Chapter 34 An Awkward Dinner
Ayesha’s POV
In the midst of the kiss, my damned phone suddenly rang.
I ignored it and pulled his mouth back on mine when he started to back off, groaning in protest. He kindly complied.
Whoever it was could wait for just a second.
I needed Daniel as close to me as possible…. before I lost him forever. It felt like I would crumble to the ground if he let me go… such was my desperation. I would’ve been embarrassed by my actions had I been in the right mind.
The phone, the one he’d given me… rang again.
He firmly pulled away this time, giving me a longing look as he spoke, his voice hoarse and breathy,” You should pick that up… it could be important.”
“Y…yeah”, I mumbled, backing off but he kept his hands around me, holding me in place. A sudden shyness overtook me when my head cleared a bit. The sensual cloud shadowing my brain had started to subside and it vanished completely when I saw who it was that was calling.
My hot, bothered body suddenly went cold and unfeeling. Daniel noticed the rapid change in my demeanour, raising a questioning brow at me.
I gave him a silent shrug as I picked up the call, knowing that ignoring his uncle was not an option.
“Yes Benjamin”, I spoke into the phone, feeling Daniel’s looming body go rigid against me. I’d expected him to let go of his hold on me when he realized who was on the other end of the call but rather his grip on me tightened as he squeezed my waist with his one hand. He slid both of his hands under my shirt at the sides of my waist. I glared at him, feigning annoyance, trying to mask the fact that he was making goosebumps erupt on my sensitive skin as he brushed the warm palm of his hands across my stomach and then circled my waist, gripping me from both sides.
“Yes, I’m on campus”, I answered Ben, trying to keep my voice normal.
I could feel his irritation grow when he realized that I had remained unaffected… or had succeeded in acting so. Only the lord knew that he’d set afly a million butterflies in me, each fluttering over to my demise as I tried to keep my cool, ignoring the way that his hands enveloped me so damn possessively, lighting each nerve-ending on fire.
“Oh! You’re on your way?!... Then?! Oh so you’re already here?!”, I immediately tried to get out of Daniel’s grasp, afraid that his uncle could see us like this if he was already here and think all sorts of things that would not bode well for me.
“Yeah, I’ll be right down… no, my classes are over”, I let out a sigh of relief when he told me that he was waiting for me in the parking lot. Daniel seethed at me, refusing to let me go…. not happy with my sudden indifference toward him.
Suddenly the corridor was filled with students as several classes ended together… apparently, Benjamin had a schedule of my classes… it irked me that he’d stalked me like that, but I didn’t want to question him on it for fear of another argument that could potentially put my family in grave peril.
I grew even more self conscious as students brushed past us, whispering amongst themselves. Everyone was staring at Daniel and me practically cocooned together.
The various eyes following us grated on my nerves but Daniel seemed entirely unbothered, almost as if he didn’t even notice them.
“I have to go”, I told him under my breath, looking up at him.
“Fine, let’s go then”, he flatly said, much to my surprise. Giving me a dark look, he cleared my way.
Wait… so just like that? Well, that was a lot easier than I expected it to be!
Giving him a confused frown, I walked past him.
Just as I neared the stairway, I noticed that he was trailing right behind me!
“What the hell are you doing?”, I asked him. I should've known that he wouldn’t just let go that easily after I practically begged him to kiss me and then was running off to my fiance.
No man would appreciate that.
It made me question my own sanity…. what the fuck was I thinking when I pulled that amorous stunt on Daniel? And right after I was going to dinner with his uncle who was my fiance.
My lord! This was such a dangerous mess.
“You wanted to go so we are going”, his tone was so hard, it cut right to my core. But I shook it off, refusing to let him get under my skin.
“Nu-uh. I am going, not you”, I stormed past him, stomping down the stairs.
But he followed me along all the same.
I figured it was useless to argue and I would let his uncle take care of him.
“Hey Ben, what a lovely afternoon, isn’t it?”, Daniel greeted his uncle as we neared him. He was standing next to his car, surprised to see his nephew, his frowning face plainly expressing that he wasn’t exactly happy to see him with me yet again.
“It is after all quite lovely. But not as lovely as my beautiful fiance”, Benjamin recovered himself, masking his disdain with a witty reply.
I gave him a forced smile as he looked at me.
“To that, I must agree”, Daniel replied, a polite smile resting on his face. I side-eyed him. Why was he all of a sudden being so cordial and polite with his uncle when only last night he was hell-bent on humiliating him and making a fool of him in front of everyone at the party?
Benjamin seemed surprised too at his nephew’s sudden niceness.
“And I’m glad I caught you. I didn’t get to properly congratulate you on your engagement the other night”, Benjamin said, his words sweet but his tone malicious.
I thought I saw Daniel’s smile slip for just a second as his jaw tightened. But he quickly formed a ‘harmless’ reply,” Why, thank you, Benjamin! I look forward to our wedding day!”
“Wedding days!”, his uncle corrected, “You said wedding day… our weddings are on consecutive days… not on the same day.” His uncle eyed him with suspicion.
Daniel grinned a devilish grin, making chills run up and down my spine for no reason whatsoever. “Oh! Did I? My mistake! Oops”. Something about his tone told me that he was saying things without saying them… he was rather giving his uncle the opportunity to infer them.
Wait but what did he mean? Jesus Christ! This was so friggin confusing.
I felt like I was a part of a game…. rather a commodity or accessory of the game I had no idea I was even playing. I did not know the rules or get a memo of the play… I was just thrown into the ring to fend for myself with no idea who the enemy even was!
I was going certifiably insane!
“Well, I will see you later then, nephew”, Benjamin told Daniel as he motioned for me to get in the car.
Keeping my gaze away from Daniel’s I followed his uncle’s lead.
“I thought we could go to dinner together… all three of us”, he stated, shooting me a conspiratorial grin… to which I violently shook my head no but he paid no heed.
“Uhmmm, Daniel… I would like to spend some time alone with Ayesha. It’s important we get to know each other before we tie the knot you know”, Ben forcedly said, not in the least enthused by Daniel’s suggestion.
“Sure, you can do that. But since you well know I’m getting wedded, I will also be taking over the company as CEO. I thought we could discuss your stock shares and your role on the board and the changes I would like to make to your general role in the company’s affairs. But if you don’t want to discuss it and make sure the changes are all in your favour… well, that’s up to you”, Daniel started to walk away with a smug grin but was instantly stopped by his uncle’s voice.
I could see Benjamin internally warring with himself as he spoke,” Of course you can come. I would be much delighted if you tagged along.” He lied through his teeth as he shot his nephew a cordial smile.
I could sense the threat lurking in Daniel’s polite words…. otherwise, there would’ve been no reason for his uncle to agree to let him come along. They practically couldn’t even stand each other, let alone enjoy a dinner together.
It was all forced and pretence. Some family the Kanes were.
But I was relieved all the same knowing that he was coming… but I never would’ve admitted that to him. He didn’t need to know just how badly I needed him around…. It would just add on to the clusterfuck that we’d created between us.
Derek’s POV
In the thick, awkward silence, I sat there with the fakest smile on my face.
The only productive thing about this whole ordeal was that Ayesha was eating good food and replenishing her fragile body which she didn’t take good care of in the least.
It’d been deadly weird and awkward when I took the seat next to Ayesha where Benjamin was going to sit. It looked like he would protest as he silently glared at me. I baited him with a smug smile but he was smart enough to not take the bait and make the stupid mistake of provoking me.
Benjamin tried to make conversation with her but I kept interrupting so he eventually gave up altogether.
So I sat between them two, sipping on some red wine, waiting for the right opportunity to goad Benjamin into spilling the truth to me.
The PI might’ve dug up most of the info I needed but I needed to confirm it for myself.
When I got tired of waiting around and about 30 minutes had passed, I figured I had to do something myself.
I leaned sideways to whisper in her ear,” Can you go to the restroom and return after 20 minutes?”
“Why?”, she whispered back, looking at me in confusion.
“Please”, I gave her my best Puss-in-boots eyes but they were nowhere near as big or as compelling as that cat’s eyes. It had the desired effect nonetheless and she grudgingly left.
I almost smacked my uncle in the head when I noticed him staring at her ass as she left.
I took in a deep breath, internally readying myself to initiate the facade.
“You know what, uncle?! I was wrong and I apologize for trying to belittle you. Honestly, I was just jealous of how you secured that hot piece of ass whilst I got stuck with the flat, medieval Natasha who has absolutely nothing on Ayesha”, I told him, registering his joyous grin as evidence that I sounded pretty convincing.