Mia’s POV
When we were finally on the road, his eyes left me and were fixed on the asphalt path that was in front of him, I felt as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulder when he stopped looking at me because I could never really read what was in his eyes except for the intense contempt and anger that would occasionally slip through, and some other flicker of emotion which I genuinely have no idea on how to interpret them.
However, it was becoming awkward to remain in the car with him especially when we stopped at red lights because the silence in the car would become even more intense that after a certain point I was tempted to bring up conversation about the weather inorder to break the silence even if it was just for a little while.
But he broke the silence before me.
“You are my property now,”
That was definitely not how I expected the conversation to start but since it was coming from him, it made a lot of sense as messed up as that sounded.
I fiddled with my fingers as I tried to wrap my head around the fact that the man that was sitting next to me had literally just called me his property, did he normally go around calling people his property like this? because he said it so casually as if it was a normal thing that people usually said.
After we drove for a couple of minutes with silence that was even worse than before he was the one that spoke up first once again.
“Aren’t you going to say anything about that?”
I blinked my eyes at him in disbelief, whenever I defied him, he was always so upset but now that I was giving him silent compliance, he was still sounding annoyed as well.
I just didn’t know what to do to please this man.
“Am I supposed to say something?” I asked him carefully in order not to step on his toes again.
“It’s not like I have any say in this. You are going to do whatever you want to me in the end because you hate me even though you won’t tell me why…”
He suddenly gripped the steering wheel tightly, as if he was thinking about pulling it out from the car.
“Then why don’t you ask me…”
I was about to tell him that I already asked him countless times before but then I decided to ask the question again hoping that this time I would get an answer, but the only reply I got was complete silence and I was stunned.
What was the point of him telling me to ask him when he did not have any intention of even telling me anything in the first place?
I am very convinced that this man has a few missing screws in his head.
As I was about to retire to my shell of silence he suddenly turned around at a junction.
“Technically…” He began to speak.
“The person who truly offended me was your father but I don’t see any point in splitting hairs as you are his child and will have to share in the punishment as well…”
I bit my bottom lip, wondering what kind of offense was so strong that he had held on to it for so long and was even stretching it out towards me as well say that I was just as guilty as my father, I couldn’t even think of defending my father because I know the kind of man that you was and I knew that he had a lot of enemies but I didn’t know that he had such a deadly one.
What was he thinking when he wronged a man like this?
Maybe he had stabbed him behind his back before, or perhaps they had some business dealings and then my father had somehow figured out a way to pull the rug from under his pocket which was why he was so angry with him till date?
“Then why don’t you just go and meet my father directly…I’m sure that you guys will be able to work out their differences and let bygones be bygones…”
What happened next took me by surprise and if it wasn’t for the fact that I was wearing my seatbelt I would have found myself flying several feet into the air after smashing right through the glass of the car because of the way he abruptly stopped his car.
“What did you just say?!”
Regret immediately flashed through my mind, and I blamed myself for not just keeping quiet and agreeing with everything that he said, instead I was playing with fire by trying to express myself which I should have figured out by now was never a good idea with him.
“I didn’t say anything…”
I hastily denied, looking away from his eyes that were shooting at me like daggers, the things that always frightened me about him was how his mood was always fluctuating from side to side like a pendulum that has been disturbed and never really stay in one place for long, it felt as if I always have to walk on eggshells with him.
No, saying that was an understatement. When I was silent, sitting down minding my own business, he had pushed me into a conversation and now that I was actually trying to talk with him without putting a pin in my mouth he seemed so annoyed.
After a while of digging me with his eyes he finally returned the cartoon motion and the engine coughed as it went back to work.
“Since you are my property now…” He continued, speaking as if we had not left that direction of the conversation at all.
“I need you to be useful to me for the time being, so you will act as my significant other when I’m going to important events.”
Well, I had to give him props for how easily he said the most inappropriate and unexpected things.
“How can I act like your significant other?!” I blurted out because that has been far too much.
“Why are you acting so daft?” You said in an irritated tone and I found myself pouting.
“Have you not been in a real relationship before that you can use for reference or whatever?”
“No,” I admitted quietly with a shrug. “I never attended those things, but I received classes for them, for, you know? When I get married.”
Silence stretched between us after that, but he was the one to break it once again, voice noticeably softer as he returned his attention to the road.
“Well, there’s a first time for everything.”