Coffee, tea? Or me?

WHITE ROOM- Part I

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

WHITE ROOM

At the party, she was kindness in the hard crowd

Consolation for the old wound now forgotten

Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes.

I

The aftermath of James' declaration had been a whirlpool of opinions, some people believed he should have been punished for his actions but many others praised him for speaking up and campaigning for mental health issues. James had decided to distance himself from the noise and keep a low profile until he was due back to work at the end of January with his new movie, which he had been relieved to learn was still on offer. He had agreed to several interviews to discuss the subject and had been more active on his social media, trying to promote awareness through literary resources and websites. But mainly he had been concentrating on himself and the work he was doing with his therapist which was proving beneficial. He had taken advantage of the time off to remove himself from any stressful situations, to really focus and work on himself and his relationships with his loved ones.

Lucy, on the other hand, was keeping up with the debate and, despite James suggesting many times she should be careful with it, she had reassured him her searches were healthy and she wasn't obsessing over it. "I feel like I have a second agent now," he had told her one evening as she quoted an article about him she had read online, although secretly he liked her preoccupation over his career and public image because he knew her interest was out of love.

While looking up a post about one of James' recent interviews Lucy came across another picture of the two of them, which had been taken the day before at the grocery store. James was pushing the trolley and Lucy had her arm hooked around his elbow, looking up at him and smiling, his face was half-covered by a black baseball hat but his grin was visible like the tip of his tongue cutely trapped between his teeth.

Since posting the pictures from New Year's Eve on her page a couple of weeks before, Lucy hadn't paid too much attention at the comments in an effort to make peace with the situation, willingly ignoring all the reposts she had come across on her search page. This was the first picture of the couple together she had seen since and was compelled to click on it and have a quick look.

James Kent and girlfriend Lucy Hamilton looking happy while grocery shopping in Chelsea yesterday morning.

Underneath that, the fan page admin commented.

This had been a rough beginning to the new year for James and we want to express our full support. Seeing how happy he looks in this picture after the storm of the past week melts my heart. Lucy obviously has a great impact on him and we need to be grateful he has someone to walk this journey with. On this note, I want to stress again that there is no space on this page for hate and any disrespectful comments about Lucy or them as a couple will be reported. I know we all wish we were her, but if you truly care for James you can only wish him joy and be happy for him. <3

At this Lucy's heart warmed with gratitude, she finally felt like she had an ally, despite it being a stranger on the Internet and she felt better about her decision not to hold back on her relationship. She had promised herself not to care but despite everything, she did care because she loved James more than anything and she wanted the world to know this, especially now.

The relationship between Lucy and James became stronger after his confession, as James didn't feel the need to lie or try to conceal some of his emotions around her anymore. There had been some moments of tension but James had managed to work through them with Lucy, who had agreed to attend a session with his therapist to have a better understanding of how to deal with the situation.