Chapter 9

He was walking ahead of her, in her apartment, his steps quiet and hesitant, as he held his bag strings close to his chest.

Her plan was to prompt hard work from him to show the reciprocation of her emotions, and she expected a slow burn of him to turn agitated and perform as she wished. But he was quicker than she expected.

As she placed her bag on the couch, she was calmly observing him, explore her apartment as if he'd been there for the first time. "Your painting is in my room. Go get it. I'll get us something to drink." She announced and walked off to the kitchen, watching him from there, still slowly striding to her bedroom.

She could not comprehend what was going on inside his little head but was curious to know. Yet she chose not to ask him directly and observe his actions and behavior for a little while.

He hesitantly stepped into her bedroom, his eyes once again landing on the shelf. There was a new piece in the collection. —- A painting of a bitten apple.

Noticing the sensual strokes and colors on the canvas, his eyes were left astounded, fluttering. It wasn't just an ordinary painting of an apple, it exuded lust and desire in the form of subtle yet strong strokes.

Scanning the painting thoroughly, he stepped further and noticed the same apple hair clip she wanted to buy for him. Consternation rushed down his spine, chills just a catch to it as his eyes widened and his hands fisted themselves, sweating.

His already hesitant body now felt the threat of being caught by people. He saw himself being made fun of in the whole college, in that very red portrait, while she wickedly smirked at him from the corner. "You just had to listen to me and you couldn't even do that." His imaginary words in her tone echoed in his ears, prompting his heart to thrash rapidly at the speed of horses racing in the field.

She was laughing in his vision, mocking and cursing him for being a pervert. His imagination turned murky and heavy and he felt himself losing his restraint on his balance.

But somehow he scraped his vision off of his head and grasped the hair clip. Next, he immediately dashed with his trembling body towards her in the kitchen and aggressively placed them on the counter, asking with a tone full of bitterness, "What is this?"

She was startled by his hasty and unforeseen appearance, his angry demeanor a confusion for her. She did not understand his expression even after she had glanced at the hair clips.

"Why did you buy them even after I denied them?" He boomed, his tone forceful, a new sight she had never seen. "What?" She questioned, squinting her eyes at him in turmoil, stepping closer to him.

But he quickly stepped back, stepping behind in the living room. "Oh, don't act naïve. I know why you bought them!" His raid increased while her steps halted before him. "You bought them to remind me what I am!" He added, troubling her even more.

"What are you talking about?" Concerned by the stern in his demeanor, she stepped further from the glass table, a sign of surrender. His words and aggression were now making her worry about him and his thoughts.

--- What was going on inside his head?

"You're planning to blackmail me, right?" He questioned, letting his worst imagination take the form of his words. He had always wondered why she was doing all of that, let alone taking him out on a date. And that painting and those clips were a clear answer to each question.

"What?" she boomed, astounded at the reasoning through which he landed on this conclusion. "I never thought of such a thing!" Adding, she took another step further, watching him get baffled even more.

"I knew I couldn't trust you! You just want to do whatever you want with me and if I deny, you'll threaten me to expose my secret!" He was not listening to her at all, not even reading the bothered expressions on her face.

"You think I'm playing with you?" She boomed another question, prompting him irritable, a form he had taken to secure himself from her much nonsense. "Are you not?" He mocked, making her wonder more and more about the reason why he was thinking that way.

He was right, she was playing with him, but not in the way, he thought. She liked him and she wanted to have him all for herself, not to blackmail him. However, if asked, she would not be able to answer what type of affection she had for him. An affection someone holds for a person or for a mere object.

"Karan, let's calm down first. We'll talk about this once you're back to normal." She stated, her hands stretching to his shoulder to soothe him, but he quickly jerked her away and turned around. "Normal? You said it yourself. I'm not normal."

At this point, every word he was uttering was full of dismay and fear, and he added more to his remarks, exposing that she was the reason why he didn't trust anyone. But, even though he was expressing hurtful words against her, calling her pathetic and arrogant, she still tried to console him.

Once again, she pressed her hands against his shoulder in order to calm him, but instead got pushed away on the glass table, this time not being able to control her fall.

He hadn't realized what he had done, even after the sound of stumbling reverberated in his ears, until he turned around and saw her body stumbled on the table.

She was in pain. Her elbow had hit the glass roughly and had gained a red wound because of that. His eyes widened at the sight and he froze in his place, just staring at her for a second.

Once again, the panic took over him and he realized what he had done.

She tried getting up, her blood boiling inside her veins but remained seated on the table, her eyes glaring at his disturbed face.

She admired him, but not enough to accept disrespect from him. But when she examined the terrified look in his eyes as her eyes met his, her anger dried in her nerves.

"I-I'm sorry!" Broken from his frozen status, he dashed to her, continuing to apologize as he tried looking at her bruised elbow.

He squatted on his knees, his whole body shuddering as he added, "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry! I'm sorry." His breaths trotted as the fear of hurting her hunted him.

From the past few days, he also had gained tender sentiments for her, just wound up with fear. He tried to reason with them with confusion, but when he saw her hurt because of him, his emotions were confirmed, which had been a doubt for him.

She regarded him apologize continuously, his hands trembling as he did not even dare to touch the wound. She had then recognized that the frail boy in front of her had been in fear his whole life.

His life had been a misery, a time he always sought to protect him and never once felt safe. Her emotions took the strongest form, and she grasped his head close to her chest, softly brushing his hair through her fingers.

His body at first went into disturbance but promptly settled on her affection, while his head still tried figuring out what was happening. "It's okay." She whispered, her face filled with an expression of cold astonishment.

"I'm fine. It's okay." She breathed, feeling his body melt under her grasp. She caressed him until his mind had regained composer that thought that even after being bruised by him, she was taking care of him.

She did not care for herself but for him. Was she the person he was thinking? If she was, would she take care of him instead of herself?

He gradually freed himself from her grasp and seized her hands away from his cheeks, looking at her with bewilderment in his eyes. He wanted to ask why was she being kind to him. Who she really was?

Was she a bad person or someone with good intentions?

He had witnessed a new side of her that day, so as she had. She never knew that the calm and shy boy could react in such a way. Therefore, what people said about emotions was right, they do make the best of you.

Under the influence of his high emotions, he urged his lips to hers and allowed his suppressed emotions to discharge, sitting on her lap. She gratefully, yet astounded, accepted his kiss, responding to him with the same passion as she clutched his waist closer to her body.

His thawing body assailed against her as his lips continued kissing her, rotating his head to deepen the connection of their sloppy lips.

Her hands gently advanced to his hips and began grazing them, her head numb at the moment.

She just wished to soothe him, pushing her tongue into his warm mouth. He welcomed her tongue with an open mouth and swirled his tongue around along with hers in his mouth, a trick he learned from her.

"I don't want to harm you in any way. And that's the truth, even if you believe it or not." She muttered in between their warm, and sloppy kiss.

"I just don't understand why you're doing all of this," He acknowledged, parting his wet lips from her, his tone a bit teary. His face which had been fuming with anger was now flushed to his neck with shame and regret, yet with questions.

She said nothing and stood up, making him stand up as well. "Sometimes, you don't have to understand everything right at the moment."

She was prompting his guard down, making him want to believe in her words. "Now, don't worry about anything. You need rest." She said, her eyes wandering around, her face troubled by his tension.

----- That was the moment he gave her his trust!

"You haven't packed your painting, right? Let's pack it and send you home." Adding she started to walk away from him, into the room, when he suddenly stopped her with a soft pull on her wrist.

He felt as if he had made her act detached from him as well as feel upset. The expressions on her face were making him guilty about his actions, not sitting well with his natural self.

She turned around and gazed at him with eyes full of question as his eyes pierced through the tiled ground. "Can I stay here for a while?" He questioned, unexpectedly prompting a shocking sense of victory inside her head.

The situation wasn't the one she wished for, but the outcome was exactly what she had wanted. She wanted to see the longing in him and she was delivered with the exact thing. She just did not expect it in that form.

-----That was the day of many unexpected things and a few more were about to be added to the list.

She grinned in her head, and scoffed slightly, only for her ears as she grasped his hand, releasing his grip from her wrist.

Once again, in the room full of quiet breaths, she tiptoed closer to him and clasped his face in her palms, staring at his ashamed eyes for a while. Those were not the exact emotions she wanted to read on his face, but they were the closest as well.

After a moment of silence in that bright living room, she pressed her lips against his, astounding him once again. "If that's what you want, you'll receive exactly that."

*****

END OF THE CHAPTER

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