AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are we going back to the villa?” I asked.
“No. we’ll spend the night at the inlet and head for home tomorrow morning.”
I raised my brow while pondering over the possibility of spending another night with him.
“I already told you.” He began with a smile. “I won’t do anything, you have your room to yourself, lock it if you choose. I’m a man of my word.”
He didn’t know that I was not scared of what he was capable of doing to me with one touch. I was scared of myself, and my body’s responses to his. I was scared that for all my bluster, I would seek him out tonight, taking all he had to offer me. Even when I knew that he wasn’t capable of offering me anything beyond sex.
And I was possibly fallingin love with him.
This revelation rocked me. I never knew when it happened, but I was so sure about it now. A man like Raymond, it was not his fault that he abhorred emotional attachments. I should have known that getting involved with him would not leave me without some emotional scars. Stupid stupid heart. Why couldn’t we choose who we fall in love with?
My dream had always been to settle down with a kind, gentle man. A doctor preferably, one who would love me with such passion as my dad did my mom. I wanted a large house full of children, because I was an only child. I wanted a quiet love, sweet and calm. What Raymond had to offer me was definitely the universe’s idea of a joke.
“Ready?” Raymond’s voice cut into my thoughts again.
“Yea.” I pushed back the stool I was seated on and stood up.
It was a short walk back to the inlet and even made more enjoyable with the crickets sounds and the slight evening breeze blowing softly.
“The monastery,” I asked gently. “Were they kind to you?”
His shoulders narrowed, and he didn’t answer for a long time.
“For every mistake I made, I was whipped by the head monk. He always preached that the only way to true peace was a total submission of the mind and body. I was a rebellious one and by age ten, I understood that the only way to escape the daily beatings was to accept their philosophies.”
I didn’t realize that I let out a sharp gasp until he looked at me curiously, studying my face with a deep probing gaze.
“The idea of true peace is a joke, Sophie. We live in a world plagued by so much suffering, violence, and pain. There’s no peace to be found anywhere – not our bodies, not our minds. What we have is a desperate attempt to prove that we are happy, but then are we really?”
Just before he looked away, I caught the haunted look on his face. I didn’t know what to say in the face of such unwavering belief.
“So you see my dear Sophie,” he said with a mocking tilt of his head, “The idea of love, trust, and commitment doesn’t exist.”
His logic was deeply flawed, and the mocking glint in his eyes issued me a challenge to prove him otherwise. However, this was not the time and place for it. I would show him the beauty of letting go and trusting someone other than yourself with the assurance that they would never let go of you.
We arrived at the inlet quickly.
“Are you hungry?” he asked
“Yes.”
“I’ll ring for something to be brought.”
“Okay. I’ll go freshen up.”
“I’ll meet you in ten for dinner.” There’s a little flicker of surprise in my eyes at his invitation. I had no idea that he would want to eat dinner with me tonight after our intense conversation on our way home. There was a dangerous air shimmering between us tonight like an invisible force pulling us together, I was not sure that it was a wise idea to eat together.
“Here?”
“The patio.” He replied. The patio was a classy place and the dining table always filled with all kinds of meals. It was easily the most beautiful place in the house and another time, I might have been more inclined to eat there. Not tonight, my emotions were all over the place.
“Perhaps I should have dinner in my room,“ I said with a nervous gesture backing away.
“You will have dinner with me.”
His words offered no room for argument; was he always used to getting his way? I was too tired to argue, so I nodded mutely and left for my room.
