Love
1248 Words
Ben looked at him closely, “or have you fallen in love with another woman?”
Lucas raised his perfectly shaped eyebrows, “do I look like I'm in love or will ever be in love?”
Ben smiled, “you may never know when it will happen.”
“It will never happen.”
“Why are you so against love?”, Ben asked.
“Love makes you weak and gives your rivals a weakness to attack you with. I find love unnecessary”, Lucas said flatly.
Ben laughed at his words, “so why do you want to break the engagement, if it's not about love?
Lucas took a sip from his glass, “I brought in a woman that will give birth to a child for me.”
Ben choked on his drink, coughing in the process.
“Are you that surprised?”, Lucas asked him.
Ben immediately gulped down a glass of water, “surprised? You left me in shock because of your words. Why would you do that? That's not like you at all.”
His words also made Lucas question himself as to why he had brought Selena to his house.
Was it just because he needed an heir or because he needed a reason to escape the engagement, or because she had felt so familiar to him?
Ben waved his fingers at his face, “why do you look lost and confused? You haven't answered my question.”
“To be frank, I have no idea why I took her in”, Lucas said.
Ben frowned in confusion, “was she homeless?”
“No.”
“Was she abused?”, Ben asked.
“No.”
“Was she in some kind of trouble?”, he asked further.
“No.”
“Then why did you take her in without any reason? That sounds so absurd and unlike you.” He leaned closer to Lucas, “are you sure it was not love at first sight?”
Lucas pushed him away and stood up, “I'm leaving.”
Ben stood up too, “where are you going?”
“To a place without you sprouting nonsense from your mouth.” He said as he walked out.
“I'm sure he's just going back to see that woman”, Ben muttered as he sat down, in deep thoughts.
Lucas drove back to the villa as he thought of what Ben said.
“No..no”, he shook his head. “Ben is just sprouting nonsense. I took her in because I needed an child that will take over my company and I needed a reason to break the engagement.”
He assured himself as he drove. But why did she feel so familiar to him, like they had met before? But he can't remember seeing her anywhere.
“Maybe it's because she's poor. Poor people are always similar to each other, making them seem familiar to me.”
He laughed in relief, “I'm not in love, I can never be in love, why did I even think I would be in love? I should never think of such things again. She only seemed familiar because she is similar to all the poor people I've met.”
He drove back to the villa and met her eating in the dining room.
Her eyes lit up for a moment as soon as she saw him. She stood up as he walked in.
“You are back. I heated the food for you as it had gone cold. I can heat it again—
“I don't eat heated food”, he said as he walked past her.
She looked at the food she had heated twice already. She looked towards his room, does his words imply that he wants to eat food not heated?
She cleared the table and entered the kitchen.
Most of the servants had already gone to bed and she did not want to disturb them, it's already past midnight.
She took out some ingredients and prepared a late night snack that can easily digest and took it to his room.
Lucas laid on his bed, unable to sleep. The worms in his stomach disapproved of his sleep. He had not eaten earlier in the morning due to an important meeting and the only thing he had was few glass of drink.
He immediately stopped moving when he heard a knock on his door. Who would dare come to his room without permission and by this time of the night? The servants wouldn't dare to do that.
The knock sounded again and he stood up, ready to punish whoever dared to come up to his room at night.
He opened the door and for a moment, was at loss for words.
Selena wrists ached as she held the plate of food. She watched him stare at her speechless and she rushed to explain. “I thought you would be hungry, so I made a late night snack for you and to apologize for heating up your food.”
Words failed him as he stared at her. He never thought she would think of cooking for him at night.
He cleared his throat quickly, “don't stay up late again or eat late at night. It will affect your health.”
Selena knew that how much her health was important to him at this moment. “Don't worry, I'll take care of my health very well.”
He looked at the food that looked delightful, “you can take that back, I'm not hungry.”
He moved to close the door but she blocked it, “please, just eat this. I'll feel less guilty if you ate this.”
He hesitated for a moment before getting the plate from her, “I'm only eating this because you ruined my dinner by heating it up.”
Selena rubbed her wrist as he took the plate, relieved that at least he will eat the food.
Lucas noticed her movements as she rubbed her wrists, “let me get you something to relief the pain.”
She quickly hid her hands behind her, “that's not necessary. It does not hurt that much, it will go by tomorrow.”
“I'm not doing it for you, I just don't want your health to be affected.” He walked into his room and brought out a tube of pain relief cream and handed it to her. “Use this tonight, the pain will be gone in an hour.”
She looked at the tube in her hand and was grateful, “thank you.”
He nodded as he closed the door at her. He walked the food on his bed and sat down. He tasted the food and immediately felt that sense of familiarity again. He shook it off and kept on eating, savouring the delicate taste of her food.
Selena rushed to her room, flustered. She touched her cheeks and noticed how warm it was.
“What's going on..” why are her cheeks warm, why is her heart thumping loudly inside her?
Selena placed her hands on her chest as her heart thumped louder. She must be flustered because of his considerate actions, even if he's only concerned about her health because of the child she is to give birth to for him.
She nodded to herself, that must be why she is so flustered.
- Writer
