*Lucia*
It took about thirty minutes to give Bruno first aid treatment. I couldn’t help but wonder where he got the injury from. Did he get into a fight? But he didn’t seem like one who could easily be beaten in a fight. I could feel his eyes on me all through, and I stopped myself from looking at him. I didn’t want to make mistakes.
When he kissed me, it was unexpected. His soft lips met mine, and he sucked on my lower lips gently. This wasn’t the first time we kissed, but everything seemed to stop like we were the only ones in the world.
He didn’t stop, and slowly, he wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me closer to himself. I kissed him back with the same intensity. I hated to admit that I enjoyed it. I liked it when he kissed me.
And that was when it dawned.
Shoot, what was I doing? I scolded myself internally. I pulled back. His hands slowly moved away from my waist. “What do you think you are doing?” I asked him, wiping my mouth with my hands. “What does it look like we just did?” He asked back, passing his tongue over his lower lips. I sighed.
I cursed myself.
I had promised not to forget my plan and get carried away. “Well, I am done treating you,” I said awkwardly, trying not to dwell on the kiss. I stood up abruptly. “I don’t care how you injured yourself. That’s your business,” I said to hear his chuckle a little. “Well, your food is over there,” I said, pointing to the dinner table I had arranged. “You can decide to eat or not,” I said, walking away.
“Lucia, don’t tell me you are leaving me when I need you the most,” he said. “What did I tell you to go injure yourself? How immature,” I said without looking back. I walked to my room as fast as I could. This wasn’t the first time we kissed. Why is my heart beating so fast?
I closed the door behind me and rested my back on the door with my hands on my chest. “Calm down, Lucia, it’s just a kiss,” I told myself. It wasn’t the first time, so calm down. I took a deep breath and stayed in the room for a while.
But I was restless.
I couldn’t bring myself to leave him there alone. After a while, I went back to see him still sitting on the sofa. He was leaning into it with his eyes closed. Did he fall asleep? I wondered as I got closer to him. He looked less intimidating. With his eyes closed. I walked softly. I didn’t want to disturb him.
I knelt close to the sofa to get a closer look at him.
His eyelashes were very long. My eyes moved from his lashes to his cheekbone, then to his nose; I avoided looking at his lips. My eyes moved to his chiseled jaws. How on earth could a man be so handsome? He was more beautiful than a lot of men I have seen.
My eyes involuntarily moved to his lips-those lips which were on mine a few minutes ago. I touched my lips before moving my hands to touch his. I was practically hovering above him. My hands were so close to him when he opened his eyes.
“Ahhh,” I screamed and fell back, landing on my ass. “What do you think you are doing?” He asked with a straight face as he sat upright.
“Me?” I asked, placing one of my hands on my chest.
“Is there any other person here?” He asked. I watched as he gritted his teeth slightly in pain as he sat. “What were you trying to do,” he asked, his eyes pinning me to the ground, “did you want to take advantage of a vulnerable man?” He asked, wrapping his hands around himself.
I blinked, “what? Take advantage? Vulnerable?” I asked in disbelief to see him nod. Was this guy serious right now? How could he be vulnerable? I almost laughed out loud. I stood up. “Why would you think such a thing? How can I…” I was not finding the best words to use. “I was just,” I began, my eyes moving from side to side as I tried to find the best words.
“You were what? He asked, crossing one hand over the other. “Go on, I’m listening,” he said, urging me to speak. I almost pulled my hair in frustration. This guy knew how to drive me nuts.
“There was something on your face, and I was trying to remove it,” I said. His hands moved to his face as he tried to find whatever was on my face, “it’s gone now,” I quickly added. One side of his lips pulled to the side as if he was mocking me. He knew I was lying.
“I thought it wouldn’t be nice to leave you here alone. Come on, I’ll help you to the dining table,” I said, trying to move away from that topic.
We moved there, and I did what I always do-served his food. I sat across from him and ate mine. He ate a little.
I must say he is a strong man. I almost forgot about his injury but was reminded of it by the sight of the bandage on his stomach.
After dinner, he didn’t just leave. He watched me as I did the dishes. “Will you be able to bathe?” I asked him and bit my tongue immediately. Why did I ask that? It wasn’t my business if he bathed or not.
“I may need some help there. You know I am injured and…”
“The last time I checked, your hands were fine,” I said, cutting him short.
“Yes, but,” he sighed. “Do you even care about me?” He asked, and my eyes moved to him as I cleaned the last plate. “I am in pain, Lucia; you should at least show that you care,” he said.
“I treated you and fed you. What more do you want?” I asked, walking out of the kitchen. “You don’t want me to bathe you now, or do you?” I asked sarcastically, hoping he would refuse immediately.
“A hand won’t be bad,” I almost choked on my saliva. Could he be any more shameless?
“How about a leg? You could use both hands and legs,” I said, taking off the apron I had forgotten to remove before walking out of the kitchen. My job here was done, and I was ready to go back inside.
Bruno didn’t respond to what I said.
I turned to see him looking down like he was in deep thought.
“Is there anything else you want?” I asked him to see him nod. What was it this time? I inhaled a scent of breath. “What could it be?” I asked as calmly as I could.
“Tomorrow, you are coming to the club with me,” he said.
“Why?” I asked before I could stop myself. “Since when do you question me?” He asked. “It’s not as if I asked anything wrong,” I said under my breath.
“Won’t you be seeing the doctor? You don’t want to get infected,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant about his injury.
“Is this you caring about me?” He asked. I scoffed. “Why will I care? I’d have said this to anyone who is injured,” I said.
We spent some time in the dining room chatting or, more like, bantering. We seem to have different views on everything. I went to bed with a not-so-happy mind. I wasn’t looking forward to going to the club with him.
***
Morning came faster than I expected. I made breakfast. Bruno came down lazily from. He looked much better. One would never be able to tell he was injured. I began to wonder if he acted strong because he was the boss and didn’t want to soil his reputation.
The drive to the club was faster than expected. I tried not to talk to Bruno too much. I had noticed that I was beginning to deviate from the original plan, which was to kill him. I kept forgetting that he was one of my enemies. This time, I made a promise to treat him like the enemy he was.
My eyes were fixed outside the window all through the drive.
As if he knew it was part of my plan, he didn’t speak much to me. When we got to the club, he parked at the entrance. We stepped out. There were. Over five men were outside the club, and they were all armed. They bowed when they saw him, and Bruno casually threw his car keys at one of the men, who caught it without hesitation.
We walked into the club, and it was just as I had expected. The entrance didn’t lead to the club directly as we took an elevator. When we got close to the club, I didn’t need anyone to tell me as the loud music I heard was enough to show me that I was close.
Everyone we walked past slightly stopped what they were doing and bowed slightly to Bruno. Both young and old. I began to wonder how much effect he had on these people for his presence to demand such requests. He walked in front of me but not too fast so I could meet up with him.
He kept turning occasionally as if to see if I was still behind him. Surprisingly, we didn’t take the busy club, though I kept hearing the music. After taking a few bends, which I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to remember, we entered a room.
It’s more like an office.
There was a sofa at the side, a chair, and a table. My eyes moved to the wall, and it widened slowly before I quickly moved it away. Why were there naked photos everywhere? I wonder, stealing a peek at the frames once more.
I watched as Bruno took off his suit and hinged it at the side before taking his seat behind the table. I took my seat, too, without waiting for him to tell me. I still couldn’t figure out why he wanted me to come here. “I am sure you didn’t bring me here to see these pictures,” I said, and Bruno smiled.
“This is one of the reasons I love you,” I furrowed my brows; I didn’t hear wrong, did I? I couldn’t tell if he was just being sarcastic again or being serious.
“Go straight to the point. Or have you finally decided to open a restaurant?” I asked. “We both know that will never happen,” he said, and my mind reverted to the day he swore never to share my cooking with any other man.
I felt a bit warm inside my chest as I recalled those words, but the earth was quick to disappear when I saw the smirk on his face.
“I am terrible at guessing, so just go straight to the point,”
“I never asked you to guess,” I wanted to resort, but my lips were sealed. He was right. He never truly asked me; I had guessed at my own will. I inhaled a sharp breath, trying to look like I was not affected by what he said.
“Then get to it. Why did you bring me here,” I asked.
“You get bolder and bolder by the day,” he and I crossed one of my legs over the other. We surely weren’t here to talk about my boldness.
He stood up from his seat to stand in front of me. His hands were dipped inside his pocket. “I want you to start working here,” he says. “As a receptionist,” he says, and before I could react, the door pushed open.
A girl in skimpy clothes walked in, “Bruno,” she called out before walking directly towards him. She wrapped her hands around him. Before I could comprehend what was happening, she pulled him in for a kiss.
My eyes widened. Who is she?