The Billionaire's Authentic Daughter ▶️

8 | J U L I A

I woke up on a soft bed. It was so strange and unfamiliar because my bed back from the place I ran away from was hard and uncomfortable.

I sat up, taking in the spacious and lavish bedroom. I remembered all that had happened. I fainted due to exhaustion which was only catalysed when Braxton scared me.

I cautiously got out of the bed and opened the door. Braxton was still sitting in the living room in all his handsome glory.

He noticed me awkwardly shuffling out of my room. "Are you okay? I've called a doctor. He'll be here any minute. Sit here, you might be feeling dizzy."

"N-no. I should leave. You know now that I'm not Juliet so please let me go." I grabbed my bag which was on a chair and made a move to leave.

He stepped in my way. "No. You're not in a good condition to go anywhere. What if you fainted again. Just stay here until the doctor checks you and if he says you're okay, you're free to go, okay?"

I had a feeling he wasn't going to let me out before that so I hesitantly agreed to wait for the doctor.

He slowly stepped forward so as to not scare me again and led me to the couch where I took my original seat.

"Please sit comfortably. You might fall off if you're so close to the edge." He said and I did what he told me.

A few minutes later, a doctor came in and Braxton explained him my situation. He took my blood pressure during which my sleeves rode up a little high but I quickly tugged it down hard but I already found Braxton's gaze fixated on the skin under my sleeves even when it was now covered. I swallowed hard. I just wanted to get out of here.

The doctor advised me on taking healthy meals and not skipping any but I knew I was not going to follow that, especially when I was running out of money and still hadn't managed to get a job.

The doctor was an expensive one and Braxton paid him because I didn't have the money at the moment so I promised him that I'd pay him back in time. When he left, I got ready to leave as well but Braxton had other ideas.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to go." He said. "Especially after what I saw." He gestured to my sleeves. "Are you okay and safe? Julia, right? If you're in a problem, you can tell me. I'll try to help you as much as I can."

I shook my head fervently. "You've already helped me a lot. Thank you but I should really go."

He nodded. "Just be careful. You look a lot like Juliet. It might make things dangerous for you."

I didn't understand what he said much but nodded anyway and he showed me out of his house.

Once I was out of there, I breathed in relief. Being in the presence of a star singer was suffocating. It didn't even occur to me to tell him how much I admired his singing. He must've thought I was a hater.

I went back to the library where I had met Braxton. To my great relief, there were no people there with cameras this time. I stepped into the library and the old lady was still sitting there.

Jude appeared before me and his eyes widened. "Juliet? Didn't you just go with Braxton a few hours ago?"

"I'm Julia. I'm not Juliet. I just look like her."

"What?"

I sighed quietly as I told him the story.

"Whoa, really? You aren't Juliet?" He asked again and I nodded. "What're you here for?"

"I was wondering if you're hiring. I'm I'm need of a job. I think I can do great in a library. I can sort books and I can clean. I can also be behind the counter. Any job is fine, really."

"Oh, you're here for a job. Well, let me take you to my mom. She'll decide."

Jude led me to the woman and we had to repeat my story to her. In the end, after a twenty minutes interview, I was hired alongside part time worker Jade. I told her I could work full time but she said that Jade had the evening shift and she couldn't afford to hire a full time worker even if Jade wasn't the best at her job.

"Thank God you came along. Jade here isn't really good. She daydreams a lot, is inattentive and lazy." Mrs. Quinn said tiredly.

"Mrs. Quinn!" Jade complained, her face red. "I'm not that bad."

Jude chuckled and placed an arm around her neck. "Admit it Jade. You daydream about me."

Jade jabbed her elbow into his side which didn't faze him. Either he had a rock hard stomach or he was used to this. It looked like it was the latter because Jude was quite a chubby guy.

I cracked a tiny smile at their banter. "So when should I start working?"

Mrs. Quinn looked at the time on the clock hanging on the wall ticking loudly in the serene silence of the library. "You can start from tomorrow morning. The first shift is from nine to three. After that you can go home and Jade will take over from three to nine."

"Thank you so much for hiring me. I'll be sure to not disappoint you." I said.

Mrs. Quinn nodded happily, dismissing me. Jude offered to walk me to the door. He didn't hear my no.

"So I had to ask because you look a little young. Are you in high school?" He asked as we walked.

"No." I didn't know how to say this. "I dropped out." It wasn't the truth but I didn't want to explain everything to him. I was eighteen but in eleventh grade where normally students were sixteen. I didn't want to explain to him that I was enrolled into school two years late for reasons only known to the couple who adopted me and now I'd ran away from them who I thought were a blessing to me but then turned into my demons long ago, and now I couldn't continue my education.

But that was okay because my only goal was to become a singer so I didn't see the point of wasting my time in school when I wasn't even good in it. I was failing all of my classes already. Try as I may, I just couldn't make myself better in school. It might have to do with my mentally disturbed state caused my my abusers and bullies but I was fragile like that. When I was constantly tortured and led to believe that my life was worthless and that I was just a waste of space and resources, it didn't really make it easy to concentrate on what was important.

I knew that if I didn't want my life to come to an abrupt halt because of a spur of the moment decision, then I'd have to run away from all of the demons who made me the way I was. Sometimes I was afraid of myself, of what my mind could tell me to do someday. It wasn't like I hadn't thought about taking my life before but then I was strong enough to not do that. I felt it in my heart that giving up so easily wasn't for me. So I had to run away.

Jude waved a hand in front of me, snapping me from my daze of flashbacks. "Are you alright?"

I realized we were at the entrance of the library. "Yes, thank you."

With an untold story heavy in my heart I bid him goodbye and walked back to the hotel I was staying at.

Don't forget to vote, comment, share and follow!