The first semester in Oxford has already started. Balancing between studying to become a lawyer and life in general, Julia Eden has found herself sitting across from a shrink, or in better words: a psychologist.
It only gets worse when the old man s...
dedicated to PadjZinal for you've been with Dawn and Silas through thick and thin. Love you.
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The next morning Julia had woken up from a sudden commotion near her face. With a sigh, she squinted her eyes. Hair the blondest possible looked whiter by the sun as the little thing moved before her. The small girl adjusted her large round metal glasses, clear blue eyes blinking behind them.
"Good morning, Julie." It was the muffled voice that woke her up completely.
"Morning, Lizzie," she groaned, nuzzling the white satin pillow underneath. "When did you arrive?"
"Very early." Lizzie's small teeth organized into a smile. This was Sunday, no, Keith wasn't supposed to visit them on Sunday or any day before Christmas. "What's on your nose?"
Julia's hand shot up instinctively, finding a beautiful amount of cocaine on her philtrum.
"Nothing important." She wiped her running nose. "Come here."
Lizzie scooted up into Julia's lap with a giggle, her fair head bumping her face.
The kitchen that morning was filled with murmurs of conversation. The Edens were finally together after last Christmas. Julia's parents were fully dressed for a change; her mother in a white shirt and black flared trousers and her father in a Prada suit. Across from them sat both of her brothers, talking no doubt about Oxford. If one thing Keith Eden and Charles Eden had in common, that was their love for the university.
"Good morning," Julia smiled at the lot, taking a seat beside Chuck and tugging Lizzie up onto her lap. "Chuck, can you pass me a plate?"
He did. Julia reached for some gluten free muffin and took a sip of her green tea, almost choking when Keith spoke, "I am curious. What happened with that lifeguard in the Manhattan beach, Julia?"
"We can talk about that later," Narcissa Eden snapped as she reached for some scrambled eggs. "We need to be at the Portmans by ten."
Julia had forgotten about Liv's father's annual foundation brunch which was more of a business meeting than eating a meal together. She, ever so slowly, placed the cup on the glass table and smiled, "It's okay, mum. I had a wardrobe malfunction. That lifeguard helped me cover up."
"Is that all?" Keith raised his dark eyebrows, his dull blue eyes impassive on her. Her brother had the kind of face that could be considered as intimidating at times. He, also, wasn't effortlessly handsome, although he resembled their father a lot in many ways. Maybe it was how sharp and angular his jaw was or maybe how thin his lips looked.
"Yes," Julia responded sweetly, before downing the rest of her tea, knowing her brother could make a few calls and find out where that lifeguard had later taken her to a date. Maybe that was how the poor boy had lost his job. He had been so shy that he couldn't even kiss her.
