✨Sorin's POV✨
She is messing up with my heart. Badly and quickly. I'm afraid it won't be long before this fire completely consumes me.
When my father forced me into this marriage, the hatred I felt for her was incomprehensible. But soon I realised that she was being forced into this too yet I couldn't help but find her annoying.
I love Harlow. We spent our childhood together and came into a relationship while in highschool. And then a few years later her father betrayed my father and that's when things went downhill. We had to keep our relationship a secret because my father warned me about continuing my relationship with her. I do love my father and he loves me too and I don't hate him for trying to seperate me from her because I understand how he must be feeling after being betrayed by his best friend.
And then Drea came along. She started to cook for me which angered me 'cause I was treating her so badly and she...she was cooking for me, worrying about me.
And very soon I realised the reason behind all this. She loves me. Since a long time back. Or atleast have some feelings for me. And I love messing up with her due to those feelings she has for me.
The way her cheeks turn red and she gets so flustered. I enjoy it.
When she suggested that idea about portraying herself as a bad type of girl so that I can divorce her in order to marry Harlow, I knew this woman has a fucking pure heart.
She has feelings for me yet she was ready for me to divorce her just for Harlow.
If that isn't love, I don't know what is.
Her few sentences softened my heart for her and I just couldn't bear ignoring her anymore.
And that man, the owner of the cafe she works in. He thinks he can flirt with her, a married woman and sweep her off her feet.
Can't she see that he clearly likes her? And stay away from him? But again, it's her life and she can do whatever the hell she wants but I can't help but feel angry towards him.
Then there's Adrian. The fuck he thinks he is doing completely disappearing for 19 years, then coming back and taking my wife shopping? Doesn't he has a wife?
Why can't they all leave her the fuck alone?!
I want to protect her from everything. Including me.
She is so fucking innocent that it hurts. Deep down, I have this animalistic desire to ruin her in every fucking possible way. To ruin her innocence. However, I keep that desire buried because the moment it comes up to the surface, I don't know if she will be able to walk for the next few days or not.
A touch on my hand jolted me back to reality and I realised I was sitting the middle of a restaurant with Harlow right infront of me.
All this is wrong. Completely wrong. I'm still with Harlow and I can't have such thoughts about Drea even though I am technically married to her and being with Harlow would be considered cheating not the other way. All this a fucking mess.
"Why aren't you eating, Sorin? Is something wrong?"
I cleared my throat. "No. Everything's alright." Not.
I eyed the steak on my plate. I wonder what Drea made for dinner. If I eat this then I won't be able to eat whatever she made and she will feel bad.
"I don't feel like eating actually...I'm not hungry."
"Are you okay? You said you had fever yesterday, you sure you don't have it today also?"
"Yes, I am okay." I had my wife to take care for me.
Fucking hell! Stop thinking about her!
She looked unassured but nodded and resumed eating. Don't get me wrong, Harlow is an amazing woman, caring and freaking honest about everything yet I'm gradually losing interest in her. Which is wrong because when you love someone, you love them for an eternity but I don't think so things are working between us anymore and this question keeps nagging me. Do I still love her?
I didn't have an answer for it yet.
I waited for Harlow to finish her dinner and after paying for it, dropped her home.
"Goodnight, babe." She cupped my cheeks and gently kissed me. The kiss which used to have me burn with pleasure for her, didn't have that effect anymore. I just couldn't bring myself to kiss her back, I remained still.
"Goodnight." I spoke after she pulled back, a flash of hurt crossed her face when she realised I didn't kiss her back but nodding, she got out of the car and I waited till she disappeared inside her home before driving towards mine.
I drove past the cafe and saw her walking towards the direction of the house, lost in her thoughts.
I slowed down the car beside her which startled her. I rolled down the window and she looked surprised to see me. "Get in."
I hate how scared she looks of me. As if her every step is going to offend me. I have no one to blame in that but me.
Calmness engulfed me the moment she sat next to me.
As I drove, I asked her, "You didn't make dinner, did you?"
"No...I...I am going...to..."
I didn't want to tire her though. "You want to order something?"
She shook her head. "I would like to...cook."
"Okay. What are you going to make?"
"I haven't decided yet."
"How about steak?" I suggested. "Do you know how to make it?"
"I do, I will make...steak then." Fuck. The way she obeys.
No, focus on driving.
Reaching home, she busied herself in preparing the steak while I got freshened up and changed into a pair of sweatpants and t shirt.
I walked into the kitchen and saw her preparing the meat, her back towards me. Her hair tied in a messy bun and a few locks of hair falling out of it.
She was so lost in doing what she was doing that she didn't even hear me walking closer to her untill I stood behind her and kept both my hands on either side of her on the counter, caging her in. And she gasped.
I could hear her gulp audibly. Smirking, I placed my mouth near her ear. "Do you need any help?" I made sure my voice was deep and low.
"N-n-no."
God, she gets so flustered.
"Okay", I whispered before moving away. And she sighed softly causing me to chuckle silently.
I knew my presence was making her nervous so I left the kitchen or else I would have watched her cook.
Later we had dinner together in silence and we both retired to our bedroom.
I was sitting on the bed with my back against the headboard, reading through some emails on my phone when the bathroom door opened and Drea emerged and the phone dropped from my hand.
All I ever saw her in was simple dresses or t shirts and pyjamas but today...
She wore a freaking black coloured nightgown that showed all of her curves, her cleavage, her long smooth legs and her hair falling over her shoulders. Considering how innocent she is, that dress was like a sin on her body.
She was insecure about it seeing how she wrapped her arms around herself while walking towards the bed and much to my disappointment, she covered herself with the duvet turning her back to me.
But guess what...since the duvet didn't cover her whole body I had a nice view of her back cause the nightgown was backless.
I let out a muffled groan.
All the desires that I had been keeping inside me decided to come up to the surface. And every possible way to ruin her crossed my mind.
I wondered how it would feel like to have her tied to the bed, blindfolded, withering underneath me, completely at my mercy.
I let out another groan and picking up an extra pillow, placed it over my lap.
Control yourself!
For the next few minutes, I tried focusing on my phone and controlling myself but it was daunting.
My eyes kept flickering to her no matter how hard I tried to keep myself in check.
That's enough!
Furious at myself, I got up and marched to the bathroom. I need a cold shower. An extremely cold one.
.
.
.
It was in the middle of the night that I heard some sniffling coming from beside me. I turned around to face Drea but she had her back towards me. And her body was slightly trembling.
She is crying...? And I immediately sat up.
Did I say anything today that might be hurtful? I rewinded the whole day in my mind but as far as I know...I didn't say anything like that.
If that owner of the cafe hurt her, he's so dead.
I contemplated what to do. I can't just sit here and hear her cry.
So, for the first time ever, I called her by her name. "Drea?" It just felt so good to say her name.
Her body tensed and her sniffling paused.
"Drea?" I called once again when she didn't turn to me. "What's wrong?"
She replied a couple of seconds later, her voice cracking, "I-I am... s-sorry for...dis-turbing your sleep."
"Seriously? You are worried about disturbing my sleep? I was already awake. Now tell me what's wrong."
"I-I...am...o-kay..."
"Like hell I would believe that. Look at me first."
I was ready to turn her towards me myself if she doesn't listen to me but thankfully, she did and slowly turned around.
Tears streamed down her eyes, her nose red from crying, her bottom lip trembling. And my heart fucking clenched.
Leaning forward, I cupped her cheek making her eyes go wide. "I hurt you, didn't I?"
She was about to shake her head but I gave her a stern look. "Don't lie. I know I have hurt you a lot many times since we got married and I am truly sorry for that. I just want to know if I did or say anything today that hurt you."
"N-no."
"Did anyone else say anything?"
At that more tears fell from her eyes. "T-they...said a lot...of...th-ings..."
My jaw clenched. "Who?"
"My parents." She softly cried.
I knew they were assholes!
"Do you want to share?" I asked in the gentlest tone possible, holding eye contact with her.
"No."
"It's okay..." I assured her, caressing her cheek with my thumb. And I slowly wiped away her tears but as soon as I wiped her tears, more fell and she started to sob.
"I-I...I have...a req-uest..." She sobbed.
"Yes?"
"Pl-please...can you...hug me...? Please. I...I...want to kn-ow...how it feels...to be in someone's arms... please. Just for a few mi-nutes. I-I won't... trouble you...ever again..." She begged while sobbing.
My heart just broke into two pieces, tears forming in the corner of my eyes. No one has ever hugged her? Are her parents fucking monsters?!
She doesn't have anyone to hug and comfort her.
Without wasting anytime, I told her. "Come here."
I leaned my back against the headboard and held out my arms to her, gesturing her to come closer.
She wiped away her tears from the back of her palm and taking a deep breath, she moved closer to me.
When she was sitting next to me, she slowly and hesitantly laid her head on my bare chest, just below my shoulder and kept her trembling hand in the middle of my chest. And I immediately wrapped one of my arm around her waist firmly, pulling her closer and the other arm went to her head, gently stroking her hair and I rested my chin on top of her head.
She went still, like a statue.
And then completely broke down. Her arm tightening around my body.
And my heart aching for her.
Slowly, I pressed my lips against her hair as a tear fell down my eyes. "Shh... it's going to be okay."
To have her in my arms, sobbing and broken, it was excruciating.
I wanted to just magically take away all her pain. Wanted to know about everything and everyone that ever hurt her.
I pressed my face into her hair as more tears fell from my eyes. It hurt to see her crying.
Minutes passed like this, no words were exchanged between us, the tears spoke for her, about her pain.
When her sobbing slowly started to subside, I lifted my head to look at her but I found that she was gradually falling asleep while crying. Stream of fresh tears still visible on her face, a frown on her forehead, her bottom lip protruding out.
"Sorin", she whispered with her eyes closed and my heart skipped a beat on hearing her say my name after such a long time.
"Yes, mi amor?"
"Sorin", she whispered again and I realised that she was not very conscious.
Leaning down, I gently kissed away all her tears. "I am going to protect you, Drea. Even if it means protecting you from myself." And then placed a lingering kiss on her forehead.
She cuddled closer, snuggling her face into my chest, my heart going wild.
"Sorin?" She once again said my name and I smiled at her cuteness.
I know she was not very conscious at the moment but never ever did I expect her to say, "I love you."
Chapter completion on: 1/5/22
Published on: 13/5/22
The love I have for this chapter is on another level, so you all better loved it too.
~Ahlam