Camila panicked and screamed, “Julieeee”
She jumped in to look for her. Her ear-piercing scream made them all to swim towards the alarming voice guessing the emergency. In few seconds, they all circled around the place where Camila was frantically searching.
“Ju..Julie jumped here, but.. but her jacket..” Camila stammered in anxiety, pointing to the jacket. Henry went extremely crazy and screamed like a mad man,
“What the.. from where did she jump?” Camila was not sure as she did not pay attention or see her jump, she had shown a rough spot. He asked everybody to be still. He cautiously observed for any bubbles on the probable place of her jump. He pointed to a place and all of them gone underwater to search. The pressure of being too late sucked the very sanity out of Henry. Everyone was anxiously searching, it was Nolan and Henry who spotted something unusual and they moved closer to find Julie’s body gliding down. They yanked her quickly and brought her to the water surface.
“Here she is” Nolan shouted. Henry was holding to the cold,still body of Julie with extreme fear. His body went numb with anxiety, but got her to the shore in the hope of saving her at any cost. He called out her name repeatedly, but no response.
“Giaaaaa.. do something” Henry was desperate as Gia came forward and checked for her pulse and airway. It was fortunate that they had a doctor amongst them.
  Henry had never felt so helpless ever in his life, the pain he felt inside was unlike any physical injury, this is so deep and unbearable. He held Ryan’s hands while waiting for Gia to examine her. Ryan’s hands turned white with the pressure of being held so tightly, but he did not say a word, completely understanding the amount of pain and stress Henry is going through that moment. It was similar to the time when Julie had gone missing in the woods during the biking challenge at the camp.
   Henry was alone for a long time in his life. He had vested all of his love, care, affection on Julie, if something bad happened to her, they can’t save Henry from the mess. He will be in deep shit. Everyone was hoping to revive Julie back to life, they all realised what Julie meant to him and how important she was to Henry by the way he suffered and traumatised seeing her unconscious state.
   Gia gave rescue breath by blowing few times in her mouth, allowing her chest to rise. She performed chest compressions and rescue breaths repeatedly until Julie coughed heavily.
“Holy..” “Thank goodness” everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Julie regained consciousness. Henry felt a contraction in his chest finally relieved. He hugged Julie to make sure she is okay as she slowly raised up.
   Gia asked if she felt any discomfort in breathing. There was not any major symptoms to bother, so she turned down the need to visit the hospital for further check up. Henry’s mood slowly switched from calmness to rising rage, the hold on Julie tightened, his expression turned violent.
“Did I not tell you to stay here?”
His voice was low and dangerous. Julie’s hands started trembling.
“What were you thinking when you planned to jump?”
Julie’s heartbeat accelerated looking at the growing aggression in him. It was so clear that he was losing his control and talking anything back would only trigger his anger more.
“Did I not warn you? Listening to me was so difficult?”
Henry’s anger on her was something Julie had never faced, he was like a different person.
“So, you don’t take my words seriously? You don’t trust me enough?”
Ryan came in her defence, “Henry, she..”
“Ryan, No!” Henry stopped him from saying anything further, keeping his eyes only on Julie.
He held her shoulders and yelled,
“How dare you do such thing when I am not around? It would have taken your life dammit, do even realise it?”
He tapped her head to make her understand how reckless her behaviour was.
“Sir, I am sorr..”
“Shhh.. Dont.. Don’t say that!” He was annoyed and exhausted.
“I lost my sanity when I had seen your…”
Julie’ tears roll down her cheeks. Henry closed his eyes, looking down, the pain of almost losing her and numerous other emotions started choking him up.
“You planned to take the life out of me?”
He came closer, looked only at her eyes,
“Don’t you know
HOW. MUCH. I. LOVE. YOUUU”
He screamed for the entire world to hear, shooking her with anger and pain. He stood up to leave, Camila, who was guilty and frightened started ranting,
“Henry, I did not….”
“Ryannn” he shouted as he walked away. Ryan quickly held Camila,
“Not now Cam, let him go”
  Julie was frozen and remained still. She cannot believe her ears, what did he just say?
He just accepted his feelings for her in such an unfortunate situation. Though he was hurt by her, he did not hesitate to express his love for her. For an extraordinary gentleman like Henry, no one had ever caught his eyes, except for Julie, she felt proud, blessed and extremely happy for being the chosen one.
   In spite of Camila trying to create a rift between them, neither did Henry gave her a fuck, nor Julie any chance for her to play dirty games, but she slipped at her last try. If at all she had stuck to Henry’s warning or not got provoked by Camila, she wouldn’t have done this stupid act. However, she cannot completely blame Camila, because it was Julie, who took the call. Despite her provocation she should have listened to Henry’s warning. When had she did something against his words? She had always believed that his instincts and prevision had never gone wrong, she actually admired him for that greatly. But why did she do this today? She felt that she had disrespected him and hurt him badly. She did not know if he might reconsider his feelings or this incident would create a rupture or impact in a way that his interest towards her would change.
   Suddenly, she was anxious, she looked at Ryan alarmingly. Ryan sensed something wrong, so he said, “Julie, let’s get you inside” he walked by her side.
“What’s wrong?”
“What if he decided to ditch me?” She panicked.
“Julie relax, you don’t know why he reacted that way. The beaches are his least favourite, he always push himself to free him from the clutches of the trauma this place holds for him. He lost his mother to a similar beach. The pain was deep and he would be edgy whenever he visits a beach. He would try to overcome the fear of losing someone in the beach, but his mind wouldn’t let him relax. Now that he almost lost you, the undying fear for years surge back to life. He cannot take one more loss in his life. After his mother, you are the one he has opened up to, he has liked, loved, desired and wished for. I had seen him through years, he would keep things to himself, never looked for love, but it was so natural between you both. He was into you since I first saw you both in his penthouse. He doesn’t let anyone beyond a carefully marked boundary, but having you in his home, that too keeping you within his sight was so shocking to me. He was never like that.
   He dated Camila for a month or two, which was actually her idea to give it a try. Henry honestly declared that he did not have the compatibility with her and all he can see her was only as a friend nothing more. That’s what their dating story was all about. So it was a complete shocker for me,the way he behaved around you. He just listened to you or I should say obey you when you insisted not to drink alcohol because I have never seen him being told what to do, except his grandfather that too until an age.
   He had gone out of his way to meet you when you escaped off to the camp. I had seen crazy anxious Henry when you were lost that day, he was devastated today as he held your lifeless body. He had lost his only family years ago in a beach and today the desperation to not lose you was burning in him. He must be tired of being tested and thrashed by fate.
   The time his grandfather fired you, he became a mad man, smashed everything in his office, his mind was badly broken. He cannot accept the fact that he can’t stop you from leaving him, he felt betrayed and not given a chance to resolve the issue, given his power and calibre, he felt weak for losing the game of fate as he had seen humongous problems and sorted them in a snap of a finger. He was traumatised like he lost his mother again, he was as helpless as he was when his mother’s accident happened, it was like he had failed again to hold on to the only source of love and happiness, his life had ever had. Because you are worth his love. You had given up your job for saving his parents video. Thats crazy! No one would ever do that but unintentionally you have hurt him then and now, you know what? You are his medicine as well, come on” he walked into the house and entered the room where Henry was quietly standing near the window.
“Henry, I think you need some time off, here take the keys for the wood house” Ryan carefully checked his temper while talking. Henry got the keys from him after giving a thought.
Ryan added, “Julie, get all the bags, I will drop you both” Henry did not say a word. Ryan shown a thumbs up to Julie signaling that Henry is not mad to the point of ditching her.
   The car drive was completely silent, once they reached the house somewhere in the middle of the forest, it has started raining and got dark too.
   Julie’s expression was unfathomable. As Henry got out, Julie did not make a move. Ryan asked, “Afraid of being alone with him? Are you worried that he might hurt you?”
She shook her head, “Never”
“Yes, we both knew that he wouldn’t hurt you any day, then what’s bothering you?”
“I despise myself for putting him through this immense pain once again” she sulked.
“Remember, you did not mean to and you know what heals him”
Ryan gave a reassuring smile and started back.
   Henry and Julie drenched completely before getting in with their baggage. It was a very comfy place with a single bedroom, a fireplace and a kitchen. Henry kept his bags and watched the rain through the window, water dripping from the shirt. Julie took off her wet shirt, walked close by him and used his own words to convince him (refer. Chap 24.)
“I think you need to take your shirt off too”
He did not move. She touched his hand gently from behind,
“Or do you want me to warm up in my s….”
Henry turned around and crashed his lips on her.
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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