CHAPTER 10

We took so many photos and those flashlights were so many that I knew my eyes would hurt later on. I got the chance to have photos with the celebrities and all the judges. We were invited to launch their latest designs and we would be part of the cover. I just don't understand how I came from a cardiology student to a model. It was on a Friday evening and the party would go on for two days. That's during the weekend so it won't interfere with my studies.

After all, was over she had to call her friends to celebrate. Of course, these were Bartram, Devon, Derek, and Chloe. Maritim had joined them and so as we walked out backstage they were all waiting for us wearing great smiles. Maritim came and grabbed my hand, he did it with so much great force that it hurt. Before I even knew Derek was stopping him, and he turned and punched Derek. "I knew she was the one, look at what you have caused now." Chloe is already shouting at Ezze and I don't even know where to focus. Maritim throws a second punch towards Derek again and Devon is already blocking it and kicks him. Both Mar and Derek are on the floor and Ezze pulls me aside from them so I don't get hurt.

I go and help Maritim up from the floor and he pushes his arm and he slaps me instead. Ezze kicks him again and calls the security. The few people that were left were looking at this scene here. The security guards carry him and I don't even know where they are taking him. "Are you hurt? I am so sorry about that." Ezze helps me up.

I am so shocked that Maritim would let jealousy drive him like this and slap me without even apologizing.

"I can't believe all this, you have been acting different since she came. So you like her too?" Chloe shouts at Ezze.

"Shut up or I call the security for you too!" Ezze yells at Chloe.

A very great evening has now turn into chaos. I still can't believe that Maritim would do this. I follow the security and ask them where they took him. I hope he doesn't get into more trouble since he is in a foreign country and if he makes another mistake he won't love the decision he made of visiting.

Derek insisted on following me but I told him I will okay alone. He insists that he is violent and I insist on going alone. I find Maritim seated on a bench in a small room where the security is on him. He was so infuriated, and even before I uttered a word he was already saying we go home.

That was actually the best thing to do at the moment. I text Ezze and tell her I will bring her design at another time I just need to be home. I insist and tell her he is not violent he is just mad and she lets him go. He hasn't said a word to me and I wonder how we will even spend a night together with such an attitude.

We order a cab back home and Bartram assures me he is still there in case of anything. We are at home and he walks out of the cab and he leaves me as I pay. I don't know what has got into him tonight. I don't think he even remembers the house so he stands just outside the gate and we get in. He still doesn't say a word, I am afraid that if I say a word he might turn violent again so I also stay quiet.

He gets into the shower and I just don't love the silence in here, so I speak up. "What will we have for dinner," I ask and he says he will figure that out once he has showered. I hope once he showers he will cool down. "Can I join you?" I ask him as he gets his shirt off. He really doesn't want to speak to me so I change into my robe as I wait for him to be done so I can get in to shower. He takes a towel and then goes off to shower. I am left in the room all alone so I put on the TV I don't think I will watch it but this silent house needs some noise somewhere. Ezze keeps asking if I am fine and I tell her I am okay and they are home already. I don't find the reason to apologize to Derek, he didn't deserve it. He doesn't reply but Ezze told me they were all home so he might ice it up and he will be well. Mar was out of the shower after some minutes and he came in saying, "You find it necessary to apologize to them and not me. Huh? I wasted all that money for my ticket here just to come to watch you walk on that stage with someone else holding you. Do you know how much that pains me? He finally lets everything from his chest the only problem is that he is shouting.

"First of all, do not raise your voice to me again. I can refund your money if that's all you care for. Matter of fact I will book a flight for you tomorrow so you can take all your uncontrolled anger and jealousy back there." I walk out and go take my shower.

I don't want to get out of this bathroom and if I do I will spend my night on the couch. I take a warm bath as I just focus on the positive things that happened today. Ezze won and that meant that we would have dinner at some celebrity's house and that I will get to be the cover for their new fashion releases. I made a great decision to come to Greece. My life is taking a good path and I have to control everything in it. I can't wait to tell my family the news before they see me on a cover. I don't know if Maritim had told my parents that he was coming to see me.

I am actually so tired, I can sleep and wake up to make breakfast. I find Mar shirtless with just a towel around his waist. He was preparing some food, there was still some stake in the fridge and some veggies. I didn't have that energy or mood to cook so I left him cooking and went to the room. I lay on the bed and I was actually so sleepy. It's better when I sleep right now so he will join me later when I am already asleep. I put my phone on airplane mode in case there is a text or call that might make matters worse.

He wakes me up and tells me to join him for dinner. He had already prepared the food and served it. I didn't even remember that I had some wine left. There were two glasses of wine and plates of food. He cleared his voice, "I am sorry for not controlling my anger, I was just so mad. I expected some time with you but on my first day here I am seeing you hold arms with another person. It made me sick, I hope the rest of the week I have you for me. I am sorry I slapped you but at that moment I didn't know it was you. I know I later came it was you that I hit and I never said a word. This isn't a better apology but I will do better tomorrow. Congratulations to your life as a model now." I almost thought he wouldn't apologize.

"We can bake tomorrow and get more shopping as you show me around. He then brings his bare chest and hugs me, smelling all fresh. "Well you are confusing me, I am unable to choose what meal I going to have." He lets go and pulls the dining chairs close to the counter. I have never dined there but it was actually a space one could eat from.

"While you were walking on that runway I was afraid that you could fall. I know you when you are nervous, I saw it on our first dates but I knew you would shine eventually.

We had our great dinner and at least we were back to joking and smiling. We were all so tired, so many events had taken place in a day and so we retired to bed. I have never spent a night with him, like a whole night, and with him alone. We cuddled and I am sure I slept in two minutes' time. We woke up to his alarm and it was around 4 a.m. He switched it off in a rush and we went back to sleep.

I was up and the sun was out already and Mar was still sleeping. I just let him sleep since he really needs that rest. He is used to waking up so early and I let him have this holiday. I make breakfast and I wake him up. We have breakfast and plan on going shopping so we could come and bake our cake. I wasn't so familiar with the place but I knew a few joints by now. We went to the mall on 95th street and we had some brunch and later on, did some shopping. This would last a week or two. We played along as we made dough for the cake and it was half a kg since he didn't have much cake he makes them daily so he really didn't love eating them a lot as I did.

The day ended as we watched and danced to some music. We all loved cooking and eating and I love how we alternated in preparing the meals and if not we were helping each other out. We had to make the days count, so we searched cool places to visit and we really argued before knowing where to start. I wanted to go on a movie date with him, so after we visit the car racing place we will go for a movie date later in the evening. He kept saying he really wished he had a car, he really hated being driven but he had bear since he had no other choice till I get mine. That is after I turn 18 years which is four months away from now.

It was so much fun living with him, I really wish he stayed with me for the whole three months. I slept so soundly and woke up by his side. I felt so safe and free. I don't think I will attend classes this week, I will recover later on, and Trevor will lend me his notes. I know he never misses to show up for class nor at his shift in the hospital. We had agreed already. I was missing three classes only to unavoidable circumstances of course.

I beat him in the race but I know what he always does. He loves giving me that chance to feel like a champion. The ranch was so big and it had some horses too and I really had a phobia for these things. There is no way I would ride a horse alone. What if it decides it doesn't want me on its back anyway. Mar helps me up and he also comes up. The horse seems friendly, he runs his hands around my waist as he holds the strings tied to the horse. I just asked him not to make it go fast since I will scream and scare it.

Using up all the hours of the day, we left for the movie. There was the place I went by myself that was located in town and the other a few blocks from the town where we had dinner with Ezze. I enjoyed that one more so that's the one we picked. I am glad he didn't ask how I knew of this one, but of course, I use 'google' as my answer since most of the time it was. We had some dinner and went to the cinema. This one was quite small but I loved it more since it didn't have so many people in it and they had more beautiful seats.

We were lucky and we found the movie of the night was a romantic one. A great day we chose. In every row there was a couple, I didn't really love popcorns that much only the caramel ones and Mar was eating almost all of them. There isn't anything he doesn't eat as long it's edible he will have it. It is a great time to bond and I have given him so many kisses since the movie begun and if the couple seated wasn't busy into the movie then we really seemed to be doing too much to them. We didn't care about them, most of every couple was wowed and the girls were mostly awed by some romantic parts in the movie. I remember the last time I was here how Ezze cuddled me and I didn't stop her but I ought to have. It was much better when I did it with Maritim since my body was so used to his. He ran his finger under my pants and started fingering me. I had to act normal and make no noise. The lights were off and the screen was the only one displaying light. It wasn't so quiet, there was some noise and I could wait for us to go home. I don't even know if I would even wait till we were home. I whispered to him and asked him to follow me to the bathroom. Most bathrooms had condoms and I wasn't wrong, we had our quickie and had to leave quickly before the movie is over. Well, we had to pay our attention back to the movie.

We crept back in one by one so that we wouldn't gather attention. We did catch up with the movie and paid attention until it was over. Again with taking cabs, it was making Mar uncomfortable. We were taken home and after all sneaking out and racing we were so tired for the day. Sleeping by his side and just being around felt like another freedom. I pushed away from the thought that he will be flying back in three days' time.

There were several museums here and today we had to visit one. As much as I had been at Acropolis I felt like revisiting. There are several attractions and I wanted to fully exhaust all of them. So we settle on Acropolis so we can visit places I didn't get a glimpse of so well.

"Why are we even going to a museum and I have all the art I want to see. I can pin you on the wall too like the art itself. So what do you say?" he tries to throw some pickup lines.

"Why didn't you use such pickup lines when you were trying to get me? I am sure it's not that new. We can get going but you will pin me tonight don't forget that." I say to him biting one side of my lower lip.

He grabs me and starts tickling me as he kisses me. He helps me take off my robe and carries me to the bathroom. I have ever had that fantasy and he is here fulfilling it. He runs the shower and he has me pinned to the wall. Water is running on his body and he is pimping me so smoothly. He picks me again and puts me under the shower so that water can on me then he turns me to the other side of the wall. This was so sweet than what I had even imagined he does it so well and I don't want him to stop we might even not visit the museum today. He is so strong and I am glad about it. He starts increasing the pace and I hold on to him tighter. I want more and more, I keep enticing him to go on and he does the shower running water thing and I think I am wet than I have ever been before.

After our moment we showered and got ready to go. I am so excited to visit the place twice. Seeing the Caryatids, Nike statues, The Archaic Gallery and etcetera. I was happy to share this moment with Mar and we got all the perfect views. I will never get tired of looking at this art and the statues. I wanted to meet the architects behind all this but I knew they aren't alive. More digging and digging is what I was left to do. My feet try to get tired and I keep pushing them to walk. At around 5 we start our journey back home. We will be making dinner together today and we go discussing what's for supper on the way.

The week had come to an end and I don't even know what it is that I feel. It is just a day to Ted and Kathleen's vacation and I have to know what is required. I have muted Ezze since the show took place and I now need to get back to her. I call her she tells me that the photoshoot will take place in a different city and a private jet will take us and bring us back. I think I didn't hear clearly what she said, the news was so exciting and I couldn't wait till tomorrow. I tell Mar the news and I thought he will be happy for me but his reaction makes me scared. He is insisting that he will go in three days' time but then I don't want to miss this opportunity of being in a cover and in a jet. I didn't really want him to go but at the same time, I really needed to go for this other trip. He says that he isn't going anywhere and assures me that as long as he is here, there is nowhere I am going. There is no way he is going to stop me so I go to my room and begin packing. I will leave the house to him and he can go home whenever he pleases.

As I try to leave the blocks me and pushes me to the floor. I hurt my knee and he runs to close to the door. So I reach my phone that was on the floor crashed and I dial up Bartram's number. Bart picks up and when he says hello, Mar reaches and crashes it. I hope Bart gets that I am in danger. We actually paid for the Mar's ticket back to New York early this morning.

I have to find my way out since his temper is growing wilder. He starts breaking up my cups and punching the wall. "I can't let this happen, first Olivia then you? No way! I try lowering my voice when talking to him but he isn't even listening. What do I have to do to make you mine forever? How will I prove to all of these people that you are only mine? How?" He is yelling and I begin to panic I don't think Bartram got the message. I don't know why it dawned on me that he had actually pushed me to the floor.

He took one piece of the broken cup and he came closer and threatened me that he will run it across my throat. I kick him and he falls and hits his head on the table then falls on another piece of glass. I don't even wait to see, I grab the keys from his hands and pick my phone that had just crashed the screen I am so lucky it was still working. I call Ezze and she is so shocked and she says she will be back there in a few. I had to stay calm so as not to attract attention.

I went out and I stayed at the villas just at the compound and in five minutes Ezze arrived. I was crying and I explained to her what happened and that I left him lying on the floor. She told me we have to check if he is still there since if I was to go somewhere I also needed some clothes. We go and check him and we find him lying on the floor. He didn't wake up and now I think my heart was really beating so fast that it did hurt my chest. Ezze knelt to check the pulse and when she found no pulse I felt like I would collapse.

I didn't mean to kill him I was protecting myself he would have killed me anyway. What do I do now, how will I explain to the cops and his parents. Will they even believe my story? I was thinking out loud and Ezze was there comforting me asking me to cool down. "As long as you don't touch anything here, I will call the cops and they will come to do their investigations. More so there is more evidence on him being violent back at the event there were videos that circulated if only you had seen the texts I sent you." I remember how violent he became on that night and I thought it was just that night. He also unleashed this behavior today and I don't know what I am feeling right now.

"Or we could get rid of the body and make the story disappear. If he told anyone that he flew to see you, you will say he left this morning and you didn't hear from him again." I can't believe Ezze right now. I can't think right now, I don't want the cops to get involved either do I want to lie about this. I just want him to wake up that's all. I tap him so many times, pull his shirt so he can wake up and I am crying on his chest. Ezze is convincing me that she can pull my strings and if things got worse she will get me a lawyer. I don't even know if I believe her right now. She picks her phone and makes a call. She then gets me water and pulls me away so that I can sit on the couch.

"You are not to blame, he is. If only he didn't try to control you or your life then he would be landing home this evening. The moment he caused some fuss last weekend I saw his violent side that day and I can't deny that I was worried about you the whole week. But I saw your pictures when you were at the Acropolis again and I saw that you were okay. Trust me when I tell you that I can pull off some strings. We had closed the door and we didn't want to attract much attention.

There was a knock at the door and some man in some casual wear was let in by Ezze and he took photos of the scene. He ran fingerprints and they spoke with Ezze as I sat there. I wasn't crying anymore and I didn't know what it is that I felt. She sent the video to him and he agreed to do his part. I was asked to explain everything as the man was recording and Ezze was there by his side asking me to remain chill and tell the whole story. This was the right way to do it at least I wasn't lying. Bartram had kept calling from the moment I called him and Maritim hanged up as he threw the phone. My worry was how his parents would receive the news. I don't want to imagine the pain they will go through when they find out their only son is dead. And that he is dead because he came to pay me a visit. They had to take his body for a detailed autopsy, and also since his body wouldn't remain in my house.

I am in a state of shock and I am no longer following up on what's going on. My mind is battling thoughts and I can't seem to think straight. What if my explanation doesn't seem real, will they arrest me. I will have messed up my life for good and be the worst role model to my siblings. I think my parents might disown me or be embarrassed by me as their daughter. How will I even deliver the message that Maritim dies in my house while he was paying a visit?

Ezze asks me to pack my clothes so that we can leave and I can't move. I still can't believe all this is happening. I wish I would just wake up from this dream but it's a reality. Maritim was no more. My first love was dead, I would never see him again and I wouldn't lie on his chest again. But where did he get all these anger, he has always been a cool smart guy, or am I the one who never really ran a great check on him. Should I talk to Olivia and know how he was. Ezze and the police guy had cleared the body and I don't know how I will even stay in this house. Ezze offers to take me to their house so we could spend the night there before departing tomorrow.

I try to put myself together since I had to act normal. We weren't to create any suspicion whatsoever. We had to have the parents' number and I don't think I would call my parents to get their number. So I don't know what methods they will use but they will figure out the details. I have to explain to my dad so he would tell my family since he is the only one who had the least chance of going wild. Ezze went ahead and packed the clothes for me as she asked what I wanted to carry and I nodded at everything she asked. She then asked me to brace so that we would go to their place.

I hadn't spoken to Derek nor apologized to him for receiving a blow for trying to defend me. On the other hand, Bartram would ask so many questions, as to why I am sleeping in their house today and why I hang up after I called. There is no way I would answer these questions without raising some suspicion. I felt like I should die. I wouldn't stay in this house too. I have some hope that maybe he might wake up, maybe it's just a concussion and he will be fine in the end.

Ezze brings me a sweater and I wear it as we walk out. She takes my keys and locks the door. "Where do you want to go for lunch? Should I order take away or we get in and eat?" she asked. "Take away?" she asks after I remain quiet and I nod. There wasn't any voice coming out of my mouth. I don't know why this was a good thing but I wasn't crying either, I think I had cried enough.