Beautiful Ruins

Chapter#11

What was she doing here? No, how did she even end up in this bloody situation. She threw a glare filled glance at the man driving her who was from the time he told her have refused to look at her.

Daniel had come to pick her up at their usual time. The second he sat down he told her they would be going to his house to meet his parents. The three minute drive to his house was taking much longer and Ace was sure he was as unwilling about this as she was but if he really felt guilty he should have locked the doors in case she escape.

This man was really underestimating himself. Did he think she in incapable of using violence to stop but she took few deep breathes and just kept glaring at his side profile.

What a pretty place to have mole. She noticed the small, almost unnoticed beauty mark on the corner of his eyelid.

What the hell was she thinking? He and his fudging mole can both go to hell.

She hadn’t notice in her annoyance at herself that the car had stopped and her door was opened. Daniel was standing patiently as he waited for her to come out, no sign of irritation on his face at her reluctance. Instead he had started to look a little amused.

She can make a run for it. She tried her best to run her eyes around to see if she can time her escape. She saw a possible route and came out. She was feeling pretty proud of her intelligence when she was suddenly lifted in the air. Next thing she saw was the sight of Daniel’s butt.

The blood was rushing to her head.

“You are too predictable.” Daniel muttered with a chuckle and she was stabbed with the sudden insult. She had never been called predictable in her life!

“You swine! Put me down.” Ace said in her mighty voice, punching his butt as forcefully she could manage with her head hanging down like this.

“Just wait a few more seconds.” Daniel softly said as he was talking to a child and Ace pinched his butt in annoyance. This man was really taking Ace Adams too lightly. How dare he treat her like a sack of potatoes?

She saw from the side as Daniel opened the front door and entered. He only put her down as he locked the door twice and blocked the door. His lips in a proud grin.

She swing her arm around to punch him in the face except she unexpectedly start seeing dark circles in front of eyes and she lost her balance, falling on the arrogant man’s chest who easily caught her while laughing silently. If Ace could properly walk, she would have kicked his shin. She had never been more humiliated in her life.

She could feel heat creeping over her neck as she just stayed in his arms, wrapped in the soft scent of his cologne. She could hear his heart beat quietly under her ear, it was calming down her own emotions. His fingers were softly entangling her hair which was ruined by his own actions.

Her heart speed up a little.

A cough made Daniel still as she calmly raised her head, seeing at she felt better to turn around.

She opened her eyes in surprise. In front of her stood an older version of Daniel with shorter hair and bluer eyes. He had a wide grin on his face he stood there, leaning against a wall as he stared at them which a sly glint in his eyes.

This was so much different from how she was used to seeing Daniel who was usually quiet and was painfully bad at smiling. His eyes usually stared at you like it was even a bother to look at you at the same time he stared at her like he would embed her inside himself. But there, in front of her stood a man, agonizingly like Daniel staring at her with complete different emotions. Staring at her Matthew used to look at her.

It has been a while she have been stared like that. She didn’t know what to do except drink in the sight of something she didn’t know she had missed.

“Don’t let me hinder what you were doing. Just ignore me.” He voice was almost as deep as Daniel but laced with laughter.

“If you wanted us to ignore you, you should have kept quiet.” Daniel snapped, bringing Ace out of her trace as well. She could only awkwardly stare at her shoes now while cursing Daniel in her mind.

“You are Ace, no? Dr. Patterson’s step-daughter?” The man came forward while smiling and brought his hand in front of her to shake.

She nodded and quietly shake his hand as he said, “I am Morrison. Daniel’s father. You can simply call me dad.”

A loud smack landed on Morrison’s head from Daniel as he glared at his father who obviously ignored him as he took Ace’s hand and started pulling her inside. With panic she turned her head to ask for help from Daniel but he simply remain oblivious to her loud eyes which was screaming at him for help.

When Morrison stopped, they had ended up in the kitchen where a blonde hair, blue eyes woman was waiting for them. Before anyone could say anything, Ace was engulfed in a hug. She was still confused over where to put her hands before she was let go. The woman leaned back to look at her from head to toe, a smile wide enough to spit her mouth open on face. She didn’t had a single wrinkle on her face but still somehow managed to look old. She was much shorter then Ace in height and had a very piety frame.

Ace stared back at her without flinching. Honestly, she was a bit confused about what was going on.

“I am Elizabeth. You can call me Liza.” Daniel’s mum said, her voice was as tiny as her frame.

“Or mum.” Morrison added before he was once again smacked by his son.

Ace had not expected Daniel’s parents to be so…normal. She hadn’t given them much thought, simply because she never thought she would ever meet them. And when Daniel mentioned about meeting them, she was so angry that she had forgotten to guess what they would be like so in all honest, she had no expectations with how they will be but this was still unexpected. Them being so normal, so casual was surprising considering two of their son’s ended up joining a gang.

“Come, sit down. Dinner is just about ready.” Liza said as she pulled her to sit on one of the stool set beside the black marble island. Daniel quietly took a seat beside her.

Morrison gave her a last grin and started helping his wife with food.

“You don’t have to answer any questions they ask.” Daniel slowly whispered in her ear.

She held back a shiver which was begging to pass through her spine. She slowly nodded. This was exactly why she didn’t wanted to meet them. She didn’t wanted to raise any more expectations from anyone anymore. She didn’t wanted to answer questions she wasn’t ready to answer but seeing their welcome for her had her hesitate. When was the last time she saw a sight like this one? When was the last time she saw this happy?

It has been years since she could sit on the same table as others to eat. Or sit down with no loud arguments in her ears. Or the food was actually hot to touch and smell?

She was confused about how she felt about all this. She turned to look at Daniel who was leaning on his seat with his eyes on her, like waiting for something. Was she supposed to say something? She had yet to even form questions about how she ended up in this situation.

She had already taken a step forward. No, it was not a step- she had literally jumped a mile with this strange man who she knew almost everything about him and yet he kept taking her by surprise. Kept baffling her to the point she no longer knew she had a game to win. She was a careful person, but it seemed she was also weak to honesty in a man. She was also weak to such feelings. But long would they last? She was someone who was used to throwing toys away if they even got slightly dirty or broken. She was used to getting bored but this man wasn’t a toy. He was a breathing human who might not be able to take her indifference when the time comes.

She was afraid the time would come. She didn’t wish to hurt this excruciatingly straightforward man who had told her on he might like her simply because a friend told him so.

Her reason for telling him about her being an orphan wasn’t sure to herself yet. She just simply wanted to tell him. Her past wasn’t why she was how she was, but she wanted to let him know at least something about her. She refuse to remain simply a cold girl he simply fell for when he was a teenager. She wanted a part of herself living in his mind.

The realization took her by surprise. Was it possible that she, a simply selfless person who didn’t give a damn about anything was so selfishly thinking of such things? Was she also capable of being this possessive of something which wasn’t even hers?

She met his pale blue eyes once more. Feeling her heart race under her chest, she clutched her hands tightly. Was it too late to stop this stupid game? Because it seems they were both playing each other knowing they were both going to lose.

“Mum saw us the day before yesterday. She insisted I bring you home.” Daniel said when he saw she was not ready to share any of her thoughts. She nodded her head careless, not really caring for the reason why she was here. It seemed too irrelevant against where her thoughts had already reached.

“Dad also saw us the first time we met.” Daniel went on, looking at his parents and Ace coughed a laugh.

“Odds are never in your favor. Of all the people…” Ace chuckled now feeling the situation was kinda funny. They were literally caught doing something which according to them they weren’t really hiding in the first place.

She saw Daniel smile back, his lips losing in an easy grin. He did look really like his dad.

“Here you go, sweetie.” Liza passed Ace and Daniel a plate while Morrison was behind her with a pot. He put it in front of her and Ace was very glad to see it was chicken Alfredo. Pasta was something she could eat three meals a day.

Liz brought another dish with fried baked vegetables and a buttered corn. She then sent Morrison to get Ryder who Ace found out was actually Daniel’s little brother.

The 7 years old entered a loud squeak in the kitchen while Morrison was chasing him with a grin. Ryder came to a pause when he saw Ace, his mouth slightly opening. He clutched his father’s leg and stared at him in question.

“This is Ace, come- say hello.” Morrison easily pushed his son in front of her, completely ignoring his unwillingness.

Ah, so Morrison was the kind of father that pushed you in the swimming pool on your first day.

“Hi. I am Ryder.” Ryder introduced himself, his eyes refusing to meet his.

“Hi, kid.” Ace greeted him like she was a granny herself. She wasn’t good at talking with kids.

Morrison helped Ryder to his stool and they started eating. Daniel served Ace while Morrison served his wife and Ryder. Seeing this, Ace couldn’t help but understand a lot of things. It seemed Morrison took very active part in raising his children and from the way Liza was just sitting like a queen, waiting to be served, he was quiet a slave to his wife as well.

She smiled softly. She had almost forgotten there are people who do make it to the end.

“So, Ace….” Liza started while smiling at her softly. Daniel muttered a curse beside her which somehow seemed very funny to her.

“You are Daniel’s age? Class fellow?” She asked, looking very interested.

“I am a year younger, and yes- same year.” Ace answered truthfully. After collecting her thoughts, she had already taken her decision.

“You are 17?” It was Daniel who asked this. His eyes slightly wide.

“A year and half actually, I skipped a grade.” She answered, amused at his expressions.

Daniel stared at her for a while and then noticed that she had already finished her veggies so he pulled few more in her plate, almost unconsciously like it was a habit.

“Morrison told me you just moved here? Where were you before?”

The questions came like wreaking ball after that. She had barely answered the first one before the second one was standing before her. She was trying to keep up with the energy of a woman who was more than twice as old as she was and was having a hard time. How so much spirt lived within such small frame kind of surprised Ace.

Morrison had also prepared his questions. His questions were very random like what her favorite sport was and what she was ambitious about. Ace had never talked about herself so much. She didn’t even know the half of the answers to the questions because she never actually bothered to remember things about herself. If she liked something she would simply eat it or buy it and that is where it ended because she would eventually get bored of everything.

Daniel mostly stayed silent other than occasional glare or throat clearing when his parents got to personal but she knew he was surprised how honest she was being about almost everything. She actually wasn’t trying to hide anything in the first place, she was just uncomfortable talking about herself and would unconsciously turn the conversation to something else.

Ryder was half asleep when the dinner ended. Morrison fed him rest of the food on his plate and then picked him up to tuck him in the bed. Ryder shyly waved a goodbye at her through sleepy eyes.

“I’ll get you dessert first. You eat it and then drop Ace off to her place, okay?” Liza confirmed from her son as she pulled out a homemade cheese cake from the fridge. Ace narrowed her eyes at the dessert. Will they think less of her if she ate more than two slices?

She ate the cake in silence, savoring the flavor. When she ignored her conscious and full stomach to ask for the third slice, Liza smiled in glee and actually packed her the rest of the cake for home. Ace wanted to say no but her greed won over so she shamelessly accept it. Daniel seemed to be highly amused at her boldness. He even offered his own slice to her, maybe to as a joke but she should teach him not to joke about food with her as she swallowed his slice in just three bites and then proudly smirked at him.

Daniel just grinned back cheekily.

Morrison and Liza hugged her goodbye at around 10 pm.

“You need to come by again. We’ll love to have you again.” Morrison said while patting her head. She gave him a genuine smile and nodded.

“You can always ask Daniel if you want to eat anything.” Liza said while holding her hands, her eyes were almost glassy at she looked at Ace. Ace couldn’t find herself to shake away the hand so she simply smiled and nodded.

Daniel decided to walk her instead of driving her. The walked in silence towards her house. The night was not as cold as it was two days back. The dark clouds were also gone, the bright moon had almost lit the streets but somehow, Ace found the weather not as nice as her mood.

When they stopped at her porch, Ace turned to look at Daniel who had his hands in his pocket. He looked lazy, casual and intense. His eyes were dancing in waves of emotions as they stared back at her. He was close enough for Ace to breathe in his scent which she found to be pleasantly charming. She searched his face for a while as he let her find whatever she was looking for.

As if she had made up her mind, she nodded to herself, leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth.