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She pulls her phone from her pocket. “Chloe’s been texting me like crazy asking if you’re home yet. I’ll tell her you just got here.”
I slowly sit up, trying not to wince. “How is she?”
She glances up at me as her fingers tap on her phone. “You’re asking how Chloe is when you got beaten up?”
I flinch.
“Sorry.”
“No. I mean, it’s the truth. I got my butt kicked.” Sighing, I lie back down and shut my eyes tightly. Maybe the tighter I shut them, the easier I can forget how weak I am.
“But you helped Chloe and that’s all that matters.”
I’m about to say something, but there’s a knock on the door.
“It’s Chloe,” a voice says from behind the closed door.
Lily gets up to open it for her. “Wow, that was fast.” She returns to the chair while Chloe sits down next to me on the bed.
As she takes in my face, I wish I could turn away from her and hide my shame. But I don’t want to be rude. Or to worry her. Plus she’shere. Her hair is a little messy like she ran her fingers through it multiple times.
“Hey,” she says with an uneasy smile.
I try to return one, but it’s impossible with my temporary new face. “Hey.”
She slides her hand into mine and all I can think about is how soft and warm it is. I forget for a second what happened and how much pain I’m in.
“How are you feeling?” she asks.
“I’m okay. It looks worse than it is.”
She bites her bottom lip as she scans my bruises. From the look on her face, I know she doesn’t believe me. But it’s true. The emotional pain is worse than the physical one. I hate that it happened to her and I hate that I wasn’t stronger.
“All this happened because an article was accidentally published under your name,” Lily mutters. “And you still have no idea who wrote it?”
Chloe shakes her head. “I’m not sure it was done accidentally.”
Lily pushes her chair closer to us. “What do you mean?”
She shrugs. “Why would they put my name on it? When I told Nakamura I didn’t write it, she believed me and told me she’ll investigate and get to the bottom of it.”
“That’s good.”
Chloe nods. “Yeah, but maybe we shouldn’t talk about it now. Let’s let Liam get better.”
“Thanks, but I told you to treat me the same,” I say.
Lily stands and walks over to me. “No way. You could have really gotten hurt, womb buddy.”
I groan. I hate when she calls me that, though I kind of like it, too. It’s something special only the two of us share.
Lily bends toward me and carefully wraps her arms around me. “I’m really happy you’re okay, twin bro. I’m going to help Mom with dinner. See you later.” She leaves the room.
Chloe looks at me, biting her lip.
I slowly sit up. “I’m fine,” I try to reassure her.
She slides closer to me. “I didn’t have a chance to thank you for helping me. But I’m sorry that jerk hurt you.”
