DARK PARADISE. [ Currently Under Editing.]

Chapter 19[Edited]

There was too much tension in the room, that anyone walking past would do all they could, to avoid it.

' He's so nervous.' Julie thought, watching Max avoid eye contact and tap his fingers on his lap.

Despite how bad she felt, she refused to go easy on him because this had to do with her sibling.

Everyone who knew her, knew how protective she became when something concerned Kate.

There was no doubt she would feel hurt if she found out that Max, had wrong intentions with Kate.

She wanted to hear him out and not assume the worst.

' There must be a reason for all this.' She tried to convince herself.

' He wouldn't try and hurt ----' She quickly pushed that thought at the back of her mind.

She didn't want to believe that Max was the reason behind how on edge Kate, had been recently. Not to mention a little distant.

There was something about Max, that felt safe and she held on to that feeling.

" Max, I need to know what is going on here." She pressed, reminding him that she had every intention to know the truth.

" Right," he cleared his throat and straightened up. " I know you must be thinking the worsr of me right now, with all this not helping my case." He gestured to the box, which rested between them.

Julie had placed everything back in the box before putting the box on the bed. Now it was situated between them like some shield.

" I can assure you that this is not what it looks like."

" You're far from convincing me that you are not a stalker, Max." She commented.

" I know." He sighed.

" What is all this? Why do you --- do you have evil intentions towards Kate?"

" No!" He blurted out, his eyes gone wide. " I would never hurt her."

He looked offended by her question.

" Then explain to me what this box full of Kate's pictures and things, would be in your possession. I, for one am certain that Kate would be upset if she saw all this!" Julie felt upset again, the image of Kate scared or upset, didn't ease her worries.

" This was all for safe keeping." He said.

" What do you mean?" Her frown deepened.

" I needed something that belonged to her in my possession. I know it makes me sound crazy but I just needed something....." He trailed off as if all this was too hard to say.

" Okay, now you've proven to me that you're definetly a stalker." She got to her feet and headed for the door.

She no longer had patience for this. She'd had enough.

" I'm not a stalker."

" Sure you aren't," she responded sarcastically, not stopping.

" I was reminding myself of Amileen!" Those words surely made her stop, right at the last minute.

" What did you just say?" She jerked around to face him.

" Amileen. There's so much of Amileen in Kate which I couldn't ignore." He admitted.

' I didn't hear wrong. He said her name.' Julie thought as her eyes widened slightly.

Amileen was a name not forgotten but kept hidden or more like buried with the past. It was a painful one for not only Kate but her family too.