Chapter 36 My life, my story…

Chapter 36 My life, my story…
Lila
“That was so good…” Daniel whispered as he finally pulled out of me. We both crashed into the bed and curled up in each other’s arms. The normal thing would be to cuddle and have the usual small talk about how good the sex was, since it was our first time. But then, it was barely up to a minute that we cuddled up that we slept off.
I didn’t even know when I slept off, one second we were staring in each other’s eyes, and the next second, we were gone. 
The next time I opened my eyes, it was in the middle of the night. I was no longer in Daniel’s arms so I thought he had gone and left me there. 
I took a deep breath and that must have caught his attention because he turned and pulled me back into his arms. He was still deep asleep and didn’t seem to know a thing. I tried to be quiet too not to wake him. I just relaxed in his warmth and indulged myself in my thoughts. 
I replayed every second of our sex and it was so worth. I wanted more and more but I probably would never get that chance again. Daniel may love me but he would never choose me over his business. He’s worked his whole life for it and definitely doesn’t believe anything else can take it’s place in his heart. Not even love. It’s left to me to guard my heart because men like Daniel, they will move on in a blink of an eye. That’s why he’s one of the notorious playboy and almost every woman in the city knows him. 
The thought of what was going to play out between us broke my heart so I tried to sleep it off. I shut my eyes tight and forced myself to sleep.
It was morning when I opened my eyes again. It was bright in the room so I could tell Daniel wasn’t beside me anymore.
“He’s probably gone to work.” I thought to myself as I looked towards the door.
That was when I saw him. Daniel hadn’t left. He was sitting at the desk, holding one of Eleanor’s oictures and staring at it. 
I know that look on his face, he definitely misses her and probably feels guilty for betraying her. 
“Do you regret it?” I asked slowly and he suddenly jerked.
He quickly dropped the picture and turned to face me. The guilt was even more obvious on his face now despite trying hard to hide it. 
“What?” He asked.
“Do you regret making love to me?” I asked again and he forced out a smile.
“Why would you even ask that? Regret?!” He let out but still wouldn’t answer.
“Just answer me, Daniel. I’ve been watching you for a while and I know that look on your face, so answer me, do you regret having sex with me?” I insisted but he still wouldn’t bulge. 
He wouldn’t even look at me, he looked somewhere else and fixated his gaze there. 
That was enough answer for me. In cases like this, silence speaks louder than any other word.
“Yeah, you don’t have to say anything wise. I just got my answer right there.” I chimed in and then got out of bed. 
Thank goodness my dress was a simple one so I didn’t have to stay longer and see his face. I threw my dress on and made my way to the door but just before I got out, he stopped me.
“What exactly do you think this is? A movie where you wait till I’m at the door and then call me back for suspense effect?” I asked and honestly that was what it looked like to me.
Last night, he did the same thing too. He waited till I almost left the room before calling me back. 
“No, Lila, it’s just that… you… you really can’t understand.” He retorted.
“You try me first, explain to me and see if I won’t understand.” I said while he looked at me briefly and then looked away. 
“You really want to know?” He finally asked and I nodded.
“I want to, if you will open up to me. After all, you’ve been inside me, you should let me see a bit of your inside too.” I didn’t mean to play around but that came out funny and we both laughed.
“Come sit then,” he said and I hurried to the bed. 
“I’m all ears,” I said with my arms crossed on my lap. He looked at me for a while and smiled nervously but I didn’t say a word. I knew he was going to talk, he’s just mustering up the courage. It probably feels awkward to him since he’s used to carrying his burden alone. Sharing it now is new and he needs his time to ease into it. I sat there in silence and just let him stare till he finally cleared his throat and started talking.
“I lost my mom at a young age, I think I was ten at the time so my dad felt it was necessary to take in a second wife to care for me. He wasted no time in marrying my mom’s best friend, Linda and even adopted her son, Leo.” He paused here.
“I’m so sorry about your mom, I had no idea.” I quickly chimed in before he continued. 
“It’s alright. Well, at first I was happy because I had always liked Linda since she’s my mom’s friend, and Leo was my best friend too. We were living well until that day that I found out that my dad had been having an affair with Linda before my mom died. The two have been together for years, that was why they couldn’t wait to get married. That really broke me and it affected my friendship with Leo. I was much older then. I was a teenager with so much hot emotions. I couldn’t get over the betrayal and since I couldn’t do anything about their marriage, I took it out on Leo. I stopped being friends with him. Our parents had a twisted relationship and I wanted nothing to do with him.”
“Wow,” I muttered while he only smiled.
“Leo was stubborn about it too and instead of finding out why I suddenly changed, he chose to see me as an enemy. We started getting into fights and it became worse. Linda saw it as an opportunity to get rid of me. She wanted me to leave the family so badly but my grandfather wouldn’t let her. He cleverly stepped in and sent Leo faraway for studies, while keeping me close to the family’s business. Right from my teenage years, he made sure I was introduced into the family’s business against my dad’s wishes. Once I was out of college, he made sure I took over and I’ve been running the company since then. You see why I can’t let it go down now? The history goes too deep to let a scandal ruin it all.” He let out and all I could do was stare… 
I sincerely didn’t know how or where to start from…