*THE HOLLEN SERIES*
👨👩👧👦👨👩👧👦👨👩👧👦EPISODE 38👨👩👧👦👨👩👧👦👨👩👧👦
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
*👁🗨COFFEE AND PAPER👁🗨*
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
Emma’s POV
You’ve got to be kidding me. This can’t be
happening. Is he cheating on me? When did this
start? I asked myself as I looked at the p@n-ties
disgracefully.
I tapped my left foot impatiently as I waited
for him to come out the shower. My arms were
folded on my che-st and there wasn’t anymore
niceness left in me.
“What’s this?” I asked him as he c@m£ out of
the shower wra-pped in his towel with another
one drying his hair.
He gazed down to the floor where the
un-derwear lay. “We’re not having S-x, Emma,
so pick up your un-derwear,” he said and
moved over to his closet.
My blood c@m£ to a boil and I threw a pillow
after him. It bounced off of the back of his
head and fell onto the floor, but a pillow
couldn’t inflict the pain I wanted to do to him.
“These aren’t mine as-s-hole! Who are you
slee-ping with?”
“That’s not your business. Besides, I’m not in a
mood for this, so don’t push me.” He put on
bo-xer shorts and a vest.
I was steaming because he was ignoring me
again. “Ethan, you’re cheating on me and you
have the audacity to bring her un-derwear
home! What the fv¢k have I ever done to
deserve this?”
“What I do, that’s my damn business, not
yours. Maybe if you’d have been minding your
own business then we wouldn’t be in this
situation!”
“Are you high? How can you put this on me
when it’s you fv¢king around and fv¢king up
this relationsh!p? If you can’t do this anymore
then just tell me that! Don’t go out cheating on
me while I’m here like a fool!”
“Emma, I’m tired. I want to sleep, so shut up.”
“You’re not slee-ping unless I have answers.
Who are you cheating on me with?”
“No one!”
“So why was that thing in your jacket? You’re
lying to me now?”
He ru-bbe-d his temple and gave me a sm-irk. A
nas-ty, stinking sm-irk that I wanted to wipe off
his face so badly, but I contained myself.
Had he been taking me for a fool all along? I
felt like my che-st was closing in and it ached.
I’d re-ad about stories with heartache and
heartbreaking moments, and I knew what that
felt like now because my heart was broken by
the man I was in love with. He showed no
remorse. He left me standing there like a fool
as he got into be-d and fell asleep. I couldn’t
stand slee-ping next to him tonight, or any other
night.
I turned on my heel and went to the guest
room I once occu-pied. Tears pored down as I
la-id on the pillows. Why would he do that to
me? Why had he bec@m£ so cold and so
distant from me when he told me once I was
his world? I wished things could go back to
the way they were. He was right upstairs, but I
was missing the man I fell in love with. This
stranger had taken over and he had no love or
interest in me.
How could someone who claimed that they
love you just switch up on you like that? I was
a wreck and I was devastated. What more
could possibly happen to me to make my life
worse than it was now?
The next morning I left the guest room and
headed back upstairs to freshen up. I
approached the door and overheard his voice
coming from the room.
He didn’t go to work today?
“Yeah, no, I’m at home not the office. Where
do you want us to meet? I wouldn’t suggest
my house, how about yours?” he spoke into his
cellphone.
The hell was going on here? I pushed the door
open and walked in.
His eyes sh0t to me and he told the caller that
he’d have to call them back. He hung up and
looked at me like a kid caught with their hands
in the cookie jar.
“Good morning,” he said.
I ignored him and headed towards the shower,
fighting back tears. I felt lost. I let the water
fall over me— my head to my toes— and I
began sobbing loudly. I was certain he could
hear me. I slid down the bathroom glas-s and
rested my forehead on my cuffed palms.
“Emma, are you alright?” he asked as he
entered the shower, locking his eyes on me.
“Just leave me alone,” I sobbe-d, “just leave me
alone.”
“I think we should talk,” he said, pu-lling me up
to him.
I managed to straighten myself and I looked at
him, expecting him to apologize and embr@ce
me.
“I think we should take a break from each
other.”
“Where’s this coming from?”
“Emma, don’t make this alre-ady ha-rder than it
is. Look at us! We’ve fallen ap@rt, one incident
after another. Nothing’s smooth with us,
Emma.”
“I can’t believe you’re doing this. You’re
cheating on me so you’re trying to put me at
fault. You’re the one messing up everything,
Ethan. You said you loved me, you said you’d
never hurt me, and you said you’d always be
there for me, but you’re not. You don’t know
how heartbroken I am right now over you and
what you’re doing to us!” I began crying again,
turning my face un-der the shower to wash my
tears away again.
He just stood there. He shifted his shoulders
and left the bathroom without another word.
I began crying and sobbing even more. He
was giving up on me, giving up on us. There
was still so much on my che-st I had to get
off. I turned off the shower, wra-pped a towel
around me, and walked back into the
be-droom. He was lying on the be-d, looking up
at the ceiling. I took a de-ep breath and toyed
with the engagement ring on my f!nger,
wondering if I should keep it on and fight for
the man I loved, or give it back to him and end
it between us because he was clearly having
second thoughts about me.
He looked over to me and arched his
eyebrow.
I took off the ring slowly. “You want space,
Ethan? I’ll give you all the space you nee-d. But
I want you to know this, you’re the one at fault
here, not me, so don’t you dare try to turn the
table around. I love you, and I’ll never do
anything to hurt you or harm you. We’re
supposed to be there for each other, but you’re
quic-k to take “space” when things aren’t what
you expect.
“I was abused in the hands of your mother and
your ex-fiancee. I was dumped off at a swamp
like garbage. I almost lost my life and, in that
event, I lost the baby I was carrying for us .
You don’t know what I had to go throu-gh
because I was the one going throu-gh it by
myself. By myself, Ethan!
“Now you’re dropping this $h!t bomb on me,
also, when you’re supposed to be helping me
cope. You’re a shell! A weak as-s, empty shell,
and I don’t deserve any of this because I didn’t
ask for this,” I said, re-leasing the load from
my che-st.
“Are you done?” he asked coldly.
“You’re such an as-s-hole!” I shouted and threw
his ring at him; it hit his che-st. I moved to the
walk-in closet and gathered a few clothes into
a suitcase.
“You’re going back downstairs to the guest
room?”
“No, you son-of-a-bit-ch. I’m moving out of
your mansion! I’m moving out your life, out of
this city, and, hopefully, out of this damn
country!”
*THE HOLLEN SERIES*
👨👩👧👦👨👩👧👦👨👩👧👦EPISODE 39👨👩👧👦👨👩👧👦👨👩👧👦
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
*👁🗨COFFEE AND PAPER👁🗨*
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
Ethan’s POV
I had a $h!tty day at the office. My company
was always in the New York City big business
race. Nonetheless, I always managed to stay
ahead and on t©p of the game. I was that
damn good. But for a business like mine to
flourish and live on from generation to
generation, I would have to expand
internationally and gain other shareholders and
p@rtners. And I was informed that the deal we
were hoping to land for months, which would
help us to gain more shareholders globally,
had been revoked. I could only get it on one
condition, and that was if I had a child or was
on the verge of becoming a father.
I was a silver-spoon kid with a lot handed to
me, but in business my grandmother as-sisted
a lot to help me build my own empire,
especially financially, and she always was
great with advice. I looked up to her more than
anyone else. She had given me a trust—
several, in fact— but the last one, the one I
nee-ded to grow my business, c@m£ with a
catch. I had to be a father, be on the verge of
becoming a father, or getting married, to show
that I could be responsible and maintain a
stable lifestyle.
I thought I could get that with Sharon, but she
was a back stabbing, money hungry bit-ch who
was only interested in fashion and herself. She
once made me happy and, especially when she
thought she was pregnant, I thought so too,
but that was short lived. Now, she was history
and I’d moved on with Emma.
Emma was a delightful person, and I was
happy to have her around. But that was short
lived too when our baby died. I was
heartbroken and distraught, and I felt like it
was a total set back for my business. The
request and paperwork had alre-ady been
disapproved by the board members because
the finances of the business weren’t deemed
stable enough. We could do it, but it’d be very
risky. The funds of the trust would alleviate a
lot of that. But I couldn’t t©uçh it until I could
prove that I could “demonstrate a stable
lifestyle”.
I was un-der pressure now because other
businesses could get ahead of me now. I
bec@m£ a wreck.
At lunch, Martin c@m£ in to see me. He had
flown in from Canada and he wanted us to
gr-ab a bite together. He was my best friend so
I vented my frustration to him.
“Dude, you’re in way over your head. You
should relax some more and look at other
options here.”
“What other options?” I asked, arching my
eyebrows.
“Well, how about you move on with your life.
Maybe your new little fiancee can’t have kids.”
I ru-bbe-d my temples in frustration, the thought
of Emma unable to ba-re kids made me sick to
my heart.
When we finished with lunch we headed back
to the office where Martin kept me distracted
me for the rest of the evening. He had a bottle
of Hennessy and we drank it completely while
laughing and talking about the good old days.
The music was pla-ying from my computer as
Linda walked in. My eyes were blurry but I
knew it was her, nob©dy could smell the way
she did. She always managed to have the best
fragrances.
“What are you idiots doing?” she asked, placing
her hands on her h!ps in the center of the
room.
Martin and I giggled like kids.
She shook her head.
My computer began to pl@yJohn Legend’s All
of Me.
I got up and took Linda in for a sway. “Come
on, dance with me,” I said and twirled her
around.
She wasn’t much of a dancer so she just held
onto my che-st and leaned on me for support.
“Time to get out of here,” Martin said and
headed out of the room.
I ignored his immediate dep@rture and held
Linda in my arms, her perfume hitting ha-rd in
my nostrils. I inhaled her sweet scent. We
rocked together like a couple at the ball until
she pu-ll-ed away from me. I pu-ll-ed her back
into my arms and we made our way to my
desk. I laced her with k!sses and she gave in
immediately, spre-ading on the desk and
removing her shi-t. She wore a plain black br@
and her cle-avagewas screaming to be li-cked.
I couldn’t contain myself. The sight in front of
me was delicious and the alcohol wasn’t
helping me think straight. I devoured her brea-st
in my mouth as she m0@n ed and ran her
f!ngersto un-bu-tton my shi-t. My hands
traveled to her th!ghs and I raised her Sk-irt
above her stomach ex-posing her red lace
p@n-ties; the sight was even more beautiful.
She pu-ll-ed me into her and k!$$£d me hungrily.
She un-buckled my belt, unZi-pped my p@n-ts
and made her way to my man-hood, which was
alre-ady standing at attention.
My hands reacted quic-kly and I st©pped her
and pu-ll-ed away. “Linda, no. We shouldn’t be
doing this.” My head was pounding.
“This feels so right. I want you, Ethan,” she
said and pu-ll-ed me to her again.
I st©pped her. “Get dressed and get out,” I
said, realizing the damage I could cause for
myself and the company.
She frowned but I ignored her and gathered
myself and went to the faucet to wash my
face.
When I got back to the desk Linda was alre-ady
gone. I drank a bottle of water and called Luis
because I knew damn well I was too drun!kto
drive.
I stayed in my office and blasted the air
conditioner. I drank more and more water to
wash away the scent of booze on my breath. I
looked up at the clock. It was 9:00 p.m when
Luis arrived to take me home.
Of course she would be up waiting for me. I
had been shutting her out since the pas-sing of
the baby and I couldn’t tell her why. I only took
it out on her, which I shouldn’t have done but
did anyway.
“Babe, we nee-d to talk,” she said as I entered.
I heaved a heavy sigh and sat at the end of the
be-d with my back to her. I re-moved my shoes,
they were aching my feet and the pain seemed
to be traveling all over my b©dy. I loos£ned
my tie and took of my jacket, finally.
“What is it Emma?”
“You hired a new maid?”
Wasn’t it obvious? I was certain she had
alre-ady seen her.
“Yes.” My head was pounding still.
“She’ll be ma-king your coffee now?”
“Yes.” I was getting annoyed.
“I’m the only one who makes your coffee in
this house.”
That did it for me. I wasn’t in the mood to
argue with her, but she wasn’t on my good
side. “Emma, I’m not in a mood for this, okay?
I had a $h!tty day at the office alre-ady and I
don’t wanna argue with you now. Just leave it
as it is.”
“As it is? What is this to you, Ethan? What
have I ever done to you to deserve such a shut
out like what you’re doing?”
“Look, I hired a maid to make things easier for
us. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
I got up and headed to the shower. I really
nee-ded a shower to clear my head and as-sist
with my excruciating headache. I didn’t usually
drink an entire bottle of alcohol and the effects
were really getting me.
When I c@m£ out of the shower she was there.
“What’s this?” she pointed.
I gazed down to the floor to the sight of
Linda’s red lace p@n-ties. What the fv¢k was
that doing here? In my head I gro-an ed. Linda,
that bit-ch.
“We’re not having S-x, Emma, so pick up your
un-derwear.” I knew damn well they weren’t hers
but I couldn’t let her know that I almost
cheated on her with my COO.
I made my way over to the closest to get into
my slee-ping clothes. A pillow nudged me at
the back of my head.
“These aren’t mine as-s-hole!” she screamed.
“Who are you slee-ping with?”
“That’s not your business. Besides, I’m not in a
mood for this, so don’t push me.”
“Ethan, you’re cheating on me and you have the
audacity to bring her un-derwear home! What
the fv¢k have I ever done to deserve this?”
“What I do, that’s my damn business, not
yours. Maybe if you’d have been minding your
own business then we wouldn’t be in this
situation!” My logical voice knew I was being
irrational but the liquor was unleashing my
demons.
“Are you high? How can you put this on me
when it’s you fv¢king around and fv¢king up
this relationsh!p? If you can’t do this anymore
then just tell me that! Don’t go out cheating on
me while I’m here like a fool!”
“Emma, I’m tired. I want to sleep, so shut up.”
I was exhausted and the headache was getting
worse from her yelling.
“You’re not slee-ping unless I have answers.
Who are you cheating on me with?”
“No one!” It was true. I st©pped it before it
happened.
“So why was that thing in your jacket? You’re
lying to me now?” she looked at the p@n-ties on
the floor, not daring to pick it up, and neither
did I.
I would grill Linda for this. She knew exactly
what she was trying to do.
I ru-bbe-d my temple and gave her one of my
sm-irks, which made her glared at me even
more angry. I got into be-d, thinking she would
calm down and come in after but I heard the
door open and close as she left me in be-d
alone.
$h!tty afternoon and $h!ttier night.
The next morning I was on the phone with
Martin. He called to see me during the course
of the day for business advice and ideas, but I
wasn’t in the office and wasn’t sure I planned
to be. I had a pounding headache that just
wouldn’t go away; I had alre-ady taken two
damn Advil.
I ended the call as soon as Emma walked in.
There was something important we had to talk
about. I said good morning to her but she
ignored me and went into the bathroom, soon I
heard the sound of water. I went to check on
her but she blew up on me in the shower and
threw my ring after me, again. She packed
some clothes into a suitcase and I as-sumed
she was going to move in the guest room
again but her response hit me like a run away
train.
“No, you son of a bit-ch. I’m moving out of
your mansion! I’m moving out your life, out of
this city, and, hopefully, out of this damn
country!”
She placed her suitcase onto the floor and
began to pack another. I was determined to
st©p her but she was angry; I couldn’t st©p her
when she was like that. She was moving like
lightening, packing and cursing at me and my
name and telling me how she regretted
meeting me. I only watched her as I sat on the
be-d; the image of Sharon c@m£ flashing back;
the day I made her pack and leave.
I shook my head. “Emma, you don’t have to
leave. When I said I wanted space, I didn’t
mean this . I meant taking things slow and
maybe starting over.” I didn’t want her to leave.
I wanted her to stay and help me get over my
guilt and my shame.
“I can’t do this. We’re too different, Ethan. I
can’t do this!” She wiped tears from her eyes
and continued packing.
“Emma, where are you going to go?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll be fine on my own.
Always was and always will be.”
The words pierced throu-gh me like arrows.
“You’re giving up on me?” I asked, sadly.
She had finished packing and had three
suitcases re-ady to go.
“Because you did it first,” she said and walked
out the door, slamming it behind her.
I slowly walked behind her as she walked
down the stairs.
Halley and Hannah help her carried her
suitcases to a cab that was alre-ady waiting on
the pavement.
St©p her, Ethan! Don’t let her get away from
you; she’s not like the others. Go get her.
Apologize for being such a d!¢k! My inner self
was saying to me but I was standing still
beside the main door entrance.
Her eyes looked back at me as the cab drove
away.
*TO BE CONTINUED*