Chapter 44 ENGAGEMENT PARTY IX
Without saying anything to Ethan, El walked into the bathroom to freshen up and after she took a cold bath, she went to the closet to change her outfit. As she walked out of the bathroom, Ethan was still sitting in the same position as he sat when she walked into the room earlier, but she didn't look his way, even if she could feel his eyes on her. When she got into the closet, she saw his clothes arranged in a part of the closet, and she coughed at the sight.
Why were Ethan's belongings arranged in her closet? Was he planning on staying in the same room with her? She walked closer to them and touched some of them just to make sure she wasn't envisioning things that weren't there. As her hand slid through one of his black shirts, she suddenly realized everything she was seeing was real, and she frowned at the thought.
Oh, God! She cried out inwardly still feeling the soft fabric on her hand. Does this mean he was also going to share the same bed with her? How was she going to cope if Ethan is to stay in the same room with her? It was easy to avoid him, and control how she felt when she wasn't in the same room with him, but now he is going to stay in the same room with her, how was she supposed to survive?
As she still held his shirt, she remembered how she had touched his firm muscles beneath this black shirt, and she blushed at the thought. She wondered how it would feel to trail her fingers down his lower abdomen, on his firm eight packs.
"What are you doing prying with my stuff?"
El turned to look at Ethan who stood a few feet away from her with narrowed eyes, and she swallowed unconsciously as she stared at his intimidating face. She cursed inwardly as she stared at him embarrassed. She never knew she would be caught in this awkward situation by this man, and she didn't know how to get out of it.
"And what are your stuff doing in my room?"
He shot her a questioning look as he raised one of his brows. El quickly understood the meaning of his looks and bit her lips as if biting it would take back her words.
"I thought I made myself clear the last time about your meaningless questions?"
"You mean the time when you said I didn't have the right to ask you that?" She asked, surprising herself at her courage to still speak to this man after everything that happened earlier today. "Well, that became unclear when you decided not to have a divorce anymore." She added, locking eyes with him.
Ethan tilted his head sideways as he stared at El's face. He admired her courage to stand up to him after showing her a side of him he had never shown to anyone before, yet he pitied her for being brave, foolishly brave. He wondered what she was thinking in her head, standing up to him the way she was doing now. He could see the fierceness in her eyes, and it made him chuckle inwardly.
She was an interesting woman whose personality had piqued his interest from the first day he met her, and he found her a challenge. As he stared into her eyes, he wondered how much more she could take before she would break down.
He smirked as he walked closer to her, with her eyes still locked on him without even flinching. "I don't want to hear another word about me breaching the contract and divorcing you anymore. I've told you, it's not going to happen. Hearing you nag about it suffocates me." He brought his face closer to hers. "I hope it's clear this time?"
"Why bother asking me when it's already been deci..."
"It's a rhetorical question, Eleanor," he interrupted her "I don't want to hear your petty opinions."
She frowned at his words and stepped away from him annoyed.
"Answer me, Eleanor. Don't make me repeat myself."
"Well, forgive my manners, Ethan. Unfortunately for me, I only know how to air out my petty opinions." She rolled her eyes at him.
"You'd better watch your words, Eleanor. I won't take any form of disrespect from you." He walked closer to her, lifting her chin with his left hand to his face. "Now, answer me. Am I clear?" She nodded with a frown. "I may not be in a good mood next time, so don't repeat this useless attitude of yours."
He smirked, and turned around to leave the room, but stopped halfway and looked at her from over his shoulders. "And... Stay away from my stuff. That's an order." He walked out, leaving her embarrassed as she stared at his back.
She should have never been caught by this man, snooping through his stuff. She just wanted to make sure she wasn't hallucinating about seeing his stuff in her closet, and somehow got lost in her thoughts, fantasizing about his body. It was an unfortunate coincidence that he happened to walk into the room at that moment when her hands were on his shirt. Now, he was going to taunt her with this, just like the other incident at the hospital. El moaned.
The rest of the afternoon went by quickly with El avoiding Ethan at all cost, and soon it was time for dinner, so she prepared for it. Since they were staying in the same room, there was no way she could avoid him this time because they were both preparing for dinner, so she tried not to look his way and avoided eye contact with him, even if he made it really hard for her.
He wasn't someone who you couldn't have eye contact with because he possessed exquisite male features she preferred to address as perfection which made him really attractive. But aside from his exquisite features, he also possessed an aura that made him unavoidable.
There was silence in the closet as Ethan dressed, while El stared at herself in the mirror, as she admired the job done by her maids. But that didn't stop her from stealing glances at Ethan every second. It wasn't her fault though, there was no way she could avoid making eye contact with this man when he was half naked in her closet.
She quickly dispersed those dirty thoughts from her head and walked out of the closet when she was sure that she was fully prepared for dinner, into the room. She walked to the bed and sat on it. As she sat on the bed, images of Ethan's body filled her head and her cheeks burned from thinking about Ethan's body, and how hot he looked.
She lost track of time as she fantasized about his body, and Ethan walked in a couple of minutes later to see her sitting on her bed. He wore his usual black outfit, a black pair of trousers, and a black shirt with folded sleeves. As El stared at him, she couldn't take her eyes off him. He was perfect as usual, with his deep blue eyes complimenting his perfectly sculpted jawlines.
He walked up to her with a box in his hand, which he handed over to her. "Put it on." He ordered, standing close to her as she sat on the bed.
She looked at the box in her hand hesitantly, before opening it. When she opened the box, there was a bracelet inside, a very beautiful diamond-coated bracelet which she couldn't stop herself from admiring. Was this a gift for her from Ethan? She couldn't believe it. His last words rang in her head, and she looked up at him to see his eyes on her. She picked up the bracelet and held it in her hand, admiring it even more.
After a few seconds of letting her admire the bracelet, Ethan took it from her hand and wore the bracelet on her wrist. Even as he wore it on her wrist, she still couldn't stop herself from staring at it. She looked up at Ethan to see him staring at her. "Thank you, Ethan. It's beautiful."
"Don't ever take it off." He only said, before walking out of the room.
El didn't know how to feel as she stared at the bracelet. She still couldn't believe Ethan could get her a gift. Why was he being so nice to her all of a sudden to the extent of even gifting her? She felt happy about the gift, but she also couldn't help but feel that there had to be a reason behind his gift.
Her stomach growled, and she decided to stop thinking about whatever reason Ethan had to gift her. She immediately walked out of the room to the dining room where she would have dinner. On getting there, everyone was already sitting at the table and she joined them.