She suddenly recalled all she went through with those men and she started to panic. She pushed him hard away from her, she was feeling breathless and was sweating.
"What's wrong Joy? What happened? Talk to me please!"
"Please leave me!" She screamed at him.
He tried to get close to her trying to comfort her and he saw hatered in her eyes as well as fear.
"Please don't come close to me" she pleaded as she was taking steps back.
"Am sorry I'll leave ." He said while walking out of the room. This incident made him think back on why she was raped, he couldn't bring himself to ask her what exactly happened but he thought it was about time they talked about it. He decided to talk to her in the morning when she has calm down.
Joy on the other hand was pacing back and forth in her room. Why did this have to happen to her? She decided to take a cold bathe to calm herself down. When she was done, she lay on her bed looking up the ceiling thinking of what to do next, she was so rude towards Taylor, she felt bad for how she treated him but she couldn't control herself and she blamed her father for making her hate men.
"Should I tell him what happened? Will he judge me? How will he react? What if he doesn't understand?" She kept talking to herself as she got out of bed and started walking back and forth again.
"But I need him to have my identity changed so that I have time to establish myself. What to tell him....what to tell him...whaaaaaat!" She finally decided to sleep to calm herself more.
She was up early in the morning and took a bathe still not decided on whether or not she should tell Taylor what happened to her. She heard a knock on her door and started to panic, " come in" she said in a low trembling voice. She came down when she saw the sweet Linda come in smiling as always.
"Good morning madam, breakfast is ready. Please come down to eat" she said .
"Thank you Linda" she said with a faint smile. Now she was really panicking, what if Taylor is there at the table? What will she say to him? She finally went downstairs and found Taylor at the table as she thought. Now she was feeling uneasy , she sat as far away from him as she could and avoided eye contact.
"Good morning Joy, how are you feeling today?" He said while smiling at her like nothing happened the previous night.
" Good morning." She said while looking down. They had a quiet breakfast and Taylor finally broke the silence once they finished eating.
" Do you mind taking a walk with me in the garden?" She simply nodded and followed him out.
They walked to a beautiful garden in the backyard , she was admiring the view and appreciating the beautiful flower scents.
"Joy you don't need to be afraid of me, know that am here for you. Please talk to me."
She took a deep breath and looked at him, "How did you find me Taylor?"
He told her everything that happened the day he found her without leaving any details out.
She was quiet and in deep thought, "what exactly happened to you Joy?"
She again started to panic, he noticed and tried to calm her down by patting her on the shoulder and she moved away from him.
"Please don't touch me Taylor."
"Okay" he simply stated and moved a little away from her giving her some space. He felt his chest tighten being rejected by her.
"I will tell you when the time is right, am not comfortable talking about it yet. Please try to understand." She said while looking away from him.
"Sure." He said and started walking quietly.
"I need your help though." She said this time looking at him. He smiled with excitement as he looked at her.
"Of course, anything you want." He said with an assuring face.
"My real name is Amber Garcia, I know you are a very powerful man and can easily find out about me, but please don't do that. Let me figure things out on my own. Please promise you won't look me up" she looked him straight in the eyes wanting to see his reaction to the little truth she has unleashed. He looked calm and thought for a while then responded.
"I promise I won't look you up.... Joy, you can trust me, I won't hurt you I promise."
"Trust is earned Taylor, once I trusted a man so much and he took that trust and broke it into very small pieces, so don't talk to me about trust." She said bitterly.
He understood her pain somehow and decided to build that trust, he was going to earn it no matter what.
"You said you needed my help.?" He phrased it like a question.
"Oh yes, I want to change my identity. Can you help?"
"Of course, is that all?"
"Yes, for now that's all." She said.
They spent the whole day mostly in the garden chatting, Taylor did most of the talking. He told her about his family back in Asia and about his parents and his childhood.
"I have one brother Xu who can be trying at times, but he is a good brother am sure you will get along. Just don't be too offended by him. He talks a lot and doesn't seem to ever tire from it." He explained.
"Hehehe he sounds lovely Taylor." Joy laughed , then she thought about her sister Maria, they didn't have any relationship, they barely spoke and Maria hated her. She wished her sister would care a little about her, but it never happened.
"My father is the sweetest man, he is all about family values and my mother is a little reserved and more into our businesses. I am sure you will love them."
She suddenly felt sad again listening to him talk about a family she wished she had. She gave him a sad smile
"That's wonderful Taylor, i can't wait to meet them.... I wish I had such a family." She said sadly and looked away.
"They too are your family now... You are not alone anymore." He said with a sweet smile she smiled back.
"Okay enough about the emotional things ,let's talk about business" he chuckled and so did she.
They continued chatting about his business and the day went by quickly.
JOY!...JOY!... PLEASE WAKE UP!" Taylor shouted trying to wake her up.Taylor was doing some work in his office and it was passed midnight when he decided to go to sleep, when passing Joy's room, he heard her screaming.."STOP!... PLEASE DON'T..!"He knocked on her door, but no response, so he decided to go inside without invitation even though she clearly told him to give her some space."JOY!..JOY! PLEASE WAKE UP!...JOY!" He shouted trying to wake her up, she was sweating and turning in her sleep.He got some water and splashed her ,she was finally awake and breathing heavily."Joy, calm down it was only a dream... Calm down am here.." he said trying to comfort her, he tried to hug her and comfort her but she became restless."Get away from!..." She screamed moving away from him and baaam! She fell on the ground."Joy...""Leave me alone please.." she said trying to calm herself down."Okay, I'll be in my room if you need anything.
"I LOVE YOU JOY..AM IN LOVE WITH YOU!"There was pin drop silence. ' flashback'After Joy chased him out of her room, he decided to occupy himself in a lot of work to try and forget about the whole situation that had occurred. After work he went back home and lay in his bed.He was staring at the ceiling, drained and depressed about what happened the previous night. His day had not been too good that day. Life was not being very kind to him for a few weeks now, he had countless work to do and kept worrying about Joy. He has never loved any woman before,and the first woman he falls for is broken and rejected him. He could take no more of this stress. He looked vacantly at the ceiling, trying desperately to restrain and organize the emotions which were trying to force their way out of him. Just then, he heard steps outside his door.Even without opening the door, he could tell that it was her, the woman tormenting him all these week
She started rubbing his head, whispering " am right here.. please don't make this hard for me Taylor.."Time went by and she drifted into sleep in his bed.When she opened her eyes she found those mesmerizing eyes staring at her and she was startled."Am sorry I fell asleep in your bed, she said embarrassed. But he said nothing and kept looking at her like trying to find something he lost. She quickly got out of bed and straightened her clothes, while blushing. She rushed to the door and he finally spoke."Am sorry about yesterday,... Mmm... I don't know what exactly happened...but am sorry if I caused you any trouble.." he said getting out of bed."You said you love me...is that how you feel?" She asked while trying so hard not to look at him, she noticed that he said nothing for a while and she continued."Taylor am not ready to love am sorry if..""I was drunk.. that won't happen again.." he said firmly and walked passed her
"We are here miss," said Mr Li as he packed the car outside the Young mansion."Oh, Thank you", Joy said as she got out of the car.Once she got a glance of the mansion, she was astonished. Even though her father was a business tycoon, he never owned a mansion as big as as this, she thought to herself.She felt nervous, as confident as she looked she never liked first impressions."Can't we go back Mr Li?" She said in a low tone."Nonsense miss, the Young family has always treated me and the other house helps as there own, you will love it here",Mr Li assured her as he pulled the luggage out of the car." Let's go miss", Li said as he dragged the luggage to the house. Joy gave out a big sigh and followed Li.As they entered the house, they saw numerous househelps were waiting to welcome them."Welcome miss", they said in Union." We were waiting for you, we got everything ready just for you", said Shu,
" Mom, what exactly were you thinking!" Shouted Taylor as he interrupted his mother's chat with Mrs Suinne and Alicia"Excuse me for a bit" Mrs Young said with a faint smile as she dragged Taylor away." I know it came up all of a sudden, but its for the good of everyone. Am your mother and I have to choose what's best for you my pumpkin ", Mrs Young said as she placed her arm on Taylor's cheek gently."How is it beneficial on my side! Times have changed mom. These are not the old days where you get to arrange a marriage for someone else without any approval from them", he said as he removed her arm from his cheek. Seeing this, Mr Young walked up to them, leaving his conversation with the guests pending." Do what you gotta do, otherwise am not getting married to Ms Suinne and my decision is final". With eyes full of rage, Taylor looked straight into his approaching father's eyes and stormed out." Taylor, wait..." Joy grabbed Taylor's hand
The following day Joy woke up a little earlier than usual and prepared breakfast for her and Taylor. She hoped he had woken up in a better mood and hopefully the breakfast would make him cheerful since he enjoyed her cooking. She walked slowly to his room to take his breakfast, the door opened as soon as she knocked."Hmm good morning Taylor... I made breakfast..." She said with a sweet smile on her face."Good morning Joy...am running late for work, I can't have breakfast am sorry" he said without looking at her face and left her standing there with the tray of breakfast in her hands.She felt her heart ache, it wasn't her fault his parents arranged a marriage for him so why was he being mean to her? But Taylor had been there for her even when she pushed him away. So she got an idea."Shu!" She called out as she walked downstairs,"Yes Joy.. how may I help you?""Pack this food for me, I'll take it to Taylor on my way to see Xu for the job.
"Fine, I'll go" Xu said while shrugging his shoulders. "I'll see you later sunshine" he winked at Joy and walked away."How dare he" Taylor whispered, but Joy heard him and chuckled" Someone's getting a little jealous all of a sudden" said Joy with a smile on her face and her head tilted as she stared at Taylor with a huge smile on her face." I am not, I.... I... "Taylor cleared his throat and moved his neck tie as though he was trying to cool himself down."Uh-huh" giggled Joy as she walked towards Taylor teasing him and there eyes met.It felt like time stopped for awhile, both lost in thoughts, what they thought about, nobody knows, Joy suddenly interrupted the moment by opening the door behind her." Well boss, show me around", she said as she took Taylor out by the hand. Taylor felt at ease whenever he was around Joy, a simple smile lit his days. He was ok with friendship as long as he had her around, and as long as it made her fee
"Evening?.. it's already evening?" She asked confused as she looked at her watch. The man stood silently and watched her amused by her actions."Oh yes.. good evening, may I help you?" She asked smiling and started organizing her table again."My name is Luther Brando, I'm your vice. I was attending a meeting with the Zong enterprises that's why I wasn't able to welcome you here today." He said with a bright smile while stretching his hand to greet her.She felt even more embarrassed, the first impression had been ruined by her messiness."Oh yes Mr Luther, my name is Joy Benson, Taylor told me a lot about you. Please have a sit.""Please call me Luther, Mr Brando sounds a lot like my dad" he chuckled "or my grandfather if we are being technical about it." Joy was amused by his words and giggled."You look like you've had a loooong day huh." He said pointing at the messy table and Joy felt even more embarrassed and smiled shyly."Yes h