Chapter 78

Samantha: Where are you? We need to talk.

That was the message Samantha sent Daniel right after her work ended.

Daniel: I'll come and pick you up.

That was Daniel's reply. And so, after almost half an hour of waiting, Daniel finally arrived.

“Get in,” Daniel said with a smile, and Samantha did not waste any time; she immediately went inside the car.

“To my place?” Daniel asked right after she went in.

“Yes,” Samantha answered. Daniel's house was more convenient than the hotel anyway.

Samantha then added, “And just to be clear, I have no plans to have sex with you tonight. We're just going to talk, and then you're going to take me home, alright?”

“Well, we can't be sure of that, can we?” Daniel answered while grinning.

Samantha knew exactly what Daniel had meant.

“I am sure of myself right now, Daniel. I just want to talk to you right now, and it’s going to be a long, serious talk. And I want you to answer all my questions. Do you understand?”

“Now you’re sounding like our parents,” Daniel responded with a chuckle.

Samantha sighed. “Can you... will you just cooperate with me? Please?”

Just looking at the road ahead, Daniel took a glance at her, and when he saw the seriousness in Samantha’s face, he did not argue anymore and said, “Okay. If you say so.”

Samantha nodded, seemingly satisfied with Daniel’s answer. She was about to speak again when Daniel added something. “But I can’t promise that I’ll keep my hands off you. You know that’s something I will be having a hard time doing.”

The satisfaction in Samantha’s eyes disappeared right away, and disbelief took over. “Seriously?”

Daniel, whose gaze was already back on the road ahead, shrugged. “As I said, you already know that’s something I am not capable of doing. Well, there wouldn’t be a problem as long as you held on and did not give in to me.”

Samantha wanted to curse the guy. Daniel knew exactly that; that’s something she would have a hard time doing as well. He knew she could easily get coaxed by him; that a single touch and even brushing their lips would be enough to turn her on, leading to her succumbing to him, yet he’s still saying that?

Another sigh came out of her mouth again as she leaned the back of her head to the carseat and closed her eyes, choosing not to respond to Daniel anymore because she knew she wouldn’t win anyway.

When they arrived at Daniel’s house, unlike the last time, Daniel had already given the key to his house to Samantha, who immediately opened the door and went inside first.

After getting inside, she casually threw her bag on the sofa and made her way to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and took a bottle of cold mineral water, closed the fridge again, and took the mineral water with her to the living room.

She was already opening the bottle cap when Daniel came inside, bringing the takeaway food that they had ordered.

Since Samantha wanted to get straight to questioning Daniel, she asked Daniel if they could have takeaway food instead of Daniel’s home-cooked meal, despite him being so good at it. Daniel agreed right away, without any questions asked. He also paid for everything, even though Samantha told him that she would pay for her own food.

“Shall we start eating now?” Daniel asked, then, in a mischievous tone, added, “The food, I mean. Not each other. Though I’d love it to eat you right after.”

Samantha pretended not to hear the words he added after his question and just went on drinking from the bottle. After emptying the bottle of mineral water, only then did she answer Daniel’s question. “Let’s eat while having a conversation.”

Daniel shook his head as he realized how serious and dead-set Samantha was when she said she wouldn't be having sex with him, leaving him with no choice but to cooperate with her.

With a smile on his face, finally accepting that he couldn’t take a score on Samantha for the night, he asked her again without any hint of cheekiness in his voice anymore. “Shall we go to the dining hall then?”

But Samantha refused and asked another question instead. “Can we just eat here?”

Daniel did not see anything wrong with that, so he agreed and put the takeaway food on the table that was in front of the sofa. “I’ll go get the plates and the spoons and forks as well,” he said.

Samantha quickly stood. “I’ll help you.”

But Daniel was quick to reject her offer to help. “It’s fine. I can handle it. Just wait in there and take out food instead, okay?” And without waiting for Samantha to answer, he left and went to the kitchen.

Samantha just shrugged and did what Daniel had told her. She took each of the foods out of the plastic bags and neatly put them on the table, then finally opened them.

“Smells good,” Daniel, who just came out of the kitchen and was bringing the plates, spoons, and forks in his left hand while holding two bottles of water in his right hand, commented.

Samantha quickly stood again and took the bottled water out of Daniel’s grasp. “Thanks,” Daniel said before putting the plates, spoons, and forks on the table.

Samantha was sitting on the long sofa, while Daniel chose to sit on the single-seater sofa that was beside the long sofa Samantha was sitting on.

“Let’s dig in?” Daniel asked, to which Samantha only answered, “Yeah.”

And so the two started eating.

The first few minutes, they were both silent and just focused on their own food. But when they were halfway through finishing all the food on the table, that’s when Samantha decided to speak.

She looked at Daniel, who continued to eat until he felt Samantha’s gaze on him, causing him to take a pause from filling his mouth with food and meet Samantha’s eyes instead.

He had a questioning look on his face. “What?”

“I told you I want to have a serious conversation with you and that I want all my questions to be answered,” Samantha answered.

“Oh,” Daniel said, as if he just remembered what Samantha had told him in the car. “Yeah. I remember you saying that. But is it fine to eat while we talk? I remember you saying that as well.”

Samantha sighed and said, “Yeah.”

Daniel nodded. “Alright. Go on, then. Ask.”

“About Dean and Elsa,” Samantha started. “They already got fired from their jobs.”

Daniel nodded and looked at Samantha happily. “That's good news! I told you you’re about to see the result of our plans one of these days. So, this is the day, huh? Then that calls for a celebration, right?”