When I asked him for my reward, I didn't think about this kind of reward. I glanced at him who was far away from me, talking to Susan. This is my first time seeing her, she is so pretty, not gonna lie. Her outfit makes her look so successful and stunning. Her very well tied ponytail matches well with her pencil dress. And by standing beside him, they looked like an outstanding couple. She's so kinda tall for a lady, making their height difference look perfect.
I looked down at myself, who only wore white loose shirt, tucked inside my cream straight cut pants. Looking basic. Meanwhile she's using a very expensive handbag, I only used my tote bag since it's convenient. And she's wearing designer heels and I just wore non-brand sneakers.
I laughed at myself. How come I think I can seduce him when I'm looking like this? Oh god, it's embarrassing.
I looked up at the huge frame in front of me. It is a picture of the lady she met on the first day of working. And it's taken by him. It's so beautiful, so does she. So they were working together and they fucked too. No wonder. She's stunning.
Hmm...is this churning feeling inside my stomach is what we call jealousy.
I hate it.
And how come his work becomes our date and my reward for telling him part of the pain I felt? It's so hard to talk about it and yet this what I get? He is literally working!
I sighed. I'm so ungrateful. Let's not be such a simple minded person. The gallery seemed nice, it smelled nice, the music was gentle, and the photos were outstanding. Absolutely a good place for a reward.
He is so talented. Looking at all of his work, and how huge this gallery and how he's going to have an exhibition, to showing the world how beautiful his work is.
I walked to the next frame, and to the next one and to the next one. The whole gallery is huge and filled with frames.
I stop at a smaller frame. It's so beautiful, the rainbow. The sky is so bright, and the colours fill the blue sky, looking like a high quality painting, but this is a high quality picture. I looked at the plate, the name Rainbow After Tomorrow and I read the description.
'Having a bad day today, I lost my luggage in Milan, and I lost my ticket too. It's raining hard, and I'm soaked. Thinking that today is a bad day, I went to a cafe, ordering a coffee. Then the sky turned brighter as the grey cloud disappeared. And the rainbow came out and I realised that, raining day won't last long and the brighter sky and beautiful rainbow will come out soon. Like life, a bad day won't last long as the better day will come. If it didn't come today, it would come tomorrow."
I looked up again.
Gorgeous.
"Do you like it? I can give you a copy of it." I glanced at him who suddenly came next to me.
"Yeah, give me one." I smiled at him faintly and glanced at Susan who was nowhere to be found. "Where is Miss Susan?"
"Ah...she has more work to do. Well..What do you think? do you like it? We're going to have an exhibition soon, but we are half done reorganising the gallery."
He looked around, slipping his hands inside his jeans.
"All of the photos are beautiful, and this one is my favourite one, so far...the gallery is so beautiful, it's peaceful...and I can see that you have a very beautiful fling." I smirked at him, stepping my foot to see the next one. "Pretty sure she has a beautiful body too."
I stop at her photo, beautiful. From her hair, to makeup to her curves that are covered with a piece of silk. Nothing else but that silk. She is so beautiful. He is really talented.
"I swear I have nothing with her." Oh, what a sudden excuse. I turned around, looking at him rubbing his neck. "That day was the last day I saw her, and we haven't contacted each other at all. I swear! I only have you, baby."
"I didn't say anything though."
"But you sound a bit scary." He came closer and hugged me.
"Well...I never expected that this would be my reward." I said, hugging him back, and patted his back. "I'm a bit jealous but I'm not mad. But try me, maybe I really would kill you if you still met her behind my back."
He smirked and let out a nervous chuckle.
"I like the fact that you are jealous but I promise you I won't do anything funny behind your back. And this is not your reward, princess. I just need to do something here, but I'm done. And don't worry about her, okay? You're prettier than her though. The most beautiful one..." he stroked my face with his finger and bent his head lower until he reached my ear and whispered.
"...The only one would make me go crazy is you, Maddison Iyves."
I closed my eyes when he said that. Shit, I probably developed a voice fetish at this rate.
"Let's have lunch first, I'll give you your reward soon."
------
I literally thought that we would eat at a restaurant but he brought me to his penthouse instead. I'm not complaining, and this is better actually. He looked so happy, wearing an apron, saying that he would cook for me.
But the thing is, can he? That porridge this morning is a bit...
"Are you sure you want to cook?" I asked, following him into the kitchen.
"Yeah, something simple. Go ahead and watch TV or something."
"You sure?"
"Darling, my pleasure. So go ahead and do whatever you want." he said without looking, washing some veggies.
"Cool, I'll be in the living room, if you need me."
I dragged myself out from the kitchen and retied my hair. I dropped myself on the sofa and lay down.
I felt sluggish today too. I think I used too much energy today. I talked too much, and smiled so much that now my cheekbones are hurting. I sat up again and glanced at that man who looked busy in the kitchen.
Maybe I should do some work since it's been four days since I've been working.
So I went to the storage room and grabbed a vacuum and started cleaning the house instead. I cleaned every corner, and every room included his. And I moved upstairs and cleaned every corner and came down again and went to the storage room to change my cleaning tool. I need to clean the terrace balcony too.
I went outside and started cleaning the terrace with a broom instead. I looked up to the sky, it looked a bit gloomy. Oh, it's going to rain soon.
"Maddison?" I turned my head behind, smiling at that man who looked good in his white t-shirt with denim jeans, arms crossing each other as he leaned toward the sliding door, gazing at me with a faint smile. "You shouldn't do anything when you're visiting your boyfriend's house, baby."
"Unfortunately, my boyfriend is my boss, and his house is my workplace. What to do, right? I've been skipping work for four days. What if my boss cut my payment?" I smiled wider.
"Hmm...I preferred to be your husband instead of your employer. Looking at you cleaning our house and I'm cooking for lunch, it feels like we are a newlywed couple." he grinned wider. There's a faint blush on his cheeks.
"Oh, we're only dated for a few days, Mr. Winter. Aren't we talking about marriage a bit..." I left my word hanging. Actually...I kinda like that idea.
He smirked, walking toward me closer, and grabbed my hand.
"Let's eat first, I'll help you do chores soon," he said softly.
I followed his lead as we walked inside together until we reached the kitchen.
"Tadaa~ How did it look?" He looked so excited, showing off his artwork, called food.
"Fish?" I said, nonchalantly, as he looked with a sour face. Cute. "What is this?"
"Tuna Tataki. You can eat Japanese, right?" he looked at me with his puppy face. I nodded.
"Yeah, I'm not picky." he smiled wider, putting three slices of Tuna Tataki on my plate. It looked so simple but yet so delicious. It smells good.
"I didn't know you could cook. You should cook this instead of porridge just now." I said.
"...Only Japanese though. I don't know other things. And you were sick, you deserved that porridge!"
I pouted, the heck. But I quickly changed my expression and give him a smile.
"Why? Big fan of Japan?"
"Oh, yes. I studied and graduated there too. And I lived there for quite some time so eventually, I adapted to the cultures."
Ah, no wonder he used indoor slippers here. That's so cool.
"So you can speak Japanese too?"
"A little?" he chuckles as he puts more Tuna Tataki on my plate. I looked at his hand. He held a chopstick beautifully. His hands are beautiful too. I grabbed my fork and knife to cut it into a smaller size and took a bite.
"Does it taste good?" he asked nervously.
"Mmm, good good!" I looked at him with a smile, giving him a thumbs up as an approval. This is heaven. Of food, of course. It will be too much to call this world a heaven when my whole life felt miserable. I raised my thumb showing that it's really good. I could cry for this.
He chuckled and took a bite. I looked at my plate and took another bite and another and another, leaving the plate empty. It's so good!
And another slice came into my plate as he put it with a smile. And I eat more. And finally full. I glanced at him who also finished eating. We left none and I think I ate more than him.
When was the last time I ate this much?
He grabbed my plate, which snapped me from my deep thought, making me look up toward him who was already walking to wash the dishes.
His back is kinda...tempting. Lean, with a wide shoulder, and small waist, tall and sexy. His hair is long enough to hide his neck. What a shame. I glanced at my hair tie on my left wrist. What if I tied it up?
I tapped my finger on the table, considering if I should do it or not. I finally stood up, untied my hair and stood beside him, peeking at his face, who was also glancing at me, and his mouth curled as he smiled. It's stunning. His dimples are so cute.
"What is it?" he asked with a small laugh.
"I want to tie your hair up, can I?"
"Why? Is it messy? Should I get a haircut?" He touched his hair with his fingers, oh god, does he even know how beautiful is he?
"No, I just want to. May I?" I glanced at the last plate he washed. He wiped his hands and finally turned his body to face me.
"Sure. Everything you want, princess." He bent down a little, until our eyes finally levelled the same. "Go ahead. Do it."
I laughed. I grabbed his hand and led him to the living room, pushed him down facing the huge window. It's raining already. I didn't even notice.
I sat down behind him, and touched his soft and fluffy hair. I gather it up and finally notice that he has a neck tattoo. It's in Japanese. I rubbed it with my thumb, making him flinch before me.
"Baby, don't do that!" he whined, turning his head with a frown.
"I didn't know you have a tattoo." I said, forcing him to turn his back again. "What does it says?"
"Neck. It's neck in Japanese." he laughed shyly, and I laughed in disbelief. Did he just made a tattoo on his neck that said 'neck' in other language?
I gathered his hair again and tied it up, turning it into a small tail. "Done! Look at me."
He did as I said, turning his back and facing me now. He pulled me closer and placed me on his lap.
"Haha, you're so cute. Maybe I should tie a ponytail on top of your head too!" I laughed, gathering more hair on top of his head. He chuckled along with me, as he placed his hands on my waist. But since I only have one hair tie, I let it go. I rummaged his hair, to make it look better.
"You're cuter, princess. I never knew you could laugh in such a cute way, making me all melt, hot and bothered." he hissed. I looked at him and grabbed his face, and give him a smooch.
He looked at me with wide eyes and smiles.
"I think I'm getting tired because I used too much energy to laugh. My cheekbones hurt so much because I smiled a lot today." I whined and touched my cheekbone. It does hurt a lot.
"I'm glad." he said, leaving a kiss on my mouth and buried his face on my neck. "I will love to see you smiling more, and laughing more. I love it so much! I feel good, and I feel so, so, so happy. I'm so happy, baby." I can feel him smiling.
I patted his back and rested my chin on his shoulder.
"Actually, I think I felt so happy too, today. I went to somewhere I never thought I would before, which was your gallery. I never went anywhere before except for work and home. Maybe sometimes to convenience stores. And I'm scared of this feeling. But I want to feel this type of emotions more too. I guess, I really am greedy now." I said.
He pushed me a little and looked inside my eyes deeper.
"Why?"
"Hm? What?"
"Why? Haven't you hung out with anyone before? And why would you be scared of this feeling, baby?" He tucked my hair behind my ears.
"Hmm...I do hang out sometimes but at home. We also ordered a take away. I don't like going out. And I guess I'm not used to this feeling? Therefore, I'm scared. What if we fall apart? Like how my mom and dad did?"
He rubbed my cheeks as his eyes started to give me a reflection and looked a little sparkles with tears.
"Baby...Princess...I don't know what will happen in future, but I'm promised, whatever happens in future, I will be there with you and for you. I know, in a relationship, there will be a day where we have a misunderstanding, or perhaps miscommunication, or maybe disagreement. We probably argue a lot too. But that's normal, darling. And I promised you, whenever that happens, I will come up with the best solution where we can be together forever and solve things with you. I know we only dated for a few days...you probably find it hard to believe but princess...I don't think I can live a day without you. Four days already felt like four hundred years."
"You are exaggerating."
"No, I'm not! I'm serious. I will make sure, you laughed a lot, smiled a lot, probably pissed off a lot too cause I will tease you a lot. But I will fill your days with my love and I promise you that. Okay?"
I smiled and gave him a kiss on his forehead.
"Okay, thank you. Then umm...I'm not used to this feeling and I have never been in a relationship before, I may make you frustrated a lot. And uhh...sometimes, just sometimes, I am unable to hear sounds of things so if you called me and I didn't answer you, I'm sorry. I probably lost my focus and drift off from the world. And I always have nightmares so it probably tires you off. You probably think I'm troublesome. I'm sorry in advance. I will do my best to make you happy too."
I looked at him with an awkward smile. More like a bashful one. He suddenly hugged me tighter, and nuzzled his face on my crook of neck, giggling.
"You don't have to be sorry about it, princess. And you don't have to worry about me too!" he said, sounds so happy.
Promise.
When was the last time I made one?
I can't even remember.