Dinner

It's been two days that Delia left and everything was back to normal, Calvin was back to work, Leo teasing him any time he sees him, Allison visiting her sister and her bar, the only different thing is that Calvin no longer calls her as usual and he now eats with her in the dining room. Leo joins them sometimes. She has been trying to figure out what was going on with him, but he wasn't giving anything away.

It was already evening and Calvin was back from work. The three of them were presently eating quietly until Leo decided to break the silence.

"I hope you will attend our annual family dinner next week Calvin."

"No." was Calvin's short answer.

"Come on, it won't be that bad." Leo persuaded.

"I'm not coming." Calvin said with finality.

"You should come. And it will do you a whole lot of good if you bring Allison."

At that Calvin paused and the quiet Allison raised her face in confusion.

"Bring me where?" She asked Leo.

"To our family house. It's something we do every year."

He could see the disapproval in her face but she remained silent.

"It's not that bad and Calvin will be happy to have you." Leo continued to persuade

Who cares about making him happy?

"I will think about it." Calvin suddenly blurted back contemplating his previous resolve.

"Excuse me." Allison said standing up. She was done with her food and she took her dishes and cutleries to the kitchen leaving the two men alone.

"You know if you bring her, you will be able to shut the mouth of those people forcing marriage on you." Leo said.

"The 'those people' are your family." Calvin replied.

"Yours too including your parents."

At the mention of his parents, Calvin's brows came together in a visible frown and Leo only sighed. Calvin's grudge against his parents was nothing new to him.

"But how can I bring Allison along? She obviously doesn't want to come with me." Calvin complained.

"Since when did you start caring about people's opinions?" Leo asked with a raised brow. He was obviously teasing him but Calvin didn't seem to care.

"How can I make her come with me?" Calvin asked ignoring Leo's question.

"By asking her nicely." Leo said with a shrug.

"It won't be that easy. I have done horrible things to her." Calvin said with a low voice lowering his head, guilt eating him up. Leo grinned. He was totally enjoying this version of Calvin. What have that girl done to him? Anyway it's a good thing.

"What did you do to her?" Leo asked.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine. We still have up to a week before the dinner. It all depends on you and how you treat her. I don't know what you have done to her but the very first step is to apologize." Leo said excitedly. He could only try to picture Calvin apologizing to Allison.

"No." Calvin said "I can't do that."

"Oh! It's either you do that or you forget about her coming with you or you don't even go at all like you wanted. You are used to your parents persuasion after all. You are still obviously used to how grandma really want to see her great grand kids." Leo said sarcastically.

"What about you? we're age mates" Calvin retorted.

"They know that I'm a normal person but you have a heart of stone. So they are scared that you will leave this world without an heir without any intervention and they will keep forcing ladies on you." Leo replied in an usually serious tone and Calvin could only sigh exasperatedly. All these things were giving him a huge headache.

"Fine I will talk to her."

"I said to apologize."

Calvin only remained silent. How was he going to apologize? He had managed to beg her but that happened in the spun of the moment. This is going to be difficult.

*****

It's been another two days, Leo had left the previous day leaving just Allison and Calvin. Calvin has been acting differently since their last bedroom encounter. He seemed more concerned about her wellbeing and he will occasionally ask her if she needs anything, he had even offered to take her out but she declined. She was yet to understand what is going on with him? What if he has an ulterior motive? He couldn't just be doing that to get in her pants? He could do anything with her if he want to. And she knew that she can't possibly escape him because he will find her. He has money, power and connection, so she just decided to stay put and watch things unfold.

It was late evening and Allison was presently in her room when she heard a knock in her door .

"The door is open." She said loud enough for the person outside to hear. She saw the door handle turn and the door opened to let Calvin in.

This was another strange thing, he would always knock on her door before entering if he wants to check up on her instead of asking Ellie to bring her to his room. The first time he did that, she thought he had wanted to play his naughty games with her in her room but to her surprise, he just asked her if she was okay and if she wanted anything, she had looked at him in utter stupefaction unable to say anything.

"I want to ask you something." he said bring her out of her thoughts. She just looked at him. He had returned from work not too long ago.

"I want you to come with me to my family dinner." he said searching her eyes hoping to find just a bit of approval in them but he saw her brows come together in a frown and he knows that she doesn't approve of it and he couldn't help the disappointment that welled up in him.

"You don't have to if you don't like it." he said, his voice a bit sullen.

She tilted her head and looked at him in confusion. What is he up to this time?

"But I would really like you to come." He added, his voice sounded like he was pleading with her. Wow! Shouldn't he be asking her to pack her bags without considering her opinion?

She was about to say something when he beat her to it.

"You don't have to give me an answer just yet, think about it. We still have five days." he gave her one long look before turning around to make his exit.