Fuming, I strode to the door and tried to open it. But his pair of strong arms snaked around my midriff and hauled me to the middle of the office.
A shriek left my mouth. “What the hell, Valencian! Put me down right now!”
“I will. Once you hear everything I have to say.”
His calm tone made me boil. I didn’t let him explain things, so he would keep me captive in his office, in his arms?
I can’t believe this man!
“No! I won’t hear anything! You’ll do what I want, and then let me go!” I said, putting on the scariest face I could manage on my face with a stern voice.
But he ignored me. He was too busy roaming his gray eyes across my every feature. As if he hadn’t seen me in years. Not tolerating being disregarded like that, I stomped on his feet with my five inches heel.
A hiss left his mouth. His orbs that were filled with adoration a moment ago, now watched me in shock and confusion. But I didn’t see any anger in there. Nor did his arms loosened around me.
“Do not ignore me when I’m talking!”
His rough palm caressed my cheek with the gentlest touch. “I could never ignore my Rosebud. But I won’t let you go anywhere until you hear everything and forgive me.”
“That would never happen!” My eyes narrowed. I wiggled in his hold, but as always, I failed to escape. My gaze flickered to those stupid bulging muscles underneath his sleeves.
“It will. I’ll make it happen. Now what did my Rosebud want from me?” Leaning in, he took a desperate sniff of my hair. His heady scent was messing with my senses.
Leaning back from him, I said, “I want you to terminate the contract. I want to leave.”
The mention of leaving had him tense. His arms tightened around my waist and jaw clenched. The old Achilles Valencian was back in full force as his features hardened. I saw the storm swirling inside him through the windows of his soul. Those stormy gray orbs.
“You’ll never leave me, Rosebud. Never again. I won’t let you.” The coolness of his voice sent shivers down my spine.
“Well, it was you who let me go. I didn’t leave on my own. I was pushed away,” I said, holding his gaze.
His stony features softened. “I didn’t want to, Rosebud. No sane person would push the only light away from their life. But—”
“But you had to.” I completed for him, gulping the thickness of my throat. “Tobias told me everything.”
Surprise etched on his face. “I had no choice, Rosebud. Trust me, I kept meeting you and spending time with you even after knowing how I would affect your life in a bad way. I was too selfish to let you go.” Pain flashed across his eyes.
“But you did,” I whispered. My heart clenched. “You left me.”
Shaking his head, he pressed his forehead against mine, letting out a trembling breath. “I never left you, Rosebud. I could never.”
“What do you mean?”
“Yes, I separated you from me. But I was always around. Though I couldn’t touch you, my eyes always did from afar,” he said, stopping my heart. Raising my left hand, he kissed my wrist, gazing at my bracelet. A soft smile tugged at the edge of his lips. “This looks more beautiful on you than I imagined.”
A gasp slipped through my lips. My eyes widened.
The anonymous person who gifted it to me was… him?
“It was you?”
He nodded, kissing my forehead.
“But… how?” I was shocked. All the time I wore it on my wrist, and I didn’t have any idea it was him who left the box that day outside of my door.
“How could I not give a congratulation gift to my Rosebud on her graduation day?”
“You were there? Y-you saw my graduation?” My voice came out like a meek child.
“Yes, I was there. I was always there for my rose.” He cupped my cheeks. “I always had my eyes on you, even if I was far away from you here in LA most of the time. But I was there on your every special day. I was there whenever I thought you needed me. And trust me, it wasn’t for you. It was for my own sanity.”
“That means, that means… you were there all these years?” I asked, tears rolling down my cheeks. He didn’t abandon me. He was there all this time when I thought he didn’t even care to call once.
He nodded, wiping my tears. “Yes, I never left you alone. I could never leave my Rosebud alone.”
A flare of fire again lit inside me. “Then you saw how much I suffered! You didn’t consider confronting me. Didn’t once come before me. Why did you do that? Why?”
My struggle began again, but he held me firm against him.
“I know you suffered. And I’m extremely sorry. But you have no idea how much agony I went through staying away from you, Rosebud. Especially when…” A muscle of his jaw ticked as his nostrils flared. “Especially when I had to see my girl dating other men. I had to endure it all. Trust me, they were lucky I took it as my punishment for pushing you away from me. Otherwise, they’d be dead right now.”
Surprised, subconsciously a blush crept up my neck remembering those guys I dated back then only for some days. I couldn’t even stretch them for a week. Because all I felt towards them was nothing. Not even a bit of attraction.
And then my temper rose. Jabbing a finger in his chest, I gritted out. “Do you know how guilty I felt to date them? Even after I thought you wanted nothing to do with me, even after I was single, do you know how much it hurt me to feel like I was playing with others? Just to get a little distraction. Just to forget my heartache for some time! And all because you were being too great by keeping me away from you! And now that I’m finally with a guy who is great, you appeared all of a sudden declaring me as yours? The nerve of you!”
His lips pressed. “I know you were hurt. And seeing you in pain only doubled my agony. But it was for your own good. And I didn’t just appear out of nowhere.” Greek accent was dense. “You were always mine. I was waiting for you to finish college and for me to be stable enough to be worthy of you. Though I was stable for a long time before you finally graduated.”
To be worthy of me?
Something tugged inside my chest at his words.
“It wasn’t your life to decide what I would do or not. How did you know I wouldn’t fall for anyone else and accept you back into my life just like that?” My tone was hard.
“I didn’t need to know you wouldn’t fall for anyone else. Because my Rosebud loved me enough to keep me in her heart forever.”
That was ridiculous. But my eyes burned as waves of emotions slammed into my chest. I let out a shaky breath, not denying him.
“I also knew how stubborn my little Rosebud was. I knew you wouldn’t forgive me so easily. But I couldn’t give up. After all, I’d waited seven fucking years to have you back in my arms.” His thumb brushed my lower lip.
I shook my head. Some more shameless tears slipped from my eyes. “No matter what you say, I can’t forget what you did. You hurt me. You…” I bit my lip. “You didn’t let me stay with you. You pushed me away when you needed me the most. I… hate you! I hate you for that, Achilles Valencian! I hate you!” Pushing at his chest, I tried to get away from him again.
Even if it wasn’t my fault, even if I knew nothing about his condition, I felt guilty. For not being there for him when he needed me. It tormented my soul to even think of that.
He pulled me closer. With raw emotions flashing across those stormy grays, he whispered, “And I love you, Emerald Hutton. I love you so fucking much!”
My breathing stopped as I stared at him. And then slowly my heart started racing, a tingling sensation spread across my veins. My knees wobbled at his declaration. The intense emotions searing through my chest made me let out a shaky breath.
He’d said those words again. The words that haunted my dreams. The words that ran in my head twenty-four hours.
I love you…
I wanted to hear those words again. My ears yearned to hear them again. My lower lip trembled. I had no words. I was speechless.
“I loved you from the day those turquoise eyes met mine, my precious rose. I loved you every time you smiled at me with those big doe eyes. I loved you whenever that little nose crinkled every time you thought you’d lose in the chess matches.” He kissed my nose, followed by my eyelids. “I loved you when you were away from me. I loved even your annoying habit of eating garlic prawns using your hand. And I love you when I have you in my arms right now. The place where I want to keep you for the rest of my life.”
Leaning in, he captured my trembling lips into a scorching kiss. A whimper left me as I melted against him. My heart soared.
“I love you so much, my rose. So much that without you, I deny to even breath,” he murmured against my lips, claiming my mouth again. With the intoxicating strokes of his tongue, the warmth of his arms, I found myself letting out a sign of content.
Clutching his coat tight in my fists, I kissed him back with equal urgency. I missed those lips. I missed his arms, his voice, his everything.
Slowly pulling away, he stared deep into my eyes. With both of our breathing harsh, we couldn’t move our gazes away from each other. It was like an invisible magnet pulling us towards each other.
“Are you still mad at me, Rosebud?” he asked, gray pools filling with hope. “Will you give me—give us a chance?”
Would I?
Just as I opened my mouth to give him my answer, a knock landed on the door. I tried to pull away from him, but he didn’t let me.
“No need. Whoever it is will go away.”
Shaking my head, I wiggled out and opened the door, much to his dismay. It could be something important. But the actual reason behind my eagerness to open it was to escape his question.
Before I could even pull the door wide, it flew open, making me stumble back.
“Mr. Valencian! It’s so great to see—” Her ear-splitting grin threatened to fall when her eyes landed on me.
My jaw clenched.
Red freaking witch!
What the hell was she doing here?
My eyes immediately formed into a glare.
“Uh, hello, Ms. Hutton, Mr. Valencian! I’m sorry if I interrupted anything,” she said, planting an extra sweet mask on her face. The once over she gave him didn’t go missed by me.
“Rosebud, you didn’t answer me.”
Not even acknowledging her, he took long strides towards me. But I stepped away. My twisting facial expression must’ve told him to keep his distance.
“Don’t you dare!” My voice came out as a snap. He called her here? Why? “You’ve got a guest to attend! Why don’t you concentrate on her instead?”
“Baby…”
I stepped back again from his approaching form.
Clenching his fists, he let out a curse, murmuring something incoherent under his breath. His eyes were desperate… wild. Then his flashing stormy gaze flickered to the red witch who wore a maroon dress today.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he roared, making both me and her flinch. His shoulders were rigid, his nostrils flared.
With eyes wide open, she opened her mouth and closed like a gaping fish. Her little outfit and excessive makeup spoiled my mood further. Not wanting to be there anymore, I pushed my legs to move. My heart still thudded from his words. Warmth, anger, and jealousy were messing with my head. And I definitely didn’t want to see her face any longer. What she did last time still burned me like a hot knife.
“Rosebud, wait!”
“Don’t!” Giving him a warning look, I stormed out of his office. And to my dismay, the door automatically closed behind me.
“Mr. Valencian, I’m so sorry…” Her meek words faded away along the gap of the door. My lips pressed tight as I glared at it. Her slutty dress pricked my insides. Did she wear it for him?
My nails dug into my palms. He definitely didn’t call her. The way he behaved proved it. Then why the heck she was here?
I stood there like a psycho, staring at a closed door with venom. And why the hell did I come out like that? I shouldn’t have left her alone with him.
Shaking my head at my ridiculous thoughts, I decided to leave. But still somehow lingered around the corner. Several ominous thoughts were nagging in my head.
Though his booming voice that flew out of the closed door soothed my burning heart a little. They weren’t doing anything I wouldn’t like. The door opened again, and that witch came out with tears in her eyes. I hid myself from her sight.
Throwing another glance at his office, with her pale face, she turned around and rushed down the hallway without looking back. And I just kept glaring at her until she was out of sight.
A thud came out of his office, followed by another. I took a few steps towards the door, ready to barge in again. But then I stopped myself.
If I go in there right now, he won’t let me leave until I answer him.
I shook my head. He must be angry and throwing a tantrum right now.
But… what if he was hurt?
I bit my lip.
And then I heard him shouting something. Seconds later, a huffing and puffing Carter appeared and rushed inside the devil’s den.
I heaved a sigh. He was okay. It was just another bad day for Carter, I guessed.
Poor guy.
Just as I turned around to leave, my phone buzzed.
Opening the message, I read it.
Great! He sent the information I needed.
Now all I have to do is to drive there and sort things out myself.
