Chapter 54: Alone Again

Retreating her steps, she picked up her laptop and brought it to him.

Her hands tightly fisting by her sides as she stood near him.

"Where is your work?" he asked as a frown appeared on his forehead.

"I was actually... couldn't understand what you-you-you were telling," she began to explain.

Her toes curled inwards. She felt like she had gotten caught doing something illegal.

"Almost an hour and this is what you've done?"

She looked down, feeling embarrassed.

"Let me make this thing clear to you, you're not going anywhere unless you finish your

work. Are you getting me?"

"Yes," her head was hung low. She never liked to be scolded.

"Look up and answer properly."

"Yes... sir," she replied, now looking up at him.

"What's the problem?" he asked.

"I... I forgot what you told me."

"Where was your mind?"

How could she focus on anything when he himself was sitting next to her? The nervousness

had full control over her mind.

"You didn't... explain it well," the last part came out as a whisper. She blamed it all on him

rather than accepting her own nervousness. She wouldn't say to his face the fear that she

had of him. She hated being fearful of others, but this was a different case. The glare, the

glare alone would buckle her knees now.

"So it's my fault?"

A small nod was her response. It wasn't his fault, though, that she couldn't pay attention.

"It's my fault that you were acting like you were paying attention, but all the time your mind

was somewhere else," he stated while opening the lid of his laptop, his eyes not on her.

'Itna dara k rakho gey tw kaam kesay karu gi,' she thought.

(If you'll have me so scared, then how would I work?)

"You need to move your tongue and ask me whenever you don't get anything," he said

without looking at her. "No one else. My cousin included." He turned his head towards her.

A warning glimmering in his eyes.

"Okay," she gave him a quiet nod.

"This time around I must have your full attention," he stated and began to explain to her

from the very beginning.

During the whole course of the conversation, she now tried her best to control her heart,

which was beating so fast while sitting just next to him on the sofa.

One thing she learned about him was that he was a quick-witted man. Calculative. Apt.

As if business wasn't his niche as much as psychology was. By the end of the session, she

had concluded that the man knew how to read minds.

He was manipulative. So manipulative. She had gauged that fact when he was telling her

about the two business deals of his that had his struggling company rise from the depths of

nowhere and darkness to new heights.

And the work he gave her was related to his new upcoming project, which was why he had

warned her to be very careful.

"I'll submit the work tomorrow. It's 8, sir," she requested.

He didn't respond but rather stared at her, longer than usual, which made her breath hitch.

Slowly, his eyes rolled down and landed on her lips. She gulped, feeling utterly conscious, so

she held her lower lip between her teeth, squirming under his intense gaze.

His thumb, cladded with a ring, moved and released her lips from her teeth. The pads of his

thumb stroked her soft flesh as he tapped at her lips.

"The amount of time you've bit them," he uttered in a whispery tone.

She froze. Like all other times.

"Actu-actually," she tried to divert the topic, but already his lips preceded hers as they

connected with hers.

He didn't proceed much, just gave her a chaste kiss before pulling back.

Instinctively, she bit her lips again, taking in the area where his lips had captured, when she

noticed his eyes on her lips again. She immediately released them.

Staring into her eyes, he held her delicate neck and brought her closer to him.

Her heart shivered.

"Apart from being a hangman, I can be a good kisser too," he muttered, just near her mouth,

before captivating them with his again. But this time around, longer.

He didn't prolong it much as he pulled back from her and found her face flustered and red.

"You can't..." she muttered, looking down.

"I can't?" he frowned, urging her to continue.

She shook her head, not wanting to complete her sentence. Afraid he might do something

with her as he did that night.

"I can't what?" he asked, gripping her chin before bobbing her head up.

She moved her lashes up, revealing her teary-red eyes.

"I know what... will you... you do to me if I... I completed my sentence," she whispered.

He stroked his thumb along her neck and placed it on the space between her shoulders,

feeling her accelerated heartbeat. "And you don't want me to do it?"

"Please. I don't know... what to answer," she fidgeted with her fingers. If she said yes, then

that would mean she would be denying him. And she had tried denying him before. She

never liked the consequences.

Her lashes moved up when a tear rolled down her eye. "Can I say... say something?" she

cleared the tear.

"Say," he uttered quietly.

Her hands shivered as her eyes moved up and down between the floor and him, hesitating

to say what was on her mind.

"Promise me, you won't h-hurt me."

His grey shards bore into hers and found her utterly helpless yet beautiful pair of eyes

staring at him.

"I promise," the words released out of his mouth while staring deep into her enigmatic eyes.

"I don't want you... to t-touch me," she at last gathered every ounce of courage and told him.

"Our d-deal was j... just for that n-night. I d-on't w-a-nt a non-mahram to t-touch me," she

stuttered.

"I'm-I'm not provoking you or..." she whimpered when he pulled her face up, making her

look at him. She thought he had been set off. She couldn't afford that as the terror thundered

down on her.

"I-I," she tried to explain herself further, so it would save her from him.

"Shhh," he hushed her, stopping her from explaining herself further to him. "Shhh, quiet," he

placed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. "Keep quiet," he muttered under his

breath, holding her close.

A sense of tranquility encompassed him.

It was weird.

The emotion that gurgled up within his dead heart. That emotion. It was weird. Very odd.

After a few moments, he pulled away from her. "I'm going home," he said as he stood up.

"Am I free to go?" she asked.

"Have you done your work?"

"No."

"You will come with me to my house, and there you will complete all your work."

Her eyes widened, and the word "no" was on the tip of her tongue when he stood up and

said, "Let's go."

And that meant she had to spend the night with him.

Alone again.