Page 16 of Begin Again, Part 1

He'd never make her happy for as long as he was broken. Lord knew he wanted to. Laura was perfect in every way. Gorgeous, educated, and driven. But for some unfathomable reason, his body no longer reacted to her.

His body no longer reacted to other women, too, as he soon learned. Every time he brought a woman home, they'd go through the excitement of foreplay. But the minute they had to get down to business, he'd lose his erection, sometimes he couldn't even get it up.

After his fifth or sixth attempt with the same result, he flew into an alcohol-fuelled rage. He dug out the offending dress and underwear buried in his closet and took them downstairs.

He riffled through his drawers in the kitchen in search of scissors. But all he found were spoons, forks, and knives, and there were too many for one person.

"Where are the damn scissors?" He yelled as he ripped the drawer from the cabinet and threw it on the floor. Dave and the housekeepers ran into the room.

"Mr Anderson, what do you need?" His butler asked while the two ladies cleaned up his mess.

"I want the bloody scissors!" Liam ranted again, "Where are they?"

Within seconds, they appeared out of thin air, and he took them to the living room, where he'd dumped the clothes. He picked up the dress, ready to shred it to pieces. But he couldn't bring himself to destroy it.

He threw it across the room, and the scissors followed suit as he howled a terrifying sound, the frustration and rage he'd carried around for the past few weeks exploding like an atomic bomb.

Liam didn't understand how or why. But he knew all his issues had everything to do with the owner of the clothes. The last woman he slept with was Eden, and since their encounter, he couldn't touch anyone else.

She'd done something he never thought was possible.

She broke him.

Chapter

Six

IMPERFECT TIMING

After weeks of constant puking and feeling miserable, Eden plucked up the nerve to see a doctor. The receptionist was super nice, pencilling her in for 12:30 PM.

She was happy with her time slot, and even more grateful it was on the 4th floor of Van Holt Industries, where she now worked as a junior personal assistant. Her employer owned the building, but only occupied the top fifteen floors. Various businesses rented out the first five. The ground floor was a mini-shopping mall with a few stores, coffee shops, and restaurants.

The food variety offered was the only saving grace about a job Eden hated. To be fair, there was nothing wrong with being a personal assistant. But it wasn't a job she wanted to do for the rest of her life. It killed her a little every day to run errands and create PowerPoint presentations. It paid the bills, though, and while she waited for a miracle with her illustrations, she figured she had to eat. With things so strained with her parents, she'd die first before asking them for help. They'd hardly talked since Simon. When Eden went home for the mandatory dinners and lunches, she never stayed longer than two hours. Sometimes three was her maximum. Anything beyond that was World War III waiting to happen.

At 12:25 PM, Eden set off for her appointment.

The receptionist, a cute chubby woman with spiked pink hair and a nose ring, was as friendly in person as she was on the phone. She handed her a file to complete before a nurse ushered her into an examination room to take her vitals.

When Eden stepped on the scale, and it cranked out a number she didn't like, she cringed a little. But the weight gain wasn't unexpected, considering the number of calories she'd consumed after Simon.

Her life was now divided into two parts: before and after the breakup.

It was the 'before' timeline she was still struggling with. Nostalgia for things long gone had made her reach for the cookies and potato chips without feeling any shame. Until now. Until the numbers on the scale.

"The doctor will see you now." Nurse Rhodes led her to the doctor's office after confirming her vitals were okay.

Dr Waylon was an elderly gentleman with the warmest brown eyes Eden had ever seen. He insisted she address him by his first name, which happened to be Simon.

"Did I say something funny?" he asked with a befuddled look on his face when Eden laughed.

She shook her head and gave him a brief rundown on Simon, the ex who dumped her one month before their wedding.

"What a dirtbag!"

She couldn't agree with him more. She'd even said as much on Simon's lifestyle blog. Anonymously, of course. It was bad enough she was stalking his socials. The last thing she wanted was to get a restraining order from him.

"What can I do for you?" Dr Waylon kicked off their consultation with the standard opening line.

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