Chapter 49

That night, Belinda was busy cleaning the plates and cutlery that were left in the sink. She and John had spent the whole day trying to set up their things in the house.

It didn't take long because the house was already perfectly okay from the beginning.

She'd just carried a glass cup with soapy hands when John came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

She relaxed against his chest, closed her eyes for a while, and then went back to washing.

“I'm sorry that you're going through this much stress because of me.”

This was not the life he envisioned for her when he asked her out and told her to be his girlfriend.

This wasn't it.

Belinda rinsed the last glass cup with warm water, wiped it with the dish towel, and turned to face her boyfriend with an angry glare.

“If you apologize to me one more time, I swear I'll shove a knife up your ass.”

She was pissed and tired of his constant begging and pleading.

“Belinda….”

“Do you really think so low of me? That I would leave you the minute things get rough?”

“No, that's not what I meant–”

“That's exactly what you meant when Brian asked me to come back to him the other day.

You begged me not to leave you, John. Do you really think I have it in me to leave?”

John could see that his words and actions were hurting her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

He just…he didn't…He felt he needed to apologize to her because he couldn't give her all the sweet and luxurious things of life.

“I don't want any of those things, John. Yes, they are a necessity, but I would gladly give them up if it meant I got to spend the rest of my life with you.

So please stop being so insecure because you finally lost all your money.

I didn't date you for them in the first place.”

His hand curled at the back of her neck, and he slammed his lips against hers.

Their lips dancing against each other, his other hand going down to grab at her ass and press her against his crotch.

He pulled away, and they both began to heave heavily, trying to catch their breath.

“I won't ever do it again. This is the last time I'll ever feel this way about us, Belinda. Ever.”

She smiled up at him and went on her tiptoes to peck his forehead. “Thank you. Now, please move away and let me work. I'm not about to Let you distract me.”

“Hmm…” He packed her hair over one shoulder, leaving the one closest to his lips bare. “If I manage to tempt you, will you come willingly?”

Belinda tilted her head, giving him more access to her vulnerable neck.

He licked and bit it gently, sucking it hard.

“Answer me,” John growled.

“No,” She answered breathlessly, “I have to finish this now. I want to sleep in tomorrow.”

John frowned. How was she still able to form a coherent thought and speak with her mouth?

“Perhaps I'm not seducing you enough.” He grumbled and shoved her dress up her thighs.

“John…” She whispered, her voice laced with excitement and need.

John responded with a growl that matched her primal need.

“Focus on the dishes that you're so adamant to do tonight, Babe. And let me focus on doing you.” He snatched her pants away from her waist, and the act sent a shiver of pleasure all over her body.

Smack!

Belinda gasped, “John!”

“Wash, Baby. You're not washing.” His voice now has a predatory edge to it.

“I can't.”

“You will.”

“You're cheating. I can't concentrate when you're about to touch me like that.”

“Then I'm about to turn your brain to mush.”

And mush he did turn it to, because Belinda spent minutes washing a single spoon.

John peered down over her shoulder to the sink as he held her body to himself since her jelly legs gave out.

"Hmm, it looks like you'll have to leave the plate washing till morning.”

*********************************************************

Belinda turned in her sleep; her eyes fluttered open like the wings of a butterfly.

The hazy vision she had cleared slowly, and she noticed her sleeping position with John.

They were both naked beneath the sheets, and he was lying on her.

His face was buried in her neck, and his hand was under her waist.

He felt heavy and good on her skin.

She raised her hand and began to stroke his hair like a loving mother would.

Her eyes darted across the room, taking it in.

She couldn't believe that their lives had changed over the night.

John jerked awake to the feeling of someone caressing his hair.

When he met Belinda’s gaze, he smiled and placed his head back in its position to resume sleeping.

“Are you awake?” She asked.

“Hm hm.” He shook his head.

She chuckled. “You just answered me, John.”

He remained silent.

“Are you going to ignore me?” She asked again, but he said nothing.

She sighed and continued to stroke his hair; this time she began to hum.

“I am going to start job hunting today.” He announced.

“Really? Where?” She asked.

John shrugged. “Anywhere. Perhaps my competitors. I'm sure they'll be happy to have this maniac brain on their team.

I'll prove to them that I am an asset worth having.”

Belinda grinned and tugged his hair, causing him to look up, and she placed a very wet kiss on his lips. “You'll find a job quickly. I'm sure of it.”

He wasn't like her; he was once a billionaire who had connections and had established relationships with different people in high places.

Yeah, it won't be that hard for him.

***

But it was. When John received his first rejection, it looked like a slap on his face, and then he received his second and third rejections.

By the fifth one, Belinda was starting to worry.

“Why are they rejecting your application?” She asked for the tenth time. Maybe it was because they were his competitors.

But when he explained to her that they were his supposed allies, she knew things were about to get even tougher and rougher.

John broke the record; he received roughly thirty rejections in just one sitting. He even skipped lunch and breakfast for it.

By the time it was dinner, he couldn't even enjoy his meal.

He only ate because Belinda had forced him to.

As a morale booster, she has decided to work alongside him the next day.

“We’ll apply for a job tomorrow, okay? I'm sure we'll receive at least one.”

John had his suspicions about the rejections he kept receiving; he was even worried about sending his CV to the rest of the people he knew, the ones he was friends with, so he decided to send it to the competitors instead.

Even that was worse. He and Belinda kept getting rejected.

Belinda wasn't fazed about her rejections; she looked like she got a lot of them even before now, but John wore his emotions like a mask.

“Why are you so out together? We keep getting rejected.” John exclaimed one time in the afternoon.

Belinda shrugged. “This isn't the first time. Besides, they all keep making reference to our relationship, and it's crazy.”

Belinda knew what would work and what would get her a job.

But it was not breaking up her relationship that would do it.

Belinda kept feeding John with the most positive things, even when he was at his lowest.

Every night after his rejections, she would hold him to her chest like a child and hum.

John loved it. He loved the way she sang to him, the sweet little things she would say to his ear, how she loved him, and how he would do great things.

*********************************************************

For a month, none of them got a job.

Thankfully, Belinda’s ex-clinic hadn't revoked her license, but when this matter with John blew up, everyone wanted to know who she was, and they began to dig...until they found some dirt on her.

This made employers weary, especially when the new CEO of Nostalgia is Brian.

They worried that the same would happen to their companies if they hired her.

*********************************************************

Three months without a job, and Belinda sat him down.

“Babe, why don't we change tactics?” She asked.

“What do you mean?” John asked.

“Does it have to be a corporate job?” She asked, her eyes looking away, “It's like destiny doesn't want you to have a job.

We've been searching for months now and heard nothing.”

And that was when something clicked in John’s head. The reason he wasn't getting a job at all.

He chuckled out loud; it was so obvious!

How did he not see it?

Belinda looked at him worriedly and said, “John? Are you okay?”

He nodded. “I am more than fine, love, thanks to you.”

She blinked, “Me? What did I do?”

“It's not fate that doesn't want us to have a job. We've been blacklisted in the country…or at least I have.”