Chapter 14 "Discovered"

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Lauren

Hearing a faint indistinct sound, I eventually groaned in irritation as my sleep got easily disrupted by it. As I was about to give whoever was in the room, a piece of my mind, a sudden blinding light had immediately slipped through my eyelids, causing me to eventually open my eyes to cuss at someone.

"Good morning!" Alex's familiar voice rang through my head, and I immediately purse my lips to keep me from shouting at her. Squinting, I tried to make out her figure when all I first saw was just her silhouette, noticing the daylight outside on the balcony. 

"Five more minutes," I mumbled, before flopping my head back down on the soft pillow. I then felt a sudden ache rushed through my head, making me groan once again, and grabbed another pillow to cover my face from the sunlight that surely added to my headache. "My head," I muttered weakly.

"Hangover..." she said, and I took the pillow off my face, and looked at her.

"What?"

"You had too much to drink last night...Do you remember what happened?" she asked, as she slowly walked towards the bed. My brows then furrowed as I tried to think of what went down last night, and slowly lifted myself up to a sitting position. As my gaze roamed around the room, my jaw eventually dropped when I realized where I was.

"Why am I in your room Alex?"

"Oh that...um, you were drunk, and we couldn't just leave you alone in your apartment last night, so we decided to bring you here."

I slowly nodded, averting my gaze from her, "I can't believe Becca easily agreed with you on this..." I mumbled under my breath.

"Why wouldn't she agree?" she questioned, and I mentally cussed myself for saying it loud enough for her to hear it.

I looked up at her, and cleared my throat, "I mean...you're letting another woman stay in your apartment. Wouldn't she get jealous?" I asked, slightly regretting why I had to ask it. Though I felt a little relief at myself for finally asking it as I had been wanting to know, after realizing I had intruded their privacy, for constantly coming in her apartment since she got back from the hospital. I felt like they hadn't got the time for themselves as I kept on showing up.

She frowned, "Why would she get jealous?" she asked, staring confusedly at me, and when I returned her stare, that was when her expression had lit up, as if realizing something, and slowly nodded. "Okay, I get it..."

"Look, I don't mean to pry in your relationsh--"

"She's not my girlfriend," she interrupted stoically.

"What?...She's not?"

She shook her head, "No. I had been meaning to tell you that, but I forgot about it...Anyway, do you remember what happened last night...at the engagement party?" she asked, shifting my focus to her question. I wanted to ask her about her relationship with Becca, because frankly, I was curious as to why they weren't dating when they were acting like one, but I decided to hold myself back, thinking she didn't want me asking questions, that was why she had changed the subject.

"Um," I murmured, trying to recall what went down last night, and after a moment, memories of the event had suddenly rained down on me, and all I could do was let out a gasp. "Oh my God...what have I done?...I-I just exposed Ethan..." I mumbled in shock.

She slowly nodded, "Yeah, you did...bravely."

"But...I wasn't supposed to do that...Yes, I thought of it, but I wasn't actually gonna do it...I didn't know what came over me," I mumbled, distrait. She carefully sat down on the edge of the bed, and unexpectedly touched my arm.

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"It could be the alcohol doing it...or you just had enough of Ethan...but you don't have worry that much Lauren, I'll always have your back whatever happens," she said sincerely, and my gaze shifted down to her hand on my arm as her thumb was drawing circles on my skin. Realizing what she was doing, she immediately pulled her hand away, and eventually stood up. "Um, anyways...your brunch is ready. Just come out whenever you want to eat."

"Okay Alex...thanks," I said gratefully, feeling confused at what just happened. Giving me a small smile, she eventually went out of the room, leaving me sighing.

*

Steeling myself, I took a deep calming breath, before stepping out of the elevator, and walked down the hallway to my office. I admit, I was feeling anxious since Tina called me on the phone earlier, saying he was waiting for me at the office, and whatever I did to calm my nerves was worthless as I was expecting that our conversation would go downhill.

"Good evening, Ms. Harrington," Tina greeted apprehensively.

"Is he still inside?" I asked, and she nodded. Giving her a grateful smile, I continued on my way to the office, and as soon as I opened the door, and got in, I immediately saw him, his broad back was facing me as he looked at the outside view through the glass wall.

"How dare you make me wait too long," he started, his deep hoarse voice resonated through the room, and judging by his tone, he definitely wasn't in a good mood. I couldn't blame him though, after what I did last night, he should be angry.

"I'm sorry," was all I could say. 

He turned his back from me, and looked at me with a blank expression. "Is that all you can say? Sorry?"

I gulped the lump forming on my throat, "What do you want, dad?" I questioned, causing him to snort bitterly, and unexpectedly slammed his palm on the table as his blank expression had melted to an angry one.

"Damn it! You know what I want Lauren!" he hissed angrily, causing me to almost falter, "Fix the damn mess you created."

I shook my head in defiance, "No dad...Ethan deserves every humiliation he could get. He did it to himself, he should be the one fixing it," I added, feeling a pang of guilt for doing what I did to Ethan, but no matter what, I had no intention of fixing it for the Coldwells. 

Seething in anger, he stalked towards me, and as soon as he stood before me, he swiftly raised his hand, and unexpectedly backhanded me, causing my head to sway to the side. Shock eventually spread through me that I didn't eventually felt the pain, but when I did, a tear had rolled down my cheek, feeling my heart broke, not just from the pain. He never laid a hand on me before, even if he was seething in anger, and it broke my heart when he did now, just because he wanted me to fix everything for the Coldwells.

I straightened myself despite feeling the slight pain on my split lip, and looked at him contemptuously, "What's it with them?" I mumbled with shaky voice, "Why do you keep defending them?...Why do you always take their side?!...I'm your daughter, at least for once, show me that you still care about me, dad," I said, causing his expression to slightly falter, but it was for a brief moment when once again, a scowl had marred his face.

"If you want me to care for you, then show me that you're worth it...Fix this mess...and get back with Ethan."

I slowly shook my head with tears spilling on my face, "I can't...I don't love him dad..."

"Does it matter?!" he hissed.

"Yes!" I snapped, "and you can't understand me, because you don't know what love is."

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