Part 8 of [
Life Goes On]



Damien--------------------------------------------Alexia-------------------------------------------Jake
June 2008AlexiaThe young woman, now aged twenty-six years old, sighed. She ran her hand through her hair, and pushed her glasses up her nose absent mindedly. She looked down at the piece of paper in her hand, biting her lip. After a few minutes, she stood up, and threw it on the glass table. She didn't want to read the document, let alone reply to it. She walked straight to her camera which resided on the granite topped island in the kitchen. She picked it up with gentle hands, caressing its lens and smiling. Taking pictures was her passion, and now it was her life. Her pictures were exhibited in a small gallery in central London. She was lucky to rent the place out, or to even see the inside of it. The market was so demanding these days, that it was as if she found the needle in the haystack. She called finding the place skill, Damien called it luck.
The smile dropped from her face. Damien. She put the camera down again, a flicker of sadness running through her as she did so. He wasn't acting himself lately. They hardly ever saw each other anymore. He was working in central London, she was travelling, looking for the perfect situations for the perfect shots. They no longer shared stolen kisses, or passionate nights together. He still made her heart beat fast, but now she was scared. She was scared of their relationship disintegrating in her hands. She loved him, she really did, and she could not imagine her life without him, and was scared to even try.
She fiddled with the diamond ring on her left hand, her fingers tracing the edge of the precious gem. She missed him. She wanted his arms around her, his hands on her skin, their lips to touch, the sparks to fly.
She turned around, and walked to the window. She looked across Kew Gardens, and smiled. Her and Damien's apartment overlooked the magnificent gardens, and they took pleasure in it. Proud of their find, they had originally planned to live here for the next ten years. Afterwards, they contemplated about moving to the countryside, somewhere to raise children. Alexia felt a flutter of anticipation, and she took a deep breath. Those days would come. Hopefully not too soon though, she wanted to travel the rest of the world first. Not that Damien agreed with her.
They had last talked about children nine months ago, which culminated in an argument. She didn't think she was ready yet, but Damien was not keen on children at all. He knew it would happen, but he wanted to wait for as long as possible.
Alexia tensed as she heard the front door open. She looked around, curious as to who would be entering her house. She wasn't meant to be back for another five hours, but as the meeting with her agent about travelling was cancelled, something to do with her being ill, she had decided to come home.
She opened her mouth to say something, but then heard hushed voices. She heard the door close, and waited, her heart beating fast. Damien was at work, he wouldn't be back until this afternoon. She stood stock still, listening. There was silence. She walked as quietly as she could to the corridor which lead to the front door, and slowly stretched her neck around the frame, hand enclosing around one of the umbrellas handles which was in the umbrella stand. Her mouth fell open. The light was off, and she could barely make out who it was, but she knew.
There were two people in the corridor. One had the other pinned to the wall, its lips clasped on the others. Alexia watched, helpless, as the couple kissed passionately. She watched as his hand moved to the woman’s waist, watched him slide his hand onto her skin. She watched how her leg twisted around his, pulling him closer to her. His other hand was in her long flowing bark brown hair that cascaded to her slim waist.
"Damien?" she whispered.
DamienDamien froze. Dread welled up inside of him. No, this could not be happening. What had he done? He moved his head away from Juliet's, their lips separating. Juliet snapped her head to look at Alexia.
"Who is she!?" she gasped, looking from Alexia to Damien.
Damien did not reply, but slid his hand away from her waist, and let it fall to the floor. He could still feel the hot adrenaline that flushed through his body, but it was washing away fast. Pure guilt replaced it.
"I'm his wife," croaked Alexia, who had not taken her eyes away from him. He did not look at her. He couldn't.
"His WIFE?!" Juliet exclaimed, pushing Damien away from her. "You have a wife?" she gasped. "But...you don't wear a ring..."
Damien could tell that Juliet was getting worked up. Her chest was heaving, her eyes flickering from side to side in panic. He looked into her eyes as she looked up at him. Then she slapped him.
The force of the slap made him step back and gasp in pain. His cheek burned red hot, and his eyes widened in shock.
"Juliet, I'm sorry..." he started to say.
"Sorry?! You bloody well should be. But not just to me you low life son of a b****," she growled, stepping back towards the door. She looked at Alexia, and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry," before slipping out of the door.
Now Damien had nothing to hide behind, nowhere to look but at her. He slowly moved his head to look at the woman who was staring at the ground.
"Alexia..." he started, taking a step towards her. He didn't know what else he could say. He knew he was in the wrong, but he couldn't stand it anymore. Juliet understood him, had known him for years, and respected him for what he did. They were work colleagues, university lovers. Alexia, although she was beautiful, was stubborn and obsessed with her work. She got upset when things didn't go perfectly, and had a short temper when things got out of hand.
"Stay away from me," she whispered. She took a step back, and stumbled slightly.
Damien looked at her helplessly. Before him was the woman he loved. The woman he married. No, she had changed since then. She had become more serious, overly dedicated and somewhat controlling. She was different.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, stepping towards her once again, not listening to her plea.
"Get out," she croaked, looking up at him. He felt his world spin. Get out? Where would he go? To Juliet's probably. She would forgive him. He didn't want to leave Alexia though. She was a strong woman, and he needed her. She was successful, and dedicated.
"Please," he begged, "forgive me."
Alexia shook her head. Her eyes met his, and he knew it was over. The fire in her eyes that he had loved had now turned to hate. He had lost her.
{{I've just signed up for fictionpress.com. I'll post the link when I can.
Note: Damien's hand was on Juliet's waist in this. I was desperately trying to get that across, and still try to make their little make-out scene passionate.}}