Seeing that sincere expression on her face, Neil suddenly felt a pang of pain in his heart. He felt as if she wanted nothing to do with him after paying back to him, but how could he let go of her so easily when she was the reason why he couldn't sleep nor could he concentrate without her?
He needed her. He wanted to have her by his side. Yes, he was in love with her. He had inevitably fallen for her, the moment he saw her. But Neil didn't let these turmoiled emotions be shown on his face. He didn't want the new mother to consider him as a perverted man or a man who wanted to take advantage of her. He didn't want to scare her way like that. So he made an expression as if in deep thought and then after what seemed like a long time, finally said
"Okay, you can do me the favor, but for the present, I don't have any favor to ask you. But I want to ask you…-"
"Yes.. you can ask. " Linda spoke even before he could finish his sentence. She was ready to give him any sort of help/compensation he needed as long as it was within her possible boundaries.
"I want to ask you, what do you do for a living and if it's not too personal can I ask who is the father of the child?"
Linda didn't answer for some time. The silence seemed to stretch for some beats and none of them spoke. Linda didn't speak a word and just stared back at Neil who in turn looked back at her. Both of them had their thoughts going on in their minds.
Linda didn't want to make it too personal with the man. Even if he helped her, that didn't mean she would tell him all about her life. She had made up a lie to tell Nora and her manager about the child's father. Can she trust this man and tell him as well? What if he would want to pry some more, what would she tell then? But anyhow, since she owed Neil her life, she would tell him the truth. On the other hand, as the silence between both of them reigned, Neil regretted his decision to pry into her past. what if she has some bad memories? There's no meaning in asking her such a stupid question. What the hell was he thinking? Neil was feeling like slapping himself hard, to help his brain come into the working process again.
Before he could apologize to Linda and tell her that there was no need to answer the question, he heard her say first,
"I work at a bar as a bartender. The child's father… is missing. I live with one of my friends." Linda said with no emotion in her voice. Since she couldn't remember anything from the night and neither did she even know the father, there was no particular reason to fret over that fact.
"And what about your family?"
Neil asked before he could even stop his mouth shut.
Linda was also silenced again and this time the silence reigned a bit longer between them. The atmosphere suddenly became quite odd. It was awkward but also heavy at the same time. All this while, the baby was sleeping peacefully, thanks to that, their conversation was not yet interrupted. Linda suddenly got reminded of the last conversation she had with her father. The promise that she asked him to give her. To take off her mother, himself, and the kingdom. How they all must be? Are they all doing well? They must be… they still have other two potential heirs to take over the throne, so they must have filled up the vacancy of her absence.
Her father… he had become a grandfather now. She remembered her conversation with her father, the king.. when she said that she would let the child be known for his identity as being a part of the vampire royalty when he would be of understanding age. She was brought back to reality when she suddenly realized that she had been thinking way too long and had forgotten to give attention to the question Neil had asked. She forcefully suppressed those past overwhelming emotions welling in her heart as she looked back at him and said,
"They live in a village far away from here and they… abandoned me because of my pregnancy."
Neil felt his heart clench in pain. He didn't know why but seeing her face like that, along with the former silence.. made him feel quite guilty for asking such a question. So he hurriedly shook his head and apologizingly said,
"I'm sorry for my unnecessary prying. I'm sorry for that."
Neil didn't know how to apologize in such a condition. He felt like he had made a big mistake asking such a personal question which he couldn't apologize enough for.
The feelings and the hardships that she must have gone through at such a sensitive period of her life must have been hard on her. He shouldn't have asked the question just like that.
Linda quickly shook her head and said with a little smile, "Ahh, no need to apologize for that. Please don't be guilty of it. It was your right to know that, considering that you have helped me a lot. Please don't make it hard on yourself."
Neil looked back at her and when he saw that she sincerely wanted him to be at ease, he gave in. Choosing his next words carefully, he said, "So, what do you think of doing next?"
When Linda gave him a confused look, he elaboratively said, "I mean, will you still work at the bar? It's quite a dangerous place for you to work at, keeping in mind that there might be the possibility of you encountering drunk people there."
Seeing Linda, seemingly considering his words, he carefully treaded further as he continued,