“I thought you were having some sort of meeting,” Rina said, consciously pulling at her sweater as she stretched her legs across the bench, taking a sit. “I would hate to interrupt.”
“He was just giving me a report.” Zayn poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her. “You look more relaxed. I think I should try having a bath whenever I’m worked out. It sure seems to work for you.”
“That is no assurance that it would work for you too.” She took the glass up and toyed with the rim around her lips. Zayn stuck a tongue in his cheek, with his gaze narrowing in on her lips, pursed above the rim.
“I think a trial wouldn’t hurt.” His voice came out thick and husky, making Rina look up at him sharply. He stared at her, letting his eyes roam from her long brown hair to her beautiful hazel eyes that seemed to piece deep into his soul. Her facial features were one that couldn’t be easily forgotten. It was no wonder the country refused to let her off their hook, whether good or bad. “We were going to talk about something,” he murmured, his lips barely moving, scared to break the moment that had settled between them.
Rina blinked, and it was all gone. “Sorry, what?”
“The reason why you are angry with me. I have to know, Rina.”
“It’s nothing.” She waved her hands dismissively in the air, turning her gaze to the sight stretched out before them, “This is beautiful. You have a thing for nature. I noticed that when you kept sending flowers.”
“Nature and all her creatures are beautiful.” Zayn watched her intently, hating to pull her gaze away from the river when she was apparently enjoying it. But they needed to talk about the issue between them, as Zayn feared that it would only fester and become worse if left unattended to. And he hated to think about the possibility of that happening.
“Rina.” Her name rolled off his tongue like a prayer. “Talk to me.”
“I already feel stupid doing this, and I hate feeling that way. But I’m just going to get right into it, seeing as I can’t seem to let it go too.” She took a deep breath and continued. “It’s about the clothes back in the closet and the rest of the things scattered in the room. They obviously belong to a woman and I am sure as hell Susan doesn’t use a C-cupped bra. You told me no one else had been in here apart from Susan, you and William and I believed you.”
“Rina…”
“And it even makes no sense because I have no right to complain about this. You…We…This is purely based on an agreement I haven’t even appended my signature on, so you’re free to do whatever you want. Just don’t lie to me, Zayn. If you are seeing another woman, I shouldn’t be all over her things. I can go back to the cottage the way it is. I don’t mind being in there while the construction is going on and…”
“Rina…”
“I can just find my way around. I can also stay with George and Isaiah, or better still, stay at a hotel until the cottage is ready. Just…this…this is…”
“Rina!” Perhaps, it was Zayn’s hard voice or the way he stared at her, but Rina’s lips snapped shut. He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look into his eyes.
“I didn’t lie to you, Rina. I have never had a reason to. And I am not seeing any other woman, not since I met you.” Those words brought a warm feeling to the pit of her stomach and Rina tried to ignore it. “The things in that room belong to my kid sister, Mago. I didn’t tell you about her because not many people know I have a sister. She prefers it that way, hiding in the shadows. She operates by a fake name in Hong Kong, but I am trying to get her to come around.”
“Why?” Rina found herself asking.
“Why I’m trying to get her to come around?”
“No. Why she doesn’t want people to know you are siblings.”
“We don’t have the same mother,” he explained. “And she hated that fact at first. Although she had come to accept that our mother would forever love her despite the circumstances of her birth, she just grew used to not having the Graham name open doors for her. And it hasn’t been exactly easy.”
“And the clothes…You know what? Never mind. I have no right to be asking all of these questions in the first place.”
“Rina, let me be the judge of that okay?” He regarded her earnestly. “She had a nasty breakup that she needed to recover from. And the man threatened to kill her if he couldn’t have her. So I had her live here while I took care of that.”
“Took care of that?”
“You really don’t want to know.”
The bother dropped off her like a worn cloth, and she released a breath she’d had no clue she was holding.
“So, that is the reason you were upset,” Zayn mused. “You could have called me to talk about it. I wouldn’t have minded telling you everything.”
Rina shrugged. “It didn’t make sense for me to be hurt about something I had no right over.”
“So, you were hurt.”
“Er…No. That was a wrong choice of words. I wasn’t hurt.” Rina bit her lips and refused to look at Zayn. “How could I have admitted that I was hurt?” she berated herself. “Rina, you could have done better.”
“If you say so.”
“I’m serious, Zayn. I was just… I don’t know… Not hurt.”
“I don’t dispute that, Rina,” he said with amusement in his tone. “I don’t think you were hurt either. It’s probably just a tightening in your chest, hard enough to almost cause physical pain. So you acted out by giving me an attitude.”
“Zayn!”
“What?” He questioned exasperatedly, feigning oblivion, even with the laughter in his eyes. “I didn’t use the word hurt.”