Forbidden

Chapter One

After a short wait at the front door of Nik's childhood home, a woman answered the door, dressed immaculately without a single hair out of place. At most Daniella guessed she was late-thirties to early forties, but her old fashioned clothing aged her. As her gaze fell upon Nikolas the woman became animated, her cheeks flooding with colour as they raised towards lightly wrinkled eyes.

"Niki! Oh, I'm so glad you're home. And this must be your friend."

After a long embrace, her attention turned to Daniella. She surveyed her with avid interest as though something peculiar, her head c****d to the side. Her blue eyes swept over the body of the girl before her as Daniella resisted temptation to cover herself.

"This is Daniella, Mum. She's the girl I was telling you about."

"She's beautiful," Nikolas's mother said, more like the formal consensus of her scrutiny rather than a compliment. "Nice to meet you. I'm Eva."

Eva's tanned, perfectly manicured hand extended towards her. She accepted it with haste, grabbing hold of it and shaking it clumsily. Letting out a quiet laugh at the girl's lack of grace, Eva beckoned them into the hall.

They'd arrived just in time for lunch, and she seemed excited at the prospect of eating with her son. It had been a long while since they'd sat down as a family. Daniella had been a welcome guest, with Eva happy to have another girl in the house. When Nik called to ask if he could bring a female friend along for a week whilst he visited, she had been more than happy to comply. Her husband, on the other hand...

"Your Father is in the dining room. Why don't you join him whilst Daniella and I get a little better acquainted?"

It wasn't a request but rather a command.

Nik was oblivious to Daniella's attempts communicate 'don't you dare' with a series of subtle head shakes and wide eyes. He'd left the women to it with little fuss. The second the door had closed behind him, Eva had looped an arm through hers and steered her towards the kitchen.

Grandiose mahogany cupboards lined the walls, bordering a marble topped island in the centre of the room. They both took a seat on one of the stools behind it, an uncomfortable silence looming in the air for a few moments.

"I hear you and Niki share quite a close relationship. Are you romantically involved?"

Taken completely unaware, Daniella had come close to falling off her stool. She silently cursed Nik for not having cleared the air like she had asked him. It would have saved her an awkward conversation.

"No, Mrs Vasilescu, we're just friends."

"That's a shame. It's about time Niki got a girlfriend. He's a handsome man with a promising future. And please, call me Eva."

Throughout secondary school and sixth form, it was apparently very rare indeed for Eva to hear about girls. Nik said he had keenly changed the subject every time she brought them up, giving little information away. It made her all the more interested in his dynamic with Daniella - he never brought friends home.

"Your son is wonderful, but he's a little young for me."

"Age is but a number."

The pots and pans on the stove demanded her attention, leaving Daniella an opportunity to excuse herself. She went in search of Nik, ready to challenge him for putting her in such a position. The dining room was next door, and she could hear her friend's dulcet tones filling the hall. It was joined by another voice, a male voice, so deep and sultry that it brought a slight flush to her cheeks.

Inside the room Nik sat with his father around a dark wood table. Unlike his wife and son, Mr Vasilescu was the quiet, brooding kind. He greeted Daniella with little more than a nod of his head.

Wrong as it was, she'd felt her heart-rate pick up at the sight of him. He was debonair, a classic kind of handsome that exuded confidence and testosterone. Nik had clearly inherited his dark eyes and hair, but there was little else to compare between them. Whilst his son's features were prominent yet rounded with youth, Mr Vasilescu's were defined, with a sharp jaw and roman nose. With olive skin and slicked back hair, he looked fresh from a photoshoot.

"Andrei, be polite," Eva had implored him upon her entrance, but he was far more engrossed in the Financial Times.

Throughout lunch, he remained focussed on his plate, uninterested in the catch up session between Nik and Eva.

"What is it you study at University, Daniella?" Eva asked after exhausting her son's conversational abilities.

"Pyschology."

This caught Mr Vasilescu's attention and he looked up from his plate with curiosity. His eyes honed in on hers. Despite the warmth of their hazel colouring, they were cold and piercing. Raising an eyebrow at her like a challenge, he placed his elbows on the table - much to Eva's disgust - and leaned towards her.

"Do you enjoy psychoanalysing people?"

Mr Vasilescu's voice carried a slight hint of an Eastern European accent. Living in central London had meant that Daniella heard accents like his regularly, but his sounded more-- she couldn't think of a word to describe it. All she knew was that it stirred something deep inside her; something that didn't belong, and that would make her feel terribly guilty if she dwelled too much on it.

"Somewhat, but I'm more interested in how people's early experiences in life can shape who they are," she said.

"Do me."

"Excuse me?"

"Are you deaf? I said do me. Pyschoanaylse me, go ahead."

He was clearly interested to see if she would rise to the occasion - It was a challenge; if she were so passionate about her subject, then let her show it. Daniella wasn't sure what she had done to warrant such a challenge, or his abrupt tone, but she wouldn't back down. Even if Nik was nudging her under the table and shooting her looks of warning.

"With all due respect Sir, I've known you for all of an hour and we haven't spoken once in that time. There's very little to work with."

"On the contrary, Daniella," he said coldly, his tongue accentuating the 'l's in a way that made her shiver. "As a psychology student, you should know that non-verbal cues and body language can give more away than what we say."

"Why would I give any attention to the 'body language' of someone who won't communicate with his family and guest during lunch?"

The comment had gone down like a lead balloon, a deafeningly loud silence settling around the table. Her retort had only intrigued Mr Vasilescu more - she could tell by the glint in his eyes as he glowered at her. It only worked to make him more attractive, his jaw strained and full lips pouting. With equal intensity she stared back, secretly cursing herself for getting a thrill from the encounter.

"Mum, can we be excused for a moment? I'll do the dishes when I come in."

"Sure thing, Niki," Eva had said with a painful, forced smile.

The sounds of his wood chair scraping against the floor cut through the tension in the air like a knife. Wanting to put an end to the tension, Nik took hold of Daniella's hand and coaxed her out of her seat.

Although embarrassed at being pulled from the room, she was glad to get away from the hostility. She made a mental note to apologise to Eva when she came back in.

As they left the room, Mr Vasilescu had stayed focussed on her, his lips curled into a smug smile like it was exactly what he had wanted.