Woke Up Married

125

A week to the wedding day

The person Julia had seen earlier stepped out of the storage room and moved closer to a window looking at the front of the store. The person peeped through the window with a frown looking at Julia getting into the car.

"Are you alright?" Jason asked with concern seeing the sudden change in Julia's mood.

She said nothing but placed her head on Jason's shoulder wrapping her hand around his arms. Jason kissed the top of her head rubbing her shoulder.

"Are you alright?" he asked again but Julia remained quiet making him worry.

Jason looked at the front seat with a frown.

"What happened inside the store?" Jason questioned the guard before he could put the car into motion.

Julia hearing Jason asking the guard in a terrifying tone to know why she is like that felt guilty. She quickly intervened.

"Nothing, I just feel down all of a sudden," Julia lied.

Jason frowned wondering why Julia was lying to him. His concern for Julia made him study her close to the extent that, he knows her like the back of his hand. He decided not to probe any further. If she is lying to him, it's probably because she doesn't want him to know or she doesn't know what is happening to her. He hoped it was the latter. They returned to the apartment and he helped her upstairs to the bedroom to rest as she was tired. Jason went into his office to get some work done. He decided to work from home so he could take care of Julia. He called Mr Wellington and found out if he was now at the office. They jumped into a discussion of a project the company wanted to work on.

Back in the room, Julia found herself sitting on the bed with her back resting on the headboard.

She had a book in her hand that she was reading. A knock on the door disturbed her concentration and her gaze quickly moved to the door. She requested the person to come in and Mary entered the room carrying a tray of food.

"What is that?" Julia asked with a frown as the flavour of the food put her off.

"It's carrot soup," replied Mary.

"Please take it back. I will come downstairs when I am ready to eat. Can you get me ice cream instead?" Julia requested and Mary agreed, leaving the room.

Less than five minutes after Mary had left the room Julia's concentration was interrupted again as she heard the door open. She turned her gaze to the door wondering if Mary forgot something but the person who entered was wearing a hoodie which covered her face. Julia frowned watching the person take slow steps towards her.

"Mary," Julia called out trying to calm her fears

"Hmm," replied the person scaring Julia.

Terrified as the person walked towards her, Julia decided to scream but her screams won't come out. She dropped the book she was reading and touched her lips with her hand only to find it sealed. The person who had entered stopped at the door and started laughing hysterically. The voice was very familiar. Another entered the room dressed the same way as the first. Julia held the pillow as a shield as she could not do anything. The pillow was snatched away from her and she saw it land on the floor. The person took off the hoodie and Julia turned pale immediately. Standing there in her room was James and Mrs Haward.

"You took everything away from me. I am going to end you and that will be Jason's punishment. Your end," Mrs Haward said pointing a gun at her.

Julia screamed again as she saw Mrs Haward's hand about to pull the trigger.

"Wake up, Julia, wake up," came Jason's voice.

Julia's eyes flew open and she immediately hugged Jason in tears, soaked in sweat and shaking all over.

"I am here. It's okay," Jason hugged her as he rubbed her back to calm her down.

"James and Mrs Haward wanted to kill me," Julia said in broken tears.

Jason frowned but still kept trying to calm her down.

"I...I ..I... saw...." Julia began and her statement was interrupted by hiccups. "I saw Mrs Haward today," she finally said making Jason pull away from the hug immediately.

"Where?" Jason asked.

"At the ice cream shop. The person looked like her but I don't know if it was. The person walked away before I could confirm," Julia said in broken tears.

"It's okay. I would not let her or James hurt you," Jason assured her.

She looked tired but scared to close her eyes to sleep. Jason took off his coat and shoes. He climbed into bed and she hugged his waist placing her head on his lap. Jason rested his back against the bed headboard rubbing her shoulders affectionately. Seeing she was finally calm and sleeping again, he used the opportunity to make a call to one of the guards.

"I need you to check if Mrs Haward works at the shop where we bought the ice cream," Jason instructed.

"Yes, boss," replied the guard.

"Do it discreetly," Jason added.

"Yes, boss," replied the guard and he proceeded to carry out the given orders.

Jason stayed in the room with Julia till late afternoon when she finally woke up.

"What is that smell?" Julia asked rubbing her nose.

"Soup," replied Jason.

" I don't want soup. I want ice cream. The soup aroma is making me sick," Julia complained.

"I understand but you have to eat well," Jason tried to coax her but Julia pouted her lips shaking her head in a 'no' like a little girl.

"Okay, let's do this. You don't like the smell of the soup, right?" Jason asked and she nodded.

"Okay, here," Jason handed a small cup of ice cream to Julia making her sit up with a smile.

"Okay, you going to take in the smell of the ice cream and use that to take the soup," Jason suggested and Julia frowned but still agreed to it. "Good girl," he said and kissed her. "Let's give it a try," he said and Julia nodded.

She opened the ice cream and the flavour made her smile and her eyes brightened up but she only took in the flavour. Jason fed her a spoonful of soup and she swallowed it easily.

"How was that?" Jason asked.

"I like it," Julia replied with a smile and Jason continued to feed her the soup as she took in the flavour of the ice cream.

The soup bowl was soon empty and after wiping her mouth with a tissue, he got down from the bed and went for her medication which he placed on the table next to a jug of water.

"You can eat your ice cream now," Jason said and she smiled.

She started scooping the ice cream into her mouth with so much joy making Jason smile. She looked more like a little girl eating ice cream than a pregnant adult. Thirsty minutes after she was done with the ice cream, he gave her her medication. Which she took obediently.

"Let's go take a walk in the garden," Jason suggested and she nodded.

They both got out of bed and exited the bedroom and they were soon in the garden. Jason held her hand as they walked into the huge garden behind the apartment.

Jason picked up a flower and gave it to her. She took it from his hand and smelled it but sneezed twice in a row afterwards. Jason quickly took the flower from her hand

"Are you alright," Jason said.

"Yes, something entered my nose but it's out now," Julia said and Jason looked at the flower looking out for anything off about it but there was nothing

"Probably one of the petals," Jason thought.

Julia took the flower from him with a smile

"Don't smell it again," Jason said and Julia nodded.

They finally got to the small pond with ducks and they both sat down on the bench. Julia rested her head on Jason's shoulder, putting her feet up as she rested them on the bench still in a sitting position. She was holding in her hand alongside the flower a small cup of bird food. She started feeding the ducks with it. Jason lovingly kissed the top of her head wrapping his arms around her protectively. He took the rest of the day off to be with Julia after informing his father about the afternoon incident and Julia's dream. He recalled what his father had said.

"Mrs Haward is still out there even if she doesn't have the money or the power any more. We need to keep tabs on her because if she partners with an enemy she will come back to hurt Julia," Mr Wellington had said.

The cup dropped from Julia's hand snapping Jason out of his thoughts. He realized Julia was sleeping again but same time his phone vibrated. He quickly answered it, bringing the phone to his ears

"Yes?" he said.

"Sir, Mrs Haward works in that shop as a cleaner but I was informed she left immediately after we had," reported the guard.

" Find her and keep an eye on her," Jason ordered and ended the call.

"A week to the wedding day and this is happening now?" Jason thought but Julia moved drawing his attention to her.

He gently carried her in his arms and headed for the apartment.