Chapter 33

Lyna silently walked upstairs to the room, leaving Ari and Kale alone in the kitchen.

"Kale," she spoke softly in between her little cries.

"Yes," he spoke gently with his deep voice as he turned around, meeting Ari's watery eyes.

She took a deep breath through her red nose, raising her head to keep watching his beautiful dreamy eyes.

Ari held her hands placing them on her eyes cleaning her tears.

"I," her nose was still closed which made her sound a little bit cute, "I am sorry. I didn't think I would be like this from eating a dessert," she said looking at the plate in front of her.

Kale was calm, "It's okay."

She started chuckling, "Eating homemade food for two days in a row seems a bit weird."

Kale remained silent.

Ari continued, "I haven't gotten, the chance to enjoy such meals ever since I was young. My relationship with my mother is not exactly the best. She always saw me as a toy for her family to suck up to the Soo's, that was the reason she pressured my dad to have me, to hold ties with him knowing he will break the marriage as soon as he was done with their help."

She slowly started crying even more after trying so hard to hold it in. "If weren't for Lyna being transferred here I would have it much worse, being rejected and used by my mother was enough, but then my siblings and cousins and uncles, from either side, loathed me more than anything. I was but a young child who didn't even understand why I was being treated in such a way."

She pulled up her sleeves above her wrists, wiping her tears as they were falling endlessly. "I, I couldn't even approach my dad out of being scared of them. If I didn't have Lyna by my side I wouldn't have been able to hold on. I, I wouldn't have been able to keep going, for my father to finally be allowed to show me a bit of his affection, as I was finally earning my place in the family. This cursed family didn't even let him approach me. It, it was like I was leaching off of them." She was crying louder.

"I, I never wanted any of this." Just as she was about to wipe her tears again Kale's hand suddenly held hers softly.

"Enough," his voice resounded in the room as if it was sung beautifully, "You will hurt your face."

He took her hand away from her face slowly.

Ari's eyes were stuck in his warm gaze but she looked away. "I am sorry."

"It's okay."

Ari chuckled. "It's not. Ha," she sighed, "you keep seeing this weak side of me."

"What matters is that, at the end of the day, you raise your head high."

Ari took a heavy breath. "What if someday I don't? What if someday I have enough, and leave everything. Hmm?" Her tone rose, seemingly a bit annoyed as she met his eyes.

But, to her surprise, he tilted his head slightly to the right, squinted his eyes a little, a gentle look, a warm beautiful smile, a second one that made her eyebrows twitch, but what he said next took hold of her heart, "I will still be here."

"Ah, b-," she started stuttering as her face was stuck in motion but she couldn't stop a tear from falling, "b-but, the deal."

Kale had a soft tissue in his hand by the time she asked. He started focusing on cleaning her tears.

Ari only sat still not knowing what to do.

"Then, we will make another one," he answered.

Ari suddenly held his hand from her cute red cheek, "What was, the purpose of the last deal then?" She asked confused.

Kale giggled, which tickled Ari's red shy ears, making her snap out of it for a second. "You wanted to achieve power, I wanted to give you more motivation."

"What," his answer made her wandering mind come back to the room. "What, is this about? Kale. What is your purpose?" Ari was getting frustrated as those beautiful starry eyes didn't want to let go of her.

"I thought we made it clear that you have to achieve something first for me to open my mouth," he answered calmly.

"Even if it's not taking over the Soo's? Even if it is something completely useless?"

"Hmm," Kale acted like he was thinking, "As long as it satisfies me."

"And what will, huh?" She stood up, anxiously asking while her nose and cheeks were still pink from crying.

"If it's just about my purpose, I can give some leeway, but I won't speak of my identity just yet."

Ari's heart started beating louder and louder, her mind wandered everywhere, trying to cover every possibility. "Then, what can I do for you to speak of your purpose, of why you are here guarding me and acting as if you care for me?"

"You already did satisfy what I wanted," he started walking around the counter between them.

Ari's eyes widened. "What, what did I do?" She was really puzzled about it as she was following him with her eyes.

Kale stood closely before her, making her raise her head to meet his eyes.

Having him in front of her made Ari's overthinking shut up for a moment, for the first time in an hour, she had nothing but utter silence in her mind, just staring at him with redness around her beautiful eyes from sobbing.

"Doesn't my purpose take priority here?" He asked as his warm expression started changing into a cold one.

"Ah, hmm," she nodded like a little girl.

"You really don't know?"

She took a moment before shaking her head.

He took a step closer, just a few inches away from each other. "Really?" His voice got deeper and coarse as he titled his head.

Ari didn't answer this time.

She was too focused on trying to calm her fast-paced breathing.

The ring has not been triggered even when he approached her many times without asking tonight.

And even now, it didn't, even when he stood so close to her.

His right fingers suddenly ran to hold her by the waist, then hurriedly brought her near to him, making her body stumble upon his.

In such a rush Ari had her hands on his chest, her lips close to his, feeling each other's warm breaths. Her body was screaming, her skin quivering as her heart fluttered wildly.

His gray eyes had a cold air around them, making Ari tremble even more to their irresistible chillness.

"Really..." he said again, but this time, in such a breathless tired voice that made Ari take a soft deep breath with her entire body completely embraced by his scent. almost unconsciously making her stand on her toes.

Ari licked her bottom lip as if it was itching her while trying to catch a breath.

She couldn't think straight to answer him.

She was caught in his pace.