CANVAS GIRL

No expectations

Beautiful scenery, that was the price you had to pay for love. Husuella remembered the old saying. It was a say her mother had created. It was the only thing that got them through all those years back then. That reminded her, she needed to call her and tell her she had gotten a permanent job for now. Maybe she needed to hear her rant on how she was always a different child, a one of a kind and maybe she should just start her own company and stop bothering people. To be honest, she was glad that her other five sisters had gotten a job of their own and were stable. Maybe they were just cut for being in the obedient and polite pretenders at work but it was never her cup of tea.

Somehow she started to think she had been right all along, sometimes life could make you sacrifice a whole lot of things to fit in but that was the society she would say. The problem only stood that she never wanted to fit in from the start, she had only someone to believe in her, someone to not want to squeeze her feet into high heeled shoes, someone for who she really was as a person.

“We are here,” Husuella was startled out of her thoughts when the door to her side was pulled open. She looked around and realized they were back at his house. She wanted to yell at him and ask him to take her away from his house but she just got out of the car and stood there staring at the door. Kayden thanked William before walking into the house with Husuella following behind. “Daddy,” the little girl came and hugged his thighs while rubbing her eyes. He picked her up and hugged her lovingly before promising play with her if she went to bed and he didn’t have to say that twice because she was already on her way up.

“Her name is Gogiana,” he said when he noticed Husuella was still staring at her. Well she sure has a cute name, it suits her.” She whispered. Before following him up to his room as he had gestured. She hoped he was only going to give her some papers or anything work related but for him to lock the door and ask her to sit down on his bed wasn’t what she expected. She felt like she was trapped between a hard rock and her employer.

Kayden sat next to her and held her wrist where he had hurt that morning and kept staring at it. Maybe if he stared long enough it would suddenly take him back in time to the minute before this happened and he would just walk away. Looking up into her eyes, he felt ashamed of himself, how could he be so stupid to ignore all the signs, to pretend like he didn’t notice how he got furious every time she would smile at others and pretend like she didn’t notice him at all. Once he had even contemplated firing one of his employees only to find out he was a married man but that still didn’t solve how uncomfortable it made him feel whenever he would see her smile at him.

“I am so sorry,” he whispered when he could no longer contain his emotions. He wanted to tell her everything, pour out his heart to her but he was scared it will only drive her away. Before he could think through what he was about to do, he pulled her into his chest and hugged her like his life depended on it. He wanted to explain it to her but he didn’t seem to get the right words. “ I like you,” he blurted out when she attempted to get out of his hold in a state of panic. The images of her leaving him suddenly crossed his mind and he lost it.

“What,” Husuella asked confusion clear in her eyes. She thought she heard it wrong and wanted him to repeat the words. In her mind she had known how much they hated each other and this was the news she would never have contemplated receiving a few hours ago. Kayden stood up and started pacing around the room as if thinking of what to do next. Slowly, she was getting more and more irritated by his action and just when she was about to storm out of the place, he turned around stared into her eyes and started biting his left middle fingernail. She had never seen him do that before, not that she had been keen enough to notice it.

“I like you,” he repeated before moving and leaning his back on his bedroom door with one leg folded to the back and his middle fingernail still in his mouth as he kept staring at her with so much intensity that left her feeling embarrassed. To her, it felt as if she was a piece of cake he was just about to eat. “oh,” she whispered more to herself and that did it, kayden lost it and by the time he came back to his senses, he realized that his mouth was somewhere it maybe was not wanted but the bitter sweet taste of her lips seemed overwhelming that he couldn’t think of letting go.

Pulling away, Kayden tried to look into Husuellas eyes. He so much wanted to see any form of emotion there but was only greeted with a frown. Well he could swear she had kissed him back but that could have as well just been in his head. “Sorry, that shouldn’t have happened,” he hurriedly tried to make the awkward situation less awkward but when he noticed her frown deepen, he knew he was treading a thin line. “I sure know how to take everything down the drain, I mean I liked that it happened but at the very least, I should have asked for your opinion first,” he said and kept looking everywhere but her.

“You do realize that I don’t know your name right?” she asked taking him by surprise. “Oh,” he replied not knowing what to make of that. “I usually don’t kiss strangers you know,” she added and looked away embarrassed at her attempt at being cocky making him smile. He was certainly going to enjoy this while it lasted, he had expected everything from this but a smile on her face was the last thing he had expected.

“In that case, let us just name me stranger,” he said as he moved and sat beside her and pulled her into his arms. With a sudden jerk, she pushed him away and jumped away from him in panic leaving him confused, he thought they were getting somewhere then it suddenly hit him. She wasn’t mad, she only seemed puzzled as if trying to find out if he knew some sort of secret, “Oh, no way,” he said noticing what she was trying to hide.

Husuellas mind clicked, he knew and by the looks of it nothing good was going to come out of this. She tried to make a dash for the door but she was suddenly pulled and thrown onto the bed with a lot of force. No, this could not be happening, she tried to convince herself but every time she could hear him move one step closer. Her palms became sweaty as she had his evil laugh, he couldn’t do this to her, she thought to herself and tried to move but noticed he was holding her back by both her ankles. “No,” she yelled out in panic and as his hands moved closer, she burst out laughing and started to try wiggling her way out of his hold.

“Don’t do it,” she tried to plead between laughter as his hands lightly touched the fabric of her dress but he didn’t listen. “I mess your bed, this is on you,” she yelled out in a rush making him stop and stare at her amazed. When she was done laughing and calmed down, he stared at her with a small smile on his face, “ I didn’t know you were that ticklish,” he said making her look at him, “well its my secret, Jojita doesn’t know so it stays between us,” she said smiling. “sure,” he replied and smiled back at her. “well just so you know, you try tickling me for too long and don’t hold me accountable for what happens,” she said and looked away shyly “which is?” he asked curious to know. “I could pee you know…” she replied and covered her eyes with her palms making him smile “Well that’s all, doesn’t sound like a bad thing if you ask me, it is actually healthy,” he replied smiling.

Everything fell silent in the room as Kayden stared at Husuella who kept peeking at him from the side of her eye. Maybe she felt a little awkward when she realized she was in the same room with her boss who she was supposed to hate and had suddenly admitted to liking her. To say she was feeling confused was an understatement because in her mind, he was supposed to hate her and the new revelation only barred the line between her reality, dreams and fantasies. Everything she stared at seemed so unreal that it felt like she would wake up and none of it took place.

Slowly, Kayden moved his hand and placed it gently ontop of Husuellas hand before gently rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. “Lets try to work this out, I know there has been bad blood between us but…” he said looking into the distance “ lets just do this one day at a time, no expectations and we can see where this goes,” he said smiling down at her.

Husuella thought for a while, all this time Kayden was a nervous wreck inside, he was afraid that she would say no because if it was him, he wouldn’t even think of giving himself a second chance after everything he had done but a gentleman could hope. When she finally said okay, he smiled and sighed in relief. He was determined to not ruin this at any cost and before he could come back to reality, he was squashing her into a tight hug which was clearly not boss like.

Kayden quickly let go of her and walked into the washroom. He looked at himself and it felt like the man staring back at him was a completely different person. Cut it Kay, its not like she agreed to marry you, even if she did scratch that you are still too young to even contemplate that word with an empire to run, he cautioned the person staring at him from the other side of the mirror. He then opened the tap and splashed water on his face and when he stared at the mirror, the same image of a child who had just been rewarded for good behavior stared back at him. He picked up a face towel and wiped his face dry before slowly heading back into his room with a wide smile on his face, something all his employees and partners would pay a fortune to see, he was doing absolutely out of his own free will.

Standing in front of Husuella who was still sitting on his bed, he held out his hand for her to take which she hesitantly did before he pulled her up and smiled when she accidentally lost her balance and fell directly on his chest. Maybe just maybe all the rest of the rooms in this mansion will stay occupied after Jojita picked up one for herself then he could squeeze her some space in his walk in closet to place her things, he thought feeling amused. “ Let us go and have dinner for now then we can see what to do,” he said looking at the expensive watch on his wrist and noticing it was already dinner time.

Reaching the dinning table, they noticed that Jojita and the little girl were already seated and were staring at them in a knowing way. It seemed as if everyone was directing the same question at them including Gogianas nanny who kept staring at them in an accusatory manner. They ignored the stairs as Kayden pulled Husuella down to the seat next to him ignoring all the stares. After serving the food, Siprosa, sat down next to Gogiana and smiled before the little girl prayed and everyone started eating their meals in silence.

All through the dinner, Jojita kept staring at Husuella with the we have so much to talk about where a lot of talking and explaining will be coming from you and you better create the time look while Siprosa, Gogianas nanny had the accusatory look of you never come home early boss, I wonder what type of business the two of you were discussing locked up in your room sir. All this while, Kayden stared at them with an emotionless face and somehow, Husuella knew she was in this alone and she will be the only one doing most of the explaining.

After dinner that night, Kayden reached out for Husuellas hand and pulled her upstairs with him. Despite all the complains and curses thrown his way for making her stumble several times in an attempt to get back to Jojita and get all the explaining done and over with, she could not be thankful enough for being delivered from her best friends evil and calculating eyes the moment he locked the bedroom door. Sighing in relief, she went and sat at the edge of the bed while he headed into the closet to change.

“Hey,” Husuella got startled from her deep thoughts. Kayden threw a set of new pajamas her way and motioned for her to go and change. When she came out of the closet, Kayden was already lying across the bed facing upward and staring intently at the ceiling. He soon moved and motioned for her to come lay beside him. At first, she was nervous but soon gave out a surprised yelp when she felt herself being pulled towards him.

“Kayden,” he whispered into her ear once he was cradling her in his arms. “What,” Husuella asked puzzled by what he meant. “Kayden, my name is Kayden,” he repeated holding his breath and scared that she might not like it, personally he did not understand why it felt that way and why it even mattered. “Oh, it’s a cute name,” she whispered back making him frown, a cute name made it sound like he was a cute little puppy. As if she had read his mind, “it’s a nice name, it actually suits you,” she said making him sigh in relief and smile. She was just about to blurt out her name, “ your name is kind of funny you know but it kind of suit your personality,” he said making her realize he knew her name, maybe her full names but well he seemed to not mind so she just smiled and let it slide.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Husuella decided to say something to relieve the awkwardness. “You do know you are my boss,” she said making him chuckle. “Well for tonight lets just pretend we are two human beings who absolutely don’t know where each other’s office is located and live the night,” he replied making he give a small smile. Soon the two fell asleep with Husuella cuddled into her boss with both their hands crossing over each other over her mid section.