Chapter Twenty-One
Juliette pondered over what he said. She was very confused. Xavion really loved her, there was no doubt about that. He had religiously pursued her for the last four years. He never left hope and did everything in his power to get them together. While she tried everything in her power to avoid him he on the contrary always patiently tried to convince her of his feelings for her. She sat down reminiscing about the last four years especially the good times they spent together. He had always been adamant that he was the only one for him.
What he said really made sense to her. Why would he have a physical relationship with Candice when he hated her so much? She understood what he was trying so hard to make her realize. She loved Xavion and would never ever think of having a physical relationship with anyone else. Let alone the person you hate. Maybe the same held true for him too. Yes, it made sense. Maybe she was wrong about him after all. She felt a little guilty for misjudging him. She should have trusted him more.
So was Candice playing a game with them? Maybe yes. Candice was a mean bitch and it was her nature to play such mean games. Still, Juliette wanted to know the truth. How could she just accept that the photographs were fake? She wanted valid proof that they were fake. It wasn't that she didn't love Xavion. She just didn't trust Candice and Xavion was a man after all. He had his needs which she hadn't fulfilled at all. Her heart however didn't agree with her mind. It just loved Xavion and wanted to be with him.
So Juliette remembered the good times they shared in this very room a long time back and how blissfully happy they had been then. Everything came back to her as she cleaned their bedroom upstairs and handled the dirty laundry. She waited for Xavion to return but he didn't.
She cooked lunch and still, Xavion hadn't returned. She missed him and wondered where he had gone. She explored the whole house, yet he hadn't returned. She felt more guilty and upset. She wanted to know so many things but where was Xavion?
She sat in the living room and waited for him. Hunger and stress had her down and she soon dozed off out of sheer exhaustion. When she woke up, it was late afternoon, around 4 o'clock. Her stomach grumbled. She too hadn't eaten anything since morning. How could she when he too hadn't eaten a thing? She drank some water and went upstairs to their bedroom to see if Xavion came back.
She found him sitting at his laptop, working, with a grim and tired face. He looked so haggard and unhappy that her heart broke at the sight of him. He looked up at her with an expressionless face when she arrived. "You didn't wake me up?" She asked him but he simply went back to concentrating on his work, without a word.
"Xavi, I'm talking to you, " she repeated in frustration.
"Why should I?" He answered grumpily, still hurt by what she said in the morning.
"Come down for lunch," she said, turning to go. She was feeling ravenous and surely Xavion was too.
"I'm not hungry," he said, concentrating on his laptop. She turned towards him and gaped at him.
"Of course you are. What's wrong with you? Come down," she said, irritatedly. Wasn't he making a mountain out of a molehill? Why was he taking out his anger on food? She felt frustrated since he was being so difficult now.
"Juliette, just leave me alone. For the past few years, you had no trouble leaving me all alone? You have decided to make your own conclusions about me. You won't listen to anything I say. So what changed now? You were happy to exclude me from your life. If you want to go home, I'll call Bob and he'll take you back," he said with a poker face, getting back to his work. He was too upset that she just didn't trust him. She jumped to her own conclusions and decided to adhere to them. She wouldn't at all believe him. So what was the use anyway? Candice had done her bit but it was Juliette's distrust in him that made her so successful. Why did she have to be so stubborn?
Juliette was stunned. He called her by her full name for the first time in four years. Maybe he was really angry with her. She didn't say a thing and just walked out of the room dejectedly. He wouldn't listen to anything she said. Maybe she'd speak to him later when he calmed down. The truth was she didn't want to go home at all. She just wanted him to show something to prove that he and Candice weren't together. Maybe she was overdoing it, but her mind wanted to be sure. Her heart had already forgiven him though. It just wanted one thing. Him.
She went downstairs and curled up on the couch in the living room, staring at the ocean. Her mind was confused and she didn't know what to do. Should she listen to her mind or her heart? When she went to sleep, she didn't know. When she woke up, it was evening. She felt weak and her head was swooning from not eating. She couldn't take it anymore.
Extremely frustrated with Xavion, she went to the kitchen and heated the food that she had cooked at noon. She served abundantly, heaping it on a plate, and went upstairs to their room where Xavion was still sitting at the laptop the way she had left him. It seemed that he was too upset to even relax. He hadn't budged from his seat and her heart went out to him. She felt an overwhelming sense of need to be with him, to give him happiness, and to belong to him. Maybe she should go with her heart and accept him in her life. She loved him after all and such love could only happen once in one's lifetime.
She took the food to him and kept it on the study table. He looked up at her quietly, his eyes looked red and his face looked as if he was in tremendous pain. Was he crying? She simply took a spoonful and holding him by his chin, fed him when he opened his mouth to her like a helpless child.
"I don't want to go home," she said, truthfully confessing and feeding him another spoonful. Xavion simply stared at her wordlessly.
"Stop torturing me, Xavi, " she said, feeding him another spoonful as tears pooled in her eyes, ready to spill.
He still stared at her quietly, as he ate from her hands, his eyes not leaving hers for a second. It was the most tender moment when he realized the depth of her feelings for him. She had fed him more than half of the food when he took the spoon and pulled her on his lap, feeding her the rest of the food.
"Stay with me?" He asked softly and she nodded. She wanted to stay with him and she would. She was tired of fighting with him. Tired of fighting the love she felt for him. Her heart won over her mind and she listened only to her heart.
He claimed her mouth in a lingering kiss. She immediately opened her mouth to him and he deepened the kiss gliding his tongue expertly inside her mouth. Juliette clung to his shoulder and kissed him back with equal fervor. They showed each other how much they loved one another. It was a possessive kiss, yet gentle and loving. Juliette just gave herself up to him, she surrendered to his soul.
Xavion hated fighting with her. She was his soul. Her concern for him touched him deeply. She was as hungry as he was. She hadn't eaten because he hadn't, yet she was more concerned for him than she was for herself. If this didn't love, what was? He pulled her flush onto his body, clamping her body to his.
"Tell me again that you love me? I'm dying to hear it again," he said when he broke the kiss. They steadied their erratic breaths and Juliette gaped at him.
"When did I ever say it?" She asked, glaring at him. As far as she could remember she hadn't confessed yet.
"You did. That fateful day on our camp trip when you were drunk, you confessed your love for me," he said and Juliette just stared at him, horrified. She didn't remember a thing.
"No, I didn't, " she said.
"Yes, you did. There's one way to make you say it again," he said, grinning. "I'll have to get you drunk again. That day you even begged me to make love to you." His grin widened and Juliette looked at him incredulously. Two red spots appeared on her cheeks and her eyes went round like buttons.
"What utter nonsense?" She said, not believing a word he said. Was he making it all up or did she really confess? She tried to remember but couldn't.
"Believe me, you did," said Xavion, crossing his heart. "So I know you love me. Why else would you stay hungry because of me? Why else would you feed me?" He asked, holding her chin and making her look at him. "Say it, I'm waiting," he said, impatiently. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time and now that he had a chance, he wouldn't let it go.
"Ok, ok you already know it, I do," she said, looking down at her feet as a blush crept up her neck.
"Oh no, not that way. Say that you love me," he said, stubbornly. He wanted to hear it and he would.
"I love you Xavi. I always have and I always will," she said and he kissed her again and again till her lips were swollen from his continuous onslaught. But Juliette didn't mind at all. She was feeling a strange kind of contentment at being able to confess her true feelings for him at last.
Xavion grinned happily. "I love you too, my darling. You're the only one for me. You're the only one I have to call my own in the whole world. You don't know how much you mean to me. Whatever I do, it's all for you. I waited for you for so long, I can't wait for you anymore. Please be mine?" He asked, staring into her eyes.
"I'm your Xavi, " she said, giving in at last and he hugged her closer, happy to have been able to convince her at last. It was all he had ever hoped for and he couldn't believe that it really was happening.
"I won't ever leave you. I'm very possessive and I don't let go of what I cherish the most. You're mine, branded for life. Are you ready to be mine forever?" He asked and she nodded. She didn't care anymore about what happened in the past anymore. Xavion loved her and that is all that mattered to her.
"Yes, Xavion. We'll be with each other forever," She said and they clung to each other, happy to be together at last.
At that moment they didn't care about anyone but each other, nothing else mattered but their feelings for each other. It was a moment when they realized that they couldn't live without each other. They realized that they were meant for each other. They were destined to be together and they would stay together. It's what their heart wanted and they would listen to their souls.
Love is strange. It overpowers the mind easily. One is helpless at the hands of the heart. What is destined to happen will happen. It happened with Xavion and Juliette although it took time.