The picture above is Asriel Parker 😁
Asriel Parker
I literally felt a wave of emotions flood over me when she kissed me back. I hoped for my own conscience's sake that she would not.
The fact that I was enjoying the kiss was not helping the situation in any way. Her hands hesitantly moved up my chest and I involuntarily pulled her closer to me, deepening the kiss.
I did not expect myself to want this, I did not expect to want her. It was all wrong. This was wrong but it felt so right.
Just as her right hand reached my hair, there was a knock on the door making us pull apart abruptly. We were both out of breath and my stupid heart rate had increased, I swear my senses were temporally disabled. Selena was doing this to me.
I had not let go of her and her hands were still on my chest. Her eyes were clearly questioning what just happened and I hoped that my eyes were not portraying the same.
"That did not clarify anything." She said quietly. I found myself staring at her lips. I wanted to kiss her again but I knew better at that point.
I was formulating a proper sentence in my mind when the knock came again and it was accompanied by my brother's voice.
"Are you constipated or something? This is currently a public bathroom." I rolled my eyes just as Selena laughed lightly and dropped her hands. I took it as my que to move back but I had other plans in mind. Plans I wished I had nothing to do with.
I took a deep breath before opening my mouth to speak but my stupid brother beat me to it.
"Asriel, are you with someone in there? " There was a short pause and Selena stopped laughing.
"Oh, I am so sorry brother. You and your lady friend pretend I was never here." He added and I heard his footsteps fade. It was my turn to smile when I noticed that Selena was blushing.
"You look pretty when you blush." I said before I could stop myself. Her blush deepened but she sent a glare in my direction. It made me realize what I indirectly implied.
"I am not saying that you are not pretty, I am..." She raised her right hand and stopped me from blabbing anything more.
"Can we talk outside the bathroom please?" She answered. I nodded as I ran my hands through my hair.
It was time for the part I was dreading. Honestly, a small part of me felt relieved when she evaded my questions earlier but a stupid larger part felt rejected and that drove my stupid ego to make me end up in this messed up situation.
She walked past me and opened the door, walking out without looking back to see if I was following her. Perhaps she was thinking of a way to get away from me again.
The thought alone drove my hesitant body to follow her anyway. To both my relief and dismay, she had not run off. She was standing a foot away, adjacent to the door and she looked like she was in thought.
I walked closer to her and she glared up at me in anger but her green eyes were betraying her real emotions. She wanted answers to questions she seemed afraid to ask, questions I probably would not have been able to answer.
"Asriel, care to explain yourself?" She spat. I involuntarily smirked; who knew she was going to use that route.
I fully expected her to tell me to keep things professional, which was what I wanted to do.
"I did want to start by talking. You are the one who ran away." I answered. She gave me a weird look, as if trying to piece a very complicated jigsaw puzzle together.
"Did your uncalled for behaviour in there have something to do with the favour you were talking about earlier?" She asked. I hear the anger building in her voice but I chose to ignore it.
"Uncalled for behaviour?" I asked raising my left eyebrow at her. She scoffed and crossed her arms.
"Yes, uncalled for. You should not have done that, it was very uncomfortable for me." She answered. The anger was clearly evident on her facial features. "And don't evade my question."
I raised my hands in mock surrender while trying to hide smile. "I am so sorry Selena, you have no right to demand answers from me when you ran away from mine. "
She opens her mouth to speak but shut it again when she noticed me move closer to her. I probably scared her but I had to pull through or pull out and I was too desperate to go for the latter.
She fell silent when one of my hands instinctively moved to her brown hair that was tied in some extremely tight hairstyle. A bun I think. I pulled out a single pin and her hair spilled down her head to her shoulders and back.
My breath got hitched in my throat. I had been working with a beautiful woman all this time but I never saw. Well, I saw her but I really did not pay much attention to it.
I found myself leaning towards her, my hand still in her hair. I wanted to kiss her again, for no other hidden agenda of some sort but I stopped myself and let our foreheads touch instead.
I smiled when I caught her surprised eyes guiltily look away from my lips.
"It is not uncalled for if you also liked it. "
I wanted to smack myself really hard after I realized that I had just indirectly confessed that I liked it but I was not going to let that discourage me; I had to go on.
She blushed and looked down at her shoes as if they were the most fascinating items in the room. Lucky her, my attention was purely on her.
We both turned simultaneously to the sound of footsteps approaching. She wanted to move away but I stopped her from doing so by moving closer to her.
She seemed to have gotten the message but she still did not look at me. Ricardo appeared at the end of the hallway, wearing a black tuxedo and red bow tie.
He raised one his eyebrows but gave me a knowing look. "Sorry for any interruption but Asriel, we need to get going." He said.
"We will talk later." I said and walked away from her. I did not need to look back to know that her eyes were on me. If they were not, then my conscience was playing games with me.
Ricardo kept glancing at me as we walked silently down the hallway. That fact was annoying but I preferred his staring than his straight up unnecessary smartness. Ricardo was an intelligent man and he had no problem with showing it.
"Why did you choose Selena?" He finally asked, shattering my hopes of a nice quiet walk. "I think I know why but I need your clarity." He added.
I groaned inwardly and glanced in his direction. He was no longer looking at me but I could literally see the wheels in his head windings, pausing rewinding and connecting dots.
We knew each other too well. We grew up together- literally. Our fathers were already friends and we basically lived lived together after my mother ditched her family. His father Mariano sure us English kids learnt Spanish.
"Is Ataliah here?" I asked to change the topic. I was willing to talk about anything else but what I just did. Even if I had to hear him talk weirdly about my sister.
"Yes, she is in the hall where the party is being held." He answered after a pause. I was happy he took the bait but my joy was soon shattered when Asaiah came out of one of the rooms and joined us.
"Ricardo, Asriel has already picked someone!" He said excitedly; making me groan.
I had just escaped that topic and he just brought it up. Changing the subject would be harder with Asaiah would be harder but I still wanted to try.
"What were you doing in there anyway?" I asked instead. We had reached the room we were having the meeting with Mariano and five other drug lords.
"Do not change the subject at hand brother, you probably already knew what I was doing anyway." I frowned. Well, as if Ricardo was not enough to deal with. He was right, I knew he was with a woman in there.
"I know Asaiah. And I even know who it is. " Ricardo answered with a smug smile, one I knew meant that they were about to tease me. I wanted to open the door Infront of us but Asaiah read my mind and stood in front of it.
"With this determination to get away from the matter, I am guessing that it is either Selena or Stella. " Asaiah said smiling annoyingly.
I was more than relieved when Mariano opened the door and signalled that we enter. Asaiah literally waltzed in like he owned the place; his demeanor changing to that of seriousness.
Ricardo followed in after; confidence seeping out. His father was the biggest one there, automatically making him an important person, even if he had nothing to do with drugs.
"Diana is in the hall, I think she has spoken to Ataliah by now. " Mariano said to me. As much as I hated the idea of talking about my mother, I had to roll with Mariano and Ricardo's plan. Whatever it was, all I had to do was play a small role.
"I have picked Selena March." I said. His face was unreadable but I could read disapproval in his steely gaze.
"Does Ricardo know about this?" He asked curtly, making me wonder what was wrong with my choice. I nodded in response to his question.
"Have you started? We can only proceed if you take the first step." He asked. I nodded again and his face paled. That was a strange feature on the ‹almighty Ponce › as he was called.
He turned his head and called Ricardo.
"Yes papa?" Ricardo answered when he came out. Their accents were thick but Mariano's was thicker, placing emphasis on the consonants in the English words he spoke.
"You let March in?" He asked angrily. Ricardo rolled his eyes at him and patted his father's shoulder.
"Papa, believe me, she is not irrational." Ricardo said dismissively and went back inside. I was curious as to why Mariano was so worried about her but I did not want to ask.
He went back inside the room and I followed in after him. With the eight of us present, the meeting started.
For a while I was wondering why Selena kissed me back. Did it mean anything to her? I hoped it did not because the truth would break her if it did. I suddenly felt stupid for choosing her and putting her in my mess.
I glared at Asaiah and Ricardo. They were sitting next to each other and were already engaged in an argument with one of the lords. This whole shinanigan plan was their idea.
I looked at the wall clock on the wall behind Mariano. It was not even functional, like my brain. I could not even pay attention to the meeting or grasp the concept of what was going on.
Maybe if I just told Selena the truth like I had planned to in the car, then I would not be feeling guilty about what was about to unfold.
Maybe if she did not evade my question with another question when I asked for a favour, neither she nor I would be involved in this mess in the first place.
But then again, if I had asked her she would have said no without hesitation. What if...
"Right Asriel?" I looked up from the table I was unknowingly staring hard at. All the men in the room were looking at me expectantly waiting for my answer. I did not even know who called me.
I glanced at Asaiah for help, hoping he would rescue me and he rolled his eyes after shooting me a knowing look. The best part about having Asaiah as my twin brother was the fact that he understood me and I him.
"I know Asriel will obviously decide against its sudden publication. It is very risky." Asaiah said and I thanked him mentally.
"He is right. Way too risky if you ask me." I added and the men nodded in agreement some begrudgingly, others appreciatively. I on the other hand did not even know what I had just decided against.
***
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