Chapter Twenty-Two – Tell him.
The drive back to the Wade’s mansion felt longer than when they were going to the summit, maybe it was cause Arya felt more awkward being in the same room with Damien.
Basically, that day, she was one sentence from confessing to her crush. If she had, then sleeping on a bed with another man would be wrong.
And Damien’s earlier words, prioritizing her over Debby, still made her giddy. But her mind kept reassuring herself that he was polite because of his relationship with her sister.
She exhaled, taking out all her challenging thoughts into the air. The air around her was chilly so she wrapped her hands around herself.
“Seth was right, I should have worn warm clothes. I mean, after everything, I didn’t even confess to him.” She sighed.
She glanced at Damien who didn’t seem fazed by the cold. He had a cloak and inner shirt on. She dropped her hands.
“Guys covered up and look attractive. But a girl gotta show skin to look attractive? Ugh.” She grunted. It caught Damien’s attention who turned to her.
She smiled when he looked at her confused, he smiled back. His eyes went to her fingers clasped together. Was she cold?
With one hand on the steering wheel, he took his hand off his cloak and then the other. He handed the cloak to her, his eyes on the road.
Arya didn’t get it and assumed he was just hanging his hands there. Why would he even?
“Here, to protect you from the cold. I hadn’t even noticed it was cold.” He kept the cloak on her thighs.
She took it, with a relieved sigh, she quickly wore it. “Thanks. But are you good?”
“You are warm, right? I’m good.” He replied.
Her face heated up. Did he mean he didn’t mind as long as she was warm? She cleared her exhaling out those thoughts. He was just being a gentleman.
Her eyes stayed glued to the road, now hoping they’d just fly home. She had to avoid him. Every time with him, he said something questionable.
“The governor’s son attends your university, right?” he asked.
She gulped down saliva, then nodded. “Yeah, the Darwin’s. His son is in our school.”
Damien turned to her, then looked back at the road. “You sound like you’re not friends with him.”
Did he expect her to be? Did he see them talk? “Why’d I be scared if he did? This is an arranged marriage.” She reminded herself. “I am friends with him actually. Why?” she replied.
“Well, I was hoping you were. I needed to make acquaintance with his father over some project I was embarking on.” He responded.
Arya heaved a sigh of relief that he wasn’t asking because be saw them, she shrugged. “I could talk to his son to help. We are friend so he could arrange a meeting with his dad.”
“Yeah, help me do that. Thank you. He wouldn’t mind, right? I’m not very familiar with political officers.” Damien chuckled.
Arya nodded, understandably. “I will gladly talk to him about it. I’m sure he would be happy you guys wanted to talk.”
The actual truth was, she needed another reason to talk to Seth. Using Damien was a topic would be less awkward.
But then it clicked in Arya’s head, to introduce Damien to Seth, she had to hint on being Damien’s wife or else Seth will wonder why she was arranging a meeting.
Arya was certainly not ready to reveal that, she turned to Damien. “You know that will mean I have to tell him that I’m married to you. You wanted to keep it a secret, right?”
She hoped he said yes.
Damien smirked to himself, he planned to keep it a secret to avoid paparazzi on her but if he paid them off, that will be covered.
He wanted her to use her own mouth to reveal to this Seth that she was married to him.
“Umm, you know what? Let it be known. I really need this meeting with the governor, it’d boost my business.” He said.
Arya’s heart dampened. This was going so not how she expected but she nodded. “Sure, I’m glad to help.”
She honestly was, after all it was Damien’s business that helped cover her debts, but she’d prefer if there was another way to introduce Damien to Seth.
The thoughts ravaged her mind so much that she didn’t know when they got to the Wade’s mansion. It was when Damien opened the door for her that she realized.
She gasped, jumping down. “Thank you.”
Sluggishly, she strolled into the house, cornering to Junior’s room as she wanted to talk to someone neutral about things.
But her arm was held by Damien, she turned to him confused.
“Where are you going?” his forehead creased, he glanced at his cousin’s room and then at her.
“Junior’s room. I wanted to talk to him about something. Is there a problem?” Arya had a frown too.
Damien released his frown and faked a smile. Why couldn’t she just talk to him instead? “Oh, no problem. Just my cloak?”
Arya nodded, returning the Clark. “Sorry, I forgot. Thanks.”
He watched run into Junior’s room, without even knocking. He didn’t think they were that comfortable.
He was happy she was closer to someone around the house anyway since his sister was being so mean.
Exhaling, he continued towards his room. On touching the doorknob, he remembered Debby and quickly left to check if she was in her room.
He nearly opened the door before knocking, but held himself. “Hello, is Debby in here?” he called.
He heard footsteps then the door was thrown open and a glare was shot at him. It made him smile. “You arrived. That’s nice. In case you care to know, Arya and I also arrived safely.”
Debby gritted her teeth, almost slamming the door on his face but he held it firmly. She shook her head. Why didn’t he understand her! Why didn’t he understand her feelings!
“Debby, you should control your anger.” He scolded, his smile fading.
She snapped her head at him. “And you should stop treating me like a child. I’m sixteen and can get angry, hate someone and love someone!”
Daniel went aback. Did she have to add the last two? “You shouldn’t hate my wife, she did nothing to you. She’s few years older than you and can be an older sister.”
He got no reply as Debby was staring outside the window.
He walked outside, closing the door after him. She would cool down, hopefully, and get along with Arya.
A message came to his phone, checking, it was from Anna, Arya elder sister. “How’s my sister?” with a knife emoji.
Damien shook his head, then typed. “Not dead yet.” with a white flag.
“For your sake, she better not!” Anna texted again, with a wink at the end. A smile returned to Damien’s face.