Anna had her mouth opened due to the shock and surprise of what he had said to her. Maybe she heard him wrong, right? Because both Jack and Nate made sure they let her know that she was the most unworthy woman alive and she doesn’t deserve love. Not in this beautiful way, at least. But here Charles was making her feel what she had never felt for Nate in just a few weeks. Her eyes brimmed to the fill with tears but instead, she shook her head and forced them not to fall down, a beautiful smile on her lips.
“What do you mean?” She watched the way he was taken aback by her response and she quickly shook her head again, reaching out for his hand, “I mean, do you mean it? Are you falling in love with you?” She couldn’t stop both the smile and the tears from coming out. But there was a difference now, this wasn’t tears of pain but rather, of joy and fear.
Charles moved to the bed and he firmly held her two hands as he smiled at her before he nodded his head to affirm his words, “I know how scared you might be and I also know that it’s not right for me to fall in love with you because you’re my employer, but I can’t help this feeling Anna. What do you suggest I do?” He said with a sweet voice and there was a teasing tone in his voice which forced her to giggle.
“I don’t even know what I’m feeling. But I’m starving.” He pulled her feet down to the floor and stood up. He realized she was either nervous or shy, but she would answer him when she felt like it and when he least expected it even.
“Come, let’s get something for you in the kitchen.” He stretched his hand toward her, and Anna gladly took it. She couldn’t believe she was the one getting treated this way.
“Don’t you think my hair looks messy? I’ve been on bed for all I could remember.” She said conversationally and walked toward her mirror. Charles stared at her petite figure and followed her. She could see a reflection of him through the mirror and she couldn’t control her smile. Charles hugged her from behind with a huge grin on his face as they stared into each other’s eyes through the mirror while she brushed through her hair.
“I don’t think nothing is messy, but maybe my heart is.” he winked, and she chuckled. When she felt his hands sneaking onto her waist, Anna quickly got out of his hold and chuckled at the pained expression he had mustered on his face.
“I’m starving, let’s get down to the kitchen. But one thing, will you cook for me?” She asked while she opened the door and her heart nearly brushed out of her chest when he walked directly toward her with his eyes fixed on hers. Why did she have to be so weak to act up just because someone had walked toward her with all the attention she had never gotten in her life.
He took her by surprise and scooped her into his arms, she giggled, “My god, take me down, Charles. I promise, I can walk.” She was laughing so hard while they took the stairs down and Anna was relieved to see that there were no maids around for it was getting to midnight, she wondered how Charles hadn’t even left yet. Maybe he would use the chance of stopping her from getting out of the house like she did last night.
He didn’t place her down despite her protest until they were in the middle of the kitchen and Anna was glad the cooks had dimmed the lights and even the whole house just had a dim light. She didn’t know what was with her and darkness, she loved being in the dark. “What will I cook for you?” She heard his voice and that brought her out of her reverie.
She hopped on the counter and stared at him, soon, she would be in love with this man because she knew how she felt whenever she was close to loving someone. “What can you cook? Don’t make us run to the hospital this night because of the meal I’ll eat. I can call the chef and ask her to cook for us, she knows of all my allergies, so we don’t have to be bothered about anything.”
He playfully pinched her cheeks and shook his head, “I’ll cook for you, Anna Brayden, what will you like to eat? And I also know of your allergies, don’t I?” He asked and she nodded her head with a beautiful smile.
“Thank you, Charles. For making me feel less of this pain.” He flashed her one of his charming smiles and walked toward the cooking gas. Anna watched the way he effortlessly worked, and she wanted to save her heart from this man. Because she could feel it, by the time she would fall in love with him, she would love him so hard to the point that not being looked at by him will hurt as though he had broken up with her. And she knew that if he did what Nate did to her, she will surely loose her life because at least for Nate, he wasn’t treating her right, but for him, the goodness was too much for her to stay sane when she didn’t get the comfort she used to from him.
“What are you thinking about?” He asked with a cool smile on her lips she diced the onions while he turned slightly. That gesture made her swooned internally and she innocently as she shook her head.
“I’m just thinking of how hard it will be if I start loving you, I’ll love you too hard and it’s not safe for my frail heart.” There was a sad line on her forehead, and Anna watched the placed down the knife he was holding and walked to her. He wrapped her legs around his waist and lightly kissed her lips before he spoke.
“I know the way you love; I know how hard your love is; but I’ll never be ungrateful like Nate was. I’d treat you right, Anna, okay? So, you have nothing to worry, just worry about falling in love with me first, and I’d never give you a reason to cry.” She was grinning but there was still uncertainty in her eyes and Charles kissed everything away.
She was giggling happily by the time his face dipped onto her cleavage and she wrapped her hands around his neck and felt the way his love was slowly slipping into her heart. She silently prayed that this one worked, that maybe if she hadn’t become Mrs. Clayton, then she can as well become Mrs. Martin. She knew, she was too obsessed with being a wife, but her dream since she was a small was to have a family of her own.
She smiled when Charles faced appeared back and he kissed her lips lightly, “I need to cook for you. When are we leaving?”
“I’ll ask Julia to book for our flight tomorrow in the evening, that’s fine by you, right?” He nodded his head, kissed her a little bit harder now before he walked back to the cooking gas and with a smile on her face, Anna watched the way he worked and the smiles he turned to flash her were enough to make her fall in love with him. She couldn’t wait to be just Anna and Charles.
❦
She was terribly crying by the time he reached her apartment and when he saw the way she was terribly crying, Jack rushed toward her and brought her to his chest, and she melted into his Chest without even looking up to see who it was because she knew it was only him that could provide this comfort in just a single hug. Jack knelt beside her and held her firmly close to his body while she cried.
“It’s okay, Clara, that’s enough. If you keep on crying you’ll have a headache and that’s not what you’ll want, right?” He said softly and she slightly peeled her body from his to have a better look of his face.
“She’s dead, Jack. What have I ever done to that old woman? And all she did was loved me, I feel so terrible, I had to come back immediately after the funeral is over, I’m in so much pain.” She was in pain; he could see right through her eyes and Jack wondered if this was how terrible it felt to loose someone you loved deeply. Even though he wasn’t sure if Clara loved her grandmother as much or it was just guilt feeling now.
“I’m sure she understood that you’ve been busy, Clara. Please don’t punish yourself for something that isn’t totally your fault, okay?” He held her shoulders and stared deeper into her eyes, but Clara was far from getting convinced by him, he wondered what he would do to make her feel better.
“You need to see how my grandfather was in so much pain, he couldn’t eat nor sleep all this while. I want to take care of him, but I know my Mother won’t agree if I stay with him, Jack. What do you think I should do? We had a very limited time with Dad, I want to be there for his father.” He pulled her face to his chest because he knew whatever he said or did to her now wouldn’t be understood by her. She had to feel this pain for her to be able to overcome this pain.
“Shhh, it’s okay. We have to talk about everything later when you feel much better, okay? You have to cry everything out now for you to feel better.” She didn’t argue with him because they both know that he knew her enough to know just what would work for her and what wouldn’t. She cried terribly into his chest and Jack wished he could take her pain away from her heart.
And no matter how much he tried to run away from those thought, the image of Anna buried in his chest as she cried bitterly on the rooftop kept flashing through his mind to the point that he had to close his eyes, but instead of him to forget about her, he got a preview of how she looked when the nurses wheeled her out of the emergency room. He hissed softly and to his rescue, it didn’t get to Clara. What the hell is wrong with me?! He shouted internally because he couldn’t understand what this meant. He hated the way everything reminded him of Anna despite the way her hatred was blooming in his heart and how much he knew he had to hurt her terribly.
He broke their hug with Clara abruptly because he knew that it was the position they were that reminded him of Anna. “Get your things ready, let’s go to Spain, Clara. That will help you overcome the pain; don’t you think?” He asked with a soft smile on his lips and she stared at him with her wet eyes before she slowly nodded her head at him.
“But my Mother…” she began before he cut her off.
“Just tell her you’re going to live with a friend, we aren’t staying for long, just two days. But that will be enough for you to feel a little bit better, right?” She smiled at him and wrapped her hands around his neck as she stared deeper into his eyes.
“It will be perfect, Jack. Have I ever told you that you’re the best? And I love you so much that it hurts?” She said with a bright smile on her lips and Jack was glad he had finally brought back that smile now. He chuckled when she nearly knocked him out of his breath with a kiss before he kissed her back roughly until they lay flat on the carpeted floor.
But the hell, even with a grief-stricken Clara on his chest as she stared at the ceiling without them sharing a word, Jack thought of Anna. He knew she normally crossed his mind whenever he remembered what she had done to him, but this was a different thought. The way Clara rested her head on his chest, right above his heart was the same way Anna did when he scooped her into his arms as he took her to the hospital, and somehow…he found his thoughts slowly getting filled by her, even though her hatred was as stagnant as a rock in his heart.