~Rushed and Unedited (again)~
NOTE: This is the last chapter, so please take time to vote and comment. I beg you! I also ditched my parents' third wedding this afternoon just for this update. So please? :’)
Copyright © zylgnagnaba 2013
Valerie’s POV
“Gail,” My head turns halfway before my eyes shoot up to a blonde girl standing to my right side, her hip leaning against the side of my cubicle, her elbow on top of it. She’s in a neat office attire—white long sleeve polo shirt and dark blue pencil skirt—pretty much like mine. Only I am wearing a thick brown blazer over my shirt. “You’re needed in your father’s office.” Cherry, my father’s secretary, tells me.
“Okay, I’ll be right over.” I tell her, nodding my head a bit. Returning my gaze to my laptop, I add another file on a certain folder before I close the lid, making a mental note to continue later on.
It’s been two weeks that I’ve been back here in Glasgow. Nothing much has changed, except the fact that my father’s Law firm is continuously expanding. Our house is still the same as when I have left it.
Tears flooded the house as soon as I barge in our large door, the night I left London—the night I left Harry. It was a bittersweet moment being reunited with my parents, but bugged by the fact that I left someone very important behind. My father didn’t even allow me to apologize for running away. He said it was his fault for not telling me as soon as possible, that I’d have to find it sooner or later so he should’ve told me as early as I was seven—although it wasn’t the exact reason why I ran away in the first place.
But then I reminded him that it doesn’t matter anymore. I said that I think if he told me by then, I’d still be running away and it would have been worse because I would only be seven. By that, we cracked into fits of laughter.
I am really thankful about my parents. I think they are the greatest. I am just so fortunate that I got adopted by them because aside from them being wealthy enough to provide for all my needs and wants—reason why I became a spoiled brat—, they’re so sweet. Despite their busy schedules, especially my Dad’s, they managed to be hands-on with nurturing me and Vitaly. It’s too bad they weren’t blessed with just one biological child.
As for Vitaly, he’s still in New York, working his butt off to finish his second year in Law. I called him as soon as I jumped on my childhood bed in my room, patched things up with him. He said we couldn’t go back to the way we used to be when we were still kids. I felt so bad until he said that we should start a new beginning as siblings. Right then, I had no doubt we can do just that.
I’m on my fifth day working in my father’s office without any compensation since I’m still being trained—all this in preparation for Law School in New York next fall. My father didn’t force me this time. I made the decision. I don’t know what was running in my head at that time but I am willing to give it a try.
Genuine smiles from my officemates are given my way as I pass by their cubicles on my way to my Dad’s office, reciprocating them with one of my own. I’d like to think that they’re so kind to me not just because I’m their boss’ daughter, but also they like me as an individual. I want to do away with the ‘spoiled brat’ image. Unfortunately, since I was back some still think I’m the same person from before I left. That’s one of the few reasons why I want to go to New York, so that I can come back here a totally changed person in front of them.
It’s still a funny thing that people realize that I look like the Valerie Scott they saw on TV, not realizing that Gail Epperson and Valerie Scott are one. My family knew about it. The whole time they knew but they didn’t bother me. They waited for the time that I’d get home. My father, who almost lost hope that I’d ever would, almost wanted to get to London and take me home, but then my mom reminded him to give me time. My mom has never lost her faith in me, and now here I am, back home in Scotland.
Knocking on my father’s fuzzy glass door and not waiting for his permission to let me in, I push the door open and quickly pop my head inside before stepping entirely in. My eyes dart immediately to his guest sitting in front of his office table. With the brown haired guy’s back on me, I can only guess that he’s in his mid-forties. He’s wearing the same shade of brown of suit as my father’s and his hair is gelled, tamed to the side of his head. Besides that, he seems familiar.
“Dad, you need something?” I ask my father as I take few steps towards his table, stopping halfway when he smiles up at me. His guest doesn’t even dare to turn his head around to recognize my presence in the very room.
“Darling,” His smile turns to a wide grin before he leans his elbows on top of his table. “You remember Mister Shaw, right?” As soon as he finishes the information, my eyes shoot to the guy on his seat who’s turning around now, grinning sarcastically at me. Fuck! What is he doing here?
Gulping, my eyes grow frantic as they travel back and forth to my father’s compassionate smile and to the smug grin on Mister Shaw’s face.
“Yeah,” I breathe, answering my father’s question but my eyes settle on Mister Shaw’s features. “Wha… what are you doing here, Mister Shaw?” I manage to say, the lump in my throat irritating me as I spoke.
“Well, your father and I talked about legal stuffs.” He muses before glancing back to my father as his interlaces his fingers together in front of him. I take tentative steps to the side of my father’s office table, subconsciously letting him know that if he tries to scare me, I have my father on my side to defend me.
Legal stuffs? Is he seeking legal advice from my own father to sue me for breach of contract? But our contract is top secret, why would he even talk about it to my father? I don’t understand. Does my father know my connection to Mister Shaw?
“Well anyway, sweetie, we’re just about leaving to talk about business…” My father tells me in a sweet and relaxed manner which only made me more confused than ever. What did he and Mister Shaw talk about? Was it about me? And what business are they going to talk about? “Don’t wait for me at lunchtime. I’d probably be stuck in a meeting.” My father says as he stands up from his seat and I mentally cringe when I see Mister Shaw grinning at me.
I still am confused at what’s happening, really. He interrupted me at my work just for this—to meet his client before both of them leave?
“Oh, where are you going?” My father asks me when he turns around and finds me following them on their way out. I flustered. ”Stay here and entertain my next client while I’m gone. You just actually need to show him around. Is that alright, sweetie?” His smile is expectant and pleading at the same time.
“Can’t Cherry do that for you? I have work to…” I start to protest, my voice fainting as I realize how harsh I sounded like towards my father who is also technically my boss. “Sorry, okay. I’ll do that.”
“Okay. I’ll see you later, Gail.” My father says as he pulls me in a light hug before leaving a kiss on my cheek.
“Bye, Miss Epperson.” I pull off a forced smile at Mister Shaw before both of them step out of the room, leaving me to wait for my Dad’s client.
Sitting on my father’s chair behind his office table, I decide to snatch a piece of bond paper from his printer and one of his pencils to start doodling while I’m waiting for this client that I am supposed to show around the building.
My father actually has the reason why he asked me to do the task because I’m the owner’s daughter, so who else would’ve been trusted when he isn’t around other than me?
My mind drifts off to Harry as I start humming to Diana, the third song of their third album. I feel a slight aching that grows even worse as my thoughts wander to the things he might be doing right now while I’m gone. How is he? What did he feel when he saw the necklace he gave me lay on one of my cabinet shelves, the note and his sketch? Does he even bother to find me?
A fresh tear trickles to the piece of paper in front of me followed by another two teardrops as these questions reel and spin around my head. I miss him terribly. I thought leaving him would be the perfect solution to the problem that I caused in the first place— for hiding my real identity—not even realizing how much it would hurt both of us. I wish there was another way but I couldn’t think of anything by then, and staying away from him and going home was the only thing I had in mind.
I wonder if my parents noticed my first few sleepless nights and my swollen eyes the next day. They both knew I was dating Harry, but they didn’t bother to ask about him or whatever happened between us. I also doubt Mister Shaw would mention that to my father, or else it would blow up his cover.
I am brought back to reality as I hear three loud knocks behind the door and I quickly wipe the tears from my face. I don’t want to look like a mess in front of my father’s client. I quickly stand up, straightening my skirt and the front of my blazer. I briskly walk towards the door and turn the knob open before looking up to see who’s behind.
I shudder when my sight settles to a pair of green eyes smiling at me. I take two steps back, shaking my head and squeezing my eyes shut before I open them again just to make sense if what I am seeing is not just an illusion. I was just thinking about him. Maybe I am just imagining that he’s right here, in front of me.
“Val,” I jump a little when I hear his voice, covering my gaping mouth with my hands. My eyes are wide I can feel them almost fall out of my sockets. I take another step back when he enters the room, closing the door behind him and still smiling at me. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s just me.” He says next while he rises his hands in front of him, letting me know that I am safe with him. I gasp and close my eyes, savouring the sound of his voice inside my head for the first time in two weeks.
“Are you real?” I dare to ask, my voice cracks as I am still in a state of shock. My reaction is quite comparable to many of their fans who just saw them in person, who thought it would only occur in their dreams.
“Valerie, who else do you think am I?” He frowns and I take a step closer to poke his cheek, finding out to myself if he really is standing in front of me.
“Oh my gosh! You are real!” I gush, hugging my hands to my chest while Harry looks at me like I am some mental patient. My heart leaps at the realization and all the butterflies in my stomach come dancing around with each other. He’s real. Harry is here in Glasgow, he’s right here in front of me.
“You know I’m still not fond of you leaving just like that, and now you’re acting like I am fucking M&Ms. You’re a fucking lunatic.” He chides, crossing his arms over his chest before sighing while I just stand there, dumbfounded and couldn’t even find the right words to speak to him. What am I going to say to him in the first place?
I look down at my black shoes as if it’s the most admirable thing in the world. I scrunch my brows together, thinking deeply of what to say but I only come up with one. “I’m- I’m…” I start to say but he cuts me off.
“Don’t you dare say ‘sorry’. I already heard it too many fucking times.” His voice is filled with defiance but there’s a hint of hope and anticipation laced in his words.
I smile at myself, knowing exactly what he is asking for but I remain silent and just cast my head down.
“Are you really just going to stand there? Wow, you’re fucking impossible!” He sighs, rolling his eyes as he looks to his side and hit his own forehead. “Did you know how worried I was about you? Did you know how many sleepless nights I had to suffer from just thinking of you? Like fuck, I couldn’t even eat or drink, the boys are already worried about me and all of the people around are-“
I cut his rambling when I crash my lips on his, taking him completely off-guard. It took him a matter of three seconds before he can finally kiss me back and I smile when he does. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pull him closer to me and I lean further to deepen the kiss. I missed his lips, I missed his touch, and I missed everything about him.
One of his hands rubs my back and sides while the other grabbing my behind to press me against him, so that I can feel his hardness. I only pull away to catch our breaths and we both smile at each other.
“You look sexy when you’re mad.” I whisper breathlessly between our lips before ghosting my lips twice against his. “I love you.” I whisper and when he opens his mouth to say something, I stop him by sliding my tongue in his mouth making our kiss rougher and hungrier by the second.
Confused, I narrow my eyes at him when he pulls himself away moments later, our body still tangled with each other in a tight embrace. He darts his eyes to the door before he looks around inside my father’s office.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him.
“We can’t do this in here.” His voice is cautious, as if anyone could hear us if he speaks louder than that. “Your father can barge in any minute now.”
“Harry, we’re just kissing. We can pull away from each other quickly if that happens.”
“Fuck you. You just turned me on. You always do. Look. He fucking missed you so much.” My forehead leans against his chest as I look down between us, chuckling when I dart my sight to his crotch before I look up at him again.
“Well, my father said I should show you around. But I guess we can skip the details and take you home now.” A stupid toothy grin appears on his face as I shrug my shoulder while speaking.
“Brilliant.” He says, pulling away completely now before tugging my hands for us to step out of my father’s office.
*****
Harry’s POV
Valerie and I tangle our fingers together as we walk through the long corridor of their large house. I have called it a mansion too many times but she’d always correct me and say it’s just a large house. Her room is even wider than the flat that we share in London. I wonder why I never heard her complain about it. But looking back, her old flat was way smaller than mine so maybe she got used to small spaces. She must have struggled a lot living by her own at the beginning. I can only imagine.
Our steps on the spiral flight of stairs create loud echoes of thuds inside the lobby of their house and I laugh internally because it doesn’t even bother Valerie. She really is careless.
We both share an amused look with each other, knowing that both of us can hear the faint sound of music travelling across the room. I can only assume that the sound is coming from their large lounge area where I saw a big piano settled at the corner when she showed me around earlier.
As soon as we finally made it down, Valerie gives me a full smile as she tugs me along like a little kid who’s showing her parents something she wants to buy from a toy store. My sight immediately darts to the blonde woman in front of the piano, whose back is on us. Her blonde curls cascade perfectly down her back, swaying it subconsciously to the rhythm that she’s creating through gracefully stroking the keys of the piano with her fingers.
With the chandelier lit up above her combined to the white sweater she is wearing, she looks angelic. This is how I have seen Valerie played the piano in Cheshire effortlessly. I was lured by Valerie with the music she created within my heart. Now knowing where she got her talent from, it feels so surreal.
I only heard Valerie ramble on how beautiful her mother is, but the adjective ‘beautiful’ is so vague for me to have the exact image of her mom in my mind. I always thought that she looks exactly like her, but after knowing that she was only adopted, I don’t know what to expect anymore.
As if she felt our very presence in the room, my heart stops beating at the same time that Valerie’s mom stops playing the piano and intuitively turns around to see us.
“Oh darling, I didn’t know you were here.” She says as she stands up and makes her way towards us, the sweet smile plastered on her beautiful face. She’s fucking beautiful. Maybe this is why Valerie’s father is crazy about her Mom. But aside from that, I couldn’t really tell that Valerie is only adopted, because they look exactly similar. If she dyes her hair back to blonde, maybe they’ll look like twins. She’s like the spitting image of her adoptive mother.
“And you must be Harry. I’m so glad to finally meet you.” She sticks her hand out to shake mine while nodding at me.
“So am I, Missus Epperson.” I smile back at her and I can feel Valerie beaming at my side.
“Just call me Vivienne. Gail has told me so many things about you. I’d like to enumerate but the dinner is ready.” She chuckles and both Valerie and I join in. So Val got her sense of humour from her Mom then.
Vivienne walks ahead of us on our way to their dining area, kissing his husband who just got off the phone once we reach the room.
“Harry! Nice lad, glad to see you again.” Malcolm reaches out for a light hug. This is only our second encounter since in their office but I already feel easy around him.
So we all then settle down on our seats while dishes after dishes are served in front of us like it’s a formal dinner. Is it like this every day in the house of Eppersons?
“Wow, Missus Epperson. This beef steak is so good.” I know she corrected me to call her by her first name, but I just can’t. She’s my girlfriend’s mother. “You cooked it perfectly. This is exactly how Valerie likes it, I remember.” I gush while chewing on a small slice of the steak while slicing another one on my plate. I stop on my action once I notice all three of them stop and stare at me like I’m an alien. Did I say something wrong? Oh, maybe it’s the fact that I called their Gail as my Valerie.
“Harry, my mom doesn’t cook.” Valerie whispers at me while shaking her head a bit and I tentatively look at the vacant expressions on her parents’ faces. “Dad does the cooking here. If not, it’s Reese.” She informs me and I trail to where her hand is pointing before I see a woman—probably on her early thirties— standing just nearby who is already smiling at me.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” I tell them and they all let out a little chuckle at my expense. I feel like the centre of attraction right now, all their gazes burning my skin except Valerie’s. When Valerie laughs at me, it makes me giddy.
“No,” Vivienne waves her hand evasively. “It’s okay. Everyone thinks I’m the cook, but now you know. It’s the hubby.” She points grabs her husband’s arm and they both lean in to each other for a kiss.
“Harry, don’t look at them too much.” I peel off my sight from the couple to turn around and look at Valerie as she speaks. “We aren’t allowed to kiss in front of the dining table, only them. So don’t look.” All of us inside the room laugh at her remarks, knowing exactly what she meant—that I might get envious and be influenced to kiss her as well.
The dinner goes by smoothly and before I know it, it’s already time for me to leave. I have a flight back to London as early as seven so I need to go back to the hotel and gather my stuff beforehand. I notice Valerie grits her teeth and hugs her body together, shivering as cold air engulfs both our body as we went out to the facade of their house. So I suggest that we just go back inside and part there.
“Val, go home with me?” I notice the slight frustration in her eyes as she looks at every side, but not meeting my gaze. I instantly think there is something that she’s hiding from me. I actually thought I can easily persuade her to come back to London with me. Now that Mister Shaw has settled everything for both of us.
People would now think that Valerie Scott is just a screen name of hers, but her real name still wouldn’t be out in public. Everything was way more complicated to explain to our friends, but I’m glad that I handled it really well with them and they understood. Despite unfolding the truth to them, they still want Valerie back with us. They miss her so badly. They are also expecting me to go back having her with me, so I’m really hoping that I could convince her.
“I would have loved to go back to London. I miss all our friends too. But… but-“
“What?” I ask and she finally meets my gaze.
“I’m being trained here for New York. I’ll be in a Law school where Vitaly is right now.” The look of uncertainty in her eyes shifts to being remorseful for me. I can feel my heart beat unsteadily in my chest as she reaches out to grab my arm but I shuffle her away from me.
I feel my eyes sting as frustration consumes me. She made a permanent decision for herself, without even considering what I’d feel about it. It’s only been two weeks and she’s already starting anew, discarding me from her future plans, like I didn’t even matter to her at all. It’s like Déjà vu—she ran away from her family before and lived another life, but now it’s different because she’s going to live another life after running away from me.
I can't believe that the whole time I was working my butt off to get Mister Shaw fix everything for her-- for both of us, so that before I can come here for her, she wouldn't have to worry about being back in London--, she's also flatting out everything to move on with her life, completely forgetting about me.
“Harry, wait!” I hear her call after me as I run out from the comfort of their house and into the cold dark night.
*****
UNFORTUNATELY, this is the last chapter.
I should’ve done it better but my brother is already rushing me. Ugh, I hate him.
Sorry for the shitty last chapter of the book.
RELAX bc there’s still an epilogue so don’t kill me.
HAHA
This is the last chapter so please vote and comment.
I don’t bite. I’m a nice person, so please spare few seconds to do so.
Thank youuu! Xx
Mind you, guys… READ ‘DARLING HARBOR’ if you want to find out what happens to Halerie few months later which will be on Chapter 23 on there.
Shoutout to Kendall, my friend on twitter. You know who you are, LOL
At the sidebar is a picture of Valerie's parents.
Love,
Glyz <3
PS: I decided not continue on the INTERVIEW portion of this book since all your questions can be answered as you read the story. I was kind of expecting you to ask some personal stuff about me; like how I came up with this book, what inspired me, how old am I, any of those. But none ask that. I hope all your questions were answered as you read the story. Thank you all! X)