"Rey, I have been trying to call you!"
"Yes, I saw that. I am sorry for missing your calls. Have you spoken with mom?"
"Boy have I. And dad too. They hate me! And I blame you!" Toria said passionately.
"I am so sorry about this, Toria. Is mom fine? She was very upset with me," she said.
"She still is. And with me too. She is so disappointed that none of us thought of telling them."
"Oh, Toria. I am so sorry. You could have just told them you were unaware too, you know. At least, they would only have been mad at me."
"Oh, I was tempted to," Toria said instantly. Then she sighed "But then, I couldn't. As crazy as I thought the idea was, and I still think it is crazy, mind you. I understand why you did it. And like it or not, I was there, so I couldn't just throw you under the bus like that. I guess now they would just disown the two of us together. Great!"
Reyona let out a short laugh at the sound of Toria's bemoaning tone.
"You can still laugh? How can you still laugh?" Toria asked in surprise. "Have you seen all those posts? What are you going to do now? Laugh it all away?"
As much as the unexpected mirth wanted to bubble out of her throat again, Reyona tamped it down and answered her sister in a serious tone. "Yes, I have seen them. I don't want you to worry about them, okay? I will handle it."
"How can I not worry? At this rate, I am sure I will have grey hairs soon." Toria responded. Then she sighed and asked, "How are you doing though? How are you really doing?"
Reyona didn't hesitate to say "I am fine, Toria. Believe me, I will handle this."
"Why do I believe that?" Toria said in contemplation. "Just…let me know if you need me to do anything, okay? Anything apart from keeping secrets from our parents!"
Reyona smiled and said, "You've got it."
"Now I need to go think of all the ways I can get Mum to remember that I am her favourite daughter. After giving her some space, of course. I am sure she is on the verge of disowning us all right now."
"I will make sure she knows that I forced you not to tell them," Reyona added with a genuine smile.
"Pfft, as if anyone would believe that," Toria said with a snort. Then her voice gentled again. "Please, take care of yourself, Reyona."
"I will."
"How many weeks left now?"
"Less than three weeks" Reyona answered automatically.
Toria sighed, then said "You do too much for others, Rey. How did I get so lucky to have a sister like you? I love you, sis."
Reyona blinked back the sudden moisture in her eyes as she said "I love you too, Toria. A lot"
*********
He had his trousers on when she came out.
His pensive gaze tracked her movements as she came forward.
"You know," he simply said.
"Yes," Reyona responded.
"I am so sorry," he said as he stood up from where he was seated.
"For what? It is not your fault." Reyona said as she stopped walking with the expectation that he would do the same since there was only a little distance left between them.
Instead, he kept walking till he reached her.
"I am the one who proposed this, so it is my fault. I am sorry" he said as he wrapped his arms around her rigid body and hugged her.
With her hands hanging between them, Reyona answered "And I am the one who accepted the proposal, knowing what the implication would be. This is as much my responsibility as yours."
She shrugged slightly and he stepped back from her.
He didn't let go of her hand though, as he said, "Please, let me handle this."
"Why? I already told you that you don't need to take responsibility for anything. Moreover, have you seen the articles? My name and that of my company are the most prominent of all. Why then would I let you handle what I should do? To give more impression that I am a woman who left her husband to be with a powerful man? I don't need you to handle anything for me. My involvement in this is the reason why my company is involved. It is only right that I extricate my company as soon as possible. I will not let them do what they did the first time."
He thoughtfully rubbed his finger around his nose as he gave her a keen look. "Why is it so difficult for you to accept help from others? Why do you find it hard to lean on me?"
Reyona shrugged his hand off hers and folded her arms to her body as she asked "Lean on you? For what? I told you I could handle this. Would you rather I break down in tears and run to you so you could save me?"
"That wouldn't be such a bad idea, would it?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I don't need you or anyone to save me. Your oversized ego just will have to accept that."
"Just as I should accept that you wouldn't let me love you?"
"Okay, what the hell are you talking about right now?" Reyona asked as she narrowed her eyes at him in exasperation.
"That I love you, Reyona. That I want to take care of you. That I want to be the man you turn to in situations like this. I want to be able to give the world to you and more. I…" he turned away from her and paced for a moment.
Then he turned back to her suddenly again. "I promise myself I won't spring this on you again until you are ready for that discussion, yet here I am. You do things to me, Reyona. Something that no other woman had ever been able to do. It hurts me that you wouldn't even let me help you. Let me help you, Reyona. Let me love you."
Reyona stood still as torrents of thoughts cascaded into her mind.
The woman in her yearned for such a declaration.
Yet her battered heart recoiled from such a statement.
She could see the burning desire in his eyes as he walked towards her, then stopped suddenly, as if he couldn't trust himself to be that close to her at that moment.
She had no answer for him, yet she had much to say.
"Say something." he implored after a lengthy pause.
Reyona knew what he wanted to hear, yet she could only say, "I have scheduled an interview in two hours. What do you want people to know about our arrangement?"
"What? You…"
He gave her a look that cut deep into Reyona most uncomfortably.
Then he turned around to pick up his discarded shirt from the edge of the couch.
"You know we can't just tell them that this was just an arrangement, that would be like confessing to a cr… Maxwell!" she called him urgently as he kept going without acknowledging her.
He stopped abruptly and turned to her.
That look.
Reyona wondered how he could evoke variations of feelings in her with just a look.
She didn't like how she was feeling at the moment at all.
"You can do whatever you want," he said gravelly. "Let me know if you need me for anyth...," he snorted with a dry laugh. "Oh wait, you wouldn't."
With that, he wore his shirt and stepped out of the room.
Reyona went towards the couch and sat down slowly.
She hated that she wanted to rush after him to apologise.
Apologise for what though?
She had not done anything.
"Yeah, apart from taking his heart and practically grinding it under your heels", her subconscious was at it again.
Reyona shook her head as she leaned back against the couch.
As his lingering scent wrapped itself around her, Aria's song chose that moment to pop into her head.
"Boys have feelings too."
Even bad boys bleed…