Chapter 3 No Guest Room?
But one look from Rita and I straighten up, smiling so wide and bright, I feel my jaw aching but I breathe through it.
I feel tears brimming my eyes, aching to fall over but I swallow my emotions as they leave a sour taste in my mouth… something so foul it makes me want to cut out my tongue so I never taste anything ever again.
But I know I have no other choice… I'm doing this for my family, for my father working day and night in the office so I could get the best education possible, a mother who prayed for my well-being day and night and constantly worried for me. They’d sacrificed so much for me… it was my turn now and I was not going to let them down.
I was the good daughter, the responsible one…. and they were depending on me.
A loud, feral voice breaks my train of thought. “Wilson and I have a group project to complete and it's due tomorrow, so is there anything else you’d like to tell us, mother?” Daniel stalks toward me, his tall, lean frame making it a matter of seconds before he was next to me.
He not so subtly rips me out of Benjamin’s proximity and I nearly moan with relief when the smell of him, something like sandalwood and comfort laced together attacks my senses, erasing all trace of Benjamin’s sweaty hand that made my skin crawl.
I sink into Daniel’s embrace when he wraps his arm around my waist, tightly enough to plaster me to his side and I breathe in his warmth and soothing scent.
Very unlike how I’d almost fainted trying and failing to breathe near Benjamin.
I am horrified at the realisation but quickly shake it off, using exhaustion as an excuse for my disarrayed thoughts.
Just as Daniel starts to walk out with me, his mother interrupts,” But isn’t Ayesha a Computer Science major? How do you two have a project together when you’re in different departments?”
Daniel doesn’t honour her with an answer and keeps on with his brisk pace, tugging me along by my elbow.
I peek back and try to respond brightly whilst still being led away, ignoring the withering glare the witch was shooting me, “ The project’s based on department diversity.” Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Benajmin’s eyes widen in suspicion but before I can give it much thought, I’m suddenly being gently shoved into a huge master bedroom.
I turn to face Daniel and quickly regret it because his grey eyes lock with mine, not letting me look away.
The gentle hue of the moonlight streaming in combined with the dim light of the illuminants lining the ceiling cast eerie shadows on him and made him look even more surreal. His light-brown skin shined under the little golden lights, the sharp cut of his cheekbones even more prominent now than before, like they’d been sculpted carefully to fit his even more defined jawline and perfectly shaped puffy lips which had a natural red tint to them.
The muscles tightening and loosening beneath his black v-neck and the veins popping in his neck whenever he got tense screamed excruciating workouts at the gym. But he had just the right amount of muscle which made him look not bulky but lean and athletic.
He could easily model for Armani, he had the typical model look but his grave grey eyes and the way he squared his shoulders with bold authority and that cold, empty expression of his gave him a dark edge that warned me to run the other way.
“Is this the guestroom?” I stupidly ask, anxiety clawing at my vocal cords. I look around, finding only bare walls and a bed that looked like it’d never been slept in.
“No.”
I frown, confused. It sure looked like a guest room. Not a thing was out of place.
“It’s my room.”
I gulp hard. Of course it was his room. Impersonal, grey-black theme, non-cosy, cold and discomforting, this room was custom-made for him.
“Well, can you show me to a guestroom?” I blurt out, my voice turning out to sound more pleading than asking.
The bastard smirks, his eyes remaining cold and expressionless. I bite my lip to suppress a groan of frustration.
Daniel’s POV
God, this girl was infuriating! She bit her cherry red lip, her body wound up in knots as she looked about ready to combust from discomfort.
Just to make her even more uncomfortable, I flat-out stared at her mouth.
She turned a bright red when she noticed and her lips parted as she inhaled a sharp breath. My jaw clenches in turn at the sight of her rosy cheeks and heavy breaths.
The teasing might’ve backfired.
Fuck! This was not how this was supposed to be going.
“What will you tell my mother? We’re supposed to be working on ‘department diversity’, right?” I do air quotes, taunting her. Department diversity?! Seriously? Who the fuck would buy that?
“But if you’d like to spend more time with my uncle, please don’t let me stop you. I don’t think he’d mind seeing his beautiful fiance after all, wouldn’t you agree, Ayesha?”
Her eyes widen in terror…. meaning she’s fucking horrified at the prospect of breathing in the same air as him. So why help me god is she fucking marrying him?
I walk toward her, slowly, deliberately… like a predator circling his prey. She was so small, practically shaking like a leaf, fragile and afraid, like a perfect fucking prey.
I place two fingers beneath her chin and lift her face up,” Look at me when I’m talking to you.” I lean down to look her in the eye, her breaths turning shallow at my proximity as anger runs in my veins instead of blood at the thought of that slimy bastard’s arm being around her, caging her in.
She was my prey. Mine to cage and mine to fu-... free.
Where the fuck did that come from?
“I’ll take the couch.” A small, barely audible voice escapes her lips, swollen from her torturous biting and I almost think of gently caressing them with my own to relieve them of the pain.
What the actual fuck?
“Not like I was gonna offer my bed to a fucking peasant anyway.” She flinches from my hard tone.
I drop my hand from her chin and step away from her like she was a ticking time bomb.
I have got to get my fucking priorities straight.
I don’t know how long I stood under the spray of ice-cold water but it sure as fuck didn’t help me clear my head. It was pounding even harder, like the fucker wanted to burst out of my skull. Might as well do it, it wasn't like it was doing his job great anyway.
Ayesha was curled up in a ball on the couch, acting like she was asleep, her uneven breaths and the way her body tensed as soon as she felt my presence gave her away in a second. Her stupid white cardigan which was a stark contrast to her charcoal black hair was kept neatly folded up on the bedside table.
And she just laid there bare-shouldered in her strapless black top as the moonlight bounced off her skin which was the exact opposite colour of her hair.
A light hue surrounded her and coupled with her small frame and soft face, she looked like something straight out of a fairytale, like a fucking angel.
I violently shook my head and climbed into bed, angrily pulling the covers over. I needed to get a handle on this. Angel? Fairytale? Where the fuck was this coming from?
I was going to grill her tomorrow. Do a proper interrogation because this shit was getting out of hand.
She wasn’t exactly in the state of mind to answer my questions tonight. And neither was I to deal with her without doing something I was surely going to regret later.
What I really needed to know as soon as fucking possible was why she was marrying my sorry excuse of an uncle when she was clearly horrified at the prospect! She looked about ready to bolt when he neared her and was almost relieved when I pulled her away from him!
Relieved to see me! Fucking me!
She was scared shitless of me and persistently avoided me. All I’d done since she came into my life was bully, insult and humiliate her.
And she would rather be in my arms than his. There was seriously something very fucking wrong here.