ALIYA TORRES
'Did you atleast attend your meeting?" I asked Ethan as we drove out of the restaurant.
Nina went back to the office and I felt bad having had to interfere with Ethan's work. He did mention he had a meeting earlier, I wondered if he dropped everything just to come to the restaurant.
'Don't worry about it",he muttered his hands on the steering wheel, his muscles struggling against the pale blue shirt he had on.
My eyes riveted to the knot on my waist, to the sight of his jacket on my waist. It was no big deal because he was just trying to help me out but to me…it was more.
Even as I snuck glances at him, I couldn't help but think whether it was fate. Whether fate was trying to begin us together. I was never one to believe on love or fate or destiny because love first of all made my mother alienate from her family.
My mother's father, William Niarchos, disowned my mother after she settled for my dad who at the time was a mail man. Although I deeply admired what my mother and father had I couldn't help but think that because of love my mother had to make a choice between a man she had just met and her family.
Ofcourse I had never met my grandpa or my aunts or my uncles and frankly I hoped I would never meet them because the whole thing would just be messy. What sort of family abandoned their loved one because he fell for a poor guy?
My mind traveled back to Ethan, falling in love was going to be the end of me and yet for some reason I was getting drawn to him everytime we were together. I was getting drawn to his scent, to his moods, to that scowl that never left his face, to how caring he was when he wanted to, to how…God, I liked him.
'I swear I didn't mean to-' I tried to speak but he cocked his head to the side gazing at me.
'Are you okay?"
And there he was, caring,. Loving and concerned Ethan. The same Ethan I liked.
'Yeah, yeah am fine", I lied even though my stomach hurt just a little bit and at the same time it grumbled with hunger.
'You sure? We could buy you tampons on the way home and some pills maybe?"
And I sure as hell withheld a smile. It was hard not to smile when he acted like a concerned husband even though he was my boss.
'I'm not sick, Ethan", I mumbled.
'I know. I just want to make sure you are okay. We could stop at a restaurant, eat something. I know you haven't eaten anything since this morning",he said and I nodded.
What could I say at the moment? I was hungry, and Ethan like some sort of guru knew everything that was going on in my body. I yearned for food and at the same time I yearned for a good long bath and to sleep on my bed reading a good soppy slow burn romance story on my phone…which I now remember was stolen.
Ethan parked at a Macdonald's and I couldn't be more happy. I ordered some spicy baby back ribs, chicken wings, fries and a big belly burger not forgetting a bottle of coke.
I felt modest when the food came because unlike me, Ethan had ordered a simple veggie salad.
I dug into my food the very instant it was laid on our table.
'You are a terrible liar"
'I didn't lie", I clarified taking a long juicy fry and putting into my mouth.
'You said you were fine",he muttered his gaze never leaving mine for a second.
'I was. I mean…I am", I spoke out leaving the fries and taking the spicy drumstick into my hands having a huge bite.
'Clearly you are not. You were dying of hunger, weren't you?"
'Maybe", I commented, chewing so fast afraid that I wouldn't be full.
'Why is it always so hard for you to talk to me? You talk with Jai, why can't you talk to me the way you do him?"
Gee, I wonder why. How about we start with the fact that he had two different personalities like Jekyll and Hyde. One moment he was sweet and the next he was an absolute asshole.
Or how about the fact that his mere presence affected me and my body in ways I didn't think was possible. Or how about the fact that he kissed me out of nowhere and preferred not to talk about it.
'Because you are not Jai", I clarified going back to my food.
'Ooh because am not as handsome as him. Is that it?"
'You know that's not what I mean", I said.
'Then what do you mean?" He insisted and I huffed placing back my burger on the saucer.
'What I mean is that you, Ethan Carter are not easy to talk to. You always assume things about me"
'Such as?" He kept pushing.
'Let's start with when we met, you assumed I fell into your arms intentionally when the truth of the matter was that I slipped and fell"
'Any man in my situation would have thought the same", he said defensively.
'Nope.. only you, Ethan Carter would think of himself as some sort of God", I answered straightforwardly.
He did want me to talk and now here I was talking.
'Name one other time that I wasn't easy to talk to"
'Really?"
'Yes really"
'Okay. When your girlfriend got hurt, you assumed that I hurt her because I was jealous of her and when I did try to talk to you, tell my side of the story you wouldn't allow it"
'I thought I apologized for that",he asked defensively and I had to agree on him on that one.
It was the first time he ever apologized to me… genuinely.
'Okay wheat do you want to talk about? We have to talk about something at some point right?"
'I want you to tell me more about this Ray",he said plainly and I bit my tongue in surprise.
Ray? What did Ray have to do with anything?
'Well if you must know.. Raymond Chester has been my friend since kindergarten. He's always been there for him and me for him"
'Has he always been in love with you?" Ethan asked and I coughed. Scratch that, I choked then I coughed.
'I don't know"
Truth of the matter was I hadn't known about Ray's feelings for me even though my mother had hinted about it a few weeks back.
'Aliya anyone with eyes can see he's into you"
'Well I must be blind because I couldn't see it. I mean Ray is a wonderful guy, any woman's dream guy but I don't understand why he would fall for someone like me…am plain, simple, boring and am certainly wouldn't compare myself to one of those models in Vogue magazines"
He chuckled, his rich laughter like a calm rhythm.
'You sell yourself shot because you, Aliya Torres are beautiful and certainly hot"
Did he just call me hot?