by Lannah Smith
"Good evening, young master," he stated before he turned to look at me. "Good evening, young miss."
"The maids?" John asked him as he handed him the key to his car.
"I've assigned them duties that will keep them busy and away, young master."
A muscle on John's jaw jumped whenever the man called him young master. I pursed my lips to keep myself from smiling. This didn't bother him when he was younger. So why did he look so irritated now?
"Good." John put a hand on the small of my back and led me up the steps and into the house. "I'll call if I need anything else."
"Of course, young master."
And I wasn't sure but the man seemed to emphasize the words young master, like he was trying to prick John's temper. My curiosity got the better of me and I leaned into John.
"Who's that man?" I whispered up to him.
John's expression was still irritated when he glanced at me. "Why'd you want to know?"
"Because I keep seeing him."
John didn't reply. We climbed the grand stairs and turned to the east wing of the house where his room was. I elbowed his side when he continued to be quiet and he gave me a glare.
"He's a pain in the ass, that's what he is," he grumbled.
I raised an eyebrow in reaction to that statement. "I asked who he was, not what he was."
"Because that's all you need to know."
John being evasive means that that man was probably not just an ordinary employee in the Steele household. I shrugged the feeling off. It wasn't my business how this house works. Still, I couldn't help but be curious.
John opened the door to his room, then stepped back so I could pass through. My cheeks started to heat up when I remembered the last time I was here. Pushing that thought away, I turned to him and gave him the DVDs.
"Let's start the movie?" I suggested sweetly.
He suddenly looked quiet green in complexion. "I'll... I'll just go get some food first."
"Alright," I answered, smiling over the panic in his voice. "I'll just sit here while I wait."
Because of my cheerful tone of voice, John started to mutter under his breath as he turned and walked out of the door. Grinning widely, I sat down on the couch. That look on his face before he left the room told me he was thinking a way out of the movies. And I was eager to know what it was.
Well, he couldn't possibly be blaming me for his fear of horror films, was he? And was it my fault I liked the genre? Maybe it wasn't entirely a coincidence I chose these kinds of movies for our first movie night but I thought he got over this childish fear. Seeing that it wasn't the case made me wanted to play with him.
Dang, I should have brought the mask Hannah left with me that she used last Halloween.
When I found out John didn't like horror films, I couldn't believe it. He acted so unafraid of anything I began to think he wasn't afraid of anything at all. Accidentally, I found out about this flaw of his when I found a copy of the original version of The Ring under one of the shelves of his room. I was looking for a piece of the puzzle I was completing when I came upon it.
"Oh, dear. I thought I threw that out years ago," Miss Annetta muttered when she spotted me holding it.
"Why would you throw that out?" I asked.
Miss Annetta stared at me for a moment.
Then with a sly grin, she told me, "Because it was too scary for the young master."
I had laughed in disbelief back then.
I thought she was just joking.
So I tried to see for myself if it was true, if John was truly afraid of ghosts and monsters and all things scary. And to my amused surprise, I confirmed that it was, in fact, real.
John returned to the room soon after and he had lost his surly expression. Instead, there was a thoughtful expression on his face and a tiny smirk playing on his lips. I immediately grew wary.
What was he planning?
"Let's go to my bedroom first before we watch the movie," he told me, leaning down to take my bag from my lap and put it on the couch. He then took my hand and pulled me up. "I'd like to show you something."
There was no way I was going into his bedroom.
"What are you going to show me?" I asked wryly. "Your dick?"
He laughed and tried to get me to move. "Jesus, Terry. Get your mind out of the gutter.
I snatched my hand away and crossed my arms. "I'm not going anywhere near your bedroom, Steele."
"I just wanted to show you that I still kept your dolls," he answered defensively. "Now come."
He went into his bedroom and didn't look back to see if I had followed. Surprised that he still had the dolls that I gave him years ago, my feet followed him before I could really think about what I was doing. My mind was stuck on the dolls that I gave him as a childish prank.
Why would he still keep them if they scared him so much?
And did he treasure them even though we were no longer friends?
John had a heart-stopping grin on his face as he watched me approach him. His hands were in his pockets and he tipped his chin to the shelf that he was standing in front of. I slid my gaze to the spot that I last saw the kokeshi dolls.
They were truly still there.
I swallowed hard, desperately trying not to get emotional.
"It was when you gave them to me that I knew."
Hesitantly, I took my eyes off the dolls and twisted my neck to look at him. "Knew what?"
With a gentle expression on his face, he told me, "That I wanted to spend the rest of my life forever with you."
My eyes widened.
My heart skipped a beat
And the urge to touch me was such a sweet torment.
"At eleven you already wanted to be with me?" I asked, incredulous.
He shrugged. "I didn't know it was love. We hadn't hit puberty yet. If we were older when I had realized that I might have jumped you."
The urge was gone and I was back to being irritated with him again.
My lips curled. "Thank God then that you thought of that at eleven. Now get them down. I want to have a good look at them."
John grinned at the order. He reached out to take the dolls from the shelf and handed them to me. I stared at them in wonderment. Even though I meant them as a scare, I'd still chosen them with care.
John really kept them.
And he really meant what he said, that he thought of me all those years.
Staring at the dolls and touched by the knowledge that John did care for me, my heart swelled with warmth. John came up behind me and circled my waist, his hand sliding across my belly as he pressed into my back. I leaned against him and smiled.
Then I felt his lips against my hair.
Then it hit me that we were in his bedroom.
Something I didn't want. Something I needed to avoid and protect myself from. Something that he all so cunningly manipulated me into entering, luring me in with the dolls.
Damn, but he was devious.
The breath squeezed out of my lungs and panic began to take a hold of me.
I forced it back and swallowed. "What are you doing?" I asked, my voice, I heard with dismay, sounding slightly shrill.
"Hugging you," he answered in a deep, sexy voice that sent a shot of heat rushing down my stomach and pooling between her legs.
He was unbelievable!
"I-I'm only here to see the dolls, John," I stammered. "I've seen them so let's go back."
"All day."
"What?" I breathed.
"I've been thinking about what I'd do to you tonight all day." He nipped my earlobe with his teeth and I trembled. "All... fucking... day."
"I'm going to bash your head in with these dolls," I declared in a breathy voice. "See if I don't."
His hand went under my top and slip up my midriff.
"John..." I started then sucked in breath when his hand reached my breast and his fingers curled around it. "I... I want to watch a movie, John."
"Later," he murmured in my ear. I
sucked in another breath when fingers pulled my bra down and his thumb slid across my nipple. "We'll watch all the movies you want later."
His finger joined his thumb and he rolled my nipple between the two. My body reared into his and, oh my God, my knees got so weak he had to tighten his hold on me to keep me standing.
The jerk was enjoying this.
When he braced my weight with his body, his other hand undoing the button of my jeans, I tried to shove off him.
I shouldn't be letting him take liberties with him.
Admittedly, I would be lying to myself if his kisses, if his touch and embraces didn't make me want to do things with him. Even sitting next to him reminded me of that one night I shared with him and knowing how acquainted he was with my body and I to his proved almost difficult to resist him. Which was why I tried to be indifferent. To shield myself against his charm and pheromones.
I even promised to myself I wasn't sleeping with him until maybe a month or two.
But then his fingers rolled my nipple again and at the same time the fingers of his other hand slid down my panties and then I couldn't think anymore.
My head fell back to his shoulder and I breathed, "You're going to pay for this."
The fingers of his hands moved and I gasped.
"Put down the dolls and kiss me, Terry."
I eagerly obeyed.
Terry kept her promise.
She made him watch all the DVDs and even loaded some movies on Netflix. He swore watching all of them took a couple of years off his life. He tried to put on a brave face when she played the first movie but by the middle of it, he was already sitting behind her, wrapping his arms around her body and hiding behind her hair.
He wasn't even trying to seduce her.
Hell, he couldn't even get it up anymore.
And what was worse was how much Terry enjoyed watching them. Her loud laughter every time the dead woman popped out seemed almost sinister. But everytime she touched his hands, to play with his rings, he was reminded that he liked this girl and by God, if she wanted to watch all the horror movies in the world he'd let her.
The days that followed was filled with sneaking around to meet her. And it wasn't difficult to see her anymore since they had Christmas vacation. Terry was finally relaxing around him, putting down her walls. And he appreciated it.
The more he spent time together with her, the more things he learned about her.
New things.
Like how she liked eating Hawaiian pizza now when she used to dislike it with him when they were children. Like how she preferred to listen to acoustic music now when all she ever listened to was classical music back then. She also disliked electronic dance music and disliked jogging, something he tried to make her do with him. And he liked learning all these new things about her.
Whenever they were together, they bickered a lot. It was his fault for the most part. He enjoyed teasing and challenging her. And he liked how she never backed down and challenged him in her own way. Plus, the make-up sex was always fucking amazing.
John enjoyed her company even without the kissing or the sex, something he'd never not do whenever he was alone with a girl. Just talking to her made his day. Just seeing her smile and laugh made him feel happy.
But even with all the happiness he was feeling, there was a dark cloud that hovered over them that sometimes made his mood pissy.
It was their families.
They never talked about them.
Or about Leon.
It was a line they silently agreed to not cross in the meantime. It would only make Terry anxious and quiet. It would only make John pissed off and frustrated. It would only remind them that their relationship was complicated. Avoiding the issue wasn't going to solve their problems but for now, it was all they could do.
There was something else that bothered him too.
Terry never let him hold her hands for too long, play with her fingers or caress her palms.
And though he badly wanted to find out why, he'd let her have this. Wasn't he in the process of regaining her trust? And there were more bigger things to focus on, more important things to discuss. So he'd let her have this odd quirk to herself.
"What are you doing here?" Terry asked when John climbed into her window. "I thought you were having a party at Skull's house."
John straightened and gave her a kiss. "It's Christmas eve. I'm not going to spend it with anyone other than my girlfriend."
She didn't look impressed. "You know I'm having Christmas dinner with my Dad later. And you're even drunk again."
"I only drank one bottle. I swear. I just came here to give you my Christmas present since you're leaving for Japan tomorrow," he explained.
"Did you forget the watch you gave me? Please don't tell me you're giving me you for Christmas."
He snickered and wrapped his arms around her waist. "How did you know?"
She rolled her eyes in laughing disbelief. "You're impossible, you know that?"
He leaned his forehead against hers and whispered, "I know. And I'll miss you. It sucks that you have to leave."
"We'll see each other when you go to that charity ball on New Year 's Eve," she reminded him, her hands moving up his chest. "You'll go, right?"
"I already promised you I'll go."
She smiled at him.
Not one of her composed, controlled smiles.
This one was radiant and lighting up the night and he wished right then and there that she'd tell him she loved him.
"I have a present for you too."
Caught off guard by her statement since she had actually already given him his Christmas presents, a pair of leather sneakers, limited edition figurines for his collection and new cufflinks for him to wear at the ball, he didn't react as she came up to her toes, hauling him closer, her lips parted.
Without willing himself to do it, his head bent as she intended and his mouth met hers.
"You'll be gone before the clock strikes 12, alright?" she whispered against his mouth.
"I promise."
Later, when she had fallen asleep, he'd gently placed a ring around her finger, a silver ring just like the rings he wore around his fingers, but embellished with a row of glittering solitaire shaped stones.
And later, before he left her bedroom, he'd take one long look at her face and thank God for giving her back to him.
**Anata wa kono meinu to saidingute imasu ka? Anata wa bakadesu ka? - Are you siding with this bitch? Are you that stupid?
**kawaii – cute
Chapter 24
I stared at the door to my mother's room, my fingers anxiously rubbing the ring John gave me that I put on a delicate silver chain around my neck.
I did this for a while.
Having just arrived in Japan and in my grandparent's home, it hadn't been much of a joyful reunion. My grandparents were worried about my mother's declining health and they immediately ushered Dad into my grandfather's office to talk about her. Haru wasn't at home at the moment and my relatives were all busy preparing for a feast.
Gathering my courage, I slid the door open. I knew sooner or later I would see her and I chose to do it now after I finished unpacking rather than keep worrying about it. The room was dark, stuffy and with trembling legs, I proceeded inside.
My mother was reclining on top of the bed, under the white satin covers. She was, as usual, dressed in a black kimono and her hair was on a loose braid over her shoulder. I wouldn't have been able to find her in the darkness if it weren't for her pasty white complexion. She was staring at her hands, didn't even lift her head to look at me. I swallowed, tried not to ball my hands into fists and desperately tried not to feel afraid.
To bide some time, I pulled back the curtains and opened the windows to let in some sun and fresh air. She still didn't move nor spoke. What was her illness? I thought. I hadn't asked my Dad because I didn't want to talk about her. But seeing her now made me feel a speckle of worry.
After all, she was
still my mother.
"Yoi gogo no, Okaasan," I said quietly, then sat down in the chair adjacent to the bed.
She continued to stare at her hands. And I tried to keep as still as I could while she did.
