The Billionaire's Authentic Daughter ▶️

8 0 | J U L I A

I found Braxton sitting on the stairs with his head down and his hands in his hair. I sat next to him.

"You shouldn't have done that. Especially when she was right."

He looked up and his hands fell into his lap. "That's not true. You're not what she said."

"Even if you think so, it's not right to fight with your band member over someone you just met a few months ago."

"Yes, a few, long nine months."

"What I mean is, it's not longer than the time you've known Imani. You shouldn't let anyone cause a rift between you and the other members. You have to work with them and you can only make good music when you cooperate together and have a good relationship with them. Don't jeopardize that for a silly person."

"I'm tired."

"Maybe you should take the day off and rest. You'll feel better tomorrow."

"That's not what I meant."

I waited for him clarify.

"I'm tired of seeing you look down on yourself. How are you going to make people love your music when you don't love yourself?"

I didn't have an answer for that but I had a reason. "It's not something I can learn in a few days when I've spent years in that mindset." I admitted. "You have to understand it's not easy. But I'm getting there. Every day I'm closer than before."

"You're special to me, Julia. Nine months with you and I don't think I've ever wanted to give someone the world as much as I want to give it to you." He looked away then and dared not meet my eyes as his words rushed out, leaving me startled.

I knew over the months we had bonded and become good friends and I cared about him and was thrilled to know he did too but I didn't realize that his emotions were running a little deeper than mine.

"I don't think my house will ever feel the same when the day comes where you'll have to leave me."

"Are you suggesting I move out?" I joked, chuckling to lighten up the moment.

"If I had it my way, I'd never let you go."

He snapped his gaze to me and I couldn't hide my wide eyed terror quick enough.

He barked out a laugh but said nothing further on the matter. His laugh suggested he was just joking, like I had been.

I fidgeted next to him uneasily before deciding to broach more important topics. "Did you make it up to Imani?"

He cringed. "No, we reached a silent mutual decision to not talk to each other ever again."

"What? That's not possible when you guys are in the same band. You'll have to talk eventually. This is ridiculous. You should go and apologize to her right now."

He leaned back to support his weight on his palms. "Why the hell should I? She was being a bitch. Someone had to put her in her place."

"No, she was just being a little unpleasant to me. I totally get it. I would be mad too if I was in her place. She doesn't like me. Which is my problem and you don't need to do anything about it. I can handle it."

"Really, how? By running out of the room?"

"I will get better at handling such situations," I said tightly.

His shoulders hunched. "I'm sorry," he said in a quietly and then he glanced at my covered arms. "I just worry she'll upset you too much."

I did not like that it was brought up. "You don't have to worry. I'm not a ticking time bomb." I was a little snappish but I didn't feel like I should apologize for that. He was the one who insinuated something, relating it with my coping methods as if any slight provocation will send me running for a blade.

"I don't mean that. It's just that...I just want...just because..."—He fumbled over his words and I could barely understand what he meant. He sighed. "I don't know a lot about what people go through and I just don't want to overlook anything, a sign maybe– which I'd regret not paying more attention to before it's too late. There's still a lot of things I don't know about you. I don't want to assume anything but I don't want to take any chances either." He delicately took my hands in his. "I'm really sorry."

"I know you mean well but I'll be all right."

I moved to pull away but he held his grip firm around my fingers. "I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I appreciate your concern but don't worry yourself over me. You should make things right with Imani and don't allow me to be a problem between you and your friends. That's the last thing I want to be." This time I eased my hands out from under his and stood up. "I'd like to go home. I don't want to make this day any worse than it already is."

He nodded. "I'll call your driver to pick you up."

"I'll do it. I have his number," I said, taking a few steps away from him. "Just promise me you'll talk to her."

He nodded again but gave me no firm verbal confirmation. It was as good as I was going to get.

That night–during dinner accompanied with tense silence–I didn't need to ask if things were okay. It was as clear as the sky had been that day.

I didn't know exactly what had happened after I had ran away from the altercation and neither did I wanted to know just how much damage I had caused to their friendship.

Their rift hadn't been a silly one either. Darius had said so himself that he had never seen them yelling at each other over anything. Their quarrels has always been trivial, dissolving in a few hours every time but this time it was not so.

The day had not turned out the way I'd hoped. I had been excited to finally get to see where Braxton created his magic but I didn't realize my presence would poison his workplace and turn thing sour between them.

I didn't think I could set foot in there unless Imani approved which was proving to be a big obstacle. I thought back to my conversation with Darius. He had said that Imani didn't like pushovers. She liked people who fought back. If that was truly what she wanted from me, she was putting up quite a challenge for I had only just begun to learn to fight the demons of my past.

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