His Beautiful Addiction

 ''Beautiful, you overthink too much. Who said you are not enough for me? '' 

Nicklaus held her cheeks with both hands as he stared into her deep blue eyes. Her eyes clouded and she shut them, not wanting to look at him;

''If I was good enough, grandpa wouldn't have tried to separate us,'' she replied courageously; that was the truth, if she was actually good enough for him, grandpa wouldn't have thought of breaking them apart. She was a nobody, from a no-background and she would never be good enough for him because she had nothing to offer.

Nicklaus heaved a deep sigh;

''Look at me, Beautiful. '' He said but Tiana kept her eyes down; ''Beautiful, please… ''

Tiana' throat tightened but she forced her eyes open and looked at him; ''I alone can say if you're good enough for me or not, and I'm telling you now that you're the only one I would ever be with, and no-one can unsay that, okay? I don't want you overthinking things anymore. If something is bothering you, I want you to talk to me; I won't let you get hurt anymore, and the last thing I ever wish for is me being the reason for your sadness. I love you beautiful, and i can't be more honest than this. ''

Nicklaus concluded, his breathing a little fast, Tiana raised her hands and held his arms; ''I'm sorry for doubting you, I love you. ''

With all that happened, she couldn't help feeling insecure, and his reassurance was all she needed. She hugged him again. Nicklaus kissed her forehead as they remained in each other's arms. Tiana smiled as she realized something, the only time she had felt completely safe was in Nicklaus's arms.

''What are we going to do about Claire? '' she asked after a long while. She felt a tight squeeze at her heart, knowing that her friendship with Claire might come to ruins now. She wished it wasn't Claire, she wished it was someone else she didn't know, it hurt really bad, how would she even bear to look at her?

Claire was a sweet soul and from how she spoke about Nicklaus, she knew she liked him. But she was selfish too, even though she valued their friendship, she couldn't let Nicklaus go, not after she found out that he was in love with her and everything was just a misunderstanding.

She knew Claire could end her career in the industry, but she would still be happy with just being able to look at Nicklaus, hug him, hold him, and kiss him. It was more than enough for her. He was her world and she could give anything, anything to be with him.

Nicklaus caressed her back, kissing her temples; ''I'll talk to her. ''

''What if she doesn't forgive me? '' Tiana asked, feeling sad. She liked Claire a lot; she wished their friendship would not end because of this. But it was a more selfish thing to ask, she cannot eat her cake and expect to have it back.

''We were just getting to know each other, there's no way she would hate you so much for something that was not your fault, don't think about it too much, okay? ''

Tiana nodded, heaving a long sigh. How was she even going to tell Liam that she was back with Nicklaus and she was no longer interested in their deal?

Tiana mentally cursed; if she had met Nicklaus a little sooner, then they wouldn't be in this complicated mess now. She knew Liam liked her but she wasn't sure how much, she wished he would be happy for her and let her go, but she wasn't sure of that either. Even though she hadn't been with Liam for long, from the little time she had spent with him, he seemed like a complicated person. He wasn't easy to read, so she didn't know how he'll take it.

''Beautiful, how much do you know Liam? '' Nicklaus asked when he remembered something and Tiana shrugged;

''I met him once a long time ago, but we reconnected again recently, we've not really hung out a lot, so I don't know anything about him or his family yet. Is there any problem? '' She asked, lifting her head to look at him, with creased brows.

Nicklaus smiled; '' did you have breakfast? '' Tiana shook her head;

''Good, we'll talk over a meal, let's go. ''

Nicklaus took her hand and led her to the dining table, where the meal was already set. He pulled out a chair and Tiana sat down before he took his own seat.

''Beautiful, there's a lot you don't know about me, and I'm going to tell you everything now. ''

Tiana gulped, ''Okay, I hope it isn't very scary. '' She chuckled, but Nicklaus smiled, he opened the jar of juice and poured it onto a cup, and gave it to her;

''My whole family was killed in front of me when I was eight. '' The fork in Tiana's hand fell and it made a cringing sound as it made contact with the floor. All color drained from her face as she stared at him, wide-eyed and in shock;

''what?! ''

...

Catherine was standing, staring outside the window of her office, her face looking like she just stepped out of a furnace. Her fingers dug into a picture on her hand, and her jaws clenched with extreme rage.

Just that moment, Liam walked into the office.

''Mom, you sent for me? '' He asked, creasing his brows. Catherine turned and walked to him, and with a flash, two heavy slaps on his both face.

''How dare you! ''

Liam held his face; his eyes wide open in shock. Before he could ask what he did wrong, Catherine tossed the picture to his face.

''How could you? How could you go after Nicklaus's woman? As if that was not enough, you sat with him on the same table, are you that thoughtless and stupid? ''

Her voice resonated in the room as she scolded Liam, anger written all over her face. Liam lifted his eyes from the picture and looked at his mother;

''Mother, they are no longer together… ''

''Shut up! Shut the fuck up! I told you not to let him see you, I told you how important it is to keep your identity hidden, but what did you do? You walked right into the devil's den and you think he didn't see the resemblance between the both of you? ''

Catherine screamed angrily; ''Mother, we are outside, you need to stop screaming… ''

Liam warned, but what he didn't know was that someone had already heard them.