face turns red with embarrassment. She laughs seeing my reaction "Oh so you will do something?" She says in a low and playful voice
I snatch the coat from her hand and slap her arm lightly "Shut up!" I whine. She keeps laughing and enjoying it. The smell of alcohol lingering on the coat and my clothes, making me uncomfortable "Ugh! I reek of alcohol!"
She stops laughing and nods, becoming a bit more serious about the situation "yeah, you gotta hit the shower now and get ready. That guy has been waiting for you for an hour now" Jasmine comments getting up from the bed.
"What do you mean he is waiting?' I snap
"Oh, well Liam is downstairs waiting for you to get up. He wanted to take you out, it's been an hour now since he came" she replies, her tone calm and casual as if it isn't a big deal while I am panicking here. He has been waiting for an hour now? I jump off the bed running inside the bathroom "why didn't you wake me up before?" I yell from inside preparing for a shower
I hear ruffling sounds coming, she might be arranging the bed covers "What can I do? Liam requested me to let you rest, that's why I didn't wake you up from the classes too" she replies "and you know he carried you all the way upstairs?" She adds
"No, that would be the best thing I will ever hear"
My heart skips a beat as his words come flowing back inside my head. Did I just confess while being drunk? Just like that?
What's wrong with me!
I quickly turn on the shower, washing off the smell of alcohol from me. The lukewarm water relaxes my muscles, helping me to feel better. The water flowing down my hair gives me a light headed feeling. I need to hurry, he has already been waiting for so long
I finish taking my shower and get dressed up into cream cargos and a white one shoulder top. Jasmine helped me dry my hair while I did my skincare and light makeup. I was going to cover my freckles but stop myself, Miles's words did affect me but I don't wanna feel insecure just because of him.
I grab my phone and bag and put on the sneakers Liam gave me. I almost trip because I was trying to tie my shoelace while standing with my leg hanging up
"Aare! Sambhal kar!" Jasmine warns "Slowly Stella" she adds because I couldn't understand what she said precisely" I nod and give her a wave while exiting the room "Thanks Jas. Bye!"
[Translation: Be careful]
Unfortunately the elevator is still out of service so I had to take the stairs while rushing. As I walk outside I find Liam leaning against his car with his hands in his pocket, a small smile appears on his face when he notices me walking towards him. I slow my pace trying to catch my breath.
"Hey Freckles" he greets, forwarding a red rose towards me. I couldn't help but smile receiving the rose "Thank you"
He looks at me studying my expressions, he looks calm and collected. I don't think he is angry or upset with my stunt I did yesterday. Taking a deep breath I gather my courage to apologize "I am sorry about yest-"
"How are you feeling?" He cuts me off, his eyes showing concern. My fingers curl around the rose unsure of how to reply "I am fine now, sorry about yesterday. That was inappropriate and I have embarrassed you too..." I say in a low voice which is barely audible
He shakes his head,his knuckles brushing over my cheeks softly "You think I care about that? What I wanna know is if you feel better. Does your head hurt?" He says in a gentle tone
"I took the medicine, i think it's working well" I reply. He hums tugging the hair strand behind my ear. "That's good" he wraps his arm around my waist pulling me closer "Are you gonna tell me about what made you so upset that you went out to drink?" He says
My heart races fast feeling his eyes on me, searching for an answer "It was a stupid reason, it's just-" I stop and look at liam, his eyes soft asking me for an answer. I confess everything that happened yesterday and also mention Miles's behavior in the past with me.
Liam's hand clenches for a while before he releases it again. He listens to everything without saying anything. When I finally, I find his eyes avoiding mine. "That's all, it's nothing to think about. I don't wanna talk about it again" I add
He glances at me and nods understanding it "Okay, I won't mention it again but what was his name again?" He asks
"Miles Smith?" I replied, he mumbled something under his breath. "We won't be talking about it again like you said" he clarifies. His expression goes back to neutral while he says "what do you wanna do today?"
I feel myself relaxing as he decides not to mention it. I think for a while, "I have already missed my classes so it's better if I just focus on completing my design"
"Skip it for today, I completed my work sooner. We can spend some time together"
My heart skips a beat, he keeps smiling at me making me forget all of my tension and worries. I nod "Actually I have an idea" I have been thinking about this for a while and maybe we can try it today.
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"How about olives?" Liam asks, holding a small packet of fresh olives in his hands. I turn to take it from him and scan the pack before putting it in our shopping cart.
As I wasn't able to take him out last night, I got an idea that we can plan a small date at his apartment. And I always had a shopping date and cooking date in my bucket list. So, here we are shopping for the ingredients to make pizza.
I walk a little ahead while Liam follows me pushing the shopping cart, looking for vegetables best for our little pizza making date. We have already gathered flour, yest and cheese and now it's time to select toppings
I fetch for a pack of tomatoes when Liam calls me "I found the perfect toppings"
My head snaps in his direction, to find him holding a whole pineapple in his hand with a mischievous grin on his face. I gasp and point at the pineapple
"Put.That.Down! Or I am gonna kill you!" I order glaring at him while he just laughs putting the pineapple back on its shelf. I know he is joking and just trying to get a reaction out of me and he succeeded well
Pineapple on pizza is a unforgivable crime
"Death by you is like heaven to me" he says, his voice low and husky. He walks in my direction smirking at my reaction. I cross my arms, he enjoys teasing me and it's getting harder to compete with him. I am gonna take my revenge
"Come on, freckles. I was kidding" He slips his hand around my waist pulling me closer to his chest and presses a kiss on my cheek. I could feel myself getting flustered, we are in public but does he care? Absolutely not
I am not complaining though-
He is like a breath of fresh air in the storm of the world
"Stella?" My body freezes up recognising the voice, I slowly shift my body to turn around. My smile fades away when I see Henry standing a few steps across us with a shopping basket in his hand.
Liam looks at me first and then back to Henry. My brother raises his eyebrow eyeing both of us suspiciously, his eyes fall on Liam's hand around my waist. But Liam doesn't remove his hand and stay in the same position "You want me to step away?" He whispers cautiously, still maintaining the eye contact with Henry
"No, stay" I whisper back, my heart clenches with fear and nervousness. I really need him near me right now. Liam nods and tightens his grip slightly
"Boyfriend?" Henry asks, his voice is low preventing others from listening to it. "Yeah" I reply in the same manner. Henry is not the type to get angry or frustrated easily, looking at his expressions he seemed understanding about this whole situation.
As Henry was about to speak again, a feminine voice interrupted him "I found your favorite chocolates!" a girl appears beside Henry and drops a box of chocolates in his basket. Henry's attention gets diverted to her, a small smile forming on his face.
The girl turns her head facing us, her eyes green shine. I gasp, recognising her. That's the girl I met yesterday at the café, whose drink I threw at miles. When I look at Henry again I can notice the slight redness on his cheeks
Wait-
Don't tell me she the one Henry mentioned when I last time visited my home
"Your girlfriend?" I ask, trying not to yell. Henry nods "yeah" he replies casually. My mouth drops open. "Hey girl boss" she greets me with a warms smile, hearing her words Henry frowns "Why did you call her that?" he asks
"Oh because when I saw her at the café yesterday she-" her eyes fell in my direction while speaking. I quickly shake my head slowly requesting her not to mention that. She realizes my signal and stops "Oh I just met her yesterday at the café, I don't know her name that's why I called her that" she covers up making me sigh in relief.
"Hey, I am Stella" I introduce myself, she smiles and steps forward, extending her hand towards me. "Hey girl, Henry mentioned you. I am wren" she replies, I accept her handshake as we greet each other
I drop the grocery bags on the kitchen counter. We have got everything which is necessary for the pizza date. Stella comes from behind me and starts to remove the vegetables and ingredients from the paper bag
She looks so gorgeous today
Her cargo pants paired up with a one shoulder top perfect for her figure, her hair strands falling down on her face while she is busy arranging the stuff. Her serene expressions are enough for me to relax.
I am still worried about what happened yesterday. Gotta do something about Miles, he has hurt her in the past and tried to do it again. This time he can't get away from this
We somehow bumped into Henry, Stella's brother. I haven't met him but I saw him at the party once, and from what I observed he is more understanding than Ethan. Even while Stella introduced me to him, he wasn't reacting much but being a brother he did give me a warning about not hurting stella.
Being an older brother myself I understand him. In the future, due to any circumstances I hurt her, I would accept the punishment myself without any hesitation. But that day won't come, at least I hope.
"I will feed this to buddy!" Stella says excitedly holding the pack of doggy treats she specifically selected for him. Listening to his name being called buddy dash inside the kitchen waggling his tail moving around Stella egarly for the treat
I sigh looking at the sight, Stella has gotten comfortable around buddy. Honestly? She loves him so much! Like I had to put so much efforts to get her attention and this fur ball just got her whole attention in a few days
She crouch down to his level feeding buddy some treats with a wide smile on her face. As long as she is happy I am fine with anything. When I come back from work I find buddy accompanying Stella while she works on her design. There's something so comforting about that sight
I could finally say that my apartment is now becoming my home
"I am gonna change into something comfortable" I informed her before walking inside my bedroom. I didn't have much work today and was able to leave early to spend some time with her. I grab a set of sweatpants and a hoodie, well Stella likes them so why not.
I slipped into my comfortable clothes, as I was about to put on the hoodie. I hear Stella's voice "Liam, where do you keep the pizza tray?" She asks, her voice coming from the kitchen followed by some sound of vessels.
She couldn't find it
I was about to wear the hoodie when I had a wicked idea. Maybe I should tease her a little, I leave the hoodie on the bed and walk out of the room towards the kitchen. Stella stands with her back facing me while she looks through the kitchen cupboards
"It's in the corner right cupboard" I say guiding her. She nods without looking at me and opens the cupboard pulling out the pizza trays as she turns around to set them on the kitchen counter her gaze got intensified observing my shirtless body
I lean against the kitchen counter while she stands at the other end. Her eyes wandering across each of my muscles making me smirk at her reactiveness
I witnessed her hitched breath "you seem to be enjoying the view" I comment. Her eyes meet mine, I thought she would be embarrassed or feel shy but instead the corner of her lip curls up into a small smile "Yes I am" she says with confidence making me chuckle
"But could you" she stops her sentence midway and pulls out her phone from her pocket and starts clicking a few pictures "could you pose for me?" She asks innocently but I can see her smirking behind her phone "may I ask why?" I say in a soothing tone
She wants to turn the tables now?
Not happening
She peeks at me from behind the phone "So I can show you off to my friends? And maybe on my Instagram too" she says with a playful tone. I straighten up and take a step back from the counter. She giggles at my reaction, I know she is just joking but if she wanna play then I would love to join her
"You shouldn't do that sweetheart, delete the photos" I order, not with a strict tone but matching her playfulness. She shakes her head "No!" she takes a step to the left and I do the same "You are mine now and I can do anything I want"
My heart leaped at her words, when she called me hers
She does the same but this time in the right side direction and I follow her actions. She raises her eyebrows, asking me for this challenge. I nod with confidence and just then she dashed off to the living room while I chase her.
Her giggles fill the room, even buddy gets up watching us from his dog bed. Stella keeps running here and there sometimes around the couch or revolving around the room. But I still have a few advantages here.
As her steps get a bit slow due to constantly changing direction, I grab the opportunity and wrap my arm around her waist and stomach pulling her towards me. She gasps feeling her back hit my chest. Both of our breaths fast and hearts racing rapidly, the warmth radiating off her body. I lean towards her neck my fingers running up and down her right arm
"You thought you could win against me?" I ask, in a flirtatious manner searching for a reaction from her. Her body tenses up feeling my breath on her neck and exposed shoulder "No, but wouldn't you lose for me?" She replies her voice low
"I have already lost a million times for you" I say, tracing my fingertips on her neck and shoulder. She gasps softly leaning against my chest, my grip tightens around her waist "your phone, sweetheart" I murmure.
She holds her phone up without fighting about it. I take the phone from her and press a kiss on the side of her head "Good girl" I smirk
Wrapping my arms securely hugging her from behind while I look through the photos she took of mine, I nod in approval finding the pictures well taken. I hand her the phone and step away from her, she frowns and looks at me confused "You can keep the pictures but I can always be shirtless for you" I wink at her
She huffs a little while receiving her phone again. I Chuckle at her reaction and ruffle her hair a little, careful enough not to mess them up
"We should start making the pizzas" I suggest
â
"Okay on the count of three" Stella holds one slice of the pizza and I do the same. She holds her three fingers up and starts the countdown "Three, two, one!" As her last finger curls down we both take the bite from our respective pizzas at the same time
We decided to make pizzas for each other. I made a margarita pizza for her because she likes it that way, whereas Stella made me a pizza with tomatoes, olives and green capsicum.
The hot pizza smelled delicious as we took a bite. The gooey cheese and crispy crust with a hint of veggies and tangy sauce is a perfect combination of flavors. We both hum savoring the taste of each other's choice. I raise my hand up and she responds to me with a high five as an appreciation for our hard work
"We should do this often," she says, chewing on the pizza happily. "Yeah definitely" I reply, admiring her carefree behavior. Her eyes shine like jewels glinting in the darkness. The sapphire pendant tangled around her neck complimenting her eyes. Those eyes are like a whirlpool drawing me towards her embracing me into an immense beauty
I could forever be looking at her, just her
â
We finish our food and relax on the couch, Stella's head resting on my chest and my one hand around her shoulder while she keeps skipping the channels.
I love having her close to me like this
'And here is Jeff Anderson, the youngest billionaire of Australia,' the news anchor says. I divert my attention to the screen showing Jeff's recently taken an interview. Stella's fingers stop and she sits up straight looking keenly at the screen. I remove my hand from her and change my position
"Isn't he the guy that met you at the Italian restaurant?" She turns towards me recalling that incident. "Yeah he is" I reply
"How do you know him, Liam? I have seen him two times and it feels like you guys are friends or something?" She asks with curiosity in her voice. I gulp nervously "Hm well we aren't friends. I can describe him as an associate?" I say, trying not to spill out too much
She mutes the television and scoots closer to me again looking at me with a suspicious gaze "You are hiding something aren't you?" She holds the remote below my chin.
I sigh, it's useless to hide. I should just tell her the truth. Not everything yet but slowly and carefully I will reveal everything to her. She removes the remote to let me speak.
"You know I like bike riding right?" I ask, and she nods in response. I scratch the back of my neck "well, I used to race for him" I reveal. She frowns and looks at the screen and then back at me "Race for him? What do you mean?" She questions
I took a deep breath, slipping her hand into mine "when I was in the first year of university, I stumbled upon Jeff. He got to know about my passion for bikes and approached me to race for him. I didn't understand at first but soon got to know that he is the owner of one of the world's biggest racing events. I got into a contract with him and earned both fame and money but secretly" I paused to see her reaction. Stella's eyes stretch wide and mouth slightly open listening to my revelation
No one knows about this part of my life except Adam and Jeff. I rub my thumb against the back of her hand and resume "It's not something I am ashamed of or proud of, I saw it as a hobby and a way to distract myself from everything happening around me. It was nice for a while but soon I started to feel trapped. When the contract came to an end i decided to leave this for good"
She shrugs off her shoulders "wow- that's really unexpected" she replies, her expressions back to normal "it's your decision Liam and I won't judge on that but you know" she leans closer to my ear and whispers "I always had a thing for bikers"
I chuckle at her words, wrapping my arms around her waist, "specifically me?" I ask, brushing my lips against hers. She nods caressing my cheek "Especially you" she replies
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Author's Note
I know I am being unfair to you guys, I am sorry for late updates but I am trying to complete the chapters soon but I couldn't manage my time properly. That's why I am writing long chapters for y'all. Hope you all understand ð¤
So, I won't be giving any targets for now, vote & comment if you enjoyed the chapter
Oh btw on a reader's request I made Liam's character ai. You can try it and give me the reviews. You can find the link in my Instagram bio-
App: c.ai
Website: c.ai
Account name: authorvenus
Scent of Love has reached 300k reads and I am really thankful for all your love & support ðð
-have a nice day~