| 23 - Amari Uma Gatto?

🌼Amari's P. O. V.🌼

I'm heading to the study room to ask Alpha Andres if he would let me go with Eva to the grocery store.

I knocked on the door, but it was already open. I peeked inside and there is no one inside. Wow! I never knew how beautiful and big his study room is. It's a wooden interior and everything is dark-colored. I contemplated for a while if I should or should not enter...But Alpha isn't present. It's now or never.

I entered fully and look around.

Wow!

There's a bonsai tree on the coffee table near the sofa. I look around the wall. There are no pictures here, huh? I wonder why? I went to the bookshelves and check out some books and ended up at the back of his desk. There are also many books, but dark-covered ones. As I look around, I stumbled upon an open draw on his mahogany table. I opened it completely to see a wooden box with the letters A and R carved inside a heart on it.

There's a combination but it was already open, so I take out the papers inside.

'Richard and Amari'

Amari? Don't tell me...

Photograph? I check on one of them to see a little girl wearing a long summer dress. She was not alone in the photograph. A boy is hiding his face from the girl's neck, sitting behind her on a horseback. I turned the picture to look at its back and a note and a date written on it.

On this date, I was only 10 years old. I read further, but I don't know who they were.

'My Love and His Alpha'

I look at the other photograph and my eyes widen as I read the back note.

'My Future Wife'

Amari Uma...Gatto? This is my name, but not my last name.

I slowly but surely turned the photograph. To my surprise, it was the same long-haired boy that I always dreamed about and...me? Is this really him, Alpha Andres? He is carrying me bridal style and we were smiling at the camera.

There is another photograph wherein I am on a slide holding hands with him. His eyes were rooted to my face with an expression of what I believe is adoration, contentment, and...love?

The next photo is of him and me. He is hugging me from behind with my head down. My hair curtains my face.

When I flipped it to read the note behind with a date. I read...

'First accidental kiss in my room. I wish it lasted longer--but you instantly pulled away. Don't you know how it made me go crazy? The moment I tasted your lips for only a second is my addiction. I'll wait till the day I could kiss you with no restraint.'

What! There's no way!

Some of the photos were of me alone and some are of us. Most of them are him hiding in the crook of my neck.

All of a sudden, I gasped as a person hugged me from behind...Alpha Andres slowly rubbed my belly bump.

"It was you and I," he informed. "You were tiny and you still are. It is something I like about you."

I exhaled and closed my eyes. I turn to him and show him the note that says, Amari Uma Gatto.

"Who is this?" I queried.

He placed his hands on the desk making me back away. In an instant, I am trapped in between him and the desk. He bit his lower lip and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath before opening his eyes again.

He lifted me off the floor to his desk. The sudden movement caused me to squeak and him to chuckle.

"Love, why did you enter my study without permission?" he asked calmly. "Don't do it again."

"Uh-oh!" I looked down to ease my nervousness and took a deep breath. "I, uh, was just looking for you."

"Go on." He raised an eyebrow to let me keep going.

"You were not around, but curiosity got the better of me so I became a nosy cat...or kitten...I guess?"

I didn't expect him to erupt into a fit of a lighthearted laugh. Is he really laughing? It sounds melodic...What! No, no, no!

"You really are a curious kitty," he teased. I looked down in embarrassment. "Good thing you didn't find my-"

We jerked our heads to the door when it suddenly opened.

"Did I interrupt something?" a wide-eyed Xander asked. Alpha Andres is throwing daggers at him.

"No, no-not at all!"

"You certainly did."

I pushed Alpha Andres by the chest and got down on my own. I was about to walk away but was pulled back by the Alpha...certainly. He gestured something to Xander whose lips twisted and waved at me before leaving.

"Don't go just yet," he ordered. "You haven't told me what you need. What was it anyway?"

I thought he had forgotten. I contemplated for a while before answering. "Oh, I wa-was gonna ask if you would let me go with Eva to the grocery store?" I responded.

"No," he declared. What? What's wrong with going to the grocery store?

"Wh-why?" I stammered. "I just want to help her with the groceries."

"Ben will go with her," he objected. I just want to go out. Why does he keep me here? He said he'd take me out more often since that day we ate ice cream!

"Fine," I huffed and jerked his hand away, and stumps walked out on him. I haven't even reached the door when...

"Amari!" he boomed causing me to halt in my steps. "Don't you dare walk out on me!"

Did he just call me by my real name? My breathing accelerated due to fear. Fear that he might hurt me again. It caused my eyes to glisten in tears. Is he going to slap me...again?

I slowly turn to him, heaving. "Pl-please do-do-don't hurt me a-again!" I pleaded. Finally, my tears rolled down.

His eyes instantly soften, but he looks alarmed. "Love, I didn't mean to scare you," he apologized and pulled me on his chest. "Baby, please forgive me for scaring you."

I continue to cry and heave.

"Just don't go somewhere I don't know of, understand?" I nodded my head unsurely.

He wiped my tears and pulled me to the sofa and cradled and rocked me slowly. "I'm such an idiot," he mumbled to himself.

He sniffs my neck and calms a bit. After some time, he made me lie down on the sofa and run his hand through my hair affectionately. It only made me feel sleepy.

° ° °

I rubbed my eyes tiredly and sit up. I'm still in the study. I guess, I fell into a deep slumber. I was startled as I looked up to see him staring intently at me like a hawk.

Woah! That look is mysterious and at the same time scary.

Wait! He is starting at me, yet he seems distant. What is on his mind? Does he know I am staring at him right now?

As I get a closer look at him, he is holding the photograph with the same note about the first accidental kiss. I didn't realize he is in front of me when he suddenly engulfed me in a very tight hug. There must be something bugging his mind so I hug him back just as tight and patted his back.

He pulled away from the hug and stared right into my soul. Without warning, he sealed me with his lips in a heated kiss. I didn't move or respond to his kiss but I didn't pull away either. His kisses run down to my neck with so much hunger. I couldn't move or think straight. He might force me again so I decided not to protest.

"I love you," he rasped with half-lidded eyes and went back to kissing my lips.

With those three words, something happened between us inside his study room.

° ° °

Here I am crying inside the study as it came to me what just went down. I allowed him to do it. Only this time wasn't forced but I wasn't willing either.

How could I have been so careless!

Tears are streaming down like falls. Thinking back on how stupid I'd become. I never dreamed of this. Getting married first before doing this is my moral. But fear that he might hurt me if I didn't allow him, overwhelmed me.

I turn my face away from him in an attempt to hide my tears. Will my tears ever stop flowing?

I don't want him to know how much I regretted it. I only know the half-truth. He's still the same person I met the day of the Welcome Ceremony.

I took a deep breath to calm down. I know he's observing me right now.

* * * * *