The Secret Obsession of the CEO
Chapter 180: Unusual Reservation

Chapter 180: Unusual Reservation

Liam waited for her to open her eyes while holding her hand. Her hand was broken and was in a sling. He kissed her other hand. Her eyebrows twitched a bit. And slowly she opened her eyes.

"Ellie..." she asked.

Liam pointed at the crib with a smile.

"Did she...eat?" Rory asked. Her voice was hoarse as she was not speaking for a long time.

"She did. She liked the formula, that one particular brand. Naomi was the one who went through the struggle of finding the right brand for Ellie. And now that you’re awake, she can revert back to eating from you. But your medications...I’ll ask the doctors just in case..." Liam went on a ramble as he was a little nervous.

It was odd. She was looking at him. And it shouldn’t have been odd for him. But there was something different in her eyes. It made him nervous.

Rory nodded and her eyes ended up at Ellie. He expected to see the beautiful smile that she always reserves for their daughter.

But even that smile was missing.

"That’s good..." she said, looking at the floor. "And, uh!" she whipped her head up to look at him. Her eyes brightened a bit. "You... you’re here... Are you out on bail?"

"No. I am officially free. I’ve applied for expungement. So, I won’t have any record on my name."

"That’s good!" Rory raised her brows and nodded happily. "How?"

"Allison’s "friend" who was the main witness, withdrew her statement after Lennon’s arrest was made public. She said that she was threatened by Lennon. But guess what, Watson found out about the ten million dollars money transfer from Lennon’s private account to a shell company under her name," Liam wiggled his brows.

He tried to be as natural as he would be, and it was difficult. It may appear that he is not acknowledging that she had gone through a trauma right then; both of them did. But he didn’t know how else to act with her.

She looked at him differently. He could see it and feel it. It was not just his guilt acting up. Her eyes were void of...

Love.

That’s what was missing from her eyes. The love her eyes were always brimming with whenever she looked at him. It was replaced with some other thing that he couldn’t figure out.

His soul almost left his body seeing those eyes.

"That b*tch!" she scoffed. "Sue her, Fizzy. Sue her to bankruptcy."

"Should I?" he asked. There was a trace of a smile on her face when she looked at him. That gave him his life back.

"You should. She slandered you," she nodded.

"Maybe I should," Liam sat straight. He felt something weird in his hand. He took a look.

It was empty; his hands were empty. He hadn’t even realized when she had gotten her hands out of his hold.

"Cherry," he said sitting beside her. His voice cracked as he looked at her. His lips trembled as he searched for the right thing to say to her.

"Yes," she smiled. Her eyes held no luster. But that was a smile intended for him; indeed, that made him happy.

"Do you want to know what happened to me back there?" she asked.

There was a trace of mockery and exhaustion in the way she spoke. She probably was tired of the cops talking to her about that night.

"You can tell me if you want to," he said.

The little smile that was left on her face vanished instantly and she turned away. He realized that he gave her the wrong answer. And so, he corrected himself.

"Or you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Cherry, whatever happened in that house... It doesn’t matter to me. You are with me, safe, and that’s all I need. I am happy," he said hoping that this would make her mood better.

"Hmm," she nodded. And then there was silence.

Liam held her hands. He might not know the right things to say to her, but he knew he is not going to let her hand go. He is here, and he is going to stay.

She started to play with his hand, rubbing her thumb on his knuckles. And that made his nervousness disappear.

"Do you know that he is your..." she asked, and he looked at her.

"Yeah..." he nodded. He tried to hide his pain but seeing her softened eyes, he realized that he is not doing a good job of hiding his emotion.

"Fizzy, you should know that you are nothing like him, alright?" she placed her hand on his cheek.

"Cherry...."

Liam wanted to say that he was fine, but he couldn’t say even one word. Holding her hand on his cheek, he shook as tears streamed down his face.

He knew she would say that. But he didn’t think that it would give him such a relief hearing her say that. She always knows what to say to him and when to say that to him.

Only after a while, did he realize that he is supposed to be looking after her and not the other way around.

"Cherry," he looked up with a smile and wiped his eyes. "Leave me. I am fine. Let’s not talk about that guy and ruin our time. How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Hmm, I don’t feel pain anywhere... I should thank the morphine," she chuckled. He smiled along.

She appeared to be normal. And maybe little by little she will be back to how they were in no time.

Yes!

"You should be starving! the doctors said that you can eat whatever you want and... What do you feel like eating? I can ask`"

"I’m not that hungry," she shrugged.

Liam didn’t leave her at that. She was not eating for a long time. The drips won’t be enough to keep her healthy. She needs to eat.

"But you must eat," He insisted. "A sandwich? Or pasta? What do you want?" he asked.

Rory bit her lips and bowed her head. It appeared that she was not willing to talk to him more.

"Don’t worry. I’ll get you something. You have to feed Ellie too, right? It’s not good for your health to stay hungry" he stood up.

She never gives him a straight answer when he asks what she wants to eat; unless it’s coffee. He will get her porridge or soup to be easy in her stomach. He informed the agents standing guard outside her room to have an eye on Ellie and went to the canteen.

He saw the mac and cheese there was flying off the shelves too quickly and figured that Mac and cheese is the good one in the canteen. So he bought her a bowl and went back to the room.

He pressed his lips seeing her asleep on the bed.

It was odd. She is not someone who likes to sleep that much. But maybe she is tired. He let it pass and waited for her to wake up. He too was tired a bit and without knowing he fell asleep too. He had recovered after his fatigue. Being in that interrogation room for long, left in his thoughts, had taken a toll on him.

Liam woke up to the screeching of Ellie. He was shocked to see that Rory was not waking up to the sound of the baby screaming. He ran to the crib and picked up Ellie. The blinds were on, and he checked outside to see it was evening already.

"Cherry," he tried to wake her up. He thought that maybe holding Ellie again would bring her back. But she was not opening her eyes. Her eyelids were stressed and trembling and that’s how he knew that she was not actually asleep.

She was for some reason not willing to pick up the crying baby.

His heart skipped a beat as he came to that realization. The conversation with Derick came to his mind. And so did his mother. Her mother liked to sleep in a lot and she too ignored him even when he wailed in front of her.

No... she will never act like how my mother did! She will never ignore her child! This is Rory! She is not my mother! She just needs some time... that’s it.

He had to repeat that to himself a couple of times to compose himself.

He prepared the formula for Ellie and fed her. Maybe Ellie felt her mother’s presence, she was not very keen on the bottle. It took several tries before Ellie had her fill. Liam walked to Rory to check on her as he was burping Ellie and this time, she had fallen asleep.

Derick came for a visit. They talked for some time about the new developments in the case. It was confirmed that Lennon was stalking Rory even after her marriage and childbirth. He was the one who had been leaving red roses for her in the cafe.

Liam found that something was not right. And something was brewing; something dangerous. But he couldn’t say what it was. He felt like he was facing a storm only now when it should be the calm after the storm. Derick left after saying some words of comfort.

In the middle of the night, Rory opened her eyes. Liam was sleeping. She plucked out the tubes connected to her and stepped down.

Careful not to disturb Liam, she walked to the corridor.