Love at the Nth Time

Deceptive Vehemence

Chapter 41

The gentle kiss turned to the heat which covered the cold wind and the urge to lay her back on the blanket. Touches lit a fire whenever our skin was in contact. Restless of her hands, unsure where to hold since strength was leaving her, I grabbed them and put them on both sides. Sentimental sense of longing, dominant approval, her fierce gaze challenged me, and I loved provocation.

Lips pecked kisses on her cheek trailed down her neck, and the sudden touch of my cheek with her ear goaded me to nibble the soft skin. Celine let out a soft whimper, and her head evaded my kisses.

"Seth, what kind of job is that?" I hummed and felt her neck with my lips again.

"Akin to this," I whispered. Celine's hand yanked me away. I paused and looked at her.

"Can't you read the mood? Geez, Celine," I muttered and laid on my back, taking my time to breathe to cool down. Celine sat up and faced me.

"Are you really gonna do this here?" I scanned around a little and shrugged.

"What? As if there's a bear that'd pass by." She took a deep breath.

"What are we doing? Am I one of your women now?" I blinked in between any reason, but nothing came out of my head. Celine hadn't told me she hated having flings, she had different views, but she wasn't against it. I lowered my eyes to scan her body, although covered with the sweater atop a turtleneck she wore. Not my ideal, yet a wonder she could turn me on with a simple eye to eye contact.

"You're an exception," I replied and stood up. I checked the wristwatch wherein the big arrow pointed at Roman 23. "Come take the night with me in the unit," I added, and helped her clean and pick up the things on the blanket. We put it in the trunk.

"Nope. Mom will look for me. She's gonna be worried." I closed the hood and faced her.

"You're not a kid." I stepped ahead of the front door of the auto. I stopped opening it as Celine stood still at the other side facing me.

"Yes, I am. I'm her child, and what would I tell her? Lie about being with sis, and what would sis do?" She lifted her hands and shook her head in disapproval. I ran to her as she walked away. I grabbed her hand to face me and stopped the misunderstanding from starting to k****e.

"No, I'm sorry. I-I'm being impulsive." With the gust of air, a hand rose to help her remove the strands of her hair blocking her face.

"Mom thought you would visit merely because you wanna meet our family and that you're closer to sis," she explained. The fake intention made me dumb.

"What?"

"I had no idea. You know how much mom pushed me to have a family of my own, blah-blah."

"f**k it. You have your own life." She stared seriously at me.

"It's not easy." My silent response dragged her feet to leave. I didn't know what to do with the situation. I hissed, dashed to drive my car, and turned a u-turn to meet Celine. I opened the window beside me.

"Celine, let me take you home at least. Hop in."

"Aren't you gonna tell me the job? It's fine. I won't do it anyway." I frowned in displeasure at how the explanation of the job role would turn out.

"Fine, hop in. Let's talk about it." She got in the car with a phone in her hand and moved it closer to her ear.

"Hello, sis? No, I'm going home- what?" Celine looked at me. Her face turned pale. She covered her mouth with her hand, nodded, breathing went unsteady. A hand touched her shoulder to get her attention.

"Are you okay?" I asked. She raised her hand to me to stop me from talking and lowered her head.

"So? Where's he now?" I waited for Celine to drop the call and her terrified eyes made me stop by the roadside. Silence drowned me and the anxiety behind her not speaking up for minutes. My eyes widened, and my heart pounded as Celine abruptly put her knees on the seat and wrapped her arms around them, covering her face with them. She had not behaved like that before. It scared me that I hesitated to lean closer to grab her for a hug.

Her eyes filled with red as the tears wanted to fall met my confused ones. "S-Seth, Seth, m-my, my father. My f-father," she stuttered, out of breath. I moved closer to grab her cheek and caressed it to calm her down.

"Hey, hey, calm down. Slowly, take deep breaths," I said and kissed Celine's forehead, hushing her not to let out any obscure words. Her hands tightly gripped my back as she rested her head on my chest and softly winced.

"I-I, I need, I need to, my siblings, I need to take them away," she cried. The hint of something I already anticipated even though she didn't have to say it clearly. I moved her away from me a little to meet her eyes.

"Ask for help, anyone nearby. We're heading there," I firmly ordered, and clutched at the steering wheel to manage my anger, confusion, and fear of the unknown. I drove the car fast. Celine called a few people, and the third time she reached the same person, they answered,

"Jeric, Jeric, where are you?" Celine touched her lips, biting them to control her emotions, and nodded. "I'm heading home. Don't, don't let him inside," she added, eyeing me. "My three siblings are in the room. My mom," she wailed. Damn it! It'd take twenty more minutes to reach their home.

"Where's your older sister?! Damn it!" I picked up the backup phone in the compartment and dialled the police. Celine held my hand.

"W-what are you doing??"

"I'm calling the police!-" She shook her head.

"No, no, please," she pleaded and cried. An impression I was familiar with. However, misleading as it might, it was a sign of a hypocrite about protecting someone, and they're blind over the love embedded in them.

Complying to what she wanted, not to add more burden to her suffering, we arrived at their house and screams outside echoed in the area with a few people prying. I grabbed the arm of Celine to stop her not entering the house.

"Wait here, I'll get your siblings out," I commanded. A sudden shout of her mom's voice drew our attention. Celine advanced, eyes widened at the abrupt act, and grabbed her waist not to let her do what she was planning. I yelled at her, "I said don't come in there!"

"Celine! Your mom's stopping your father from breaking the door. She doesn't want us to call the police!" exclaimed a woman who got out from cooking because of the apron she wore and a spatula in her hand.

"Please watch over Celine not to enter the house," I beseeched. Footsteps hurried in the doorway to see an older man in his late 30's carrying a massive hardwood in front of a room, wearing formal clothes with clean-cut hair, an odd appearance of someone who was creating a scuffle. Mom of Celine, Mrs Yna seized him on the back, weeping.

"Who's this woman? Leave my house now!" He lifted the hardwood, threatening me to leave. I couldn't take one more step. I was concerned about diverting his anger at his wife behind him. I stated,

"You're the one making a ruckus here. You're scaring your wife and the kids inside. You leave, or I'll call the police!"

"Ha! This is why I told you not to introduce your children to foreigners. They think they know it all! Who sent you here? Celine? Where's that ungrateful enslaved person??" the words he uttered rang in my ear. It blocked my irrationality and respect for who he was as the father of Celine. Scurried to grab the collar of his shirt and pushed him away over and over.

"Who the f**k are you?! What did you say to her!? Get outta here, or I'm gonna make sure you'll rot in jail!" I pointed outside the door as I dragged him in the collar. His wife sobbed even more and clasped her arms around him, stopping us.

"No, please, l-let's talk about this. Hun, calm down, or you'll be locked up," she begged. My jaws clenched as anger was rising more than the reverence designed by the title the old man I thought was worth it. My grip on holding him tightened.

"What do you want here?!" I shouted. My eyes widened as the man raised the hardwood to hit me.

"Father!" shouted a young lad in the doorway of the room and grasped his father's arm. He cried. It's Jonathan. The 9-year-old boy was already conscious of the consequences his father intended to do. He looked at me sobbing, and my arm released the old man.

The old man's eyes were on Jonathan, and his face contorted and whimpered a little, forcing him not to cry. He embraced the kid. Slowly, I moved away. I was muddled by love, not just Celine but all the family members.