No more

"I cook for myself a little so I asked a chef to assist me."

She nodded despite how hard she wanted to say 'No wonder it is this good'. She could not believe he could prepare such high-quality meal on his own.

He laughed as he could almost read everything on her mind like an open book. She was so readable and that only made him drawn closer to her but he made sure to tag it as a physical closeness and nothing more.

"You don't believe I could do it on my own?" She heard him ask and raised her head to look at him only for a few seconds.

She cut another piece of the delicious steak and ate it while ignoring his question. This felt like a tight rope she was walking on or a ruined bridge that could collapse anytime with every step she took.

She felt like she was a running elephant on that bridge and she could feel it shake so furiously it felt very suffocating as she knew that bridge will collapse sooner than she could ever imagine.

She could hear the voice of that man in her eyes as he told her to keep going as there was no looking back when faced with very delicate issues like this.

"If you are doing all this to sleep with me, then you must stop," she told him firmly as she met his gaze, unwavering.

He placed his cutlery on the table with a clang and leaned back as his gaze got fierce, completely different from the earlier laughter.

The bridge shook harder. She had added to the burden on her small back putting more pressure on that fragile bridge.

"I will never have sex with you when I have every intention to get married to your friend," she sealed it and she could hear faint cracking sounds. So far from where she stood but yet close enough to seal her fate.

He remained still to her astonishment and she could not hear those cracks anymore. Was it all over? Was he willing to stop pestering her?

He looked down at the steak and picked up his cutleries again before leaning forward. She had no idea why the knife suddenly looked sharper and neater even as he tore into the juicy meat.

She swallowed as her heart raced so fast she could feel it trying to tear out of the protective cover of her chest. She looked at him hoping he says something.

Such tension and coldness were beyond her. She has been in several life-threatening situations but not many as much as this.

'I am giving you the chance to leave. Please leave before it becomes irreversible. I will never look back if you stay,' these were words she could only chant on her mind although they hung at the tip of her tongue to be announced to save them both.

She begged her luck that he looks into her eyes to see her plea for help and run if away if he could not help her but he stood up when he was done and walked to the dishwasher with his plates and pulled it open.

"Are you done?"

She shivered and bit down on her lips. She could hear his footsteps approaching her. He placed his hand on her shoulder, broad, warm, and strong, she flinched.

"Are you done?"

She nodded mechanically and looked down at her shaking hands on her lap. Has that man found a worthy rival? Is there someone who scared her more than him?

His fingers pressed into her shoulder. Her teeth pressed on the piece of flesh between them which happened to be her lower lips when he eyes got misty as she was trying not to cry.

"I don't deserve this," she screamed these words over and over internally and it only increased that searing pain in her heart.

She held her breath until he released her and the plate with the meat on it when she began talking was left the plate untouched. What a waste of such fine beef.

All the sounds she heard indicated all he was doing behind her too clearly she could almost picture him doing them but she did not turn to look at him.

She heard him open a cupboard. Was he looking for something to beat her up with? She was trained to fight abuse as well as endure it until she could find a way out of it with that abuse she expected never came.

The man behind doing normal things like a happy man was someone she knew to be one of the few dangerous men she knew this close.

No one knew. Possibly, even her fiancé had no idea as this man was going at keeping that part of his life out of the way.

"I like it now that the island is cleared," he murmured in satisfaction. An idea about what was to come.

"No!" she screamed. She was up away from the island less than a couple of seconds after he spoke. She shook her head as she looked into those black soulless eyes.

They warned her. They warned her that he was that man that smiled at her in her office. They warned her to make sure she survives it all.

"N . . . No," this time, her voice shook scared as she shook her head pleadingly and stepped farther away from him until her bare hands touched the cold glass of the window.

An idea popped into her mind, what if she simply falls to her death? Will it end this painful circle? Two past ones and now a third?

Her legs felt so weak, that she slumped to the softness of the rug and looked at him as he remained where he stood when he spoke.

His brow was furrowed as she felt like a rabbit trying to burrow into the glass window. "Why did you say no?" his voice so monotonous reflecting the cold expression in his eyes as his brow smoothened.