Shoutout to lovevivienne for producing this beautiful cover of ETTHH! Thank you very much, girl! Selena is 😍😍😍

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~~~ CHAPTER 8 - MOVING IN ~~~

My first week in the city was spent with so much homesickness. Nigel was not at his condo when Mommy Carol and I arrived. I found out he had some business to attend to in the South. Mom and I shopped for what I needed at home and in the university. After three days of spending with me, she went back to The Fields, leaving me in the condo with Suzana, the housekeeper, who stayed with me even at night until Nigel's arrival.

After a week, Nigel finally arrived.

It was almost 10:00 o'clock at night, as I, half-sleep, was dozing off to the unlit kitchen to get myself some glass of cold water. I was halfway from the door to the refrigerator when I caught sight of somebody unexpected especially at this time of night. Nigel's presence near the kitchen island was definitely a bolt from the blue! As the light from the adjacent doorway reflected onto him, he was like one of those Greek gods I read in the books, too sexy and muscular wearing a long-sleeved button down, the upper three buttons opened showing his broad hard chest, with a tie loosened around his neck and a pair of black slacks. It was like seeing someone from your dream coming to life!

"Nigel!" I cried in amazement.

He had just drunk a glass of water when he learned my presence. His expression was enough to tell me that he was also not expecting to see me right here, right now. He looked puzzled as he gazed at me.

"Althea..." it was like a whisper yet in some way the air just caught it and brought it to my ears. His voice, smooth yet husky, was the most amazing sound I ever heard tonight.

Excitedly, I moved towards him with the feeling of wanting to touch him, to feel he was real... And with the overwhelming passion I felt all over my body, I embraced him so hard that I never wanted to ever let him go. I sensed his surprise but I insisted and instead made the embrace so much harder I felt he stopped breathing.

"I missed you so much," I confessed.

I never heard him say a word. I still thought he was caught astounded of everything that just happened. Yet, moments later, I didn't know if I was just wrong or if I was just imagining things, I felt his hands slowly embracing me back. Was this real or was I dreaming? I closed my eyes as I leaned my head on his firm chest. I had to engross myself with this oh-so-wonderful yet indescribable feeling!

With my hands around his neck and his hands encircling my waist, it was a scene that I often pictured out in my mind. It seemed so surreal. In that position, we could hear each other's beating heart clearly.

Suddenly, the lights in the kitchen were turned on!

Nigel pulled away from me quickly. He seemed to have awakened from a dream. I had to pull myself together first before I realized what was happening.

"Suzana," he blurted out while looking at the direction of the doorway.

So, it's you, Suzana, I said to myself as if catching a culprit. I stood beside Nigel while I was probably staring at her with my big wide eyes.

"Suzana," Nigel spoke her name for the second time.

"Señorito, I'm s-sorry. I didn't know you're here already," she apologized as if blaming herself for intruding into something so private, "Señorita, I'm really sorry..."

"Ah, it's nothing, Suzana, really nothing," Nigel interrupted her apologies.

I looked at him and somehow I felt the awkwardnes in the atmosphere. He was now avoiding my eyes. Feeling the tension, Suzana immediately bade good night and went back to her room.

I followed Nigel as he headed towards the living room passing the dining area. His luggage were still there just haphazardly placed on the floor. I picked up his suitcases and placed it on the light brown classic 1960's mid-century modern Danish sofa couch.

"I'm so glad you're already..." I tried to break the silence.

"When did you arrive?" he interrupted. He was standing at my back, about two meters away, as I arranged his suitcases on the sofa.

"A week ago..."

"Is mom still here?"

"She's gone to the province already," I turned to face him. Seeing him with all the lights on just mesmerized the whole part of me. I really missed this man so much I wanted to hug him again.

"She didn't call me about you're being here," he said not looking at me.

"Well, she wants to surprise you. S-so... are you surprised I'm finally here with you?" I asked him as I seek his eyes.

"Classes will start in about two weeks so I just didn't expect you'd be here earlier. Well, what can I do? Do I have a choice? You're already here so I think I just have to deal with it, huh?" He brought again that cold indifference in his voice just like how he always treated me at The Fields. He moved a little farther from me, sat on the modern lounge arm chair at the corner, and leaned his head on the headrest while closing his eyes.

"You seem tired," I stepped nearer to him to observe his countenance. All I wanted to do now was to gaze at his beautiful face. He seemed to be not minding my presence in front of him. "You're really tired, Nigel. I'll prepare the bed for you..." I offered.

In just an instant, which I didn't really expect, he pulled me down through my left wrist that I almost stumbled over him had it not been for my right hand which quickly coped to lean on the headrest. However, with his speedy other hand, he encircled my waist and pulled me to him once again that my buttocks rested on his lap, my legs slightly spread out over his thighs. I imagined myself to be like a shocked frog slumping its poor weak body on something huge and hardy. Our faces almost touching each other.

"Which bed, Althea? Yours or mine?" he whispered in my ear. His breathing kind of tickled that portion of me.

I felt hot blood rushing through my neck traveling to my cheeks, and finally to my ear. I never expected him to do something like this. Just a while ago, he embraced me back at the kitchen, then suddenly he turned cold and apathetic, and now, he seemed to be trying to play some kind of seduction game with me.

"N-Nigel..." I groped for something to say but I was at loss of words. All I sensed was his hand encircling my waist, his hand gripping my wrist, and our lips almost touching.

"Aren't we playing husband and wife now, Althea, now that you're already staying under my roof? Isn't this what you presume to happen?" he said, still whispering yet with a harsh and huskier tone this time.

"Nigel, I... I..."

"So which bed are you using now? Are you using mine?"

I tried to pull away from him but he was too strong to pin me to him.

"Nigel, I'm not staying in your bedroom..."

"So what's the purpose of wearing this... this skimpy nightdress, Princess?"

Huh? Was I wearing a nightdress? Was I? Oh, how stupid of me! Of course, I was... Oh, how could I forget? How could I forget that I wore the see-through negligee that Mommy Carol bought for me last Tuesday! It was supposed to be only for fun and to be used in private! It was no wonder now that Suzana appeared so apologetic a while ago when she saw Nigel and I embracing each other because of my revealing attire!

Were the gods playing with me?

I was awakened from my reverie when I noticed his hand brushing the silky fabric on my back... It was a sweet, tingling sensation penetrating through my skin and I wished to close my eyes.

My goodness...

Oh, no! I had to control myself now. I wouldn't be getting into his trap. While I was still in my complete cognizance, I tried again to break free. But the more that I pulled away from him, the more that he had me under control and the more that I felt his firm, feverishly hot body under me. He was too strong to resist.

"Nigel..."

"Didn't you say you missed me, Princess?" His voice was trying to suggest that he was really involving me into some kind of playful romantic communication. I had to catch my breath as I heard his alluring tone.

I couln't resist now... How could I resist this man? So I closed my eyes and waited for what could occur next. I was eighteen now, already grown up enough for whatever he was trying to offer. I would be ready whatever it would be...

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Okay.

I expected too much. I only realized it when I thought Nigel was about to kiss me but, no, he did not. I knew exactly that he was catching his breath as he gazed at my eyes intensely. Our lips were just about an inch away from each other. For the first time, I felt deep, deep inside that he had been attracted to me, too. I felt he wanted to kiss me. I just felt it and I waited as I met his gaze.

But he did not.

Instead, he got me unprepared as he pushed me up. I didn't have a hard time keeping my balance because his strong hands managed to plant both of my feet on the floor. Then, he stood up like nothing had happened, walked with big strides to the adjacent sofa, swooped down his luggage, and headed to the hallway leading to his room.

"Nigel," I called out his name as if to seek for an explanation. I was not some kind of a junk to be treated this way. In the first place, he initiated it... for goodness sake, he wanted to kiss me! Yet I ended like a trash thrown to the garbage bin. I didn't deserve this!

He turned to face me and looked at me with an expression as if I was indeed a trash.

"For heaven's sake, Althea, can you just stay away from me?"

I stepped closer to him, "You wanted to kiss me. Don't you ever deny it."

"Don't challenge me, Althea..." he rustled slowly yet harshly under his breath.

"Nigel... I almost believed... when we were there..." I struggled as I pointed that unforgettable arm chair in the corner, "I almost believed you like me, too..."

"Really, huh?" he asked sarcastically.

"Don't you deny it," I said stubbornly.

"You don't only push yourself to me, you also assume things. Oh, my God!" he gibed.

"You're a liar..." I said sobbing. He was one damn liar! I felt he was about to kiss me and he was now denying it.

"Althea, don't you ever, ever assume things so easily. I made it clear before and I will make it clearer this time, I will never like you nor even marry you. Now, will you excuse me?" he said hoarsely as he turned to leave me.

"You're one big fat liar, Nigel!" I cried out loud as I rushed past him in the hallway to get to my bedroom first.

Tonight, I couldn't be mistaken. I felt it in my heart that he was attracted to me somehow but why was he trying to deny it? Why?

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

In the following two weeks, I stayed in his condo with all the thought that Nigel had also feelings for me. Every time we saw each other, he remained cold and impassive like what he always did when we were still in The Fields. Yet, no matter how he treated me, I still put that little hope in my heart that, someday, he would come to reveal his feelings for me.

However, the more that I hoped, the more that he stayed rarely at the condo. It was as if he was actually doing it on purpose. We never shared breakfast or whatever meal. He was always no longer around when I took my breakfast and he would always come home very late that I had already taken my dinner or I was already on bed sleeping. It was not the kind of situation that I imagined it would be.

Well, there was one particular day every week when he would stay at the condo the whole day and that would be every Sunday. However, that whole day would be spent at his painting studio --- that room in between his and the guest room. I was never in that studio even once because Suzana would always remind me of its being off-limits. She said even she herself was forbidden to enter. It was Nigel's sacred sanctum, she said. When I learned about that private studio, I remembered Annie. His longing for his long deceased sister gave him full passion for his paintings... As Mommy Carol once declared, his time spent in painting was like his private time of communicating to his late sister. I found it weird at first but I came to understand it later on.

Every time, he would be in that room, I also stayed outside of it. I would sit on the floor in the hallway while leaning my head on the studio's closed door.

I wanted to be there with him. I wanted to take a glimpse of his paintings. I wanted to know what he was painting about most of the time. However, I was never given a chance to do it.

All through my stay in The Fields, I only saw two of his artworks. One was Annie's portrait that was hung at the library wall in the palacio. The other was a marvelous visual representation of Mommy Carol's flower plantation with the breathtaking portion of the Sarmiento River in its right side. The latter with its considerable size was delicately framed and was hung at the wall in the drawing room where mom would always entertain her guests and that artwork would never fail to get everyone's attention. Nigel was that good of a painter. He was a genius indeed.

Someday, I wished he would let me enter his secret world.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

A/N

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Lovelotz,
(sapphiregirl22) ~_^