Dirty Lil Secret

Chapter Four

Lake Bluff, IL

Erika rolled over onto her back her eyes wide open and swollen from all the tears she'd cried.  Her chest, her heart, felt like a festering wound while her stomach knotted making her feel nauseous.  A fresh new batch of tears made seeing difficult, blurring the white popcorn ceiling her father never got around to repairing and repainting.   

She'd ended the call after telling Liam they should just stop this nonsense, he was a world away and she couldn't take it anymore.  She'd see him every couple of months for a few days or maybe a few weeks at a time; and when he came they fucked like bunnies, for the most part, only leaving her apartment to buy food and more condoms.  Shaking her head she remembered the last times they'd gone on a date downtown, a pimply petite teenager with royal blue streaks in her gothic black hair had came to their table gushing about how he looked familiar but he'd waved her way saying she was mistaken.  Thinking back Erika wished she'd asked the girl who but like normal she had let the touch of his hand on her knee, his husky laughter and handsome face distract her.

"Damn I'm stupid," she muttered turning onto her side.   At she turned her phone off sure even a million miles away Liam would be able to get her to change her mind about ending their relationship.

"Just a taste of the rainbow," she assured herself.

She turned over in bed again remembering as she'd barrelled through the front door distracted by her thoughts she hadn't noticed her dad's car in the driveway or Pheobe's parked on the street.  Wincing at the smell of lemon herb chicken, she declined eating dinner with them and when asked if everything was okay she lied telling them both it was a migraine.   Her father, being his normal inattentive self, had dismissed her immediately but Phoebe's wide green eyes said she didn't believe her.  

Once in her bedroom, she had plopped on her bed staring at the faded pink wall before scoffing, it was the only wall finished in the entire townhouse.  Rubbing her face she felt like death warmed over so she hopped up and began peeling her clothes off.  "I need a shower," she sighed before throwing open her bedroom door and making her way to the small shared bathroom hoping to wash away all her heartache and pain before falling into bed and finally giving in to her tears.

Now 1 o'clock in the morning, she decided to give up her pretense of sleeping throwing the lavender and blue patch quilt cover back. Wiping the crud from her eyes she reached under her bed on the floor and grabbed her laptop dragging it into her lap. "What dummy in their right mind would agree to never do an Internet search on their boyfriend who lives overseas," she mumbled pulling up her search history so she could read about Lee M. Park her exes famous alter ego.

"This dummy," she grumbled poking herself in the chest. Reading the English translated headlines she noticed they were geared more toward salacious gossip. "Whatever," she sighed throwing what little caution she had to the wind and opening the first link that was dated a few hours ago and began reading:

'Just Released! Park Lee Ma admitted to hospital after passing out on set.'

Skimming the article Erika nodded. "Serves him right," she grumbled clicking the back button.  "I hope he hit his head on the way down," she added opening the next story.

'Who Is Park Lee Ma's Girlfriend' was the next headline. Clicking the link her lips twisted into a sneer as a picture of Liam appeared beside a headshot of the woman from the film poster she'd seen on Quattuor.com for 'The Moon Shines Bright.'

Pulling her eyes away from the woman she read.  "It's rumored that the handsome and talented Park Lee Ma has been getting close to his adorable and sexy co-star Arabella Lee.  A source says he's showing her a lot more than the ropes," she read out loud frowning as she scrolled down to see semi-blurry stills that appeared to show them talking on set. Moving past the photos she continued reading, "neither's agency has verified their relationship but a close source to Arabella has confirmed that they are indeed dating secretly."