Reborn As His Obsession

Chapter 20

He walked inside with such calmness that I'd have been forced to believe that he didn't know who I was. His hands were neatly tucked in his pants pocket and he didn't seem perturbed in the least way.

He wore denim pants and an unbuttoned denim jacket over a crisp white shirt.

“Is this Elan Art Gallery?” He asked as he stood in front of me.

“Yes,” I responded. Although I knew it was quite impossible for anyone to walk in here without seeing the broad signpost with the name Elan Art Gallery boldly inscribed.

How was he able to keep it so chill while my legs were behaving like they were made of water?

“Interesting. It means I'm at the right place.” I noticed his Italian accent as he spoke. It was different from the accent I heard while at the clubhouse and at his own house.

He didn't act like he knew me. Perhaps he was Mr. Dom's doppelganger, a twin or some other relative.

“You sure are.” I responded with my voice gaining a higher pitch. “Do you mind if I show you our best artworks?”

A smile danced at the corner of his lips. “That's what I'm here for. Lead the way.”

He definitely was a different person, although his resemblance to Mr. Dom was uncanny.

I led him to the sculpted pieces that stood on the raised podium. He picked one of the small carvings and studied it briefly before setting it back in place.

He walked towards the painting hanging by the left wall. He trailed his fingers through a particular one. It was a painting of a nude woman whose hands covered her bare chest, leaving a little cleavage exposed.

He turned towards me with a sly grin on his face. “This reminds me of yesterday night with a dancer. She kept covering herself like this.”

The hairs on my body stood erect and my heart thumped as I heard that. I rubbed my clammy hands nervously as I pretended not to understand what he meant. So, he wasn't a twin or a doppelganger to Mr. Dom. He was Mr. Dom himself.

“Doesn't it remind you of something too?”

“I don't understand what you're saying.” I twitched nervously.

“Bella Sinclair,” He chuckled and dipped his hands back into his pants pockets. “I must confess that my man was swift in giving me information about you. I was about heading to your apartment to meet you, little did I know that you'd be working at this art store that I decided to just branch by.”

“You're stalking me?” I almost raised my voice as I challenged him.

“Stalking is definitely not my thing. I was just trying to get more information on the girl who was bold enough to abandon me last night.”

I folded my hands across my chest and scanned the room for any sign of Rita or the manager.

“You should leave if you're not buying any art pieces,”

He still held that amused smile on his face. I was about to say something else before Rita walked towards us.

From the manner she used in greeting Mr. Dom, it showed that they were acquainted. It meant, it wasn't a lie when he said that he was just stopping at his favorite art gallery and didn't expect to see me.

“Mr. Dominic, it's a pleasure to have you back.” She acknowledged him.

Dominic? So that was the full meaning of the Dom in his name.

“I'd take it from here,” Rita dismissed me.

Good lord. That was some bit of luck by my side for Rita to separate me from Mr. Stuck in my head. I didn't want to have any reasons for going over decisions that I had already made. It was funny of me that I thought that he'd mention wanting anything to do with my body. I was sure that there were hundreds of women who would choose to do what he wanted.

I kept stealing glances at him and Rita as she showed him around. It had been twenty minutes, and I was already wondering what they were talking about.

Why was I even bothered about what he was doing with Rita? Rita was a young woman, slender, but still thick in the lower half of her body.

Their body gestures seemed too informal. I swallowed a lump in my throat as I wondered if he was telling Rita to come over to his home tonight to do what I refused to do.

“Eyes off him, Bianca,” I scolded myself. I don't know if there was a bit of jealousy settling within me. How could I be jealous of a man I knew nothing about? I only knew that his full name was Dominic just a few minutes ago.

I brushed off thoughts of them and busied myself with scrolling through a boring social media feed on my phone.

Just when I was almost getting a gist in an anonymous reddit thread, Rita's voice interrupted me.

“Package this for the client.” She dropped the A3 sized painting on the table in a delicate manner. I looked at the piece. It was the same one of the nude women with hands covering her boobs that both of us saw.

I took out the cardboard box and placed the painting there just like Rita had instructed.

As I handed it to Dominic, his hands brushed against mine as he took it from me. I don't know if that was a deliberate act, but it sent tingles over my body. I felt those strong big hands once again and my naughty rebellious brain was already imagining those hands of his on other parts of my body.

“Thank you Miss Sinclair.” He smiled and held the packaged piece under his arm with one hand.

“Perhaps I should drop a tip,”

I smiled nervously. “You definitely don't have to.” But his hand was already reaching into his pocket. He brought out a few pieces of paper and a dollar bill that I couldn't determine how much it was because of how it was folded. He slipped everything into the envelope and handed it to me.

“Thank you sir,” I muttered excitedly as I took the envelope from him. Rita hadn't mentioned anything concerning tips from customers. I guess I'd just keep this one to myself.

I opened the envelope and saw double hundred dollar bills, making it two hundred dollars in total. I guess he was trying to make a lasting impression by tipping so much.

There was still something in the envelope. It was a sticky note. Written on it was an email and below the email it wrote. “Send me an email, I'm still interested in us.”

Us? I found myself repeating aloud. I read the note a couple more times before tucking it into the pocket of my jeans.

Why did that ‘us’ sound like he was referring to us being a couple? I found my chest fluttering a bit at the thought of him still being interested in me.

“No, Bianca. You've already made a decision not to resume Bella's life.” My inner voice chided me.

I gripped the envelope tighter as several thoughts ran through my mind. Dominic wanted me naked before him, stripping and dancing, and maybe f*****g. I married Steve as a virgin and had been starved for almost my entire life. This was a time to explore and the chance was given to me on a platter.

Oh Goodness! Why was it so hard to make a decision?

I shoved the empty envelope into my bag and saved the email address on the piece of paper into my phone's notepad, just in case I misplaced the paper.

The few hours seemed to pass in a blur with no clients entering. When it was 3pm, a woman walked in.

Rita called out to the woman with a tone of familiarity. She was young, probably in her twenties, just like the rest of us.

“This is Kelly, the receptionist who had the morning and afternoon off.”

The woman stretched her hand for a handshake. “I'm Bella,” I introduced myself.

I adjusted from where I sat to give her space to move into her position.

When it got to 4 pm, another client emerged. He bought a lot of art pieces and even made upfront payment for our next batch of art pieces that hadn't been supplied yet.

By 6pm, we were set to close from work. I clutched my bag and stood outside the art gallery. The closed sign was visible as everyone left the building.

I called Fred, but my calls were unanswered. When I called for the third time, he picked, but a female voice answered instead. Her voice sounded like that of someone who was tipsy, and were those moans that I heard? Maybe he was actually a douche like Ivy warned.

“Hello, Bella,” He said over the phone. “I'm occupied with something, so I can't come get you.”

“No issues.” I responded.

He was obviously f*****g some strange woman. Men, they never cease to amaze me.