Conflict Within
"Finally, I have people who are aligned with me," Mrs Haward thought and smiled as Mirenda could not see her face.
Southwest Ranches City, Jason's apartment, Tilly was with Julia trying to get her to eat something, but she would not.
Julia lay in bed, curled up like a shrimp, staring at nothing. Tilly looked at her very worried. Her friend looked very pale and, at this rate, Tilly knew Julia would fall sick and might probably not have the will to recover.
Tilly placed the bowl of soup she was holding in her hand on the table and pulled Julia out of bed, making her stand on her feet. She held both of Julia's shoulders and shook her, making Julia stare at her face.
"Hey, I miss her, she was my mum too," Tilly said sternly. "But do you think mummy is happy with what you are doing to yourself right now?" she scolded.
"You will seriously accept defeat and let the people who caused you this pain walk free?" Tilly questioned Julia and, without waiting for an answer continued.
"Because that is exactly what you are doing. If you want those who did that terrible thing to your mother to pay, you will need to be strong to fight them," Tilly said, and Julia started crying.
Tilly sighed and hugged her.
"My friend, we will make them pay, but you will need your strength to do that," Tilly said behind Julia's ears, and Julia nodded.
Tilly got Julia to sit down and she fed her the soup.
"She was all I had," Julia said in a tearer voice.
"I know. She didn't deserve that. This is why, my friend, you need to make those cowards pay. You will need your strength to do that," Tilly said in a gentle voice, and Julia nodded.
"Here, finish it," Tilly said, giving the bowl of soup to Julia, and she grabbed her food and began to eat.
"You know what my friend, these people have some good food here; this chicken is amazing," Tilly praised, but Julia remained silent as she slowly ate her food spoon by spoon.
Julia emptied the bowl of soup and Tilly finished her food too.
"Now that was some good food. I am surprised you are here and didn't try any of the amazing dishes making them go to waste like that. You should have called me earlier, I would have helped you out," Tilly said, and Julia smiled.
"You know how I hate it when food goes to waste. Especially when they are this good," Tilly said, and looked inside Julia's bowl, making her smile.
Tilly may not make the best jokes, but her accompanying actions will definitely get a smile out of you. Veronica came to clear the table and Tilly stayed with Julia, telling her about some fun events she took part in. Even though Julia was not fully involved in the conversation, some of it made her smile.
"Boss, Ms Julia's mum's body has been released for burial and, as you requested, everything is set for her burial," reported Peter.
"Good," replied Jason as he sat behind his desk in his study.
"Boss, would you be going?" Peter asked.
"No, it will draw media attention," Jason replied, and Peter nodded before exiting the office.
The next day was Julia's mother's burial. Julia and Tilly were taken to the church where the ceremony was held in a Porsche, driven by one of the guards. Tilly could not help but marvel at the luxury around her. Julia was completely blind to it as she was still in shock, recalling over and over again the sight that greeted her when she arrived at the house that day.
Julia sat in the first pew and Tilly sat next to her. The coffin and a picture of her mother were placed in the front. She got up from her seat, walked towards the coffin and stared at the face of her mother covered with a glass and she broke down. Tilly walked up to her and stroked her back gently.
"Let it out, let it all out," Tilly said to Julia as she continued to cry.
The ceremony was soon over and Julia's mother's body was moved to her final resting place. From there, the guard drove them from Belle Glade back to Jason's apartment. The guard escorted them using the elevator to the 6th floor. As soon as the elevator door opened, they came face to face with Jason, who was fully dressed in a Tuxedo and about to step out.
For no reason, Julia walked slowly towards him and hugged him. Jason was shocked, as he didn't like women coming that close to him. He froze in place with both hands hanging in the air as he was unable to react for a while.
The guard raised an eyebrow, knowing Jason was going to roughly push her away from himself anytime soon, but was surprised Jason didn't. He was rather frozen in place.
Jason wanted to push Julia away, but he couldn't because something inside so strong stopped him from doing so. He did not hug her back as both hands remained hanging in the air, more like surrounding himself. He felt his shirt get warm in his chest area. Julia was crying, and she tightened her grip around him.
Tilly was not expecting Julia to make that move, but she eventually walked past them, entered the living room with her head lowered and went straight to her room. The guard remained in position in front of the elevator.
"Get her off me," Jason commanded, looking at the guard after he felt he had had enough and Julia was messing up his tuxedo.
Jason's gaze and voice did not have the usual anger he would have when such things happened unexpectedly with ladies. It was very obvious this lady was special. The guard got closer and pulled Julia by the hand, but Julia turned around and hugged the guard instead and Jason frowned. Jason realizes almost immediately he didn't like Julia hugging the guard either. Jason quickly pulled Julia away from the guard by her arms and walked her through the front door into the living room. Still holding Juila's arms, Jason led her up the stairs to her room. The guard was surprised, as he had never seen his boss behave like this around any woman before.
"Did the boss just get jealous?" the guard thought as he watched Jason take Julia away himself.
The guard exited the floor back to the 5th floor and joined his other colleague guards as that is the floor they occupied.
Jason opened the door to Julia's room and led her inside, still holding her arms. Julia stared at the room, not proceeding any further.
"Get some rest," Jason said and Julia nodded but will still not move.
So, Jason walked Julia to bed, but she just turned and hugged him again.
"Please, I beg you, just hug me," Julia said in a muffled voice.
Her voice, which was filled with pain, got to his heart and Jason stood frozen, allowing Julia to hug him for a while.
Jason started feeling uncomfortable as a part of him wanted to push her away and leave the room and yet another part of him wanted to hug her too. Her scent went straight into his nostrils. Julia had flawless skin which Jason's eyes could not move away from as he stared at her hand wrapped around him. He liked the feeling of her closeness to him and hence could not push her away. He was not sure what was happening to his own body and what made him move, but he found himself lowering his head down to her neck as he wrapped his hands around her too. Jason pressed his lips against Julia's neck and kissed it, closing his eyes, but an image flashed in his mind like a déjà vu. Jason let go of Julia immediately, snapping out of the moment and pushing her away from himself. Jason stormed out of the room as quickly as his legs could take him without looking at Julia a second time.
Julia lost her balance, but she fell onto the bed. She hugged the pillow instead and began to sob. Tilly entered the bedroom from the bathroom.
Jason went to his room and took off his clothes, stepping into the shower. He was feeling hot inside, and he did notice a certain part of him was now standing tall and mighty. With the water pouring down on him, he placed his hand on the bathroom wall and closed his eyes. Another image flashed through his mind. He recalled holding a woman with long black wavy hair, like Julia's, in his arms and he kissed this woman's neck the same way, as the woman was also hugging him, resting her head on his chest, just like what happened a few minutes ago in Julia's room. He could not recall where he was as it was a flash image.
"Is his waking up next to a half-naked Julia connected to the image he had in his mind right now?" Jason thought.
Jason stepped out of the shower and his eyes drifted to the bed and another image flashed in his mind. He was kissing the shoulders of a woman as he pulled the sleeve of her dress down. He closed his eyes shut and shook his head to push the images away. He quickly put on fresh clothes, grabbed his car keys and exited the bedroom.
Not saying a word to anyone, he went down the elevator to the garage and drove out of the compound. One of the guards saw him leave and quickly got into the next car and went after him.