Let me love you. ✔

Liv-Marie

Matt

I slam the button on my alarm clock to silence it. It's way too early to wake up, especially on Sunday. I immediately take a look at my phone. Something I do a lot since I left last Thursday and sigh when there's only a message from my mother.

I drag myself out of bed, take a quick shower, and head over to the general dining room. I rather have my breakfast in my apartment, alone and in silence. But the producers hired personal trainers and chefs. They work together and make sure that we follow our diet and training to keep us in top shape.

Roaming the dining space I see Chriss and Liv-Marie. I join them after I picked up my plate with yummy porridge and I hope they serve something else tomorrow.

Somehow, Chriss got himself rye bread with butter, cold cuts, cheese, and veggies. I can't help it and suspect him of sleeping with one of the chefs. How else can he get that and the rest of us porridge? Okay, okay, it's not just porridge. There's a little scoop of butter and sugar sprinkled on top, but still. I rather eat my shoe.

I take a seat and Chriss shoves his phone in my face. "Did you see this, Matt?"

It's too early for his stupid jokes. "Not in the mood, Chriss. First, I have to finish this lovely bowl of wet newspapers."

"It's not some funny pic." he insists, holding the screen almost against my nose. "It's about Nova."

He hands me his phone and my blood runs cold reading the headline.

Jealous ex-boyfriend attacks Matthew Hartley's ex-girlfriend.

I quickly read it and the article ends with a photo where Dean is overpowered by two men. I feel panic rise when I see Nova lay beside them. The photo is taken too far away for me to see anything and it only tells what happened to Dean, not if Nova got hurt or anything else.

I should call her, right? Normally, I want to know if she is okay, even if we aren't together anymore.

Liv-Marie pulls me out of my thoughts. "Can I see?"

I give her the phone and use my spoon to draw figures in the porridge while she reads.

She hands it back to Chriss and says. "Being far away with this happening in L.A must be hard for you. Do you still have contact with her after your break up?"

I shake my head no. She didn't even reply to me when I send her the text before I left. I'm still hoping she will, though. Liv-Marie gives me an I'm sorry look and rubs my arm.

She is a sweet girl, Liv-Marie. I will never forget the moment we met. Bear was sitting behind me when she introduced herself to me. Being Bear, of course, he was curious and way too enthusiastic when he ran full speeds towards her.

She is scared to death of dogs and jumped into my arms, screaming bloody murder. Bear looked stupefied by her reaction and I laughed so hard that I almost dropped her onto the floor.

She is originally from Germany and moved to Palm Springs with her parents when she was sixteen. They believed it would give her more chance to break through than when they would stay in Augsburg. Her facial expressions are hilarious and you can tell by one look what she is thinking.

Bear broke the ice that day and we hit it off since then. I must say that she is hilarious most of the time. It's nice to laugh about nothing and not think about what Nova is doing.

She is pretty young, but her soul is an old one. We had a good talk about relationships and she told me her boyfriend broke up with her a day before she left. He told her that he couldn't keep his hands to himself for so long and that he already knew that he was going to have to cheat on her.