Chapter 115 The Book
ANNA'S POV
The sunlight gleaming into the room was more than enough to wake me up. I could barely stop myself from smiling. I had the best time of my life with Ryan.
It had been years since I even dared to do anything with any other man. It was almost like I was fully dedicated to James. And now I was glad to know that nothing of that sort was happening. I was literally free.
I stretched, reaching out for the other side, feeling for Ryan. He wasn't there, and I frowned.
I quickly got out of bed, heading into the bedroom. I brushed my teeth, having a quick bath. I wore a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, tying my hair in a ponytail as I headed downstairs.
Just as I headed downstairs, there was something that I saw, that made me stop right there on the steps. It was Ryan, shuffling through my bag. I frowned immediately. It was one of the bags that I had dumped on the table when I first arrived. Just a handbag where I stuffed all the important documents.
I frowned, cocking my head to the side. “What are you doing?” I asked, as I took the remaining steps. He jumped immediately, running his hands through his hair.
“Nothing,” he answered. “I just thought that some of my documents were here. I can't find them.”
That made me frown even more. “What would your documents be doing in my bag?” I asked immediately. “We both packed differently.”
He shrugged. “I don't even know what to tell you. I was thinking that things somehow got mixed up.”
I pushed right past him, snatching the bag and pulling it to my chest. I had my things stolen from me a few years ago. I wasn't going to tolerate it happening again.
“Are you okay?” He asked, and I gave him an unsure nod. I didn't even know if I wanted to be around him at that moment. He was a bad liar for one. And then, he was rifling through my bag. It didn't even make sense that his documents somehow found their way into my bag.
“Are you hungry?” He asked, and I gave him a small nod again. “I'll whip something up in the kitchen. Try loosening up a bit. You look tense.”
He didn't see it as anything, but I did. Maybe I was just overthinking things.
“He isn't James,” I kept muttering to myself. This man knew my favorite flowers and took me out on dates. He never complained that I was taking too much time at the office. He didn't complain that I smelled like chemicals sometimes.
But at the same time, the documents in that bag could either break or make the world.
A few days before the anniversary party, my dad handed me one of his grandmother's books. It was more or less a formula book. Hundreds of formulas that just needed to be tweaked. It was nothing less than a recipe book to me. It contained formulas to cure the diseases that affected the world. But they didn't work out when she was doing them.
My grandmother couldn't exactly figure out what was missing. But now that she had a granddaughter who had saved practically half of the world with her drugs for chronic eczema for an affordable price, it only made sense that he handed the book over to me. I hadn't even gone through it, and I was planning on using this holiday to do that.
I gently set down the bag on the bed, before heading to the bathroom to wash my face. I needed to calm down. I couldn't start overthinking things again. I spent years trying to stop myself from doing any of that. It was a risk that I couldn't even take. I didn't want to spiral down the road of depression.
I wiped my face, heading back downstairs. I watched Ryan as he turned eggs over on the stove without a shirt on. I swallowed hard, and every bad thought that I just had totally disappeared.
“Are you okay now?” He asked, and I nodded. He took my hand, pulling me to him as he placed a kiss on my lips. I felt my knees buckle.
“Is this normal now?” I asked, gesturing between the two of us. Our relationship was the only thing that I wanted to address at this point. It felt exciting. New even. His eyes lit up immediately.
“Do you think you're ready for something serious?” He asked in the happiest voice I've heard. “I didn't want to rush things because of what you've been through. But fuck, I would love for it to be normal between the both of us.”
“Ryan…” I started, biting my lower lip. “I don't know.”
“You already know that I'm not forcing you to do anything, Anna. You can take your time.”
I exhaled sharply. “I like kissing you. I like this… with you. I just don't think I'm ready to attach a label to it. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm practically crazy too, giving such conditions.”
He quickly turned the stove off, placing the eggs on a plate. He turned to face me, cupping my cheeks with his hands.
“You're not crazy. And I swear, I'm not in a hurry either. I'm willing to wait for you. Until whenever. We're both busy. So if you're crazy, then trust me. I'm crazy about you.”
I giggled, nodding before leaning in for another kiss.
I couldn't ignore the voice in my head that something wasn't right. I deepened the kiss to drown the voice.
Ryan handed me my plate of eggs, which was cooked to perfection.
“Did you ask Daniel about the way I like my eggs as well?” I asked, groaning from how good the food tasted.
“Anything to make you happy,” he said, and I could feel tears pricking the back of my eyes again. This might have been normal for other people. But for me, it was new.
Later in the afternoon, both of us headed out, and he took me out to some of the popular churches for tourists. I couldn't get over how beautiful their stained glass windows were.
We stopped at a restaurant to grab lunch, where the aroma of the food and the different spices that were involved almost made me groan out loud.
“The food was perfect,” I said, laughing as we walked into the house. After an afternoon like that, I just wanted to have a quick bath, sit in front of the fireplace, and go through my father's book.
“I told you,” he said, grinning. “Italy is known for its food and wine.”
“You've stayed here for a long time, then?” I asked, and he shrugged.
“I was here occasionally because of my dad. Too bad you never got to meet him.”
I stared at my shoes. “I think your dad didn't want to meet me either. If nothing happened to him, there was no way I would have returned to the States.”
He stopped laughing then. “And I wouldn't have met you. Things happened for the best then.”
I placed a light kiss on his lips as I headed upstairs. I didn't think I was ever going to get tired of feeling his lips against mine. It was the perfect feeling.
I quickly ran my bath, allowing my body to adapt to the hot water. I washed my hair quickly, wrapping it up in a towel as I slipped into a satin robe.
A smile was plastered on my face as I reached into my bag, searching through my documents for the particular book. This was the kind of feeling that I had craved this whole time. Being happy with somebody I could trust, while working, and finding out what chemicals mixed could do. What it could cure. How many lives it could save.
The smile that I had on my face was immediately wiped off my lips. The book…
It wasn't there.