Emilia's POV
I yawned as I forced myself to read through the mandatory thousand-page article on human behaviour.
When I first began the course, I was angry that my professors sent thirty-page articles; now I would do anything to go back to that.
To make it worse, I was having trouble concentrating after my earlier conversation with Bella. It was one in the morning but I needed to read at least half of this article because something tells me that Professor Kate is going to give a pop quiz.
What I hated most about her testing is that she made sure to cover everything. I once skipped over a short topic while studying and she tested on it.
After that day, I made sure I never skipped over anything.
I felt something rub against my feet and I immediately jumped.
When I looked down, it was Santo's scary cat. "James!"
He looked at me before attempting to rub himself on my leg again.
"Your daddy might like you but I don't," I said harshly as I raised my feet on the stool.
I was never a fan of animals and now I ended up marrying a man who loves them. This place was loaded with guard dogs too.
I took my pencil and threw it outside the kitchen. "Fetch."
My shoulder dropped while I watched the cat sit and look at me judgemnetally.
So that only works for dogs?
"Fine," I gave in and returned to my work.
After a few minutes, my vision became blurry. I was only on page 259. I need to reach at least 500 before my next class.
"Coffee," I groaned like a zombie as I took my cup and refilled it.
The front door closed before footsteps approached the kitchen.
I was so tired that I didn't care who it was.
"Emilia?" I heard Santo's voice ask and adrenaline pumped through my veins.
I hate to admit it but I had missed his voice.
"What are you still doing up?" he asked as he walked over to me.
"Studying for my degree which is apparently useless to you," I said before drinking my coffee.
"Don't worry about the things Lucia said earlier. She was probably in a bad mood."
"Lucia is the least of my worries," I made it clear. "My mafia is talking shit about me and I think I lost my best friend."
"So?" he asked as he was confused about the problem.
"What do you mean 'so', Santo? My name is being tarnished by the people whom I sacrificed myself for and now I have no friends."
He did not seem phased at all from anything I just said.
"I'll kill whoever talked shit about you and I can be your friend. It's not a big deal," he shrugged.
I stared at him in disbelief when I realized he was being serious.
"Santo, you can't kill them," I had to explain to him. "How can you say something like that so slightly?"
"Why not?"
"They are still a part of my mafia which means they are still family."
"They're not though," he said as he sat on one of the stools around the kitchen island. "You're not a part of their mafia, you're a part of mine. You threw away that right when you married me."
"No, I didn't," I said to convince him but the truth was I said so to convince myself.
"What did you think would happen when you left them to marry the leader of another mafia?"
I sat down next to him and I held my head. "I don't know."
He placed his palm over my hand. "I won't kill your people, however, the offer to be your friend remains."
My eyes glanced at his hand on top of mine and my heart started beating faster.
There he goes again with the hand touching.
If only he knew how much that was affecting me, he would stop.
He seemed big on physical touch which is an aspect I lacked in.
It confused me because he didn't like to hug while I did.
"Emilia?" he asked, completely unaware of my mental battle which was currently ongoing.
"We can't be enemies and friends," I told him.
"I'll leave it up to you to decide," he said letting go of my hand as stood up.
"I think I'm going to take you up on your offer and try that friend thing."
He nodded. "It seems like you've made a good choice."
"Meow," the cat sounded as he brushed against Santo's leg.
He smiled before picking him up and brushing his hands through his soft fur. "James, where have you been all this time?"
"Santo," I started. "I have a question."
"Okay, go ahead," he nodded as he played with his cat.
"Why do you love this cat so much?"
He thought for a second. "Well, he is loyal and trustworthy. Even though I sometimes can't find him in this mansion, I still know that he is around here somewhere."
"That's it? That's all it takes for you to love something?" I asked.
I thought love was more than that.
He nodded. "Yes, not a lot of people can say that they have those qualities."
"Do you think I'm loyal and trustworthy?" I asked him.
"No," he answered honestly and I couldn't judge him.
Considering everything Santo went through, I don't think I would've trusted people so easily either.
I nodded. "Okay."
He looked at my laptop screen. "Why are you doing all this? You know you don't need any of this. You've been rich since you were born and even richer now you have married me."
"I want something of my own," I said with passion. "I want to achieve something without people saying I got it from my parents or husband. I want to do so well that I start to reek of success. This is one of the only two things in my life I ever wanted."
"Well that was some inspirational shit," he said and I began to feel embarrassed. "But I liked it. I'm glad that you want to achieve something on your own."
I bit my lips as I tried to hold in my smile.
His words me feel care like he actually cared. They made me feel important. They gave me motivation to study harder because I knew that my husband was waiting to see me become successful.
I felt a sudden jolt as my heartbeat accelerated and my cheeks began to feel warm.
What is this feeling?
I immediately grabbed my phone and went to my camera. My cheeks were red as ever.
What the hell is this? Am I sick?
"Is everything okay, Emilia?" he asked me as he briefly touched my shoulder to get my attention.
My his skin touched mine again, I sensed a throbbing fluttery feeling in my stomach. This was stronger than the previous ones.
Why does he keep doing this to me?
I rushed to fill a glass with water and drank it down in one go. It didn't help what I was feeling but at least I wasn't thirsty anymore.
This coffee was doing its job a little too well.
"Emilia?" he called me again and I faked a smile.
"I'm fine," I said before I tried to change the subject. "What are you going to do about your father? I know he did something wrong that hurt your business."
"Nothing," he answered which surprised me. "I'm at a point in my life where I can't afford to care about what my shitty father does. If I do, he's just going to keep doing it."
I looked down. I hated that he had to go through all this and there was nothing I could do about it.
"Well, James and I are all tired out. I'll be heading to the guest room. Are you going to bed soon?"
I shook my head. "I wish, I have to try to get through half of this first."
He nodded. "Okay, sweet dreams, Emilia."
I smiled. "Sweet dreams, Santo."
I waved as he walked away with James curled in his arms.
When he left, I let out a deep breath and started hitting my cheeks.
"What are you doing? Get yourself together!" I spoke to myself before turning to my computer screen.
This is going to take forever.