Page 135 of Blue Gold

I tried to smile at him. “B-but I look good?”

“No!” he snapped. “You look sick, Elliot. You’re… you’re unwell.”

My eyes grew wider, and betrayed, I glared at him. “You always say I’m beautiful, now all of a sudden I’m not?”

“I-it’s not like that,” he hissed.

“So what is it?” I yelled, and it felt like my voice was scratching the inside of my throat.

He pointed at the scale, the veins on his neck bulging. “I didn’t know about this.”

My rage spiked, and I clenched my hands into fists. “I look good, so why does it matter?”

“You don’t see the problem?”

“No,” I snarled, then shoved him out of my way. “I’m going running.”

“Like hell you are.” He grabbed my body, his arms wrapped around me like chains.

“Let go of me.” I struggled in his hold, scratching his arm in the process. “Let go!”

“No,” he argued, snugging me closer.

“Fuck!” I shouted and, without thinking twice, slapped him across the face. “Let me go, or I will leave you! I will. I’ll leave if you don’t let go of me right now!”

Finally realizing he was in the wrong, Daniel dropped me, and I was free.

Good.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” I said, pushing my hair away from my face while steadying myself on one leg. “I would rather die than not go out and run right now.”

Thinking I made perfect sense, I took Daniel’s silence for agreement. But when I turned to look at him and saw the tears in his eyes, something inside me broke.

It was the first time I’d ever seen him cry, and it left me scared. Between the two of us, he was the strong one, so how come something so silly made him cry? And it wasn’t our first fight. We fought all the time, so… why?

“Daniel?”

I tried holding his stare, but he refused to look me in the eyes.

“You’re unwell, Elliot.”

Taken aback, I scowled at him. “What?”

He brushed away his tears before looking at me, and apparently, crying made his eyes so painfully beautiful that I never wanted to see such sadness again.

“You need professional help. It’s my fault for not noticing it sooner, but now—” He paused, waving back at that stupid scale. “We have to get you help, Elliot. A therapist or something, I don’t know.”

My pulse escalated, and I shook my head, afraid of the words coming out of his mouth. “No, no, you don’t get it.” I forced a smile. “I’m a model—it’s my job to be thin. Okay?” I tried making him look me in the eyes again, but he kept his head down. “Daniel, I swear, I’m fine. I eat healthy, and I work out, that’s all.”

“You’re lying.”

“D-don’t you remember?” My lips trembled as I attempted to smile. “I never lie.”

“But you do.”

My heart dropped, and panicking, I placed my hand against his cheek. I couldn’t afford him interrupting my routine. I couldn’t allow anyone to mess with how I worked out and what I ate. It was something that no one but me would understand. It was my thing. My life.

I grabbed his jaw and tilted his head up.