Chapter 46

“What? I heard something wrong. What did you just say?” I asked while laughing nervously.

“You heard it right, love,” he said with an evil smirk. Coming near me, “Strip” he whispered in my ear and moved back an inch and looked at my body. His gaze sent a shiver through my spine.

Colour from my face drained a long time ago. His fingers played with the hem of my T-shirt touching the skin on my waist, giving me a tickling sensation wherever he touches. My breath hitched and my brain stopped working.

What am I going to do now? I made a wrong deal with the devil.

I composed myself a little bit “Why would I do that?” I asked him in horror. He just smirked at me and said “Because you agreed to do it just now.”

He wants me to strip. Even if I refuse him now, he is still going to make me strip. I gulped at that thought.

What should I do? What should I do? I was chanting in my mind.

I have no choice. Moving back a little he folds his hand across his chest and it was the cue for me to start. His eyes were fixed on me. “What if I don't do it?” I asked him to know if I had any chances.

“Then say bye to bikes till next life,” he said with a devilish grin.

How can he do this to me? And I can't even say no. I badly want to learn to ride a bike because my dad had a bike and he loved it so much. Growing up and seeing how he took care of his bike, I too started loving this beautiful invention. I think my love for bikes is what I got from my dad. And he had promised to teach me on my seventeenth birthday, but he was not able to keep his promise. I sighed in disappointment.

I still have that bike back at home and as a memory of my dad, I want to ride that bike on my own one day. I took a deep breath.

I can do it for dad. I can do it.

I motivated myself. While thinking all this, my hands played with the hem of my T-shirt in nervousness. I lifted my gaze to see his face and he was analyzing every move of mine and by the way, he was looking at me, I was feeling naked even though I was fully clothed. My heart was beating like crazy.

Idea.

“Aaah… Zanvil my head hurts so much,” I said while touching my head with my hands trying to show him that I have a severe headache. He was maintaining the same posture. “Oh god, it is hurting so much. I think I'm going to faint” I tried to convince him through my excellent acting skills. I closed my eyes to let him know that I'm going to faint anytime. I didn't feel hands trying to catch me or anything. Opening one eye I looked at him. His eyes were looking at me in amusement. He had not moved an inch from his place. He knows I'm acting. I think he won't take no as an answer. As it is he is angry with me, and if I don't do what he says, I'm gonna lose my childhood dream too.

I sighed in defeat. Looking at him with a sad face I said “Fine.” His pupils get dilated hearing my answer and his smirk widens. “Tune around,” I said in an angry voice.

“For what?” he asked me with a furrowed brow.

“Because I'm removing my clothes,” I said in a ‘don't you get its voice.

“Where is the fun in that in me not looking at you when you strip? I'm not turning around or anything so strip” he said with an evil smirk and commanding voice. My body shivered after hearing his words. The realization hit me.

He is going to fix his gaze on me while I strip. I started feeling hot.

Why am I feeling so hot all of a sudden? It is not the first time he is going to see me in my underwear, but those times I didn't know he was looking at me. But now he has fixed his evil gaze on me and my body is shaking under it.

Without looking at him I started lifting my T-shirt with shaking hands. My heart was already beating like crazy. He was looking straight at me without blinking. I swallowed hard. I removed my T-shirt leaving me in my bra. I shivered when the cool breeze touched my bare skin. My body was shivering more because Zanvil was touching every bare part of me with his gaze, without touching it physically. I noticed my clothes were a little dirty because I fell in the mud. With shaky hands, I removed my shorts too, leaving me in my underwear.

I looked at him with a red face. Something was in his eyes when he was looking at me and our eyes met. He smirked seeing me like that. My body went stiff at the way he was looking at me with those dark eyes.

What is he planning to do with me?

I tried to cover myself but he shot me a glare making my hands stop in their tracks. After staring at my head to toe for two minutes, and me standing there like a statue, he started moving in my direction. It was like he was making the hardest decision of his life. I could see in his eyes he was debating with himself and when he started moving in my direction, my heart started hammering. I think he concluded.

I took some steps back. Breathing was becoming hard for me again and I swallowed hard. I closed my eyes in fear as soon as he was in front of me. I felt his breath on my face but nothing happened, I opened one eye to see him but he was not in the room. After a second, he came out of his closet. What was he doing there?

He came and stood in front of me and whispered in my ear “Lift your hands”. I looked at him with a furrowed brow but my body shivered when he kissed me below my ear and shoulder while saying it.

What does he want me to do to exercise in my underwear now?

But his one hard look made me lift my hands immediately. He slipped his black T-shirt on me.

So he went to his closet to take this.

After he was done, he patted my head and whispered “Good Girl” in my ear like he was praising his dog. I glared at him.

Why does he want to whisper in my ear and make me weak in my legs?

I glared at him. Seeing my glare, he smirked at me “You know what” he said again coming near me. My breath got hitched when he came so close to me again. Unconsciously I closed my eyes. “You can now put your hands down even though I'm enjoying seeing you like that,” he said while kissing my neck. I immediately took my hands down and moved a little bit back, clearing my throat in embarrassment.

He smirked and again went to his closet and I took that time to observe what he had slipped on my body. I was wearing his big black T-shirt which ended above my mid tights and if I lifted my hands he could see my panties. He came back wearing only his sweatpants and nothing else. I gulped seeing the hard muscles of his chest.

God, why does he have to be so good looking?

I was still standing there and watching his chest which was a little red from what happened in the morning. I involuntarily lifted my hands and touched his chest. He took a deep breath when I did that and I immediately tried to take my hand back. Maybe my touch caused him pain but he grabbed my hand and kept it again on his chest. I traced my finger on it “Is it still burning?” I asked while looking at him. He shook his head in denial.

Then he took my hands which were scratched. “Is it paining?” he asked me with soft eyes.

“Yes a little bit,” I said while smiling at him.

He again looked at my knee and it was like he remembered what happened earlier. His expression changed from soft to an angry one. “Tomorrow morning, the first thing I'm going to do is break that bike of your love letter boy,” he said in anger.

What is he saying?

“Zanvil, you can't do that,” I said to him in disbelief.

“Watch it happening, and it will be better if I break your love letter boy too,” he said with a clenched jaw.

“Zanvil, you can't do that. What wrong has he done to you? He saved me from getting more hurt” I said in annoyance.

“What wrong has he done to me? Everything” he said with a clenched jaw. “I should first break his hand which you were clutching as if he would run away,” he said while accusing me.

Anger boiled in me “What? I was clutching him? No, don't you think it is the opposite. That's what you were doing with that Kayla or whatever” I said in anger. “She was behaving like she was your girlfriend,” I said with a clenched jaw.

“What about that Petros? He was with you all the time like your fucking boyfriend” he yelled in anger.

“Zanvil, don't swear in front of me,” I said in anger.

“Why don't you like me swearing in front of you or you don't like it because I said it for Petros,” he asked me angrily.

“Both,” I said in annoyance.

He clenched his jaw in anger “It will be good if I do what I planned on doing in the morning right now. The sooner the better” he said in anger and started to go out without bothering to wear something on top.

“Zanvil stop,” I said while holding his hand, not letting him go out.

“I already enjoy thinking about what I'm going to do with him and you just see what I do to him. That Kayla too got the idea that he was your boyfriend. That much cozier you were with each other” he said in anger.

He is behaving like a caveman. What should I do to stop him? He is not behaving like a sane man.

“Zanvil, listen to me” I tried to talk with him but he has gone mad.

“No, you listen to me, after I'm done with him, it will be your turn,” he said in anger, and after listening to that my body went stiff. “How careless you could be? You should be happy that mom and dad didn't see you when I carried you here. Look at your knee! How badly have you hurt yourself? What if it scares huh and if I let you learn to bike again what are the chances that you won't hurt yourself again? You must be happy after hurting yourself but I can't see you like that” he said in anger.

He doesn't even know what he is saying. He is confessing. His anger is making him confess that he cares for me. He can't see me in pain.

I smiled at him and he stared at me in disbelief “What are you smiling for?” he said in anger. “I think you are thinking that I won't do it. Don't you know love? I don't believe in empty threats?” I didn't let him finish because tiptoeing, I met with his lips. His body went stiff when he realized what I did now.

I took my lips away from him “You talk too much” I said while biting my lip.

His eyes lingered at my lips with dark eyes. “You are making my resistance weak by every second,” he said while lifting me and putting me in bed. He hovers on me then kisses my forehead “And I don't know how long I'm going to last,” he said while taking my lips. I kissed him back.

I don't know how we reached from fighting him asking me if it's painful and again to fight to me laying under him. He kissed my cheek and then my jaw and I let my hands roam around his chest. His hands moved inside my T-shirt spreading the burning sensation on my skin. I have felt like this every time he touches me. Like it is the first time he is touching me like this. I was breathing heavily as his lips descended from my jaw to my neck.

I don't know if we are on the right track but I don't have the power to break this track.

He lifted my T-shirt exposing my stomach. There was a foreign sensation all over my body when his lips touched my skin and he was moving upwards when my stomach growled. He looked at me and smirked and I sheepishly smiled at him.

Don't blame me. I didn't have my dinner.

“Hungry,” he asked me and I nodded. He smiled at me. “Wait I have something to eat,” he said and pecked my lips and when to take it.

What does he have here to eat? I thought while sitting on the bed. He came back with some energy bar. “Eat this. You won't feel hungry,” he said while handing it to me.

Yes! How did I forget that he had energy bars with him?

I took it and stared at them for a minute. Lifting my head, I asked him with a straight face. “Why do you have energy bars?” His face lost its color the second he composed himself.

“Because I like to eat them,” he said like he was stating a fact.

I would have believed him if I didn't know his evil plan.

I looked at him with straight lips and said “Or you knew that you were going to skip your meal because of your plan which you were going to execute here with your best friend. It needed you to skip meals right.” He stared at my face.

A little shocked after hearing my words “So you were eavesdropping” he said while accusing me that I spied on him.

“Yes, like you did when Jack gifted me the bracelet,” I said in a mocking tone. Anger was all over his face. He looked at me with a clenched jaw trying to think what he could say in his defense. “So you were successful in me getting in your bed,” I said while looking at my surroundings. I was in bed. “Oh sorry, your plan is not successful until you take me right. Is that why you showed me that you care for me?” I said with angry eyes.

“Jane, do you know what you are talking about?” he said with a clenched jaw.

“Yes, I know what I'm talking about. Now I get everything” I said in a calm voice while looking at my bandage.

He was successful in getting what he wanted.

“I'm so naive and understanding everything so late,” I said while lifting my hands in their bad condition.

“Jane, shut up. Do you think I did this to get you in my bed?” he said with disbelief.

I looked at him with narrowed eyes “So you are saying that you care for me. You can't see me in pain. Right, you did everything because I'm something in your life, that I matter to you right?” I asked him a question.

I wanted him to say yes. But he was looking at me with angry eyes. His stare was telling me to shut up. I will not shut up because I'm angry here too and I need an answer.

I gave him the same stare. “Answer me” I half yelled in anger. He was looking at me with a clenched jaw. If he cares for me, why is he taking so much time to say yes, and I was getting impatient with him.

He opened his mouth to say something but he stopped and after a few seconds he said “Think what you want to think. I don't give a damn” he said with a clenched jaw. My heart pained when he said that.

Why doesn't he want to tell me that he cares for me? And he doesn't even care what I think. Why does he have to behave like this every time? Does his pride come between admitting it to me? Now I get it. He doesn't want to accept it because I'm a homeless orphan and a gold digger in his eyes. Why will he confess that I matter to him? Because it doesn't matter if everything is good with my uncle’s health. Maybe he won't even want to see me in his life.

I looked at him with glossy eyes.

This is what I was going to get after marrying him against his will. I knew what I was going to get in this marriage. But I don't know why my heart is in so much pain.

Swallowing my tears, I tried to get out of his room but he caught my hand “Where are you going?” he asked me with a clenched jaw.

“Away from you,” I said while holding my tears which were ready to unleash.

Hearing my answer his grip on my hands became stronger “You are going nowhere” he said with a clenched jaw.

Why won't he let me go?

“You are going to sleep with me and I'm not letting you go anywhere,” he said in anger.

“Why? Do you want to see how much pain you have given me? You want to see it with your own eyes right” I asked him in a breaking voice. “How did I forget that you get happiness when you see me like that? Let it be like that.” I said while bitterly smiling at him. “At least one of us should be happy” a tear slipped from my left eye. “At least you will be happy. Leave my hand. I'm not going anywhere and you can see me crying and enjoy yourself” I said while removing his hand from my wrist and went to sleep at the corner of the bed. He was just eyeing me with anger and some undefined emotions in his eyes. I closed my eyes, still sobbing.

For the past ten minutes, I was crying. I could feel his intense gaze on my back.

I had no intention of turning back and saying ‘don't look at me’ because he wants to see me like this. At least he should be happy because in his eyes I'm the one who married him against his will. I don't know why I was expecting that he would say yes. I don't know why I made it my mission to make him confess that he cares for me. He said those things before because he was not in his right sense of mind and when he came back to his senses, he had no intention of saying those words to me again.

He just wants to claim me but he doesn't want me. Maybe I'm his temporary obsession because I entered his life against his will, and to me, he wants to show that I don't have any effect on him. After all, I have seen him with so many women. Why will he want to be with me when he can be with any goddess in this world? I remember Kayla's words. She told me that he is so off-limits to me.

I was feeling uncomfortable in these sheets which were covering my body. I felt hands encircle around my waist. He scooted me closer to him. He thinks I'm sleeping and turned me and made me lay on his chest. I feel his fingers moving the loose strands from my face and his thumb removing the tear marks from my face and then he kisses my forehead.

Why is he doing this when he doesn't care for me? I want to shout at him but I was feeling that comfort which I failed to find in the sheets.

I don't know why I feel safe with him. Like, it is the only place where I could be comfortable. I should stop feeling like this and I should stay away from him.

His fingers were still tracing my eyes, nose, and lips like he was memorizing my face. His fingers stop at my lips with his thumb tracing an imaginary line on it. It was becoming hard for me to pretend that I'm sleeping but sleep was taking control over me. “Don't go away from me, my love” he whispered to himself while brushing his lips to mine.

Why doesn't he want me to go away? If he doesn't care for me, I don't even matter to him in his life, so why does he want me to stay? He always says these kinds of things when I'm sleeping. He knows I'm a heavy sleeper and he thinks I don't deserve to hear what his heart says. If he doesn't want me to leave then what is stopping him from saying that he cares for me and wants me in his life.

Sometimes he is so close to me and in another second he is so far away from me. I need to find out why he is behaving like this.

It was the last thought which came to my mind before sleep had full control over me.

**Please do read my new book Hate War it's updated every week.