His Beautiful Addiction

\'\'Is he not handsome? \'\'

Claire asked; a brilliant smile on her lips. She was still gazing at the picture and she did not notice the ghastly pale look on Tiana\'s face.

Tiana\'s world stopped moving for a second; her heart banging so loud that she could hear it in her ears.

She took in a deep breath immediately to calm herself;

\'\'He\'s… he\'s your boyfriend? \'\'

Tiana asked again, to be sure she wasn\'t hearing things.

Claire nodded; well, they weren\'t dating per se, but she was in the process. They would get there soon.

Tiana smiled painfully; \'\'He\'s gorgeous! Very! \'\' Even though she knew how to pretend, this time, her skills were failing her, she wasn\'t sure she would be able to keep it up for long.

\'\'Yeah, I think that\'s one of the reasons that drew me to him; he\'s so handsome. \'\'

Claire blushed; too busy with Nicklaus pictures, to notice that Tiana was almost on the verge of crying.

A million painful thoughts rushed through Tiana\'s mind.

Why was she sad? It was expected after all. He didn\'t love her so he was bound to move on.

But it still hurt so much, maybe because she was expecting something.

She was having sleepless nights over a man who had moved on, and with someone so beautiful. 

Tiana\'s eyes clouded with tears.

She couldn\'t even compare to Claire, in any way, and the fact that she was her friend now hurt more. She couldn\'t even hate her.

Do you know the most unbearable part? The fact that she would see her every day and be reminded of him every single moment; God, why was it Claire… why must it be her… couldn\'t there be someone else, someone she didn\'t know. Someone she could hate.

Claire was so nice; she couldn\'t even bring herself to hate her and she hated it.

Tiana raised her hand to her chest to calm the surging pain.

\'\'Oh right, we\'re here. \'\'

Claire exclaimed as they drove into an estate.

Tiana forced herself from her thoughts and shifted her gaze outside;

The house was huge and beautiful, but Tiana didn\'t even take a good look because of the pain in her heart. She was so sad but she did well to put up a good expression as they walked into the house.

\'\'Miss, your mother is here. \'\'

A guard walked up to Claire as they walked into the house. 

\'\'She\'s back? I thought she had a meeting in Canada? \'\'

Claire asked rhetorically as she walked into the house. Tiana was still moody but her eyes shot open when she saw the woman sitting poised on a sofa reading a magazine.

You\'re fuckin\' kidding me…

Sitting there was the first lady in all her graces. Tiana felt her head spinning…

\'\'Mom? Thought you were out of the country? \'\'

Claire called as she stepped into the parlor;

Wait… if the first lady is Claire\'s mom, then…

Claire is the president\'s daughter!

And Claire is the woman Nicklaus should have married…

Tiana quickly found support for her shaky legs before she would fall. All the information at the same time was too much for her.

\'\' A very nice way to welcome your mother you haven\'t seen in three months. \'\'

Avery lifted her eyes from the magazine to look at Claire, her brows creased when she saw Tiana;

\'\'I see you have a new friend. \'\' She added as her eyes accessed Tiana, Tiana felt so little under her scrutinizing gaze.

\'\'Tiana, meet my mom. Mom, this is Tiana. \'\'

\'\'it\'s nice to meet you Ma. \'\'

Tiana\'s voice quaked. Why was she getting involved in Nicklaus\'s business? She didn\'t want to have anything to do with him or anybody in his circle, how did she become his new girlfriends\' friend?

God… this was not good.

Her throat hitched with pain, she didn\'t know how she was still able to keep standing.

\'\'Hmm \'\' Claire\'s mother replied faintly, shifting her gaze back to her daughter; in the next second she stood up and walked to her;

Claire\'s brows creased as her mother approached;

Avery stopped just when she was inches away from Claire, and she looked at her closely;

\'\'I see you are doing well; I\'ll be on my way now. \'\'

Avery spoke after watching her for a moment, and then she turned towards the exit and walked out.

Claire stood still for a few seconds before she came to herself and turned to Tiana;

\'\'Ha ha, my mom can be scary at times, I think she\'s still mad at me for moving out of the house, I don\'t know if she still thinks I\'m a baby. \'\'

Claire laughed; but Tiana didn\'t even hear what transpired between them because she was still immersed in her own thoughts;

\'\'Come on, come take a shower and eat some food, you must be tired. \'\'

Claire exclaimed, taking Tiana up the stairs.

….

Tiana sat in the cab, her eyes swollen from crying. She had thought she would be able to take it, but at the end, she couldn\'t. She wanted to push it all to the back of her mind, but the more she looked at Claire, the sadder she became, and when she couldn\'t take it any longer, she told Claire she was not feeling too well, that they should party another day.

Claire understood and wasn\'t angry, she told her guards to take her home and Tiana agreed but once they had gone a distance, she told them to stop her and then she took a cab.

 And as soon as she entered the cab, she burst into tears.

The most painful part was that Claire was a nice person. How could she be the one? If it was Larisa or someone else, then she would be justified in hating her, but Claire, she couldn\'t. And the pain of having to pretend that everything was alright when it clearly isn\'t is overwhelming.

Tiana dragged her feet into her house and slumped on her couch, shutting her eyes. Being like this was very bad, she needed to vent out on someone, the pain in her heart was too much to bear.

Tiana swallowed hard, after a few seconds, her eyes shot open as a thought entered her mind.

Liam…