Chapter - 45 Tears of healing...

"Where is the problem now?" he asked getting impatient. This girl was heaven sent just to drive him crazy, he realised.

"You. You are the problem. You never trust people especially when it comes to women. You treat them as a liability. You loathe women. And there are even times when that dislike is very visible in your eyes. Maybe you despise me too. I don't want to come back to see disgust in your eyes every time you look at me." she said shaking her head.

His hands dropped from her arms and he took a step back. He ran his long fingers through his hair and laughed. A laugh which was devoid of any humour. It sounded kinda...sad.

"To think that you realised that I am not very fond of the opposite sex is surprising because you always look so oblivious to your surroundings. But how can you say...how can you even assume that I felt the same towards you? Hmm? Ms Rose? Did you really left your brain at my office before coming here?" he asked sarcastically.

Not my brain but my heart, she had wanted to say.

He turned his back towards her and Eva stood there leaning against the lift doors.

"My mom died when I was five." Liam's words caught her attention. He turned around and leaned against the wall opposite to her. He lowered his head as he continued, " I don't remember her that well but there are just some blurred images that always pop into my head when I think about her."

Even though she couldn't see his eyes but there was a sadness in his voice. Then a very slow smile appeared on his lips. A smile that didn't reach his eyes, she noticed.

"She died giving birth to a son."

Eva frowned. She had never heard about it ever before. The information about his family was just limited to his grandparents and father. There was no site that even showed a picture of his mother or mentioned the name of his brother but she kept quiet and listened as he continued, "Yeah, I had a brother. When I held him for the first time he was this small." he said looking at his hands as if reliving that moment.

"He was so tiny and delicate. After my mom's death, my father engrossed himself in his work. He never had time for us." He took a deep breath and closing his eyes he rested his head against the wall.

"You blame him?" Eva asked softly.

He gave a small smile as he opened his eyes. But his gaze felt as if it was focused at a distant object.

"No. I never hated him. Maybe his love for mom was so much that to run away from her memories he chose to drown himself in his work. He never married again." he took a deep breath as he continued, "My grandmother looked after us but then by the time I turned ten she had to leave the states and go to London because of some urgent matters. When she left I realised how much I had grown to love her."

Eva could see the warmth in his eyes as he talked about his grandmother. The same love that she had seen in his eyes on every occasion when he met the old lady.

"My dad was never there for any of our school functions. It was always just me and my brother. With every passing day we became more and more close. We were more like best friends than siblings. We never kept any secret from each other and when I turned 21 I started to help my father with the business. When my brother started college he met a girl. He was completely besotted by her. He used to talk about her day and night." Eva noticed that the warmth which she had seen earlier in his eyes was now lost and looking at him she felt as if she was looking at a cold block of ice.

"I'd always looked after him since the day he was born. I had sworn to protect him. When I realised that he was really into her I asked him to introduce us. I wanted to see what kind of girl had stole my little brother's heart." he clenched his jaw and closed his hand into a tight fist at his sides.

"Then one day he brought her home and introduced us. I didn't find anything wrong with that girl. Then she started visiting our house quite often. One day when I was working in my study she came and and asked what were my thoughts about her." He sneered at the memory.

"I realised her intentions and asked her to leave. I warned her to stay away from my brother. But ignoring all my warnings she kept coming closer to where I was sitting. She stopped right in front of my chair and removed her jacket... underneath which was nothing." Eva could see the disgust in his eyes.

"Just then the doors to the study opened and my brother saw us. She quickly picked up her jacket and covering her naked self looked at my brother and said, 'It was Liam who called me here. He was seducing me.' These were her words. I looked at her, completely baffled. She was accusing me of something I hadn't even imagined. I knew how much my brother liked her and I had never even looked at her in that way. I tried to explain the situation to my brother. I tried to prove my innocence but he just stormed out of the house. He got into his car and I followed him. I screamed his name but he wouldn't listen. I followed him in my car. I tried calling him but he didn't pick up. I blew the horn but he didn't stop the car. I shouted his name. I called out to him at the top of my voice as he made his way to the empty road. It started raining and he increased the speed of the car." Eva could see his hands shivering and his eyes looked as if they were witnessing that scene once again.

"I wanted to prove my innocence. I wanted him to stop that damned car but he just wouldn't listen to me. Then his car slipped and he lost the control. In- In front of my eyes his car hit a tree and it's front crumbled. A heavy branch of the tree fell on the driver's seat and hit him in the head." Liam fell on the floor as if his legs refused to bear the weight he was carrying.

He was shivering and Eva rushed to him and took his hand in hers. His hand was cold... too cold.

"The next thing I saw was his lifeless body. I - I rushed him to the hospital. There was still a chance that... that he was ok. Right? But they declared him dead." A tear fell from his eyes as he looked at his hands.

"When he was born I had held him in these hands and had promised to look after him, to protect him but then with these hands I lifted his his lifeless body. It- it was all my fault."

"No, it wasn't." Eva cupped his face. She tried her best to hold back her tears and put on a brave front for the person who in her heart had always felt like a Predator. The person she knew as arrogant and cold was now replaced by someone so vulnerable and she now wanted to protect him.

"If I hadn't allowed her in his life then he wouldn't have died." said Liam still looking lost in his pain and his whole body was shaking. He lowered his head and his warm tears touched her hands.

She hugged him tightly and tried to pull this large man into her relatively small embrace. She slowly patted his back as she said, "It wasn't your fault at all. You are the best brother, Liam anyone could ever have and I am sure your brother felt the same."

"But I couldn't protect him."

She pulled him from her embrace and cupped his face making him look into her eyes.

"There are some things, Liam that we can't control. If everything always went according to our plan then it wouldn't be called life. As a brother you did your job perfectly. You did everything for your brother."

"But I couldn't save him."

"Life and death can never be controlled, Liam. So please stop blaming yourself. It wasn't your fault." She pleaded.

There was a minute's silence when Liam finally spoke up.

"Then what do I do? I have carried the weight of the guilt for so long that it isn't easy to just shake it off."

He looked so vulnerable and lost just like a small child. It made Eva's heart hurt for him. She wanted to do something, anything for him. To ease his pain and to lift this burden of guilt he was carrying with himself for so many years. She was sure that he wouldn't even have mourned properly for the death of his brother. If he was anything like his father then he too must have tried to forget that pain and guilt by putting himself in his work. He needed to let these tears out, she decided.

She gently placed a kiss on his forehead and cupping his face she looked into his eyes. His beautiful blue green eyes which seemed so lost at the moment.

"Just know one thing, Liam. You are not responsible for your brother's death. So don't blame yourself anymore. I am sure even your brother feels the same."

"You think so?" he asked looking hopefully into her eyes just like a small child who needed assurance.

"Yes." she nodded her head into a yes.

She saw fresh tears coming out of his eyes as he pulled her into a hug. He held on to her as if she was his only source of light in this world which was filled with darkness. She was his hope and he desperately clung to her. He burried his head into her neck as she patted his back and said soothing words to ease his pain.

He had never cried since the day his grandmother had left for London and had told the 10 years old him to look after his brother and father. To protect them like a strong man. And he had tried his best to live up to his promise until that day when he lost his brother.

After his brother's death his father's health started detoriating. He couldn't bear the loss of his younger son after his wife's death and that started affecting his health.

Finally that day Liam decided to shut his heart to any emotion especially those which brought weakness with them. He didn't cry. Since that day he stopped smiling and just engrossed himself in his work.

From that day he developed hate towards women. He couldn't bear their touch because it reminded him of that girl whose one lie had taken the life of his brother.

But then this woman walked up to him and started melting the defences he had created during all those years. This girl who at the moment was coaxing him as if he were a little child, had revived the feeling he had long before killed. She was his light, his ray of hope and he would never let her go, he decided as he tightened his hold on the girl on his lap.

He cried his heart out. He mourned for the loss of his brother. He cried without the feeling of being judged for his tears. He let his emotions flow while she held him strongly in her hold.

"It's OK to cry,

it's OK to feel sad,

it's OK to feel the way you feel your emotions,

it's OK to lose someone,

it's OK to pour your heart out.

Crying doesn't make you fragile or weak, it just proves that you are a human.

So just cry when you can't bear your emotions."

______

Special thanks to KathieLeininger who named this  chapter.🥰