The Casanova's Game ✔

11.

CHAPTER 11 - THE COMFORTER

Colin did not wait for her to react to his presence as he quickly wrapped his large arms around her and crushed her to his chest. Her tear-stained face dampened his shirt, but he did not care. Neither did he care that she was trying to push him away. All he cared about that instant was make sure to hold her, even if she did not want him to.

"Colin, what are you doing?" Alexia squirmed, but he held her tight against him.

"Comforting you, now will you stay still?" He replied and started running his fingers through her hair.

Alexia instantly loosened up, her body quickly reacting to his action. No matter how hard she tried to ignore the tingles riding up her spine, or the sudden change of her breathing pattern, she could not. Because she was attracted to him and everything, he does. "Thank you, but I prefer to be alone." She tried to push him away.

"Alexia would you stop being stubborn?" He sighed, getting frustrated.

Colin was concerned for her. Most importantly, he felt sorry for her. He did not know what she going through because he did not lose both his parents. For the pain of losing one parent, he knew it all too well. However, losing both, it might have been very difficult for her. All he wanted to do now was console her, but she was not letting him and it was pissing him off.

"If you're thinking that am going to take advantage of your weakness and make a move, you're wrong. This is not Colin the playboy who wants to sleep with you, its Colin the concerned gentleman who is here to comfort you." Alexia stopped struggling after he said that. "I am the comforter."

Colin held her even closer and she relaxed completely, her shoulders slouching towards him. His fingers did not leave her hair as he lowered himself down on her bed with her, lying on top of him. He felt her stiffen and then he assured her. "I am not going to do anything without your permission."

Alexia knew it was risky being all alone with Colin in her room, moreover in his arms and on her bed. However, she could not bring herself to kick him out of there because no one has held her like this in a long time, especially a man. The last time a man held her, was the day Elijah cheated on her, so it felt good to be in strong muscular arms once again. Colin's arms were not only strong and muscular. They were also warm and made her feel protected. He held her as if he was protecting her from harm, from her grief and sorrow. He held her as if he cared, as if she was important to him.

"Why are you here?" She asked into his chest and felt it rise and fall as he drew in a deep breath.

"I am here to comfort you." He replied.

"Why?"

"Because I don't know what you're going through." His chest vibrated as he spoke and she heard it loud and clear because half of her face was laying there. "I don't know how you felt when you lost both parents in one day."

"I don't want your pity."

"It's not pity, Alexia God!"

"Then what is it?" She snapped, trying to get out of his arms however, he did not let her go.

"I want you to know that you're not alone."

Alexia's tears, which had stopped flowing the moment he entered her room, began to form again after he spoke those words. "And who told you I was alone?" She asked and swallowed a lump. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I might not know what you have been through, however I know it might have been difficult. Honestly speaking, I only know how it feels like to lose a father and know nothing about the feeling of losing both parents." Alexia blinked rapidly to keep her tears back, but one escaped and fell on Colin's shirt. "I lost my father when I was still in high school. That day, was the happiest and saddest day of my life. It was my happiest because I had for the first time in my life, aced my papers. I was very eager to get home and show my papers to my dad because he had stayed up with me the previous night when I studied for the exams." He chuckled, but she could tell it was not from happiness. "It was during lunch break and I was called by a teacher that my mum was waiting for me in the principal's office."

Colin shifted and rolled to his side, while pulling Alexia next to him. Their heads were on one pillow, face to face and their gazes locked. One of his arms was still around her and the other in her hair. "Imagine a kid who was already praying for something to happen so he would go home early and meet his dad, hears that his mum was in school to pick him up. Damn, I was so excited. Nevertheless, I soon came to know the reason why my mother had come to pick me up." He paused to take in a deep breath and she thought she saw something like tears glistening in his eyes. "I had never cried so much in my entire life. I though the world was coming to an end you know. I never imagined that the happy, strong and determined man I had left at home that morning could jump off a bridge."

Alexia's eyes flared and she gasped, shocked. "What?"

"My father jumped to his death. He killed himself because his business partner duped him and runaway with their profits." Colin's jaw clenched as he continued. "That coward left us with nothing but a house, a crappy old car and a huge debt. My mother had to sell our house and everything valuable to pay the bank. We were homeless and had to start again from scratch. My mother worked four jobs to take care of me and hence was not always at home. I learnt many things by myself during that period and one of them was to be strong no matter the situation I found myself. So therefore, you should also be strong." He finished and Alexia was speechless.

She never knew he had gone through such a tough time in his life. All this while she thought he had always had it all: the women, the money and the expensive life. However, Colin had a difficult life in his childhood and it was nothing compared to hers. He lost his father in high school, while she still had both parents then. He had learnt things by himself, while her parents taught her all she knew. He must have suffered a lot watching his mother work four jobs. While she, her parents owned a bakery, which they were all proud of. She had no right to cry because her parents did not leave her intentionally. They died through an accident. Unlike him whose father decided to take his life.

"I didn't tell you this so you would cry for me." Colin pointed out before she realized it. Tears rolled down her face and he wiped them away with his thumbs. However, more fell out of her eyes. "No Alexia please, no." His arms went around her and brought her into his embrace.

"You went through a lot." She snuffled.

"And you went through a lot more." He said and placed a kiss on her head. "We all lose a loved one in life. However, we shouldn't cry too much over their death when we have a lot of things and fond memories to remember them with."

Alexia reciprocated his hug this time. She placed her head to his chest and listened to his rhythmic heartbeat. She was very thankful that he was there with her and even more thankful for his large, warm and comforting arms. It made her feel like there was someone in the whole world who cared about her, although Colin would be the last person in this world to care about her. For the time being she decided to forget, that he was the playboy who swore to take her to his bed in one month, and just be comforted.

"Should I tell you a secret?" He asked and she nodded.

"You know that house you'll be decorating, that is the house my mother sold years ago, to pay off my dad's debt. She bought it again a few months ago. I do not know why she did that, but I suppose it has a special place in her heart. After all, it is the house I grew up in."

They laid there in silence afterward, under the light of her bedside lamp with their shadow cast on the floor. It showed two people who looked like they were ready to protect the other from any harm that was to befall them. Slowly both their breaths evened out and they lay asleep, wrapped in each other's comforting arms.