Confession
Jason lifted his head upon hearing the words that had just come out of her mouth and what Julia saw left her surprised.
Julia was utterly surprised to see tears in Jason's eyes. For almost a year she had lived with him, this was a side of him, she had never seen before. She has never seen him express this kind of emotion. She stood there staring at him shocked.
"All this while she was talking, he was crying?" Julia thought still staring at Jason.
Jason on the other hand will only allow Julia to see him this vulnerable. He lowered his head when his sharp ears picked up the sound of the doorknob turning. Julia turned to see who had entered when she felt a presence behind her.
"Ah, you are finally awake and even standing," said the doctor who had just walked in. "How are you feeling now?" he asked and Julia frowned her brow.
"I, I, I am fine," Julia replied turning to face the doctor.
"Great, your test results came out fine but what happened to your hand? Look's like injuries sustained from a rope," asked the doctor and Julia quickly covered her wrist with the long sleeves of the dress.
"I, er," Julia hesitated thinking of a good explanation that the doctor would believe as she didn't want to tell him, she was kidnapped by Jason.
"I was just being adventurous and things didn't go as expected. The ropes I was using to swing bruised my wrist as I had it wrapped around my wrist for security," Julia explained as Jason's head remained lowered.
"Okay, just be careful next time. You have such delicate skin, don't bruise it." the doctor advised.
"Kindly make the necessary payment with the cashier and you are free to go," the doctor added before exiting the room after Julia acknowledged.
Julia stood there in silence staring at the closed door. She turned to look at Jason when she heard his deep voice full of emotions.
"Here, use this," Jason said and handed her his black card.
Julia stared at it for a while before accepting it. She went out of the ward and went to the cashier as the doctor had said and made the payment with Jason's card.
The cashier looked at her and back at the name and details on the card displayed on her screen but said nothing and processed her payment. She gave her the signed and stamped receipts just in case she would like to use them to claim insurance. Julia thanked her and returned to the ward only to find it empty. She blinked as her eyes scanned the entire ward. She walked towards the washroom and knocked on the door but there was no response. She opened it and looked inside and it was empty.
"Where did he go?" Julia thought and recalled Mrs Haward's words which warned her not to get fooled by Jason again and she frowned.
"How can I be so stupid? A little display of emotion and here I am worried about him," Julia thought and exited the ward.
She walked towards the main exit and walked out of the hospital.
Jason sat in his SUV watching her as she hailed a taxi and entered. He wanted to speak with Julia and tell her how he felt but reading her emotions he knew she would not agree to come with him to his apartment neither would she agree to him dropping her off at her apartment and the hospital was not a place he would want to have such a conversation with her. Jason started his engine and followed the taxi Julia was in at a distance raising no suspicion. Julia was also inside the taxi unaware Jason was just a distance behind her. She closed her eyes and all she could see was the tearful eyes of Jason and the deep hurting emotion he expressed printed on her memory. She shook her head to get it out of her memory but it was not that easy. Her heart aches to see Jason show emotion for the first time. The car soon arrived at the apartment and she got down paying the driver off. She walked towards the apartment and before she could touch the door, Mary who had seen her coming opened the front door and hugged her.
"Ms Julia, welcome back. I am so glad to see you," Mary expressed as she hugged Julia who hugged her too. "I was so worried about you," she said as she let Julia in and shut the door but then she noticed the red marks around Julia's wrist.
"Ms Julia, what happened to your hand?" Mary asked and Julia quickly pulled her sleeves to cover it
"Nothing really," Julia replied.
"This looks like rope marks Ms Julia. Someone held you hostage?" Mary asked and Julia shook her head in a 'no' not wanting to explain anything.
They both heard a knock on the door which interrupted their conversation. Mary went to the door to see who it was and was happy to see Jason but she knew she could not express her happiness as she didn't want Ms Julia to know she already knew Jason. The corners of her lips curled up slightly but she quickly turned an expressionless face to Julia.
"Ms Julia you have a visitor," Mary informed Julia who was halfway up the stairs.
Julia turned to see who it was only to see Jason standing in her living room looking in her direction. He still had on the baseball cap and nose mask.
"Mary please leave us," Julia requested.
"Sure, Ms Julia. I will go to the grocery store and stop at the dry cleaners to pick up the cleaned clothes we sent there," Mary informed Julia and Julia nodded telling her she was okay with that.
Mary exited the apartment closing the door gently behind her. She saw the SUV parked outside which she already suspected was for Jason. She walked out of the compound and hailed a taxi to the farthest grocery store just so she could give Jason and Julia enough time to chat.
"What do you want here?" Julia asked still standing on the stairs, staring at Jason after Mary had left.
"Julia I know I have hurt you in so many ways. I did not treat you as you deserve and there is no excuse for that. No matter what you deserve to be treated right. I am sorry for all the trouble I caused you and everything you had to deal with since the day I took you forcefully out of your mother's home. My apology I know is not enough to compensate for everything you have been put through or had to go through because of me," Jason began and Julia stared at him.
"I have always been scared of women and didn't want them anywhere near me because of what happened when I was six. They appeared to be domineering and I felt if I let my guard down they would harm me," Jason explained.
"He was scared of women?" Julia thought in shock at what he was saying.
Julia did notice Jason was never around women but she never knew it was because he was scared of them.
"Julia you were different. You were scared of me from the beginning and for some reason that made me feel comfortable around you. I felt dominant and it made me want to see you every time. From the urge to see you, you became my comfort. Seeing you makes me feel calm and relaxed. I hated to see you in pain. My heart shatters into many pieces every time I see your tears. I could not explain or understand my feelings and I didn't know how to make you feel better like you made me," Jason explained.
"The day I came here, I came to say goodbye after realizing I only felt okay around you because you were scared of me," Jason said and Julia frowned.
"I didn't want you to feel that way about me. I want to make you happy and smiling always but I didn't know how to do any of those," Jason continued.
"About that baby," Jason said and dropped to his knees recalling the very day he had heard the news of Julia's pregnancy, his excitement vanished immediately when it was followed by the news of its destruction.
"I didn't know you were pregnant until you passed out after yelling at me. I saw the blood and thought you were badly wounded. I sent you to the hospital only to receive the happiest news which quickly turned sour with bad news. I didn't request the termination of our baby. The baby was lost due to the attack on you. I was asked to sign the papers for them to carry out the necessary procedure. I didn't tell you because I couldn't let you bear such pain," Jason said and now his tears were streaming down his face breaking Julia's heart but Mrs Haward's words kept ringing in her mind confusing her.
"Julia I am sorry please forgive me," Jason said still kneeling.
"And why should I forgive you?" Julia asked completely descending the stairs and walking towards him.
"Because, I, I, I love you, Julia. I love you," Jason said, his voice broken.
The very words Julia had wanted to hear from him some months or so ago, he was saying them now.