She clung onto his neck until he carefully laid her on the bed and Anna smiled at him with her puppy eyes that gave way that she had cried to her satisfaction for the whole of yesterday. She squirmed until she sat comfortably on her bed and Charles smiled at her, “I should leave you to rest, Ma’am.”
“Charles,” she whined and chuckled, he knew what he did wrong.
“I’m sorry, Anna.” There was a bright smile on his face, and she loved the fact that they were the only ones in her room. If she was going to tell the truth, it will go this way. Hey Julia, I can walk. But I purposely told you I can’t because I want Charles to take me up to my room, I’m sorry but I’m not sorry either. The thought of that brought a wide grin on her lips and he stared at her with confusion brewing in his eyes.
“What are you grinning for?” She quickly shook her head, and her grin became even wider. With Charles, everything became easier and the pain looked less of what it should have looked. She still felt the chug of pain in her throat when she thought about Jack, but like she had told him, she sincerely didn’t wish to meet him again, not even in her next life. They were better off without each other and she knew whenever he was present in her life, that meant she was either in pain or there would be pain approaching her.
“Nothing, I just thought of something.” She sweetly answered, a smile on her lips as she tried all she could until he had his eyes on hers. “Stop giving me that look, I haven’t done anything wrong.” She pouted, and begrudgingly, Charles nodded his head at her and turned to walk out of the room, but Anna held his wrist and he turned back to look at her. “Can you please sit for a moment? I need someone to talk to.”
He sighed and placed his hand on top of hers, and that simple gesture made Anna want to scream her lungs out. “I’ll do that, but you have to promise me one thing as well.”
“What is that? I promise already.”
He chuckled and sat down, close to her while he covered her small hand with his large and comforting ones. “Don’t be so quick to promise, you won’t cry while you talk, deal?”
She was silent for a while before she nodded her head and grinned, “I promise.” Charles was just staring at her; he had never thought that such a sturdy and powerful lady that if one saw her on televisions or in a meeting room will never thought she was this innocent and soft within.
“Okay, tell me, what is it? You know I shouldn’t even be speaking to you now because of what you did, right?” He said and hardened his expression, that brought a pout on Anna’s lips and he had no other choice but to pinch her cheeks. “Stop giving me that pouty look, it will be so hard on me to punish you the right way, don’t you think?”
That forced a giggle out of her lips, and she nodded her head at him, “I know, but I’ve already apologized to you since in the hospital Charles, didn’t I?” And she sincerely did.
“You did, but that’s not enough for what you did, Anna. You sneaked out of this house at night and went around crying, after you’ve promised me that you were done crying over him. And also, you ate something you clearly know was harmful to your health, what if the damage is worser than what had happen? You know the kind of body you…” she didn’t know what prompted her or how she wasn’t able to resist the urge this time; but she quickly planted a soft kiss on his lips, which made him widened his eyes.
“I’m sorry, is this enough?” She asked with a soft and innocent smile, but Charles wasn’t smiling. She was beginning to regret kissing him when he pulled her closer to his body and shook his head, the smile coming back to his lips.
“That wasn’t enough, but this might be.” And he sealed up their lips in a slow and passionate kiss she had never had with Nate. Damn it, did she have to think of Nate in all situations she found herself in? She silently cursed herself and pushed that thought aside. He might even still be on bed together with his wife, that thought made her melted more into Charles touch and she pulled him closer to her as she deepened their kiss. She heard the moan that escaped his lips when she raked her fingers through his hair, and he ravaged her mouth hungrily.
❦
She didn’t know how she slept off after they made out with Charles and she knew if not because the probability of Mom walking in on them was high, nothing could stop them…the sound she heard as though someone was opening her door was what stopped her train of thoughts and she opened her eyes to see Mom walking inside the room with a smile. She tried to sit upright but Mom placed her back, “Lay down, Anna. You need to rest; I went to the company today and I’ve told Julia that I’ll take over you for a month until your mental health is stable enough to handle all this work again.”
Anne felt as tears brimmed her eyes, “Can you do it, Mom? I thought you…” Mom immediately shook her head and held her hand.
“Come on, your health matters the most to me, Anna. Now, where do you want to go for you to forget about all these things, huh? Or would you rather stay in California and have all the fun you could?” Mom was grinning at hers and Anna clearly knew the definition of fun to Mom.
She immediately shook her head to save herself from the stress, “No, I think I’ll go to Spain. It’s been long since I last visited them, and I want to see Maya as well.”
“When do you want to leave, then? I’ll ask Julia to arrange everything. Are you taking the jet or you’ll going to book a flight?”
“Which one do you think will be better, Mom?” She asked with a smile and this time when she tried to get up from her laying position, Mom only helped her, but she didn’t stop her.
“I think you need to socialize more if you want to move on from everything. I’d ask her to buy two tickets, she’ll escort you because of the phobia, right? Maybe the jet will bring you back whenever you’re done.”
“I’ll go with Charles, Mom.” She didn’t even know where she got the courage to say those words out until she had, and it wasn’t until after she did that she began to panic what if Mom thought about something going on between them? “I think he should stay with me because you know, he has to protect me and everything.”
“Yes, you’re right. Charles should be there with you because I need Julia with me here as well.” Mom stood up after she had patted her hands lovingly, “I’ll go and get some rest, don’t overdo yourself Anna, take everything easy and it’ll all pass.” She nodded her head and with a smiles he watched as Mom walked toward the door.
“Mom?” She called out, and Daphne turned to look at her with her tired eyes. “Thank you for everything, I love you.”
“I love you more, my darling. Rest well and heal fast, okay?” Anna smiled lovingly and watched as her Mother closed the door behind he before she grinned excitedly and took her phone that was on the bedside drawer and dialed Charles number.
“Can you sneak into my room? I need to see you now.” Maybe after all this ecstasy was done with her, she’d think about what she was doing and whether or not she was going to regret doing this. All that mattered to her now was Charles, she wanted him, she needed him, and she had to get him at all cost.
She heard a soft knock almost as immediately as she ended the call she wondered if he was keeping guard on her door. “What? Were you in front of my room?” She asked when he walked in with a ginger smile and he shook his head at her, a smile adorning his once hardened face.
“I ran here, if you want to know the truth.” She giggled and watched as he brought the vanity stood and sat in front of her on the bed. He didn’t want what happened between them to happen again? Or maybe she was just imagining things like she had always done and in the process, breaking her own heart herself.
“I told you Mom that I’d be going to Spain with you, I hope it’s alright with you?” She asked nervously, even though she knew if she was going to be Anna Brayden to him, this wasn’t even the right way to ask. It should be ‘You should get ready; we’ll be leaving to Spain in a few days.’ And that would be an order that he had nothing to answer to but ‘Yes, Ma’am.’
But it was different with Charles, she liked him. To maybe if she was going to be a bit truthful with herself, she was beginning to fall in love with him. Sometimes if she sat and thought about everything that was going on in her life, she began to wonder if that was possible or not. She was still hurting over Nate, she was still in love with him, was it possible for her to be feeling what she was feeling toward Charles? And the pain she had felt yesterday after their fight with Jack, was she normal or she had to see a cardiologist? How could a heart have felt something for three men even though for Jack, she knew she was only guilty for not thanking him.
And when she remembered how taken aback he looked, how pained he looked yesterday, she felt even guiltier and it hurt even more now that she had in mind she would never get to see him again. “Earth to, Anna!!!” She saw Charles’s hands waving in front of her eyes and she smiled before she turned to look at him.
“I’m sorry, I got carried away by my thoughts. What were we saying?” Please don’t ask me what I’m thinking, please. She silently begged, because the last thing Anna wanted was for her to lie to him about something.
“I told you that I’d love to! But that’s not what’s important now, a penny for your thoughts?” He eyed her curiously and she pouted her lips before her glum expression turned into an excited one in the blink of an eye.
“Where are we staying? In a hotel? One of Dad’s house or I’ll stay in Maya’s house will I book the nearest hotel for you, huh?” She didn’t know what was the right thing to do now. But she knew if she stayed in Maya’s house and he stayed in a hotel, what she wanted to happen between them will never happen, right? And in the hotel, she might be modest enough to Julia to book for two suites, while if it was Dad’s house, then it would be anything they wanted to do.
“What do you want to do?” She stared into his eyes and she knew that no matter what it would cost her, she had to get this man and by the time they would be back to California, she will proudly call herself Charles girlfriend.
“Let’s stay in Dad’s house, I think that will give us more freedom and privacy. I’ll ask Julia to call the head of the maids and inform her to start cleaning the house. Where and where do you think we should visit.” He was just smiling as he fixed his eyes on her while she listed all the beautiful places she had once been in Spain and why she loved each and every one of them and what they should eat and do when they visit them.
“Why are you giving me that look, did you even hear what I was saying?” She whined when she noticed that it was as though he was daydreaming, just staring at her with a dreamy smile on his lips.
“I’m afraid to say this, but I’m slowly falling in love with you, Anna.”