It was already late afternoon, and the sky darkened in no time but Eva was happy. At least they could explore the place to her heart’s content. They sat watching a movie while munching on chicken nuggets that she made.
“If I eat at this rate, I’ll soon turn into a barrel.” Alexander chuckled and pulled her closer.
“I love barrels!” he whispered, planting a kiss on her neck. Ever since the movie started, he had been trying his best to distract her but Eva was adamant to watch it. It had been on her bucket list for a long and she couldn’t let the opportunity go. She giggled, feeling ticklish with his stubble grazing against her neck.
“No, you prefer svelte women with big boobs! Remember those women on the ferry on our way from Preston Island?” she said with a scowl, and Alexander chuckled.
“You still remember that? It was just to rile you up, baby. Surely you know by now that I only have eyes for you,” he whispered, pulling her right into his lap.
“You had a weird way of showing it.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, the movie completely forgotten. He had that power over her! Alexander pulled her closer against his heart and gazed at her with such intensity that her insides turned to mush. At that moment, she was ready to jump into bed with him for another round of sheer carnal bliss.
“I never hid my feelings, my possessive side from you, Eva. It was always there but you were too naive to understand them. On your prom night, I waited in front of your school gates for hours to catch a glimpse of you with your date. I had planned to beat him up and accompany you instead as your date. Later when I found out, I went to see you at your apartment.” Eva’s eyes went wide at his admission. So that was why he appeared at her doorstep all of a sudden.
“What about the times when you were rude to me? I cried for days, Alexander. The day your dad hurt me and made me buy a place of my own, your behavior hurt me more than his. You didn’t stand up for me.” Alexander sighed and crushed her into his arms, soothing her hair.
“I know. Dad is diagnosed with the first stage of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer(NSCLC). He is undergoing treatment, but he needs to stay away from stress as much as possible. That was the only reason I couldn’t go against him. I didn’t want his condition to deteriorate after seeing what uncle Desmond had to go through. It scared me to even stand up for myself. I didn’t want to hurt him, but as the days passed by and he started improving, I found it impossible to keep up with his demands. At some point, they forgot I am a human being with feelings and needs of my own. There love me too much to the point of wanting to dictate my life. I couldn’t take it anymore.” Alexander released her and a staggering breath escaped his lips. Of course, Eva knew a little about it, but hearing everything from Alexander was different. She wasn’t aware that it was that serious. Alexander had effectively hidden the truth from Alyssa as well!
“How is it that Alyssa knows nothing about your dad’s illness?”
“Dad didn’t want her to know.”
“How did you come to know about it? Did they tell you and not Alyssa?” Their partial behavior irked Eva, and she felt bad for her best friend.
“No, they tried hiding it from me as well. Remember, they left in a rush from California? It was then that I found out.”
“Oh,” was all Eva could say, since the knowledge didn’t lessen the pain in her heart. It was alright to be concerned about his parents, but standing up for her wouldn’t have affected them adversely.
“Please forgive me for all those times I couldn’t support you, although I wanted to.” His plea was so sudden that it filled Eva’s heart with an overwhelming need to forgive him. Her complaints looked insignificant now that he had apologized. She cupped his cheek lovingly, gazing into his beautiful gray eyes that held so much love and sincerity.
“I forgive you, Alexander,” she whispered.
“The last time when I met them, I told them about my feelings for you. We had an argument and ever since, they have been avoiding me. Now, they have broken all relationships with me. It hurts, Eva. I’ve always been an obedient son, looking after them, prioritizing them, caring for them, accepting whatever they wanted, but it has no value at all. They can’t accept the only thing I want!” Eva knew how upset he was and pulled him into her arms.
“I’m sorry it had to be this way, Alexander. Maybe after our baby is born, they will forget their grudge against me.”
“Maybe, but I don’t wish to return only to face their wrath!” This was the first time Alexander opened up about the inner turmoil he was going through regarding his parents’ behavior, and Eva was glad. It explained a lot of his behavior in the past. It helped her forgive him easily.
“Neither do I, but how long can we escape? Why should we escape? We aren’t doing anything wrong!” Alexander nodded and smiled at her positivity. “We have an uphill task ahead of us for the next nine months before our baby is born. I want it to have a positive atmosphere to grow up in.”
“There will be a positive environment for our baby. I’ll make sure that there is. First, we have to join our apartments to make enough space. Then we would need to fix up a nursery, get some useful furniture before anything else.”
“Are you sure we can afford all that?” Alexander laughed at her naivety. She didn’t have any idea that he still had millions in his account. After all, he was the CEO of Rotterdams for four long years!
“I have millions, don’t worry. I’ll give you my debit card to keep for emergencies.” Eva’s eyes widened with surprise.
“Oh, why would I need your debit card? I have my own,” she said, looking clueless.
“Just keep it, Eva. It’s better to be prepared for the future. My intuitions usually never betray me and now I’m not getting any good vibes from some people around us.” Eva’s eyes widened, and she clung to him with fear.
“From whom? Your parents? Surely they wouldn’t harm you?”
“Maybe not physically, but mentally. There are others too, Eva. Maybe it’s just a hunch, but it’s better to be prepared.” Eva didn’t argue further as it got her thinking about who could harm them apart from his parents. Did he fear Maxwell? She didn’t because she had thrown him out of her life forever. It was unlikely that he would take any sort of revenge on them. He wasn’t obsessed with her!
“Let’s make dinner. What do you want to have? I’m in the mood to pamper you tonight,” said Alexander, switching off the movie and walking out of the room, followed by Eva.
“You can’t make what I want to have,” she challenged him and he laughed.
“Try me. There isn’t a thing I cannot do.”
“Is it? I want to have Italian Roulades for dinner. Can you make that in true Sicilian style?” she asked with a victorious smile at seeing him roll his eyes at her. He leaned forward till his face was inches away from hers.
“What do I get for the effort?” he whispered, his eyes dropping to her lips.
“Anything you want!”
“Done! Watch me make it,” he said, walking away to the kitchen confidently. He held her gaze while unbuttoning his shirt and yanking it out of him.
“Why do you need to take off your shirt while making the Roulades?” Alexander laughed as he went to gather the ingredients.
“I’m saving you the trouble of cleaning up food stains. Why else do you think?” Eva rolled her eyes at the se*ual implication in his remark but pulled a stool and sat down to watch him make her favourite food. She had learned it long back on her own, but it wasn’t perfect yet tasted so good. Maybe with Alexander’s culinary prowess, she could have the perfect Roulades, tonight. She watched his muscles ripple as he danced to a peppy number, all the while cooking up a delicacy. He made it look so easy! He looked up at her awestruck gaze and winked, making her blush and feel conscious of herself. What did she ever do to deserve such a hot guy?
“Are you enjoying the show?” he asked, reducing the volume of the music.
“Yes, as long as it is only for me. I don’t want you to put up such a show at your restaurant!” she laughed.
“You’re putting ideas into my head, baby!”
“Don’t you dare, Alexander!” she warned, already green with jealousy at imagining the women drooling at the sight of her man.
“Relax, baby. I would never take so much effort for others. This is only for you and our baby!” The food was too delicious, something to die for! Alexander didn’t give her time to enjoy a drink afterwards. He picked her up and marched towards the bedroom for a night of passion!