The Bad Boy's Muse

I could also tutor you...

Grace’s POV

I kept staring at myself in the mirror, I looked totally different from the Grace Wilson from England. I looked more American now and I loved every bit of it. As promised, I had an incredible experience on Friday all thanks to Aunt Harriet. As promised, she had gotten me a phone and a Mac book. Thereafter we had gone for a shopping spree. We bought lots of jean trousers, skirts, blouses, crop tops and things I didn’t need; I was scared my closest would not be enough for all of it. Then we concluded at the spa and the salon where I was totally reformed.

My thick blonde hair that was always rolled into a bun at the back of my hair was washed, deep conditioner and made wavy. My full eyebrow was carved and shaped just like Aunt Harriet. My toenails were painted nude black while I had nude on my fingers; I looked so beautiful. Even a day after the Salon treatment, I still looked every inch like I did when I stepped out of the salon.

The doorbell chimed.

“Grace, could you get the door for me?” Aunt Harriet shouted from her room.

“Okay,” I shouted back. With one final look at the mirror, I hurried downstairs loving the way my hair was bouncing on my shoulders.

Without looking at the peephole like Aunt Harriet had taught me, I yanked the door open.

There was Rohan at my doorstep looking every inch like Rohan, only this time, he had a flower with him and a sheepish grin.

“Rohan?” I called out hoping this was not one of my stupid dreams.

No response! He continued staring at me. I became worried that the makeover must have made me unrecognizable.

“Rohan?” I snapped my finger at this dazed face.

“Yeah! s-sorry” he stuttered “I got side-tracked” he smiled again.

“Please come in” I urged him standing at one side of the door while I beckoned him in.

“Thank you” he muttered as he walked past me into the living room. He stood at the centre of the room still clutching the flowers like it was some sort of weapon.

“Please sit down” I urged again motioning to the seat.

He nodded with a smile and plopped on the seat. Rohan was acting strange today. Gone was the usual high-handedness, it has been replaced by a certain awkwardness that even I could feel. This wasn’t looking a bit like Rohan and it was discomforting.

“What may I offer you?” I asked unsure of what to say since we basically did not speak.

“Nothing, I am fine” he responded still clutching at the flowers.

“O-okay,” I said slowly “Are those flowers for me?” I pointed to the red roses that looked like they were being choked.

“Y-yea” he chuckled nervously as he stood up and walked towards my direction with the flowers clutched this time around in his front.

“I brought you flowers,” he said with a smile when he reached me extending the flowers in my direction.

“Thank you so much” I collected them burying my face in them, it reminded me of our garden back in Bristol, we had a lot of red roses there.

“Umm…, I hope I am not intruding,” Aunt Harriet asked as she entered the room, she had an amused smile on her face.

I jumped back in fright at the sound of her voice while trying to widening the distance between me and Rohan, I felt guilty for standing so close to a man in my Aunt’s living room.

“Good day, ma’am,” Rohan said politely going back to his former position but remained standing.

“Hello” Aunt Harriet responded and moved towards him, when she passed by me, she whispered “he’s so handsome”.

I sighed in relief when she passed, I was so worried that she wouldn’t be happy when the position she had seen me with Rohan.

She and Rohan made small talks while she urged him to the seat. I waited patiently for them to finish talking.

“Aunt Harriet,” I said “This is Rohan, Rohan meet my Aunt Harriet” I gestured at the both of them.

“It’s nice to meet you, Aunt Harriet, again,” Rohan said with an easy smile.

“The pleasure is all mine” Aunt Harriet smiled back “I baked cookies some minutes ago, I’ll grab some from the kitchen” she excused herself and left us alone.

I settled on the couch close to Rohan, this is the closest I have been with a man alone and without a chaperone. I hoped I was not losing my dignity as a lady.

“Thank you for coming to my house” I started, I was desperate to know why he visited.

“It’s nothing,” he waved his hand, at least he no longer had that anxious look on his face when he first came in “When I didn’t see you in school on Friday, I was a bit worried. Later on, Steve told me you had mentioned to him that you won’t stay so long in New York and when I didn’t see you, I had to come to check on you. I thought you might be a little bit under the weather” he shrugged.

“Really?” my eyes widened in surprise “I didn’t think my absence would be noticed”.

“Well, you’re my seatmate and it’ll be foolish if I do not notice your absence Grace,” he said gently.

“So, why didn’t you come to school on Friday?” his tone became more serious.

“Aunt Harriet took me shopping and got me a new phone and a Mac book,” I said excitedly.

“You have a phone now” it was not a question, more like a statement “that’s cool. Are you on now on w******p? Hangout?” he asked.

“Not really, I haven’t been able to set the phone up because this is my first time using one. My Aunt Harriet would help me to that this evening”.

“I could help you if you want” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Yes, please, I would like that if it’s not too much of a bother” I clasped my fingers.

“No, it’s not. Fetch the phone and the Mac book, so I can set it up at once” he instructed.

I nodded my acceptance and bounded up the staircase in excitement.

~~~

An hour later, I was staring excitedly at my phone as I was busy chatting with Miss Rose. She was the first person I had called as soon as Rohan was done with the setup. We spoke for some minutes before she insisted, I chat her up instead. Meanwhile, Aunt Harriet and Rohan were lounging lazily watching a popular TV soap and chewing on the cookies; Aunt Harriet makes the best cookies that I have ever tasted.

Rohan had saved his phone number on my phone and asked me to send him a hi on w******p after of course teaching me how. He gave me few instructions on how to use the Mac book while also helping me to download some reading materials alongside.

“Grace” Aunt Harriet called my attention. I looked up from my phone.

“How about that Statistics assignment. Since Rohan is here, he could help you with it” she suggested.

“Yeah! I am having problems with it, and sincerely I have not been able to understand a word of all he taught in class. Could you please help me with the assignment?” I asked.

“Yeah! I could also tutor you if you like since you’ve never been to a regular school before, the tutoring would do you good’ Rohan suggested.

“Would you?” Aunt Harriet sat up.

“Of course, I would love to do that” Rohan replied.

“You’re such a darling because you’ve saved me the stress of looking for a tutor. How much do you charge?” Aunt Harriet asked him.

“Nothing, I’ll do it for a return of a favour,” Rohan told my Aunt.

“What could that be?” I and Aunt Harriet asked simultaneously.

“I am an artist and there’s this competition I need to enter into. It’ll be due in 2 months and I’ve been searching for a model. Grace has all the things I want from a model. So, if I give her free tutoring, she could pose as my model and of course, she’ll get some percentage of the work if it gets accepted” Rohan said.

“Yes, actually she can and would be perfect for you because more than anything I know you artist love it when someone can actually hold a pose and English ladies were born to do that” Aunt Harriet chimed in “Anyways, I’ll have to discuss the matter over with Grace and we would give you a reply tomorrow”.

Rohan nodded his head in agreement “That’s totally fine. Anyways, let’s start with statistics tonight” he smiled.

I ran up the staircase to fetch my book wondering silently what it would feel like to be Rohan’s model, I didn’t know he draws. I hope Aunt Harriet agrees…cos I am more than ready to do anything that would make me closer to Rohan.

“Forgive me, holy mother…” I muttered.

***

Rohan’s POV

By the time I was done helping Grace out with her assignment, I was determined to make her mine. Every little movement intrigued me even the sound of her laughter was like tinkering bells; it was the most beautiful sound ever. I had simply gone to visit her and be back but all thanks to my cousin Priyanka who insisted I go with a bunch of flowers. Still humiliated from the way I had stared open-mouthed at her when she first opened the door, I was mesmerized by her beauty. Whatever she had done to herself during the weekend had awakened a different kind of Grace, the kind that wanted me to draw forever; there was something about her that keeps urging me to draw every single damned time.

I met Priyanka sitting at the bus stop waiting for me. I was five minutes late.

“Sorry, I am late” I dropped beside her, she had her earphones on.

“De nada” she responded with a smile. “So how did it go? Was she happy to see you?”.

“Yea, I was happy to see her. I couldn’t take my eyes off her all evening and yes, I humiliated myself” I sighed covering my face with my hand.

“C’mon, you don’t have to feel so bad about that. It’s normal to react that way when you see a beautiful woman” she patted my back.

“Yeah! she was looking so ravishing” I sighed.

“Did you kiss her?” Priyanka teased.

“Urgghh…No, even if I wanted to. I couldn’t her aunt was there” I sighed again.

What happened to remain chaste till marriage.

“Well, you will still see her in school, right? You can still kiss her” Priyanka suggested.

“No, thank you. Stop talking about kissing” I pulled her up, our ride home just came.

“Alright,” she sighed “you’re no fun”.

“Yeah!” I nodded.

I was still thinking of Grace till I drifted into sleep…