68. To avoid "trouble"

After glaring at Miles for a while, everybody gave up. There was no point in glaring at him now. He was already here and they could do nothing about it…

All of them sat around in the living room holding drinks. They were all quietly drinking without uttering a single word.

Liam was looking around in confusion. Why was everyone quiet as if they were in a funeral mourning someone's death??

"Why are you all so quiet??", he asked innocently. They all looked at each other in worry before putting up smile and laughing.

"No- Nothing like that Boss...", Ryan stuttered.

"We are all enjoying...", Sarah said with a forced smile.

They hoped that their replies would quench his curiosity, but he looked unconvinced.

"Are you guys not enjoying??", he asked curiously.

Of course they were enjoying!! Enjoying like hell…

You come and ruin our fun and are asking us why we are all quiet as if you don't know that you are the reason...

They all wanted to tell that to his face. But at the thought that he was their boss and that they would most likely end up losing their jobs, they decided to shut up.

"It's nothing... They are just yet to get into the form...", Lara replied, saving all of their jobs. All the others looked at her great fully.

But now Miles noticed that Lara was drinking fruit juice unlike everyone else, including him, who were all drinking alcohol.

"Why are you drinking fruit juice Lara??", Miles asked her.

"Oh... That well… If boss needs to return home, someone will have drive as he has had alcohol… And it is better if someone is a bit level-headed… To avoid trouble…", Lara replied.

Lara said the last sentence while looking at Liam, who was sitting next to her.

Everyone except Liam understood the meaning of "avoid trouble ". Lara wanted to make sure that none of them would do anything that would trouble Liam in their drunk stupor, otherwise, they would all end up being jobless by dawn.

They all continued chatting and drinking and eating… Slowly, everyone started loosening up a bit, including Liam.

But suddenly a huge flash of lightning struck followed up by loud thunder. Everybody was startled.

Crackle... Crackle… Flash.

In an instant, the electricity was cut and there was only darkness. The people started shifting around a bit in an attempt to find their phones to turn on their flashlights.

"Don't worry.. The back up lights will be turned on in a few..", Lara said in an assuring tone.

Lara suddenly felt her arm being grabbed tightly. She turned in shock and saw Liam struggle with breathing.

Liam's entire body had turned to ice the moment the power went out.

Those memories…. The black warehouse… Spider webs… The scream of the girl… Her body hanging in the dark room… Blood slowly dripping from her body… The menacing laughter of that guy…. The dead silence in the dark room…

All of this was coming back to him. Those traumatic memories made his hair stand on an end... He felt a chill run down his spine... His breathing started becoming heavy... There was only one person in his mind now.

Lara….

His hand unconsciously searched for her hand in the dark room. When he found it, he held on as if his life depended on her.

Lara saw the fear in his eyes and remembered about his reaction in the dark library. She realized that he was having a panic attack again.

Holding his hand in both of her hands she gestured him to look at her eyes. The little bit of light coming in through the windows highlighted her face.

With one hand, she was gently caressing his hand while using the other, she asked him to take deep breaths.

Liam obediently did what she asked him to do while staring at her eyes in a daze. He felt as if he could see an entire galaxy in her eyes. He was just falling deeper and deeper into her eyes.

Her eyes were offering him a look of safety, security and consolation... She was his light in the darkness…

Slowly, the fear faded out from his heart... His tensed body relaxed… His breathing returned to normal…

Seeing that he was becoming normal, Lara slowly loosened his grip on her hand. Liam realized how awkward it was and immediately pulled his hand away and looked at her apologetically.

He was about to apologize, but Lara placed a finger on her lips with a smile, gesturing him that he didn't need to.

All this while, Miles was looking at both of them curiously. When all the others were looking for their phones, he had worriedly turned towards Liam.

He also knew about him getting agitated in the dark and didn't want a scene to be created in front of everyone. Just when he was about to call his name, he saw Lara coaxing him.

He was surprised knowing that there was actually a third person who knew his vulnerability other than him as he had been forbidden from revealing it to Liam's family. And what shocked him even more was that, that person was none other than Lara.

He was just looking intently at the obedient side Liam was showing and how Lara easily prevented him from having a panic attack.

Right at that moment, lamps started getting turned on. Though they were not very bright, they were enough to help everyone see each other and their surroundings.

Lara reached out to her phone to check something.

"Oh crap!!", Lara cursed suddenly.