CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

"How long are you going to sulk for?" I poke on Arcadio's arm, and he turns his head towards the window.

"Oh, come on now. I didn't want Julien to call me ma'am, so I asked him to call me by my first name." Still, I receive silence from his side.

"Arcadio, if you don't start talking to me now, I will cancel this plan, and I won't take you anywhere. Instead, I would go back home."

I turn towards the driver, one of Arcadio's men, "excuse me, would you mind stopping the car, please."

He looks from the rear-view mirror, and I see Arcadio glaring at him. I saw the driver physically gulping because of fear. He looks back on the road and doesn't even reply to me.

Arcadio looks at me, "no one would even dare to defy me, Tesoro."

My eyes automatically roll at him. When he points it out by saying, "did you just roll your eyes at me?" I panic a little but then relax back. Even if I caught his attention through other means, I was okay with it.

"Yeah, so what are you going to do?"

A sudden yelp leaves my throat when he picks me up and places me on his lap. I try to push his chest with my fists, but he doesn't budge.

My eyes immediately trail to the driver, trying to see if he was looking at us or not. Instead, I see him concentrating on the road and not peaking at the rear-view mirror.

"What are you doing? Leave me!" I shrieked lowly, hoping the driver did not hear us.

"I had already warned you, Tesoro, but you always try to defy me." He nuzzled his nose in the crook of my neck. His warm breath spread over my sensitive neck. My eyes shut on their own when he is so near to me.

"How about if I punish you for defying me, Tesoro? Right here while knowing that Jake can turn at any time and can see me punishing you?"

His one hand was slowly kneading my back, and the other was slowly parting my thighs from under my dress. I squirm under his hold.

"Arcadio, stop it."

But the words do not affect him as he continues with the torture. I see him smirking. He knows what his touch does to me. He nears his face to mine and engulfs me in a kiss. No matter how many times I kiss him, my heart will never stop fluttering as if it were our first kiss.

As our lips part, I see those brown eyes once again. "I'm sorry," I whisper to Arcadio. He nuzzles his nose in the crook of my neck. "You know how possessive I am when it comes to you. The thought of you being close to someone else makes me so frustrated. Sometimes I wish I could keep you tied to me so that everyone knows who you belong to."

I smile at his words, "possessive much?"

"Only for you, Tesoro," He gives me a light peck.

"Boss, we have reached," the driver startled me. I had forgotten that he had been here all this while. It's like everything gets blurry when I'm with Arcadio. I had always wanted to feel such a feeling, and I'm glad that I got to experience it with him.

"Where have you brought us, Tesoro?" Arcadio questions me because I was the one who gave the driver the location of where to go.

I see outside the window, and there is a crowd of people as always. I look at Arcadio, "welcome to Cannaught place."

"Huh?"

I get up from his lap and try to move out, but he stops me and pulls me backward. Arcadio moves my neck to face him and kisses me passionately. "Now we can go." This man never fails to make my heart flutter.

"Why are we here again?" He asks me after getting down.

I smile and stand next to him. The sun was shining so bright I had almost forgotten Delhi's scorching sun. "If I tell you, promise you won't laugh at me."

"Tesoro, have I ever laughed at you?" He frowns.

"Alright. When I lived in Delhi, I always wanted to come here with my boyfriend, but now that I have a husband, I thought I would come here with you."

"So am I simply a replacement?" He sulks.

"I did not say that. Stop putting words in my mouth. Now hurry up before the sun burns your skin, and it gets more crowded." I hold his hand and pull him away from the car.

"Park the car," he instructs the driver. "Now you tell me why only my skin will burn and not yours?"

I smirk, "because I was born in this sun, but your skin cannot bear the heat."

"Are you worried about me, Tesoro?" He wraps his hand over my shoulder as we walk on the footpath. After such a long time, I got to relax someplace known.

"Maybe"

"Okay, tell me one more thing," he begins. "Why are there so many people here?"

"No matter where you go in Delhi, you will always find crowds everywhere. It is called the Capital for a reason, darling." When Arcadio's eyes widen, I realize that I have called him with endearment.

"What did you just call me, Tesoro?"

"Nothing," I bite my lip and shake my head. He moves his hand from my shoulders to my waist and pulls me to him. "What are you doing? Everyone is watching." And yes, everyone was indeed watching us. As soon as they pass beside us, their eyes remain on us. A sudden sense of insecurity hits me when I see girls and women staring at Arcadio longer than needed.

Somehow he sensed my discomfort and pulled me closer to him. "Arcadio don't. People are watching."

"So what!" Instead, he leans a little closer and sniffs my neck. I hold in my shriek. "Now tell me, Tesoro, where do you want to go?"

"I'm hungry," I pout.

"Aw, piccolo ragazza. What do you want to eat?" He holds my hand tightly.

"Let's go here," We enter one of the cafés.

As always, the inside of the café seems to be filled, with the conversations following through it. Everyone is busy talking to each other. The smell of food flowing through the cafe made me hungrier.

"Let's sit there," Arcadio guides me through the café with his arm on my waist. He pulls out a chair for me to sit on, then sits across me.

"Here is the menu, ma'am." A waitress comes and stands beside our table as soon as we settle. She places the menu in front of me and leaves. "Thank you." I smile at her, and she returns the smile.

"We'll order soon." He says to her without any expression. Her smile falters a bit, and she leaves. I wanted to tell her that I knew how it felt like to be on the other side of that cold expression.

"Arcadio, stop acting so rude," I glare at him.

"I don't like it when you pass smiles to anyone," he casually says. I close my eyes as I can't keep up with his jealousy.

"What do you want, Tesoro?" The smile's back on, bipolar much. Arcadio looks at the menu. "You look as if you are reading some kind of instruction manual."

"I have to read it to be certain that I don't eat the wrong thing because Roger informed me about the food."

I roll my eyes, "I had forgotten that I was with a foreigner." He lowers the menu down, "Tesoro are you mocking me?"

My eyes widen in surprise, "no, absolutely not."

"Are you sure?" He raises his eyebrow at me.

"Yes, I'm sorry." My lips pout again.

He calls me closer with his finger. I move closer. His voice is hoarse, "I'm counting, Tesoro." His words send shivers down my spine.

"May I take your order now, sir?" It came from the other waitress, who kept smiling. But her smile seemed malicious. She kept staring at Arcadio and ignored me the whole time, which irked me out.

I was waiting for Arcadio to be rude to her, but instead, he had a smile on, and he politely replied with our order.

As soon as she left, he looked at me, finally addressing that I was sitting next to him, "why are you staring like that at me, Tesoro?"

"Like what?" with clenched teeth, I replied.

"Like your about to murder someone."

I roll my eyes with a sigh, "nothing. I had forgotten that all men are alike in the end."

He smirks at my answer, "I can sense jealousy, Amore Mio." I turn my head to the other side. I felt him grabbing my hand that was on the table.

"You told me before not to be rude, and now when I wasn't rude, you are getting angry."

I suddenly feel guilty. Arcadio was right, I asked him not to be rude, and I got jealous when he followed my words. Still, even though I feel at fault. Yet I won't show it to him.

"Tesoro, I can hear the wheels of mind turning." From the corner of my eye, I see him still smirking.

I try to remove my hand from his hold, yet he still holds it tightly. "Are you upset, Amore Mio?" I shake my head in denial.

He pulls my hand closer to him and pecks on my knuckles lightly. "I'm sorry, Amore Mio."

"Fine, fine. Your forgiven." I give a small smile to him.

"Oh, how lucky I am to be forgiven by you, Tesoro." I laugh at his perky words.