┏━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┓
Win
┗━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┛
Chapter 12: Win (Kai's POV)
"And you?"
God, how can she sit there and look so...
"Kai?"
How can she sit there, smiling and grinning, after ruining my life for the past three weeks? How dare she?
A throat loudly being cleared snapped me out of it. "Kai?"
Inhaling a startled breath, I forced my eyes off the woman I considered the bane of my existence and shifted my attention to the woman sitting before me instead.
"Yes," I said, "I'm listening."
There was a slight pause as her eyes narrowed. "Are you?" she asked.
"I am now, Clarissa," I said, "continue."
A soft, incredulous scoff escaped her as she leaned back in her seat. "We've been at this for nearly a month now, Kai," she said. "I need you to make up your mind. If it isn't going to be me, I'd prefer it if you didn't waste any more of my time than you already have."
"Yours and mine," I exhaled quietly, reaching up to scratch my brow bone.
"What?" she huffed in annoyance, and I simply shook my head dismissively.
Three weeks had passed. Three goddamn weeks since absolute havoc rained on me. Three weeks of my mother putting me through one torturous blind date after another until I finally caved in and settled for the most tolerable woman out of some of the least tolerable women I'd ever met. Clarissa.
Three weeks of my father trying to fool me into thinking marrying Rose Chen would be a good idea.
Three weeks of seeing her everywhere. All smiles. It was like she was a totally different person, and she was everywhere, goddamn it. Having candlelit dinners at Nova, grabbing lunch at cafés near the headquarters, exiting the steps of The Met.
Date after date, she did it all hand in hand with Nick.
It irked me. And I had no fucking idea why. That was precisely the question I'd been asking myself for the past month. Why did it have to be Rose fucking Chen? What could possibly convince my father that an alliance with the Chens was a good idea, that Rose and I getting married was a good idea?
It drove me insane, not knowing the truth behind this alliance facade. There had to be an ulterior motive. God, but if she had an ulterior motive, then she'd be willing to marry me, and yet... she was just as unwilling as I was.
As my traitorous eyes drifted her way once again, I caught a glimpse of her before she excused herself and stood up, leaving her napkin on her seat before heading to the bathroom.
"You're right, Clarissa," I cleared my throat, "I won't waste any more of your time than I already have. Excuse me." Tossing the napkin at the table, I rose from my seat.
"Wh- Kai?" she sputtered just as I walked past her seat and strode across the restaurant, avoiding Nikolai's table as I made my way to the bathroom.
Luckily, just as I did, the door swung open, and there she was. My destruction.
A startled breath escaped her as she collided into me with her first step past the door. Her expression morphed into one of annoyance almost immediately. "Mr. Warner," she huffed.
"Miss me?" I smirked, staring down at her.
A moment of her confusion was all it took. As she stared at me quizzically, I took her by the hand and walked right ahead, guiding her back into the bathroom and locking the door behind me.
"What the hell are you doing?" she snapped, stumbling back until I steadied her with an arm around her waist, spinning us around as I caged her against the door.
Taking a deep breath, I braced my hands against the door and bent at the waist to reach her height. I wanted us eye to eye. I wanted to read every inch of her. I wanted to truly see her. "Hello, love," I mused. "Tell me. What is it?" I asked, tilting my head to one side. "This little game you're playing with me?"
Rolling her eyes, she tipped her head back against the door, lifting her eyes to meet mine. "I don't know what you're talking about. What game?" she asked dryly, folding her arms across my chest.
I eyed her for several beats in silence.
She scoffed lightly, "You know what, Warner?"
Arching off the door, she leaned into me ever so slightly, and my body reacted on its own accord, pressing into hers as I moved forward. "Hmm, what, Chen?" I asked, my eyes repeatedly dancing across every inch of her face, from her eyes to her lips, then back to her devilish gaze.
"I was having a perfectly good day until you came along," she said, lifting a pointed brow at me.
"Day? Or date?" I questioned, lifting a brow at her.
Her gaze narrowed. "Jealous much?"
"Oh," I laughed dryly, rolling my tongue along the inside of my cheek. "Very much," I played along. "It's not very kind of you, is it? Whatever this little game is that you and your father are playing... I'm not interested, my love. Give it up."
"What the hell are you talking about?" she ground out.
"An alliance?" I prompted. "An arranged marriage? Do you truly expect me to believe you and your father have no ulterior motive? Whatever this is, quit it, darling."
"Have you lost all that wit and intelligence I remember you having, Mr. Warner? If I had an ulterior motive, I'd marry you in a heartbeat, wouldn't I?"
"See, that's what I don't get," I mumbled, lifting my knuckles to tip her chin up. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she reached up to swat my hand away. I caught it, pinning it down against my chest. "You haven't possibly been reduced to a mere pawn in your father's game... So, what is it? Why could he possibly call a truce?"
After a brief pause, her eyes dipped to where her hand lay on my chest. "If I cared enough to ask, I'd tell you," she retorted. "Honestly, Mr. Warner, I cannot be bothered. I'm sure I'm not the only one tortured with reasons why I should marry you, hmm?" She arched a brow at me in question. And yet it seems you find it harder to refuse than I do."
Amusement suddenly glimmered in her eyes. She saw a challenge where I posed it, and perhaps today, this was one she could win. With victory in sight, she wouldn't spare me. I felt her hand slipping, gliding down my chest and abdomen, stopping sharply at my belt, where she tugged my hips into hers.
Catching her hand, I yanked it off, pinning it to the door behind her.
"What was it that you said to me? Right... I believe," she paused, tracing my jaw with a smirk teasing her lips, "this is called rejection, Mr. Warner," she added mockingly, using my own words against me.
"If I must marry someone of my father's choice, I would rather it be Nikolai. Not you. You've given me no reason to think otherwise. And anyway, shouldn't you be happy? This is what we both want." Pushing me off, she spun around with a huff, ready to unlock the door and march right back out.
A soft sigh escaped me as I brought my hand down, holding the door shut despite her efforts.
Sighing loudly in annoyance, she went still. "Let. Go."
"So demanding," I breathed softly, my lips brushing against the shell of her ear as I felt her back against my chest.
Spinning around abruptly, she gasped softly as my hand fell to her hip.
"I will let you go, my love, as soon as we clear one thing," I said. "I refuse to marry you. If I wanted you, sweetheart, you would know it, and I would make sure of that." My fingers moved on their own accord as I began bunching up her dress, lifting the hem from her waist up to her knees before she stopped me, catching my hand as she gasped softly.
The memory of that night haunts me every day of my goddamn existence. The way she felt against me...
"Then again," I whispered, "I believe you already know that."
"You're the one playing a game, Mr. Warner," she whispered back, easing my hand off her. "Not me. It's always been you."
I shook my head ever so slightly. "It's in my nature to win, Ms. Chen. If you make this a competition, you'll regret it."
"No," she argued, "but I will ensure you do. Do as you please, Warner. I made my choice, and it's Nick. Until you yourself give me a reason to choose otherwise, it's always going to be Nick. The alliance be damned." With one final shove, she spun around and walked out, leaving me with one last lethal glare over her shoulder.
It shouldn't have bothered me, it shouldn't have irked me. I expected to feel the kind of relief that flooded me. If Rose refused, this marriage wouldn't be forced upon either one of us.
Then... why did it bother me so much to hear Nick's name on her lips?
I never lost anything to anyone in this world... I certainly wouldn't lose my sweet nemesis and definitely not to Nikolai.
I will win. I always do.
Rose was no object or possession to be won but was certainly prized. To me, she always had been in the most devious of ways.
.
.
.
.
.
Chapter 12
How's everyone doing??
next ch: choice